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In a post on X, Uthmeier said Caruso’s arrest was made with “substantial assistance” from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and local law enforcement.

“Being in a position of public trust provides no shield from accountability,” Uthmeier said.

Authorities said Caruso, 67, of Riviera Beach, was immediately suspended from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis following his arrest.

They said Caruso is prohibited from performing any official act or function and from receiving any pay or allowances while suspended.

Jail records show Caruso is facing charges that include kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child, and child abuse involving mental injury.

An arrest warrant obtained by Local 10 News states that the victim, who is under the age of 12 and is known to Caruso, claimed that Caruso engaged in sexual activity with him on two separate occasions — once around Thanksgiving in 2024 and again during a family cruise in August 2025.

Caruso was seeking re-election to remain Palm Beach County’s clerk of the circuit court and comptroller, a position DeSantis appointed him to last August.

Authorities said Caruso was transported to the Orange County Corrections Department and held without bond pending his first appearance, which is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m.

The Palm Beach County Clerk of Court’s Office issued this statement to Local 10 News following Caruso’s arrest:

"This morning, our office was notified that Clerk Mike Caruso was arrested on serious criminal charges. We are awaiting additional information from the Governor’s office on next steps.

While this is surprising news for our entire team, it does not change who we are at the Clerk’s office or our commitment to the community and customers we serve.

For decades, the Clerk’s office in Palm Beach County has consistently stood for professionalism and outstanding service for our customers. That focus remains for every one of our 650 employees."

La representante federal Frederica Wilson ha representado el distrito durante unos 13 años. En mayo, Wilson, de 83 años, anunció que no planeaba buscar la reelección para un noveno mandato en el Congreso de Estados Unidos.

Primaria demócrata

Siete candidatos se postulan en la primaria demócrata.

OLIVER G. GILBERT III

Wilson respaldó a Oliver G. Gilbert II, comisionado de Miami-Dade y ex presidente de la comisión, quien se desempeñó como alcalde de Miami Gardens de 2012 a 2020.

Gilbert, de 53 años, quien creció en Miami Gardens, obtuvo una licenciatura de Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University y un título de Juris Doctor de University of Miami.

SHEVRIN JONES

El senador de Florida Shevrin “Shev” Jones se desempeñó en la Cámara de Representantes de Florida de 2012 a 2020, cuando comenzó su servicio en el Senado de Florida.

Jones, de 42 años, quien nació en Hollywood y creció en Miami Gardens, obtuvo una licenciatura de Florida A&M University. También obtuvo títulos de maestría y doctorado en educación de Florida Atlantic University.

KENDRICK MEEK JR.

Kendrick Meek Jr. sigue los pasos de su padre, el ex representante federal Kendrick B. Meek, quien representó al Distrito Congresional 17 de Florida de 2003 a 2011, y de su abuela, la fallecida ex representante federal Carrie Meek, quien representó al Distrito Congresional 17 de Florida de 1993 a 2003.

Meek, de 29 años, obtuvo una licenciatura de University of Florida y un título de J.D. de University of Miami. Hizo una pasantía con el Comité de Administración de la Cámara de Representantes en 2015 y con el Comité Judicial de la Cámara en 2021. También trabajó como asesor de la Casa Blanca en iniciativas de política de salud durante la administración Biden.

Historia relacionada: ¿Qué hay en un nombre? Miembro de dinastía política local se suma a creciente contienda para suceder a la representante Wilson

RUDOLPH MOISE

El coronel retirado de la Reserva de la Fuerza Aérea de Estados Unidos, Dr. Rudolph “Rudy” Moise, un médico haitiano-estadounidense, se desempeñó como embajador itinerante para inversiones de la República de Haití en 2014.

Moise, de 71 años, nació en Puerto Príncipe y tenía 17 años cuando se mudó a Chicago. Después de graduarse de University of Illinois, obtuvo un doctorado en osteopatía de Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. También obtuvo un título de Juris Doctor y una maestría en administración de empresas de University of Miami.

JEAN MONESTIME

Jean Monestime se desempeñó como comisionado del condado Miami-Dade de 2010 a 2022, incluido como presidente de 2014 a 2016.

Monestime, de 63 años, nació en Saint-Louis du Nord, Haití, y tenía 17 años cuando se mudó a Estados Unidos. Obtuvo una licenciatura de Florida International University y una maestría en administración de empresas de Nova Southeastern University.

RODERICK D. VEREEN

Roderick “Rod” Vereen, abogado de defensa penal, se desempeñó como defensor público federal adjunto para el Distrito Norte de Florida en Pensacola y como fiscal estatal adjunto para el Segundo Circuito Judicial.

Vereen, de 64 años, creció como hijo de un militar del Ejército de Estados Unidos y obtuvo una licenciatura de Florida State University y un título de Juris Doctor de Southern University Law Center.

MARSHAL L DAVIS SR.

Marshal L. Davis, Sr., se desempeña como director del Marshal L. Davis, Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center en Liberty City, Miami. Es desde 1963.

“Tenemos que analizar lo que consideramos que es el problema porque con cualquier problema, hay una solución”, dijo Davis, de 76 años. “Tenemos que analizar nuestro potencial y ser expansivos, y tenemos que gobernarnos por principios”.

Elección general: La empresaria Te Brown, la candidata republicana sin oposición, planea enfrentarse al ganador de la primaria demócrata el 3 de noviembre.

GUÍA DEL VOTANTE: Aquí se explica cómo prepararse para la elección primaria del 18 de agosto en Florida

ESPN historian Mike Soltys said Rasmussen died at his Florida home from the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Rasmussen announced in 2019 that he had been diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 2014.

“Bill was a remarkable man — a visionary and an innovator who conceived the idea of a network entirely devoted to sports,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasn’t for Bill’s passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s — key aspects of our company culture that still carry on to this day.”

Rasmussen and his son Scott came up with the idea of a network carrying sports around the clock, and it would revolutionize Americans’ TV-watching habits. But the pair didn’t stick around long. They were forced out after only a year by ESPN majority owner Getty Oil.

Bill Rasmussen’s original idea was a cable channel covering only Connecticut sports. Many cable operators in the state were skeptical, but someone suggested buying satellite time to reach a national audience.

ESPN was launched on Sept. 7, 1979. George Grande welcomed viewers to the first “SportsCenter” broadcast before the network’s first live event, a slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitz.

“In those days, we didn’t know if we’d last four weeks, four years, let alone 40-some, but we knew it was special,” Grande said. “Bottom line was Bill Rasmussen was the true pervader of the original American dream, and he gave us all something very special that we still have today.”

The Rasmussens secured financial backing from Getty Oil and a rights deal with the NCAA, and built a studio in Bristol, Connecticut, still under construction when ESPN went on the air.

The Getty investment and the deal with the NCAA occurred on the same day.

“When someone tells you you can’t do something, you want to prove them wrong,” Bill Rasmussen said. “Many, many people told us there wasn’t enough sports to do a 24-hour channel. I didn’t argue with anybody. I just thought they were wrong and I was right.”

When the Rasmussens were forced out of ESPN in 1980, Getty owned 85% of the network. Texaco, which had acquired Getty, sold its interest in ESPN to ABC in 1984.

Bill Rasmussen and ESPN were estranged until 1999, when company executives invited him to the 20th anniversary celebration. Since then, he has been embraced and recognized for his vision of creating an all-sports network. He toured the country in 2019 for the 40th anniversary and gave speeches at Walt Disney Co. and ESPN events.

“Bill was our George Washington and a good friend,” said veteran anchor Chris Berman, who joined ESPN three weeks after the network launched in 1979. “He was such a grateful person and every sports fan can be grateful for Bill. He wasn’t a glass half-full guy; his glass was always overflowing with optimism. He greeted everyone with a smile and we can all smile knowing Bill’s legacy.”

Born in Chicago, Rasmussen earned degrees from DePauw University in Indiana and Rutgers University and served in the Air Force. He started an advertising services business, then worked in radio and television as a broadcaster during the 1960s.

He was hired in 1974 as public relations director for the WHA’s New England Whalers in Hartford, Connecticut. The team’s entire front office was fired in 1978, and Rasmussen soon turned his attention to brainstorming with his son on the creation of sports on cable TV with the help of a $9,000 credit card advance.

“There was a whole lot of chutzpah and a whole lot of vision, and they’re maxed out on their credit cards. It’s the American dream,” said Bob Ley, one of the network’s original anchors.

Rasmussen was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2025.

Rasmussen was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Lois, in 2011 and is survived by two sons, Scott Rasmussen and his wife, Laura, and Glenn Rasmussen, daughter Lynn Van Hollebeke and her husband, Louie, seven grandchildren, one great-grandson and one great-granddaughter. In addition to his wife, Bill was predeceased by his brothers Robert and Donald Rasmussen, sister Vivien and a grandson.

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

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In Miami-Dade County, 12.5% of registered voters had participated through early voting and returned mail-in ballots, according to Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia.

The county has more than 1.6 million registered voters. Garcia said more than 80,000 additional voters would need to participate to bring turnout back in line with past midterm primaries.

Poll workers in Miami-Dade have been processing early and mail-in ballots at the elections warehouse. Garcia said ballots are counted using two separate systems as a check to make sure the numbers match.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but we have two different systems that count our votes, she said. “Voting is your civic duty and it’s the way that we keep our democracy healthy.”

In Broward County, turnout after early voting was below 10%, according to Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott, who called the participation “very slow — surprisingly slow.”

Scott said the low turnout was unexpected given the number of high-profile contests on the ballot.

Florida has closed primary elections, meaning voters generally can only vote for candidates in their own political party. But voters can also participate in nonpartisan races, including school board contests.

Election officials are encouraging voters to review their sample ballots before heading to the polls. Some districts have been redrawn, though Scott said those changes should not affect voters’ assigned polling locations.

“Your voting location on election day is going to be exactly the same,” he said.

While turnout has been low, election workers in both counties have been preparing ballots for counting.

Scott said election equipment has been operating without major issues.

“The equipment is running great — we haven’t had complaints this time around,” he said.

For some voters, the election is also personal.

Adela Barralaga said her mother was once an immigrant who later became a U.S. citizen, making voting an important responsibility for their family.

“For example, my mom, she was an immigrant, then she became a citizen, so I feel like there are so many people who were like her at one point that can’t vote at this time,” Barralaga said. “It’s important for her to vote and for me also.”

Voters who received mail-in ballots can still return them to their polling location by 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. as elections officials hope Election Day brings a boost in participation across South Florida.

More than 1,077 positions, ranging from national, state, county, or district office, are up for election during the primary. Click here for more information.

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The Democratic candidates seeking the vote are U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who currently represents Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, and Oliver Larkin.

Moskowitz, who was born in Coral Springs, served as a Parkland city commissioner from 2006 to 2012 and in the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2019.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Moskowitz as the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management from 2019 to 2021. He has been representing Florida’s 23rd Congressional District since 2023.

So far this election cycle, Moskowitz has raised $2.9 million.

Larkin, 32, a union organizer, follows Moskowitz and five Republicans with more than $541,000 in total funds raised, according to campaign finance data.

The five Republican candidates running in Florida’s 25th Congressional District are Scott Singer, Daniel Franzese, George R. Moraitis, Raven Harrison and Joe Kaufman.

Singer, 49, is the Republican at the top of the campaign finance list with more than $1.99 million in total funds raised, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Franzese, who earned his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1989, follows Singer on the list with more than $1.47 million raised.

Moraitis, 55, a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve who was born in Fort Lauderdale, followed Singer and Franzese after raising more than $839,000.

Harrison, a Temple University grad who was born in Texas, follows Moraitis with more than $778,000 in total receipts while Kaufman, a counter-terrorism expert known as the “Terrorist Hunter,” follows Harrison with more than $631,500 in total funds raised.

Los candidatos demócratas que se disputan el escaño son el diputado Jared Moskowitz, que actualmente representa al 23° distrito congresista de Florida, y Oliver Larkin.

Moskowitz, nacido en Coral Springs, fue concejal de Parkland entre 2006 y 2012 y miembro de la Cámara de Representantes de Florida entre 2012 y 2019.

El gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, nombró a Moskowitz director de la División de Gestión de Emergencias de Florida entre 2019 y 2021. Lleva representando al 23.º distrito congresional de Florida desde 2023.

En lo que va de esta campaña electoral, Moskowitz ha recaudado 2,9 millones de dólares.

Larkin, de 32 años, organizador sindical, se sitúa detrás de Moskowitz y de cinco republicanos, con más de 541 000 dólares recaudados en total, según los datos de financiación de la campaña.

Los cinco candidatos republicanos que se presentan en el 25.º distrito congresista de Florida son Scott Singer, Daniel Franzese, George R. Moraitis, Raven Harrison y Joe Kaufman.

Singer, de 49 años, es el republicano que encabeza la lista de financiación de campaña con más de 1,99 millones de dólares recaudados en total, según la Comisión Electoral Federal.

Franzese, que obtuvo su máster en Administración de Empresas (MBA) en la Wharton School de la Universidad de Pensilvania en 1989, le sigue a Singer en la lista con más de 1,47 millones de dólares recaudados.

Moraitis, de 55 años, teniente comandante retirado de la Reserva de la Marina de los Estados Unidos y nacido en Fort Lauderdale, quien se sitúa detrás de Singer y Franzese tras haber recaudado más de 839.000 dólares.

Harrison, graduado de la Universidad de Temple y nacido en Texas, sigue a Moraitis con más de 778.000 dólares en ingresos totales, mientras que Kaufman —un experto en contraterrorismo conocido como el «Cazador de Terroristas»— sigue a Harrison con más de 631.500 dólares en fondos recaudados.

The U.S. Census reported in 2024 that the district is home to about 804,159 people. It covers about 250 square miles in Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the Census Reporter. The congressional district now also covers Collier and Hendry counties in southwest Florida after the Florida Legislature passed a congressional map redistricting earlier this year.

Republican primary

The ballot includes seven candidates.

MICHAEL CARBONARA

The fintech entrepreneur is a father of two. He faced criticism over reports of ties to a controversial data center in Michigan.

Carbonara, 43, who was born in New York, is the founder and former chief executive officer of Ibanera, a Miami-based digital banking company.

• ‘Absolute censorship’: Someone doesn’t want you to know about Michael Carbonara’s data
• Carbonara Supports Data Centers in Florida, but not in Neighborhoods

BELINDA KEISER

Keiser, 67, who was born in the Philippines, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida State University and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.

CASEY ASKAR

Askar, 57, a retired U.S. Marine, is the president of Askar Brands, a multi-brand restaurant management and franchising company.

DR. HERBERT ‘HERBIE’ WERTHEIM

Wertheim, 87, who was born in Philadelphia, is an optometrist and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Brain Power, an optical products manufacturer.

DANIEL FRANZESE

Franzese, who was born in New York, earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.

DAVID BURCK

The retired U.S. Marine and former detective was born in Tampa and is a real estate agent.

TERRI HASDORFF

Hasdorff, who was born in Alabama, graduated from Harvard and Oxford universities and works in business development.

Democratic primary

The ballot includes two candidates.

PIA DANDIYA

The daughter of Indian immigrants is a Harvard grad who served as a teacher and school principal.

KAYSIA EARLEY

The attorney is a graduate of Howard University and St. Thomas School of Law.

VOTER GUIDE: Here is how to prepare for Florida’s Aug. 18 primary election

El Censo de Estados Unidos informó en 2024 que el distrito tiene alrededor de 788,713 habitantes. Abarca unas 119 millas cuadradas en el condado Miami-Dade, según Census Reporter.

Primaria republicana

La boleta incluye dos candidatos: la titular y un retador.

REP. ESTADOUNIDENSE MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR

Salazar, de 64 años, periodista de televisión retirada y autora con títulos de Harvard y la Universidad de Miami, busca la reelección.

Salazar, cuyos padres son cubanos, ganó el escaño en 2020 tras derrotar a la titular demócrata Donna Shalala, ex secretaria de Salud y Servicios Humanos, y asumió el cargo en 2021.

Salazar es leal al presidente Donald Trump, pero se alineó con los demócratas que quieren que la administración Trump extienda el estatus de protección temporal de los haitianos y venezolanos. Fue coautora de la Ley Dignity para acelerar el procesamiento de solicitudes de asilo.

Entre las victorias de Salazar están la Ley Take It Down, que criminaliza el intercambio no consensuado de imágenes íntimas auténticas o generadas por inteligencia artificial, y su trabajo con demócratas en la Ley Dispose para detener el fentanilo antes de que cruce la frontera.

VINCENT MICHAEL ARIAS

Arias, de 68 años, un abogado radicado en Coral Gables, desafía a Salazar en la primaria republicana.

Arias es un ex abogado de cumplimiento de la Comisión de Bolsa y Valores de Estados Unidos y un ex fiscal estatal asistente en Orlando.

Primaria demócrata

La boleta incluye dos candidatos.

ROBIN PEGUERO

Peguero, de 40 años, abogado y autor, creció en Hialeah, hijo de padres de República Dominicana y Ecuador que sirvieron en el Ejército de Estados Unidos.

Peguero se graduó de Harvard College y de la Facultad de Derecho de Harvard, y se desempeñó como fiscal federal y como abogado investigador del Comité Selecto de la Cámara de Representantes sobre el ataque del 6 de enero al Capitolio de Estados Unidos.

ELIOTT RODRIGUEZ

Rodriguez, quien nació en Nueva York de padres cubanos, es un periodista de televisión veterano retirado y padre de dos hijos.

Rodriguez, graduado de la Universidad de Miami, tiene una larga carrera que incluye WPLG-Local 10 News y CBS News Miami.

GUÍA PARA VOTANTES: Aquí le explicamos cómo prepararse para la elección primaria de Florida del 18 de agosto.

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U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson has represented the district for about 13 years. In May, Wilson, 83, announced that she did not plan to seek re-election to a ninth term in U.S. Congress.

Democratic primary

Seven candidates are running in the Democratic primary.

OLIVER G. GILBERT III

Wilson endorsed Oliver G. Gilbert II, a Miami-Dade commissioner and former commission chair who served as the mayor of Miami Gardens from 2012 to 2020.

Gilbert, 53, who grew up in Miami Gardens, earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and a juris doctor from the University of Miami.

SHEVRIN JONES

Florida Sen. Shevrin “Shev” Jones served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2020, when he started his service in the Florida Senate.

Jones, 42, who was born in Hollywood and grew up in Miami Gardens, earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University. He also earned master’s and doctorate degrees in education from Florida Atlantic University.

KENDRICK MEEK JR.

Kendrick Meek Jr. is following in the footsteps of his father, former U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, who served Florida’s 17th Congressional District from 2003 to 2011, and his grandmother, the late former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, who served Florida’s 17th Congressional District from 1993 to 2003.

Meek, 29, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a J.D. from the University of Miami. He interned with the House Administration Committee in 2015 and the House Judiciary Committee in 2021. He also worked as a White House aide on healthcare policy initiatives under the Biden administration.

Related story: What’s in a name? Member of local political dynasty joins growing race to succeed Rep. Wilson

RUDOLPH MOISE

Retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Col. Dr. Rudolph “Rudy” Moise, a Haitian-American physician, served as ambassador-at-large for investment for the Republic of Haiti in 2014.

Moise, 71, was born in Port-au-Prince, and he was 17 when he moved to Chicago. After graduating from the University of Illinois, he earned a doctorate in osteopathy from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He also earned a juris doctor and a master of business administration from the University of Miami.

JEAN MONESTIME

Jean Monestime served as a Miami-Dade County commissioner from 2010 to 2022, including as chairman from 2014 to 2016.

Monestime, 63, was born in Haiti’s Saint-Louis du Nord, and he was 17 when he moved to the U.S. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and a master of business administration from Nova Southeastern University.

RODERICK D. VEREEN

Roderick “Rod” Vereen, a criminal defense attorney, served as an assistant federal public defender for the Northern District of Florida in Pensacola and as assistant state attorney for the Second Judicial Circuit.

Vereen, 64, grew up as a U.S. Army brat, and he earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and a juris doctor from the Southern University Law Center.

MARSHAL L DAVIS SR.

Marshal L. Davis, Sr., serves as the director of the Marshal L. Davis, Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Miami’s Liberty City. It’s since 1963.

“We’ve got to look at what we consider to be the problem because with any problem, there is a solution,” Davis, 76, said. “We have to look at our potential and be expansive, and we’ve got to govern ourselves by principles.”

General election: Businesswoman Te Brown, the uncontested Republican candidate, plans to run against the winner of the Democratic primary on Nov. 3.

VOTER GUIDE: Here is how to prepare for Florida’s Aug. 18 primary election

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

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“Lindsay was struggling — we were all concerned,” said Susan Clancy, mother of Patrick Clancy, who found the Massachusetts couple's children after they had been strangled in the family basement in January 2023. Lindsay Clancy also attempted to take her own life that night, and was left paralyzed. Lindsay and Patrick Clancy are now divorced.

Susan Clancy, who, like Lindsay, worked as a labor and delivery nurse, said in Plymouth Superior Court that she and her former daughter-in-law were close and described Lindsay as a “wonderful mother” who was “very nurturing, very loving.” Her testimony echoed emotional accounts the day before from Lindsay Clancy’s mother and sister, who recounted for jurors how they saw her become increasingly anxious, paranoid and suicidal starting in the fall of 2022.

Susan Clancy said that Lindsay was open with her about struggling and asked for her mother-in-law's support. The jury was shown texts between Lindsay and Susan Clancy in which Lindsay spoke about fears that she had developed a dependence on benzodiazepines, but couldn't sleep without taking them.

“I'm not okay and I'm terrified of taking meds tonight,” Lindsay texted her mother-in-law on Nov. 30, 2022, two months before the killings.

The trial centers not on whether Lindsay Clancy killed her children, which her lawyers do not dispute, but on her state of mind at the time. The defense argues she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors say she planned the killings and understood what she was doing.

Lindsay Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove, who lived in Connecticut, testified Monday that she often stayed with her daughter in Massachusetts from October into December 2022. She said Lindsay Clancy was scared of sleeping alone, became increasingly paranoid and believed the medications she was taking “were destroying her mind.”

Lindsay Clancy’s sister described a similar decline. Allison Ozga testified that at the end of December, Lindsay told her she had experienced suicidal thoughts every day for a month.

Musgrove also recalled a more alarming disclosure in December, when she was standing in the kitchen with Lindsay Clancy and her then-husband, Patrick Clancy. Musgrove said her daughter appeared nervous and told them she needed to tell them something.

“She told us she had thoughts of harming the children,” Musgrove said.

Prosecutors argue that Lindsay Clancy planned the Jan. 24, 2023, killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to get takeout and to the pharmacy.

Lindsay Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington does not dispute that she killed the children. But he says she shouldn't be held criminally responsible because she had postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. He said she also had bipolar disorder and that antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child worsened her condition.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard that Lindsay Clancy had sought treatment for severe mental health problems, including admitting herself to a psychiatric hospital. But witnesses also noted she wouldn't always take the medications prescribed to help with her insomnia, anxiety and depression.

The defense has argued that Lindsay Clancy was overmedicated and that her care was disjointed, with doctors not speaking to one another or sharing notes. The defense also showed she was discharged from one facility after a day and denied a higher level of care at another when she couldn't show that she had a suicide plan.

Prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of Lindsay Clancy's suicide attempt and showed through texts and photos that she performed many normal activities the day of the killings, including taking her children to the doctor and playing with them in the snow.

Her doctors have testified they never saw her exhibit signs of mania or psychosis, though she did repeatedly talk of feeling suicidal.

At the start of the trial, Patrick Clancy described the horror of returning home to find his dead children. During his testimony, prosecutors played a harrowing seven-minute 911 call, which was not released to the public. Patrick Clancy can be heard checking on Lindsay Clancy in the backyard, before heading down to his basement and finding his children.

He screams and howls before telling a dispatcher, “She killed the kids!”

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

Cuatro republicanos buscan la nominación en el distrito de mayoría demócrata.

Entre los candidatos demócratas se encuentran el ejecutivo de música rap y activista por la libertad de expresión Luther Campbell, el ex alcalde y comisionado de Broward Dale Holness, el organizador comunitario Elijah Manley y la representante federal Debbie Wasserman Schultz, quien está cambiando de distrito tras el nuevo trazado.

Y luego está la actual representante en medio de una controversia que busca regresar al cargo —la ex representante federal Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick—, quien renunció antes de una amenaza de expulsión por parte del Comité de Ética de la Cámara de Representantes tras ser acusada formalmente de robar fondos federales. Ella niega haber cometido irregularidades.

Por el lado republicano: Brent Andersen es residente de Pompano Beach y empresario que lucha por reducir los costos y aumentar las oportunidades económicas para las familias del Distrito 20. Lateresa “La” Jones es la fundadora de “Grandmas for the Generations”, una organización comunitaria que ayuda a las familias a defender a los niños. El Dr. Rod Joseph es un veterano de combate del Ejército de Estados Unidos y condecorado con el Corazón Púrpura, con 20 años de servicio militar. Carla Spalding es una veterana de la Armada de Estados Unidos que también tiene una larga experiencia en enfermería.

The Big Ten has eight players on the first team, led by Oregon quarterback Dante Moore and two of his teammates.

Defending national champion Indiana, Georgia and Oklahoma each has two players on the first team, as determined by media members on the AP Top 25 voting panel.

The Texas players on the team are offensive lineman Trevor Goosby, wide receiver Cam Coleman, defensive lineman Colin Simmons and linebacker Rasheem Biles.

Defensive lineman A’Mauri Washington and safety Koi Perich are the Oregon players joining Moore, who edged out Mississippi's Trinidad Chambliss for first-team honors.

Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, the Big Ten preseason offensive player of the year, is the only selection from Ohio State, the No. 1 team in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.

Smith, Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy and Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore are returning AP first-team All-America picks who are on the preseason team.

Iowa's Kade Pieper was voted first-team center by a wide margin even though this will be his first season playing the position. He moved from right guard to replace 2025 consensus All-American Logan Jones.

The AP All-America team for this season will be released in December.

First team offense

Quarterback — Dante Moore, fourth year, Oregon.

Running backs — Kewan Lacy, third year, Mississippi; Ahmad Hardy, third year, Missouri.

Tackles — Carter Smith, fifth year, Indiana; Trevor Goosby, fourth year, Texas.

Guards — Evan Tengesdahl, fourth year, Cincinnati; Shadre Hurst, fifth year, Houston.

Center — Kade Pieper, fourth year, Iowa.

Tight end — Trey’Dez Green, third year, LSU.

Wide receivers — Jeremiah Smith, third year, Ohio State; Malachi Toney, second year, Miami; Cam Coleman, third year, Texas.

All-purpose player — Wayne Knight, fifth year, UCLA.

Kicker — Tate Sandell, fifth year, Oklahoma.

First team defense

Edge — Colin Simmons, third year, Texas; Dylan Stewart, third year, South Carolina.

Tackles — A’Mauri Washington, fourth year, Oregon; David Stone, third year, Oklahoma.

Linebackers — Rasheem Biles, fourth year, Texas; Xavier Atkins, third year, Auburn; Rolijah Hardy, third year, Indiana.

Cornerbacks — Leonard Moore, third year, Notre Dame; Ellis Robinson IV, third year, Georgia.

Safeties — KJ Bolden, third year, Georgia; Koi Perich, third year, Oregon.

Defensive back — Bray Hubbard, fourth year, Alabama.

Punter — Evan Crenshaw, fifth year, Troy.

Second team offense

Quarterback — Trinidad Chambliss, fifth year, Mississippi.

Running backs — Mark Fletcher Jr., fourth year, Miami; LJ Martin, fourth year, BYU.

Tackles — Cayden Green, fourth year, Missouri; Jordan Seaton, third year, LSU.

Guards — Greg Johnson, fourth year, Minnesota; Luke Montgomery, fourth year, Ohio State.

Center — Drew Bobo, fifth season, Georgia.

Tight end — Terrance Carter Jr., fifth year, Texas Tech.

Wide receivers — Duce Robinson, fourth year, Florida State; Charlie Becker, third year, Indiana; KJ Duff, third year, Rutgers.

All-purpose player — Cam Cook, fourth year, West Virginia.

Kicker — Lucas Carneiro, fifth year, Mississippi.

Second team defense

Edge — Anthony Smith, fifth season, Minnesota; John Henry Daley, fourth year, Michigan.

Tackles — Tyrique Tucker, fifth year, Indiana; Will Echoles, third year, Mississippi.

Linebackers — Sammy Brown, third year Clemson; Raylen Wilson, fourth year, Georgia; Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, third year, Notre Dame.

Cornerbacks — Brandon Finney Jr., second year, Oregon; Zabien Brown, third year, Alabama.

Safeties — Brauntae Johnson, third year, Notre Dame; Ty Benefield, fourth year, LSU.

Defensive back — Kelley Jones, fourth year, Mississippi State.

Punter — Palmer Williams, fourth year, Baylor.

___

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Ashoka Indian Restaurant in Pinecrest was hit with 48 violations during Monday’s inspection, including mold like growth on chicken, vegetables, tomatoes and limes, a dead fly in broth, food held at unsafe temperatures for more than four hours, dead roaches, raw chicken stored above cooked chicken and filthy food contact surfaces.

This is not an isolated inspection.

Records show the restaurant has been inspected 13 times since February 2024, with nine inspections requiring follow up.

The four most recent inspections produced 138 violations, with recurring problems involving unsafe food temperatures, mold like growth, sanitation and deteriorating equipment, several of which were specifically cited as repeat violations.

Yet the restaurant was not ordered shut.

Someone needs to do better.

When people spend their hard-earned money to eat out, they should not have to wonder whether the food is safe. Restaurants need to do better, regulators need to do better, and we will continue to call them out when they do not.

ASHOKA INDIAN RESTAURANT - PINECREST

PINECREST TOWN CENTER

12663 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY

PINECREST

INSPECTION DATE 8/17

48 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Container of medicine improperly stored. Observed needle pen in walk in cooler.”

“Food with mold-like growth. See stop sale. Observed 1 container of veggies with mold. Observed 1 container of chicken with mold. Observed 1 can of eggplant in reach in across cook line. Observed bag of tomatoes with mold in walk in cooler. Observed 1 case of limes with mold. Repeat Violation.”

“Food-contact surfaces not sanitized after cleaning, before use. Do not use equipment/utensils not properly sanitized. Observed dirty skewers on dry dish rack, not washed, rinsed or sanitized.”

Pesticide/insecticide labeled for household use only present in establishment. Observed 2 cans of raid in kitchen. Repeat Violation."

“Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. Observed raw chicken stored above cooked chicken in walk in cooler. Repeat Violation.”

“Shell eggs not stored at an ambient air temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit or less. Observed in walk in cooler with ambient temp if 55F for more than 4 hours: shell eggs 55F Cold Holding.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed 1 container of broth worth dead fly inside.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Observed in walk in cooler with ambient temp if 55F for more than 4 hours: shell eggs 55F Cold Holding. Observed in walk in cooler with ambient temp of 55F cooked chicken (50F - Cold Holding); cooked breaded chicken (49F - Cold Holding); butter (54F - Cold Holding); shredded cabbage (51F - Cold Holding); paneer (50F - Cold Holding); cooked veggies (47F - Cold Holding); raw chicken (33F - Cold Holding).”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed in walk in cooler with ambient temp of 55F cooked chicken (50F - Cold Holding); cooked breaded chicken (49F - Cold Holding); butter (54F - Cold Holding); shredded cabbage (51F - Cold Holding); paneer (50F - Cold Holding); cooked veggies (47F - Cold Holding); raw chicken (33F - Cold Holding). More than 4 hours in cooler as per operator. Technician showed up during end of inspection to work on cooler. Repeat Violation.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed soiled shelves where dry food is stored. Observed stored soiled fryer baskets in fryer. Observed stored baking sheets and pans soiled on cook line. Observed stored vegetable slicer soiled. Repeat Violation.”

“Lack of toilet tissue at each toilet. Observed in women & men’s restroom.”

“No chemical test kit provided when using sanitizer at three-compartment ware washing machine or wiping cloths.”

“No proof of required state approved employee training provided for any employees. To order approved program food safety material, call DBPR contracted provider: Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (SafeStaff) 866-372-7233. Observed no employee training for any employee on site. Observed Dilesh and Mohammed, more than 60 days employed. **Warning**

Intermediate - non-pitting surface rust on food-contact equipment. Observed on dry food and dish racks. Repeat Violation."

“Ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food prepared onsite and held more than 24 hours not properly date marked. Observed multiple items not dated marked, prepared prior day as per chef.”

“Accumulation of debris on exterior of ware washing machine. Observed exterior soiled. Repeat Violation.”

““Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. Observed multiple coolers and oven not working.”

“Ceiling tile missing. Observed above walk in.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tile shows damage or is in disrepair. Observed throughout kitchen.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance. Observed throughout establishment.”

“Cold holding equipment not maintained in good repair. Do not store time/temperature control for safety food in this unit until the unit is repaired. Observed walk in cooler with ambient temp of 55F, the following TCS foods stored inside for more than 4 hours: cooked chicken (50F - Cold Holding); cooked breaded chicken (49F - Cold Holding); butter (54F - Cold Holding); shredded cabbage (51F - Cold Holding); paneer (50F - Cold Holding); cooked veggies (47F - Cold Holding); raw chicken (33F - Cold Holding); eggs 55F Cold Holding. Technician showed up during end of inspection to work on cooler. Repeat Violation.”

“Cove molding at floor/wall juncture broken/missing. Observed next to cooler at cook line.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 1 dead roach in oven. Observed 1 dead roach in men& woman restroom.”

“Equipment and utensils not properly air-dried - wet nesting. Observed saute; pans on cook line.”

“Equipment in poor repair. Observed torn gaskets in reach in across cook line.”

“Exterior door has a gap at the threshold that opens to the outside. Observed at back door. Repeat Violation.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Observed throughout kitchen.”

“Floor tiles missing and/or in disrepair. Observed in entryway to dry storage closet.”

“Food stored on floor. Observed case of onions on floor of dry storage.”

“Hole in or other damage to wall. Observed in restroom.”

““Hood filter missing from automatic fire suppression/exhaust system. Observed above cook line; missing filters.”

“Ice buildup in reach-in freezer and/or walk-in freezer. Observed in chest freezer. Repeat Violation.”

“In-use ice scoop stored on soiled surface between uses.”

“In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment. Observed between cooler and prep table. Repeat Violation.”

“Interior of oven/microwave has accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris. Observed interior soiled.”

““No Heimlich maneuver/choking sign posted. Observed no choking poster. Repeat Violation.”

““No copy of latest inspection report available. Observed no copy printed. Repeat Violation.”

“No hot running water at mop sink. Observed hot water valve missing.”

“Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. Observed cooler gaskets soiled. Observed exterior of equipment soiled throughout establishment.”

“Old food stuck to clean dishware/utensils.”

“Reach-in cooler interior/shelves have accumulation of soil residues.”

“Reach-in cooler shelves with rust that has pitted the surface. Observed in multiple coolers. Repeat Violation.”

“Ripped/worn tin foil used as shelf cover. Observed under prep table across cook line. **Repeat Violation.”

“Single-service articles improperly stored. Observed on floor outside of kitchen.”

“Stored food not covered. Observed in walk in freezer; multiple foods exposed.”

“Walk-in cooler/freezer shelves with rust that has pitted the surface. Observed on walk in cooler.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed in kitchen.”

“Wet mop not stored in a manner to allow the mop to dry. Observed mop in bucket; not in use.”

El restaurante indio Ashoka, en Pinecrest, recibió 48 infracciones durante la inspección del lunes, entre las que se incluyen un crecimiento similar al moho en el pollo, las verduras, los tomates y las limas; una mosca muerta en el caldo; alimentos conservados a temperaturas inseguras durante más de cuatro horas; cucarachas muertas; pollo crudo almacenado encima de pollo cocinado; y superficies en contacto con los alimentos en condiciones insalubres.

No se trata de una inspección aislada.

Los registros muestran que el restaurante ha sido inspeccionado 13 veces desde febrero de 2024, y que nueve de esas inspecciones requirieron un seguimiento.

Las cuatro inspecciones más recientes dieron lugar a 138 infracciones, con problemas recurrentes relacionados con temperaturas inadecuadas de los alimentos, formaciones similares al moho, higiene y equipos en mal estado, varios de los cuales se señalaron específicamente como infracciones reincidentes.

Sin embargo, no se ordenó el cierre del restaurante.

Alguien tiene que mejorar.

Cuando la gente gasta el dinero que tanto le ha costado ganar para comer fuera, no debería tener que preguntarse si la comida es segura. Los restaurantes deben mejorar, las autoridades reguladoras deben mejorar, y seguiremos denunciándolos cuando no lo hagan.

RESTAURANTE INDIO ASHOKA - PINECREST

PINECREST TOWN CENTER

12663 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY

PINECREST

FECHA DE INSPECCIÓN: 17/8

SE HAN DETECTADO 48 INFRACCIONES

“Envase de medicamentos almacenado de forma inadecuada. Se ha observado un bolígrafo con aguja en la cámara frigorífica”.

“Alimentos con crecimiento similar al moho. Véase “suspender la venta”. Se ha observado 1 envase de verduras con moho. Se ha observado 1 envase de pollo con moho. Se ha observado 1 lata de berenjenas al alcance de la mano al otro lado de la línea de cocción. Se ha observado una bolsa de tomates con moho en la cámara frigorífica. Se ha observado 1 caja de limas con moho. Infracción reiterada.”

“Superficies en contacto con los alimentos no se han desinfectado tras la limpieza, antes de su uso. No utilice equipos ni utensilios que no estén debidamente desinfectados. Se han observado brochetas sucias en el escurridor de platos, sin lavar, enjuagar ni desinfectar.”

Presencia en el establecimiento de pesticidas e insecticidas etiquetados exclusivamente para uso doméstico. Se han observado dos botes de Raid en la cocina. Infracción reiterada.”

“Alimentos crudos de origen animal almacenados encima de alimentos listos para el consumo o sin estar debidamente separados de estos. Se observó pollo crudo almacenado encima de pollo cocinado en la cámara frigorífica. Infracción reiterada.”

“Huevos con cáscara no almacenados a una temperatura ambiente de 45 grados Fahrenheit o menos. Se observó en la cámara frigorífica, con una temperatura ambiente de 55 °F durante más de 4 horas: huevos con cáscara a 55 °F en conservación en frío.”

“Se ha emitido una orden de suspensión de venta debido a que los alimentos no se encontraban en condiciones salubres y en buen estado. Se ha observado un recipiente de caldo con una mosca muerta en su interior.”

“Se ha emitido una orden de suspensión de venta por incumplimiento del control de tiempo y temperatura para la seguridad alimentaria debido a un uso indebido de la temperatura. Se ha observado en la cámara frigorífica, con una temperatura ambiente de 55 °F durante más de 4 horas: huevos con cáscara a 55 °F en conservación en frío. Se observó en la cámara frigorífica, con una temperatura ambiente de 55 °F, pollo cocinado (50 °F – conservación en frío); pollo empanado cocinado (49 °F – conservación en frío); mantequilla (54 °F – conservación en frío); col rallada (51 °F – conservación en frío)

Trump has suggested the massive building be painted as part of his push to remake and beautify the nation’s capital. Planners said the paint job would cost at least $7.5 million.

The proposal to paint the building has alarmed preservationists, architects, historians and others who argue that granite is not meant to be painted and that paint would trap moisture and degrade the stone.

U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich said plaintiffs in an ongoing case had not shown that minimal tests planned for the historic building would cause irreparable harm if those tests go ahead.

The plaintiffs, which include cultural preservationist groups, had sought a restraining order and a temporary injunction to stop the Trump administration from conducting tests and other preparatory work.

At issue was whether that work would get ahead of a larger question before the court over whether the General Services Administration could delegate its authority for such a project to the Executive Office.

“The plaintiffs’ motion rises and falls on irreparable harm,” Friedrich said from the bench. The test areas would include about 8 square feet of the building's massive exterior and several panels that can’t be seen by the public, she said.

Friedrich said that while she was allowing that test to move ahead, she would not hesitate to step in and rule if the administration moved beyond the limited testing. She asked the parties to provide a status report by next Tuesday and ordered regular reports following that.

Gregory Werkheiser, a lawyer with Cultural Heritage Partners and one of the plaintiffs, said that while he and others challenging the painting plan were disappointed, “the reasons we brought this case are untouched by today’s decision.”

The larger issue, he said, is whether “the president has taken power illegally from the GSA and put it in his office in terms of this project and the implications of that. If that holds true for historic properties around the country, that could be devastating.”

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Deputies said they responded around 11:40 a.m. to the Seaquarium after a security guard reported a “burglary in progress.”

According to an arrest report, the securty guard told dispatchers that a man, who deputies identified as 45-year-old Paul Vargas, had arrived on a bicycle and was seen on surveillance cameras.

Deputies said they entered the Seaquarium and, at around 11:55 a.m., found Vargas inside the Golden Dome spray-painting the announcer’s booth before they arrested him.

According to his arrest report, Vargas admitted to “entering the Seaquarium and vandalizing it once inside the structure.”

Deputies said he was arrested and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Jail records show Vargas is facing one count each of burglary of an unoccupied structure and criminal mischief.

As of Tuesday morning, he remained at TGK, where his bond was listed as “to be set.”

Los agentes indicaron que acudieron al Seaquarium alrededor de las 11:40 de la mañana después de que un guardia de seguridad denunciara un «robo en curso».

Según el informe de la detención, el guardia de seguridad comunicó a los operadores que un hombre, al que los agentes identificaron como Paul Vargas, de 45 años, había llegado en bicicleta y había sido captado por las cámaras de vigilancia.

Los agentes indicaron que entraron en el Seaquarium y, alrededor de las 11:55 de la mañana, encontraron a Vargas dentro del Golden Dome pintando con spray la cabina del locutor, tras lo cual lo detuvieron.

Según su informe de detención, Vargas admitió haber “entrado al Seaquarium y haberlo vandalizado una vez dentro del recinto”.

Los agentes indicaron que fue detenido y trasladado al Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Los registros penitenciarios muestran que Vargas se enfrenta a un cargo por allanamiento de un recinto desocupado y a otro por daños criminales.

Hasta el martes por la mañana, permanecía en el TGK, donde su fianza figuraba como “pendiente de fijar”.

Cosmic radiation comes from space. Only a small amount reaches the Earth's surface, but exposure is greater for people flying at high altitudes.

There’s been limited evidence from small studies suggesting that the exposure translates to higher cancer death rates among people who fly often — particularly pilots and flight attendants. The new study “brings important new evidence to bear on this question,” two Australian radiation experts who weren't involved in the research wrote in an accompanying commentary.

The latest study, published Monday by JAMA Internal Medicine, used national data from more than 12 million death certificates that included information about occupations. The authors looked at death rates from cancers that are tied to radiation exposures, including leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and cancers of the skin, breast, thyroid, prostate and central nervous system.

Among more than 500 occupations, flight attendants had the highest percentage of deaths from radiation-related cancers, and pilots were second, the researchers found. For those two occupations, the odds of dying were unusually high for each type of radiation-related cancer.

Neither group showed higher-than-normal death rates from cancers that aren't tied to radiation exposure, noted the commentary writers, Catherine Olsen and Ken Karipidis. That fact “supports the hypothesis that occupational radiation exposure, rather than lifestyle or socioeconomic factors, underlies the observed excess,” they wrote.

The researchers found that flight attendants had about 50% higher odds of dying from a radiation-related cancer than the general working population, and pilots had about 36% higher odds.

In terms of absolute risk, about 6.9% of flight attendant deaths were from these cancers — roughly 1 in 14. Among pilots, it was 6.7%. For the general working population, it was 5%, said the study's first author, Dr. Vishal Patel of Harvard Medical School.

The authors acknowledged some limitations in their study. They do not know how much exposure each flight attendant and pilot got in the air or from other sources. It's also possible occupations were misclassified on some death certificates.

They also could not account for another possible contributor specific to the professions: Cancer risk can be worsened by frequent disruption of the body’s internal clock, which can be affected by jet lag, crossing time zones and irregular work schedules.

The Federal Aviation Administration has acknowledged that aircrews are exposed to ionizing radiation, but the government does not set federal dose limits or require monitoring, the authors noted.

“You can't manage an exposure you've decided not to measure,” Patel said in an email.

Sara Nelson, who leads a union representing 55,000 flight attendants, said the report reinforces that radiation exposure needs to be taken seriously, as the union has suggested for years.

“The risk is known, but crew are not educated or informed. And, no one is taking responsibility,” said Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.

Annual skin examinations may be warranted for all people working on high-altitude flights, and women in those jobs may want to get mammograms earlier or more frequently, Olsen and Karipidis wrote. Doctors who care for pilots and flight attendants also should have a “heightened index of suspicion” for cancer when evaluating these patients, they said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Swalwell resigned from Congress amid sexual assault allegations earlier this year. Regardless of who is chosen to replace him, the 14th Congressional District seat is guaranteed to remain under Democratic control.

Florida's primary will choose candidates to complete the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term in the U.S. Senate. There’s also an open contest to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis, featuring Rep. Byron Donalds on the Republican side and former Rep. David Jolly as a Democrat.

Alaska voters will narrow down a wide field of candidates for a competitive U.S. Senate seat that’s expected to play a pivotal role in determining which political party will hold a majority in the Senate next year. Among the 16 candidates running in the all-party primary, the most notable are Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The top four vote-getters will advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation and the winner in November will be determined by ranked choice voting.

An unusually high number of open-seat races are on the ballot in Wyoming's primary after two prominent Republican officials announced their retirements. The upcoming departures of Gov. Mark Gordon and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, along with U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman’s decision to run to replace Lummis, mark the first time in 32 years that Wyoming has had open seats for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House at the same time.

Wyoming GOP Senate race includes Hageman and 4 little-known candidates

The five Republicans competing to become Wyoming’s next U.S. senator include one with an overwhelming funding and name recognition advantage: Harriet Hageman.

Hageman seeks the GOP nomination after two terms as Wyoming’s representative in the U.S. House.

Through July, Hageman had over $900,000 still available to spend on her campaign, eight times more than the funding runner-up in the GOP race, rancher and business owner Sam Mead.

Former oil field services business owner Jimmy Skovgard had $3,200. The Federal Election Commission had no campaign finance records online for the other two Republican candidates — massage therapist Jill Edwards and U.S. Air Force veteran and attorney John Holtz.

Former state legislator Jim Byrd, one of two Democrats seeking the party’s nomination, had about $350 cash on hand, according to the FEC.

The winner will succeed Republican U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who is retiring.

Republican incumbent faces independent newcomer for Alaska’s only House seat

Independent commercial fisherman Bill Hill is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich in the race for Alaska’s only House seat.

Hill, a former educator, has focused on issues such as affordability and reining in the influence of ultra-wealthy people and special interests in politics. Hill lives in a fishing community of about 425 people in southwest Alaska, where goods are brought in by plane or barge.

In July, the highest-profile Democrat in the race, pastor Matt Schultz, suspended his campaign and urged voters to back Hill.

No other candidates in the crowded race have reported raising money. Begich has been endorsed by Trump.

Race to replace Swalwell reflects Democratic divide

The special general election pits California state Sen. Aisha Wahab, a progressive who’s championed housing issues, against San Francisco Bay Area transit leader Melissa Hernandez, a moderate who’s made cracking down on crime central to her campaign.

Hernandez, who is raising more money, has accused her rival of being too soft on crime, which Wahab denies. Wahab, who won the June primary decisively, says she’s better positioned to fight against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Democrats look for any foothold they can get in Florida

A generation ago, Florida decided a presidential race by mere hundreds of votes and court fights that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet Democrats haven’t won a presidential race, Senate contest or gubernatorial election there since 2012.

It’s gotten so dire for the party that they’re expected, for the second governor’s race in a row, to nominate a former Republican. The leading candidate this time is former Rep. David Jolly, a critic of President Donald Trump who joined Democrats in 2025 after shifting his position on abortion and the Affordable Care Act.

That kind of move didn’t work four years ago, though. Former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist won the nomination and got trounced by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Alaska has an unusual way of selecting its officeholders

Alaska has open primaries, meaning all candidates are listed on one ballot. It uses ranked choice voting in general elections.

In each race in the primary, voters get one pick. The four candidates with the most votes advance to the November election, where voters can choose to rank the candidates in order of preference. The top races on the ballot — for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and governor — each feature more than a dozen candidates. Few races for state legislative seats have more than four candidates running in Tuesday’s primary.

Alaska voters approved this system in 2020, which supporters say lends itself to more moderate candidates, and it was first used in 2022. There have been several efforts to repeal it, including one heading to the November ballot.

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Despite two healthy tropical disturbances in the deep Atlantic last week —designated Invest 92L and Invest 94L — that flirted with becoming our next tropical cyclones, both systems ultimately fell flat in the face of relentless wind shear tearing through the central Atlantic and Caribbean.

It’s unusual for a system to have as lofty development odds at 92L did late last week, (80% odds of developing last Thursday) and ultimately fall flat, but that’s the kind of season it’s been so far for otherwise healthy-looking tropical waves moving across the typical tropical storm and hurricane conveyor belt between Africa and the Caribbean.

While we’ve had three named storms so far in 2026, they’ve all been weak and very short-lived. Assuming we get through the week without any development as expected, this will be the least active start to an Atlantic hurricane season in almost 40 years (since 1988).

El Niño is beating up on the Atlantic hurricane season. And not just any old El Niño mind you but one that’s on pace to be the strongest El Niño in perhaps a quarter millennium — one that no one alive has ever lived through.

El Niño and its counterpart La Niña have arguably the biggest known influence on global weather patterns on an interannual basis (between years), so we can be sure to see some extreme weather events this year as a result (for example, here in South Florida we can expect an exceptionally rainy winter ahead).

For the Atlantic hurricane season, the extreme result of the powerful El Niño is a net positive for those of us living at the end of hurricane alley.

Wind shear across the western Atlantic is the highest on record and that’s not expected to abate anytime soon, so even systems that appear initially healthy will have a hard time punching through the wall of wind shear that’s enveloped areas around the Americas and Caribbean.

As we’ve covered extensively in this newsletter, the better chances of a system slipping through the El Niño cracks will come from disturbances originating in the waters closer to the U.S. or in the subtropical waters east of Florida and north of the Caribbean.

For now, though, El Niño is taming the late August beast in the Atlantic that usually rears its ugly head this time of year.

If long-range models are correct, the next shot at development in the deep tropics won’t come until we approach the end of the month (toward the end of next week) with a wave moving off Africa and into the Atlantic.

If recent history is indication, however, it’ll have a long road ahead of it to become the first hurricane of the season.

A pesar de dos perturbaciones tropicales saludables en el Atlántico profundo la semana pasada —designadas Invest 92L e Invest 94L— que estuvieron cerca de convertirse en nuestros próximos ciclones tropicales, ambos sistemas finalmente fracasaron ante la persistente cizalladura del viento que azota el Atlántico central y el Caribe.

Es inusual que un sistema tenga probabilidades de desarrollo tan altas como las que tuvo 92L a finales de la semana pasada, (80% de probabilidades de desarrollo el jueves pasado) y finalmente fracase, pero ese ha sido el tipo de temporada que hemos tenido hasta ahora para las ondas tropicales que, por lo demás, lucen saludables mientras avanzan por el corredor habitual de tormentas tropicales y huracanes entre África y el Caribe.

Aunque hemos tenido tres tormentas con nombre hasta ahora en 2026, todas han sido débiles y de muy corta duración. Suponiendo que pasemos la semana sin ningún desarrollo, como se espera, este será el inicio menos activo de una temporada de huracanes del Atlántico en casi 40 años (desde 1988).

El Niño está afectando a la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico. Y no cualquier El niño, sino uno que va camino a ser el más fuerte en quizás un cuarto de milenio —uno que nadie que esté vivo ha experimentado.

El Niño y su contraparte La Niña posiblemente tienen la mayor influencia conocida en los patrones climáticos globales de un año a otro, por lo que podemos estar seguros de que veremos algunos fenómenos meteorológicos extremos este año como resultado (por ejemplo, aquí en el sur de Florida podemos esperar un invierno excepcionalmente lluvioso).

Para la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico, el resultado extremo del poderoso El Niño es un aspecto positivo para quienes vivimos al final del corredor de huracanes.

La cizalladura del viento en el Atlántico occidental está en su nivel más alto registrado y no se espera que disminuya pronto, por lo que incluso los sistemas que inicialmente parecen saludables tendrán dificultades para atravesar el muro de cizalladura del viento que ha cubierto áreas alrededor de las Américas y el Caribe.

Como hemos cubierto ampliamente en este boletín, las mejores posibilidades de que un sistema logre atravesar las grietas de El Niño vendrán de perturbaciones que se originen en aguas cercanas a Estados Unidos o en las aguas subtropicales al este de Florida y al norte del Caribe.

Por ahora, sin embargo, El Niño está calmando a la bestia de finales de agosto en el Atlántico que normalmente muestra su lado desagradable en esta época del año.

Si los modelos a largo plazo están en lo correcto, la próxima oportunidad de desarrollo en los trópicos profundos no llegará hasta que nos acerquemos al final del mes (hacia finales de la próxima semana), con una onda que se desplace desde África hacia el Atlántico.

Sin embargo, si la historia reciente sirve de indicio, tendrá un largo camino por delante para convertirse en el primer huracán de la temporada.

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The U.S. Census reported in 2024 that the district is home to about 788,713 people. It covers about 119 square miles in Miami-Dade County, according to the Census Reporter.

Republican primary

The ballot includes two candidates: The incumbent and a challenger.

U.S. REP. MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR

Salazar, 64, a retired broadcast journalist and author with degrees from Harvard and the University of Miami, is seeking re-election.

Salazar, whose parents are Cuban, won the seat in 2020 after defeating Democratic incumbent Donna Shalala, a former Secretary of Health and Human Services, and took office in 2021.

Salazar is loyal to President Donald Trump, but sided with Democrats who want the Trump administration to extend the temporary protected status of Haitians and Venezuelans. She co-authored the Dignity Act to speed up asylum processing.

Salazar’s victories include the Take It Down Act to criminalize the nonconsensual sharing of authentic or AI-generated intimate images, and working with Democrats on the Dispose Act to stop fentanyl before it crosses the border.

VINCENT MICHAEL ARIAS

Arias, 68, a Coral Gables-based attorney, is challenging Salazar in the Republican primary.

Arias is a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorney and a former assistant state attorney in Orlando.

Democratic primary

The ballot includes two candidates.

ROBIN PEGUERO

Peguero, 40, an attorney and author, grew up in Hialeah to parents from the Dominican Republic and Ecuador who served in the U.S. Army.

Peguero graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and served as a federal prosecutor and as investigative counsel on the House Select Committee of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

ELIOTT RODRIGUEZ

Rodriguez, who was born in New York to Cuban parents, is a retired veteran broadcast journalist and father of two.

Rodriguez, a University of Miami graduate, has a long career that includes WPLG-Local 10 News and CBS News Miami.

VOTER GUIDE: Here is how to prepare for Florida’s Aug. 18 primary election

The NSO made its delayed 2026-27 season announcement Tuesday, 5 1/2 weeks before its opening concert on Sept. 26 and five months later than the release of its 2025-26 schedule.

The Kennedy Center, named by Congress after President John F. Kennedy, was taken over in 2025 by a board of Trump loyalists who added his name to the complex, only to be ordered to remove it by a federal judge. The board said last week it intends to close the complex for a two-year renovation and add Trump's name to the building’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”

NSO tickets sales declined from 72% of capacity in 2024 to 58% in 2025 to 41% last season, The Washington Post reported. The NSO did not confirm the figures.

“For us to perform and to be somehow disconnected with the Kennedy Center probably will convince some of the audience who stayed away from the center to come back to our concerts, and not only that, even to increase the number of the audience,” music director Gianandrea Noseda said in an interview with The Associated Press. “At least this is my hope.”

Noseda was the only NSO official who commented on the record about the season announcement. Trump's name was included twice in the joint statement by the NSO and the Kennedy Center, which cited his “strategic direction” as Kennedy Center chair and “vision for a revitalized institution.”

Entering his 10th season as music director, Noseda is signed through the NSO’s 100th anniversary season in 2030-31.

Tickets go on sale Aug. 28, leaving little time to start rebuilding an audience.

There are 64 scheduled NSO classical concerts in the upcoming season, including 56 in the D.C. area and eight on a U.S. tour from April 20-30. The total matches 2025-26, when there were 62 at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall and two on tour.

Next season will include 24 concerts at George Washington's Lisner Auditorium in D.C. (1,350 available seats), 13 at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland, (1,925), nine at Northern Virginia Community College's Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center in Alexandria (900), eight at George Mason's Center for the Arts in Fairfax, Virginia, (1,850), and two each at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park (1,050) and D.C.'s Lincoln Theatre (1,150).

“We’ll increase the ability of the orchestra to adjust very quickly to the acoustics. I’d like to think of this year of the National Symphony Orchestra as a regional touring orchestra,” Noseda said. “So we will be on tour and we will take and bring the music where the people are instead of inviting them to where we perform.”

Capacity of the venues will be below that of the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall, which had up to 2,465 available seats.

The orchestra still intends to rehearse at the Kennedy Center during the reconstruction and keep its office and music library there.

Noseda will conduct 20 concerts at five of the venues during his 10 weeks in the D.C. area starting with a gala Sept. 26 at Strathmore, and he also will lead the tour performances. He said just two of his programs were changed from his original plans, substituting Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 5 for Gioachino Rossini’s “William Tell” overture and one Ottorino Respighi composition for another, both to account for a smaller stage that could accommodate fewer musicians.

Five holiday performances of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” are the only concerts that require a chorus.

“I honestly would have preferred not to go through this, but the situation is the way it is and we have to be proactive,” Noseda said.

If the schools don't complete a review and terminate any arrangements deemed problematic within the next two weeks, they face losing funding. The goal is to protect taxpayer-funded research from theft and exploitation, the Pentagon said Monday.

“The Department of War has zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security,” Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, said in a news release.

The release didn't name the schools, but a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters said they include Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University.

The schools didn't immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Sarah Spreitzer, vice president at the American Council on Education, which represents college and university presidents, raised concerns that the announcement suggests, without any evidence, that the schools are engaged in wrongdoing.

The order comes after the Pentagon last month released an updated list of 130 foreign institutions it accused of engaging in “activities that increase the likelihood of U.S. government-funded research and development efforts being misappropriated.”

While the vast majority were Chinese, such as the University of Science and Technology of China and the country's Academy of Military Medical Sciences, several Iranian and Russian institutions also appeared on the list.

The first version of the list was developed during Trump's first term, with the help of the American Council on Education, Spreitzer said.

She said most of the council's member institutions moved away from research partnerships with those institutions in the years that followed. She said she worries U.S. schools will be held liable for partnerships that predate the creation of the list.

“We don’t appreciate the implication that we are not good partners on research security, given that we helped create this list, and given that we’ve always partnered with the federal government when there has been national security concerns,” she said.

The audit comes as the Trump administration continues to express deep concern about China’s activities in the Americas, pushing back on Chinese ownership of ports at either end of the Panama Canal, infrastructure projects funded by China’s Belt and Road initiative in the region and Chinese investment in the telecommunications sector.

The Justice Department also is investigating whether Harvard University is allowing Chinese donors to create scholarships that exclude American students, adding to the barrage of federal inquiries the Trump administration has opened in its battle against the Ivy League school.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said in a statement that the country opposes what it described as the politicization of “normal scientific, educational, and academic exchanges.”

“The U.S. side,” the statement continued, “should abandon the Cold War mentality and foster an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for educational, scientific, and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States.” ___

Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.

___

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

The last leg of what is being billed as their farewell tour kicks off in September in Los Angeles and what likely will be an emotional homecoming is at the end of it — in San Francisco in November.

“I’m sure it’s going to be somewhat emotional because that’s where it all started,” says co-founder and lead guitarist Neal Schon. “I know the audience is going to be off the hook.”

The band has plenty of dates before that finale, with stops in Phoenix, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Cleveland, Denver and Las Vegas, among others.

The tour's last show in San Francisco will cap more than 100 concerts this year, and the band frequently plays for more than two hours, adding deep cuts — like the spacy, melodic “Of a Lifetime” from the early ‘70s and songs from the album “Raised on Radio” from the ’80s — to the reliable hits, like “Faithfully.”

“I’m loving it because it’s the type of show I’ve been wanting to do with Journey,” says Schon, who is frustrated when the band is lumped in with other '80s bands like REO Speedwagon, Styx or Foreigner.

“I always felt like even though all those bands have contributed something that a lot of people like, we were much different. I thought musically we could go any place that we wanted to. And so now we’re doing that, finally.”

Expect hits and album tunes alike

Journey has had six Top 10 hits on the Billboard singles chart — including “Open Arms” and “Who’s Crying Now” — and eight albums in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, including the 1981 No. 1 “Escape.”

Fans can expect to hear those hits as well as Journey's enduring anthem, “Don’t Stop Believin,’” which Schon wrote with keyboardist Jonathan Cain and then-lead singer Steve Perry.

It has shown up in the Broadway show “Rock of Ages,” the cut-to-black finale of “The Sopranos,” the TV show “Glee,” Brad Pitt’s “Moneyball,” the movie “Monster” and the Democratic National Convention roll call in 2024. Journey returns to the road this fall after a summer in which “Don’t Stop Believin’” was heard at the World Cup and as the New York Knicks won the NBA crown.

“'Don’t Stop Believin’' has surpassed our expectations,” says Cain. “Every band wishes they had one and we have one. So, I guess that’s our ‘Hey Jude’ calling card. So we’ll take it.”

In addition to Schon and Cain, the current Journey lineup includes singer Arnel Pineda, keyboardist Jason Derlatka, drummer Deen Castronovo and bassist Todd Jensen. Cain, Derlatka and Castronovo pick up the mic to give Pineda a break on some songs.

Band members say they look out and see five generations attending their shows. “I like to say Journey is certain music in uncertain times,” Cain says. “Journey is a soundtrack to a lot of people’s lives.”

Future is uncertain for band members

The band, born in San Francisco in the days of vinyl, have endured through huge changes in the music business — CDs, Napster, digital and streaming. Schon, who cut his teeth playing with Carlos Santana, remembers Journey in the early days opening for Kiss, Jeff Beck and Cheech and Chong

Touring seems to be the only way for most bands to make any money since each streaming song earns them a fraction of a penny. Journey has leaned into the tour, sometimes hitting three cities in one day.

“I feel bad for the new generation,” says Cain. “I remember when I got a big old fat royalty check and they were playing our songs on the radio and that a new album meant you would sell more tickets. Not so today.”

The end point — Nov. 28 at the Chase Center — looms, but the band isn't sure what that night will include. “It’ll be fitting to end there for sure,” says Cain. “Who knows who’s going to show up? I don’t know. There might be a reunion of sorts, I hope.”

After that, the band isn't certain. “The future kind of remains up in the air really,” says Cain. Schon agrees but isn't ready to make predictions.

“I’m not nearly done with what I want to do,” he says. “I think there’s many great opportunities in the future. Whether or not it’s with everybody that’s here right now, I’m not certain.”

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Four Republicans are seeking the nomination in the deep-blue district.

Democratic candidates include rap music executive and free speech activist Luther Campbell, former Broward mayor and commissioner Dale Holness, community organizer Elijah Manley and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is changing districts after the redraw.

And then there is the embattled incumbent seeking to make a comeback — former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick— who resigned ahead of a House Ethics Committee expulsion threat in the wake of her indictment, accused of stealing federal funds. She denies wrongdoing.

On the Republican side: Brent Andersen is a Pompano Beach resident and businessman fighting for lower costs and economic opportunity for District 20 families. Lateresa “La” Jones is the founder of “Grandmas for the Generations” — a grassroots organization helping families defend children. Dr. Rod Joseph is a U.S. Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient with 20 years served in the military. Carla Spalding is a U.S. Navy veteran who also has longtime experience in nursing.

The officials said the Trump administration has told Oman it is opposed to parts of the yet-to-be-announced deal, including the joint Iranian and Omani management of the exit route out of the passage that’s critical to global supplies of oil and natural gas. The officials were briefed on the U.S. position and how the administration views Oman's position.

Meanwhile, a projectile hit a ship as it sailed out of the strait, according to the British military's maritime monitoring agency, and an Iranian official said the waterway would not reopen until the United States meets Iran’s conditions.

US believes Oman has not been tough enough with Iran

The U.S. believes Oman has not been tough enough in its negotiations with Iran and is unhappy with Oman’s agreement to collect voluntary fees from vessels, even if the charges are related to security and maritime environmental protection, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman as it works with Iran on a deal to open the strait and pave the way for the U.S. and Iran to resume negotiations to end the war.

He posted a map on social media Tuesday depicting the strait as a U.S. territory. The president first mentioned the idea in an offhand comment last week. On Monday, he told reporters in the Oval Office, “I like the idea of declaring it a territory,” without providing details.

The White House on Tuesday referred to Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office and declined to comment further about Oman.

Iran refers to Trump's ‘delusion’ about the strait

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi appeared to respond to Trump’s post on social media depicting the strait as American territory.

“Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will soon either be corrected, or we will correct this deluded man’s delusions for him,” Gharibabadi wrote on X.

Trump's comment on Monday was not the first time he has threatened Oman. In May, he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting that Oman “will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”

Iran reiterated Tuesday that Tehran plans to maintain its grip on shipping traffic until Washington meets its conditions.

“Until the United States fulfills its commitments under the agreement, including lifting the blockade, releasing frozen assets, lifting oil sanctions, ending threats and military operations on all fronts, and implementing the other conditions to which it committed, the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen,” said Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and negotiator in previous talks with the U.S.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Iranian-Omani deal could pave the way for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations for a “comprehensive and permanent deal that addresses all concerns and enhances regional security and stability."

The statement came after a meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Omani counterpart Badr al-Busaidi. But it did not address Trump’s latest threat against Oman.

President insists strait is open as more attacks are reported

Trump said Tuesday the U.S. has no planned talks with Iran but insisted the strait is “open and operating,” despite limited traffic, the reported boat strike and the end on Monday of the 60-day negotiating period between the countries.

Trump wrote on social media that a U.S. blockade of the strait remains “in full force and effect,” adding that all water mines have been removed.

As the talks between Iran and Oman continue, more attacks were reported in the region.

An unidentified projectile hit a ship early Tuesday in the strait off the coast of Oman, damaging the engine room and causing a casualty, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations center.

The monitoring agency did not release any details about the ship or its cargo, and it was unclear whether the crew member was killed or wounded. The agency said the Omani Coast Guard was assisting other crew members and that authorities were investigating.

And Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed they fired drones at an oil refinery in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the latest attack that threatened to reignite Yemen’s civil war and open another front in the Middle East.

The attack targeted a facility run by Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, according to a report by the Houthi-run SABA news agency. There were no immediate reports of damage or comment from Saudi Arabia.

But this year's Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, one of the two main drills conducted by the allies annually, could be disrupted after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered his Pentagon chief to “substantially” scale it back just before its start Monday.

He cited what he said was a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s refusal to join the U.S. war against Iran. It was unclear what parts of the 11-day exercise were being cut and to what extent, but many experts say Trump's move threatens to hurt combined U.S.-South Korean readiness and eventually weaken their decades-long alliance.

The exercise is central to the US-South Korea alliance

The Ulchi Freedom Shield, or UFS, is a computer-simulated tabletop exercise meant to hone the allies' ability to deal with potential regional security threats like North Korean aggression. The two countries usually hold field training exercises during the tabletop exercise period.

South Korea's military had earlier said this year's exercise would be similar in scale to previous years, with the participation of about 18,000 South Korean soldiers. The U.S. military said it would incorporate lessons from recent conflicts such as North Korea’s battlefield experiences on the Russia-Ukraine front. Local media reported South Korea and the U.S. had planned 14 field training exercises.

The UFS, along with a similar joint war game in the spring, is a central pillar of the U.S. -South Korea alliance, which dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War. But it's also a long-running source of tensions with North Korea, which has denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for war and responded with provocative missile tests.

Last Friday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. and South Korea of plotting more provocative drills this year and vowed to respond with “a new level of a deterrent.” The U.S. and South Korea have said their regular drills are defensive in nature.

Field training will likely be affected by Trump's decision

In a social media post, Trump called the exercise costly, "with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America.” During his first term, Trump complained about the cost of drills with South Korea, suspending joint exercises in 2018 to advance now-stalled nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, visited South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back on Tuesday for talks likely focusing on the adjustment of this year’s drills, according to media reports. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it couldn’t confirm the report.

Yang Uk, an analyst at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the U.S. will likely participate in the tabletop exercise but cancel “some costly field training that requires large-scale movements of troops."

Yang said that a downsizing or suspension of military drills matters because commanders of the allies change periodically. He said a one-year suspension of drills would see commanders unfamiliar with procedures of those drills taking part when they resume.

Trump's move could strain the US-South Korea alliance

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said Trump’s step could result in the U.S. downsizing other regular drills with South Korea, posing “a big, crippling blow” to their joint operation posture.

Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network, said downsizing the exercise will likely delay the planned transfer to a system in which wartime operational control would be exercised by a binational command led by a South Korean general.

Under the current system, the U.S. military would command joint forces in the event of war.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries had earlier said the exercise would be an opportunity to support preparations for the transfer. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday stressed the need to complete the transition during his term that ends in 2030.

Many South Koreans view the transition to South Korean leadership of the combined forces in wartime to be a matter of national sovereignty, but others worry that could weaken the alliance.

The British government is backing the landmark airspace-scale trial, launched Tuesday, to avoid creating condensation trails, or contrails. Google UK is contributing its artificial intelligence-powered forecasts to identify the contrail regions.

When airplanes fly through cold and humid areas, ice crystals can form around the soot particles emitted from the engine, creating clouds that trap heat and warm the planet. The Shanwick Oceanic Control Area in the eastern half of the North Atlantic corridor, the location of the trial, is a busy gateway for air traffic between Europe and North America. It's also a hot spot for where contrails form.

The 30-month research program known as Operation Blue Skies includes test periods this winter and next, when air traffic controllers will tell some flights to deviate up to 2,000 feet (610 meters) to avoid areas where contrails are likely to form. These will be minor altitude adjustments within standard flight operations, coordinated through established air traffic control communication channels, according to the British government.

There will be about 20 to 40 test days per winter, when there is less air traffic. Around 10,000 flights are expected to pass through the Shanwick airspace during the testing. Hundreds of those flights would deviate their routes. That 1 % to 5% would be enough to demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in contrail formation on an airspace-scale, said Paul Hodgson, Google's technical lead for Operation Blue Skies.

Individual airlines have tested shifting altitudes to avoid contrail regions. Earlier this year, Google and American Airlines announced that the airline significantly reduced the climate impact of some flights using Google’s AI-based forecasting tool to help prevent contrails.

This new effort expands on individual airline trials to try mitigating contrails across an entire flight corridor.

The thin, white lines that form behind airplanes are responsible for a surprising amount of Earth’s warming — 1% to 2%, according to Contrails.org, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to reducing aviation’s climate impact through contrail management, as part of the Breakthrough Energy group founded by Bill Gates. Modeling shows that the Shanwick airspace accounts for about 5% of the total contributed by contrails, with a significant amount occurring during winter.

Keir Mather, the UK minister responsible for aviation, said the government is partnering with Google to back British experts and innovators to find practical ways to make flying cleaner. The government is paying for more than half of the 5 million pound ($6.76 million) study.

Google called contrails one of the most urgent yet solvable climate challenges facing aviation today.

Hodgson said testing over an airspace, versus individual airline trials, can show how it's possible to move multiple planes away simultaneously from an area where contrails will form, and can show if contrails can be reduced overall for a region. This could provide a blueprint for similar airspaces, he added.

Along with Google and the UK Department for Transport, the consortium includes the Met Office, the UK’s leading air navigation service provider NATS, Contrails.org, Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge.

An Imperial College London study in 2020 found that small changes to flight paths could reduce the climate impact of contrails. Professor Marc Stettler said Operation Blue Skies is a chance to test that idea in the real world, on a scale never seen before.

___

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.

En una publicación en X, Uthmeier afirmó que la detención se llevó a cabo con la «ayuda sustancial» del Departamento de Policía de Florida y de las fuerzas del orden locales.

Caruso, de 67 años, se presenta a la reelección para mantener el cargo más alto del condado al que le nombró el gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, el pasado mes de agosto. Dado que no tiene ningún rival republicano, su nombre no aparecerá en las papeletas de las primarias del martes.

Uthmeier afirmó que la investigación sobre el caso de abuso sexual infantil «sigue en curso».

La Oficina del Secretario Judicial del condado de Palm Beach emitió este comunicado a Local 10 News tras la detención de Caruso:

“Esta mañana se nos ha comunicado que el secretario Mike Caruso ha sido detenido por delitos graves. Estamos a la espera de recibir más información de la oficina del gobernador sobre los próximos pasos a seguir.

Aunque se trata de una noticia sorprendente para todo nuestro equipo, esto no cambia quiénes somos en la oficina del secretario ni nuestro compromiso con la comunidad y los ciudadanos a los que prestamos servicio.

Durante décadas, la oficina del secretario del condado de Palm Beach ha sido sinónimo de profesionalidad y de un servicio excepcional para nuestros clientes. Ese compromiso sigue vigente para cada uno de nuestros 650 trabajadores".

Esta es una historia en desarrollo. Sigue Local 10 News o actualiza la página para conocer los últimos detalles.

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Moody was Florida’s attorney general before being appointed to the seat in 2025 after her predecessor, Marco Rubio, was confirmed as U.S. secretary of state.

She’s touting accomplishments during her time in the seat, including rolling back regulations to help Florida’s citrus industry and bringing in billions of dollars in disaster relief.

She is facing three Republican challengers: Chris Gleason, a U.S. Army veteran and data forensics expert who says he has experience “exposing corruption and fraud;” physician Neelam Taneja Perry, who says she’s “fighting for the rights of the people”; and Pastor Ernie Rivera, who says his background in finance and as a licensed housing manager could help curb South Florida’s affordability problems.

State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, is a six-year state lawmaker and a Florida native. She says she will fight to make life more affordable for all Floridians, saying the economy should work for everyone.

Her campaign cornerstone is putting people over politics and profit.

Alex Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, moved to Florida with his wife and daughter three years ago. He was wounded in Iraq and received a Purple Heart and is known for testifying during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.

He said his campaign is promising to rekindle the American dream for Floridians, with a spotlight on affordability — from making sure buying a home is attainable to driving down health care costs.

Moody fue fiscal general de Florida antes de ser designada para el escaño en 2025, después de que su predecesor, Marco Rubio, fuera confirmado como secretario de Estado de EE. UU.

Ella destaca logros durante su tiempo en el cargo, entre ellos la eliminación de regulaciones para ayudar a la industria de cítricos de Florida y la obtención de miles de millones de dólares en ayuda para desastres.

Enfrenta a tres rivales republicanos: Chris Gleason, veterano del Ejército de EE. UU. y experto en análisis forense de datos que dice tener experiencia “exponiendo corrupción y fraude”; la médica Neelam Taneja Perry, quien dice estar “luchando por los derechos de la gente”; y el pastor Ernie Rivera, quien dice que su experiencia en finanzas y como administrador de viviendas con licencia podría ayudar a reducir los problemas de asequibilidad del sur de Florida.

La representante estatal Angie Nixon, demócrata por Jacksonville, es legisladora estatal desde hace seis años y oriunda de Florida. Dice que luchará para hacer que la vida sea más asequible para todos los floridanos, afirmando que la economía debería funcionar para todos.

La piedra angular de su campaña es poner a las personas por encima de la política y las ganancias.

Alex Vindman, un teniente coronel retirado del Ejército, se mudó a Florida con su esposa y su hija hace tres años. Fue herido en Irak y recibió un Corazón Púrpura, y es conocido por testificar durante el primer juicio político del presidente Donald Trump.

Dijo que su campaña promete reavivar el sueño americano para los floridanos, con un enfoque en la asequibilidad, desde garantizar que comprar una vivienda sea posible hasta reducir los costos de atención médica.

Dijeron que las imágenes de las cámaras de seguridad muestran el accidente en los apartamentos Aliro, cerca de la calle Northeast 142 y la avenida 18.

Equipos del Cuerpo de Bomberos y Rescate de Miami-Dade acudieron al lugar de los hechos.

A pesar de los daños, no se han registrado heridos.

La policía ha informado de que el conductor menor de edad y una segunda persona huyeron inicialmente del lugar, pero el conductor fue detenido poco después.

Aún se desconoce qué provocó que el conductor perdiera el control y se estrellara.

Se están investigando las circunstancias que rodean el incidente.

El incidente ocurrió en Northwest 38th Street, cerca de 33rd Avenue, en una zona industrial cerca del vecindario Allapattah de Miami.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, dos hombres estaban en una “disputa” cuando uno sacó un arma y le disparó al otro.

La víctima fue trasladada al Ryder Trauma Center del Jackson Memorial Hospital. Los agentes no dieron más detalles sobre su condición.

El detective Argemis Colome, portavoz de la MDSO, dijo que el sospechoso “huyó de la escena antes de la llegada de los agentes”.

“Los detectives están investigando activamente las circunstancias que rodearon el incidente”, dijo Colome.

Cualquier información sobre el tiroteo llamar a Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-TIPS.

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With Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis unable to seek another consecutive term because of term limits, the race has attracted a crowded field of candidates hoping to succeed him.

On the Republican side, 11 candidates are seeking the nomination, while six candidates are competing in the Democratic primary.

Donalds leads crowded Republican field

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds has emerged as the frontrunner in the Republican primary.

Donalds represents Florida’s 19th Congressional District, which includes portions of Southwest Florida, including Fort Myers, Naples, Bonita Springs and Cape Coral.

Recent polling has shown Donalds with a substantial advantage over his Republican rivals. A July poll conducted for Associated Industries of Florida found Donalds leading the GOP field by 46 percentage points. Other polling tracked by The New York Times has also shown Donalds out front.

Among his challengers are Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner and political newcomer James Fishback.

Also seeking the Republican nomination are Jim Holcomb, Arthur McCaffrey, Daniel Nokovich, Rachel Rodriguez, James Shaw, Caneste Succe and Bobby Williams.

One of the biggest controversies of the Republican primary came over plans for a gubernatorial debate at the Florida GOP’s Sunshine State Showdown.

The Republican Party of Florida said Donalds was the only candidate who met the polling requirements to qualify for the debate, prompting criticism from Collins, Renner and Fishback. DeSantis also took issue with the decision.

Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power told Local 10’s Glenna Milberg on “This Week in South Florida” that the candidates had agreed to the debate criteria before launching their campaigns. Some of the candidates disputed that characterization.

Jolly leads Democratic primary

Six candidates are competing for the Democratic nomination, with former U.S. Rep. David Jolly as the frontrunner in recent polling.

Jolly, a former Republican congressman who represented a Tampa Bay-area district, has named former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham as his running mate for lieutenant governor.

Polling has put Jolly ahead of the rest of the Democratic field as voters prepare to make their choice Tuesday.

State Rep. Dotie Joseph is also seeking the nomination. Joseph represents House District 108, which includes portions of North Miami, Little Haiti, Wynwood and El Portal.

Fort Lauderdale native Dayna Marie Foster, a high school math teacher, is also in the race and has sought support from younger progressive voters.

Evelyn Castillo-Bach, Thomas Fernandez and Stephann Norman round out the six-person Democratic field.

Winners advance to November

Florida is a closed-primary state, meaning voters generally must be registered with a political party to participate in that party’s primary.

The winners of Tuesday’s Republican and Democratic contests will advance to the November general election as Florida voters decide who will succeed DeSantis and become the state’s next governor.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m.

Con el gobernador republicano Ron DeSantis imposibilitado de buscar otro mandato consecutivo debido a los límites de mandato, la contienda ha atraído a un amplio grupo de candidatos que esperan sucederlo.

Por el lado republicano, 11 candidatos buscan la nominación, mientras que seis candidatos compiten en las primarias demócratas.

Donalds lidera amplio campo republicano

El representante federal Byron Donalds se ha convertido en el favorito en las primarias republicanas.

Donalds representa al Distrito 19 del Congreso de Florida, que incluye partes del suroeste de Florida, entre ellas Fort Myers, Naples, Bonita Springs y Cape Coral.

Encuestas recientes han mostrado a Donalds con una ventaja considerable sobre sus rivales republicanos. Una encuesta de julio realizada para Associated Industries of Florida mostró a Donalds liderando el campo republicano por 46 puntos porcentuales. Otras encuestas registradas por The New York Times también han mostrado a Donalds al frente.

Entre sus rivales están el vicegobernador de Florida Jay Collins, el ex presidente de la Cámara de Representantes de Florida Paul Renner y el recién llegado a la política James Fishback.

También buscan la nominación republicana Jim Holcomb, Arthur McCaffrey, Daniel Nokovich, Rachel Rodriguez, James Shaw, Caneste Succe y Bobby Williams.

Una de las mayores controversias de las primarias republicanas surgió por los planes para un debate para gobernador en el Sunshine State Showdown del Partido Republicano de Florida.

El Partido Republicano de Florida dijo que Donalds era el único candidato que cumplía con los requisitos de las encuestas para calificar para el debate, lo que provocó críticas de Collins, Renner y Fishback. DeSantis también cuestionó la decisión.

El presidente del Partido Republicano de Florida, Evan Power, dijo a Glenna Milberg, de Local 10, en “This Week in South Florida” que los candidatos habían acordado los criterios del debate antes de lanzar sus campañas. Algunos de los candidatos cuestionaron esa caracterización.

Jolly lidera las primarias demócratas

Seis candidatos compiten por la nominación demócrata, con el ex representante federal David Jolly como favorito en las encuestas recientes.

Jolly, un ex congresista republicano que representó a un distrito del área de Tampa Bay, nombró a la ex representante federal Gwen Graham como su compañera de fórmula para vicegobernadora.

Las encuestas han colocado a Jolly por delante del resto del campo demócrata mientras los votantes se preparan para tomar su decisión el martes.

La representante estatal Dotie Joseph también busca la nominación. Joseph representa al Distrito 108 de la Cámara de Representantes, que incluye partes de North Miami, Little Haiti, Wynwood y El Portal.

Dayna Marie Foster, oriunda de Fort Lauderdale y maestra de matemáticas de secundaria, también está en la contienda y ha buscado el apoyo de votantes progresistas más jóvenes.

Evelyn Castillo-Bach, Thomas Fernandez y Stephann Norman completan el campo demócrata de seis candidatos.

Ganadores avanzan a noviembre

Florida es un estado con primarias cerradas, lo que significa que, por lo general, los votantes deben estar registrados con un partido político para participar en las primarias de ese partido.

Los ganadores de las contiendas republicana y demócrata del martes avanzarán a las elecciones generales de noviembre, cuando los votantes de Florida decidirán quién sucederá a DeSantis y se convertirá en el próximo gobernador del estado.

Las urnas abren a las 7 a.m. del martes y cierran a las 7 p.m.

In the lawsuit, ABC, its parent company Disney and the eight local stations whose licenses are affected asked a federal court to stop the early renewal proceedings.

The FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr, an ally of President Donald Trump, had ordered the early review in April — itself a rare move — of eight licenses owned by ABC, well before they are set to expire. It cited the network’s diversity practices as a reason, but the development came shortly after a joke by ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel — an outspoken Trump critic — had infuriated the president.

“Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech — the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air,” the network alleged in its lawsuit. “Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech."

“Facing this existential threat,” it added, “Plaintiffs have no choice but to seek redress from the judicial branch for the Administration’s blatant retaliation for their First Amendment speech.”

It said ABC had “no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the Administration’s demands." It asked the court to “immediately enjoin Defendants from taking or threatening to take any action against Plaintiffs in relation to the early license renewal applications.”

There are already clashes between ABC and the administration

The early license review is only one part of a long-simmering confrontation between ABC and the FCC.

The network has also been fighting Carr’s efforts to make the morning talk show “The View,” whose hosts and guests are often critical of Trump, subject to equal-time rules. That's a question ABC says the agency itself decided — in the network's favor — more than two decades ago.

The lawsuit Tuesday also spoke of ramifications that go well beyond one network.

“The consequences of the Administration’s campaign against free speech reach well beyond ABC,” it said. “If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government. In such a world, the press could in no way be described as free.”

It added: “The FCC Chairman has left little doubt that this is his goal.”

The lone Democrat on the FCC praises the lawsuit

The sole Democrat on the commission, Anna Gomez, commended ABC and Disney for pushing back against the FCC’s actions.

“For months, the FCC has waged a campaign of censorship and control against Disney’s ABC stations,” she said in a statement, “using the threat of broadcast license revocations to punish a company for speech this administration doesn’t like.”

“I have long called on companies to push back against this kind of government intimidation, and I’m glad Disney has shown courage and stepped up," she said. "This should be a welcome sign for every broadcaster who has felt the weight of this overreaching government pressure in silence.”

In late July, Carr defended his agency’s actions against ABC, saying broadcasters have a duty to “operate in the public interest.” The FCC, he said, was merely trying to restore that standard.

Broadcasters like ABC, Carr said in an interview on the Fox Business Network, “struck a deal with the American people. You broadcasters get subsidized access, free access to a valuable public resource, the airwaves, worth billions of dollars. In exchange, you have to operate in the public interest.”

“Look, as a country, we should have a trusted, respected news media, and we’re not there,” Carr said. “So I hope more broadcasters return to their public interest obligations.”

The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

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Authorities said firefighters extricated at least one driver from the vehicle.

They said that driver was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center for treatment. His or her age, identity and condition were not immediately released.

The westbound Gratigny was closed from Northwest 57th Avenue to the Palmetto Expressway as authorities investigated the crash.

Drivers were advised to use alternate routes, as traffic heading toward the Palmetto was forced off the Gratigny parkway.

Authorities have not released additional information about what led to the crash.

Speaking at the start of the talks with President Min Aung Hlaing, Putin noted both countries have cooperated on foreign policy and security issues and developed economic projects.

They have held joint military drills and developed plans for Russia to build a nuclear power plant, a seaport, oil refineries and other facilities in Myanmar.

The visit is the latest in a series of trips by Min Aung Hlaing to foreign countries, including neighboring China, India, Laos and Thailand as he seeks to strengthen international recognition and regain diplomatic standing with other countries.

Despite the visits, Myanmar has remained largely isolated internationally since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

Western nations have imposed economic and political sanctions in response to the takeover by the military, which he led, and its violent repression of the opposition, which has seen the deaths of thousands of civilians and given rise to a civil war.

Russia has defended Min Aung Hlaing’s military government in international forums while Myanmar’s ruling generals have generally supported Moscow’s foreign policy agenda.

During Tuesday's talks, Min Aung Hlaing thanked Putin for his political support and emphasized that Myanmar has remained a reliable partner.

Russia, along with China, is a major supporter and arms supplier to Myanmar. Russian-made fighter jets are used in attacks on territory under the control of ethnic minority groups, including many allied with pro-democracy resistance forces.

Russia's Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov told reporters that Moscow stands ready to increase supplies of oil products, fertilizers and equipment to Myanmar and boost imports of agricultural products and textiles from the country.

The trip marks Min Aung Hlaing’s seventh visit to Russia. Min Aung Hlaing previously met Putin on the sidelines of Moscow’s World Atomic Week Forum in September. Putin has never visited Myanmar.

Min Aung Hlaing was inaugurated in April following a general election judged by United Nations experts and rights groups to be neither free nor fair. Critics dismissed the polls, held in phases in December and January, as a sham designed to consolidate the military’s grip on power while ostensibly restoring civilian rule.

Las autoridades indicaron que los bomberos extrajeron al menos a un conductor del vehículo.

Dijeron que ese conductor fue trasladado en helicóptero al Ryder Trauma Center de Jackson Memorial Hospital para recibir tratamiento. Su edad, identidad y condición no fueron divulgadas de inmediato.

La Gratigny en dirección oeste fue cerrada desde Northwest 57th Avenue hasta Palmetto Expressway mientras las autoridades investigaban el choque.

Se recomendó a los conductores utilizar rutas alternas, ya que el tráfico que se dirigía hacia Palmetto fue desviado de Gratigny Parkway.

Las autoridades no han divulgado información adicional sobre lo que provocó el choque.

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Detectives said the shooting occurred around midnight near the intersection of Southwest Sixth Street and 328th Avenue.

They said Homestead police officers responded to the area of Southwest Sixth Avenue and Seventh Street regarding a ShotSpotter alert.

Upon arrival, officers located a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue arrived on scene and pronounced him dead, according to police.

A Local 10 News crew was at the scene as police investigated. The area was taped off, and a yellow tarp covered the body of the victim.

The shooting was reported near several businesses, including a food mart and a beauty supply store.

No other details about the victim, a possible suspect or the circumstances surrounding the shooting were immediately released.

Authorities said that the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau has taken over the investigation.

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

Agentes de la Policía de Homestead respondieron al área de Southwest Sixth Avenue y Seventh Street debido a una alerta de ShotSpotter.

Al llegar, los agentes encontraron a un hombre que presentaba aparentes heridas de bala. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue llegó al lugar y lo declaró muerto.

Un equipo de Local 10 News se encontraba en la escena mientras la Policía investigaba. El área fue acordonada y una lona amarilla cubría el cuerpo de la víctima.

La balacera fue reportada cerca de varios negocios, incluyendo una tienda de alimentos y una tienda de productos de belleza.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre la víctima, un posible sospechoso o las circunstancias que rodearon la balacera.

Las autoridades dijeron que la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, División de Homicidios, se hizo cargo de la investigación.

Se insta a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre la balacera a llamar a Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

Does the Trump administration really have a plan for Cuba?

After months of rhetorical back-and-forth, you begin to wonder whether the Trump administration really knows what to do with Cuba. We keep hearing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was given the responsibility to deal with Cuba and the rest of Latin America, which he knows extremely well. But from what I hear, White House senior staff keeps getting in the way.

Continuing to sanction operations and individuals in Cuba will not bring down the government. Now we hear from Secretary Rubio and members of our Cuban-American congressional delegation that the target date has been moved back, and they hope that by 2029, changes in Cuba will have taken place, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Aug. 14: Cuba turns to global investors as US sanctions and property claims raise risks

The Cuban government has realized that efforts to attract investment from U.S. and Cuban-American businesses have largely failed because of the many sanctions imposed by the United States and the fact that the risks still outweigh the opportunities.

However, the Cuban government is trying very hard to attract companies from around the world to take over many operations and businesses in Cuba. With many European hoteliers and other companies having recently left Cuba, it will still be a challenge to attract new investors.

One thing these companies should keep in mind before starting operations in Cuba is that they could be operating in properties that were confiscated by the Cuban government in the early 1960s. They could potentially face legal challenges in the future as a result.

For American companies alone, there are 5,913 businesses and properties that were confiscated and registered with the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

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Aug. 13: Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday prompts reflection on his legacy in Cuba

Thursday marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Fidel Castro, a man whose narcissistic personality took control of Cuba after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. He made promises to the Cuban people that he later betrayed for his own selfish ambitions and thirst for power.

At his trial on Oct. 16, 1953, following the failed attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, he famously said, “History will absolve me.”

In the end, history will judge him as a ruthless dictator who destroyed Cuba, impoverished its people and inflicted tremendous suffering on an entire nation.

Aug. 12: Cuba poses a tough foreign policy challenge for Rubio

“Who is on first, what is on second, I don’t know is on third.”

The famous comedy routine by Abbott and Costello can be compared to the Trump administration’s foreign policy strategies these days. Diplomatic negotiations are complex and complicated, especially when dealing with countries, governments, and individuals with whom the United States has not had good relationships.

Reliable sources tell me there are tremendous differences between the staffs at the White House and the Department of State over how to handle negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia, Israel-Gaza, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. It does not help when those negotiating on behalf of the United States have limited to no diplomatic experience.

For now, let’s stay within the area of expertise: Cuba. While President Trump thinks Cuba can be resolved in two months, Secretary of State Marco Rubio knows very well, as does his senior staff, that negotiating with Cuba is not easy.

The Cuban government is willing to continue introducing cosmetic changes to its moribund economy without relinquishing political control. The United States can continue to sanction everyone on the island, and the Cuban government could not care less. All the while, the people of Cuba continue to suffer tremendous hardships. Yet the people are unlikely to turn against the government. The consequence of doing so can mean spending years in jail.

Meanwhile, in Miami, the guessing game continues over who will replace Raúl Castro when he dies, along with preparations for possible transition plans for Cuba. A transition to a democratic system of government in Cuba will take time. A civil society cannot be built overnight. It is also important to remember that Cuba did not have a democratic government before 1959.

For Rubio, expectations from the Cuban American community are high. Yet most in the community understand that it will not be easy to get the Cuban government to make political changes short of a U.S. military invasion. However, Rubio needs a win, especially if he is considering another presidential run. The failures of the Trump administration’s foreign policies around the world could affect Rubio’s future presidential campaign.

So, what will be Rubio’s next step on Cuba? The clock is ticking.

Aug. 10: Will the cat catch the mouse this time?

While U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to put pressure on the Cuban government to change, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel went on Cuban television this past weekend and announced to the Cuban people that the government was making major “transformational changes” to the economy.

Díaz-Canel also told the Cuban people that it would take time and patience -- two things the Cuban people do not have anymore. Díaz-Canel went on to say that the benefits of these changes will begin to show by 2029.

Sources in Washington, D.C. have told me that the Trump administration is looking to see if there is someone in the Cuban government, like Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela, to hand over Raul Castro or even take over the current government and be willing to negotiate with the U.S.

The Miami Herald reported this weekend that General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas, currently the Cuban Minister of the Interior, may be acceptable to the U.S. General Casas is considered a hardliner and therefore unlikely to break with the Cuban leadership.

As I have said before, the case of Venezuela is quite different than Cuba. While Raul Castro is alive, I believe the Cuban government will continue in power and make promises to the Cuban people they cannot keep.

Aug. 8: Cuban opposition leader says Cuba’s transformation must include those on the island

According to Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, any plans to transform Cuba must include Cubans on the island.

But do Cubans on the island have the capacity and capabilities to participate in such a process? After living for almost 68 years under a totalitarian system that has shaped the population’s personal values and attitudes, it could take time not only to change it but, more importantly, to sustain those changes.

Democracies are not built in one day. It will take time and patience. Let’s also remember that before the Cuban Revolution, Cuba had a dictatorship under Batista.

Aug 6: US announces new set of economic sanctions against Cuba; 2 of Cuba’s top generals also sanctioned

The U.S. State Department announced a new set of economic sanctions against Cuba on Thursday. At the same time, two of Cuba’s top generals were also sanctioned, Alvaro Lopez Miera, Minister of Defense; and General Roberto Sotolongo, head of the armed forces.

Aug. 5: CIA Task Force on Cuba created, per report

The New York Times has reported the creation of a CIA Task Force on Cuba with the purpose of putting additional pressure on the Cuban government to make political and economic changes to their system.

This news will probably be received by Cuba as an additional threat by the U.S.

Aug. 5: Cuban president confirms ongoing conservations between Havana, US

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed today that there are ongoing conversations between Havana and DC for the purpose of avoiding a military confrontation and trying to find solutions to the issues between both nations.

The Cuban government understands that they are running out of options and most likely will need to reach an agreement with the U.S. Will it include regime change?

Aug. 3 update: Rubio speaks about Cuba’s ongoing espionage activities in the US

This past weekend, in an interview with Fox News, U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio spoke about Cuba’s ongoing espionage activities in the U.S.

Rubio went on to say that Cuban spies continue to infiltrate the U.S. government, financial institutions, organizations, and academic institutions. Rubio claimed that Cuba continues to be a national security threat to the U.S.

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

Spotty afternoon thunderstorms return Wednesday and will be with us each day into the weekend. This will bring our temperatures down to the low to middle 90s. It will not feel any different since humidity will be higher.

En el condado Miami-Dade, 12.5% de los votantes registrados había participado mediante votación anticipada y boletas por correo devueltas, según la supervisora de Elecciones Alina Garcia.

El condado tiene más de 1.6 millones de votantes registrados. Garcia dijo que más de 80,000 votantes adicionales tendrían que participar para que la participación vuelva a estar en línea con las elecciones primarias de medio término anteriores.

“Votar es su deber cívico y es la manera en que mantenemos saludable nuestra democracia”, dijo.

En Miami-Dade, trabajadores han estado procesando las boletas de votación anticipada y por correo en el almacén de elecciones. Garcia dijo que las boletas se cuentan utilizando dos sistemas separados como una verificación para asegurarse de que los números coincidan.

“Todo se cuenta dos veces para que podamos asegurarnos de que los números sean los mismos”, dijo Garcia.

En el condado Broward, la participación después de la votación anticipada estaba por debajo del 10%, según el supervisor de Elecciones Joe Scott, quien calificó la participación como “muy lenta, sorprendentemente lenta”.

Scott dijo que la baja participación era inesperada, dada la cantidad de contiendas de alto perfil en la boleta.

Florida tiene elecciones primarias cerradas, lo que significa que los votantes generalmente solo pueden votar por candidatos de su propio partido político. Pero los votantes también pueden participar en contiendas no partidistas, incluidas las elecciones de juntas escolares.

Los funcionarios electorales están instando a los votantes a revisar sus boletas de muestra antes de dirigirse a las urnas. Algunos distritos han sido rediseñados, aunque Scott dijo que esos cambios no deberían afectar los lugares de votación asignados a los votantes.

“Su lugar de votación el día de las elecciones va a ser exactamente el mismo”, dijo.

Aunque la participación ha sido baja, los trabajadores electorales de ambos condados se han estado preparando para el conteo de las boletas.

Scott dijo que el equipo electoral ha estado funcionando sin problemas importantes.

“El equipo está funcionando muy bien, no hemos recibido quejas esta vez”, dijo.

Los votantes que recibieron boletas por correo todavía pueden entregarlas en su lugar de votación hasta las 7 p.m. del martes.

Las urnas están abiertas de 7 a.m. a 7 p.m., mientras los funcionarios electorales esperan que el día de las elecciones genere un aumento en la participación en todo el sur de Florida.

Más de 1,077 cargos, que van desde puestos nacionales, estatales, del condado o de distrito, están en juego durante las elecciones primarias. Haga clic aquí para obtener más información.

But textile researchers say it’s actually a little more complicated than that.

The fabric matters. But so does how heavy it is, how the clothing is made, how it fits and even what color it is. What works best also depends on what you're doing and how much you’re sweating.

With extreme heat a growing public health concern, scientists are developing and studying clothing designed to help people stay cooler. But clothing is only one component of the body’s response to heat.

Clothing should allow the body’s natural response to heat to work, said George Havenith, emeritus professor of environmental physiology and ergonomics at Loughborough University.

“It’s a really powerful mechanism from humans that we can defend our body temperature with,” Havenith said. “The most important thing in the selection of clothing would be to make sure you do not hamper sweat evaporation.”

Look for lightweight, breathable clothing

In hot weather, look for lightweight clothing that allows air to move through the fabric and reach the skin, which can help sweat evaporate. Researchers refer to this property as air permeability.

The fiber listed on the tag is only part of what determines that. How fibers are woven or knitted also affects how easily air passes through.

“For greatest airflow, open weave and loose knit structures are best, free of any water- or soil-repellent finishes. Cellulosic fibers, like cotton and flax (linen), tend to be more breathable and comfortable,” said Meredith McQuerry, a professor at Florida State University who studies clothing development and performance.

Linen can be a good option, but “linen” on the label doesn't tell the whole story. She said shoppers shouldn't rely on fiber content alone. A more open woven structure will generally be more breathable, regardless of the garment's fiber.

Wicking is slightly different. Wicking fabrics are designed to move sweat away from the skin and spread it across a larger surface area, which can help it evaporate faster. Engineered synthetic fibers are commonly used in sportswear, said Havenith.

But wicking and cooling are not necessarily the same. Moving sweat away from the skin can make clothing feel drier, but evaporation that happens farther from the skin can provide less direct cooling.

Fit matters too. Havenith recommends garments with enough room for ventilation, especially in hot outdoor conditions. McQuerry, however, noted that the right fit can depend on what you're doing. Someone exercising outdoors might prefer a tighter-fitting synthetic tank top, while someone sitting on a porch or doing light yard work might be more comfortable in looser cotton T-shirt.

“In casual settings, wearers may prefer a looser fit that allows for more airflow while standing or sitting. If performing physical activity, a tighter fit may be preferred to enable quicker sweat evaporation,” said McQuerry.

Cotton, polyester and why there is no perfect fabric

People choosing between cotton and polyester should consider how much they expect to sweat and what they'll be doing. Cotton absorbs sweat but can become heavy when saturated, while engineered polyester can move moisture across the fabric and dry quicker, one reason synthetic fabrics are so common in athletic clothing.

During exercise, polyester tends to continuously evaporate sweat, while cotton will work well for a short period until it has absorbed all it can, said Po-Chun Hsu, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago who studies materials and sustainability.

“Imagine you are wearing a wet T-shirt? Of course you get this evaporation going on, but then you also block the breathability and you won’t feel very comfortable when it’s completely wet,” he said.

Polyester is widely used because it is inexpensive, durable and versatile, but not all performs the same way.

It absorbs very little moisture naturally, which can make polyester that hasn’t been treated or engineered uncomfortable in hot conditions as sweat accumulates against the skin, said Jonathan Chen, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies textiles and apparel.

But it can be engineered to move sweat across the fabric and help it evaporate.

Chen suggests looking for lightweight polyester garments designed for breathability. A porous athletic shirt can behave very differently from a dense garment, even if both labels say 100% polyester.

Cotton can have another role in extreme heat. Havenith said deliberately wetting clothing can provide evaporative cooling, including for older adults who may not sweat as effectively.

Sunlight and “cooling” apparel

People spending extended time outdoors in direct sunlight should prioritize covering skin to protect against UV exposure and sunburn, Havenith said.

Loose, ventilated clothing can provide coverage without sacrificing airflow, such as a lightweight long-sleeved shirt.

Color can matter too. White, lighter-colored or highly reflective fabrics can reduce heat gain by reflecting sunlight instead of allowing as much energy to be absorbed, Hsu said.

Hsu said researchers have already made substantial progress in managing sweat and moisture, while engineering clothes to reflect more incoming sunlight remains a developing area.

Consumers should also look beyond the word “cooling” on labels. Hsu said some cooling fabrics are designed primarily to feel cold when they first touch the skin, an effect that can fade as the material warms.

“If it doesn’t really, let’s say, increase the evaporation of the surface area or reflect the sunlight or enhance the breathability, then it’s quite unlikely that it will have any continuous cooling effect,” Hsu said.

Some approaches go beyond the fabric itself. Fan-equipped clothing has become increasingly common among outdoor and factory workers in Japan. The garments use small fans to circulate outside air underneath the clothing, helping sweat evaporate.

Havenith said the garments can improve comfort and lower skin temperature, but don't do much to reduce core body temperature. Battery capacity is also a limitation because of the additional weight, although he expects improvements as battery technology develops.

How effective the fans are also depends on the conditions.

“It should work in all conditions where air temperature is below skin temp. ... In very dry air, the effect may be limited as the sweat evaporates anyway," said Havenith.

For shoppers, the researchers’ advice comes back to looking beyond a single word on the label. Consider whether a garment is lightweight, how easily air moves through it, how it handles moisture, how it fits, whether you will be in direct sun and what kind of activity you will be doing.

There may not be one perfect fabric for extreme temperatures, but there are ways to choose clothing that works with the body’s cooling system rather than against it.

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The complaint alleges that the investigations into some of the nation's most prestigious academic institutions were designed to strong-arm the schools into cutting deals for political purposes. Outcomes of the investigations were "predetermined, without regard to the evidence" in a “politically mandated effort” to extract money from schools through settlement demands and funding freezes under the pretext of rooting out antisemitism, the complaint alleges.

The work of the multi-agency task force, launched by the Justice Department under then-Attorney General Pam Bondi in February 2025, was “marked by extraordinary procedural irregularities, predetermined outcomes without factual or legal support” and disregard for the law and Constitution, lawyers for the former government attorney wrote in seeking watchdog investigations into their client's complaints.

The complaint taps into a broader public discussion about the administration's efforts to confront allegations of antisemitism at colleges, a problem that received renewed attention during campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza that some Jewish students said made them feel unsafe. President Donald Trump returned to the White House with a goal of rooting out antisemitism that he said had gone unchecked during the Biden administration, but critics have called his government's response heavy-handed and said it infringed on free speech rights and coerced concessions from public institutions.

A key House Democrat is publicizing the whistleblower's allegations

Lawyers for the former Justice Department attorney, identified as Haley Van Erem, filed the disclosure Tuesday with the inspectors general at the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services and the Office of Special Counsel.

Van Erem spent nearly a decade working in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division before being involuntarily assigned to HHS to work on the Title VI investigations into the universities, the complaint says.

The health department assignees were initially told to scrutinize allegations of antisemitism at medical school commencement ceremonies — the lawyers were advised of a New York Post story describing antisemitic conduct at graduation events, the complaint says — but the inquiries were later expanded to focus on the entire schools in the cases of Columbia and Brown, according to Van Erem's account.

She left the Justice Department in May 2025 because she was "unwilling to be made vulnerable to further participation in politically motivated investigations unsupported by facts and contrary to law," says the complaint, which also accuses the task force of having targeted Muslim professors.

Kiersten Pels, a Justice Department spokesperson, said the department “stands behind the integrity” of its investigations. A spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Department did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment Tuesday.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote separately to Harmeet Dhillon, who as the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has been a public face of the department's efforts to counter antisemitism. In his letter, he said antisemitism at colleges and medical schools is a real problem that needs to be investigated.

“But,” he told Dhillon, “your 'investigation’ into antisemitism was fake, a pre-baked frame-up operation thoroughly political in nature.”

Raskin wrote that “the whole project was designed to harass professors and administrators at major universities, to curtail their freedom of speech and academic freedom, and to strip targeted institutions of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants that they had already been awarded on the merits of their applications.”

Scrutiny over the handling of investigations into elite schools

The whistleblower complaint deals chiefly with investigations into three Ivy League universities: Brown, Harvard and Columbia.

It alleges that in the case of Brown, the investigative team did not find evidence to support a violation of Title VI, the section of the Civil Rights Act that bars discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs that receive federal funding, but that “leadership refused to permit a notice of no violation and instead sought some form of settlement or resolution despite acknowledging the absence of a legal basis for doing so.”

Investigators did find evidence of discrimination at Columbia, the complaint says, but the investigation was done on an accelerated timetable before adequate factual development and legal review were completed and relied on allegations that “were unsupported, based on news reports or litigation filings, or that implicated protected First Amendment activity."

Columbia University agreed to pay the government $200 million as part of an agreement restoring access to federal funding. Brown University separately agreed to pay $50 million to Rhode Island workforce development organizations to end the three federal investigations involving allegations of antisemitism and racial bias in admissions, with no findings of wrongdoing.

In the investigation into Harvard, Trump administration officials discussed “extraordinary funding freezes and sweeping proposed settlement terms” before an investigation had been completed that could establish Title VI violations. Sean Keveney, then-HHS acting general counsel, said he believed Harvard would settle because they were “over a barrel,” according to the complaint.

A federal judge last year ordered the Trump administration to reverse its cuts of more than $2.6 billion in research funding for the university, saying the government “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.” And a different judge last week dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that accused Harvard University of turning a blind eye to harassment of Jewish students.

The pop superstar has been nominated in every decade of her musical career. She has 19 competitive MTV VMA wins and in 1986 became the first solo female artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award.

She is up for 11 awards at this year's ceremony, including video, artist and song of the year as well as best collaboration, dance, direction, art direction, cinematography, editing, choreography and visual effects.

If she were to sweep, she'd tie Beyoncé and Taylor Swift for the title of most-awarded musician in VMA history. They have 30 each. (Eminem is the male artist with the most VMAs, with 15.)

Speaking of Swift: She follows Madonna with the second-most nominations, with nine. If she takes home even one award, she will become the most-awarded artist in VMA history.

Swift is up for video and artist of the year as well as best pop, direction, art direction, cinematography, editing, choreography and visual effects.

Madonna and Swift are followed by Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter with seven nods to their name as well as Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson with five. Blackpink's LISA has four and Shakira, Tate McRae, GENER8ION and Yung Lean are tied for three.

Rounding out the artist of the year category nominees are Grande, Mars, Carpenter and Morgan Wallen, in addition to Madonna and Swift.

The top prize of the night, video of the year, sees Swift's “The Fate of Ophelia” compete against Madonna’s “Confessions II — The Film,” Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” Mars' “I Just Might,” Carpenter’s “Tear” and GENER8ION’s “Storm” starring Yung Lean.

The two-hour show will broadcast live on CBS on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and 4:30 p.m. Pacific, from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will also simulcast on MTV and be available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

The show will become available to stream globally the next day on Paramount+ and MTV.

CBS is home to a number of award shows, including the Tony Awards and the American Music Awards. It has aired the Grammys since 1973, though that show will head to ABC in 2027.

This year’s Video Music Awards features 26 first-time nominees, which include GENER8ION and Yung Lean (with their aforementioned three nods, for their “Storm” collaboration) and the K-pop boy band CORTIS and viral “Boston” singer Stella Lefty with two each. Other notable first-time nominees include Don Toliver, Kali Uchis, Noah Kahan, Olivia Dean, Tucker Wetmore and Sienna Spiro.

The best dance category has returned for the first time in seven years. Nominees include McRae's “Nobody’s Girl,” Bebe Rexha and Faithless' “New Religion,” Harry Styles' “Aperture,” Lady Gaga and Doechii's “Runway,” Madonna's “Confessions II — The Film,” PinkPantheress' “Stateside” with Larsson and Slayyyter's “Dance …”

Fan voting began online Tuesday across 13 categories and ends Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. Eastern and 3 p.m. Pacific.

Voting in the best new artist category will remain active during the show.

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An earlier version of this story had an incorrect spelling of Lady Gaga and Doechii’s song “Runway.”

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It happened along Northwest 38th Street, near 33rd Avenue, in an industrial area near Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood.

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, two men were in a “dispute” when one took out a gun and shot the other.

The victim, who deputies identified on Tuesday as Raul Aballa, 41, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was later pronounced deceased.

Detective Argemis Colome, an MDSO spokesperson, said the suspect “fled the scene prior to deputies’ arrival.”

“Detectives are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident,” Colome said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

Officials say the project is expected to add at least 200 full-time jobs and increase the facility’s capacity by about one-third.

AAR Corp., a global provider of aviation services, marked the expansion of its maintenance, repair and overhaul facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The project adds 100,000 square feet to the operation as Miami International Airport continues a major push to expand and modernize its infrastructure.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava highlighted the importance of the investment as passenger and cargo traffic continue to grow at the airport.

“We have such a growth in commercial passenger cargo here at Miami International Airport, and this will continue to be a hub for maintenance and repair,” she said. “This is a major expansion, a 1/3 increase in size and capacity, with at least 200 very well-paid jobs,” Levine Cava said.

County leaders said the new positions will add to Miami-Dade’s aviation and aerospace workforce while strengthening the airport’s role as a center for aircraft maintenance and repair.

The expansion comes as Miami International Airport undertakes an unprecedented program of capital improvements and maintenance upgrades.

Somehow the two neighbors still managed to remain friends, allies — and trading partners. Canadian soldiers fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan after 9/11. The 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border is undefended, and nearly 330,000 people and $2 billion dollars’ worth of goods cross it every day; 800,000 Canadians live in the United States.

President Donald Trump’s belligerent approach to dealing with Canada marks an extraordinary departure from the traditionally cooperative relationship between the two countries. Trump has hit Canadian goods with tariffs — in a push to bring manufacturing back to the United States — and has repeatedly made inflammatory comments about turning Canada into America’s 51st state.

The Canadian public is fed up. A petition to expel the U.S. ambassador, a Trump ally, has collected nearly 218,000 signatures since July 21. It accuses Ambassador Pete Hoekstra of having “normalized’’ Trump’s talk of annexing Canada, among other things.

Tension could hit new heights at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday if Trump goes ahead with his plan to impose 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian products, ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors.

As the deadline approaches, the two countries are seeking a truce that would avoid the new round of tariffs.

″We are negotiating,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Monday, speaking in French. “The negotiations are very intense and delicate. This is not the time to talk about negotiations in public.”

Looking for an off ramp

Nearly 72% of Canadian goods exports last year went to the United States. And the Trump administration might be wary of imposing a hefty new tariff — paid by U.S. importers who try to pass along the cost to consumers via higher prices — ahead of November’s midterm elections. American voters are already frustrated with the high cost of living.

“I don’t think either side really wants these tariffs to come into effect,’’ said Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official. “There’s a pretty strong push on both sides to find an off ramp here.’’

Majerus said the United States is aiming to get Canada to buy more U.S. military equipment, including F-35 fighters; to take part in Trump’s “Golden Dome’’ missile defense; and to give the United States more access to critical minerals, thereby reducing America’s reliance on tenuous supplies from geopolitical rival China.

The Canadians would like relief from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as softwood lumber, which America says receives unfair government subsidies.

Trump relies on Smoot-Hawley to go after Canada

Trump has made tariffs the centerpiece of his second-term economic agenda. Last year, he imposed double-digit import taxes on almost every country on earth, justifying them by declaring the longstanding U.S. trade deficit a national emergency. The Supreme Court in February ruled that he’d overstepped his authority, striking down those tariffs and setting the stage for the federal government to pay refunds to importers.

Trump immediately looked for other ways to rebuild his tariff wall. Last month, he imposed import taxes of 10% to 12.5% on 59 countries and the European Union — which together account for 99% of U.S. imports — for allegedly failing to have or to enforce restrictions on imports made from forced labor.

Then he reached back to the Great Depression to find a cudgel with which to whack Canada, one of his favorite targets.

Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to impose 50% tariffs on products that account for about 5% of Canadian exports to the United States.

Nearly a century ago, with the U.S. and world economies in collapse, Congress passed the 1930 tariff law, imposing hefty taxes on imports from around the world. Known as the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, for their congressional sponsors, they are notorious among economists and historians for limiting world commerce and making the Great Depression worse.

Section 338 tariffs have never been used before. U.S. trade negotiators traditionally have favored another tool, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 — the provision Trump invoked for last month’s forced-labor tariffs.

Section 338 authorizes the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that have discriminated against U.S. businesses. Unlike Section 301 sanctions, no investigation is required. Nor is there any limit on how long the tariffs can stay in place.

In announcing the Section 338 tariffs, Trump claimed that Canada discriminates against American exports of autos, alcohol and cheese. Trump is angry because Canada and China were the only countries that punched back with retaliatory tariffs of their own when he slapped levies on their products last year.

“If a country retaliates against us, we’re obviously not going to tolerate that,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters Friday at the Iowa State Fair. “We’ll take action. My sense is the Canadians, they want to have a more conciliatory approach, but we’ll see.”

New leverage to renegotiate USMCA

The U.S. is renegotiating a North American trade pact — the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement — that Trump strong-armed America’s neighbors into accepting in his first term. The threat of Section 338 tariffs gives the United States leverage to seek fresh concessions from Ottawa.

“From Carney’s perspective, you need (USMCA) to be renegotiated,’’ said Christopher Gundermann, fellow in the economics program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ”You can’t renegotiate it with a massive trade war going on.’’

But the Canadian public’s furor over Trump’s policies may limit Carney’s ability to cut a deal. Canada could retaliate again if the new 50% tariffs take effect, potentially aggravating a trade fight.

Canada’s government “cannot look like it is simply caving to the Trump administration’s demands,’’ said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. “Making further concessions without getting something meaningful in exchange would probably lead to a strong backlash ... The risk is for the Carney government to make Canada look weak and, therefore, even more vulnerable to future trade and geopolitical bullying on the part of the Trump administration.”

Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for U.S. trade, met with Greer on Monday. He was tight-lipped afterward.

“The work is continuing,’’ he said. “We continue to do our job.’’

____

Gillies reported from Toronto.

Last week, Putin visited Iturup, one of the four southernmost islands of the chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories. The Soviet Union took them from Japan in the final days of World War II, and the dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Putin’s visit, his first to the islands, was “incompatible with the Japanese position on the Northern Territories” and was “absolutely unacceptable.” She said the visit was a further blow to already-strained ties between the two countries over Ukraine, and that Moscow should understand the consequences.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tokyo “strongly protests” Putin’s visit to Iturup, which Japan calls Etorofu, noting that "the Northern Territories, including Etorofu Island, are Japan’s inherent territory both historically and from the perspective of international law.”

On Tuesday, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin met with Japanese Ambassador Akira Muto to lodge a formal protest over the “anti-Russia” statements by Takaichi and Motegi.

“Russia’s sovereignty and jurisdiction over the southern Kuril Islands are absolutely unshakable,” Galuzin told Muto, according to the Foreign Ministry.

“These territories passed to our country as a result of World War II that was enshrined in the relevant agreements of the Allied Powers and the U.N. Charter,” the ministry said. “Any attempts by the Japanese side to directly or indirectly call this obvious reality into question are absolutely unacceptable and unlawful.”

Galuzin told the ambassador that in view of Tokyo's adherence to Western sanctions against Russia and its support for Ukraine, “Moscow reserves the right to take appropriate countermeasures.”

The Japanese Embassy said in a statement that Muto, during his approximately 20-minute meeting with Galuzin, “appropriately explained the Japanese position on the Northern Territories and President Putin’s recent visit."

It gave no other details, including how Muto responded to Galuzin’s comment on Russia’s territorial claim of the islands or if Japan is considering taking a retaliatory step, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

Decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven’t produced any visible results. Moscow over the years has also bolstered its military presence on the Kurils in moves that appeared to underscore its firm stance in the dispute.

Speaking last week aboard a Russian warship taking part in the drills in the Pacific, Putin said Moscow previously “had developed constructive relations with a number of Japanese leaders, including the tragically deceased former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who did much to bring Japan and Russia closer together, to align our positions.”

Japan imposed sanctions on Russia after it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and “listed Russia as a source of primary threats,” a change in that constructive relationship, he added.

Russia remains ready “to cooperate with all its neighbors, including Japan and other states in the region,” Putin said.

The U.S. and Canada are negotiating ahead of Trump’s midnight deadline to impose 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian products starting Wednesday. The fate of the Gaza ceasefire remains unclear after Jared Kushner left a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with no firm Israeli commitment to the latest U.S.-proposed plan. And Trump’s pivot away from South Korea is raising broader concerns about U.S. security interests in Asia and elsewhere.

The Latest:

Minnesota attorney general sues Texas governor to compel extradition of ICE agent for trial

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday, seeking to compel the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent to stand trial for assault and falsely reporting a crime in the wounding of a man during the agency’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

Ellison said he would request a temporary restraining order barring the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office in Texas from releasing ICE agent Christian Castro and requiring Abbott to sign the extradition warrant allowing Minnesota law enforcement agents to take custody of him.

Castro was arrested 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Ellison said at a news conference that Castro faces release from jail next week -- 90 days since he was detained -- under Texas law unless he’s extradited to Minnesota.

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CDC has zombie programs that are funded but don’t have staff

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has several programs that have turned into zombies: They appear to be alive, at least according to legislation and congressional appropriations. But functionally they are dead or nearly dead, because the CDC experts who did the work were laid off by President Donald Trump’s administration or remain on leave — paid but not allowed to do their jobs.

These programs include initiatives for Alzheimer’s, smoking prevention and epilepsy.

Trump’s Republican administration laid off thousands of employees as a cost-cutting move beginning in April 2025. While some cuts were reversed, many experts remain on paid leave due to ongoing legal battles.

The lone Democrat on the FCC praises the lawsuit

The sole Democrat on the commission, Anna Gomez, commended ABC and Disney for pushing back against the FCC’s actions.

“For months, the FCC has waged a campaign of censorship and control against Disney’s ABC stations,” she said in a statement, “using the threat of broadcast license revocations to punish a company for speech this administration doesn’t like.”

“I have long called on companies to push back against this kind of government intimidation, and I’m glad Disney has shown courage and stepped up,” Gomez said. “This should be a welcome sign for every broadcaster who has felt the weight of this overreaching government pressure in silence.”

ABC says FCC’s challenge of its broadcast licenses present an ‘existential threat’

The FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr cited the network’s diversity practices as a reason for a rare early review of some of its local broadcast licenses, but it took the action shortly after a joke by ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel had infuriated the president.

“Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech — the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air,” the network alleges in its lawsuit filed Tuesday seeking to block the FCC action. “Those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech.”

“If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government. In such a world, the press could in no way be described as free,” it says.

Forced out of the Kennedy Center, National Symphony Orchestra is going on the road

Forced from its concert hall, the orchestra announced Tuesday that it’s splitting its 2026-27 season among six venues in and around Washington, D.C.

Trump loyalists took control of the center named by Congress after President John F. Kennedy and added his name to the complex before a federal judge ordered it removed. Now the board plans a two-year renovation and a new name: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”

“For us to perform and to be somehow disconnected with the Kennedy Center probably will convince some of the audience who stayed away from the center to come back to our concerts, and not only that, even to increase the number of the audience,” music director Gianandrea Noseda said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Hormuz ship traffic is down sharply, despite Trump’s claims

While Trump insists the Strait of Hormuz remains “open and operating,” the numbers show vessel transit dropped significantly last week, with confirmed crossings falling 19.5% to 95, including just three on Sunday, according to shipping data platform Kpler.

The platform said the transited vessels used the Iranian-designated route, while no crossings were recorded through the Omani routes.

Iran refers to Trump’s ‘delusion’ about the strait

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi appeared to respond to Trump’s post on social media depicting the strait as American territory.

“Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will soon either be corrected, or we will correct this deluded man’s delusions for him,” Gharibabadi wrote on X.

Trump floats idea of declaring Strait of Hormuz a US territory

He posted a map on social media Tuesday depicting the strait as a U.S. territory. The president first mentioned the idea in an offhand comment last week. On Monday, he told reporters in the Oval Office, “I like the idea of declaring it a territory,” without providing details.

The White House on Tuesday referred to Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office and declined to comment further about Oman.

Tankers and cargo vessels are seen in the Gulf of Oman, along shipping routes linking the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo)

US believes Oman has not been tough enough with Iran

The reason Trump threatened to bomb Oman is because he’s unhappy the country is close to a deal with Iran to manage ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, two regional officials said Tuesday.

The officials said the Trump administration has told Oman it is opposed to parts of the yet-to-be-announced deal, including the joint Iranian and Omani management of the exit route out of the passage that’s critical to global supplies of oil and natural gas. The officials were briefed on the U.S. position and how the administration views Oman’s position.

The U.S. believes Oman has not been tough enough in its negotiations with Iran and is unhappy with Oman’s agreement to collect voluntary fees from vessels, even if the charges are related to security and maritime environmental protection, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

Whistleblower alleges political pressure, lack of evidence in antisemitism probes

A whistleblower is alleging that a Trump administration task force created to combat antisemitism has rushed to push for settlements with Ivy League universities, despite incomplete investigations that failed to establish any violations of the law.

The complaint obtained by The Associated Press before it was made public Tuesday details allegations made by a former Justice Department attorney who was involved in the task force. It alleges that the investigations were designed to strong-arm the schools into cutting deals for political purposes.

Spokespeople for the Justice and Health and Human Services Departments did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment Tuesday.

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Trump says US has no planned talks with Iran

The president asserted that even as U.S. has no planned talks with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains “open and operating,” despite limited traffic and an attack Tuesday on a ship trying to exit the waterway.

Trump also wrote on social media Tuesday that a U.S. blockade of Iranian shipping remains “in full force and effect,” and asserted that all water mines have been removed.

His post comes after a 60-day negotiating period ended this week between the U.S. and Iran with no clear end to the war in sight.

Disney sues FCC, claiming broadcast licenses challenge is retaliation over ‘Jimmy Kimmel’

Disney’s suit filed Tuesday against the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission alleges a violation of its First Amendment rights.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr defended the agency’s early review of eight ABC local broadcast licenses well before they expire, saying Friday that broadcasters have a duty to “operate in the public interest” and the FCC is merely trying to restore that standard.

Carr has said the country should have a “trusted, respected news media, and we’re not there.”

ABC has accused the agency of a brazen attempt to chill its constitutionally protected free speech — and by extension, that of every media outlet in the country.

The 1930 tariff law Trump invoked against Canada made the Great Depression worse

After the Supreme Court ruled the president overstepped his authority by imposing double-digit import taxes on almost every country on earth as a national emergency, Trump last month imposed new import taxes of 10% to 12.5% on 59 countries and the European Union — which together account for 99% of U.S. imports, accusing them of allowing forced labor.

And to whack Canada, he invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to impose 50% tariffs, starting Wednesday.

These so-called Smoot-Hawley tariffs are notorious among economists and historians for limiting world commerce and making the Great Depression worse. Never before used, Section 338 allows for import taxes on products from countries that have discriminated against U.S. businesses.

Trump claimed Canada discriminates against U.S. exports of autos, alcohol and cheese.

US criticizes Israeli strikes on Syrian air base

Syrian state TV said eight Israeli airstrikes hit the runway of the Abu Duhur air base early Tuesday, causing damage without inflicting any casualties.

U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack posted on X that Washington is “deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes” constitute “an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.”

There was no comment from the Israeli military on the attack and Turkish officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said foreign fighters used to stay at the base before they were recently asked to leave, and that Turkey, a main backer of Syria’s government, has been rehabilitating the base after the Syrian conflict left nearly half a million people dead.

Ship attacked in Hormuz strait as Iran throttles key waterway

A projectile has hit a ship sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz , according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center, causing “a crew casualty” but no environmental damage.

Iranian threats to shipping effectively closed the strait after Israel and the U.S. started the war nearly six months ago.

An Iranian official said Tuesday that the waterway will remain closed until the U.S. meets Tehran’s conditions, which include ending a U.S. blockade on Iranian shipping, “releasing frozen assets, lifting oil sanctions (and) ending threats and military operations on all fronts.”

Turkey urges Trump to seek a diplomatic solution to the war

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Trump in a telephone call to continue to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Iran.

The call came late Monday as the 60-day negotiating period to find a peace deal between the United States and Iran was expiring, with no word of an extension and both sides seemingly as far apart as they were at the start.

“President Erdogan said it is important to make maximum use of diplomacy amid tensions between Iran and the United States,” according to a statement from the Turkish presidential communications office.

The 60-day deadline for an Iran peace deal is expiring. Here’s where things stand

The deal that Trump signed at Versailles in June set an ambitious 60-day deadline for ending the war with Iran and reaching an accord on its nuclear program.

The deadline was Monday, and the two sides are further apart than they were then.

Talks, such as they are, have focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting a U.S. blockade on Iran, both of which were supposed to have happened under the interim deal. There has been no sign of any compromise on the strait, or that detailed nuclear talks have even begun.

The U.S., meanwhile, has no good options for getting out of the war it started alongside Israel.

Acceding to Iran’s latest demands would mean giving it control over a critical international waterway that carried a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas before the war — and would be tantamount to admitting defeat. Escalating the deeply unpopular war would further draw down U.S. supplies of advanced missile interceptors, jolt the world economy, and drive up gas prices ahead of U.S. congressional elections.

So both sides have dug in, hoping the other will blink first. So far, neither has.

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Trump’s slight of South Korea in favor of the North raises broader US security concerns

Trump on Sunday ordered the U.S. military to downsize the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, which began Monday as scheduled. It wasn’t known which parts of the training were being scaled back.

His announcement baffled many in South Korea, which has been closely allied with the U.S. for decades and where national security is a top priority due to threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

Trump explained his decision by citing South Korea’s refusal to join his war against Iran and pointing to what he said was his good relationship with North Korea’s reclusive dictator, a transactional and personal approach to foreign policy that has defined the Republican’s presidency.

“There is no American interest that I can see in this,” said Dan Fried, an assistant secretary of state for European affairs in the George W. Bush administration. “On all levels it makes no sense. It undermines the South Koreans, undermines the Japanese, frightens the Taiwanese, unnerves NATO and emboldens the Chinese, not to mention the North Koreans.”

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Long meeting produces optimism but no Israeli commitment to US plan for Gaza

A marathon meeting Monday between U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left the fate of the Gaza ceasefire unclear, with officials signaling moderate optimism but offering no concrete commitment by Israel to the latest U.S.-proposed plan.

Hamas has already agreed to the proposal. American negotiators appeared to acquiesce to Israeli demands that Hamas disarmament must come before any reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian enclave. They did not publicly signal that Israel had made any commitments to withdraw from the 60% of Gaza that Israeli troops currently occupy.

That’s a major sticking point in the plan and one that Hamas had pressed negotiators to compel Israel to fulfill prior to the meeting. The talks came days after Netanyahu rejected the 15-point, U.S.-backed road map to move the ceasefire deal forward, saying there would be no withdrawal without disarmament.

A day earlier, Kushner met for two hours with Hamas’ leader in Egypt.

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Last-minute talks over 50% US tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods

The United States and Canada have wrangled for decades over trade, poking each other interminably over sore spots like Canadian softwood lumber imports and U.S. access to Canada’s protected dairy market.

President Donald Trump’s belligerent approach to dealing with Canada marks an extraordinary departure from the traditionally cooperative relationship between the two countries. Trump has hit Canadian goods with tariffs — in a push to bring manufacturing back to the United States — and has repeatedly made inflammatory comments about turning Canada into America’s 51st state.

Tension could hit new heights at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday if Trump goes ahead with his plan to impose 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian products, ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors.

As the deadline approaches, the two countries are seeking a truce that would avoid the new round of tariffs.

″We are negotiating,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Monday, speaking in French. “The negotiations are very intense and delicate. This is not the time to talk about negotiations in public.”

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But on his first day back at his home in the village of Qusra, Loui Ridi was ultimately told to go back inside because the area was a closed military zone.

Israeli soldiers asked the settlers to leave the area as well, but Ridi said he saw at least three settlers close enough to return and threaten his family if the army leaves.

“If I need to walk outside of my house, I’m not able. I have to get a permission and coordination and it’s going to take hours if it’s even possible to leave,” Ridi said.

Ridi yelled at one of the settlers to get off his property and pleaded with the soldiers to remove them, according to video he shared with The Associated Press. He told the settler that he wasn’t allowed to be there and called him a terrorist.

The soldiers who told Ridi to get back inside his home also pleaded with settlers to leave peacefully.

For Ridi, the exchange extinguished any sense of victory remaining after he managed, with the aid of a military escort, to enter his home on Monday. He said the encounter epitomized how the army has been unable or unwilling to clear the area of settlers.

“As soon as (Israeli soldiers) leave — like if they leave today — probably on the same day or a couple hours later, the settlers may come back and build the same tent in front of my house,” he said.

Qusra standoff is the latest violence in the West Bank

Some 2.8 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the West Bank, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers. Roughly 560,000 Israeli settlers who live in a growing number of communities and farming outposts across the territory. Emboldened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, extremist settlers have routinely attacked villages and set homes, cars and mosques ablaze in the occupied West Bank this year.

The international community largely considers Israeli settlements to be illegal and obstacles to peace.

Few episodes garner as much international attention as the siege in Qusra. However, settlers have staged takeovers of other Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank. In the neighboring village of Jalud, settlers surrounded a home last month and prevented Palestinians from entering or exiting until they decided to escape and not come back.

Palestinian officials report 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers this year. Three Israelis have been killed including two in a nearby clash last month.

Much like in Qusra, violent settlers rarely face arrest by Israeli police or prosecution in Israeli courts.

Ridi, a 46-year-old who lives with his family in Ohio but has a second home in the Qusra, arrived on Monday, climbing his stairs and raising an American flag on his roof.

The United States — Israel’s closest ally — has condemned the ongoing siege in Qusra, now in its tenth day. President Donald Trump has said he opposes Israeli efforts to annex the West Bank but signaled broad acceptance of settlements and, at the start of his second term, lifted sanctions on settlers accused of violence.

Ridi said he can’t go out to buy groceries without permission and has asked U.S. officials to help guarantee he can bring supplies back to his home in the closed military zone on Qusra's outskirts.

Video shows settlers demanding homeowner stay inside

Ridi said he slept for four hours in a room where he kept the shutters closed because settlers had previously thrown rocks toward the windows.

When he woke up Tuesday and went outside to confront the settlers and soldiers, one settler demanded in Hebrew that the soldiers make him go back inside, saying Ridi’s yard belonged to them.

“Take them to their home. You said it’s a closed military zone,” the settler told an Israeli soldier, according to Ridi’s video.

The soldiers told everyone to leave, saying, “We don’t need this commotion.”

Israel's military said Tuesday that the closed military zone had been cleared but did not answer questions about settlers' presence in and around the Palestinian village.

Soldiers have repeatedly dismantled their tents and shades in the area only to have the settlers return to area on the outskirts of a village 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Palestinian city of Nablus.

One settler was detained last week but Israeli police have not reported any arrests. Ridi fears settlers could ramp up attacks on his home moments after Israeli soldiers leave, much like other areas where settlers have staged takeovers of Palestinian homes.

Ridi said his two daughters in Ohio have stayed up past their bedtimes worried for his safety, texting that they miss him and asking if he is all right.

“I have to lie and say, ‘No, I’m safe. I’m OK. It’s safe here,’ because I want her to sleep,” he said.

The firing of FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour late Monday came 17 days after his statement to the Associated Press criticizing Infantino’s $20 billion private equity project that helped to end it hours later.

“Now he is thrown out and we are supposed to move on. It’s unacceptable, it’s management by fear,” Klaveness told the AP in a telephone interview, describing Lamour as “the best football administrator I have ever met.”

“Now we also have to call upon FIFA leadership and the administration to not submit to orders you know are not in the interests of football,” Klaveness added, especially targeting FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström.

She is a former Norway international player, a judge in Oslo and an elected executive committee member at European soccer body UEFA who has built on her country’s long-held reputation as a champion of good governance in soccer.

Lamour was a long-time colleague of Infantino, first as senior officials at UEFA from 2007-15, on his campaign team to be elected FIFA president in 2016, then moving two years ago from UEFA to oversee much of FIFA’s operations in Zurich.

Infantino in crisis

With a reputation among the most trusted executives in the often murky world of global soccer politics, Lamour’s pointed criticisms of Infantino’s leadership intensified a crisis for the FIFA president.

A backlash by UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and north American soccer body CONCACAF was provoked by a secretive plan to sell future World Cup profits to investors led by Joshua Kushner.

A $4.2 billion investment to take a 20% stake in a FIFA commercial spin-off was to fund offers of $20 million to each of its 211 national member federations. They already effectively own the non-profit soccer body, which has multibillion dollar reserves, and would have had a mid-September deadline to accept.

Lamour’s statement on July 31 spoke of FIFA staff being “deceived” by Infantino’s lack of openness over the now-failed sale and how they “deserve better than contempt and intimidation.”

The French executive called on soccer leaders worldwide "to make the right decisions” and signed off: “If that means I lose my job, then so be it. I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

Fired, not resigned

“This is a firing situation, it’s not a resignation,” Klaveness said of Lamour’s exit, suggesting it was done by Grafström “obviously being pressured by the president.”

In a statement, FIFA said it “thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him the best of luck for the future.”

“His statement was necessary to kill the project,” Klaveness said of Lamour’s intervention. “He said something that was obvious, that was very important that someone within the staff told us the story so that we knew it was not FIFA, as such, but one person.”

Infantino called a meeting with senior management minus Lamour in Rabat, Morocco. After that Aug. 5 meeting, a FIFA statement apologized for errors and said those managers who attended “reaffirmed their full support” of Infantino’s presidency.

“We all got reports in Morocco, we know it’s a management of fear,” Klaveness said. “It’s not in football’s best interests.”

Until the uproar over Infantino's “FIFA Forward Enterprise” proposal, he seemed sure to be reelected unopposed next year in Morocco. The deadline is Nov. 18 for challengers to enter the contest.

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

The San Francisco-based company says ChatGPT for Teens, which launches Tuesday, is tailored for kids aged 13 to 17 with stronger protections including content restrictions around things like suicide, self-harm and romantic or sexual chats. It also provides homework and study support designed to help students learn rather than spit out answers and school essays.

The idea is to guide teens toward healthy AI use in an age-appropriate environment, the company said.

“We want to treat teens like teens, which means that we have to make sure that we’re showing up with the right developmental stage when we’re not either talking down to them or treating them like kids, but we’re also making sure that they’re not exposed to material that they shouldn’t be exposed to,” said Ann O'Leary, vice president of global policy at OpenAI.

Risks abound in widespread teen usage of AI chatbots

Parents, educators and child development experts have been sounding alarms over children's use of AI chatbots, which have been blamed for facilitating cheating on schoolwork and even suicide. And while even adults can fall victim to anthropomorphizing AI and developing unhealthy relationships with it, teenagers' brains are not yet fully developed and they can be particularly vulnerable.

Last year, research from a watchdog group found that ChatGPT would tell 13-year-olds how to get drunk and high, instruct them on how to conceal eating disorders and even compose a heartbreaking suicide letter to their parents if asked. In interactions with researchers posing as vulnerable teens, ChatGPT typically warned against risky activity but went on to deliver startlingly detailed and personalized plans for drug use, calorie-restricted diets or self-injury.

In the U.S., more than 70% of teens are turning to AI chatbots for companionship and half use AI companions regularly, according to a 2025 study from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using digital media sensibly.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said that the company is trying to study “emotional overreliance” on the technology, describing it last year as a “really common thing” with young people.

For users of ChatGPT for Teens, the chatbot is prevented from suggesting it has personal feelings toward the user or implying that it is conscious or experiences emotions, according to OpenAI. That's in addition to blocking romantic or sexual chats.

“We went through and identified what are the hypothetical cues that a model could give that might make a teenager kind of develop a relationship to it,” said Allison Mishkin, head of child development at OpenAI.

A new version of the chatbot expands safety protections

OpenAI doesn't verify users' ages, but it already uses age assurance to estimate if someone is under 18 based on factors such as their types of queries. If someone is identified or identifies themselves as a minor, they are automatically placed into the teen version of the chatbot. This is similar to Meta's approach to teen accounts on Instagram, which have stricter content, chat and privacy restrictions than regular accounts.

To use parental controls, both the teen user and their parent or guardian have to opt in. But O'Leary said the idea with the teen chatbot is to “make sure that this is safe, even if you don’t use parental controls.” Parents with linked teen accounts can set “quiet hours” when their teen can't access ChatGPT, and receive safety notifications in limited high-risk situations, such as the possibility of a user hurting themself.

“We are adding additional notifications related to eating disorders, while limiting what is shared and focusing on moments when offline support may matter most,” OpenAI said.

For homework help, OpenAI said the teen chatbot is designed not to give easy answers but to guide students to come up with answers on their own. The company already offers a version of ChatGPT for teachers, and tailoring a model to help kids with studying and homework could give OpenAI more ways to bring its product to schools.

“We continue to also invest in expanding interactive learning because research shows that people learn more effectively when they actively engage and struggle with concepts,” Mishkin said.

Alfred A. Knopf announced Tuesday that Gandhi's “Belonging: A Journey of Love” will be published Nov. 10.

“Much has been written about my family, but few narratives were able to reach into the truth of their motivations, their actions and even their very human failings,” Sonia Gandhi said in a statement issued through Knopf. “In many ways, this book is a homage to their humanness. My story also offers readers a unique perspective of the social and political changes I have witnessed for six decades in the beautiful country of my belonging.”

Gandhi, 79, is a native of Italy who was studying in Cambridge, England, when she met fellow student and future husband Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and son of India's first female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

In “Belonging,” she writes of her life being upended when her mother-in-law is assassinated in 1984 and succeeded by Rajiv Gandhi, who seven years later was also murdered. She too would eventually enter politics and become the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress Party while also turning down her party's offer to become prime minister. Her party lost power to current Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party in 2014.

“It was heartbreak and loss that threw me into the public world of politics. Up till then I had guarded my privacy fiercely,” she said in her statement.

“Writing about my life did not come easily to me. It meant opening myself up, sharing moments and experiences I had always held deep inside," she said. "Yet as I gradually removed myself from the political sphere and looked back at all I had seen, the thread of love and loyalty that wove through my story began to define itself, from the simplicity of my childhood in small-town Italy, to the complexity of my years in India as the wife of Rajiv Gandhi and the daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.”

The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty remains active in politics. Both of Sonia Gandhi's children, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are members of the Indian parliament's lower house from the Congress party.

The plunging prices, the White House said, resulted from the Republican president's “most favored nation” drug deals with pharmaceutical firms and the TrumpRx website, which it said are “delivering real relief to American families and putting patients first.”

The real picture is more complicated, said drug pricing experts, who noted that other factors, including a law from Democratic President Joe Biden's time in office that allowed Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, are potentially more significant contributors to the latest consumer price index figures.

Also at play, they said, are generic and biosimilar products that have come onto the market, offering competition that drives down the price of expensive brand-name and biologic drugs. In addition, the prescription drug price index measured by the Labor Department and released last week doesn’t directly reflect how much consumers pay — it measures how much pharmacies get paid for the drugs, both by insurers and consumers.

“It’s difficult to know in one number what’s going on beneath the hood,” said Juliette Cubanski, a vice president and director of the Program on Medicare Policy at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. “I don’t think we can attribute this price reduction to any one specific policy change or initiative.”

Here’s what to know about the decline in prescription drug prices:

Competition and policy both contribute to changing prices

Drug pricing experts said both market competition and various policy changes have influenced prescription drug prices in recent years.

On the market side, “when big blockbuster products face generic competition, their prices fall,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher at Harvard Medical School.

For example, he said, various biosimilar drugs have arrived on the market to treat the same autoimmune conditions as the brand-name drug Humira, offering similar treatment at a lower cost.

Similarly, competition has led to price reductions for Stelara, a popular biologic medicine that treats chronic inflammatory conditions, said Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Biden-era federal policies also likely played a role — most notably the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which for the first time allowed Medicare to haggle with drugmakers over the cost of the top-selling prescription drugs in the program.

New prices for the first 10 of those negotiated drugs launched in January, a change Cubanski, Rome and Dusetzina all said likely made an impact on aggregate prices. The Trump administration has carried forward those negotiations, as mandated by law, and projects additional savings on prescription drugs in the years ahead.

A new Trump administration policy lowering the price of GLP-1 weight loss drugs for certain eligible Medicare enrollees could also be playing a role in driving down prices, the experts said. But that went into effect in July, so only its first month is reflected in the data.

It’s hard to measure the impact of MFN deals and TrumpRx

Trump has sought to attribute the drop in prescription drug prices to his “most favored nation” deals to bring U.S. pharmaceutical prices to the same level as other developed countries.

Drug pricing experts said the actual impact of those deals so far is unclear, since the contracts with drug companies have not been made public and the models designed to put MFN policies into practice in federal health programs have not gone into effect yet.

“These policies are under development and have not affected payers in the index,” Dusetzina told The Associated Press in an email. “Ultimately, I believe that the change is likely to be more directly related to the IRA’s policies and the Medicare drug price negotiation program than it is to current policies.”

Experts lauded TrumpRx, the White House’s website funneling Americans to the best deals on a variety of prescription drugs, for bringing a helpful resource and more price transparency to the public.

But they said it’s unclear how many Americans are making use of the service. In addition, many of the brand-name drugs it has featured are cheaper with insurance or have lower-cost generic versions sold elsewhere.

The White House said the website has generated $700 million in savings for patients but didn’t explain how it reached that figure. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts last week questioned that claim in a letter to the Trump administration, saying Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has admitted that TrumpRx doesn’t store patient, health or prescription information.

“Without this information, the accuracy of any claim of savings made by the Trump administration is unreliable,” she wrote.

Many consumers still face high drug costs – and rising health costs overall

Even as the consumer price index shows a year-over-year drop in drug prices, experts warned consumers aren't necessarily seeing that in their budgets.

That's because the Labor Department’s figures measure not what consumers pay directly but what pharmacies are paid by insurers and consumers. Insurers often eat much of the cost, and what patients pay can depend on a variety of factors, including whether they are insured and what plans they have. Plus, some Americans still rely on expensive drugs that don't have cheaper alternatives yet.

Higher health spending and federal policy changes are also resulting in higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for many Americans. That could mean even as drug prices decline, they're paying more for healthcare than they once were.

“A price measure like the CPI is not going to adequately capture consumers' experience with healthcare and prescription drugs and other hospital services, the same way it would for groceries and gas and other tangible services that people go and pay for at the store,” Rome said.

Record highs could be challenged Tuesday. In Miami-Dade, the forecast high is 98 degrees, with the record of 96 set in 2022. The forecast high is 97 degrees in Fort Lauderdale, where the record is 98 degrees, set in 1921.

Showers finally return to the forecast on Wednesday.

The regular school board term is four years.

DISTRICT 1

Maura McCarthy Bulman is the incumbent seeking reelection after assuming office in November 2024.

Her campaign website describes Bulman as “a dedicated mother of four sons who have attended Broward County Public Schools in District 1” and whose “experience as a local attorney, community volunteer, and a long-time Hollywood resident inspired her to run for office.”

Running against Bulman is Carmen Gimenez.

According to her campaign website, Gimenez is a “Venezuelan-American-Latina.

The website describes her as a “statist” who is “known in international circles, United Nations (U.N.), The Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassadors, Countries, Refugees, congressmen, senators, counties, cities, national and international entrepreneurs, and officers.”

She previously ran for mayor of Hallandale Beach in 2024, losing to Joy Cooper who received 68.4% of ballots cast.

DISTRICT 4

Sharry Kimmel’s campaign website describes her as a “distinguished educator and community leader whose career spans over three decades, marked by a commitment to innovative teaching and public service.”

She is a previous recipient of the Broward County Teacher of the Year award (1996) for her work as an educator before transitioning into administrative roles, which includes serving as the founding assistant principal at Sagemont School.

Kimmel has served as a professor of teacher education at Broward College for the past 22 years.

Nicole Morst is a mother of three children who have all attended Broward County Public Schools.

According to her campaign website, she became involved in school advocacy after she “saw firsthand the security gaps” at her daughter’s school, successfully “advocating with district staff and the School Board to implement security updates.”

Morst says she is running “because after years of serving in our schools and on district advisories, I’ve seen the gaps, inequities, and disparities impacting our students and schools.”

DISTRICT 6

Adam Cervera is the incumbent seeking to retain his position after being appointed to the seat by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2024.

According to his campaign website, Cervera is an “accomplished attorney where he practices business litigation and represents clients in administrative proceedings” who came up and graduated through Broward County Public Schools before attending the University of Central Florida and then law school at Florida International University.

Jessie Bastos is a native of Davie, and she and her children are all products of Broward County Public Schools.

According to her campaign website, Bastos has “more than 20 years of experience building relationships and driving millions in revenue within Fortune 500 accounts at Samsung and leading diverse, high-performing teams at T-Mobile.”

If elected to the school board, Bastos says she “will champion higher teacher pay, responsible budgeting, and stronger partnerships with families and local organizations.”

Roberto Fernandez has worked in Broward County education for over 20 years, “as a teacher, instructional leader, and community advocate,” according to his campaign website.

He said he is running because he wants to remove politics from decisions that impact students, families and educators in Broward County. Fernandez is also a U.S. Army Reserve veteran.

Makai Aline Henry describes himself as a son of Broward County.

He is a product of Broward County schools and is currently a substitute teacher and debate coach, according to his campaign website.

Henry is running on a platform that features “Four Pillars for Broward’s Future” that include Literacy First, Smaller Classes, Fair Teacher Pay and Against Unregulated AI in Schools.

Lester L. Wilks Jr. joins the race for District 6 “to bring real-world insight and results-driven leadership to our schools,” according to his campaign website, which indicates that he is “already actively involved in school communities, speaking with parents, working alongside staff.”

His platform has four “key priorities” that are listed as “district accountability, parent trust and transparent communication, consistency across schools and student support needs.”

DISTRICT 7

Cynthia Alceus Dominique describes herself as “a wife, nurse practitioner, nurse educator, Army veteran with 23 years of service, and the proud mother of four amazing children who attend Broward County Public Schools.”

A Broward County native and graduate of Coconut Creek High School, Dominique has been an active volunteer within the schools and district.

According to her campaign website, Dominique’s vision for Broward schools include “safe and supportive schools, student success and wellness, accountability and transparency and community engagement and partnerships.”

Rochelle Soffer is a longtime educator, who says she is running for the Broward County School Board “because our schools deserve leadership that has been earned in the classroom.”

According to Soffer’s campaign website, she lists four commitments to students, teachers and families in District 7, should she be elected: “student success, teacher support, school safety and accountability.”

The Broward Teachers Union is listed among Soffer’s endorsements.

DISTRICT 8

Allen Zeman is the incumbent seeking to retain his position after winning a close race in 2022, receiving 51.4% of the 477,828 ballots cast.

He is the CRO of data analytics company CHCI and has worked for U.S. presidents and government leaders, both foreign and domestic.

Zeman is also a product of Broward County Public Schools from grades K through 12 and has endorsements from the Broward Teachers Union and current board members Sarah Leonardi, Jeff Holness, Debbi Hixon and Rebecca Thompson.

For the past two decades, Zeman’s opponent Sonja Azim has worked in classrooms as a special education teacher, ESE specialist, student services coordinator, Dean of Students and as a district trainer.

Her two daughters have both been students with Broward County Public Schools.

According to her campaign website, Azim believes more accountability is paramount, and also stresses the importance of equitable treatment, teacher support and overall school safety.

DISTRICT 2

There are three candidates seeking to be Miami-Dade County’s District 2 commissioner.

Running for the seat are incumbent Commissioner Marleine Bastien, trapeze artist Miguel “Skip” Quintero and newcomer Ernst Jean Louis.

Bastien, a nonprofit founder and executive who won the seat in 2022, says her priorities include investing in infrastructure like the 27th Avenue corridor and added that the county needs to make budget cuts.

Quintero is a South Florida native who made an unsuccessful run for Miami-Dade County mayor in 2024.

He describes himself as a First Amendment advocate who lists transparency as a main priority while adding that he also wants universal basic income.

Records show Jean Louis lists his primary source of income as Allied Universal Services. He does not appear to have a campaign website, but the Miami Herald reported that he founded a Creole-language newspaper.

DISTRICT 5

There are three candidates running for the District 5 seat in Miami-Dade County.

The district encompasses parts of Miami Beach, Brickell and The Roads.

Candidates are incumbent Commissioner Vicki Lopez, former Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Joe Sanchez and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Rob Piper.

Lopez was appointed to the seat after Eileen Higgins was elected City of Miami mayor. She said her experience as a member of the Florida House of Representatives makes her qualified to tighten the budget.

Sanchez highlights his career in law enforcement and as a veteran and says safety and quality of life are key.

Piper, who moved to Miami in 2012, thinks a task force ought to analyze the county’s true fiscal situation.

DISTRICT 8

The county’s eighth district encompasses a big portion of southern Miami-Dade, including Homestead and Palmetto Bay.

Incumbent Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins is running against nonprofit CEO Martha “Vega” Hero and former Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor John DuBois.

Cohen Higgins, who is a trial lawyer by trade, says her experience looking at details makes her an effective leader, especially when it comes to the budget.

Hero believes government and organizations working together is key, as well as transparency in balancing a budget.

DuBois, the former vice mayor of Palmetto Bay, is running to bring accountable, resident-focused leadership to Miami-Dade County, according to his campaign website.

Revenue increased to $47.86 billion from $45.28 billion, edging out the $47.24 billion that Wall Street had expected, according to a survey by FactSet.

Globally, sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, climbed 1.7%. In the U.S., comparable store sales rose 1.3%.

“We saw broad based demand across the business as customers continued to engage in smaller projects,” Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail said in prepared remarks Tuesday.

Customer transactions slipped 1% in the quarter, but the amount shoppers spent rose to $92.50 per average receipt from $90.01 a year earlier.

Healthy spending on smaller projects during the quarter is encouraging, said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.

“From our data, the number of smaller projects undertaken during the quarter increased by 1.5% over the prior year,” Saunders said in an email. “This may sound unimpressive, but it represents a step change from the declines of previous periods."

But Saunders also pointed out a potential weakness that is impacting almost all businesses where credit is sometimes required.

“The number of bigger-ticket projects undertaken remains down, falling by 2.1% over last year,” he said. "Concerns around financing and a previous lack of moving activity both remain major drags on the bigger-ticket segment.”

Homeowners that are currently considering taking out loans using home equity are realizing that it is considerably more expensive now compared with the ultra-low rates Americans could count on in the early 2020s. A home project that seemed within reach at a 4% to 5% borrowing rate looks a lot more daunting at 8% or higher.

McPhail remains upbeat about Home Depot’s ability to navigate current conditions.

“While consumer uncertainty and housing affordability continue to pressure demand for larger home improvement projects, we remain focused on what we can control,” he said during the company’s conference call.

While the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell slightly for the first time in six weeks, it is still up from last year and borrowing costs remain steeper than they were a year ago.

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed again in July as record prices and the highest mortgage rates in a year prove to be an insurmountable hurdle for many prospective buyers. Existing home sales fell 1.7% last month from June, the National Association of Realtors said last week.

Home prices continue to rise and hit unprecedented levels for the month of July, NAR said. The U.S. median sales price increased 2% from a year earlier, to $434,100.

For the three months ended Aug. 2, Home Depot earned $4.77 billion, or $4.79 per share. A year earlier the home improvement retailer earned $4.55 billion, or $4.58 per share.

Excluding one-time items, earnings were $4.92 per share. That’s much better than the $4.73 per share that Wall Street predicted.

McPhail, along with Ann-Marie Campbell, senior executive vice president, are overseeing operations while CEO Ted Decker takes a temporary medical leave of absence. The company said last week that it expects Decker to return within the next few months.

Home Depot also announced Tuesday that it is launching express delivery nationwide. The service will get orders to customers within three hours or less. It will be available for a small flat fee in the U.S., with no subscription or membership required.

The Atlanta company has posted solid back-to-back quarterly performances this year though many Americans have struggled to buy a home. Despite the solid performance, Home Depot stuck with its earlier sales growth guidance for fiscal 2026 of between 2.5% and 4.5%. It also left unchanged its expectations that comparable sales will be flat to up 2%.

Home Depot said that its outlook includes tariff refunds, which are expected to partially offset higher fuel, energy, and other product input costs throughout the year. Last year, the company said that it didn't expect to raise prices because of tariffs, but executive Billy Bastek said at the time that some products that were on Home Depot shelves may disappear.

McPhail said during the call that Home Depot received $730 million in tariff refunds. Of that, $685 million was put towards lowering the cost of goods sold.

The company's stock rose nearly 2% Tuesday.

• Polls open in one hour for Florida Primary Election
• Deerfield Beach hit-and-run victim clinging to life, search for driver continues

You can watch a live feed of our news broadcast at Local10.com/Live.

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said late Monday that “a number of children” had been wounded, and said an investigation was underway. He did not provide further details.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations' special rapporteur for Afghanistan, on Tuesday condemned “the heinous attack harming numerous children near a school” the previous day.

Afghan media said around 50 children were hurt in the blast, which occurred in a part of the capital populated mainly by the Hazara ethnic minority. Hazaras, who make up around 9% of the Afghan population, have long suffered attacks and persecution in Afghanistan. Most are Shiite Muslims, and they have been targeted repeatedly in the past by Sunni Muslim radicals like the Islamic State group, while they have also faced discrimination in the Sunni majority country.

In May 2021, a few months before the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in the wake of a chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops, three bombings at a school in Kabul killed dozens of people, all of them from the Hazara community and most of them young girls leaving class.

That school, like the one where the explosion occurred Monday, was in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood, the main Hazara district in the Afghan capital.

In a social media post on X, Bennett said an independent investigation to bring those responsible to justice was essential. “Once again this mainly Hazara part of Kabul has been targeted. Deplorable!” he wrote.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike on a village in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed at least 10 people and wounded 17 others as the barrage demolished homes, officials said.

The countries are locked in an escalating duel of long-range aerial strikes. Fighting on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line in eastern and southern Ukraine is restricted by large numbers of drones and ground robots threatening troop movements, and neither side is making significant battlefield progress, analysts say.

Putin resists pressure for peace talks

In the past year, Ukraine has devised and deployed domestically produced long-range drones for strikes deep inside Russia. Its drone technology has impressed governments and defense manufacturers around the world.

Officials in Kyiv aim to make the Russian public feel the war’s consequences and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiating a peace settlement. Putin has so far shown no sign he intends to stop the invasion.

“Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine’s realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.

Russian air defenses overnight intercepted 791 Ukrainian drones over a number of regions, as well as annexed Crimea and the Black and the Azov seas, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said, in what was the second-largest drone attack since January 2025, according to an Associated Press tally.

More than 600 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region, where 180 were shot down, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said without elaborating.

Officials reported no deaths or major damage. Ukraine has increasingly launched swarms of hundreds of drones to try to overwhelm Russian air defenses.

In the region that surrounds the capital, three people were wounded, Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said.

Three people were also wounded in the adjacent Ryazan region where three private houses were damaged, Gov. Pavel Malkov said.

The overnight attack started a fire at a warehouse of Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer, in an industrial zone. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the company, which it says helps supply the Russian military, an allegation Moscow denies.

Wildberries said its facility sustained “insignificant damage.”

Russian TV doesn't report news of the attack

Coverage of the attack in state and Kremlin-backed Russian media was mostly muted, as is often the case. Russia’s main TV channels — state-run Russia 1 and Channel One — did not mention the attack at all in their morning news bulletins.

But Russian state news agency RIA Novosti featured it among the main news on its website’s homepage, describing it as “one of the most large-scale attacks on Moscow since the beginning of the summer.”

State newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on its website prominently featured a roundup of what Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov reported about the attack, describing it as “massive” in the headline. Pro-Kremlin tabloid MK featured a news brief about it on its home page.

Zelenskyy accuses Russia of a ‘brutal attack’ on civilians

A Russian missile strike on the village of Pechenihy in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed 10 civilians, according to preliminary information, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration.

Another 17 people were wounded, he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it “a brutal attack” that damaged 10 homes, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven vehicles, according to Syniehubov.

“We will definitely respond to this Russian strike,” he said on social media.

Also, three people were killed and three others were wounded over the past day in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Sumy region, Ukraine’s National Police said.

UK vows continued Ukraine support

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took office last month, said the U.K. will continue to stand by Ukraine after Russia said that Kyiv’s reported use of British drones for attacks on Russian soil would bring unidentified consequences.

“We are providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself, and that’s been the British position all the way through this conflict by previous prime ministers," Burnham said. “It remains the case with me.”

British newspaper The Sunday Times reported that two U.K. companies made drones used by Ukraine to hit Russia.

Following the report, the Russian Embassy in the U.K. said in a statement that “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences.”

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Brian Melley in London contributed.

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

Earlier this week, Trump also threatened to bomb Oman as the country sought a deal with Iran to manage shipping traffic through the strait, two regional officials said Tuesday, a day after Trump leveled the threat. Iran says the waterway will not be reopened until the U.S. meets its conditions.

As talks between Iran and Oman continue, a projectile hit a ship in the strait and Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed they fired drones at an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia.

Here’s a look at the latest developments Tuesday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Trump looms over negotiations to reopen Strait of Hormuz

As Oman and Iran say they are nearing a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on social media Tuesday that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remains “in full force and effect,” and asserted that all water mines have been removed.

Trump posted a map depicting the strait as U.S. territory.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi appeared to respond to Trump’s post.

“Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man," he wrote on X.

The Trump administration has told Oman it opposes parts of the yet-to-be-announced deal, according to officials briefed on the U.S. position. Those include joint Iranian and Omani management of the passage's exit route and the collection of voluntary fees from vessels, even if the money is used for security and maritime environmental protection.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

The White House on Tuesday referred to Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office and declined to comment further about Oman.

— By Samy Magdy in Cairo

Egypt says Iran-Oman agreement could open door to Iran-US deal

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Iranian-Omani deal could pave the way for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations for a “comprehensive and permanent deal that addresses all concerns and enhances regional security and stability.”

The statement came after a meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Omani counterpart Badr al-Busaidi. But it did not address Trump’s latest threat against Oman.

The 60-day negotiating period ended this week between the U.S. and Iran with no clear end to the war in sight.

Ship traffic drops significantly in Strait of Hormuz

Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped significantly last week with confirmed crossings falling 19.5% to 95 transits. Only three vessels made it through the waterway on Sunday, according to shipping data platform Kpler.

The ships used the Iranian-designated route, with no crossings recorded through the Omani routes.

Crossings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait increased 6.7% to 254 transits, while so-called dark transits, in which ships turn off the transponders that broadcast their location, fell from 40 to 16, Kpler said.

Projectile damages ship in strait causing casualty

An unidentified projectile damaged the engine room of a ship in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman and “resulted in a crew casualty," according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center.

The maritime monitoring agency did not release any details about the ship or its cargo, and it was not clear whether the crew member was killed or wounded.

No environmental damage has been reported and the agency said the Omani Coast Guard was assisting other crew members and authorities were investigating.

Iran-backed Houthis claim an attack on a Saudi oil refinery

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed they fired drones at an oil refinery in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the latest attack threatening to reignite Yemen’s civil war and open another front in the Middle East.

The attack targeted a facility run by Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, according to a report by the Houthi-run SABA news agency. There were no immediate reports of damage or comment from Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis have escalated attacks against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea, an important alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

El ataque ocurrió dentro del autobús de la empresa “Vipusa” —que recorre Lima de norte a sur— en una avenida del sur capitalino, una zona de clase trabajadora que más temprano sufrió inundaciones tras inusuales lluvias. La empresa, que sufre extorsiones, ha recibido ocho ataques desde 2024 que incluyen incendios de buses y tiroteos, y que han causado lesiones y muertes de pasajeros.

La policía y testigos indicaron a la prensa que el conductor, identificado como Mauro Garrido, de 46 años, recibió al menos cuatro disparos de un hombre armado que se encontraba en el bus camuflado como pasajero. Videos difundidos por las televisoras mostraron a la cobradora de los pasajes gritando “Jehová ayúdame”. Entre los pasajeros que presenciaron el ataque había niños.

En 2025 unos 239 transportistas fueron asesinados en Perú, según el observatorio del crimen y la violencia.

El plan Escudo —que emplea militares y policías que cuidan algunos de los más de 22.000 vehículos y terminales del transporte público de Lima— fue lanzado el 8 de octubre, pero los ataques y asesinatos no se han detenido. La misma noche de la inauguración, una terminal de una compañía fue tiroteada con 15 disparos y la empresa dejó de funcionar por tres días. Todos los ataques extorsivos ocurren en la periferia de la capital, donde vive la mayoría de los 10 millones de vecinos, y que cuenta con mínima vigilancia policial.

La oposición —que pide mayor inversión en inteligencia policial y electrónica— ha criticado el plan del gobierno porque es un enfoque ya empleado sin éxito en el pasado. Fujimori, quien asumió la presidencia el 28 de julio, pidió el miércoles “paciencia” señalando que “no podemos dar resultados en 15 días”.

Desde el lanzamiento del plan Escudo se han producido al menos ocho ataques, que dejaron tres transportistas asesinados. La fiscalía indicó que entre enero y el 17 julio se registraron 107 ataques criminales extorsivos al transporte público en la capital, pero no detalló el número de asesinados.

La principal preocupación de los peruanos es la lucha contra el crimen, en especial las extorsiones, un factor determinante en los recientes comicios presidenciales que ganó Keiko Fujimori. Las extorsiones agobian sobre todo al grueso de los pequeños comerciantes y se han expandido por casi todo Perú. Las denuncias por este delito pasaron de 2.421 en 2019 a 26.734 en 2025, según datos oficiales.

Fujimori ganó tras prometer acabar con el crimen y en su campaña electoral recordó que actuaría como su padre —el fallecido y condenado expresidente Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000)— en cuya gestión se capturó a los líderes del grupo terrorista Sendero Luminoso debido al trabajo de una unidad de detectives policiales.

More than 40,000 people were sheltering in tents, evacuation centers and makeshift camps after the earthquake struck off Flores, a remote island in East Nusa Tenggara province, early Saturday, damaging at least 11,925 homes, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

The quake caused widespread destruction across the island, damaging 172 health facilities, 658 schools, 187 offices and 172 places of worship, the local disaster agency said.

At crowded evacuation camps across Flores on Tuesday, children played under tarpaulin shelters while aid workers and volunteers provided psychosocial support alongside food and medical assistance.

The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and residents fled in panic as tsunami warnings were issued but later lifted. Authorities recorded more than 2,100 aftershocks into Tuesday, though only 70 were felt by residents.

Fear and painful memories haunt survivors

An aftershock that struck during an interview Tuesday prompted Vincentius Rano and his wife to instinctively duck and cover their heads. Nearby, their daughter began crying, a reminder of the fear that continues to haunt many survivors.

Rano is a resident of Lamba Leda, one of the hardest-hit villages in the lush hills of East Manggarai regency, where widespread damage was reported, with at least 50 homes shattered and trees toppled over. He recalled the terrifying moment the earthquake struck Saturday just after he and his wife had woken up.

“Suddenly, we felt a tremor that kept getting stronger,” said Rano, the father of a 5-year-old girl. The couple rushed to grab their sleeping daughter, but before they could escape, part of the house came down, causing injuries to his back and shoulder.

“We didn’t have time to get outside. Everything happened so fast. The roof collapsed on us, and all I could do was shield my wife and child with my back,” Rano said, gesturing toward his flattened home, a modest house, built of timber rather than concrete.

Children in shelters treated for trauma

Psychosocial support programs, which combine mental health treatment and social care, are being rolled out across the region hit by the earthquake. Children have been encouraged to read books and join counselors for games, educational activities and group activities designed to help them cope with fear and anxiety.

“For many survivors, especially children, the psychological impact has lingered long after the shaking stopped,” said local police chief Yudhi Franata, who organized trauma-healing sessions for children displaced by the disaster in Ende regency.

Parents at an evacuation center said many children were afraid to return indoors and woke up frightened whenever aftershocks rattled the island, he said.

Mieke Suharni, a police officer who was among 30 personnel deployed to Lamba Leda, said much of their work is focused on helping children cope with the disaster’s emotional aftermath. She said officers have organized trauma-healing activities at several evacuation camps, but emotional distress remained widespread among survivors.

Earlier Tuesday, she comforted a woman who was visibly shaken by memories of the quake and used a psychological support method known as Universal Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique, which she learned during a police training.

“We are trying to help people manage their fear step by step,” Suharni said. “Some survivors continue to experience anxiety and excessive fear. Our goal is to help calm that trauma so they can begin to recover.”

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Flores experienced one of the country’s deadliest disasters in 1992, when an earthquake and an ensuing tsunami killed about 2,500 people.

So when they heard rumors that Morocco’s border with Spain was open, they decided to join the rush to try to reach Europe.

All three died attempting to cross, becoming victims of the deadliest migration crisis between Morocco and Spain.

Fueled by misinformation, poverty and lack of opportunities, more than 70,000 would-be migrants from Morocco and beyond swam or climbed over a breakwater last month to try to reach Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the North African coast. At least 90 people died attempting to cross the border, according to official figures; rights groups reported a much higher toll. Many families still haven’t been able to retrieve the bodies.

Nearly all the survivors have returned to Morocco, and both countries have intensified security measures. Moroccan and Spanish authorities blamed social media rumors and human smuggling networks for the surge, while migrants cited unemployment and low wages as major factors.

The pull of the crowd

Akbili, 31, lived in Tangier, about an hour from the coastal Moroccan town of Fnideq. Migration had been on his mind for some time, but friends and family said he had never considered crossing illegally.

He held a college degree in physics, but couldn't find a job in his field and worked at a car parts factory. He earned about $421 a month, slightly above the median salary in the North African country.

Buoyed by ambitions to become a regional hub for the auto industry, Morocco’s economy is expected to grow by 4.5% this year. But policymakers face a persistent challenge: turning that growth into jobs that offer higher wages.

Akbili was working the 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. shift when he saw Facebook posts about people crossing into Ceuta. He wanted to try his luck in hopes of finding a job that could help his mother pay for hernia surgery.

“His mind changed completely. He went from someone who wasn’t thinking about illegal migration to wanting to go by all means,” Abdelhakim Saadaoui, a relative and Akbili’s apartment mate, told The Associated Press.

Akbili persuaded Saadaoui to go with him. On July 31, they paid a driver $129 to take them near the border with Ceuta — the equivalent of two months’ rent.

When they arrived, Saadaoui said, there was complete chaos. From a distance, the crowds looked like ants, he said, as streets filled with people heading toward the frontier. Police fired stun grenades and tear gas in an attempt to disperse them, he said.

Saadaoui decided not to continue. Akbili went on. The two remained in contact by phone.

Then Akbili stopped answering.

A Moroccan Interior Ministry document obtained by the AP says Akbili died at midnight on July 31. His death was classified as “unnatural,” attributed to “severe head trauma.” He was buried in his hometown of Khenifra.

His family was told he died after falling from a cliff. The Interior Ministry said one of the 11 deaths recorded on the Moroccan side was caused by a cliff fall.

But a cousin suspects foul play and wants further investigation.

“His phone and wallet stayed intact. How is it possible for someone who fell from a cliff?” Zakaria Akbili told the AP.

Soccer dreams drove one victim

Hamza Haibouri, who played soccer for Morocco's second-division Kenitra Athletic Club, was buoyed by dreams of making it big playing in Europe, said his childhood friend Bilal Ratib.

The 28-year-old Haibouri was vacationing in Martil, a Moroccan beach town about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Ceuta, when he saw people heading there and decided to join them. His death in the frenzied attempt to cross was announced by the soccer team’s fan club.

Ratib said Haibouri visited France when he was young and had always wanted to return.

“He always had this idea of living abroad and going to France, to get better soccer and a better life,” Ratib said.

“He was a great man, even when we were young and reckless, he would always go to the mosque early for the first prayer,” Ratib said. “He was deeply religious.”

Haibouri, whose income came entirely from soccer, earned around $540 a month when he played, but he hadn't played at all this year, Ratib said.

Families learn of deaths through Facebook

Abdelouahed Iken, 19, was finishing high school in the southern city of Agadir. He regularly admired photos on Facebook posted by a friend who had migrated to Italy.

When he heard rumors the Ceuta border was open, he asked his mother for money to travel to his home village.

But instead of going home, Iken traveled more than 530 miles (850 kilometers) north to Ceuta with friends, according to family member Housine Zligui. Zligui said he learned about Iken’s death on Facebook, and the family is now working to bring his body home.

Iken could not swim, so he bought a life jacket for the crossing. Friends who returned told the family they saw him struggling in the water before he drowned, Zligui said.

For many Moroccans, Europe represents the possibility of work, stability and a better future. Those who make it abroad often return home with designer clothes, cars and euros, becoming symbols of success — and envy.

Money sent home by Moroccans living overseas reached $6.6 billion in the first six months of this year, according to government figures, equivalent to more than 3% of the country’s GDP.

Families asked to pay huge repatriation costs

Families were asked to pay some 2,500 euros ($2,900) in repatriation costs to bring the bodies of their loved ones home from Ceuta, according to Ratib and Zligui.

The AP was unable to confirm the cost. But repatriating a body from Spain to Morocco generally requires authorization from the Moroccan Consulate and a Spanish mortuary transit document. Moroccan rules typically call for a sealed coffin and a certificate confirming the death wasn’t caused by a contagious disease.

A spokesperson for Ceuta’s government said Friday the paperwork to repatriate the bodies of those who died in the crossing was complete, but Morocco’s government had not accepted it. The Moroccan government did not respond to an AP email with detailed questions about what was holding up repatriation, who was responsible for covering the costs and whether the Moroccan government would assist families in paying to have their loved ones returned.

Autopsies on 82 migrants brought ashore in Spain have been completed, said Manuel Aparcero, director of Ceuta’s forensic team.

Haibouri’s sister underwent DNA testing so that Ceuta authorities could confirm her brother’s identity. Authorities in Ceuta gave Haibouri’s sister his identification card and driver’s license but did not allow her to see his body, Ratib said.

“It will take around 20 days or more” for the body to be returned, he said. “You can’t imagine the families' suffering.”

The Trade Union Network for Migration in Morocco called on Morocco and Spain to cover the costs of returning the dead to their families.

Back in Tangier, Saadaoui moved in with co-workers. He couldn't bear living without Akbili.

“He was telling me at the border, ‘I will never come back,’” Saadaoui said. “And indeed, he will never come back.”

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Associated Press journalist Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed.

The 1,300 residents of Kandersteg, in Switzerland’s Bern canton, live amid a quintessential Alpine landscape of sharp peaks, white glaciers, steep green valleys and the distant sound of cowbells.

But a catastrophe looms over the quiet village: a mountainside rock formation called Spitze Stei, part of a mountain landscape increasingly affected by thawing permafrost, threatens to collapse into the valley in a massive landslide.

“You are aware that it’s happening, but not afraid,” said Brigitte Jüni, an inhabitant of Kandersteg. She said authorities took all the precautions they could.

“But then it’s nature. It’s nature and you never know,” Jüni added.

As glaciers and permafrost — the frozen soil sediment and rock that acts like a glue holding mountains together — melt due to higher temperatures caused by climate change, the threat of landslides is rising in the Swiss Alps.

In May 2025, a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier thundered down the mountainside in the nearby Loetschental valley, sending plumes of dust skyward and coating with mud nearly all of Blatten, which had been evacuated earlier as a precaution.

Markus Stoffel, professor for climate change and natural risks at the University of Geneva, said climate change leads to the melting of both glaciers and permafrost.

“In the mountains and in the unconsolidated debris, there is lots of ice,” Stoffel said. “Once this ice is melting, it acts like a cement. These mountain slopes will become increasingly unstable.”

Locals in Kandersteg say their situation is different from Blatten and that preparations made already allow them to live calmly.

“This isn’t the same case as in Blatten. It’s a different situation,” said local resident Rudolf Isler. “We are not afraid of the Spitze Stei rock. It’s been many years seeing stones falling from up there. The problem here is about global warming and rising temperatures.”

If the entire unstable section of the Spitze Stei — estimated at roughly 15--20 million cubic meters — were to collapse, it would trigger a massive natural disaster. But the rock is under constant monitoring, evacuation plans are prepared and experts say the rock is more likely to break down gradually than in one huge chunk.

Nathan Solothurnmann, a climate and energy expert for Greenpeace Switzerland, says that climate change means landslides or avalanches will become more common.

“Maybe even one day we will have to abandon certain valleys or certain villages because it’s becoming impossible to live there,” Solothurnmann said. “Or the measure you will need to take to protect infrastructure is so expensive, the efforts are so big, that it’s not worthwhile anymore living there.”

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is banking on President Donald Trump ’s endorsement in hopes of securing the Republican nomination and advance to the fall election. His opponents include Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and political newcomer James Fishback.

Democrats' leading candidate for governor is David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who switched parties last year.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a leading conservative figure who has clashed and collaborated with Trump over the years, is barred from running for a third consecutive term.

The primaries are giving final form to a November ballot whose races will test Trump’s grip on his adopted state and Democrats' ability to resurrect Florida as a national political battleground. Florida has moved notably to the right since Trump won his first election in 2016, though Democrats hope to regain ground from his slumping popularity ratings.

Two Democrats are battling for nomination in a U.S. Senate special election to complete Marco Rubio’s term after he became Trump's secretary of state last year. Progressive state lawmake r Angie Nixon matches up against retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, a former National Security Council official who testified in Trump's first impeachment case in 2019.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ashley Moody, the DeSantis appointee currently holding the seat, appears in a strong position as she seeks the Republican nomination with Trump's endorsement for the term's final two years.

For Congress, Tuesday's biggest nominating fight involves longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and others in a redrawn south Florida district.

Wasserman Schultz, who is white, wants voters in the new, plurality Black district to grant her a 12th term. Cherfilus-McCormick is seeking a comeback after resigning earlier this year under a pending federal indictment and threat of House ethics sanctions.

Donalds is trying to make history — and Jolly, too

There have been three elected Black governors in U.S. history. Yet the 47-year-old Donalds is more likely to tout his conservative credentials than the possibility of joining that select group.

He promises to push tax cuts, overhaul Florida's insurance regulations to lower consumer costs and seek greater price transparency from health care providers.

“The people of Florida want to make sure that the Florida dream is alive and well into the future,” he said recently. “Affordability is a problem for all Floridians. It doesn't matter what your politics are. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is.”

Trump has had an inconsistent record on picks for governor in primaries this year, and a strong showing by Donalds would leave him, and Republicans in general, in a more commanding position for November. Though DeSantis coasted to reelection in 2022, he squeaked into office in 2018 by little more of 32,000 ballots out of 8.1 million cast.

Jolly is hoping ultimately to prove a party-switching former Republican can actually carry the Democratic banner in a state where that's failed before. Democrats nominated former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist in 2022 only to see him lose by nearly 20 percentage points to DeSantis.

Can Democrats make the Senate race interesting?

Moody, a former state attorney general tapped for Rubio's seat in 2025, is in a strong position seeking the GOP nomination. DeSantis, when he appointed her, praised her as a law-and-order prosecutor ready to help Trump “shut the border,” tame inflation, and overhaul a federal bureaucracy “run amok.”

Democrats face a familiar theme of 2026 primaries, with the progressive Nixon confronting Vindman from the party's center-left establishment. Vindman's testimony in 2019 was notable in the Democrat-led House impeachment case that led to Trump's acquittal in the Republican-led Senate. Trump ousted Vindman afterward.

Floridians haven’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2012.

Wasserman Schultz runs in a new plurality Black district

Serving in Congress since 2005 , she faces a new district — thanks to DeSantis' successful push for new congressional maps amid the national redistricting battle intended to boost Trump's midterm election prospects.

It’s not the first time Wasserman Schultz has had to convince new voters after Republicans tinkered with boundaries. But this time she’s the only white candidate in a plurality Black district. The redrawn Florida 20th is concentrated in the most Democratic and diverse parts of Broward County, and doesn't include her hometown of Weston, west of Fort Lauderdale.

Her four Black primary opponents — including Cherfilus-McCormick — have argued the district requires a Black representative. Wasserman Schultz disagrees.

“Representation matters and lived experience matters. But experience and making sure that you have someone who has the seniority and the seasoning to be able to deliver for a district, it matters as well,” she said.

Cherfilus-McCormick, meanwhile, wants to return to Congress despite a pending federal indictment that accuses her of stealing $5 million in federal disaster aid. She has plead not guilty and disputed alleged violations of House rules.

Republican Rep. Cory Mills faces primary challenges

DeSantis and other Republicans have bailed on Republican Rep. Cory Mills as he seeks a third term in Florida's 7th Congressional District at the same time he's denying domestic violence allegations. He faces three primary opponents.

“I have not endorsed Cory Mills, and I do not support Cory Mills,” DeSantis said recently in Mills' district.

Turnout could offer clues to November

Registered Republicans now outnumber Democrats in Florida, a relatively recent flip. That puts the burden on Republicans to outperform Democrats comfortably in overall primary turnout. If it’s close – with Democrats coaxing a clearly larger percentage of their voters to the polls – then the party would be more optimistic heading into November, as Democrats witnessed with primary turnout in other states this year. If Republicans buck national trends and dominate, then Democrats could be facing another rough fall campaign.

Miami-Dade will be especially notable. Democrats carried the county comfortably through 2016, when Trump lost it to Hillary Clinton by 30 percentage points. Four years later, Trump closed the gap to 7 points before carrying it in 2024 by more than 11 points.

Also in the mix are a handful of scandal-plagued candidates, multiple people running with matching last names and several incumbents at risk of defeat.

Tuesday's contests will help shape the fiercely contested midterms this fall to determine control of Congress, where Republicans have a narrow edge, and offer a referendum on President Donald Trump's second term.

Here's a closer look at what to watch.

Historic slate of Black candidates for governor emerging

Trump-backed Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a rising star in the Republican Party, is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis to become the first Black governor of the state. If Donalds wins, he'll become part of a historic slate of Black gubernatorial nominees that includes Republican Rep. John James in Michigan and Lisa Demuth, who defeated pillow-selling conspiracist Mike Lindell in Minnesota.

On the Democratic side, David Crowley won a razor-thin primary against a democratic socialist in Wisconsin, joining Attorney General Aaron Ford in Nevada, State Rep. Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina, and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is running in Georgia to be the nation's first Black woman governor.

There is currently only one Black governor in the nation, Democrat Wes Moore of Maryland, who is seeking reelection in November.

The Florida GOP winner will likely face David Jolly, a former Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat.

Redistricting creates skirmishing for Democrats in Florida House races

A GOP-led redrawing scrambled Florida's congressional map, which has created some awkward matchups.

The most contentious pits veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz against former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in a South Florida district that is almost majority Black. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned earlier this year under threat of House ethics sanctions, but now wants her seat back.

Wasserman Schultz, a former national party chair seeking a 12th term in Congress, is the only white candidate competing against four Black candidates in an area of Broward County that has helped send Black Democrats to Congress since 1992. Her decision to run has raised questions about representation and stirred deep animosity, including charges by one rival that “she stabbed us in the back."

Carpetbaggers and comebacks in the making in Florida?

The race to fill Donalds' House seat features a cast of characters akin to a reality show reunion, including several who have spent time in prison and a handful who have run in other states.

The field includes two former members of Congress who are mounting comeback bids after departing in scandal. Former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn'stenure was marred by repeat traffic stops, guns at airport checkpoints and a claim he had been invited to a Washington orgy. Former New York Rep. Chris Collins, who resigned before pleading guilty to insider trading charges, served prison time before he was pardoned by Trump.

Trump-endorsed Catalina Lauf ran twice for Congress in Illinois. She lost the 2020 primary to Jim Oberweis, a former state senator, who has also decamped to Florida and is running for the seat.

Another candidate, Ola Hawatmeh, previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New York, while Linda Sawyer once tried in Michigan.

Also in the race: John Strand, a former television actor, underwear model and romance novel cover model, who served prison time for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault of the U.S. Capitol.

Progressive vs. establishment candidates at odds again

The internal battle between progressive and establishment candidates that has been roiling the Democratic Party in states like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, now arrives in more conservative territory.

Progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon is facing retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, a former National Security Council official who delivered searing testimony against Trump in his 2019 impeachment trial. They're both running in the Florida special election to fill the last two years of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's former Senate term.

The winner is likely to face interim Sen. Ashley Moody, the Republican appointed by DeSantis to the seat.

Other races will also put fault lines on display. In South Florida, U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz is running for reelection in a new Republican-friendly district against union organizer and democratic socialist Oliver Larkin.

Meanwhile, Republican incumbents are facing their own challenges. Rep. Cory Mills, running for a third term, has been plagued by an ethics investigation stemming from allegations of assault, domestic violence and campaign finance violations, which he denies.

Double-checking the name in Alaska

In a Senate race that is expected to be one of the country's most closely watched this fall, incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Trump ally seeking a third term, is facing another candidate also named Dan Sullivan.

Republicans have argued the second Sullivan, who’ll be appearing on the ballot as “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.," is a sham candidate running at the behest of Democrats to cause confusion. Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher, has denied the charge.

Also in the race is former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. She was the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, and she would become the first Alaska Native senator if she wins in November.

Under Alaska’s open primary system, all candidates appear on the same ballot, and the four who receive the most votes move on to a ranked-vote general election.

There are other surnames for Alaskans to keep straight.

Republican Rep. Nick Begich faces a crowded field in his bid for a second term in the state’s lone congressional seat. His uncle, former state Sen. Tom Begich, and former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins are the two Democrats in the race for governor. Tom Begich is the brother of Mark Begich, a former Democratic U.S. senator whom Sullivan defeated in 2014.

Seats open up in Wyoming

For the first time in more than 30 years, Wyoming has open seats for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House all up for grabs in a state where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by a 7-to-1 margin.

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis' decision to retire after a single term has set off a chain reaction, with Rep. Harriet Hageman running to replace her.

She has an overwhelming fundraising advantage and became well-known after defeating former Rep. Liz Cheney, one of Trump's harshest Republican critics, in 2022.

Nine Republicans, meanwhile, are competing to replace Hageman as the state's lone U.S. representative.

Wyoming’s current governor, Republican Mark Gordon, considered seeking a third term and challenging a state term limit law but ultimately decided not to.

Pro-Israel group spending in former Swalwell seat

In California's Bay Area, voters will be picking a replacement for Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, whose resignation amid sexual assault allegations ended his run for governor.

California's 14th District will remain under Democratic control as state Sen. Aisha Wahab and Bay Area Rapid Transit Board President Melissa Hernandez advanced from a special open primary.

The race is reprising a theme that cropped up in other Democratic primaries this year: outside spending, particularly from pro-Israel lobbying groups. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee's super PAC has spent more than $2 million against Wahab and backing Hernandez, and another group with funding from the super PAC has spent nearly $2 million in support of Hernandez.

Pro-Israel group spending seemed to backfire in Michigan's recent Democratic Senate primary, where Abdul El-Sayed emerged victorious despite tens of millions of dollars backing his opponent Rep. Haley Stevens.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

Depending on who you ask, tending to the daily barrage of guinea pig needs can be either a fairy tale or a horror show. For Smothermon, it’s often a mix of both.

“If I could figure out how to get out of this at this point, I probably would,” Smothermon joked. “But I do believe that to a certain extent, I probably wouldn’t get out of bed if I didn’t have this.”

Smothermon is the owner of the Guinea Pig Sanctuary, in Salisbury, Massachusetts, roughly 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Boston. On any given day, 350 to 400 guinea pigs are housed in a modest workspace, split into cages stacked from the floor to ceiling.

The space is cramped and chaotic as volunteers and visitors squeeze past each other between the rows of cages in a converted office space. People constantly move throughout the space cleaning out cages and checking on any sick animals.

But there’s also joy. The squeals from the little piggies about to eat lettuce and other vegetation often spark laughter, while others cuddle and comfort some of the guinea pigs. Each animal has a name prominently displayed outside their cage, as volunteers tick off their personalities.

Maui is friendly and gives kisses. Gritty is older, but shy. Rio has spunk and likes to run around. They all remember the smell of their caretakers and gravitate toward their favorites.

“They’re very sensitive animals,” said Janet Woodman, a volunteer at the nonprofit. “I personally think they are probably the best therapy animal next to a horse.”

Smothermon’s operation is one of the handful of animal rescues in the U.S. devoted solely to taking in abandoned guinea pigs — filling a need as people become overwhelmed with the responsibilities required to take care of these pets. The sanctuary additionally offers boarding for guinea pigs when their owners are traveling, as well as encouraging rehoming of the animals when they can.

Measuring between 8-10 inches (20.32-25.4 centimeters) long, these small beasts originally came from South America derived from the Cavia porcellus species, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. After being domesticated in 5,000 B.C., there are now 13 different breeds that are distributed as both pets and for food.

According to Smothermon, guinea pigs often need to be adopted in pairs. They’re social and can’t be kept in cages full time.

Within minutes of opening the sanctuary earlier this year, an older woman walked through the door carrying two cages needing to “surrender” her guinea pigs. The woman’s husband had become sick, she explained to Smothermon, and she couldn’t properly take care of both him and her pets.

Smothermon hugged the woman and waived the usual fee.

“I tell people, just bring them here,” she said. “If that’s what you need to do, I’ll take on the responsibility.”

Other days, Smothermon is fielding calls from across the U.S., asking if she can take 11 piggies from Illinois, seven from Texas, and 97 from New York — where nearly half are expected to have babies.

It's a constant stress that Smothermon never imagined would consume her life. It initially began when her grandson, Alex, brought home a guinea pig. Alex had fallen into a fire as a child and experienced health problems, causing him to avoid most animals up until he was 12, when he discovered it was safe to interact with guinea pigs.

From there, Smothermon said, her family became a resource to take in abandoned guinea pigs. The family ran the rescue out of their New Hampshire house until a fatal fire burned it down in 2019. The fire resulted in the loss of Smothermon's other grandson, two dogs and dozens of guinea pigs.

The tragedy sent Smothermon into a depression, but when her family was living out of a hotel as they looked for a new home, people still kept dropping off guinea pigs that needed help.

Seeing the need gave Smothermon and her family the focus and motivation to continue Alex's dream, and eventually they relocated to Massachusetts.

Smothermon says the work is hard. She only gets a handful of days off a year, but the constant drumbeat of needing to take care of hundreds, if not thousands, of guinea pigs keeps her grounded.

“If I don’t get up, they don’t eat and they can die. So even though it’s not a choice, I have to," she said.

Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are seeking a financial penalty that could, in theory, total as much as $1.4 trillion plus changes to how the company operates Facebook and Instagram. Twenty-nine states sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy — the other 25 will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in state courts.

The lawsuit accuses the social media giant of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms. It also argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.

“This week, we’re in court with the largest consumer protection lawsuit in American history. We’ll show a jury that Meta concealed what it knew about the harm its products cause young people because looking away was more profitable,” Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said in a written statement.

Meta said it believes it has a strong case.

“We are proud of our record in protecting teens on our platforms and the amount of effort that we’ve put into developing protections over the years, even before these cases were ever filed, and continuing to the present day. We look forward to showing the judge and the jury those facts in court,” the company said in a written statement.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland will oversee the proceedings, which are expected to last six to eight weeks with testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives and former employees. Gonzalez Rogers, appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2011, has overseen a bevy of complex, high-profile cases involving Big Tech. These include Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its founders as well as Epic Games' lawsuit against Apple over its app store.

If Meta loses the trial, the court would have wide discretion over the size of any financial penalty, and legal experts say anything close to $1.4 trillion would be unlikely.

The trial is the latest in an avalanche of lawsuits against Meta Platforms and other social media companies including Google’s YouTube, TikTok and Snap, over arguments that their platforms harm young people, illegally collect their data and are deliberately designed to addict them.

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AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this story from Los Angeles.

William Frances Silvia, 61, would be the 13th prisoner put to death this year in Florida, which has two more executions scheduled in September and has carried out more than half the nation's 22 executions so far in 2026.

Silvia is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke starting at 6 p.m. local time.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request to halt the execution.

Courts twice sentenced Silvia to death

Silvia was sentenced to death after being convicted of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder for the deadly 2006 attack on Patricia Silvia, along with her mother, Betty Woodard.

According to court records, Silvia purchased a shotgun that year and then went to Woodard’s Orlando-area home, where his wife had been living since their separation two months earlier. The family was in the middle of a cookout when Silvia arrived, and after an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile, authorities said Silvia retrieved the shotgun from his truck and shot the two women.

William Silvia was first sentenced to death following his 2008 trial. A court later vacated that sentence following an appeal related to Florida's death penalty sentencing procedures, but after being granted a new death penalty phase in 2018, he was again sentenced to death.

A Florida state agency, the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, provides legal representation to death row inmates. Silvia's attorneys have argued that the agency could not provide adequate legal assistance because it was already helping another death row inmate. The Florida Supreme Court rejected the appeal.

Florida leads the way in executions

A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with 19, a record in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

In July, Florida executed two prisoners in one day, the first state in nearly a decade to do so.

Two more executions are planned in Florida next month. Harold Gene Lucas, 74, is scheduled to die Sept. 1, followed by Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, on Sept. 10.

Lucas was convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends.

Conahan was convicted of kidnapping and strangling a man he had paid to pose for nude photos, and authorities suspect him of similar homicides committed in the 1990s in southwest Florida.

All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

The campaign featured over a dozen contenders in each of the top races — for Senate, U.S. House and governor. Under Alaska’s open primary system, all candidates appear on the same ballot, and the four who receive the most votes qualify for the ranked vote general election.

Tuesday's ballot also included candidates running for the Legislature and a statewide initiative that would reimpose campaign contribution limits in state and local elections.

Senate race includes 2 Dan Sullivans and a former congresswoman

The highest-profile candidates in a field of 16 were two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola.

The race, which could help determine control of the Senate, has drawn significant attention from outside groups, with Republican and Democratic campaign organizations identifying it as a top target. Peltola shook up her campaign leadership days before the primary.

During the campaign, Sullivan, a veteran and ally of President Donald Trump, emphasized his support for the military, efforts to open more land for oil development and Trump's signature tax and spending bill passed last year. He accused Peltola of being aligned with Lower 48 “liberals.”

Peltola leaned into the “fish, family, freedom” slogan that first got her elected in 2022. She has criticized a political system that she said is rigged by special interests and allows politicians to enrich themselves.

But it was a third candidate, a Republican also named Dan Sullivan, who garnered much of the attention.

Dan J. Sullivan won a legal fight to appear on the ballot following claims by the senator and GOP allies that he was a sham candidate running at the behest of Democrats with the intent of causing confusion. Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the island community of Petersburg, denied that and said his run was spurred by frustration with the incumbent.

He appeared on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation — a decision that a state elections official said was intended to minimize possible confusion. Meanwhile, the senator was listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent. The “incumbent” label does not accompany the names of any other candidates seeking reelection.

The drama involving the dueling Dan Sullivans caught the attention of Trump. In a social media post endorsing the senator days before the primary, he called the other's candidacy an attempt to trick voters and urged his followers to vote for “SULLIVAN, DAN S.”

Republican Begich faced challenge from independent fisherman

In the race for Alaska's only House seat, the most prominent candidates were Republican Rep. Nick Begich, seeking a second term, and independent Bill Hill, a fisherman and former educator from a small southwestern village.

Progressive Democrat Matt Schultz suspended his campaign last month but remained on the ballot. His campaign said Schultz would withdraw as a general election candidate if he makes the primary's top four.

Schultz urged support for Hill, who leaned into concerns about affordability. Begich, who was endorsed by Trump, cast himself as hardworking and effective in his role. House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared at a rally for Begich in a conservative part of the state this month, though the event was closed to news media.

Governor's race wide open

The campaign for the state’s top executive office was an open race this year because Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy was barred by term limits from seeking a third consecutive stint.

Two Democrats hope to emerge from a crowded, largely Republican field: former state lawmakers Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, who is Nick Begich's uncle. If one of them wins in November, he would become Alaska's first Democratic governor since Tony Knowles left office in 2002.

Republicans in the race included Bernadette Wilson, a businessperson and conservative activist; Click Bishop, a former state labor commissioner and lawmaker; Dave Bronson, former mayor of Anchorage; and Adam Crum and Treg Taylor, two former members of Dunleavy's Cabinet.

Former Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, was also on the ballot.

Ballot measure addresses money in state politics

The lone measure before voters on the primary ballot asked them to reimpose campaign contribution limits five years after a divided federal appeals court struck down a number of caps.

The measure proposes a $2,000 limit on how much individuals can give to candidates in state and local elections and a $5,000 cap on what they can give to political parties. It would also limit spending by groups other than political parties and how much individuals and groups can give to joint campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor.

Supporters say such limits are needed to prevent special interests and wealthy donors from having outsize influence on a campaign or race. Opponents say the measure would favor candidates with name recognition and argue that restricting what someone can contribute limits their voice.

Political spending by wealthy people has become a flashpoint in races in Alaska and elsewhere. In 2025 in Wisconsin, billionaires Elon Musk and George Soros helped push spending in a state Supreme Court campaign past $100 million, the most ever for a court race in the U.S.

The All-Star center fielder and MVP contender hit his fifth leadoff homer of the season to start the game. Then he ended it when he led off the 10th by driving a 2-1 slider from Hagen Smith (2-1) deep into the right-field patio area. It was the 30th homer of the season for Crow-Armstrong, one short of his career best from last year. With 31 stolen bases this year, he also has back-to-back 30-30 seasons.

Crow-Amstrong took his left hand off the bat after he connected and pointed it skyward as he began walking down the first-base line. He turned toward the dugout and celebrated before starting his slow, exuberant home run trot.

Seiya Suzuki also homered for the Cubs and Jacob Webb (5-2) left the bases loaded in the top of the 10th to set the stage for Crow-Armstrong, who drove in automatic runner Carson Kelly. The Cubs' leadoff batter finished 4 for 5 with a walk.

The Cubs snapped a two-game skid and ended the White Sox's three-game winning streak. Randal Grichuk and Andrew Benintendi homered for the White Sox, who had won six of eight and took two of three from the Cubs on the South side earlier this season.

Nico Hoerner’s RBI single tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. In the eighth, pinch-hitter Benintendi sent Ryan Zeferjahn’s first offering into the right-field basket for a two-run homer to give the White Sox a 5-4 lead.

Crow-Armstrong drove Luis Castillo’s first pitch down the right-field line and out. Suzuki belted one to deep left center four pitches later. Grichuk's three-run homer, his 10th, put the White Sox ahead 3-2 in the fourth.

Cubs starter Shota Imanaga allowed three runs on two hits and struck out 10 — one off his season high — in six innings.

Up next

RHP Kevin Gausman (6-11, 4.53 ERA) goes for the Cubs on Tuesday. The White Sox had not named a starter.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Lamour, who is based in Zurich, all but invited Infantino to fire him in a statement to The Associated Press on Aug. 1 that defended his colleagues amid intense fallout from the plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private equity funds.

Lamour wrote that staff were “deceived” by Infantino’s lack of openness in planning. He released the statement on the say day Infantino’s senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, decided to walk away and described the $20 billion commercial subsidiary plan as “a bad deal for football.”

Britain's Press Association late Monday quoted a FIFA spokesperson as saying: “FIFA can confirm that the working relationship between FIFA and Kevin Lamour as FIFA’s Chief Operating Officer has ended.”

“FIFA thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him the best of luck for the future. No further comment will be made on the matter.”

Infantino is seeking reelection as FIFA president but remains under pressure after the heads of three continental confederations — for Europe, Asia and for North, Central America and the Caribbean — issued an open letter last week saying his World Cup plan was a “fundamental breach of trust” and described it as “deception.”

Infantino withdrew the $20 billion proposal after a furious backlash by global soccer officials, including European body UEFA, which has warned of a boycott of all FIFA games and events.

Some national federations have withdrawn their support for Infantino, although the heads of six Arab soccer federations last week expressed their “full support” and “confidence” in the president.

Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and, until the backlash over the so-called FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, seemed sure to be reelected unopposed next year in Morocco. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to come forward.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

But it is the scathing online reviews that seem to have prompted interest in “Niu Lai,” an animated film about a calf who had a dream about himself growing up with the help of his family, driving a surprising surge at the box office.

The film earned only about 10,000 yuan ($1,480) at the box office in the first 10 days after its Aug. 5 release. On some days, the film took in as little as 200 yuan ($30) at the box office, according to Maoyan, a movie-tracking platform. The figure was exceptionally low, particularly during the competitive summer movie season.

But its box office surged to 8.2 million yuan ($1.2 million) Monday, with nearly 300,000 admissions, according to Maoyan. Its total box office has reached 17.1 million yuan ($2.5 million).

Red Star News, a local news website in Chengdu, reported that the film was made over five years by just two people — director Xin Yumeng and his mother, Sun Lifan. The Associated Press was unable to reach Xin and could not independently verify this.

Posters seen at movie theaters featured a calf, hand-drawn in pen without color, alongside handwritten slogans: “Come on over if you’re into the bizarre” and “No refunds.”

A 'terrible' movie viewers recommend as a prank

On Douban, a popular Chinese movie-review platform, viewers piled on with mocking and bewildered comments.

Among the most popular: “unbelievably terrible and eye-opening,” “a symbol of the new internet troll culture,” and “a must-watch for Chinese stock market investors.” The last is a play on the film’s name, “Niu Lai,” which literally means “the bull is coming” in Chinese — a wish for a bull market.

Comments such as “over nine out of ten,” and “awesome and highly recommended” are also among the sarcastic reactions.

“My initial intention has always been to play pranks on my friends,” said Du Mingxi, a 19-year-old college student in Shanghai.

“If a friend asks me what I think about the movie, I’d say good and recommend them to watch,” he said, adding that he successfully tricked two friends to watch the movie with him. Both found it fun, but one fell asleep during the viewing.

Du compared young people going to the movies to see this kind of film to the mysterious “six-seven” craze in the U.S., saying that some are just drawn to things they find weird or funny, with many jumping on a trend whether they get it or not.

“They are just the same, it is funny but hard to describe what's funny about it, and young people just love spreading these memes virally,” said Du.

Despite the flood of criticism and memes, some viewers didn't mind the rudimentary production.

Zhong Jiaming, a vocational schoolteacher in Guangzhou, called it a rare find in an era when movies are often “visually exquisite and polished, but their stories can fail to engage.”

“This is a movie for the young at heart," said Zhong. "It is simple and honest, like a bedtime story for children.”

The sisters nearly recovered from a 6-0 deficit in the match tiebreaker before a double-fault by Venus Williams ended their first doubles appearance in a non-Grand Slam event since the Italian Open in 2016. They entered as a wild card.

Serena had been off the tour since 2022 before returning this summer at age 44. The sisters planned to play together at Wimbledon but had to withdraw after Serena injured her knee while losing her singles match.

“Eventually we would find our way to each other,” the 46-year-old Venus said about the decision to play doubles again. “It's our first time playing together in forever. It was great for us to get out there and do it.”

Kostyuk and Stearns, both 24, are playing in their first tournament together. Stearns is a Cincinnati native and Kostyuk is from Ukraine.

After dropping the first set, the Williams sisters rolled in the second to force a match tiebreak.

Kostyuk and Stearns went ahead 6-0, but consecutive double-faults by Kostyuk helped the Williamses get within 8-7. It was 9-8 after Serena powerfully put away an overhead before Venus double-faulted.

Venus and Serena have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and 22 total. Serena won one with Alexandra Stevenson in 2002 at Leipzig. All of Venus' doubles titles have been with her sister. They also have won three Olympic gold medals together.

Serena has won 23 singles Grand Slam titles. Venus has won seven.

Swiatek rallies for 3-set win and other results

In other results Monday, defending Cincinnati champion Iga Swiatek rallied from a set down to win her eighth consecutive match, beating Maria Sakkari, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina beat Magdalena Frech, 6-4, 7-6. Third-ranked Jessica Pegula beat fellow American Emma Navarro, 7-5, 6-2.

World No. 3 and top seed Alexander Zverev won his ATP-tour leading 46th match this season, outlasting Terence Atmane, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6).

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

The S&P 500 fell 0.5% and is on track for a third straight modest loss since setting its all-time high on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 56 points, or 0.1%, as of 12:25 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% lower.

Leading the way lower were stocks that have been big winners in the boom around artificial-intelligence technology. They’ve been veering up and down this summer on worries that their prices shot too high in the AI frenzy and that the strong demand for memory, processors and other building blocks of data centers may fizzle out if AI proves less profitable than promised.

Micron Technology dropped 7%, and the seller of computer memory was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. So were chip companies Nvidia, which fell 2.4%, and Broadcom, which sank 2.9%.

Even with their recent swings, such stocks remain big winners, and Micron has more than tripled this year.

But stocks that critics call too expensive get more scrutiny when interest rates are high, and yields remained that way in bond markets worldwide Tuesday.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury edged down to 4.71% from 4.72% late Monday. But it remains well above its 3.97% level from just before the war with Iran began. The 30-year Treasury yield also ticked lower, but it's still near its highest level since 2007.

Yields have jumped since the war began because high oil prices are pushing upward on inflation and raising the pressure on the Federal Reserve and other central banks to hike interest rates. All the while, continuing worries about huge debt loads for governments and their increases in borrowing keep yields high.

The bond market often runs in the background, but it’s powerful enough to sway markets and government leaders worldwide, including President Donald Trump. When yields are high, investors are less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other kinds of investments, particularly those seen as the most expensive.

Much of the pressure on yields has come from oil prices, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude ticked up by 0.6% to $91.43. It’s been swinging sharply on uncertainty about when and whether the United States and Iran can reach a deal to allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf freely again. Brent was priced at $72.87 right before the start of the war.

High yields have already sent the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate near its highest level in a year, which has hurt the housing industry. A report on Tuesday said homebuilders broke ground on fewer new houses last month than economists expected.

Such data helped to restrain Home Depot's stock, which rose 1.1% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail said Home Depot saw its customers continue to pursue smaller projects.

High yields could also slow the tremendous borrowing Big Tech companies are doing to pay for data centers, putting at risk one of the big sources of growth for the U.S. economy.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Klarna fell 21% even though the payments company reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The buy-now, pay-later company cut some of its financial forecasts for the full year of 2026, largely because of expectations for Germany, its largest market by volume.

Meta Platforms fell 2.8%, with opening statements set to kick off in a pivotal trial in a California federal court, where states are seeking billions of dollars in damages for social media harms to children.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi has been home to some of the world’s sharpest AI-induced swings because it’s dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The index fell 1.5%, which counts as relatively modest move for it. It had swung by at least 2.4% in each of its three prior days.

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AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

Para muchos habitantes de Banda, una ciudad del norte de India que ha registrado algunas de las temperaturas más altas del país, enfrentar cada día es todo un reto.

El calentamiento global, causado principalmente por la quema de combustibles como el gas, el petróleo y el carbón, provoca que las olas de calor en toda India sean más frecuentes e intensas. Uttar Pradesh, el estado donde se encuentra Banda, figura entre las zonas más vulnerables al calor extremo. En 2023, al menos 119 personas fallecieron en el transcurso de varios días durante una intensa ola de calor que afectó a partes del estado.

En mayo, las temperaturas alcanzaron 48,2 grados Celsius (118,8 grados Fahrenheit), una de varias ocasiones este año en que la ciudad registró la temperatura más alta del país en un día. Banda fue también el lugar más caluroso de la Tierra en siete ocasiones este año —la mayoría en abril—, según el climatólogo e historiador de la meteorología Maximiliano Herrera, quien monitorea fenómenos meteorológicos extremos a nivel mundial. Desde entonces, las temperaturas han descendido un poco, pero aún son sofocantes, particularmente porque las lluvias estacionales incrementan la humedad.

Hace algunas semanas, un equipo de The Associated Press viajó a Banda para informar sobre cómo la gente intenta sobrellevar el calor a lo largo del día.

La mañana: El calor dificulta la labor de los trabajadores del mercado

Munni Devi y sus cuatro hijos comienzan su jornada de carga y descarga de verduras cuando la mayor parte de la ciudad aún duerme.

Son apenas las 4 de la madrugada, pero la temperatura ya marca 30 ºC (86 ºF). Los trabajadores del mercado de verduras de Banda están ocupados en descargar tomates, yacas y otras hortalizas, y las trasladan a vehículos más pequeños para distribuirlas a las tiendas de los barrios.

Devi, de 70 años, refiere que el calor es más intenso cada año y que este 2026 ha sido especialmente duro. Su trabajo es físicamente exigente en cualquier clima, pero durante una ola de calor puede resultar brutal. No obstante, Devi dice que ella y sus hijos no pueden permitirse faltar ni un solo día.

“Todos sentimos el calor, pero debido a nuestras circunstancias, tenemos que soportarlo”, agrega.

En el mercado, hombres jóvenes empujan carritos por pasillos estrechos y las mujeres clasifican verduras en plena calle. Devi comenta que muchos clientes llegan temprano, con la esperanza de terminar sus compras antes de que las temperaturas se disparen.

Devi y sus hijos trabajan desde muy temprano en la mañana hasta la hora del almuerzo, cuando regresan a casa para recuperarse.

Añade que, debido a la inestabilidad del suministro eléctrico en su hogar, apenas encuentran alivio allí. A sus nietos los rocían a diario con una manguera para refrescarlos un poco.

“Si no hay electricidad, ni los ventiladores de techo funcionan. A veces pasamos horas sin luz”, expresa.

Por la tarde: Un amante de los animales intenta proteger a las aves de los efectos del calor

Mientras el sol de la tarde abrasa las calles de Banda, los residentes que pueden permitírselo permanecen en interiores. Pero algunos vendedores de verduras y conductores de “tuk tuks” —mototaxis— se quedan al aire libre, esperanzados en conseguir algo más de clientela.

Por su parte, Shobharam Kashyap, un hombre de 70 años que ama los animales, fabrica casas de madera para aves en el taller de su casa.

Kashyap dice que él y otros voluntarios han instalado más de 15.000 casas por toda la ciudad para ofrecer a los pájaros un refugio frente a un entorno cada vez más hostil.

Sus casas, pintadas con colores vivos —muchas de ellas verdes, ya que reporta que las aves parecen preferir ese color—, han sido colocadas en árboles y muros de todo Banda. Además ha dispuesto recipientes de barro con agua, dentro y cerca de su vivienda, para que las aves puedan darse un baño o beber.

Kashyap expresa que él continúa la costumbre tradicional de preocupación y cuidado hacia otros animales.

“Nuestra cultura fomenta desde hace mucho tiempo el alimentar a las aves. Las mujeres que visitan los templos suelen llevar ofrendas de arroz. Ni el sacerdote ni la deidad lo consumen... son los pájaros quienes lo hacen”, agrega.

Al anochecer: A medida que el calor aumenta, las admisiones a hospitales también

En los días más calurosos ha sido mayor el flujo de pacientes que han tenido que acudir al hospital de Banda, uno de los centros médicos más grandes de la región. Las personas afectadas por dolencias relacionadas con el calor —que van desde desmayos hasta golpes de calor— suelen llegar por la tarde y al anochecer. Llenan pasillos y salas.

Los pacientes se sientan hombro con hombro en las bancas y sus familiares los abanican con hojas de papel. El personal sanitario circula con sueros intravenosos entre las camas.

El doctor Abhishek Pranayami, médico jefe del hospital, dice que el centro recibe una oleada de pacientes cada verano, “y el número de pacientes aumenta cada año”.

Reporta que atienden a un gran número de personas que sufren deshidratación, diarrea, vómitos y dolor abdominal, dolencias que se vuelven más frecuentes a medida que aumentan las temperaturas. Algunos pacientes se recuperan en unos días, pero otros tardan más.

“La presión sobre nosotros y sobre el personal es bastante alta”, añade.

Por la noche: Dormir al aire libre o en una estación de tren para escapar del calor

Incluso después de la puesta del sol, el calor en Banda no cede.

Cuando los niños juegan un partido de críquet, envuelven sus botellas de agua en retazos de ropa para mantener fresco el líquido.

En la estación de tren de la ciudad, a veces las familias se reúnen hasta altas horas de la noche, con la esperanza de que los andenes abiertos y la brisa ocasional resulten más cómodos que sus viviendas abarrotadas, las cuales han absorbido calor a lo largo de todo el día.

En una de esas noches, decenas de personas duermen en la estación para escapar del calor. En un punto concreto, varios niños y adultos descansan sobre mantas extendidas en el andén de piedra, mientras vagones de tren yacen estacionados a pocos metros. Algunos usan bolsas como almohadas. Un montón de sandalias descansa a escasos centímetros de sus pies descalzos. Otro hombre se tumba en una banca, con la cabeza posada en una mochila.

Cerca de allí, varios hombres y mujeres intentan dormir sobre mantas junto a las taquillas, a pesar de la iluminación intensa. Algunos perros se tumban entre las personas que están en el suelo, también en busca de algo de alivio.

Trabajadores cuyas viviendas son demasiado pequeñas y calurosas para dormir en ellas pasan la noche sobre mantas en el exterior de la estación, y hacen todo lo posible por descansar en medio del calor nocturno. A pesar del ruido de los vehículos y de los pasajeros que entran y salen, trabajadores y residentes se tumban sobre toallas —y a veces directamente sobre la grava—, ya que las calles y aceras relativamente abiertas y ventiladas cercanas a la estación les ofrecen la mejor oportunidad para intentar conciliar el sueño.

Para los padres con niños pequeños, la noche calurosa es demasiado incómoda para dormir, por lo que aguardan en la estación, agrupados en torno a un celular.

La lucha por mitigar el calor y descansar se ha convertido en un rasgo característico del verano en ciudades como Banda.

“El cambio climático está alterando los promedios”, dice Abhiyant Tiwari, experto en clima y salud de la organización de defensa ambiental sin fines de lucro NRDC India (Consejo para la Defensa de los Recursos Naturales – India), con sede en Nueva Delhi. “Si bien Banda siempre se ha caracterizado por sus veranos calurosos, lo que está cambiando ahora es la intensidad, la duración y el número de personas expuestas a condiciones de calor peligrosas”.

Las elevadas temperaturas nocturnas son especialmente preocupantes, ya que impiden que las personas se recuperen físicamente del calor del día, explica.

El máximo responsable gubernamental de Banda expone que las autoridades han respondido: han abierto centros de resguardo contra el calor, distribuido cientos de miles de kits de rehidratación oral, y supervisan los hospitales durante las alertas por calor.

Amit Aasery, magistrado del distrito de Banda, refiere que las autoridades analizan los niveles de agua subterránea, la humedad del suelo y la pérdida de vegetación, y a la vez trabajan para mejorar el suministro de agua y fomentar la concientización pública.

Pero sostiene que hay un límite a lo que pueden hacer.

“Lo que está ocurriendo aquí es un fenómeno global”, dice. “Se debe al cambio climático. Nosotros somos quienes sufrimos sus consecuencias”.

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Arasu informó desde Bengaluru, India. El periodista de The Associated Press Seth Borenstein contribuyó a este despacho desde Washington.

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

La intérprete, reconocida en todo el mundo por éxitos como “Hips Don't Lie”, hizo su promesa durante una visita sorpresa a Quibdó —capital de la provincia colombiana del Chocó—, donde recorrió escuelas dañadas y abrazó y se tomó fotografías con algunos de los estudiantes.

“Lo que más me preocupa es que, después de que pase el estado de emergencia, se queden todas esas escuelas sin reconstruir y que queden tantas personas en el olvido y damnificadas”, dijo la cantante a los periodistas. “Que nuestros niños no puedan volver al colegio. Aquí no hay conectividad, no es que puedan hacer escuela desde la casa. Cada día que los niños no van a la escuela es un día en que pasamos su futuro”.

Shakira estuvo acompañada por Howard Buffett, hijo del filántropo multimillonario Warren Buffett, quien ha ayudado a la cantante en otras ocasiones a establecer escuelas en el Chocó. La fundación Howard G. Buffett colaborará con la Fundación Pies Descalzos de Shakira en el proyecto.

“Vengo siempre que me llama”, dijo Buffett sobre la visita. La cantante también anunció que Global Citizen y Live Nation comprometieron respectivos donativos de 500.000 dólares para la causa.

El sismo de magnitud 7,4 del 10 de agosto remeció una extensa franja del occidente colombiano, donde cobró al menos 287 vidas y destruyó más de 26.000 viviendas, indicaron las autoridades. El gobierno ha dicho que 194 personas continúan desaparecidas, mientras que otras bases de datos sitúan la cifra en más de 4.100.

El terremoto tuvo epicentro en el Chocó, una de las regiones más pobres de Colombia, donde al menos 3.100 viviendas quedaron destruidas y más de 265 centros educativos resultaron afectados, según el más reciente informe del gobierno regional.

“Los colombianos tienen una deuda histórica, el departamento del Chocó ha estado abandonado a su suerte y ha sido muy difícil dar pasos hacia el progreso aquí, pero sabemos que se puede”. indicó Shakira, cuya fundación se centra en el acceso a la educación para jóvenes en Colombia y mantiene una presencia en el Chocó desde hace 22 años con dos escuelas de las que se han graduado cientos de estudiantes. “Vale la pena invertir en educación".

Los grupos de ayuda han tenido dificultades para evaluar los daños en la región, un área del tamaño de Suiza donde la comunicación es difícil. La provincia cuenta con pocos caminos que la conectan al resto del país, y la mayoría de sus poblados se conectan principalmente por ríos y caminos sin pavimentar.

La mayoría de los 600.000 habitantes del Chocó vive en condiciones de pobreza, según las cifras que el gobierno nacional de Colombia publicó el año pasado. La zona está habitada en gran medida por grupos indígenas y comunidades afrocolombianas.

“No hay palabras suficientes para consolar, no hay soluciones mágicas para esto que se está viviendo, para tanto dolor", declaró Shakira durante su visita a una escuela secundaria en Quibdó.

“Pero lo que sí sé que hay es compromiso, un compromiso concreto de estar al lado de todos esos colombianos que han perdido sus casas, de todos esos niños que han perdido sus escuelas y que no pueden regresar al colegio. El compromiso es no soltar de la mano a los chocoanos hasta que cada uno de ellos pueda regresar a tener una vida normal, a que cada niño pueda volver a la escuela", puntualizó.

La intérprete de éxitos como “Whenever, Wherever”, “La Tortura” y el himno del Mundial de la FIFA 2026 “Dai Dai”, ha sido defensora desde hace muchos años de las causas relacionadas con la educación y aseguró el lunes que planea dedicar todos sus “esfuerzos” a la reconstrucción de una universidad tecnológica local en el Chocó.

La cantante de 49 años atrae una enorme atención tanto por sus presentaciones como por sus causas: encabezó el espectáculo del medio tiempo en la final del Mundial de la FIFA 2026 en julio, dos meses después de presentarse en la playa de Copacabana, en Brasil, ante cerca de 2 millones de personas.

Después de que dos terremotos prácticamente simultáneos azotaron Venezuela en junio, Shakira anunció que el Fondo de Educación de Global Citizen de la FIFA se comprometía a aportar 500.000 dólares para la recuperación educativa en esa nación

Su anuncio es el más reciente entre un grupo de destacados colombianos y artistas latinoamericanos para ayudar a Colombia y Venezuela. Los cantantes Marc Anthony y Chayanne participaron el domingo junto a decenas de artistas en un concierto benéfico en Miami y una recaudación de fondos en vivo para beneficiar a ambas naciones.

Durante su serie de tres conciertos en el SoFi Stadium, cerca de Los Ángeles, la cantante colombiana Karol G se comprometió el fin de semana a igualar las donaciones de sus fans a su Fundación Con Cora. También se unirá a Maluma, Sebastián Yatra y otros en un concierto benéfico en Bogotá este domingo.

La Federación Colombiana de Fútbol y la Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol asumieron la semana pasada un compromiso conjunto de 1 millón de dólares para el fondo de recuperación “Colombia, un corazón” de la primera dama de Colombia, Ana Lucía Pineda.

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Gabriela Aoun Angueira informó desde San Diego.

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La cobertura de filantropía y organizaciones sin fines de lucro de The Associated Press recibe apoyo mediante la colaboración de la AP con The Conversation US, con financiamiento de Lilly Endowment Inc. LA AP es la única responsable de este contenido. Para toda la cobertura de filantropía de AP, visite https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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

Hundreds of students were evacuated after shots rang out in the high school building of the Ateneo de Zamboanga university campus in the southern port city of Zamboanga. Two other people were injured, police and city officials said.

The suspect, identified by police as grade 9 student Mohammad Mael Jalani, fired at a teacher sitting in front of a class but apparently missed. He then shot a student on the fourth floor of the building before going up one floor and killing himself, police said in an initial report.

“He entered and started indiscriminately firing, hitting a Grade 10 student at the fourth floor then subsequently went to the fifth floor and jumped from the said building and committed suicide,” Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla told reporters.

“He showed this on Facebook Live starting when he was climbing up the stairs but there were only snippets,” Remulla said. “We'll look into his gaming history and his chat history so we cannot come up with a complete answer why this happened until we do a complete forensic analysis.”

Zamboanga city Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso and the police said the suspect shot himself.

The high school building, where the gun attack happened, is in a secured campus, separate from a larger campus of the privately owned Catholic university where its colleges and professional schools are located in Zamboanga. One of the largest and most prestigious universities in the south, Ateneo suspended classes at all levels Tuesday and Wednesday following the attack.

Joe Darryl Jaron has just driven his child to the school when he heard the gunshots that prompted students to scream in panic and dash to safety. He took a video of the commotion and posted it on Facebook. “There are gunshots here in Ateneo, help! help,” he said.

A few hours after the shooting, police said the situation was under control. They asked parents and guardians of students to remain calm and follow the high school's advice and arrangements to pick up their children.

“Authorities are currently establishing the circumstances surrounding the incident,” national police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said. The police “will provide verified information as appropriate and appeals to the public to refrain from sharing unconfirmed reports, photos, or videos that may cause unnecessary concern.”

The national police “assure the public that the safety and well-being of the school community remain a priority. We thank the school administration, parents, guardians, and the community for their patience, cooperation and understanding as authorities continue to manage the situation,” Nartatez said.

One of the pistols carried by the suspect came from his father, who was the Bureau of Customs police commander in Zamboanga, Bureau of Customs deputy commissioner Nolasco Bathan told reporters. He added that he recommended the temporary suspension of the father, who may face administrative charges for failing to properly safeguard the government-issued pistol.

The shooting happened despite police assurances that security in schools across the country would be strengthened after a shooting in June in which three high school students were killed and at least 20 others were wounded in central Tacloban city. Police arrested two students, ages 14 and 15, and accused them of carrying out that shooting.

Crimes involving the use of firearms are prevalent in the Philippines, partly due to the proliferation of unlicensed firearms, but school shootings are relatively rare.

Days after the school shooting in Tacloban, Philippine authorities said they temporarily blocked an online gaming app to assess whether it played a role in fostering such violence. The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said its decision to indefinitely block Gorebox was prompted by an ongoing police investigation which showed that one suspect was an avid user of the app.

The shooting in the Philippines also occurred less than two weeks after a school shooting in Thailand.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul took steps to restrict guns in the Southeast Asian country after a 14-year-old boy killed his grandparents, five school staff members and a 12-year-old girl in Nonthaburi province outside Bangkok.

Thailand’s high rate of gun ownership is second only to Pakistan in Asia, and far surpasses its Southeast Asian neighbors.

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Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan in Manila, Philippines, and Haruka Nuga and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.

“Wow. Amazing. Amazing,” Castillo said.

Castillo is from Venezuela and is now a U.S. citizen. Standing at the polls, he said the moment felt special because he knew his vote counted.

“Super special for me. I am feeling my vote is counting,” he said.

Castillo was one of many voters taking advantage of early voting across Broward and Miami-Dade counties Sunday.

The Davie Cooper City Branch Library was one of 21 early voting locations across Broward. Hundreds of people showed up throughout the day to make their voices heard in the primary elections.

Hollywood resident Premi Sterlin brought his family with him to vote early.

“I got out here and voted early, I brought my family with me,” Sterlin said. “Bring your friends, bring your people, just get out here and vote. You don’t gotta worry about it getting too packed on actual voter day, you can come out early, they gave us a good week.”

As voters arrived, they were met by crowds of campaign volunteers making their final push to sway their votes.

Sterlin said he had not had many problems, but the number of volunteers calling out to voters was a little intimidating.

“I haven’t had many problems with anything,” he said. “I am a little intimidated by the amount of people screaming at me when I got out of the car though, telling me who to vote for. I think one thing we could do is clean that up.”

Still, for voters like Castillo, the day was about gratitude and appreciation for the opportunity to participate in American democracy.

“That’s my feeling. Believe me, I am enjoying this time, I don’t have words to make you feel what I’m feeling,” he said.

“I’m emotional just hearing this.”

“Yeah, yeah. Yeah. For me it’s amazing. That’s why I’m using the sticker with pride.”

Correction: The previous version of this story incorrectly referred to Premi Sterlin as “she” and incorrectly attributed ages to both interview subjects. The errors have since been corrected.

The globally recognized “Hips Don't Lie” musician made the pledge during a surprise visit to Quibdó, the capital of the Colombian province of Chocó, where she toured damaged schools, hugging students and taking photos with them.

"What worries me the most is that schools are not rebuilt once this emergency is over,” Shakira told journalists. “Every day that children don’t go to school is a day they miss out on their future.”

She was accompanied by Howard Buffett, son of billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett and longtime donor to Colombia who has helped Shakira set up schools there before. The Howard G. Buffett foundation will collaborate with Shakira's Fundación Pies Descalzos, or Barefoot Foundation, on reconstructing the 10 schools.

“When she calls, I come,” Buffett said during the visit.

The singer also told reporters she planned to dedicate her “personal efforts” to rebuilding a local technological university in Chocó and announced pledges of $500,000 each from the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund and Live Nation and $250,000 from CAF Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean toward rebuilding schools and getting children back into classrooms.

The 7.4 magnitude quake on Aug. 10 struck a vast swath of western Colombia, killing at least 287 people and destroying more than 26,000 dwellings, authorities said. The government has said 194 people are missing, while other civilian-run databases put the number at more than 4,100.

The epicenter was in Chocó, one of Colombia's poorest regions and where at least 3,100 homes were destroyed and over 265 educational sites affected, according to the regional government latest report Monday.

“It’s a place I love, a place where I’ve seen our students grow in our classrooms,” Shakira said in a video posted on X by the Colombian news outlet La FM. Her foundation, which focuses on educational access for youths in Colombia, has been in Chocó for 22 years, running two schools from which hundreds of students have graduated, she said. “I really want to see it rebuild again.”

Aid groups have struggled to assess the damage so far in Chocó, an area the size of Switzerland where communication is difficult. The province has few roads linking it to the rest of the country, and its towns and villages are connected mostly by rivers and unpaved roads.

Most of Chocó's 600,000 inhabitants live in poverty, according to figures published last year by Colombia’s national government, and it is largely inhabited by Indigenous tribes and Afro Colombian communities.

“There is not a way to alleviate the pain of so many, there are no magic solutions," Shakira, 49, said during her visit to a large high school in Quibdó. “But what there is, is commitment to be here alongside those from Chocó, to not abandon El Chocó like it historically has been abandoned, until every Colombian and every person from Chocó can return to their normal lives like they deserve and all the children can return to their schools and dream of the futures they deserve."

The Grammy award winner known for hits like “Whenever, Wherever,” “La Tortura,” and the 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem “Dai Dai” is a longtime supporter of educational access and advancement. She recently headlined the halftime show of the World Cup final match in July and performed in May on Brazil’s Copacabana Beach to a crowd of 2 million.

After Venezuela’s twin earthquakes in June, Shakira announced the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund would commit $500,000 to education recovery there.

Her announcement Monday is the latest of many commitments from prominent Colombians and other Latin American artists to help Colombia and Venezuela. On Sunday, Marc Anthony and Chayanne joined dozens of other artists at a Miami benefit concert and live fundraiser for both countries' earthquake relief.

Colombian singer Karol G pledged to match fan donations to her Con Cora Foundation during her three-night run at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles last weekend. She will also join Maluma, Sebastián Yatra and others at a benefit concert in Bogotá this Sunday.

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An earlier correction stated Shakira committed to building 10 new schools, not rebuilding 10 schools. She and Buffett are helping reconstruct the schools, not building new ones.

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Gabriela Aoun Angueira reported from San Diego.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits 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. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Police said Karina Corbalan shot her boyfriend, Alejandro Sanchez, more than a dozen times over an argument about their relationship.

On Monday, a judge sentenced Corbalan to 25 years behind bars followed by 10 years of probation.

During the hearing, Corbalan apologized to Sanchez’s family and said that she loved him.

The shooting occurred in March of 2020 in the area of West 58th Street and 21st Avenue.

Police said officers arrived to the scene to find Corbalan kneeling over Sanchez’s body.

His family remains devastated over the shooting.

“We’ve sat here for six years and she’s never acknowledged, and now she wants to say she loved him? That’s not love. You murdered him,” said Amy Sanchez, Alejandro’s mother. “You killed my baby, and I can never forgive that.”

Police said Panettiere was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday. Lifesaving measures were performed but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

No cause of death has been determined and Panettiere’s death remains under investigation. An autopsy found no signs of trauma and police said officers saw no signs of foul play.

The television and film performer, who would have turned 37 on Friday, had been open about her private battles and wrote at length about them in the memoir, “This Is Me,” which came out in May. She described lifelong scars from her early fame, and acknowledged being addicted to alcohol and enduring postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, Kaya, with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” her father, Skip Panettiere, said in a statement provided to ABC. “She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”

A publicist for Panettiere did not provide any additional details in response to inquiries from The Associated Press.

Panettiere started out as a child actor

Panettiere was one of two children born to Skip Panettiere, a former New York City fire captain, and Lesley Vogel, a former soap opera star who had been the prime force behind her early career before the two became estranged. Panettiere began acting in commercials and soap operas, including as the ever-troubled Lizzie Spaulding on “Guiding Light.” In “This Is Me,” she wrote that the traumas her character endured, from being kidnapped to killing her mother’s boyfriend, led her to associate “catastrophe with adoration.”

“Grown-ups gave me positive attention when — as an actor — I failed, got sick, screamed and cried, killed, grieved, and suffered,” she wrote. “Is it any wonder why I’ve faced so many real struggles in my life? I’ve often wondered whether — unintentionally — I’ve brought on my traumas because I’m wired to think they’re good for me.”

She had much warmer memories of her role as a cheerleader with supernatural powers in “Heroes,” which propelled her to fame in 2006. The series revolved around the mantra: “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”

“I think ‘Heroes’ is really hot because it’s just a really great combination of everything that people love — they love reality, they love sci-fi and things like ‘X-Men’ where they get to dream of something bigger,” Panettiere told the AP in 2008. “And at the core of it are these human stories that people can relate to, very rugged. And it’s just grabbed everyone in every age group.”

She went on to win three Teen Choice Awards for that role and was nominated for a Grammy for a children’s spoken word album, “A Bug’s Life: Read-Along,” also voicing a role in the Disney animated movie.

Panettiere later played a brash country upstart opposite Connie Britton on “Nashville,” which aired on ABC for four seasons before being canceled and revived on CMT. She did her own singing in the show, which scored some hits on country charts, spawned U.S. tours and earned Panettiere two supporting actress Golden Globe nominations. Eleven songs that Panettiere recorded for “Nashville” appeared on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs charts during the show’s run, including two featuring Britton.

She checked herself into rehab

Panettiere’s daughter, now 11, began living with Klitschko full-time in Ukraine when she was 2. At the time, the actor was struggling with mental health and addiction.

“I think there’s been this very common misconception that I just gave up my child,” she said in an interview with podcaster Jay Shetty in May. “That could not be farther from the truth.”

She said she was in a “horrible cycle for years of battling depression and anxiety and alcoholism and substance abuse” while “just trying to find my way back, my way out of the darkness.”

She entered rehab in 2015, while filming “Nashville.”

“I was the one who put myself in the first treatment center. I was drowning,” she said in a 2023 interview with Women’s Health magazine.

Panettiere had endured numerous family struggles, and tragedy. Her parents’ marriage was strained, and eventually ended. Her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who was also an actor, died of a heart condition in 2023, at age 28. Years earlier, Hayden had made the painful decision to part professionally with her mother, who throughout her childhood had “defined and driven her” and watched her “struggle, learn, grow, fall apart, and triumph.”

“She and I spent so much time together, so deeply enmeshed in each other’s lives, that we started grating on each other,” Panettiere wrote in her memoir. “I hated when Mom whispered about other actors during auditions, positive that they could hear her compare them to me. I hated when Mom went to industry parties and got tipsy on the merlot she loved.”

In recent years, she had been in a tumultuous relationship with actor Brian Hickerson.

On Shetty’s podcast, Panettiere recalled how she exploded into the public eye through “Heroes,” including the first time she was tracked by the paparazzi. She described her response as “sheer terror.” In her memoir, she would remember unwanted encounters with fellow celebrities — from an Oscar-winning actor-director exposing himself to her to being forced into bed with a “famous thirtysomething British singer-songwriter.”

She had spoken positively about her experience filming “Remember the Titans,” saying she felt similar to the character she played — Sheryl Yoast, the opinionated, football-loving daughter of Will Patton’s Coach Bill Yoast. Panettiere also appeared in two of the “Scream” movies, and starred as the title character in the 2009 film “I Love You Beth Cooper.”

In her memoir, Panettiere described herself as an “optimist to the core” who refused to be defined by tragedy.

“One thing I know from my 36 years in the public eye is this: Life is a process that evolves day by day, year by year and — like it or not — you are engaged in a cycle of growth until the moment you take your last breath,” she wrote.

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Associated Press writer Dave Collins and National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting.

Hichilema secured around 60% of the presidential vote in the southern African nation that has held largely peaceful elections since it returned to multiparty democracy in 1991.

Hichilema's main challenger, opposition leader Brian Mundubile, won around 38% of the vote, according to the electoral commission.

Zambia, a nation of 22 million people that is one of the world's leading copper producers, is a focus for Chinese investment because of its reserves of the critical mineral. It has also drawn interest from the United States under a Trump administration plan to increase U.S. access to copper and other critical minerals used in new technologies and renewable energy systems.

The results released early Tuesday followed days of heightened tensions since last Thursday's election.

The electoral commission suspended vote counting for hours on Friday, citing attacks on some polling station officials and what it called the theft of some ballot boxes.

It didn't say who might be responsible for the alleged violence and theft, but the suspension prompted the deployment of the army to parts of the capital, Lusaka — an unusual development for one of Africa's more stable democracies.

The Zambian government announced later that 11 opposition officials were detained in a law enforcement raid on election night at a property where opposition leader Mundubile was present, though he was not arrested, according to the government.

The raid involved an exchange of gunfire between occupants of the premises and law enforcement officers, the government said.

The government accused the opposition officials of being in possession of “high-grade military weapons, ammunition and other materials for use in armed insurrection” and said they were a national security threat.

Mundubile criticized the raid as an attempt on his life and denied allegations that the officials were part of a militia.

Hichilema said in a statement Tuesday that he and his party were humbled by the trust placed in them by voters and also reached out to opposition supporters.

“To those citizens who preferred the ideas presented by our opponents, we hear you, and we will continue to work for you to ensure that every Zambian benefits from the development we are delivering,” Hichilema said.

A preliminary report by a European Union observer team released before results were announced said the election was largely peaceful but the “broader electoral process took place in an environment that limited fundamental freedoms.”

“Late legal changes, legal uncertainty and unequal campaign conditions distorted the playing field,” said Michael McNamara, chief of the EU observer mission.

The 64-year-old Hichilema's campaign for a second term focused on an economic recovery plan for a country that was mired in a debt crisis when it defaulted on repayments in 2020. Hichilema was first elected in 2021, and Zambia has restructured debt payments, reined in inflation and stabilized its currency under his leadership.

One of Hichilema's main pledges has been to more than triple Zambia's copper production to 3 million tons a year by the end of his final term in 2031.

Critics, however, said the effects of those macroeconomic improvements were not being felt by ordinary Zambians who were growing frustrated with a high cost of living and electricity shortages.

Hichilema vowed “meaningful development for every single Zambian, in every corner of our country.”

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Magome reported from Johannesburg.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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That man, who family members have identified as Barry Charles, remains in the hospital, and his condition is not good.

Doctors gave his family a grim update over the weekend while investigators continue to try to figure out who is responsible.

Charles’ niece, Shell Stanley, told Local 10 News that her uncle is a big part of her life.

“He’s almost like my dad,” she said. “He’s been there for me. It’s just us. He’s a very funny person. He’ll give everybody nicknames. He probably would give you a nickname if you met him.”

The crash happened Friday around 8:30 p.m. near Southwest First Terrace and Third Court. Deputies said the driver of a black pickup truck hit Charles and did not stop.

First responders rushed the 55-year-old to Broward Health North with life-threatening injuries.

Stanley said it is not likely that Charles survives.

“They’re calling me like every other hour or every two or three hours and you know giving me the status,” she said. “And it’s nerve wrecking because I don’t want the call that says he’s dead.”

Family members have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for Charles’ mounting medical expenses.

They are hopeful that the person responsible will turn themselves in.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.

El hombre, a quien familiares identificaron como Barry Charles, permanece en el hospital y su condición no es buena.

Los médicos dieron a su familia un pronóstico desalentador durante el fin de semana, mientras los investigadores continúan tratando de determinar quién es responsable.

La sobrina de Charles, Shell Stanley, dijo a Local 10 News que su tío es una parte importante de su vida.

“Es casi como mi papá”, dijo. “Ha estado ahí para mí. Solo estamos nosotros. Es una persona muy divertida. Les pone apodos a todos. Probablemente te pondría un apodo si lo conocieras”.

El accidente ocurrió el viernes alrededor de las 8:30 p.m. cerca de Southwest First Terrace y Third Court. Los agentes dijeron que el conductor de una camioneta negra atropelló a Charles y no se detuvo.

Los primeros respondedores trasladaron de urgencia al hombre de 55 años a Broward Health North con heridas potencialmente mortales.

Stanley dijo que no es probable que Charles sobreviva.

“Me llaman casi cada hora o cada dos o tres horas y me dan el estado”, dijo. “Y es angustiante porque no quiero recibir la llamada que diga que murió”.

Familiares crearon una página de GoFundMe para ayudar a pagar los crecientes gastos médicos de Charles.

Tienen la esperanza de que la persona responsable se entregue a las autoridades.

Se insta a cualquier persona que tenga información a comunicarse con Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-TIPS.

The video caused outrage among activists from several organizations, including the Guatemalan-Maya Center, who met to protest on Monday afternoon at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

“With TPS ending we have experienced an escalation in ICE activity across South Broward and North Miami. ICE is targeting our neighborhoods who are simply trying to build a life here and to chase the American dream,” said Rubi Michele, an activist with 50501.

Other advocates included Marie Lisme, Dayna Marie Foster, Nicole Locklin, Lindsay McElroy, and Oliver Larkin.

“These 287(g) agreements, these incidents with ICE, they’re breaking our society in a lot more ways than family separation,” said McElroy, who works with the with the Guatamalan Maya Center. “They’re breaking trust in law enforcement, they’re breaking families apart, and they are violating our constitutional rights.”

The demonstrators were calling for the Hallandale Beach Police Department to document federal misconduct and avoid partnering with ICE.

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Surveillance video shows the crash at the Aliro Apartments near Northeast 142nd Street and 18th Avenue, police said.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene.

Despite the damage, no injuries were reported.

Police said the underage driver and a second person initially fled the scene, but the driver was taken into custody soon after.

It remains unclear what caused the driver to lose control and crash.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

Jorge Rodríguez, presidente de la Asamblea Nacional y hermano de la presidenta encargada Delcy Rodríguez, indicó el lunes en sus redes sociales que casi ocho semanas después de los terremotos de 7,2 y 7,5 de magnitud se han recogido más de 528.000 toneladas de escombros, entre los cuales continúan apareciendo personas fallecidas.

La mayoría de las muertes ocurrieron en el estado costanero de La Guaira, la zona más afectada por los sismos, que está ubicada a unos 20 kilómetros al norte de Caracas.

Las autoridades también contabilizaron que 6.462 personas fueron rescatadas tras los terremotos.

El número de heridos, que no se mencionó una vez más en el nuevo reporte, se mantiene en 16.740 desde el 1 de julio. Otros datos también fueron omitidos, entre ellos la cifra de personas sin vivienda. El 24 de julio se reportaron 17.900 ciudadanos sin viviendas por el colapso de 190 edificios.

De acuerdo con el nuevo reporte, 59.109 viviendas han sido inspeccionadas por las autoridades para determinar daños estructurales, de ellas 34.680 fueron calificadas como habitables, 13.733 con restricciones por presentar daños moderados o menores, mientras 10.696 tienen acceso prohibido por “alto riesgo” de colapso, aunque esto no necesariamente se traducirá en demoliciones.

Los sismos fueron los más fuertes registrados en el país sudamericano en más de un siglo y ocurrieron con 39 segundos de diferencia a lo largo de la cordillera de la costa, donde se encuentran los mayores centros poblados del país sudamericano.

The league said in a statement Monday that the fans should have been free to wear the shirts.

“The WNBA is aware of interactions at (Sunday) night’s game in Atlanta in which fans were asked by league security to cover their shirts,” the statement said. “This should not have happened.”

Two people wore shirts with a message that women's and girls' sports should be restricted to those assigned female at birth, while one person was wearing a shirt in support of transgender people.

The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women — people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to participate in the league. There has never been such a player in the WNBA. Although the league's collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth.

There have been players in the league who were assigned female at birth and later came out as transgender or nonbinary.

Sophie Cunningham of the Fever said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls' and women's sports. Her stance led to small rallies and protests outside Fever games at Seattle and Portland, and Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton was given a five-game ban for confronting two fans who had signs supporting Cunningham.

The league has informed the security workers from the Atlanta game that they were wrong to ask that the messages be covered up.

The Dream said the team was not involved in the security personnel's actions.

“The Atlanta Dream believes in creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone. Unfortunately, at last night’s game, WNBA security took actions that fell short of that standard,” the Dream said in a statement “At no point was Dream personnel involved in the decisions made by WNBA security.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Petrobras informó el viernes que, durante una perforación de exploración, detectó la presencia de hidrocarburos a unos 180 kilómetros (112 millas) de la costa del estado de Amapá.

La perforación exploratoria comenzó en octubre. Desde entonces, grupos ambientalistas e indígenas han interpuesto demandas contra el gobierno brasileño y Petrobras para poner fin a las perforaciones, argumentando que el proceso de licitación no hizo una consulta adecuada a las comunidades tradicionales, subestimó los riesgos de derrames y no evaluó de forma suficiente los impactos climáticos. La empresa ha argumentado desde hace mucho tiempo que sus perforaciones nunca han provocado derrames.

“Cuando digo ‘pasaporte’”, recalcó Lula, “no estoy negando mi compromiso con la lucha por un día en que ya no necesitemos de combustibles fósiles, porque Brasil seguirá siendo el rey de la innovación en biocombustibles y seguirá siendo un actor importante en lo referente a la energía renovable”.

Lula, quien enfrenta lo que se tiene previsto que sea una elección reñida en octubre próximo para alcanzar un cuarto mandato, habló en un acto oficial en el municipio de Oiapoque, en Amapá, después de visitar la embarcación.

Lula ha impulsado tanto la perforación como la energía alternativa

Durante el gobierno de Lula, Brasil ha respaldado la necesidad de alejarse gradualmente del uso de combustibles fósiles como el petróleo, el carbón y el gas, los cuales calientan el planeta y afectan su clima.

Brasil promovió esa postura durante la cumbre climática de la ONU que albergó el año pasado, así como en otros foros, como una reunión celebrada en Colombia en abril, la cual giró en torno a un distanciamiento de los combustibles fósiles. El país, al mismo tiempo, está incrementando nuevas inversiones en perforación.

Se cree que el Margen Ecuatorial —las regiones costeras del país cerca de la desembocadura del Amazonas— alberga importantes reservas de petróleo y gas natural, y estimaciones preliminares dejan entrever que la cuenca podría contener hasta 10.000 millones de barriles de petróleo, con un valor potencial de unos 3,8 billones de reales (720.000 millones de dólares).

“Todos nuestros estudios indican un potencial significativo. Este descubrimiento confirma nuestros hallazgos, y seguiremos explorando”, declaró el lunes la presidenta de Petrobras, Magda Chambriard. La empresa aún necesita realizar más investigaciones para determinar cuánto petróleo contiene el área, añadió.

Aun así, la perforación comercial sigue siendo una perspectiva lejana en esta etapa, de acuerdo con Shigueo Watanabe Jr., experto en energía de ClimaInfo, una organización sin fines de lucro. Determinar si la extracción sería viable en términos comerciales requeriría de estudios adicionales, los cuales podrían tardar hasta una década.

El anuncio de Lula parece seguir un calendario político

Lula pronunció sus declaraciones un día después de iniciar su campaña electoral en el Estadio Vila Euclides, a las afueras de Sao Paulo, una ciudad donde alcanzó fama política hace 47 años como líder sindical de metalúrgicos durante la dictadura militar del país.

El izquierdista, quien compite contra el senador Flávio Bolsonaro —hijo del expresidente derechista Jair Bolsonaro—, señaló que Chambriard le ha comentado que el petróleo recién descubierto es de alta calidad.

Lula, vestido con el mismo uniforme naranja de los trabajadores petroleros, levantó una pequeña botella de crudo que describió como “bendito”, y señaló que le gustaría guardarla en una caja fuerte.

Lo que está en juego, sostuvo, son tanto “los intereses del país como los intereses de la empresa”, en referencia a Petrobras.

“Y el derecho de Amapá a no terminar siendo sólo un exportador de açaí y tucunaré”, expresó, al referirse a los principales productos de la región: las codiciadas bayas y el pez de agua dulce.

Detrás de él se exhibía una enorme foto de Lula de su visita a la embarcación en la que se podía ver al presidente levantando ambas manos manchadas de crudo negro, un gesto que hizo en 2008, cuando anunció el descubrimiento de enormes reservas petroleras en las costas del sureste de Brasil.

En aquel entonces, Lula se encontraba en el punto más alto de su popularidad. Ahora se ha convertido en una figura polarizadora, con índices de aprobación —y desaprobación— que rondan el 50%.

Breno Rodrigues de Messias Leite, politólogo y profesor de la Universidad Federal de Amazonas, dijo que el viaje de Lula del lunes es un mensaje importante para los votantes, especialmente en el norte del país y en sus capitales estatales, donde ha enfrentado críticas.

“Para la Amazonia, la posibilidad de acceder a algunas de las reservas de petróleo más grandes del mundo cambia la ecuación”, afirmó Leite.

“Lula quiere ser reelegido, y quiere que los estados de la región norte, especialmente Amapá, tengan un electorado que le sea favorable”, añadió.

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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. Consulte las normas de AP para trabajar con filantropías, una lista de patrocinadores y las áreas de cobertura financiadas en AP.org.

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

Trump explained his decision by citing South Korea’s refusal to join his war against Iran and pointing to what he said was his good relationship with North Korea’s reclusive dictator, a transactional and personal approach to foreign policy that has defined the Republican’s presidency.

“There is no American interest that I can see in this,” said Dan Fried, an assistant secretary of state for European affairs in the George W. Bush administration. “On all levels it makes no sense. It undermines the South Koreans, undermines the Japanese, frightens the Taiwanese, unnerves NATO and emboldens the Chinese, not to mention the North Koreans.”

Danny Russel, former assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific in the Obama administration, said Trump's decision to side with North Korea, which strongly objects to the annual joint military exercises, is "firmly in the ‘hard-to see-how-it-could-be-worse’ category.”

“It is tragically upside-down. Trump is punishing an ally while encouraging an adversary,” said Russel, now a scholar at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. “He is protecting Kim Jong Un’s sensitive feelings from an unfriendly signal at the expense of U.S.-South Korean security."

The message it sends to South Koreans

Trump on Sunday ordered the U.S. military to downsize the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, which began Monday as scheduled. It wasn’t known which parts of the training were being scaled back.

His announcement baffled many in South Korea, which has been closely allied with the U.S. for decades and where national security is a top priority due to threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

It also drew instant criticism from many Democrats in Congress.

“Treating one of America’s closest allies like an adversary weakens our alliances and benefits China and North Korea," said Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a statement.

Trump on Monday doubled down, posting a photo of North Korea’s leader speaking on a phone. The caption read: “HEY DONALD ... WE COOL, RIGHT?”

Retired U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood, who served under Republican and Democratic presidents, said the joint military exercises are critical to deterring North Korea, which has shunned any talks with the U.S. over its nuclear program and has accelerated weapons testing.

“We also don’t want South Korea to draw the conclusion that a nuclear weapons capability is the only guarantee it has to ensure its security,” Wood said.

Matthew Kroenig, who previously served in defense and intelligence positions in Republican and Democratic administrations, said polls show that South Koreans have increasingly supported the idea of pursuing their own nuclear weapons.

“The United States has been working really hard to try to persuade South Korea that they are protected,” said Kroenig, who is now with the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. Scaling back the exercises “potentially undermines that message,” he said.

Seoul tried to flatter Trump

Trump's turnabout came even after the South Koreans worked to flatter the American president, eager to gain favor on critical issues such as trade and defense.

As soon as he sat down in the gilded Oval Office for his meeting with Trump last year, new President Lee Jae Myung praised the room’s elaborate decor. Laying it on thick, Lee affirmed Trump’s assertion that Kim would not have pursued his nuclear ambitions had Trump won a second consecutive term in 2020, while dangling the prospect of an eventual Trump Tower in North Korea.

Trump just hours earlier had appeared to show sympathy for Lee’s predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who had been ousted from office after imposing martial law in December 2024.

Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Trump's scaling back of the exercises may prompt longtime allies to think more about their own security without U.S. help.

“They are hoping that the American umbrella is there for the future,” said Kupchan, who worked on the National Security Council under Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, “but they have to at least contemplate the idea that Uncle Sam won’t be there for them.”

‘It’s like he wants to burn it all down'

Kupchan said Trump is not mistaken in wanting to have South Korea, as well as the Europeans, contribute more to their defense. But, he said, the president’s unpredictable approach cuts through the solidarity that undergirds those alliances “because he ends up insulting allies.”

Fried said Trump seems unwilling to "take a win” after brow-beating NATO members and Asian allies into increasing their defense spending.

“NATO is building up, South Korea is building up, Japan is building up. Trump has a problem with taking the win," said Fried, who is currently at the Atlantic Council. "It’s like he wants to burn it all down.”

John Herbst, a former ambassador to Ukraine under President George W. Bush, said the Korea decision shows how inconsistent the Trump administration can be in its policy pronouncements. But in general, he said, the U.S. has maintained long-term alliances.

“If these things grow in frequency and in importance, obviously we will be in the process of taking apart the alliance system, which has served us so well since the end of World War II,” said Herbst, who also is with the Atlantic Council. “But despite some statements which seem to head in that direction, we have not headed there in a consistent, strong way.”

Kupchan agreed.

While the president’s language could be taken as “we’re done with you,” Kupchan said, “the reality is that, at least as of today, Trump has left intact America’s forward bases and its core alliance relationships.”

Whether Trump’s message to South Korea will amount to a meaningful policy change or a fleeting social media post is up in the air.

“He’s an unpredictable president,” Kroenig said. “If we move on and the exercises go as planned and we never hear anything about this again, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

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Associated Press reporters Collin Binkley, Jesse Bedayn, Lisa Mascaro and Seung Min Kim in Washington and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

Marte failed to show up for Arizona's game at Boston Monday night and manager Torey Lovullo was still searching for answers after it was over.

“It's been a crazy day. All I know is that he’s dealing with a personal issue — we’re just trying to figure that out,” Lovullo told reporters following the Diamondbacks' 11-1 loss to the Red Sox. “He didn’t show up today and he was put on the restricted list. That’s as much as I know right now. I'm sure in time we'll start to uncover some information.”

Lovullo said he spoke to Marte Monday morning and afternoon trying to find out what was going on, but didn't get any answers.

“There was very little coming back,” Lovullo said.

Marte traveled with the team to Boston and Lovullo thought he was still there, but wasn't certain.

This wasn't the first time Marte had a strange disappearance.

Last season, he went on the restricted list when his home in Arizona was broken into during the All-Star break. He missed three games after flying back to his home in the Dominican Republic and later apologized for his absence.

“I know there was a lot of discussions about it at different points of time in the clubhouse today — there was a lot of curiosity,” Lovullo said. “We care for Ketel and once we knew he was OK, I think everybody relaxed and started to focus on the game.”

A three-time All-Star, Marte is hitting .249 with 21 homers and 67 RBIs in 118 games this season.

Arizona recalled infielder Jose Fernandez to fill Marte’s roster spot. He was already in Boston in case third baseman Nolan Arenado wasn't able to play after leaving Sunday's game against Atlanta with what the team called “trunk discomfort.”

Arenado didn't play against the Red Sox, but his injury wasn't expected to be long term.

Marte's status — on the field and in the clubhouse — going forward is a bit foggier.

“I haven’t got that far,” Lovullo said. “I need a good night’s rest, a glass of wine and we’ll think about that.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The ruling is the latest development in a yearslong battle over where to house the main office for the nation's premier law enforcement agency. A site in Greenbelt, Maryland, was picked during former President Joe Biden's administration, but Trump appointees sought to reverse that decision last year in favor of repurposing the Ronald Reagan Building, a federal office complex a few blocks from the FBI's existing headquarters.

U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang, an appointee of President Barack Obama, ruled that the move was “ not in accordance with law,” and blocked the Trump administration from moving the FBI to the Reagan building, renovating it for the FBI or repurposing funds.

“This is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective for American taxpayers,” the FBI said in a statement. “The court has chosen to impermissibly intervene for political reasons. This FBI is mission focused and will continue the best course of action to meet the needs of law enforcement.”

The suit was brought by the state of Maryland and Prince George's County.

“Maryland and Prince George’s County committed more than a decade of work to earn the FBI headquarters and pledged hundreds of millions of dollars," Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, said in a statement. “By blocking the Trump Administration’s unlawful attempt to move the FBI to the Reagan Building and divert the funds Congress set aside for this project, the Court has cleared the path back to Greenbelt.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, also a Democrat, said, "Now it is time to stop the games and get to work building the world-class FBI headquarters that our public servants deserve, where it belongs: in Prince George’s County, Maryland.”

The FBI's current Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, was dedicated in 1975. Proponents of moving the headquarters have said the brutalist-style building, where nets surround the facility to protect pedestrians from falling debris, has fallen into disrepair.

The Maryland location was selected over nearby Virginia following an intense competition between the two states.

Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, who was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia, lived in Maine with his wife, Karolina Rojas Alvarez, and their 3-year-old daughter.

Durán Guerrero died on July 13 during a traffic stop in Biddeford. His parents, Dora Guerrero and Omar Durán Plata, were at the hearing.

“There was no lawful justification for stopping the car in the first place,” Attorney Ben Gideon, who was representing the family, said during the hearing.

Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree said the intended target was his roommate, who owned the car that he was driving, but did not have a final removal order.

“He had a pending asylum case and a valid work permit,” Pingree said during the hearing.

Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark referred to ICE as a “mass secret police force that has terrorized children, trampled on our Constitution, and wielded violence.”

On Saturday, during a Democratic National Committee meeting in Austin, Texas, there were calls for “concrete reforms” of ICE after recent fatal shootings.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin, who’s from Minnesota, where ICE fatally shot U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, told The Associated Press that ICE needs reform.

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