“You could hear the car screeching, you could hear the chase -- you could hear the signs and then you heard something that sounded like crash, crash, crash,” one woman who witnessed the pursuit said.

Investigators said the driver of the red Dodge pickup truck was wanted in connection to a kidnapping investigation.

Authorities said the victim was inside the truck during the pursuit, which involved the Florida Highway Patrol and the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

“A real live chase man, I seen all type of cars flying back and forth and the helicopter and he ran and chased the big red truck,” witness James Johnson said.

The chase came to an abrupt end near Northwest 86th Street and 18th Avenue when an FHP trooper performed a PIT maneuver.

Deputies and troopers were then able to take the suspect into custody and safely recover the victim.

Two people were injured during the incident.

One of the injured individuals was seen on a stretcher before being rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. It remains unclear how that person was connected to the scene.

After several hours of investigating, a tow truck arrived to flip the overturned truck upright and haul it away, ending what neighbors described as a chaotic night.

“They were up and down 87th and up and down 18th,” another witness said.

“They had all type of police behind him, behind him, I don’t know what he did though but man that was crazy,” Johnson said. “My heart beating fast as hell right now. I ain’t never seen nothing like this man.”

McCarthy charged in on a sinking line drive from Bryan Reynolds, catching the ball on a full sprint for the second out of the first inning.

Pittsburgh's Oneil Cruz — who started on second base — was near third when McCarthy made the catch, so the 28-year-old continued to jog toward the infield, stepping on second for the final out.

It was the first unassisted double play by a left fielder since Jonny Gomes on July 31, 2013, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

The Rockies won the game 10-4.

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

The organization alleges David Suarez paid for the billboards, spending about $4,000 on the mobile ads.

“We love being Jewish and are proud of the Jewish values that guide us to love,” said Hayley Margolis of Jewish Voice for Peace South Florida.

Members of the organization gathered there, claiming Suarez targeted two Jewish constituents by displaying their photos and first names on the billboards alongside the phrase “Jew hater.”

“I am one of the people whose face and name was on the billboard Commissioner Suarez created and paid for,” said Donna Nevel of Jewish Voice for Peace South Florida.

“The commissioner has targeted me and called me a Jew hater because I differ with his views on Israel,” Nevel added.

Alan Levine, another member of the organization, said seeing his face on one of the billboards was shocking.

“My first reaction was horror,” Levine said.

“As city commissioner to call two of his constituents Jew haters -- that may or may not be protected by free speech -- but it is grossly unethical and inappropriate for a public official,” he added.

Levine is also one of the attorneys suing the city, Mayor Steven Meiner and Suarez, alleging they infringed on the organization’s First Amendment right to protest.

“I have spoken many times at the city commission and been called a Hamas lover by Mayor Meiner and an anti-Semite by him and by David Suarez,” Levine said.

The organization filed a motion Wednesday tied to its existing lawsuit seeking additional documents related to the mobile billboards. Attorneys say they obtained an invoice from the billboard company that includes Suarez’s name and what they describe as his personal email address.

“We did get the information from the billboard company, we are engaging in discovery as part of this lawsuit,” said Katherine Giannamore, an attorney representing Jewish Voice for Peace South Florida.

It remains unclear what funding source was used to pay for the billboards.

Giannamore said they have not yet heard directly from Suarez regarding the allegations.

Local 10 News has been in communication with Suarez, who said he is currently out of town. However, he has not provided a statement regarding the allegations.

Local 10 News also reached out to the mayor’s office but had not received a response.

En un discurso de victoria ante sus simpatizantes, Davis señaló la noche del martes en Nassau que no sólo se trataba de un triunfo para su partido, sino para todo el país.

“A los bahameños que votaron hoy, pero no votaron por nosotros, quiero que sepan que los he escuchado, los he oído y quiero que sepan que seguiré trabajando duro por todos los bahameños”, declaró Davis, quien estuvo acompañado en el escenario por su esposa, Ann Marie, y altos dirigentes del partido.

De acuerdo con las proyecciones, el PLP ganaría más de 30 de los 41 escaños parlamentarios en las elecciones generales del martes, informó la prensa local. De momento no se han dado a conocer resultados oficiales.

Es la primera vez desde 1997 que un partido gana dos elecciones generales consecutivas en Bahamas.

Davis recibió previamente una llamada telefónica del candidato del opositor Movimiento Nacional Libre (FNM por sus iniciales en inglés), Michael Pintard, en la que concedió la elección.

Pintard se dirigió el martes a sus simpatizantes en la sede del FNM y señaló que los votantes se habían pronunciado y que el partido aceptaba su decisión.

“El pueblo bahameño tomó su decisión; en una democracia, esa es la única voz que importa”, subrayó Pintard.

El primer ministro de Jamaica, Andrew Holness, y la primera ministra de Barbados, Mia Mottley —ambos con menos de un año en sus nuevos mandatos luego de ganar respectivas reelecciones-- fueron algunos de los dignatarios regionales que felicitaron a Davis. El secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, también felicitó a Davis por su victoria.

Las elecciones de este año marcaron la primera vez que se eligió a miembros del Parlamento para dos circunscripciones de reciente creación: St. James y Bimini y las Islas Berry. Con estos dos nuevos escaños el número total de asientos parlamentarios ascendió de 39 a 41.

En las elecciones generales anteriores, en septiembre de 2021, el PLP ganó 32 de los 39 escaños, mientras que el FNM obtuvo los otros siete.

Las campañas giraron en torno a varios temas clave, entre ellos el estado del sistema público de salud, la tasa de criminalidad, el costo de vida y las preocupaciones sobre inmigración.

Observadores electorales internacionales estuvieron presentes en Bahamas para supervisar el proceso electoral. La Mancomunidad de Naciones, la Organización de Estados Americanos, el gobierno de Estados Unidos y el bloque comercial regional CARICOM confirmaron el envío de observadores electorales.

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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.

BREAKING: The #Dolphins and Pro Bowl RB De'Von Achane have agreed to a 4-year extension worth $68M, making him the NFL’s 3rd-highest-paid RB at $17M per year with $32M guaranteed, per multiple sources.

The APY and guarantees are the most ever for RBs coming off rookie contracts… pic.twitter.com/UmfVxDkcWp

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 13, 2026

The deal makes Achane the NFL’s third-highest-paid running back at $17 million per year and includes $32 million guaranteed.

The annual salary and guaranteed money are both the highest ever for a running back coming off a rookie contract.

The Omaha-area district, where Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon is retiring, is one of Democrats' biggest targets this midterm season. It’s also a national focus every four years in presidential contests because Nebraska is one of just two states that splits its electoral votes. The 2nd District has gone to Democratic presidential candidates three out of five times since 2008 — a “blue dot” in an otherwise sea of red.

Powell, a political activist, defeated state Sen. John Cavanaugh and several other candidates in the Democratic primary. She and Cavanaugh were in a tight race that could not be called Tuesday.

Powell will face Brinker Harding, an Omaha City Council member endorsed by President Donald Trump. He ran unopposed in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

“This country and Nebraska are worth fighting for — and I’m ready to spend the next six months working for every vote and sharing my vision for Nebraska so we can finally have a representative in Congress who will serve us,” Powell said in a statement. “It’s time to be brave.”

Powell led Cavanaugh by 2.1 percentage points, or 1,080 votes, out of more than 51,000 votes counted.

AP called the race after Douglas County election officials said there were only 5,125 outstanding mail-in ballots in the Democratic primary, and a total of 830 provisional ballots from all political parties. Even if all those ballots are counted in the Democratic primary, Cavanaugh would have to win them by about 18 percentage points over Powell to close the gap, a margin he didn’t come close to achieving in any of the five vote updates provided by Douglas County so far. Cavanaugh trailed in all three counties in the district, though Douglas accounted for about 93% of the votes.

The matchup between Powell and Harding is expected to be among this fall’s most competitive House races, as Democrats try to win control of the chamber for the second half of Trump's term.

The 2nd District is one of just three districts in the country that supported Democrat Kamala Harris for president in 2024 while also electing a Republican representative. Trump won the district in 2016, and the retiring Bacon, who has clashed with Trump, has held the House seat for five terms.

The Nebraska GOP said in a statement Wednesday that Republicans are ready to fight back against a "radical left” that has poured money into the state.

“The left wants Nebraska, and we are going to make sure they don't get it,” said NEGOP Chairman Mary Jane Truemper.

Powell, who is Latina, co-founded Women Who Run Nebraska, a political action committee that supports progressive female candidates, and she has a decade of Democratic political activism. She had the backing of EMILY's List and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' campaign operation.

Powell has never held office but said her deep connections have helped her with independents and third-party voters, who make up nearly 30% of the district’s electorate.

Some Democratic critics argued that a Cavanaugh primary victory would have jeopardized the district’s “blue dot” status because he’d be leaving his valuable state legislative seat, making it easier for Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature to change the law that allows the state to split its electoral votes.

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Peoples reported from New York.

After landing in Beijing to an elaborate welcome ceremony Wednesday night, Trump was greeted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping the following morning at the Great Hall of the People, a hub for legislative action by the communist government and a center for key cultural and social events on the Western side of Tiananmen Square.

The pair shook hands and chatted, with Trump patting Xi on the arm before they posed for pictures.

The hall features giant red carpeted steps and huge expanses of marble, where soldiers have hung large American and Chinese flags.

Hundreds of primary school children in brightly colored outfits staged a welcome routine, with the girls waving flowers and the boys hoisting American and Chinese flags and chanting “welcome, welcome, welcome to China” in Mandarin.

Trump and Xi are having a bilateral meeting before the Republican U.S. president visits the Temple of Heaven, a religious complex dating to the 15th century that symbolizes the relationship between heaven and earth. Trump and Xi will also attend a state banquet.

The White House has insisted that Trump wouldn't be making the trip without an eye toward securing results before he leaves — suggesting there could be announcements coming on trade, including a Chinese commitment to buy U.S. soybeans, beef and aircraft. Trump administration officials also want to work toward establishing a Board of Trade with China to address commercial differences between the countries.

But neither side has yet offered concrete details on what might come out of the three-day visit at a time when Beijing's close economic ties to Iran could complicate matters.

Economic questions follow Trump to China

The president's Beijing swing comes as Iran continues to dominate his domestic agenda and stoke fears about the prospect of a weakening U.S. economy as the election season ahead of November's midterms — when Republicans will be looking to maintain control of Congress — begins heating up.

The U.S. and Israel's war in Iran has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, stranding oil and natural gas tankers and causing energy prices to spike, threatening global economic growth.

Spending so much time with Xi — especially against splendiferous backdrops — will afford ample time for Trump to discuss a series of thorny topics. Those include Iran and trade, but also Taiwan and a possible three-way nuclear arms deal featuring Washington, Beijing and Russia.

Still, progress beyond pleasantries might prove elusive.

“Neither side will make much progress on the two major foreign policy issues,” predicted Jim Lewis, a tech policy fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. “Trump will press the Chinese to help him on Iran. They’ll be unwilling. The Chinese will press Trump to make concessions on Taiwan. We’ll see what we get out of that.”

Back in Washington, the politics of the war got more complicated. Senate Republicans on Wednesday again blocked Democratic legislation to halt hostilities in Iran -- but Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski bucked her party, becoming the third Republican in the chamber to vote against continuing the war.

China is the largest purchaser of Iranian oil, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Trump will make the case for Beijing to exert its influence on Iran, noting that administration officials will underscore that “economies are melting down because of this crisis” which means consumers are “buying less Chinese product.”

“So it’s in their interest to resolve this,” Rubio said of Chinese officials. “We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they’re doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf.”

That contradicted Trump, who has downplayed suggestions that he will press Xi to do more to pressure Iran to open the strait. The president also says pressure on the U.S. economy won't compromise U.S. demands as he negotiates with Iran in the midst of a fragile ceasefire. Asked as he left the White House if the financial stability of ordinary Americans factors into Iranian negotiations, Trump responded, “Not even a little bit.”

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said, before going on to suggest that “every American understands” such a position.

Mixed messaging was also evident on inflation and the war, however, as Vice President JD Vance denied Trump's own words that the U.S. economy wasn't a major factor in seeking a resolution with Tehran.

“I don’t think the president said that,” Vance said after being asked about Trump's comments. “I think that’s a misrepresentation of what the president said.”

Trade and Taiwan discussions also could be intense

Looming large is the status of Taiwan, given that China is displeased with U.S. plans to sell weapons to the self-governing island that the Chinese government claims as part of its territory.

The Trump administration has approved an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan, but has yet to begin fulfilling it. Trump has also demonstrated greater ambivalence toward Taiwan — an approach that’s raising questions about whether he might be open to dialing back support for the island democracy.

Taiwan is the world’s leading chipmaker, producing components essential to the development of artificial intelligence. Trump has sought to bolster trade deals with Taiwan that can stimulate chip production in the U.S.

Trump personally called Nvidia's Jensen Huang to invite him to hop on Air Force One during a refueling stop in Alaska on the way to Beijing — one of a large group of CEOs from the tech, defense, finance and agriculture sectors who are part of the delegation. Other officials on the visit include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as Trump's son Eric and Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law.

Also in China is Elon Musk, the SpaceX chief who once led Trump's effort to slash federal jobs and cut back the size of government.

The U.S. and China reached a trade truce last year that calmed each side’s threats to impose steep tariffs on the other. The White House says there have been ongoing discussions and mutual interest in extending the agreement, though it is unclear whether any such announcement could come during Trump’s visit.

Trump has said he will ask Xi to give U.S. firms greater access to the Chinese market, urging his Chinese counterpart to “'open up' China so that these brilliant people can work their magic.” He's also seeking to extend a deal that allows China to continue exporting rare earth minerals to the U.S., prompting China to hold off on limiting the global supply in response to Trump's threatened tariffs.

Top American officials have also said Trump will raise the idea of the U.S., China and Russia signing a pact setting limits on the nuclear weapons each nation keeps in its arsenal — an idea Beijing has previously viewed skeptically.

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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.

The 81-year-old opened his conservative talk show, “The Rudy Giuliani Show,” with assurances to his audience that he was on the mend — though not yet fully recovered. In early May, Giuliani was in critical condition and placed on a ventilator at a hospital in Palm Beach, Florida.

Reports of his illness were met with an outpouring of support and well-wishes from a range of high profile politicians across the political spectrum.

“I have to thank everyone who sent me prayers and good will," he said. He specifically mentioned his gratitude to his family, the medical staff that tended to him and U.S. President Donald Trump, who Giuliani said called him after he became sick.

“It feels good to be back,” Giuliani said before cutting to his first break.

Giuliani was previously hospitalized last September after suffering a fractured vertebra and other injuries in a car crash in New Hampshire.

After Giuliani's eight-year tenure as mayor, which was punctuated by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the longtime Republican politician ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008 and eventually became a personal attorney and adviser to Trump.

Giuliani was a vocal proponent of the president’s allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits claiming fraud, and numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error.

Two former Georgia election workers later won a $148 million defamation judgment against Giuliani. As they sought to collect the judgment, the former federal prosecutor was found in contempt of court and faced a trial this winter over the ownership of some of his assets.

Giuliani ultimately struck a deal that let him keep his homes and various belongings, including prized World Series rings, in exchange for unspecified compensation and a promise to stop speaking ill of the ex-election workers.

Last year, Trump said he was awarding Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Previamente, el medio digital The Intercept Brazil publicó mensajes de voz en los que Bolsonaro le pide a Vorcaro —quien está en el centro de un gran escándalo de corrupción— 61 millones de reales (12 millones de dólares) para producir “The Dark Horse”, una película que el senador Bolsonaro dice estar realizando sobre la vida de su padre, el expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, el cual está encarcelado. El sitio web indicó que el senador pidió más dinero después de que se pagara el monto inicial.

Vorcaro —exdirector general del clausurado Banco Master, que llevaba un estilo de vida lujoso antes de ser encarcelado— está en el centro de un escándalo de fraude y sobornos que ha salpicado a varios altos funcionarios en Brasil desde que comenzó este año.

Se le acusa, entre otras cosas, de estafar a muchos de los 800.000 clientes del Banco Master —incluidos varios fondos de pensiones de gobiernos estatales— por cientos de millones de dólares, al convencerlos de realizar inversiones turbias.

La policía federal de Brasil calcula que el fraude total del banco asciende a aproximadamente 12.000 millones de reales (2.300 millones de dólares). El caso sigue bajo investigación de la policía federal del país y del Supremo Tribunal Federal.

A pesar de ello, el senador Bolsonaro defendió su solicitud.

“Lo nuestro es el caso de un hijo que busca patrocinio privado para una película privada sobre la historia de su padre. Nada de dinero público”, manifestó Flávio Bolsonaro en un comunicado. “No ofrecí ninguna ventaja (ilegal) a cambio. No sostuve encuentros privados. No fui intermediario de negocios con el gobierno. No recibí dinero”.

Horas antes de que sus mensajes al banquero se hicieran públicos, el senador Bolsonaro dijo a periodistas en Brasilia que no tenía ninguna relación con Vorcaro. Hizo lo mismo en marzo, después de que medios brasileños informaran que su número había sido encontrado en uno de los teléfonos celulares de Vorcaro incautados por la policía federal.

En un mensaje de voz enviado a Vorcaro en septiembre, el senador Bolsonaro afirma que no se sentía cómodo al pedirle dinero al banquero, pero que “la película está en un momento muy decisivo”.

“Hay muchos pagos atrasados, todo el mundo está tenso y yo estoy aquí preocupado por (la posibilidad de) obtener el efecto contrario de lo que soñamos para esta película”, le dijo el senador Bolsonaro a Vorcaro. El legislador ha declarado públicamente que pretendía estrenar la cinta en el tramo final de la campaña presidencial.

Envió otros mensajes en octubre y noviembre con la misma intención de conseguir financiamiento para la película.

“Ni se les ocurra que no le paguemos (al actor) Jim Caviezel, a Cyrus (Nowrasteh, el director de la película). Gente de gran renombre en el cine estadounidense y mundial”, le dijo el senador Bolsonaro a Vorcaro en otro mensaje de voz en noviembre. “Ahora que estamos en el tramo final no podemos titubear, no podemos saltarnos nuestros compromisos aquí, de lo contrario lo perderemos todo”.

Vorcaro responde en otro mensaje de voz que pagará al día siguiente.

El consultor político Thomas Traumann señaló que las revelaciones podrían afectar negativamente la campaña de Bolsonaro, cuando falta poco para que su Partido Liberal lleve a cabo su convención para incluirlo en la boleta.

“Debido a que Flávio Bolsonaro es un político desconocido cuyo mayor activo es ser hijo del expresidente, un escándalo como este podría tener un impacto devastador”, observó Traumann. “Que (Flávio Bolsonaro) pida dinero y muestre cercanía con un banquero que está bajo investigación policial por fraude podría obligar a la oposición de Brasil a cambiar su candidato, para mantener sus posibilidades”.

El banquero fue arrestado en marzo y desde entonces ha intentado alcanzar un acuerdo de colaboración con las autoridades.

En noviembre, el Banco Central de Brasil cerró Banco Master, cuyos activos superaban los 16.000 millones de dólares.

Desde que estalló el escándalo, Flávio Bolsonaro y sus aliados han alegado —sin presentar pruebas— que debería atribuírsele a Lula. Esta semana, un exjefe de gabinete de Jair Bolsonaro, el senador Ciro Nogueira, desmintió informaciones de prensa que afirmaban que recibía pagos con regularidad de Vorcaro para apoyarlo.

Aliados de Lula en el Congreso indicaron que impulsarán una investigación parlamentaria sobre el vínculo entre Flávio Bolsonaro y Vorcaro.

Flávio Bolsonaro y otras figuras clave de su partido se reunieron en Brasilia después de que surgieran las revelaciones. El senador se fue por la noche sin hablar con los periodistas que esperaban afuera.

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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.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant said the transaction closed after receiving required regulatory and shareholder approvals. When the deal was first announced in January, Allegiant said it was valued at about $1.5 billion, including debt.

“Today marks a defining moment in Allegiant’s history as we officially join forces with Sun Country,” Allegiant CEO Gregory Anderson said in a statement, adding that the new combined airline is positioned to offer broader access to affordable travel.

The deal comes as both airlines and travelers are grappling with a sharp run-up in jet fuel costs driven by the war in the Middle East, a jump that is already showing up in higher fares and fees across the industry. That increase is hitting low-cost airlines especially hard, since they have less room to absorb rising costs.

The pressure was especially acute for Spirit Airlines. The ultra low-cost carrier shut down after 34 years May 2, its collapse accelerated by the sharp rise in fuel costs following years of financial strain, including heavy debt, repeated restructuring efforts and ongoing cash-flow problems.

Against that backdrop, Allegiant and Sun Country say their tie-up gives them more ways to generate revenue. Along with passenger flights, Sun Country brings into the fold cargo flying for Amazon, as well as charter trips for sports teams, casinos and the U.S. Department of Defense,.

Allegiant says the expanded network is also expected to give travelers more options, especially in smaller and mid-sized markets, with about 195 aircraft serving nearly 175 cities and more than 650 routes.

For now, travelers shouldn’t expect any changes. Both airlines will continue to operate separately, and customers can keep booking, checking in and managing trips just as they do today.

Allegiant said it will take time to bring the two airlines together. Over the long term, the combined company is expected to operate under the Allegiant name and remain headquartered in Las Vegas, while adding new options and connections across its broader network.

Minneapolis–St. Paul, where Sun Country is based, will remain an important hub for the airline.

Reliever Pete Fairbanks (nerve irritation), Miami’s prized offseason acquisition who last appeared April 27, was reinstated from the 15-day injured list.

Fairbanks has a bloated 10.00 ERA in his first season as a Marlin, allowing 10 earned runs in nine innings of work.

In a corresponding move, left-hander Robby Snelling, who made his MLB debut May 8 against the Washington Nationals at loanDepot park, was placed on the 15-day injured list with what the team is calling a “left elbow UCL sprain.”

Snelling, 22, pitched five innings, allowing three earned runs and walking four on 86 pitches.

His max velocity reached 97.2 mph.

Manager Clayton McCullough spoke to reporters in the dugout pregame Wednesday and said Snelling “reported some discomfort yesterday following his bullpen sessions.”

He will undergo further evaluation, and the team will make a decision at a later time.

The rookie was scheduled to start Thursday, but it will instead be left-hander Braxton Garrett, who returns to the club to make his first start in two years.

He joined the team Wednesday in Minnesota.

Garrett, 28, missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from left elbow surgery (UCL reconstruction, Tommy John surgery).

Meantime, the Marlins (19-23) will start right-hander Max Meyer (2-0, 2.79 ERA) in the second game of the series.

Meyer, 27, grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota. He committed to play college baseball at the University of Minnesota during his junior year.

Wednesday will mark the first time Meyer takes the mound to face the Twins.

Lutnick agreed to sit for an interview with the House Oversight Committee last week after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted his claim on a podcast last year that he had been determined to “never be in a room again” with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

The House Oversight Committee released the transcript of the interview Wednesday, as well as a transcript of an interview with Tedd Waitt, a former boyfriend of Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell.

Lutnick, who for years was neighbors with Epstein in New York City, had claimed in that podcast interview that Epstein engaged in blackmail. But under scrutiny from lawmakers, Lutnick said he was only “speculating.”

“I had no personal information. I was just speculating for a podcast,” Lutnick told lawmakers, adding that his two other personal interactions with Epstein years later were “meaningless and inconsequential.”

Lutnick is the highest-ranked current administration official, besides President Donald Trump, to be named in the Epstein case files. The Republican president has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.

How Lutnick described interactions with Epstein

Lutnick repeatedly downplayed his previous interactions with Epstein. He said that after Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, showed a massage table and made a sexual innuendo during a tour of his townhouse in 2005, Lutnick and his wife decided he would “just avoid him.”

Yet Lutnick, who was previously the head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, had a pair of interactions and exchanged several emails with Epstein over the years.

They also both invested in the same business venture in 2013, according to the Epstein case files. Lutnick told lawmakers that he was unaware that Epstein was also an investor until the case files were released months ago.

The commerce secretary also described his two other meetings with Epstein. During a family vacation in the Caribbean, Epstein's staff invited them to have lunch on his private island. Describing the 2012 visit, he told the committee: “We sat outside, had lunch. It was boring. We left.”

Lutnick also said he made a brief visit to Epstein's home in 2011 to discuss scaffolding that would be installed at Epstein's townhouse. Lutnick called that meeting “meaningless and inconsequential.”

Democrats pressed Lutnick to answer for his decision to meet up with Epstein after initially determining that he would avoid him. Lutnick responded that he couldn't remember why his family made the visit to Epstein's island.

As they emerged from the interview last week, Democrats criticized Lutnick as evasive and dishonest. Several called on him to resign.

“If a Cabinet Secretary lies to the American public, they should no longer serve in that position. Mr. Lutnick should resign or be fired,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on social media shortly after Lutnick's interview.

The White House has stood behind Lutnick, who for years has been a part of Trump's circle.

Maxwell's former boyfriend also interviewed

Lawmakers also last month interviewed Waitt, the cofounder of Gateway computers who dated Maxwell in the early 2000s. Maxwell, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for helping Epstein traffic girls, had also dated Epstein and was his longtime confidant.

Waitt told lawmakers that he was unaware at the time that either Epstein or Maxwell was committing sexual abuse. He also described meeting Epstein only a handful of times.

“Each of those were very brief and unintentional,” he said, adding that he had never visited Epstein's home, flown on his planes or visited his private island.

Waitt said he found Epstein “somewhat arrogant” and added that he was “off-putting.”

The legislation seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by approving more than $1 billion in security aid and making another $8 billion available in the form of loans. Supporters have been calling on President Donald Trump to act more forcefully to deter Russia and boost Ukraine.

Lawmaking gained 218 signatures on a petition from Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York that will force a House vote. While the measure is unlikely to become law, the vote will put lawmakers on record concerning their support for Ukraine.

The petition was signed by 215 Democrats and two Republicans — Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Rep. Kevin Kiley, an Independent from California, became the final signature required to force the vote. Kiley said the bill would help strengthen Ukraine's leverage to advance a durable peace.

“We must also send a strong message that Russian support for Iran’s targeting of U.S. military assets will not be tolerated,” Kiley said in a statement explaining his support for the petition.

But Speaker Mike Johnson voiced concerns about the timing of the vote.

“I’m talking with some of the sponsors of that right now,” Johnson said. “… The latest news out of Russia is that it looks like the war is scaling back, scaling down, coming to a conclusion. I think Vladimir Putin said that himself in the last few days, and so this would be a good time for Congress to see how that pans out. So I’m going to be talking to my colleagues about that.”

The fighting continues

Trump said Tuesday he believes Moscow and Kyiv will soon reach a deal to end fighting.

“The end of the war in Ukraine I really think is getting very close,” Trump said as he left the White House for a summit in Beijing. “Believe it or not, it’s getting closer.”

Putin said in a speech last weekend that his invasion of Ukraine is possibly “coming to an end.”

But on Wednesday, Russia fired at least 800 drones in a massive daytime barrage across Ukraine, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, including children, in one of the longest attacks by Moscow in the 4-year-old war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Fitzpatrick said he did not agree that the war is near a conclusion and the only way he would not vote for the Meeks measure would be if Russia withdrew its forces from Ukraine.

"There’s people dying as we speak, so no, the war is not winding down,” Fitzpatrick said.

Meeks said that it was time for lawmakers to go on the record about where they stand.

“Members of Congress, some tell me that they are supportive of Ukraine. Well, we’re going to finally get a vote on the floor to make that determination,” Meeks said.

He said he believes the House vote will "put pressure on the Senate and I think it should tell the president that America is looking and we want to stand by our allies and not Vladimir Putin.”

Prospects in the Senate

Lawmakers have for months discussed various proposals to sanction Russia, but much of that talk disappeared when Trump launched an attack on Iran in late February.

While Senate Republicans have mostly been supportive of Ukraine, they have hesitated to act without Trump’s support. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed skepticism that the Senate could move to Russia sanctions, saying “we have such a pileup” of other legislation.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has pushed for a Russia sanctions bill in the Senate, said Wednesday, “There are parts of the House bill I like, parts of it that I don’t.”

Republicans and Democrats alike have also been frustrated that the Department of Defense has not spent $400 million in military aid for Ukraine that lawmakers allotted last year. During a hearing earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was working on a plan to spend those funds.

Support for Ukraine has been a major point of tension between Congress and Trump, who pledged to quickly settle the war once he was president. Instead, he has struggled to show progress toward a peace deal even as his administration has often moved to withdraw support for both Ukraine and the rest of Europe.

The visit occurs at a delicate moment for Trump’s presidency, as his popularity at home has been weighed down by the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran and rising inflation as a consequence of that conflict. The president is seeking a win by signing deals with China to buy more American food and aircraft, saying he’ll be talking with Xi about trade “more than anything else.”

Here’s the latest:

Judge blocks US sanctions against independent UN investigator over criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has temporarily barred the Trump administration from imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, after her family had filed a lawsuit earlier this year.

Leon said the penalties the administration is pushing could be a violation of Albanese and her family members’ First Amendment amendment rights. In a lawsuit filed in February in the U.S. District Court in Washington, Albanese’s husband and minor child outlined the serious impact those sanctions have had on the family’s life and work, including the ability to access their home in the nation’s capital. The State Department had said that Albanese had engaged in a “campaign of political and economic warfare” against the U.S. and Israel by urging other countries to sanction Israel over its alleged war crimes in Gaza and several U.S. companies for being “complicit” in those actions.

US military says some humanitarian aid gets to Iran

It has allowed 15 merchant vessels “supporting humanitarian aid” through a blockade of Iranian ports, U.S. Central Command said in a social media post.

They include both merchant ships allowed to dock in Iranian ports as well as ships that were allowed to sail out of Iranian ports and into open waters, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the command.

The social media post noted that since the blockade began on April 13, U.S. forces have redirected 67 commercial vessels and disabled four more “to ensure compliance” with the restrictions.

Immigration authorities detain former Kansas mayor who fears deportation over voting controversy

The former mayor of a conservative Kansas town is in the custody of federal immigration authorities, a possible step toward deportation.

It comes months after Joe Ceballos acknowledged he voted in elections despite not being a U.S. citizen. Ceballos was 4 when his family brought him from Mexico. The 55-year-old is now a legal permanent resident.

His lawyer says that while seeking citizenship, Ceballos admitted that he had voted — apparently not knowing his status doesn’t allow it. Immigration officials didn’t return a message seeking comment. Ceballos’ supporters were outside the immigration building in Wichita, Kansas.

“I’m extraordinarily disappointed in my government,” Jess Hoeme, his attorney, told The Associated Press.

Ceballos was twice elected mayor of Coldwater, population 700, and also served on the city council. He won a new term in November but resigned after state Attorney General Kris Kobach charged him with voting without being qualified and election perjury.

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Vance says US has made headway in Iran talks

Vice President JD Vance says he thinks the U.S. is making progress in its talks with Iran over the war, but that it’s too soon to tell if it’s enough to ensure that Iran will never be able to have a nuclear weapon.

Vance was asked about the status of negotiations while taking reporters’ questions at a press conference Wednesday for his anti-fraud task force.

He said he spent “a good amount of time” on the phone with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on Wednesday morning, as well as “a number of our friends in the Arab world.”

“I think that we are making progress,” Vance said. “The fundamental question is, do we make enough progress that we satisfy the president’s red line?”

Vance brushes off Trump’s 2028 successor comments as president joking around

The vice president says it’s “natural” for Trump to “joke around with us a little bit” over who should be his Republican successor in the 2028 election.

During a press conference for his anti-fraud task force on Wednesday, JD Vance was asked about Trump’s comments at a Monday night Rose Garden dinner where the president polled the crowd about his possible successor. Trump asked them whether Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio should be at the top of the GOP ticket.

The VP joked that it didn’t sound like Trump wanted “to have a televised competition for who would succeed him as his apprentice,” a nod to the president’s reality TV background.

He says Trump has long been fascinated by politics and it’s typical for him to “play around with the idea.”

Vance pushes back on question about Trump’s comment playing down economy as a factor in Iran negotiations

Speaking to reporters Wednesday at an event on healthcare fraud, the vice president was asked whether he agrees with Trump’s comments from a day earlier that said Americans’ financial situations are not a factor in negotiations with Iran.

“Well, I don’t think the president said that,” Vance told a reporter who paraphrased Trump’s remark. “I think that’s a misrepresentation of what the president said. But look, I agree with the president that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump commented on Tuesday as he departed the White House for a summit in Beijing. He said economic issues were not a factor in negotiations, “not even a little bit.”

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” Trump said. “I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Senate confirms Trump pick Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve, following Powell

The Senate has confirmed Kevin Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The vote to confirm Warsh on Wednesday brings new leadership to the world’s most powerful central bank at a fraught moment for the global economy.

Warsh’s nomination faced uncertainty after Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina threatened to block it while the Justice Department investigated Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The Powell probe was dropped in April, allowing the Warsh confirmation to move forward.

Warsh, 56, a former top Fed official, will become chair at an unusually difficult time for the independent agency. The Fed confronts stubborn inflation, deep divisions over interest rates and renewed scrutiny from Trump over its independence.

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Louisiana advances plan to eliminate majority-Black US House district after court ruling

Republican senators in Louisiana have advanced a plan to eliminate one of two majority-Black, Democratic-held congressional seats. The Senate committee vote early Wednesday follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s House map as an illegal racial gerrymander.

Committee members heard hours of testimony from Black residents and Democrats opposed to the move. Republicans chose not to target both Democratic seats.

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling weakening Voting Rights Act protections has prompted similar redistricting efforts in Southern states like Tennessee and Alabama. Those efforts are part of a broader national redistricting battle that has involved about one-third of the states. A similar attempt fizzled Tuesday in the South Carolina Senate.

Efforts to undo minority districts mark the latest phase in a 10-month national redistricting battle. It grew after Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to win more seats in the midterm elections.

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US and China seek to repair damage from tariff war that sent trade into a freefall

Trump’s trade war with Beijing has sent U.S.-China trade into a freefall and forced companies on both sides of the Pacific to regroup. U.S. firms are looking for suppliers outside of China. And Chinese firms have pursued business in Europe and Southeast Asia.

The sparring goes beyond tariffs.

China has cut off purchases of U.S. soybeans and deprived U.S. manufacturers of crucial minerals and metals. The U.S. has blocked China from getting advanced computer chips.

The world’s two biggest economies have shown they can hurt each other. Now, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are trying to stabilize the relationship during their meeting in Beijing.

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Republican resistance to Iran war is growing

Senate Republicans succeeded again in blocking Democratic legislation that would halt Trump’s war with Iran, but the number of GOP senators voting against the war grew.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against the war for the first time since it began at the end of February. Two other Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky, also voted against the war, as they had done previously.

The war powers legislation ultimately failed to advance 49-50, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to oppose it, yet the close tally reflected growing unease with Trump’s war.

Memphis residents claim harassment, arrest and abuse by Trump-ordered Memphis Safe Task Force

Four Memphis residents say they have been harassed, arrested and physically mistreated for engaging in First Amendment protected activities by observing and recording the actions of law enforcement in their city.

A lawsuit filed on Wednesday in federal court in Tennessee targets the Memphis Safe Task Force. The task force comprises agents from 13 federal agencies that President Donald Trump ordered to the city to fight crime alongside Tennessee State Troopers and the Tennessee National Guard.

The suit asks the court to declare retaliation against the plaintiffs for observing and recording law enforcement activity unconstitutional and prohibit agents from further retaliation.

Since late September, hundreds of law enforcement personnel tied to the task force have made traffic stops, served warrants and searched for fugitives in the majority Black city of about 610,000 people. The lawsuit says the task force has conducted over 120,000 traffic stops.

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Foreigners with World Cup tickets won’t have to pay bonds to enter US, Trump administration tells AP

The Trump administration is suspending a requirement that foreign visitors from certain countries pay as much as $15,000 in bonds if they are confirmed World Cup ticket holders, the State Department told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The department imposed the bond requirement for countries that it said had high rates of people overstaying their visas and other security issues as part of the administration’s broader crackdown on immigration.

The bond move is a rare easing of immigration requirements under the administration.

World Cup team players, coaches and some staff were already exempt from the bond requirement. But that didn’t apply to ordinary fans until Wednesday.

“We are waiving visa bonds for qualified fans who bought World Cup tickets” and opted in to the FIFA Pass system that allows expedited visa appointments as of April 15, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar said.

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A former private prison executive will become ICE’s acting leader

David Venturella will serve as the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration says, after the agency’s current leader steps down at the end of the month.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said late Tuesday that Venturella would succeed Todd Lyons, who led the agency through much of the administration’s tumultuous crackdown on immigration. ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional information Wednesday.

Venturella left the Geo Group in early 2023 and has been working at ICE leading the division that oversees detention contracts, members of Congress wrote in a public letter earlier this year.

At the Geo Group, Venturella served in a number of posts, including executive vice president overseeing corporate development, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It said he also has worked for federal contractors, including one that specializes in security clearances and background checks.

Geo has benefited from Trump’s mass deportation push, garnering big contracts to open shuttered facilities.

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US House Speaker Mike Johnson says his prayers are with Trump on China visit

“The president has laid down a marker that was overdue and very important: The American people are not going to be taken advantage of any more by adversaries or allies,” Johnson, a Republican, said at a news conference in Washington.

The House speaker said his prayers are with Trump that he has a “good visit” with Xi. He said he hoped “they come forward with some favorable policies, things that will help us out, and I believe he will.”

House Democrats ask Trump to proceed with arms sales to Taiwan

Ranking members of four House committees urged President Trump in a letter Wednesday morning to proceed with the $14 billion arms sales to Taiwan and resist any effort by Beijing to “dictate” the U.S. policy toward the self-governed island.

The letter, signed by the top Democrats on House committees on foreign affairs, armed services, intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party, was released as Trump arrived in Beijing for a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Beijing strongly opposes any arms sales to Taiwan, which it sees as part of Chinese territory, while the U.S. is obliged by a domestic law to supply the island with sufficient hardware for self defense.

On Monday, Trump said he and Xi would discuss Taiwan in Beijing, raising worries that any slip by the U.S. president could undermine the U.S. commitment to the island.

Trump administration freezes new Medicare enrollments for hospice and home health agencies

The Trump administration said Wednesday it’s expanding its sweeping fraud-busting initiative in federal health programs with a nationwide six-month freeze on any new Medicare enrollments by hospice and home health agencies.

The moratorium will temporarily stop all new providers in these categories from signing up for reimbursement from Medicare, the federal insurance program for older adults across the country, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a news release.

“We’ve seen systemic and deeply troubling fraud in the hospice and home health space, with bad actors exploiting some of our most vulnerable Medicare patients and stealing money from the American taxpayer,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement. “Today we’re shutting the door on fraud-preventing new bad actors from entering Medicare while we aggressively identify, investigate, and remove those already exploiting them.”

The move is related to efforts by Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force, set up by Republican President Donald Trump to crack down on potential misuse of public funds.

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Residents in Beijing held up their phones to wait for Trump’s motorcade

As President Trump’s motorcade moved toward the Four Seasons Hotel, located near the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, residents held up their smartphones trying to capture his arrival. Security was heightened around the hotel.

On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, some users posted about his arrival. A video post by the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showing Trump walking out of the plane had more than 66,600 likes and nearly 4,000 comments in less than two hours. Under the post, a comment that read “China and the U.S. join hands to advance together and create a bright future!” drew more than 2,300 likes.

Wall Street is mixed following another discouraging inflation report and a recovery for tech stocks

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% in early trading, still near its all-time high set at the start of the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 235 points, or 0.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.

Gains for tech stocks helped support the market, like Micron Technology’s 4.3%. They had stumbled the day before after momentum suddenly halted for stocks riding excitement around artificial-intelligence technology.

Nvidia, the chip company that became one of the first faces of the AI boom, rose 2.4% and was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500. Its CEO, Jensen Huang, got an invitation to join President Trump on his trip to China, where they could discuss allowing shipments of Nvidia AI chips to the world’s second-largest economy.

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Trump had personally invited Nvidia’s Huang on the China trip

A surprise appearance on the Anchorage tarmac as Air Force One refueled en route to Beijing was Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who wasn’t initially included on the manifest of corporate executives accompanying Trump to China.

The president had realized through news reports that Huang, with whom he is close, wasn’t on the trip. So he personally called the CEO on Tuesday and invited him to join, according to a person with knowledge of the discussion. The person was granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

“CNBC incorrectly reported that the Great Jensen Huang, of Nvidia, was not invited to the incredible gathering of the World’s Greatest Businessmen/women proudly going to China,” Trump said on social media as the presidential plane traveled from Anchorage to Beijing. “In actuality, Jensen is currently on Air Force One and, unless I ask him to leave, which is highly unlikely, CNBC’s reporting is incorrect or, as they say in politics, FAKE NEWS!”

— Seung Min Kim

Trump is also expected to visit the Temple of Heaven on Thursday

That’s where Chinese emperors once prayed for bumper crops.

And Trump will take part in a formal banquet Thursday.

Trump’s arrival is trending on Chinese social media platform Weibo

A video posted by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showing Trump stepping out of the plane and walking down the stairs had more than 18,000 likes in less than 30 minutes.

More than 1,300 comments were made in response to the post. Some welcomed Trump to China and others wrote: “peaceful coexistence, win-win cooperation.”

The status of Taiwan will be a major topic

China is displeased with U.S. plans to sell weapons to the self-governing island the Chinese government claims as part of its own territory.

Trump told reporters Monday he’d be discussing with Xi an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan the U.S. administration authorized in December but hasn’t yet begun fulfilling. The arms package is the largest ever approved for Taiwan.

But the U.S. leader has demonstrated greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, an approach that’s raising questions about whether Trump could be open to dialing back support for the island democracy.

At the same time, Taiwan — as the world’s leading chipmaker — has become essential for the development of AI, with the U.S. importing more goods so far this year from Taiwan than China. Trump has sought to use Biden-era programs and his own deals to bring more chipmaking to America.

Trump pauses to take in the elaborate welcome scene in Beijing

Three hundred youngsters waved miniature American and Chinese flags in front of themselves and then over their head in unison.

“Welcome, welcome! Warm welcome!” the children chanted in Chinese.

Trump greeted dignitaries after deplaning, then stopped and grinned, taking in the scene.

He didn’t answer questions, instead climbing in a limo on the way to his hotel.

The president has nothing more on his public schedule until Thursday.

Following him off the plane were Trump’s son, Eric, and Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, as well as assorted travelers, including SpaceX chief Elon Musk.

The Chinese offered Trump a pomp-filled welcome

A red carpet was rolled out for him after Air Force One landed.

The president was to be greeted by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng; Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to Washington; Ma Zhaoxu, executive vice minister of foreign affairs; as well as the U.S. envoy to Beijing, David Perdue, according to the White House.

The welcoming ceremony includes some 300 Chinese youths, a military honor guard and a military band.

The meat of Trump’s summit in China won’t happen until Thursday

That’s when the leaders will hold bilateral talks and a formal banquet.

The Trump administration hopes to begin the process of establishing a Board of Trade with China to address differences between the countries. The board could help prevent the trade war ignited last year after Trump’s tariff hikes, an action China countered through its control of rare earth minerals. That led to a one-year truce last October.

Trump arrives in Beijing ahead of meetings with Xi

Trump has touched down in Beijing for his summit with Xi Jinping.

Trump has no public events beyond his arrival on Wednesday’s schedule, but is set to meet with Xi a series of times on Thursday and Friday.

U.S. and China have “candid” exchanges in South Korea’s trade talks, CCTV says

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent engaged in “candid, in-depth and constructive” exchanges on resolving economic and trade issues of mutual concern and further expanding practical cooperation, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday.

The officials led the trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies in South Korea, hours before Trump’s arrival in Beijing.

CCTV said they were guided by the important consensus reached by the heads of state of both countries, and upheld the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.

Nvidia CEO is late-announced addition to Trump’s trip

The White House said Huang’s schedule hadn’t permitted his coming, but then changed, clearing the way for him to make the trip.

The last-minute addition inspired online commentary and memes on the Chinese internet.

Those including on Xiaohongshu and Weibo, where people shared manipulated images of Huang clinging to Air Force One with his bare hands.

Musk, Cook and other prominent US executives invited to join Trump on trip to China

These prominent U.S. executives from Big Tech to agriculture have been invited to join Trump on his trip to China, according to a White House official:

1. Elon Musk - CEO of Tesla and SpaceX 2. Tim Cook - CEO of Apple 3. Kelly Ortberg - Boeing CEO 4. Jensen Huang - Nvidia President and CEO 5. Larry Fink - BlackRock Chairman and CEO 6. Stephen Schwarzman - Blackstone Chairman, CEO and co-founder 7. Brian Sikes - Cargill Chairman and CEO 8. Jane Fraser - Citi Chairman and CEO 9. Jim Anderson - Coherent CEO 10. H. Lawrence Culp - GE Aerospace Chairman and CEO 11. David Solomon - Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO 12. Jacob Thaysen - Illumina CEO 13. Michael Miebach - Mastercard CEO 14. Dina Powell McCormick - Meta President and Vice Chairman 15. Sanjay Mehrotra - Micron Chairman, President and CEO 16. Cristiano Amon - Qualcomm President and CEO 17. Ryan McInerney - Visa CEO

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Soaring inflation and plummeting economy test Iran’s ability to withstand war and US blockade

Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz is throttling the world’s energy supplies and inflicting global economic pain, but the struggles of the Islamic Republic’s own economy are testing its ability to withstand the war and defy Washington’s demands.

Iranians have been hit by spiraling prices for food, medicine and other goods. At the same time, the country has seen mass job losses and business closures caused by strike damage to key industries and the government’s monthslong shutdown of the internet.

The economic cost of the war and the U.S. naval blockade “has been very substantial and unprecedented for Iran,” said Hadi Kahalzadeh, an Iranian economist and research fellow at Brandeis University.

But Iran has withstood decades of economic pressure and sanctions and its capacity to adapt has not been dismantled, Kahalzadeh said.

The International Monetary Fund has predicted the Iranian economy will shrink by about 6 percentage points in the next year.

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"Para la jornada de hoy se pronostica un déficit de más de 2.000 megavatios en el horario de máxima demanda o pico nocturno”, escribió el mandatario cubano en su cuenta de X.

Un reporte de la estatal Unión Eléctrica de Cuba de esta jornada indicó que la demanda estaría sobre los 3.250 megavatios, por lo que el 61% de la isla estará apagada en el horario pico —sobre las siete u ocho de la noche, cuando las personas cocinan o regresan a sus hogares.

Gracias a ese cargamento de crudo enviado por Rusia disminuyeron los apagones durante la última quincena de abril.

“La entrada a puerto cubano de un solo un buque de combustible, de ocho que se necesitan como mínimo cada mes, permitió reducir el déficit y con ello los apagones que, aunque no desaparecieron del todo, lograron atenuarse”, expresó Díaz-Canel.

Fue el primer buque con petróleo que se atrevió a llegar a Cuba en cuatro meses. Una segunda embarcación rusa con petróleo se dirige a la isla, sin que las autoridades de ambos países hayan precisado dónde se encuentra en estos momentos ni cuándo se estima su llegada.

En enero el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump impuso un cerco energético a la isla luego de atacar militarmente Venezuela a principios de ese mes y provocar la caída del entonces presidente Nicolás Maduro. Trump amenazó con imponer aranceles a los productos de los países que se atrevieran a vender petróleo a la isla.

El titular de la Casa Blanca dijo que estaba dispuesto a asfixiar a Cuba o incluso invadirla, presionando por un cambio en su modelo político.

La isla apenas produce el 40% del combustible que necesita para mover su economía.

El barco Anatoly Kolodkin de bandera rusa llegó a Cuba el 31 de marzo con 730.000 barriles de crudo y en los días posteriores fue descargado y refinado, reduciendo los apagones radicalmente, según constató The Associated Press.

Expertos y funcionarios dijeron que serviría para surtir unas dos semanas.

En tanto, el canciller Bruno Rodríguez salió este miércoles a responder a los reiterados comentarios de Trump y su secretario de Estado Marco Rubio sobre la isla y las amenazas de una escalada militar.

“Una agresión militar de Estados Unidos contra Cuba provocaría una verdadera catástrofe humanitaria, un baño de sangre. Perderían la vida ciudadanos cubanos y estadounidenses, un hecho al que sólo apuestan los políticos que no envían sus hijos y familiares a las guerras”, expresó Rodríguez.

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Abedayo partnered with TikToker Zachery Dereniowski, better known as MDMotivator, to surprise Bianca Grey with a new car and a full year of rent.

Grey, whose husband died in a motorcycle crash, has a 5-year-old daughter. She was homeless when she was a teen, and this fuels her work at the homeless shelter.

“My mom, it was just us and my sister, we was homeless, so now I am helping other people,” Grey told Abedayo and Dereniowski about her work at Camillus House.

When Abedayo and Dereniowski surprised her at a bus stop, Grey thought she was waiting for a human trafficking victim who needed housing.

The duo blind folded Grey and walked her toward the parked new car, which had a big red bow on it.

“This is going to change our lives forever,” Grey said through tears.

Abedayo’s BBB Foundation focuses on helping single mothers in honor of his. The Miami Heat star had also already donated the basketball court at Camillus House.

Watch MDMotivator’s video

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Edward Harold King, who left the bench at the end of last year, and Yechiel “Sam” Sprei, a politically connected real estate developer, were arrested by the FBI on wire fraud conspiracy charges after federal prosecutors say they duped a pair of investors into forking over $6.5 million for a bogus property bid and then failed to return all but a fraction of the money.

The allegations are similar to claims made against King in civil lawsuits and in complaints to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, whose investigation precipitated his resignation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Wang told a judge at the men’s initial court appearance on Wednesday that the transaction described in the criminal case was “one of several schemes that the government has been investigating." Discussing Sprei's finances, the prosecutor said “it’s safe to say many, many millions of dollars” have moved through his bank accounts in the last few years.

King, 72, and Sprei, 37, were released on bail and are scheduled to return to Brooklyn federal court on Monday to finalize their bond arrangements. King and his lawyer, Michael Vitaliano, declined to comment as they left the courthouse. The former judge cut through trees in a nearby park to avoid reporters and photographers. Sprei's lawyer, Ezra Lent, declined to comment.

In court, Wang said that during Sprei's arrest, the developer lied to FBI agents that he had no electronic devices on him other than his cellphone. Agents executing a search warrant seized the phone and then found a second phone while patting Sprei down, Wang said.

If convicted, King and Sprei could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

“As alleged, the defendants stole millions of dollars from investors by cynically leveraging King’s position as a sitting judge to lend false legitimacy to supposed investment opportunities,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement.

King resigned on Dec. 31, 2025, just three years after becoming a judge, after the Commission on Judicial Conduct informed him that it was investigating complaints mirrored in his criminal case.

Among the complaints, the commission said, were that King was involved in a scheme to defraud real estate investors and that he continued to act as a lawyer — including by accepting funds into his own attorney escrow accounts — despite rules barring full-time judges from practicing law, acting as fiduciaries or engaging in business activities. King denied the allegations.

According to federal prosecutors, King and Sprei pitched investors on fictitious investment opportunities with false promises that their money would be kept safe in attorney escrow accounts and returned on demand if the investors decided to end their involvement.

In November 2024, prosecutors said, Sprei and King offered two investors an opportunity to buy commercial real estate in Freehold, New Jersey, through a bankruptcy auction. In order to proceed, Sprei told them, all bidders first needed to show “proof of liquidity” and that they could do so by depositing $6.5 million in King’s escrow account, prosecutors said. Sprei told the investors that King was both an independent escrow agent and a judge, according to prosecutors.

The investors wired the money to King's account, where they were told it would be left untouched and not spent or transferred without their permission, prosecutors said. Within days, prosecutors said, King and Sprei transferred several million dollars to a bank account in Sprei’s name.

Later, when the investors exercised their right to have the money back, King offered up excuses and alternatives, at one point saying he would have his lawyer deposit the funds with an unspecified court, prosecutors said. King and Sprei eventually returned $1.5 million to the investors, but have yet to cough up the rest, prosecutors said.

King became a judge in 2023. He won a seat on the New York City Civil Court in Brooklyn and was appointed to the state’s main trial court in June 2024.

Prior to that he was in private practice and, according to news articles about his campaign, was appointed by courts to manage assets in real estate disputes. He also served as an administrative law judge for the city's Parking Violations Bureau and as legal counsel to the state assembly.

When the state commission accepted King's resignation, its administrator Robert Tembeckjian called the allegations "so egregious as to warrant his permanent departure from the bench.”

Thursday will bring a sun/cloud mix and west-northwest winds, sustained five to 10 mph. A few showers or a thunderstorm or two may develop as the afternoon unfolds. Temperatures will make a run for the low 90s.

The soldier was identified as Spc. Mariyah Symone Collington of Taveres, Fla., the U.S. military Europe and Africa said in a statement. She was 19 years old.

“Royal Moroccan Armed Forces transported the Soldier’s remains by a Moroccan helicopter to the morgue of Moulay El Hassan Military Hospital in Guelmim, Morocco,” the statement said.

Collington served as an air and missile defense crewmember and was assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa said.

Collington entered the Regular Army’s Delayed Entry Program in 2023 before beginning active-duty service in 2024. She completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, as a 14P air and missile defense crewmember. She reported to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, in Ansbach, Germany, in February 2025 and was promoted to specialist on May 1, 2026.

Her awards and decorations include the Army Service Ribbon.

The announcement came days after the military said the remains of another soldier, 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., a 14A Air Defense Artillery officer, had been recovered. The two soldiers fell off a cliff during an off-duty recreational hike in Morocco. Their remains are en route to the United States.

A spokesperson for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa told The Associated Press that the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.

The two soldiers were reported missing May 2 after participating in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise held in Morocco. Their disappearance triggered a search operation involving more than 1,000 U.S. and Moroccan military and civilian personnel, the SETAF-AF spokesperson added.

Assets deployed during the operation included a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, thermal and ISR sensors, an unmanned underwater vehicle, side-scan sonar, a Moroccan multibeam echosounder and U.S. Coast Guard drift modeling capabilities, according to the spokesperson.

African Lion 26, is a U.S.-led exercise launched in April across four countries – Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal – with more than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations.

In 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others injured during a helicopter crash in Morocco’s southern city of Agadir while taking part in the exercises

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The victims, who live in the 69 units at the Midway Gardens community, had already had their mail stolen back in February.

“We have had checks stolen, we have had property stolen, we have had credit cards stolen,” said Arturo Abraeu, the homeowners’ association president at Midway Gardens.

The video shows that the thief wasn’t working alone. After throwing the stolen mail into a white sports utility vehicle, he sat in the back seat, and the driver fled.

“I usually try to get my mail every day,” said Esther Pereira, a resident at Midway Gardens.

The U.S. Postal Service has the case. Mail theft is a federal crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

Abraeu had a question for the thieves: “Why would you risk your liberty over such a small reward?”

Related story: Miami-Dade deputies accuse 3 of stealing mail, 1 surrenders

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Tamarius Blair Davis Jr. shot and killed Dustin Wakefield, 21, of Castle Rock, Colorado, as he shielded his 1-year-old son, Eli, on Aug. 24, 2021 as they sat outside of La Cerveceria de Barrio, a Mexican restaurant at 1412 Ocean Drive.

The then-22-year-old Davis, of Norcross, Georgia, was a total stranger and was believed to be in a magic-mushroom-induced psychosis at the time.

He also pleaded guilty to attempted murder and child abuse charges Wednesday in connection with the shooting.

Wakefield’s father, Matt Wakefield, said it’s the first step towards justice.

“It’s just been a lot of waiting, a lot of praying, a lot of patience, a lot of trusting in the Lord that this will work out in Dustin’s favor,” he said, describing his son as “a loving man, not just to his wife, not (just) to his son, but to all of us.”

Davis’ sentencing proceedings are expected to take two to three days.

No date has been set for Davis’ sentencing hearing; a pre-sentencing investigation must take place by June 12.

Matt Wakefield said he and other family members plan to be there when Davis is sentenced. But any sense of justice won’t take away a lifetime of pain.

“I wouldn’t say that I speak to Dustin, but I visit his grave site and I imagine in my mind that day that he and I will be reunited in heaven,” Matt Wakefield said. “I look forward to it.”

Davis could face 25 years to life in prison.

The White House requested $1 billion for the U.S. Secret Service, including about $220 million for “hardening” the ballroom.

“We live in a dangerous time, and there are new and increasing threats that we have never faced before, and so Congress has a role in funding that,” U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Wednesday.

Democrats and some Republican lawmakers were skeptical. Trump said private donations would fund the $400 million East Wing project.

“Well, give me a break. He’s put a billion dollars in the budget for it. This staggering waste of taxpayer dollars has nothing, nothing to do with security and everything to do with Trump’s ego,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee included the $1 billion in the next budget reconciliation bill, which will fund immigration law enforcement.

Supporters considered the assassination attempts, including the most recent during the White House Correspondents’ dinner.

“Keeping the leader of the free world safe is an expensive proposition,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on Tuesday. ”The Secret Service has a job to defend and protect the president, and we need to make sure they have the tools to do it.”

La primera instalación de desvío de salud mental del condado Miami-Dade, única en su tipo, ha permanecido vacía durante años.

El condado compró el edificio ubicado en el 2200 de la avenida 7 del noroeste con fondos de bonos aprobados en 2004.

El juez retirado Steven Leifman ha sido el impulsor de la muy elogiada instalación.

“Necesitamos construir un sistema para esa población muy aguda para que podamos romper el ciclo de la indigencia, podamos romper el ciclo de la cárcel y podamos romper el ciclo de las hospitalizaciones”, dijo Leifman.

Los comisionados coincidieron en gran medida en que la instalación es importante para salvar vidas y liberar espacio en las cárceles.

Pero el presidente de la junta, Anthony Rodriguez, expresó preocupación sobre mantenerla abierta después de los primeros dos años, que ya están financiados.

“¿Estamos preparados para aumentar los impuestos a la propiedad para pagar este centro?”, preguntó.

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Miami-Dade County’s first-of-its-kind mental health diversion facility has been sitting empty for years.

The county purchased the building at 2200 NW 7th Avenue with bond money approved in 2004.

Retired Judge Steven Leifman has been the force behind the much-lauded facility.

“We need to build system for that very acute polulation so we can break the cycle of homeless, we can break the jail cycle, and we can break the hospitalization cycle,” Leifman said.

Commissioners largely agreed the facility is important to saving lives and freeing up jail bed space.

But board chair Anthony Rodriguez expressed concern about keeping it open after the first two years, which are already funded.

“Are we prepared to raise property taxes to pay for this center?” He asked.

All four are considered potential stars and a clear cut above the rest in a loaded draft class. What remains to be seen is the order they will be taken.

The Washington Wizards hold the No. 1 pick for the first time since they drafted John Wall in 2010. Utah, Memphis and Chicago round out the top four.

“It would mean a lot,” Dybantsa said Wednesday at the NBA draft combine of being picked first. “It would just mean that all my hard work is paying off. All the countless hours and all the sacrifices I made have paid off.”

Dybantsa, who led the country in scoring last season, thinks he would be a good fit in Washington. The Wizards went 17-65 and finished with the league's worst record for the first time since 1967. But after eight straight losing seasons, they could be poised for bigger things.

Then again, it's no sure thing Dybantsa goes first. There's a case for Peterson, not to mention Boozer and Wilson.

“For me, it's just about going to the right fit, the right situation for me,” said Boozer, the AP national player of the year. “An organization that really believes in me, and understands what I bring to the team. I understand where you go really matters for your career and how your trajectory goes, so that’s the biggest thing for me for sure.”

Boozer, the son of former Duke and NBA star Carlos Boozer, tied for the national lead with 22 double-doubles while averaging 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds. His dad played for the Jazz and Bulls, and now, there's a chance he winds up on one of those teams.

“He loves it here,” Cameron Boozer said. “I think he has a very strong fan base here as well. I think he'd be very happy if I was sent to Chicago.”

Wilson averaged 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in a dominant season cut short by injuries. He broke a bone in his left hand days after a thrilling win against rival Duke. Then, when he was about to come back, he broke his right thumb in a non-contact drill in practice to end his season on the eve of another meeting with the Blue Devils.

He said his hand is “perfectly fine” and the team that drafts him will get a “winner.”

“They're gonna get somebody who's dedicated to their franchise, somebody who will change their city for the better,” he said.

Peterson was hospitalized because of full-body cramping before the season and dealt with other injuries and illnesses that caused him to miss 11 games. But he was terrific when he played, averaging 20.2 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 38.2% from beyond the arc in 24 games.

Peterson and Dybantsa were considered the top two prep basketball players for years. They put on a memorable show during a Grind Session game on the winter AAU circuit, when Peterson went off for 58 points for Prolific Prep and nailed the winning 3 in the final seconds. Dybantsa scored 49 for Utah Prep.

“I just remember me and AJ going back and forth,” Peterson said. “It was a great game and I was blessed to come out on top. I'm getting back to that now.”

Dybantsa described it as an unforgettable experience for anyone who witnessed it.

“If you were at that game, that’s probably a core memory in your whole basketball-watching as a fan,” he said. “That was probably a core moment. I think there was a time in the game where we went 15 for 15 straight. It was crazy. He ended up winning, so he got the best me.”

Peterson did it again when Kansas beat BYU in late January, scoring 18 points while Dybantsa finished with 17.

Now, Peterson is trying to show that the physical issues that slowed him last season are a thing of the past. They also might have helped him develop into a more well-rounded player.

“I didn't have the same step that I had before,” he said. “If one thing's bad, something else improves. My shooting improved because of that.”

___

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

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld of Bend, Oregon, was among more than 120 passengers and crew evacuated from the ship and flown to different countries to enter quarantine. Kornfeld was brought to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha with 15 other Americans, but he was the only one taken to an isolated biocontainment unit after a nasal swab he took on the ship produced inconclusive results about whether he had the virus.

On Wednesday, the hospital announced that Kornfeld will now join the 15 other Americans who were taken for monitoring at the National Quarantine Unit, instead of the biocontainment unit, according to hospital spokesperson Kayla Thomas.

Kornfeld appeared on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” on a video call from his hospital room Tuesday, saying, “I feel wonderful, 100%."

He said there was a period on the ship when he came down with flu-like symptoms including night sweats, chills and fatigue but he said he has no symptoms now.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that a total of 11 hantavirus cases linked to the cruise have been reported worldwide, including three deaths. Eight cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests.

Kornfeld said a nasal swab he took on the ship was later tested twice in the Netherlands. One result came back negative, the other positive. Earlier this week, he was awaiting results from a new test taken when he returned to the U.S.

“The initial test that we received was from abroad and it was inconclusive in its results,” Dr. David Fitter of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters Wednesday.

In addition to the passengers taken to Nebraska, two other Americans are being monitored at the serious communicable disease unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Health authorities say it is the first hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. While there is no cure or vaccine for hantavirus, the WHO says early detection and treatment improves survival rates.

Public health officials say the risk to the general public from the cruise ship outbreak is low. Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus detected on the Hondius may be able to spread between people in rare cases.

The WHO is recommending that passengers and crew from the cruise ship stay in quarantine, either at home or other facilities, for 42 days.

Kornfeld described his quarters at the biocontainment unit in Nebraska as a hospital room with a comfortable bed.

“It’s a little weird being in here by myself,” he said before he was cleared to leave. “But the nurses come in, the doctors come in. I’m on WhatsApp all the time. It’s really amazing how quickly time flies.”

La organización alega que David Suarez pagó las vallas publicitarias, gastando alrededor de $4,000 USD en los anuncios móviles.

“Nos encanta ser judíos y estamos orgullosos de los valores judíos que nos guían a amar”, dijo Hayley Margolis, de Jewish Voice for Peace South Florida.

Miembros de la organización se reunieron allí, alegando que Suarez atacó a dos constituyentes judíos al mostrar sus fotos y nombres en las vallas junto a la frase “odiador de judíos”.

“Soy una de las personas cuya cara y nombre estaban en la valla que el comisionado Suarez creó y pagó”, dijo Donna Nevel, de Jewish Voice for Peace South Florida.

“El comisionado me ha atacado y me ha llamado odiadora de judíos porque difiero de sus opiniones sobre Israel”, agregó Nevel.

Alan Levine, otro miembro de la organización, dijo que ver su rostro en una de las vallas fue impactante.

“Mi primera reacción fue horror”, dijo Levine.

“Que un comisionado de la ciudad llame odiadores de judíos a dos de sus constituyentes, eso puede o no estar protegido por la libertad de expresión, pero es sumamente poco ético e inapropiado para un funcionario público”, agregó.

Levine también es uno de los abogados que demandan a la ciudad, al alcalde Steven Meiner y a Suarez, alegando que infringieron el derecho de la organización bajo la Primera Enmienda a protestar.

“He hablado muchas veces ante la comisión de la ciudad y el alcalde Meiner me ha llamado amante de Hamás y él y David Suarez me han llamado antisemita”, dijo Levine.

La organización presentó una moción el miércoles vinculada a su demanda existente, buscando documentos adicionales relacionados con las vallas móviles. Los abogados afirman que obtuvieron una factura de la empresa de vallas que incluye el nombre de Suarez y lo que describen como su dirección de correo electrónico personal.

“Obtuvimos la información de la empresa de vallas, estamos realizando el proceso de descubrimiento de pruebas como parte de esta demanda”, dijo Katherine Giannamore, abogada que representa a Jewish Voice for Peace South Florida.

Aún no está claro qué fuente de financiamiento se utilizó para pagar las vallas.

Giannamore dijo que todavía no han recibido respuesta directa de Suarez sobre las acusaciones.

Local 10 News se comunicó con la oficina del alcalde, pero no había recibido respuesta.

Ocurrió el miércoles alrededor de las 3:44 p.m. en el área de Northwest 75th Street y la avenida 29.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), los agentes respondieron a la escena tras recibir una llamada de que un hombre había sido baleado.

Los socorristas llegaron y encontraron a un hombre que aparentemente había sido baleado en lo que los agentes describieron como sus extremidades inferiores.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue trasladó al hombre al Ryder Trauma Center del Hospital Jackson Memorial en condición crítica, informaron las autoridades.

La MDSO no ha informado si buscan a algún sospechoso o persona de interés, ni ha divulgado información sobre las circunstancias que llevaron a la balacera.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), la balacera fue reportada a las 3:53 p.m. en el área de Southwest 102nd Avenue y West Circle Plaza, en el área no incorporada de West Perrine, en el condado.

“Según los investigadores, la madre escuchó un fuerte estallido dentro de la residencia y encontró a su hijo sufriendo una aparente herida de bala autoinfligida en una extremidad superior”, dijeron funcionarios de la MDSO en un comunicado de prensa.

Los detectives dijeron que la madre del niño, Myeisha Sharie Smith, lo llevó al Jackson South Medical Center y luego fue trasladado por aire al HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.

El niño se encuentra en condición estable, informaron las autoridades.

Según un informe de arresto obtenido el miércoles por Local 10, Smith admitió ante los detectives que dejó su arma desatendida en su habitación con su hijo, quien luego tomó el arma y se disparó en el hombro, justo encima de la clavícula.

Smith fue arrestada por un cargo de negligencia infantil que causó graves daños corporales.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, permanecía detenida en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. Se espera que comparezca ante el tribunal de fianzas más tarde en la mañana o en la tarde.

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It happened Wednesday around 3:44 p.m. in the area of Northwest 75th Street and 29th Avenue.

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the scene after receiving a call that a man had been shot.

First responders arrived to found a man who appeared to have been shot in what deputies described as his lower extremities.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue rushed the man to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition, authorities said.

There has been no word from MDSO on whether they are seeking any suspects or persons of interest, or any information regarding the circumstances that led up to the shooting.

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According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the shooting was reported at 3:53 p.m. in the area of Southwest 102nd Avenue and West Circle Plaza in the county’s unincorporated West Perrine area.

“According to investigators, the mother heard a loud popping sound from inside the residence and found her son suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his upper extremity,” MDSO officials said in a news release.

Detectives said the boy’s mother, Myeisha Sharie Smith, drove him to Jackson South Medical Center and he was then airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.

The boy is in stable condition, authorities said.

According to an arrest report obtained Wednesday by Local 10, Smith admitted to detectives that she left her gun unattended in her bedroom with her son, who then grabbed the gun and shot himself in the shoulder, just above the clavicle.

Smith was arrested on a charge of child neglect causing great bodily harm.

As of Wednesday morning, she was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. She is expected to appear in bond court later in the morning or afternoon.

If convicted, Smith could face up to 15 years in prison.

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Fort Dallas Park is a gem hidden in plain sight, located at 64 SE Fourth St. along the Miami River.

“The cottage is a fantastic story,” said Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo. “When Henry Flagler was building the railroad, his workers lived in tents, and he didn’t want them to live in tents, so he built a series of cottages for them to be able to live in. This is the last of those cottages, so it is priceless.”

The historic park ― that goes back 200 years ― is one that many in South Florida have likely never seen.

“It’s been closed for a decade and yet we are in the urban core and everyone knows the urban core from development, traffic, all these issues,” said Pardo. “People need a place to go by the water that is nice, that has canopy, that is a pleasure experience, and this is what we are trying to build here. We passed a $13 million allocation for our district. We are taking $2 million of that allocation and we are applying that to Flagler Cottage.”

Fort Dallas Park represents the birthplace of Miami.

It used to be the site of old Fort Dallas, built in 1836 to provide a U.S. military presence during the Seminole Wars.

In 1891, the city’s founder, Julia Tuttle, purchased 644 acres on the north bank of the Miami River, which included Fort Dallas. She’s who convinced Florida East Coast Railway executive Henry Flagler to come and build a railroad, and hotels nearby, sending him orange blossoms and oranges to persuade him in order to bring tourism dollars and economic prosperity to the area.

For years, Miami River Commission Chairman Horacio Stuart Aguirre said he and others have advocated for the historic structure to be restored and for that section of river front to be re-opened to the public.

“We have been working on this for maybe like 15 or 20 years,” he said. “For me, this is very, very moving.”

That’s because he’s seeing action.

“What you see happening here today is phase one,” said Pardo. “We’re adding ground cover, trees, building the canopy, and we’re giving access to the public, to the residents, to this wonderful area and the waterfront, which has been denied.”

Pardo said when they get to phase two, officials will bring in food trucks and different kinds of activities for residents to enjoy.

“And, of course, the restoration of the cottage, which is where the money goes,” he said.

Added Aguirre: “We’ve got trees that go back several hundred years. We are going to protect and preserve those. They are unbelievably valuable, and are going to stay here.”

Most Miami commission meetings including public comment will come with residents expressing their frustration at the lack of green space in the city and concern that enough is not being done to preserve its history.

“This is super important,” said Aguirre. “The Miami River Commission insists that all properties on the Miami River allow public access.”

Pardo said this project aims to address both the lack of green space and preserving the city’s history.

“That’s how we retain the character and the identity of our neighborhoods, that’s why this is so important, because in the end, that’s what makes Miami interesting,” he said. “If we don’t have that, why live here?”

Built around 1897, the cottage is also one of the city’s few surviving examples of folk Victorian architecture and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Officials said the full restoration of the cottage is expected to be completed by mid-2028.

Below you’ll find a rendering of what the finished work should look like, along with a current photo of the cottage and a plaque placed on the historic structure in 1897.

RENDERING:

CURRENT STATE OF COTTAGE:

HISTORIC PLAQUE:

RELATED LINK

Ft. Dallas Park Selective Demo & Flagler Worker House Restoration

Sunseeker International Limited y Sunseeker USA Sales Co. Inc. admitieron dos violaciones de la Ley Lacey, una ley que prohíbe la importación de madera obtenida ilegalmente.

Las violaciones estaban relacionadas con una puerta y otras piezas hechas de teca de Myanmar que estaban en yates importados a Estados Unidos, según los fiscales.

“El sur de Florida es una de las grandes puertas de entrada del mundo para embarcaciones de lujo, pero nuestros puertos no están abiertos a mercancía ilegal”, indicó en un comunicado el fiscal federal Jason A. Reding Quiñones para el Distrito Sur de Florida.

Estados Unidos ha impuesto sanciones contra Myanma Timber Enterprise, el único vendedor autorizado de teca de exportación en Myanmar.

Doug Ault, subdirector de la Oficina de Aplicación de la Ley del Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Estados Unidos, emitió un comunicado reaccionando al caso.

“El tráfico de madera es un crimen transnacional que daña los bosques y pone en desventaja a los negocios legítimos”, dijo Ault.

Las empresas acordaron pagar una multa de $200,000 USD e implementar un plan de cumplimiento, según los fiscales. La sentencia será el 20 de agosto.

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Sunseeker International Limited and Sunseeker USA Sales Co. Inc. admitted to two violations of the Lacey Act, a law that bans the import of illegally taken timber.

The violations were related to a door and other parts made out of teak from Myanmar that were in yachts imported to the U.S., according to prosecutors.

“South Florida is one of the world’s great gateways for luxury vessels, but our ports are not open to illegal goods,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions against the Myanma Timber Enterprise, the sole authorized seller of export teak in Myanmar.

Doug Ault, the assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, released a statement reacting to the case.

“Timber trafficking is a transnational crime that damages forests and puts legitimate businesses at a disadvantage,” Ault said.

The companies agreed to pay a $200,000 fine and to implement a compliance plan, according to prosecutors. Sentencing is Aug. 20.

El robo de junio de 2025 terminó en una persecución policial y con un agente disparándole en la pierna a uno de los sospechosos.

Ocurrió en un negocio no identificado ubicado en el 10893 de la calle 17 del noroeste en Sweetwater.

La Policía indicó que los tres principales sospechosos volaron desde San Francisco y se armaron con pistolas de airsoft o de balines, fueron al negocio y amarraron con bridas plásticas a los empleados, obligándolos a entrar a un baño.

Luego, el grupo reunió 170 productos Apple diferentes y tomó las llaves de la camioneta del negocio, su supuesto vehículo de escape.

Tras escuchar sirenas policiales, los tres huyeron en la camioneta. Mientras los hombres subían al vehículo, la Policía abrió fuego e hirió en la pierna a uno de los sospechosos, Eric Chase, de 42 años y residente de Oakland, California.

A pesar de la herida de Chase, el trío condujo durante una persecución en la que lanzó objetos, incluido un “chaleco negro estilo policial” y una de las máscaras.

Las autoridades indicaron que detuvieron a los hombres después de que la camioneta quedara inmovilizada cerca de la cuadra 10800 de South River Drive en Medley.

Posteriormente, las autoridades anunciaron los arrestos de Chase, junto con Aaron Brown, de 35 años y residente de Oakland, California, y Ranier Landry, de 27 años y residente de Hayward, California. Poco después, los tres fueron acusados federalmente.

Documentos de la corte federal revelaron que un cuarto sospechoso, Jiayin Nian, de 26 años, también fue acusado formalmente en el caso.

Todos fueron hallados culpables de varios cargos.

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The June 2025 robbery ended in a police chase and an officer shooting one of the suspects in the leg.

It happened at an unidentified business at 10893 NW 17th St. in Sweetwater.

Police said the three main suspects flew from San Francisco and armed themselves with airsoft or BB guns, went to the business and zip-tied the employees, forcing them into a bathroom.

The group then gathered up 170 different Apple products and took the key’s to the business’s van ― their would-be getaway vehicle.

After hearing police sirens, the three took off in the van. As the men were getting into the van, police opened fire and shot one of the suspects, Eric Chase, 42, of Oakland, California, in the leg.

Despite Chase’s injury, the trio led police on a chase in which they would discard objects, including a “black police-style vest” and one of the masks.

Authorities said they stopped the men after the van became immobile near the 10800 block of South River Drive in Medley.

Authorities later announced the arrests of Chase, along with Aaron Brown, 35, of Oakland, California, and Ranier Landry, 27, of Hayward, California and the three were soon charged federally.

Federal court documents revealed that a fourth suspect, 26-year-old Jiayin Nian, was also indicted in the case.

All were found guilty of various charges.

Fort Dallas Park es una joya escondida a simple vista, ubicada en el 64 de Southeast Fourth St., a lo largo del río Miami.

“La cabaña tiene una historia fantástica”, dijo el comisionado de Miami Damian Pardo. “Cuando Henry Flagler estaba construyendo el ferrocarril, sus trabajadores vivían en tiendas de campaña, y él no quería que vivieran en tiendas, así que construyó una serie de cabañas para que pudieran vivir allí. Esta es la última de esas cabañas, así que no tiene precio”.

El histórico parque, que se remonta a 200 años, es uno que probablemente muchas personas en el sur de Florida nunca han visto.

“Ha estado cerrado durante una década y, sin embargo, estamos en el núcleo urbano y todos conocen el núcleo urbano por el desarrollo, el tráfico y todos esos problemas”, dijo Pardo. “La gente necesita un lugar junto al agua que sea agradable, que tenga sombra, que sea una experiencia placentera, y eso es lo que estamos tratando de construir aquí. Aprobamos una asignación de $13 millones USD para nuestro distrito. Estamos tomando $2 millones USD de esa asignación y los estamos destinando a Flagler Cottage”.

Fort Dallas Park representa el lugar de nacimiento de Miami.

Anteriormente era el sitio del antiguo Fort Dallas, construido en 1836 para proporcionar presencia militar estadounidense durante las Guerras Seminolas.

En 1891, la fundadora de la ciudad, Julia Tuttle, compró 644 acres en la ribera norte del río Miami, que incluían Fort Dallas. Ella fue quien convenció al ejecutivo de Florida East Coast Railway, Henry Flagler, de venir a construir un ferrocarril y hoteles cercanos, enviándole flores de azahar y naranjas para persuadirlo y atraer dólares del turismo y prosperidad económica a la zona.

Durante años, el presidente de la Comisión del Río Miami, Horacio Stuart Aguirre, dijo que él y otros han abogado por la restauración de la estructura histórica y por reabrir al público esa sección de la ribera del río.

“Hemos trabajado en esto durante quizás 15 o 20 años”, dijo. “Para mí, esto es muy, muy conmovedor”.

Eso se debe a que está viendo acción.

“Lo que están viendo aquí hoy es la fase uno”, dijo Pardo. “Estamos agregando cobertura vegetal, árboles, construyendo sombra y dando acceso al público, a los residentes, a esta maravillosa área y al frente marítimo, que les había sido negado”.

Pardo dijo que cuando lleguen a la fase dos, los funcionarios traerán camiones de comida y diferentes tipos de actividades para que los residentes disfruten.

“Y, por supuesto, la restauración de la cabaña, que es donde se destina el dinero”, dijo.

Aguirre añadió: “Tenemos árboles que tienen varios cientos de años. Vamos a protegerlos y preservarlos. Son increíblemente valiosos y permanecerán aquí”.

La mayoría de las reuniones de la comisión de Miami, incluidos los comentarios públicos, cuentan con residentes expresando su frustración por la falta de espacios verdes en la ciudad y la preocupación de que no se esté haciendo lo suficiente para preservar su historia.

“Esto es sumamente importante”, dijo Aguirre. “La Comisión del Río Miami insiste en que todas las propiedades a lo largo del río Miami permitan acceso público”.

Pardo dijo que este proyecto busca abordar tanto la falta de espacios verdes como la preservación de la historia de la ciudad.

“Así es como mantenemos el carácter y la identidad de nuestros vecindarios, por eso esto es tan importante, porque al final eso es lo que hace interesante a Miami”, dijo. “Si no tenemos eso, ¿por qué vivir aquí?”

Los funcionarios dijeron que se espera que la restauración completa de la cabaña esté terminada para mediados de 2028.

Manchester City cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the standings back to two points after beating Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

With two rounds of the season to go it means Arsenal will have to wait another week at least to be confirmed champion.

Mikel Arteta's team plays relegated Burnley on Monday and a victory would leave City needing to beat Bournemouth 24 hours later to take the title race into the final day of the season.

“We’ve seen a lot of things can happen on the final day," City forward Phil Foden told Sky Sports. “I’ve experienced it many times when the game doesn’t go your way, so we just have to keep pushing and doing our part.”

City plays Chelsea in the FA Cup final before all that and Pep Guardiola appeared to have Saturday's Wembley showdown in mind by making six changes to his team. But even without Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku in his starting lineup, City won comfortably.

Foden — making a rare start in recent months — provided assists for both of City's first half goals.

His backheel created an opening for Antoine Semenyo to open the scoring after 32 minutes and he set up Omar Marmoush for City's second eight minutes later.

Savinho added a third in the 84th.

The size of City's win could yet be significant as it moved one ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.

Guardiola is targeting his seventh league title at City. He has never gone back-to-back seasons without winning a league title in his entire coaching career at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City.

“Unfortunately it’s not in our hands," Guardiola said. “It’s not easy, but it’s important that we are there. This group of players are all extraordinary.”

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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

Warsh takes over a divided central bank wrestling with the economic fallout from the war started by the U.S. and Israel with Iran on Feb. 28. The conflict has driven up energy prices and made it even more difficult for the Fed to bring inflation down to its 2% target.

But Trump has demanded lower interest rates, not the higher ones that might be needed to keep inflation in check. Warsh, who had positioned himself as an inflation hawk earlier in his career, has more recently aligned himself with Trump's views, arguing that artificial intelligence and other technologies can boost productivity and economic growth without igniting inflation.

Trump had consistently attacked Powell for refusing the deep rate cuts the president believes will boost the economy. And his Justice Department had launched an investigation into the Fed that was widely seen as an attempt to oust Powell. The legal drama delayed Warsh's confirmation. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said he would oppose Warsh until the Justice Department dropped the investigation, which it finally did last month.

In an unusual move, Powell said he would remain on the Fed's governing board indefinitely after Warsh came on as chair, citing Trump's "unprecedented'' attacks on the central bank's independence. Although Powell's term as chair is ending, his term as a Fed governor doesn't expire until 2028.

Powell's continued presence could make things awkward for Warsh, especially if he tries to convince other Fed officials to go along with rate cuts.

Trump has said that Warsh comes from “central casting,” revealing a lot about the president's own views of the 56 year-old's looks and conventional pedigree. Warsh has many of the trappings of a traditional pick to lead the world's most important central bank, yet he's doing so at a decidedly unconventional moment for the Fed as Trump has said the new chair needs to cut its benchmark rates to the White House's liking.

Rate cuts of the degree sought by Trump could temporarily boost growth, but they also pose the risk of overheating the economy at a time when inflation is already elevated and affordability is a top concern for much of the American public.

Warsh was previously a runner-up for the Senate-confirmed post of Fed Chair in 2017, when Trump selected Powell to lead the central bank. Trump has since said that he was given bad advice regarding Powell.

Warsh is credentialed with degrees from Stanford University and Harvard University Law School. He is also married to Jane Lauder, the daughter of billionaire cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, a major Republican donor.

Senate Democrats have condemned Warsh for not fully divulging the details of his own wealth, which amounts to at least $100 million. His investments include stakes in Polymarket and SpaceX, but he hasn’t revealed the size of those holdings. He promised to sell all such assets within 90 days of being sworn in.

At 35, Warsh became the youngest governor on the Fed's seven member board, serving in that post from 2006 to 2011. He was previously an economic aide in George W. Bush’s Republican administration and was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

Warsh worked closely with then-Chair Ben Bernanke in 2008-09 during the central bank’s efforts to combat the financial crisis and the Great Recession. Bernanke later wrote in his memoirs that Warsh was “one of my closest advisers and confidants” and added that his “political and markets savvy and many contacts on Wall Street would prove invaluable.”

Still, Warsh appeared in key moments to be misguided about the depth of the challenges confronting the U.S. economy as mortgage defaults and layoffs mounted in the Great Recession. He wanted the Fed to keep its benchmark rates higher when the economy was at risk of deflation and possibly collapsing.

Warsh raised concerns in 2008 that further interest rate cuts by the Fed could spur inflation. Yet even after the Fed cut its rate to nearly zero, inflation stayed low.

And he objected in meetings in 2011 to the Fed’s decision to purchase $600 billion of Treasury bonds, an effort to lower long-term interest rates, though he ultimately voted in favor of the decision at Bernanke’s behest.

Warsh also behaved at times like a pre-Trump Republican, calling in a 2010 speech for ending “the creep of trade protectionism” that he declared to be the opposite of “pro-growth policies.” Trump has since largely overhauled GOP dogma by pushing for massive hikes in import taxes, having unilaterally imposed them last year by declaring an economic emergency.

Warsh has been working as a visiting economics fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank located at Stanford University. He is also a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a partner at the Duquesne Family Office, which manages the wealth of billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller.

In what appeared to be an active campaign for the Fed post, Warsh criticized the Fed in interviews, calling for “regime change” and assailing Powell for engaging on issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion, which Warsh said are outside the Fed’s mandate.

In a interview last year on CNBC, Warsh said Fed policy “has been broken for quite a long time.”

“The central bank that sits there today is radically different than the central bank I joined in 2006,” he added. By allowing inflation to surge in 2021-22, the Fed “brought about the greatest mistake in macroeconomic policy in 45 years, that divided the country.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilots who safely landed that plane back in New Orleans told investigators the situation was far more challenging than anything they had ever experienced in training.

“If such an event occurred at night or in instrument meteorological conditions, the consequences could be catastrophic,” the NTSB determined.

The Federal Aviation Administration receives reports of smoke in the cockpit almost daily, but the NTSB said the agency still doesn't require airlines to conduct realistic smoke-in-cockpit simulations. Instead, the training usually just consists of a discussion of what to do in that situation. The FAA didn't immediately respond to the new recommendation on Wednesday.

The Southwest pilots at the controls during this incident in December 2023 said they had trouble seeing their instruments and checklists. They quickly donned oxygen masks and followed emergency procedures to land. None of the 139 people aboard were hurt. In a separate incident nine months earlier involving another Southwest 737 Max, smoke filled the cabin after a bird strike after takeoff in Havana, Cuba.

Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, who was a pilot for United Airlines, said it is crucial that pilots are prepared to deal with smoke and quickly shut off the valve letting it into the cockpit, so he supports the recommendation. He said it would be good for pilots to experience dealing with smoke every time they go back for refresher training every nine months, so they’ll have the “muscle memory” to respond.

“Smoke in the cockpit is a very serious and time-critical emergency,” Arroyo said. “And I think creating the pilot awareness through real-life training is essential to reducing this potential safety threat.”

Southwest spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the airline is reviewing the new recommendation, but it is committed to ensuring its pilots can handle these kinds of emergencies and seeing that the underlying flaw in the engines on the 737 Max is fixed.

“Southwest routinely evaluates and enhances pilot training as part of its robust Safety Management System. As part of that effort, Southwest notified its Flight Crews about the effects of certain malfunctions following the two events in 2023 and reiterated the importance of following established safety procedures that are part of the company’s pilot training program,” Lunsford said in a statement.

The Airlines for America trade group didn't immediately respond to the new report.

Last year, the NTSB urged Boeing and engine maker CFM International to quickly develop a software fix for the engines on the 737 Max to help prevent smoke from filling the cockpit or cabin after a safety feature is activated following a bird strike.

Spokesman for the engine and plane makers said the software fix for the engines is still being developed.

Air from the left engine on a 737 Max flows directly into the cockpit, while air from the right engine flows into the passenger cabin.

A safety device CFM added to these engines to help limit damage after a bird strike had the unintended consequence of contributing to smoke inside the plane. The device releases oil after a bird strike, which generates a significant amount of smoke.

Both Boeing and CFM have said they are committed to addressing the engine issue, and the FAA said last year that the repair will be required as soon as it is ready.

DeSantis defendió la decisión de abrir y operar la instalación a pesar del costo para los contribuyentes de Florida.

“Ha hecho una gran diferencia”, dijo DeSantis. “Ahora, cuando lo abrimos en el verano de 2025, siempre estuvo destinado a ser temporal porque solo lo estábamos haciendo ya que el gobierno federal no tenía los recursos para mantener a estas personas por sí mismo. Bueno, ahora han recibido mucho dinero durante los últimos nueve meses, han podido trabajar y ajustar sus operaciones en consecuencia”.

Esto ocurre un día después de que The New York Times reportara que Florida y el gobierno federal estaban en conversaciones sobre cerrar la instalación de manera permanente.

Según los reportes, operar la instalación le cuesta a Florida un millón de dólares diarios.

Es un dinero que el estado ha dicho durante mucho tiempo que el gobierno federal reembolsará, pero eso no ha ocurrido, al menos no todavía.

Además, hay nuevos reportes que indican que los proveedores a los que el estado paga para operar la instalación aseguran que no han recibido pagos.

Un proveedor dijo a The New York Times que no ha recibido pago en 200 días.

La líder demócrata del Senado de Florida, Lori Berman, de Palm Beach, también habló sobre la situación.

“Me alegra escuchar reportes sobre su inminente cierre, pero el daño a Florida ya está hecho”, dijo. “Este tipo de ‘liderazgo’ imprudente de una rama ejecutiva descontrolada debe quedar en el pasado, y necesitamos volver a enfocarnos únicamente en hacer que Florida sea más asequible para todos. Maniobras políticas dañinas como esta no tienen lugar en nuestra política”.

Todo esto ocurre mientras críticos denuncian la instalación por condiciones inhumanas para los 1,400 inmigrantes detenidos allí, además de la batalla legal en curso por parte de grupos ambientalistas que también denuncian el daño causado a los Everglades.

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DeSantis defended the move to open and run the facility despite the cost to Florida taxpayers.

“It’s made a huge difference,” said DeSantis. “Now, when we opened it in the summer of 2025, it was always intended to be temporary because we were only doing it because the federal government didn’t have the resources to hold these people themselves. Well now they’ve gotten a lot of money over the last nine months, they’ve been able to work and adjust their operations accordingly.”

This comes a day after the New York Times reported Florida and the federal government were in talks regarding closing the facility for good.

It’s reportedly costing Florida a million dollars a day to run the facility.

This is money the state has long said the federal government will reimburse, but that has not happened, at least not yet.

Additionally, there are new reports stating vendors the state pays to run the facility are claiming they have not gotten paid.

One vendor told the New York Times it hasn’t gotten paid in 200 days.

The Florida Senate Democratic leader, Lori Berman of Palm Beach, also spoke about the situation.

“I’m happy to hear reports of its impending closure, but the damage to Florida has already been done,” she said. “This kind of reckless ‘leadership’ from a rogue executive branch needs to be left in the past, and we need to return to a single-minded focus on making Florida more affordable for everyone. Damaging political stunts like this one have no place in our politics.”

All of this happening amid critics denouncing the facility for inhumane conditions for the 1,400 immigrants being detained there, and the ongoing legal battle from environmental groups also denouncing the harm done to the Everglades.

Las víctimas, que viven en las 69 unidades de la comunidad Midway Gardens, ya habían sufrido el robo de su correspondencia en febrero.

“Hemos tenido cheques robados, hemos tenido propiedades robadas, hemos tenido tarjetas de crédito robadas”, dijo Arturo Abraeu, presidente de la asociación de propietarios de Midway Gardens.

El video muestra que el ladrón no actuaba solo. Luego de lanzar la correspondencia robada dentro de una camioneta SUV blanca, se sentó en el asiento trasero y el conductor huyó.

“Normalmente trato de recoger mi correspondencia todos los días”, dijo Esther Pereira, residente de Midway Gardens.

El Servicio Postal de Estados Unidos tiene el caso. El robo de correspondencia es un delito federal castigado con hasta 5 años de prisión.

Abraeu tuvo una pregunta para los ladrones: “¿Por qué arriesgarían su libertad por una recompensa tan pequeña?”

Historia relacionada: Agentes de Miami-Dade acusan a tres de robar correspondencia; una persona se entrega a autoridades

The streaming service will have five regular-season games as well as the NFL Honors through 2029. It had been carrying two games on Christmas Day since 2024. The announcement was made during its upfront presentation to advertisers.

Netflix will air a Week 1 game, one on Thanksgiving Eve, two on Christmas Day and a 1 p.m. ET contest on the Saturday of the final week of the regular season.

Two of the matchups — both featuring the Lost Angeles Rams — were made official on Wednesday. Netflix will carry the Week 1 game between the Rams and San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia. The Rams will then host the Green Bay Packers in the first Thanksgiving Eve contest on Nov. 25.

Both games will be aired in primetime in the United States at 8:35 p.m. ET. The Week 1 game will be on Sept. 10 in the U.S. Melbourne is 14 hours ahead of New York and 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles and San Francisco, so it will kick off at 10:35 a.m. on Sept. 11 in Australia.

The Australia matchup between NFC West rivals is one of nine international games the NFL will play this upcoming season. The league released its complete international slate Wednesday morning.

“We’ve seen how many fans are already on Netflix, so we thought it was a tremendous opportunity to deepen the partnership, expand the reach of those games, and to do so around tentpole events at the beginning and end of the year with big holidays in the middle, then have them extend into honors and do what Netflix has shown they do so well, which is make big events even bigger,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL's executive vice president of media distribution.

Two games — Thanksgiving Eve and Week 18 — are from the four the league got back after ESPN bought NFL Network. The Week 1 game was on YouTube last season.

The NFL Honors started during the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis as a way for the league to announce all of its award winners in one show. It started airing the night before the Super Bowl but moved to the Thursday of Super Bowl week in 2022. It had been carried by the network airing the Super Bowl, but will now get a worldwide audience with the move.

The NFL Honors include the Associated Press awards for Most Valuable Player, Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, Assistant Coach of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year.

The full schedule, including the Christmas Day matchups, will be released Thursday evening. The Week 18 Saturday games, which also include 4:30 and 8:15 p.m. ET matchups on ESPN/ABC, are not announced until six days out because the league prioritizes games with playoff implications in those spots.

The regular-season schedule was finalized Tuesday morning.

Netflix also announced the third season of the documentary series Quarterback will debut on July 14. It will feature Washington's Jayden Daniels, Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield, Tennessee's Cam Ward, the top pick in the 2025 draft, and Joe Flacco, who began the season with Cleveland before being traded to Cincinnati.

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

The U.S. deported 5,033 Salvadorans back to their country in the first three months of 2026 compared with 2,547 deportees in the same period in 2025, according to El Salvador migration authority figures obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

That marks nearly a 98% increase at the same time that the Trump administration has boosted deportation flights across the world. Globally, deportation flights from the U.S. jumped around 61% between 2024 and 2025, according to data compiled by the Asociación Agenda Migrante El Salvador, or AAMES, and other organizations.

The U.S. has stopped regularly releasing deportation data, so experts instead are relying on other information from countries like El Salvador, deportation flights and other numbers.

The sharp increase in deportations “confirms a real hardening of the U.S. immigration system toward the region,” said César Ríos of AAMES.

The jump comes as Bukele, a tough-on-crime politician, has sought to align himself with U.S. President Donald Trump, and the U.S. government has lined up allies across Latin America to help him carry out his agenda. While Mexico and other Central American nations have quietly accepted deportees from third countries, Bukele has boldly embraced Trump's efforts in Latin America.

In March 2025, Bukele most notably accepted 238 Venezuelan deportees accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and locked them up in a mega-prison built for accused gang members in Bukele's ongoing offensive on El Salvador's gangs. The incident fueled widespread accusations of human rights abuses.

The geopolitical firestorm came after Trump's government struck a deal with Bukele to accept what they described as transfer and imprisonment of foreign criminals to El Salvador. Under the agreement, El Salvador would receive $6 million from the U.S.

In April, the Trump administration mistakenly deported a Maryland resident and Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego García with protected status in the U.S., becoming yet another legal and political flashpoint. Bukele originally refused to return Abrego García and denied accusations of beating and torture — which have been widely documented by human rights groups in Salvadoran prisons.

He was later returned to the U.S. in June to face charges that he helped bring immigrants to the U.S. illegally, something his lawyers call “baseless.” Abrego García has pleaded not guilty and asked a judge to dismiss his case as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it hoped to deport Abrego García to Liberia.

Even more recently, Bukele joined a coalition of other right-leaning Trump allies in a group of countries that Trump dubbed the Shield of the Americas, purportedly aimed at cracking down on criminal groups in Latin America, even though the two most essential countries in that effort — Mexico and Colombia — refused to attend.

Meanwhile, many migrants in the U.S. are turning their eyes on U.S. Supreme Court arguments as Trump seeks to stop shielding hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti and Syria, a decision many of the more than 200,000 Salvadoran migrants with temporary protections worry might eventually affect them.

Bukele has helped the U.S. with its immigration agenda even before Trump entered office.

In 2023, El Salvador’s government began to slap a $1,130 fee on travelers from dozens of countries connecting through the nation’s main airport, amid pressure from the Biden administration to help control the number of migrants moving toward the United States' southern border. At the same time, migration from El Salvador, fueled by gang violence and poverty, dipped following Bukele's contentious war on the gangs.

Analysts said that Bukele's government used dips in migration as a bargaining chip to offset human rights criticisms by the U.S.

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Megan Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

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

“I used to do that as a junior golfer because I had trouble with alignment,” Shattuck explained to his pupil. “It's a trick that you're able to do under the rules. You can't lay the club down and check it. But you can put it right over your toe line, check where you're at.”

Shattuck's teaching gig delayed his arrival later in the day at Aronimink Golf Club, where he was set to play at least nine holes in preparation of this weekend's PGA Championship in suburban Philadelphia.

Let Rory McIloy and Jordan Speith and most of the top-ranked players of the world spend Wednesday working on their game at Aronimink or signing endless amounts of autographs.

Shattuck had to clock in for his day job.

Shattuck, the PGA director of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, just 10 miles down the road from Aronimink, kept his appointment teaching a golf clinic, where he led a group of 10 women — from long-time students to the new La Salle women's golf coach — on tackling the more challenging parts of the game.

Shattuck is set to strike the opening tee shot of the tournament at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday — well before he ever usually grabs his bag — and is one of 20 golf professionals in the 156-man PGA Championship field. He finished eighth in April at the PGA Professional Championship in Oregon to earn a spot in the major.

He was raised in suburban Philadelphia and his local ties in Delaware County — Shattuck's been peppered with chants of “Do it for Delco!” — have made him an instant fan favorite. He laughed when he said the number of women were more than the normal number for a clinic — and certainly, there were more cameras than usual.

“If it makes any of you nervous, sorry,” Shattuck said with a chuckle.

His students didn't seem to mind their time in the spotlight, thanks to a PGA of America film crew and a pair of reporters that tagged along.

When one student boomed a shot down the middle of a hole on a course lined by gritty residential homes, she exclaimed, "Come on, Braden. Right in the middle, baby!”'

The 31-year-old Shattuck, in his fifth year at Rolling Green, said his sense of obligation kept him from ever considering canceling the clinic. There were swings to fix. Bunker shots to solve.

His students needed the practice.

Nancy Barton, a long-time club member from Drexel Hill, practiced her approach on the 11th hole shooting over a deep right greenside bunker.

“There's no confidence standing over your ball because this is so intimidating,” she said.

Shattuck counseled the golfer and told her more advice would come for the entire group if he scheduled more clinics at least once a month. He polled the golfers for ideal times, and they settled on a weeknight, preferably Tuesdays or Wednesdays. There was one caveat to the practice times:

“I expect all of you to show up,” Shattuck said.

Shattuck will show up and teach — and arrive at Aronimink around 4:30 a.m. Thursday — even if the longest of long shots (he has 2000-1 odds) somehow wins the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.

He's successfully navigated one of the busiest weeks of his career — including convincing security at Aronimink to let him park his pick up truck even though he didn't have the right tag, to landing 18-year-old high school senior Beau Riviere to caddy for him — as he prepared to play in his first major since the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

Gale Donoghue, who lives in the nearby borough of Media, played in the clinic and has received 1-on-1 lessons from Shattuck for years. She's such a fan of his, Donoghue insisted she would set the early alarm to watch Shattuck start his round. Donoghue said she was among a sizeable contingent of Rolling Green players that rooted him on when he played in the 2024 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

“I have three boys, so I can compare; he's very focused, very earnest,” Donoghue said. “He's very astute. He has this quiet way of observing and listening and then moving forward.”

Shattuck is well-versed in moving forward.

He was forced to rebuild his swing from the ground up following a car accident in 2019 that resulted in multiple herniated disks in his lower back, led to years of mental health struggles and made even walking difficult.

“Having panic attacks almost daily, having chest pain daily, dealing with anxiety was by far the hardest part of that, and I dealt with that for years,” Shattuck said. “Had to go to work and put a smiling face on for everybody and that was quite a challenge. I’m finally on the back end of that after six or seven years of it, however long ago that accident was.”

He's on the back nine of his recovery and was in good spirits at the course that served as the site of the 1976 U.S. Women's Open and 2016 U.S. Women's Amateur teaching his students the finer points of selecting the proper tee box and greenside bunker shots.

There are perks to making the field that go well beyond rubbing shoulders with the game's greats and not all the talk at Rolling Green was about pins and putting.

One golfer needed to know what kind of courtesy car Shattuck had shuttling him to Aronimink.

The answer: A Lexus.

“I’ll take it,” Shattuck said.

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

Uthmeier, who threatened possible enforcement actions against the league in March if it didn’t suspend the 23-year-old rule, sent the subpoena along with a letter to NFL executive vice president and attorney Ted Ullyot on Wednesday.

The subpoena commands the league to appear at the attorney general’s office in Tallahassee, Florida, on June 12. It asks the league to produce extensive documents, including “all diversity reports, coaching census data, or demographic surveys that reflect the race and sex of coaching staffs of the teams from 2017 to the present.”

"All in all, the Rooney Rule and the NFL’s related ‘inclusive hiring’ policies — and the NFL’s representations about these policies — continue to raise significant concerns under Florida law,” Uthmeier wrote in the letter.

The Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for head coach, general manager and coordinator positions. At least one minority candidate must be interviewed for the quarterbacks coach position.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, speaking at the league meetings in Phoenix in March, acknowledged the changing political landscape for diversity initiatives in the U.S., but added that he didn’t believe there should be any legal issues with the league’s policy. “The Rooney Rule has been around a long time,” Goodell said then. “We’ve evolved it, changed it. We’ll continue to do that.”

The NFL didn't comment Wednesday on the subpoena.

But in a letter to Uthmeier on May 1, the league said: “The NFL’s pursuit of top-tier talent led to the adoption of the Rooney Rule in 2003. Importantly, the Rooney Rule does not impose any hiring quotas or mandates, and it does not license clubs to consider race or sex in making hiring decisions. Hiring decisions for NFL teams are made by the individual clubs — not the League — and those decisions are based on merit. The Rooney Rule neither requires, nor permits, any team to make a hiring decision on the basis of race, sex, or any other protected characteristic. To do so would be an express violation of League policy.”

Uthmeier commended the league for altering the Rooney Rule language on its website after receiving his initial warning letter in March but added the revisions raise more questions.

The updated terminology on the NFL site says: “The Rooney Rule establishes best practices designed to expand opportunity and strengthen the NFL’s talent pipeline across leadership roles. It is part of a broader effort to develop a deep and sustainable talent pipeline across all levels of the NFL. The policy is intended to ensure that qualified candidates from a wide range of backgrounds are identified and considered for leadership roles.”

The website previously stated the Rooney Rule aims to “increase the number of minorities hired” in leadership positions and said that diversity “enriches the game and creates a more effective, quality organization.”

“We appreciate how quickly the NFL changed its website in response to our letter and capitulated on some of their discriminatory hiring quotas,” Uthmeier said. “But their response raises more questions about the Rooney Rule, and we look forward to their cooperation with the investigative subpoena we issued them today.”

In the May 1 letter, the league had told Uthmeier: “We appreciate that your letter has brought to our attention some outdated information on the NFL’s website regarding these programs. This information is in the process of being updated to accurately reflect the NFL’s current programs and policies.”

Uthmeier sent his first letter to Goodell in March, saying the Rooney Rule amounts to “blatant race and sex discrimination.”

The subpoena expands the focus beyond the Rooney Rule and includes other NFL diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including a discontinued mandate that required teams to hire a minority offensive assistant; the diversity accelerator program; the Mackie development program for college officials; and the resolution that awards teams draft picks if one of its minority assistant coaches or executives is hired to be the coach or general manager of another team.

The NFL's front office and coach accelerator program will be held next week in Orlando after it was paused in 2025. The program was created as an extension of the Rooney Rule in 2022 to increase diversity among coaches and front office executives. It will now include nonminority participants.

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

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In a statement released on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department accused the regime of refusing to accept the aid to distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other independent organizations.

“The United States continues to seek meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system, which has only served to enrich the elites and condemn the Cuban people to poverty,” a State Department spokesperson wrote in the statement.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel also released a statement on Wednesday about the failures of Cuba’s National Electric Energy System, or SEN.

“For today’s operations, a deficit of more than 2,000 MW is forecast during the peak nighttime demand period,” Díaz-Canel wrote. “This dramatic worsening has a single cause: the genocidal energy blockade to which the United States subjects our country.”

Díaz-Canel denounced President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs against any nation that supplies Cuba with fuel and blamed “a small group of ultrarightists who have hijacked policy toward Cuba.”

Also on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez used X to raise awareness about a group of Cuban protesters at San Miguel del Padrón, a municipality in Havana.

Giménez also shared a report about Carlos MacDonald, a political prisoner whose family fears he isn’t getting proper treatment after an alleged cancer diagnosis.

“From the United States Congress, we demand the immediate release of all political prisoners inside Cuba,” Giménez wrote on X.

Giménez also blamed the crisis on the island on corruption.

“The dictatorship in Havana denies the people the opportunity to receive more than $100 million in food directly distributed by the USA,” Giménez wrote on X. “The regime only wants to keep doing what it always does: steal the aid and profit by reselling it to the people.”

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The State Department is publicly restating the United States' generous offer to provide additional direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people.

The Cuban regime must decide whether to accept our offer or deny life-saving help for the Cuban people, who desperately need it.

— Department of State (@StateDept) May 13, 2026

#AHORA Cacerolazos en La Habana a pocas cuadras de la “Plaza de la Revolución”. Sin miedo.#Cuba pic.twitter.com/TB0QSG1aq3

— Cristian Crespo F. 🇨🇺 (@cristiancrespoj) May 13, 2026

⚠️⚠️#Urgente. Continúan llegando imágenes de las afueras del gobierno municipal de San Miguel del Padrón.

Protesta masiva de cubanos tocando cacerolas. pic.twitter.com/FUErLVA2L7

— Mag Jorge Castro🇨🇺 (@MagJorgeCastro) May 13, 2026

“Voy a llegar a hacer una auditoría y... si Petro es solicitado en extradición, como creo que va a pasar, porque él está siendo investigado por una corte del Distrito Sur de Nueva York, pues lo entrego como corresponde en derecho”, aseguró De la Espriella en entrevista con The Associated Press desde Medellín, en el noroeste del país.

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

La persona indicó que no estaba claro si los fiscales federales han implicado a Petro en algún delito.

Petro negó entonces cualquier vínculo con narcotraficantes y sostuvo que no aceptó dinero alguno de ellos para la campaña electoral que lo llevó al poder en 2022, por lo que cree que estos procesos en Estados Unidos servirán para “desmontar las acusaciones de la extrema derecha colombiana” en su contra, a la que señala de tener supuestos vínculos con el narcotráfico.

De la Espriella, un abogado que lanzó su candidatura independiente por el movimiento “Defensores de la Patria”, promete mano dura para los criminales y narcotraficantes, así como acabar con la política de paz que ha construido Petro, el primer presidente de izquierda en Colombia.

El candidato hace campaña por el país rodeado de escoltas con armas largas y escudos de protección policial. Sube a tarimas con chaleco antibalas y ha denunciado amenazas en su contra.

“Todos los bandidos de Colombia me quieren matar, empezando por el gobierno, que no es un gobierno; en realidad es una banda criminal cuyo jefe es el presidente de la República. El jefe de esa mafia es el presidente de la República”, aseguró De la Espriella sin mostrar pruebas.

El candidato explicó que, de llegar a darse el escenario de una solicitud de extradición a Estados Unidos contra Petro, seguiría el conducto regular que implica que la Corte Suprema de Colombia se pronuncie para dar su concepto favorable o desfavorable a la extradición. De ser favorable, la última palabra la toma el presidente de turno.

“Si el concepto es negativo, no se puede extraditar... ahora, el presidente de la República en ejercicio, es decir, yo, si Dios quiere, puede objetarla por razones de conveniencia nacional. Yo no la voy a objetar. Yo mismo lo llevo (a EEUU)”, afirmó De la Espriella.

Petro ha dicho que sus opositores de la “extrema derecha” han querido formar un supuesto complot para que se le abran procesos en Estados Unidos en los que termine preso, especialmente utilizando como excusa los procesos de negociación de paz que ha abierto con múltiples grupos armados ilegales en su política de “paz total”.

El mandatario fue sancionado a finales de 2025 por el Departamento del Tesoro por acusaciones de participar en el tráfico global de drogas, sin ofrecer pruebas, por lo que ha pedido a ese país que lo excluya de la lista de sanciones que ha restringido el acceso a servicios financieros.

Colombia se prepara para elegir al sucesor de Petro en el poder el 31 de mayo en la primera vuelta presidencial, en la que compiten 13 candidatos, incluido el senador Iván Cepeda, que representa el movimiento político de Petro.

En un comunicado difundido el miércoles , el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos acusó al régimen de negarse a aceptar la ayuda que se distribuye en coordinación con la Iglesia Católica y otras organizaciones independientes.

“Estados Unidos sigue buscando reformas significativas al sistema comunista de Cuba, que solo ha servido para enriquecer a las élites y condenar al pueblo cubano a la pobreza”, escribió un portavoz del Departamento de Estado en el comunicado .

El presidente cubano, Miguel Díaz-Canel, emitió un comunicado el miércoles sobre las fallas del Sistema Nacional de Energía Eléctrica de Cuba, o SEN.

“Para las operaciones de hoy, se prevé un déficit de más de 2000 MW durante el período de máxima demanda nocturna”, escribió Díaz-Canel. “Este drástico empeoramiento tiene una sola causa: el bloqueo energético genocida al que Estados Unidos somete a nuestro país”.

Díaz-Canel denunció la amenaza del presidente Donald Trump de imponer aranceles a cualquier nación que suministre combustible a Cuba y culpó a “un pequeño grupo de ultraderechistas que han secuestrado la política hacia Cuba y que mienten o difunden desinformación de forma deliberada y cínica sobre la realidad cubana, mientras exigen más estrangulamiento y amenazas contra nuestro pueblo”.

El representante estadounidense Carlos Giménez utilizó la letra X el miércoles para concienciar sobre un grupo de manifestantes cubanos en San Miguel del Padrón , un municipio de La Habana.

Giménez también compartió un informe sobre Carlos MacDonald , un preso político cuya familia teme que no esté recibiendo el tratamiento adecuado tras un supuesto diagnóstico de cáncer .

“Desde el Congreso de los Estados Unidos, exigimos la liberación inmediata de todos los presos políticos que se encuentran en Cuba”, escribió Giménez en X.

Giménez atribuyó la crisis a la corrupción.

“La dictadura de La Habana niega al pueblo la oportunidad de recibir más de 100 millones de dólares en alimentos distribuidos directamente por Estados Unidos”, escribió Giménez en X. “El régimen solo quiere seguir haciendo lo de siempre: robar la ayuda y lucrarse revendiéndola al pueblo”.

Redes sociales relacionadas

The State Department is publicly restating the United States' generous offer to provide additional direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people.

The Cuban regime must decide whether to accept our offer or deny life-saving help for the Cuban people, who desperately need it.

— Department of State (@StateDept) May 13, 2026

#AHORA Cacerolazos en La Habana a pocas cuadras de la “Plaza de la Revolución”. Sin miedo.#Cuba pic.twitter.com/TB0QSG1aq3

— Cristian Crespo F. 🇨🇺 (@cristiancrespoj) May 13, 2026

⚠️⚠️#Urgente. Continúan llegando imágenes de las afueras del gobierno municipal de San Miguel del Padrón.

Protesta masiva de cubanos tocando cacerolas. pic.twitter.com/FUErLVA2L7

— Mag Jorge Castro🇨🇺 (@MagJorgeCastro) May 13, 2026

McGrady will advise the college on the development of name, image and likeness investment, along with marketing and player development, the school said Wednesday.

McGrady — who did not play college basketball — will not take a salary in his position under coach Dwan McMillan. McGrady's son, Laymen, is joining the Seahawks after spending last season at Oral Roberts.

McGrady was a seven-time All-Star and two-time NBA scoring champion who now works as a studio analyst for NBC's coverage of the league.

McMillan became the full-time coach last month at Wagner, where two-time national champion Dan Hurley of UConn got his first college head coaching position. McMillan led the Northeast Conference school on an interim basis last season, when the Seahawks went 14-17.

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Funcionarios del Servicio Forestal de Florida informaron la tarde del miércoles que el incendio Max Road Fire, que quemó 11,446 acres en los Everglades, ya está 100% contenido y controlado.

El incendio comenzó el domingo y previamente había sido reportado con un 70% de contención la mañana del martes.

Los bomberos también continúan con operaciones de limpieza en el cercano incendio 172 Avenue Fire, que ha quemado 315 acres y ahora está contenido en un 65%, indicaron las autoridades.

Con las condiciones secas que continúan en el sur de Florida, el Servicio Forestal de Florida exhorta a los residentes a “si ven algo, digan algo” y a evitar quemas al aire libre o desechar cigarrillos de manera descuidada.

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FFS officials said Wednesday afternoon that the Max Road Fire, which burned 11,446 acres in the Everglades, is now 100% contained and controlled.

The fire broke out Sunday and had previously been reported at 70% containment Tuesday morning.

Firefighters also continue “mop-up operations” on the nearby 172 Avenue Fire, which has burned 315 acres and is now 65% contained, officials said.

With dry conditions continuing across South Florida, the Florida Forest Service is encouraging residents to “see something, say something” and avoid outdoor burning or carelessly discarding cigarettes.

Luckily for them, they still have time to wait.

With at least a few more days before the Knicks would start the Eastern Conference finals, they can be patient with Anunoby's recovery from a hamstring injury that forced him to miss the last two games of their second-round sweep of Philadelphia.

Coach Mike Brown said the starting forward did some things, though not when the Knicks went full speed. He said Anunoby looked fine with what he did, though it certainly sounds like there's a gap between what that was and the intensity of an NBA postseason game.

Brown added that he isn't sure when Anunoby can do more — and the Knicks don't even know how soon that would need to be. Game 1 against Detroit or Cleveland could be Sunday, though the series wouldn't begin until next week if those teams, who were tied 2-2 entering Game 5 on Wednesday, go the distance.

“They told me what he could do today. They have not told me what he could do tomorrow, so I don’t know what he’ll be able to do for Game 1,” Brown said.

Anunoby is one of the Knicks' most important players, a top defender whose offensive game has hit its peak during this playoff run. The Knicks were able to win two games without him against a tired Philadelphia team that never recovered after needing seven games to beat Boston in the first round, but it would be difficult to beat the top-seeded Pistons or Cavaliers without him.

Brown isn't thinking that far ahead. The Knicks plan to take Thursday off and practice again Friday, and he said only then will he ask for his next Anunoby update.

“At least for me, I’m taking it one game at a time,” Brown said. “I don’t want to know from medical or anybody else anything beyond that, because when I do that stuff I get my hopes up and I don’t like doing that at all.”

The Knicks have plenty of reason for hope after a dominant run through the first two rounds. They have won seven straight games since falling behind 2-1 against Atlanta in the first round and outscored the Hawks and 76ers by a combined 194 points, the largest margin ever through a team's first 10 postseason games.

They finished off the Hawks on April 30 and were back on the court against the 76ers on May 4. They could be idle more than twice as long this time.

“The first series we had what, four days’ break I think it was? That was good enough,” forward Josh Hart said. “This right now, I think at least a week if not nine days, that’s a long time. So obviously it’s good for recovery, but mentally I’m watching the games, I’m just like just waiting, just waiting to get back out there.”

Brown has some experience. His Cleveland Cavaliers swept the first two series in 2009, then were off more than a week before the opener of an East finals series they lost to Orlando. He replaced an ailing Steve Kerr for most of the 2017 postseason as the Golden State Warriors swept their first three series, leaving them a 10-day gap between the end of the West finals and the start of the NBA Finals.

“I’ve been part of sweeps, I've been part of getting swept and been part of long layoffs and short turnarounds, so you worry about different stuff at different times,” Brown said. “Like, quick turnaround you’re like: ‘Oh my God, we can’t prepare. Oh my god, guys are tired.’ And long layoffs, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, we got too much time, we’re not going to stay sharp.’”

He said the key during long layoffs is to manufacture ways to keep players' minds sharp and the Knicks believe it will work.

“I think we have our plan,” All-Star Jalen Brunson said. “Obviously utilize rest, but then when we’re in the gym we’re doing everything that we need to do to stay in rhythm, stay having the edge that we need to have, focusing on the things that we need to focus on and continuing to prepare.”

___

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

Adebayo se unió al tiktoker Zachery Dereniowski, mejor conocido como MDMotivator, para sorprender a Bianca con un auto nuevo y un año completo de renta pagada.

“Mi mamá, solo éramos ella, mi hermana y yo, y estuvimos sin hogar, así que ahora estoy ayudando a otras personas”, dijo Bianca sobre su trabajo en Camillus House.

Adebayo y Dereniowski la sorprendieron en una parada de autobús, le vendaron los ojos y la guiaron hacia el auto nuevo estacionado, que tenía un gran lazo rojo.

“Esto va a cambiar nuestras vidas para siempre”, dijo Bianca, quien tiene una hija de 5 años.

La fundación BBB de Adebayo se enfoca en ayudar a madres solteras en honor a su madre.

Vea el video de MDMotivator

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PSG needed only a draw to seal a fifth consecutive Ligue 1 crown and is now nine points ahead of Lens with one game left.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored in the 29th minute and Ibrahim Mbaye added the second goal in stoppage time after Lens missed several chances to score at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

“Without a doubt this was difficult, Lens did so well this season,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “I think they deserved more tonight but (goalkeeper Matvei) Safonov was incredible tonight.”

The match was rescheduled from April 11 by the French league to help titleholder PSG’s ambitions in the Champions League. PSG takes on Premier League leader Arsenal in the Champions League final on May 30 in Budapest.

Although the postponement was strongly contested by Lens, coach Pierre Sage’s side had no say in the matter.

Lens also has a final to prepare for — against Nice in the French Cup on May 22 — and Sage left his two best forwards — wingers Florian Thauvin and Allan Saint-Maximin — on the bench against PSG until the hour mark.

Clinical versus wasteful

PSG punished a Lens error when Dembélé intercepted a sloppy pass from defender Malang Sarr and fed Kvaratskhelia, who scored with a clinical finish.

PSG scored in stoppage time through Mbaye, the 18-year-old forward who thumped a pass from Désiré Doué in off the crossbar moments after Lens had fluffed yet another chance.

Lens should already have been level — or even ahead — at the break but striker Wesley Saïd misjudged a close-range header and then shot straight at Safonov in first-half stoppage time.

Safonov kept out another effort from Abdallah Sima early in the second half when the striker went clean through. Sima then hit the post after collecting a superb pass from Thauvin in the 74th.

“I had some luck today," Safonov acknowledged. “If my opponents had put their shots a bit more either side of me it would have been different.”

Saint-Maximin was dangerous when he came on in the second half but wasted several good situations when excessively trying to put himself in the perfect shooting position.

“We created a lot of chances and stopped them playing. My players deserved at least a draw tonight,” Sage said. “Their goalkeeper had a great game but we missed a lot of chances. They had two chances and scored.”

The last team to stop PSG winning the title was Lille in 2021. This season was closer than the last, however, when PSG sealed the title without losing and with six games left.

Strasbourg wins

In the other match, Strasbourg won 2-1 at Brest in a game also rescheduled because of Strasbourg’s involvement in the UEFA Conference League, where it lost to Rayo Vallecano in the semifinals.

Defender Valentin Barco and midfielder Sebastian Nanasi scored for Strasbourg either side of a goal from Brest striker Ludovic Ajorque in a lively opening.

Strasbourg will finish the season in eighth and Brest was 12th heading into the final round of Ligue 1 games on Sunday. ___

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

Macron held talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and later met with African Union Commission Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, and together they discussed inclusive international governance.

The leaders “recognized the need for African representation,” according to a readout shared from the meeting.

Macron, who visited Egypt, Kenya and Ethiopia during his Africa trip, had called for better representation of Africa in international institutions such as the U.N. Security Council.

During his opening remarks at the Africa Forward Summit, co-hosted by France and Kenya and held for the first time in an English-speaking country, Macron recognized the need for permanent seats for Africa on the council.

A peace and security declaration made at the end of the summit also called for “the urgent need for a comprehensive reform of the U.N. Security Council to make it more effective and representative.”

Africa’s quest for permanent seats has always been based on the need to reflect contemporary global realities, with continental bodies criticizing the exclusion of a continent of more than 1.4 billion people from permanent decision making power.

Guterres on Wednesday said that the world would benefit from an inclusive U.N. Security Council.

“A Security Council that today does not represent geographically the realities of the world. We have three European permanent members, one North American and one Asian. No Latin American, no African is obviously a Security Council that has a problem of legitimacy, and that brings with it a problem of effectiveness,” he said.

After the meeting between Macron and Abiy, a new loan funding agreement worth $63.9 million for Ethiopia’s green energy investment and digitalization program was announced.

During the Africa Forward Summit, Macron said that the French government and private sector would mobilize investments worth $27 billion to spur inclusive growth across the continent.

The opening tee shot Thursday at Aronimink will be struck by Braden Shattuck, the PGA director of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, just 10 miles (16 kilometers) down the road.

He is among 20 club professionals in the 156-man field. All of them will be back to their day jobs next week, giving lessons and ordering merchandise, not on to the next PGA Tour stop that pays close to $2 million to the winner.

Young's father was one of those professionals.

Dave Young, recently retired as the golf director at Sleepy Hollow in New York, was never among the club pros who qualified for the PGA Championship. But he worked them as a rules official, and was part of the rules committee at the Masters. He played one PGA Tour event, the 1998 Buick Classic in New York.

“The PGA Championship, for our family, is a great week,” Young, now the No. 3 player in the world, said Wednesday. "My dad was a PGA of America professional forever, kind of embraced the whole package of that. ... Unfortunately, he never qualified for it, but he was a very good player and had a number of chances to throughout his career.

“Yeah, it's a cool one for us just given his connection.”

Mike Thomas also recently retired from Harmony Landing in Louisville, Kentucky. Justin Thomas recalls being in the clubhouse at Valhalla at age 7 — his dad was a PGA officer then — when Tiger Woods won the 2000 PGA Championship. He was in the gallery at Valhalla for the 2008 Ryder Cup, high-fiving Phil Mickelson when the Americans won.

Best of all was winning the PGA Championship in Quail Hollow in 2017 and Southern Hills in 2022. That embrace with his father — his grandfather also was a longtime pro — was special.

“I'm well aware everybody feels like it's the fourth major when it comes to all of them,” Thomas said. “It doesn't to me. I couldn't care more of the two I have. It obviously has special meaning to me. I was lucky to have the access I did. I probably got to see and do things a lot of kids didn't. But it motivated me a lot.”

Even with the 20 professionals, who qualified in the national tournament two weeks ago at Bandon Dunes, the field has 136 touring pros that represent by far the strongest field of the four majors.

The PGA Championship likes to hang its hat on field strength, with 97 of the top 100 in the world. What holds it back is the feeling that it doesn't seem much more than a PGA Tour event on some of the courses where it is played and the score that often wins.

Scottie Scheffler won at 11-under 273 at Quail Hollow last year. Xander Schauffele won at 21-under 263 at Valhalla the year before. Single digits under par won three years in a row before that.

“You don't know what you're going to get,” said Harris English, the runner-up last year. “I've played a handful now. It's more like a glorified PGA Tour event. The setup is nothing crazy."

That will be put to the test at Aronimink Golf Club, which hasn't hosted a major since the 1962 PGA Championship won by Gary Player. A restoration project from roughly a decade ago has added some fairway bunkers and removed a lot of trees, creating a more open feel of the course.

The greens have been the biggest topic this week, renowned for the size of the contours that put a premium on distance control with the irons.

“It's very, very classic Northeast,” Young said. “The grasses are very familiar. The rough is pretty thick, but I feel like it’s a nice combination. The fairways, they’re not super narrow, but they are firm enough that if you hit bad shots that land in the fairway, they can get in the rough.”

Key to the week is the weather. The forecast changed in the PGA's favor, with rain expected only Wednesday night into the early part of the opening round, and mostly dry the rest of the week. The faster a course, the harder it gets to control shots.

That has been Scheffler's domain that has kept him atop the world ranking for three years, helped him to victory last year in the PGA Championship and makes him the betting favorite this week.

Rory McIlroy stepped into a shoe that was a half-size bigger and a little wider and had some cushion around the blister on his right pinky toe. He was all better Wednesday for nine holes of practice and doesn't anticipate any problems the rest of the week.

Young and Thomas played the front nine for their final practice session, and they will be in the same group for the opening two rounds. For a windy afternoon of practice, the sight of them embodied one aspect of the PGA Championship. Their fathers were following along, both golf professionals, both of whom taught their sons the game.

On Thursday, Young and Thomas and the strongest field chase after the Wanamaker Trophy.

___

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

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The Florida Highway Patrol identified the suspects in an arrest report as 25-year-olds Shemar Amory Rattray, of Miami Gardens, and Jerrell Anthony Louis Watson.

The report states that troopers observed a BMW 530i traveling about 100 mph southbound on the Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike near the Southwest 74th Street entrance ramp shortly after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

A trooper later clocked the vehicle at 111 mph during a pace check, authorities said.

When troopers initiated a traffic stop near Mile Marker 27, investigators said the BMW initially pulled onto the shoulder before speeding off as an officer approached.

They said the car fled at speeds exceeding 130 mph, exited near Southwest Eighth Street and struck a guardrail, causing damage and disabling the car.

According to the report, both suspects then fled on foot in different directions. Troopers said one was quickly captured after a short foot chase, while the second was detained shortly afterward.

Investigators said Rattray was identified as the driver after he was found with the BMW’s key fob in his pocket.

Jail records show he was arrested on charges including fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement at high speed, reckless driving, resisting an officer without violence and driving with a suspended license.

Watson was arrested on a charge of resisting an officer without violence, records show.

As of Wednesday afternoon, both men were being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Rattray’s bond was listed as “to be set,” while Watson’s bond was set at $500.

La Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida identificó a los sospechosos en un reporte de arresto como Shemar Amory Rattray y Jerrell Anthony Louis Watson, ambos de 25 años. Rattray es residente de Miami Gardens.

El reporte indica que los agentes observaron un BMW 530i viajando a aproximadamente 100 mph en dirección sur por la extensión Homestead de la autopista Turnpike de Florida cerca de la rampa de entrada de Southwest 74th Street poco después de la 1:30 a.m. del miércoles.

Posteriormente, un agente registró el vehículo a 111 mph durante una verificación de velocidad, indicaron las autoridades.

Cuando los agentes iniciaron una parada de tránsito cerca de la milla 27, los investigadores dijeron que el BMW inicialmente se detuvo en el hombrillo antes de acelerar nuevamente mientras un oficial se acercaba.

Indicaron que el vehículo huyó a velocidades superiores a 130 mph, salió cerca de Southwest Eighth Street y chocó contra una barrera de contención, causando daños e inutilizando el automóvil.

Según el reporte, ambos sospechosos huyeron a pie en diferentes direcciones. Los agentes dijeron que uno fue capturado rápidamente tras una breve persecución a pie, mientras que el segundo fue detenido poco después.

Los investigadores indicaron que Rattray fue identificado como el conductor luego de que le encontraran la llave electrónica del BMW en el bolsillo.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que fue arrestado por cargos que incluyen huir o intentar evadir a las autoridades a alta velocidad, conducción temeraria, resistirse a un oficial sin violencia y conducir con la licencia suspendida.

Watson fue arrestado por un cargo de resistirse a un oficial sin violencia, muestran los registros.

Hasta la tarde del miércoles, ambos hombres permanecían detenidos en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. La fianza de Rattray figuraba como “pendiente por establecer”, mientras que la fianza de Watson fue fijada en $500 USD.

“Es una ficción del tamaño del universo”, dijo Sheinbaum al rechazar la información que difundió The New York Times que refiere que agentes de la CIA apoyaron con información el evento del 28 marzo en el estado de México donde murió un presunto integrante del Cártel de Sinaloa y su chofer tras la explosión del vehículo en el que se trasladaban. Las autoridades estatales informaron el martes que aún están investigando el accidente.

El reporte del diario estadounidense coincidió con la información que difundió también el martes la cadena CNN, que señaló que agentes de la CIA facilitaron esas dos muertes.

Sheinbaum aseguró que el objetivo de esas informaciones es transmitir el mensaje de que “la presidenta no está diciendo la verdad”.

Dos miembros de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia de Estados Unidos (CIA, por sus siglas en inglés) murieron el 19 de abril junto con dos funcionarios de la fiscalía de Chihuahua cuando la camioneta en la que viajaban cayó por un barranco en las montañas que unen Chihuahua —fronteriza con Texas— y el estado de Sinaloa, donde se había desmantelado un laboratorio clandestino de drogas sintéticas.

Tras el accidente el gobierno de Sheinbaum alegó que no había sido informado sobre la presencia en el país de los dos funcionarios estadounidenses fallecidos y aclaró que no estaban autorizados para actuar en territorio mexicano, lo que generó fricciones con la administración de Donald Trump.

El caso también generó tensiones entre el Ejecutivo federal y el gobierno de Chihuahua que dirige la opositora María Eugenia Campos y desencadenó la renuncia del fiscal estatal, César Jáuregui. La Fiscalía General de México anunció el miércoles en un comunicado que abrió una investigación contra la Fiscalía de Chihuahua para determinar si “invadió la competencia federal” y si “ha continuado infringiéndose el diseño constitucional de atribuciones federales” por el operativo que realizó para el desmantelamiento del laboratorio de droga.

La mandataria ratificó en su habitual conferencia matutina que hay grupos “conservadores” en Estados Unidos y México que “quieren que haya una mala relación” entre los dos gobiernos para alentar “la intervención de Estados Unidos en México” y añadió que “lo importante es que nosotros no caigamos en esa trampa”.

Al ser preguntada sobre las afirmaciones que realizó el martes el director de la DEA, Terry Cole, en el Senado estadounidense —donde aseguró que el caso del gobernador del estado de Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, “es sólo el comienzo”— la mandataria insistió en que Estados Unidos tiene que presentar pruebas contra el político oficialista.

“Ellos saben y nosotros sabemos que todo tiene que ser en el marco de respeto de las leyes de ellos y de las leyes de nosotros”, agregó.

Rocha Moya, quien se separó temporalmente de su cargo, fue acusado a fines de abril, junto con otros nueve funcionarios mexicanos, de narcotráfico y tenencia ilícita de armas por la fiscalía de Nueva York.

El gobierno habilitó nueve vuelos con más de 90.000 kilos de carne de res y pollo hasta La Paz, sede del gobierno, y su vecina ciudad de El Alto ante la escasez de estos alimentos básicos de los bolivianos.

“No hay carne y lo poco que hay es caro, y del pollo ni hablemos”, dijo a The Associated Press Elena Quispe, de 45 años, en u,n mercado céntrico. El poco pollo que quedaba valía el doble de su precio normal.

Por la noche, el gobierno dijo en un comunicado que debido a los cortes de vías no se le pudo dar ayuda médica a una mujer de 54 años, oriunda de Belice, quien falleció en la frontera entre Bolivia y Perú. “Grupos agresivos impidieron el auxilio médico oportuno”, señaló.

A nivel nacional existen 60 puntos de bloqueos de los cuales La Paz concentra 47, informó la policía. Las protestas fueron iniciadas por campesinos en contra de una ley que permitía hipotecar las tierras y luego se sumó la Central Obrera de Bolivia (COB) en reclamo de aumentos de salarios, pero en los últimos días ha exigido la renuncia del mandatario ante la falta de respuestas a la crisis.

Los transportistas públicos exigieron por su lado que se garantice la calidad de la gasolina debido a los daños que han sufrido sus vehículos por el combustible de mala calidad.

El presidente boliviano promulgó por la noche una ley que anula otra norma que permitía la hipoteca de tierras, que fue el principal pedido de las movilizaciones. Sin embargo, los maestros públicos —un sector importante de la COB—, se dividieron. Un grupo negociaba con el gobierno un incremento salarial y levantó varios bloqueos, mientras que otro realizaba vigilias cerca de Palacio de Gobierno.

Por la misma razón se han sumado a las protestas campesinos aymaras conocidos como los Ponchos Rojos, quienes bloquean desde hace días carreteras, y el miércoles protagonizaron una masiva marcha en El Alto para exigir también la renuncia del gobernante.

En esa ciudad, varias personas se mezclaron la víspera en una protesta e intentaron realizar saqueos. La policía las dispersó con gases lacrimógenos, según informó el comandante de la fuerza, Mirko Sokol.

La policía logró despejar además con apoyo de pobladores un acceso al norte de La Paz que estaba bloqueado desde la semana pasada.

“Nos estamos dando cuenta que no habían sido los indígenas...son delincuentes bloqueadores profesionales ligados a (el expresidente) Evo Morales y a la organización que él representa en el país”, afirmó el ministro de Gobierno Marco Antonio Oviedo a radio Panamericana.“Este es un bloqueo político...con fines de desestabilización".

El martes un grupo de seguidores de Morales, el líder indígena izquierdista que gobernó entre 2006 y 2019, inició un marcha desde la localidad de Caracollo, a unos 190 kilómetros de La Paz. Se desarrolla después de una segunda orden de detención librada contra el exmandatario por parte de la justicia para que responda sobre un caso de presunto abuso a una menor cuando ejerció el poder.

Paz llamó nuevamente a todos los sectores a dialogar. El mandatario asumió en noviembre pasado tras los gobiernos de Morales y el también izquierdista Luis Arce (2020-2025) en medio de la peor crisis en cuatro décadas.

Los sectores productivos y turísticos reportaron pérdidas millonarias y pidieron una solución pronta a los conflictos.

The “Ocean Dream,” the standout offer at the auction house's Geneva sale of jewelry, was found in Central Africa in the 1990s. The price easily topped the presale estimate to fetch 7-10 million francs (around $9-13 million).

Rahul Kadakia, president of Christie's Asia Pacific, said that an unspecified private client was the buyer, and the stone took about 20 minutes to sell — an indication that interest was high.

The price was more than double that of the roughly $8.5 million that the gem, which was featured among rare colored diamonds at the Smithsonian Splendour of Diamonds Exhibition in 2003, sold for at Christie's in 2014.

“A stellar result worthy of the world’s rarest blue-green diamond,” Tobias Kormind, managing director of online jeweler 77 Diamonds, said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a 6-carat fancy vivid blue diamond at a Geneva auction at Sotheby's didn't sell.

The auction house said that the rare stone unearthed from South Africa’s famed Cullinan mine had come in with a presale estimate of 7.2 million to 9.6 million francs ($9.2 million to $12.3 million).

“Although the diamond didn’t find a buyer during the auction, we are now in conversations with several interested parties and are confident that it will find a new home soon,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.

Both houses say collectors are increasingly drawn to rare, colored diamonds, which make up only a fraction of all the diamonds mined around the world.

Netanyahu met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a gathering that “resulted in a historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates,” according to the statement.

The announcement came just a day after the U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee revealed that Israel had sent Iron Dome air-defense weapons and personnel to operate them to the UAE. The publicly acknowledged deployment of Israel’s military to the Emirates underlined the growing relationship between the two countries.

The UAE, which has not commented on the reported visit by the Israeli leader, has faced Iranian missile and drone fire even after the ceasefire was reached last month. It has been trying to signal to nervous investors that it remains open for business and safe.

Last week, the United Arab Emirates state news agency WAM reported that Netanyahu was among the leaders who called the Emirati president to condemn Iranian attacks and express their solidarity with the Gulf federation.

It was rare public acknowledgment of direct talks between the two countries, which normalized relations in the 2020 Abraham Accords and have strengthened their ties during the Iran war. That agreement was criticized by Iran.

Iran in the past has repeatedly suggested over the years that Israel maintained a military and intelligence presence in the Emirates.

Israeli leaders have made occasional visits to the UAE in recent years after normalizing relations.

Iran demands Kuwait release detainees

Iran’s foreign minister accused Kuwait of attempting to “sow discord” by detaining four Iranians that the Gulf Arab country accuses of being Revolutionary Guard operatives.

In a post Wednesday on X, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi demanded the Iranians’ immediate release and said Iran reserved the right to respond.

“This illegal act took place near an island used by the U.S. to attack Iran,” Araghchi wrote.

A day earlier, Kuwait said four men were detained and two escaped while trying to infiltrate Bubiyan Island in the northwest corner of the Persian Gulf on May 1.

Bubiyan Island is home to Mubarak Al Kabeer Port, which is under construction as part of a Chinese plan to build infrastructure across the world. It also came under Iranian attack during the war.

Iranian human rights lawyer released

Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been released from prison more than a month after being detained, a rights group and her daughter said Wednesday.

Sotoudeh, who is known for defending activists, opposition politicians and women prosecuted for removing their headscarves, was detained by Iranian intelligence agents at her house in Tehran in April.

Her release comes as U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in China for a long-anticipated visit that is expected to touch on the war in Iran.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which closely tracks developments in Iran, said that Sotoudeh was released on bail from Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Her daughter, Mehraveh Khandan, posted on social media that Sotoudeh was released on temporary custody. Iran’s semiofficial ISNA news agency also reported Sotoudeh release.

Sotoudeh has been imprisoned multiple times. Her activist husband, Reza Khandan, has been imprisoned in the same prison as his wife.

Nobel Peace laureate needs long-term care

Doctors who examined Nobel Peace laureate and activist Narges Mohammadi more than a week after she collapsed at a prison in Iran say she needs months of treatment, according to her foundation.

Mohammadi, 53, was urgently transferred from prison to a hospital in northwestern Iran on May 1 after she fell unconscious. She was released on bail nearly 10 days later and transferred to a hospital in Tehran where her specialists examined her.

The doctors said her vascular disease has worsened since she was last checked in 2024 and recommended an eight-month treatment course .

She was awarded the Nobel in 2023 while in prison and has been jailed repeatedly throughout her career. Her latest imprisonment began in December when she was arrested in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.

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Schreck reported from Dubai. Associated Press reporter John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

The league surprised him with the award Wednesday.

Schaefer, the No. 1 pick in the draft, was the Calder front-runner from just about the time he made his debut on opening night at Pittsburgh. He scored 23 goals to tie Brian Leetch’s record for the most by a rookie defenseman and finished with 59 points.

The 18-year-old became the face of the Islanders franchise and helped them make a playoff push before falling short in the final couple of weeks of the regular season. He received all 198 first-place Calder votes.

Montreal’s Ivan Demidov was second and Anaheim’s Bennett Sennecke third in voting by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

___

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

A federal appellate court decided last month to keep open the detention center nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” for the time being, blocking a lower court decision ordering it to wind down operations. But the case was sent back to the lower court judge who now gets jurisdiction over the lawsuit as the litigation over the facility’s fate continues.

“Knowing that the same district judge who previously enjoined the operation would soon reassume oversight -- the defendants are now effectively waving the white flag,” said Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the environmental groups that had sued, saying the facility’s construction hadn’t undergone a required environmental review.

When asked about the future of the state-run facility and its costs on Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he hadn’t gotten any “official word” that federal authorities are going to stop sending detainees to the detention center.

But vendors who supply and help run the facility have been told that the closure could be as soon as next month, according to reports Tuesday by The New York Times and CBS News Miami. The Florida Department of Emergency Management, which operates the detention center, didn’t respond to an emailed inquiry on Wednesday. The Republican governor’s press secretary, Molly Best, referred questions about the facility to the state emergency management agency.

“We didn’t build any permanent facilities down there because we knew it was going to be temporary,” DeSantis said Wednesday at a news conference in Titusville, Florida.

DeSantis’ administration opened the facility last July to support the immigration crackdown by the administration of President Donald Trump, who visited the detention center last summer. An attorney for two detainees has accused guards of severely beating and pepper-spraying detainees. Other detainees have said worms turn up in the food, toilets don’t flush and mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere.

“This monument to cruelty, waste and environmental and tribal lands abuse should have never been built,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida, said Tuesday.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity sued state and federal officials a short time after the facility opened, claiming the remote airstrip site in the Everglades wasn’t given a proper environmental review required by federal law before it was converted into an immigration detention center. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami agreed and ordered in August that the facility must wind down operations within two months.

The appellate court blocked the order, saying the Florida-run facility wasn’t under federal control and didn’t need to comply with federal law requiring an environmental impact review.

But the appellate court made clear that once Florida got federal reimbursement for the facility, it would have to comply with the federal environmental law, Schwiep said.

DeSantis said Tuesday that the state expected to be reimbursed by the federal government for $608 million, which has already been approved by FEMA.

“There’s no negotiations on that,” he said.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social.

The 11 Bahamian survivors were stranded at sea in a life raft for about five hours after the plane crash. The U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard responded.

U.S. Air Force Reserve 920th Rescue Wing personnel found them and rescued them about 80 miles off the Melbourne coastline, and flew them to Melbourne Orlando International Airport.

“For all those people to survive is pretty miraculous,” Maj. Elizabeth Piowaty said during a news conference on Wednesday at Patrick Space Force Base.

The U.S. Coast Guard Southeast District watchstanders coordinated the rescue.

Here is a look at the events leading up to the high court’s ruling:

June 7, 2021: Murdaugh calls police to report his wife Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22, have been fatally shot near a dog kennel on their property.

Sept. 4, 2021: Alex Murdaugh attempts to arrange his own death in a plan to secure his surviving son a $10 million life insurance payment, officials say. The plot fails when the shot by a Murdaugh associate only grazes Murdaugh’s head.

Oct. 14, 2021: Police arrest Murdaugh at a drug rehab facility in Florida on charges he stole insurance settlements totaling more than $4 million intended for the sons of his late housekeeper.

Nov. 17, 2021: Prosecutors reveal 27 new charges against Murdaugh, saying he stole nearly $5 million in settlement money. Prosecutors allege Murdaugh was hiding money from lawyers who sued him over the death of a teenager killed when authorities say an intoxicated Paul Murdaugh wrecked the boat he was driving.

Jan. 18, 2022: Additional indictments mean Murdaugh now faces 71 charges that he stole nearly $8.5 million in wrongful death and wreck settlements from more than a dozen people.

May 4, 2022: Russell Laffitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank before his firing earlier this year, is indicted on charges that he conspired with Murdaugh to defraud victims of $1.8 million.

June 28, 2022: Prosecutors outline an eight-year money laundering and painkiller ring in new indictments.

July 14, 2022: Murdaugh is charged with murder in the deaths of his wife and son. The indictments issued by the grand jury contend Murdaugh killed his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun

Jan. 23, 2023: Murdaugh goes on trial for double-murder in the killings of his wife and son.

Feb. 23, 2023: Murdaugh denies killing them after taking the witness stand at his murder trial. But he admits lying to investigators about when he last saw them alive.

March 2, 2023: A jury convicts Murdaugh on two counts of murder after a six-week trial. The jury deliberated for less than three hours.

March 3, 2023: A judge sentences Murdaugh to life in prison.

Jan. 29, 2024: A South Carolina judge denies Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial after his defense team accused a clerk of court of tampering with a jury.

April 2, 2024: Murdaugh is sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for stealing from clients and his law firm.

Feb. 11, 2026: Murdaugh asks the South Carolina Supreme Court to throw out his murder convictions.

May 13, 2026: The South Carolina Supreme Court overturns Murdaugh's murder convictions and life sentence. In a unanimous ruling, the justices said the conduct by the court clerk “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted. Prosecutors say they plan to retry Murdaugh on murder charges.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against the war for the first time since it began at the end of February. Two other Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky, also voted against the war, as they had done previously.

The war powers legislation ultimately failed to advance 49-50, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to oppose it, yet the close tally reflected growing unease with Trump's war. Several other Republican senators have signaled they want Congress to weigh in on the direction of the conflict.

“There will be a day — and it might be soon, I believe — where this Senate will say to the president, ‘Stop this war,'" Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has spearheaded his party's tactic of forcing repeated votes on the war, said before the vote.

Even if it passes the Senate, a war powers resolution would have a slim chance of passing the House and would also certainly be vetoed by Trump. But Democrats say the votes are about building political pressure on the president either to withdraw from the conflict or seek congressional authorization to wage the war.

Trump officials downplay role for Congress

The White House, meanwhile, has asserted that it does not need congressional authorization for the war and has circumvented legal requirements to gain approval from Congress to continue the military campaign. It claims that it has “terminated” hostilities with Iran because the U.S. has entered a ceasefire.

That posture has created tension between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House because presidents under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 are required to obtain authorization from Congress after 60 days of engaging in a conflict.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers this week that the U.S. could start attacking Iran again without the White House seeking congressional approval. He told Murkowski during a hearing on Tuesday that the Trump administration believes it has “all the authorities necessary.”

Murkowski voiced skepticism about that argument. She pointed to the troops and war ships deployed to the region, saying, “It doesn’t appear that hostilities have ended.”

GOP leaders back the war, but unease grows

Republican leadership has continued to back the war with Iran, arguing that the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz that has blocked most commercial shipping puts more economic pressure on Iran than it does on the U.S.

“Iran’s economy is on life support. Its leadership is eliminated,” said Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Republican in leadership, during a floor speech Wednesday.

He also argued that the Democratic effort on the war is all about undermining Trump. Forcing the issue just as he arrived in China for a summit would “pull out the rug from under him,” Barrasso said.

Still, Republicans are also growing uneasy about the high gas prices, especially as the November elections draw near.

Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, said Wednesday he’d prefer that the two branches of government work out the constitutional issues instead of a congressional war powers vote or a potential challenge in court.

The two sides should sit down together and say “we have shared constitutional responsibilities,” Rounds said.

Democrats plan to keep forcing weekly votes on war powers resolutions and are looking ahead to put limitations on Trump during the debate over annual legislation that authorizes and funds the military.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who sponsored Wednesday's resolution, told reporters that he believes there is an “erosion of support, erosion of enthusiasm, an increase in skepticism” about the war from Republicans.

“Pienso que este acuerdo representa una claudicación de nuestra soberanía nacional, ya que supedita los intereses dominicanos a las prioridades geopolíticas de grandes potencias occidentales y sus aliados estratégicos”, dijo a The Associated Press Manolo Pichardo, expresidente del Parlamento Centroamericano (PARLACEN) y secretario de Relaciones Internacionales del partido político opositor Fuerza del Pueblo.

A Pichardo le pareció arriesgado convertir territorio dominicano en un centro de tránsito para extranjeros o permitir el uso discrecional de bases aéreas a militares de naciones extranjeras e involucrar al país en tensiones globales que no le corresponden.

Mientras que el excanciller dominicano Andrés Navarro cuestionó la aparente falta de transparencia sobre dicho acuerdo suscrito la víspera y llamó al gobierno a publicarlo íntegramente para que el pueblo conozca todo su alcance.

“Lo que se ha publicado no dice prácticamente nada”, dijo Navarro a medios de prensa el martes.

Aunque al informar sobre el acuerdo la cancillería dominicana explicó que es de carácter no vinculante y orientado al ingreso temporal y excepcional a territorio dominicano de un número limitado de nacionales de terceros países, sin antecedentes penales y en condiciones de tránsito, expertos ajenos al gobierno consideran necesario que se publique la totalidad de su alcance.

Navarro se expresó además a favor de que se mantengan y se fortalezcan las relaciones con Estados Unidos respetando los principios de soberanía nacional. “Hay que verificar si eso no viola la soberanía”, añadió.

El gobierno del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump ha alcanzado acuerdos con diversos países, muchos de América Latina y África, para a recibir a inmigrantes.

Esos entendimientos forman parte de una política de represión migratoria para deportar a millones de personas que viven ilegalmente en Estados Unidos. La ley federal permite que los inmigrantes sean enviados a países de los que no son originarios.

En una de las últimas acciones de este tipo, Paraguay recibió en abril a un grupo de 16 inmigrantes de diferentes países.

La cancillería dominicana explicó en un comunicado que la implementación del acuerdo "se realizará conforme al ordenamiento jurídico nacional y a las obligaciones internacionales del país, sin alterar la política migratoria dominicana ni los procedimientos vigentes de control y gestión fronteriza”.

La embajadora de Estados Unidos en la República Dominicana, Leah Campos, acotó por su lado en Instagram que “este memorando de entendimiento a corto plazo permite a Estados Unidos remover y repatriar a ciudadanos de terceros países con mayor rapidez, respetando al mismo tiempo la legislación dominicana, la soberanía del país y los procedimientos fronterizos vigentes”.

En ese marco, destacó que su país colabora con República Dominicana para reforzar la seguridad regional, combatir la delincuencia transnacional y el tráfico de drogas, luchar contra el terrorismo y promover la estabilidad y la prosperidad en la región.

El gobierno dominicano indicó que el memorándum fue firmado en el marco de la cooperación bilateral con Washington y la iniciativa Escudo de las Américas para lograr los mismos objetivos.

La cancillería acotó que “no incluye a nacionales haitianos ni a menores de edad no acompañados”.

En el marco del acuerdo el gobierno dominicano declaró al Cuerpo de la Guardia Revolucionaria Islámica de Irán y de Hezbolá como organizaciones terroristas.

DeSantis dijo que fue aprobado el reembolso federal por el costo del centro de detención de inmigrantes en el Aeropuerto de Entrenamiento y Transición Dade-Collier.

DeSantis indicó que recibir los fondos federales tomará tiempo. El centro de detención abrió el 3 de julio como una red de carpas con aire acondicionado.

“Sabíamos que iba a ser temporal”, dijo DeSantis.

La conferencia de prensa fue para anunciar reducciones en las sobredosis de fentanilo y una solicitud a los legisladores para aprobar el presupuesto de los agentes correccionales y del Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida.

A principios de este mes, durante una conferencia de prensa en Lakeland, DeSantis dijo que la instalación podría comenzar a reducir sus operaciones.

“Si apagamos las luces mañana, podremos decir que cumplió su propósito”, dijo DeSantis.

Vea la conferencia de prensa.

Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths https://t.co/wBxv8TaCC4

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 13, 2026

Reporte relacionado: Muertes por sobredosis en EE.UU. volvieron a disminuir en 2025, pero algunos temen por cambios en políticas y suministro de drogas

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DeSantis said the federal reimbursement for the cost of the immigration detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport was approved.

Receiving the federal funds will take time, DeSantis said. The detention center opened on July 3 as a network of air-conditioned tents.

“We knew it was going to be temporary,” DeSantis said.

The news conference was to announce reductions in fentanyl overdoses and a request to lawmakers to approve the budget for correctional officers and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Earlier this month, during a news conference in Lakeland, DeSantis said the facility may wind down operations.

“If we shut the lights out tomorrow, we will be able to say it served its purpose,” DeSantis said.

Watch the news conference

Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths https://t.co/wBxv8TaCC4

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 13, 2026

Related report: US overdose deaths fell again in 2025, but some worry about policy and drug supply changes

Leer en español

In a statement, Otaola said he “did not obtain the required number of signatures to convene the special election,” so “the recall effort was not successful.”

The petition was approved in January. It required about 66,000 valid Miami-Dade County residents’ signatures by Thursday.

Otaola, who has 728,000 subscribers on YouTube, had criticized Levine Cava as a leftist who had neglected Miami International Airport and Miami Animal Services.

En un comunicado, Otaola dijo que “no obtuvo la cantidad requerida de firmas para convocar la elección especial”, por lo que “el esfuerzo de revocación no tuvo éxito”.

La petición fue aprobada en enero. Requería alrededor de 66,000 firmas válidas de residentes del condado Miami-Dade antes del jueves.

Otaola, quien tiene 728,000 suscriptores en YouTube, había criticado a Levine Cava, calificándola de izquierdista y acusándola de descuidar el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami y Miami Animal Services.

The five-year agreement, ratified on Tuesday, covers nearly 30,000 flight attendants at United. It includes an average 31% pay increase this summer, boarding pay worth an additional 7% to 8% in compensation on average and $741 million in retroactive pay, according to the Association of Flight Attendants.

“The contract will immediately change the lives of United Flight Attendants, especially our thousands of new hires who have been hired since the pandemic,” said Ken Diaz, president of the union’s United chapter. “Our solidarity delivered the goods.”

The union said the deal also secures expanded job security, restrictions on red-eye flying, pay for lengthy delays over 2 1/2 hours, higher retirement contributions, 10 weeks paid parental leave and the elimination of 24-hour on-call reserve schedules.

Both United CEO Scott Kirby and union leaders say the agreement — reached through mediation at the National Mediation Board — sets a new benchmark in the industry.

“The United Airlines Flight Attendant contract now leads the industry in total value for Flight Attendants — and it should,” said Sara Nelson, president of the AFA, which represents more than 55,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines.

In a post shared on LinkedIn, Kirby said United is “lucky to have the best flight attendants in the world to represent our airline!”

“I am very happy that they now have the industry-leading contract that they deserve," he said.

For years, it had been standard across much of the airline industry for flight attendants to go unpaid during boarding, despite flight attendants already assisting passengers, resolving seating and carry-on issues, conducting safety checks and preparing the cabin for departure.

Delta Air Lines became the first U.S. airline to offer boarding pay in 2022, followed by American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.

Last August, Air Canada’s flight attendants put a public spotlight on the issue when about 10,000 of them walked off the job, leading the Canadian airline to cancel more than 3,100 flights. The strike ended days later with a breakthrough deal that included pay for boarding passengers.

Tamarius Blair Davis Jr. disparó y mató a Dustin Wakefield, de 21 años y residente de Castle Rock, Colorado, mientras protegía a su hijo Eli, de 1 año, el 24 de agosto de 2021, mientras estaban sentados afuera de La Cerveceria de Barrio, un restaurante mexicano ubicado en el 1412 de Ocean Drive.

Davis, quien entonces tenía 22 años y era residente de Norcross, Georgia, era un completo desconocido y se creía que estaba bajo una psicosis inducida por hongos alucinógenos en ese momento.

También se declaró culpable el miércoles de cargos por intento de asesinato y abuso infantil en relación con la balacera.

Se espera que el proceso de sentencia de Davis dure entre dos y tres días.

No se ha fijado una fecha para la audiencia de sentencia de Davis; una investigación previa a la sentencia debe realizarse antes del 12 de junio.

Davis podría enfrentar entre 25 años y cadena perpetua en prisión.

CNN reported Tuesday that the CIA facilitated a targeted assassination of a member of the Sinaloa cartel on a highway outside Mexico City, fueling a firestorm in Mexico. The New York Times later reported that Mexican forces carried out the attack and the CIA provided planning and support.

Sheinbaum called the CNN report a “lie.” Asked about the New York Times report during her morning press briefing, she called it “a fiction the size of the universe.”

Liz Lyons, a spokesperson for the CIA, also lambasted the CNN report, posting on X that “this is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk.”

A CNN spokesperson said the CIA had been presented with details of the report prior to publication and had declined to comment. While the network did not directly address Sheinbaum's statements, it said it stands by its reporting.

“After publication, CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons released a statement to CNN saying, ‘This is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk,’ without specifying what aspect of the reporting is false,” the CNN spokesperson said.

The New York Times also stood by its reporting, with Charlie Stadtlander, executive director of media relations and communications, saying in an emailed statement that the publication "remains confident in the accuracy of what we reported.”

While Sheinbaum's mentor and predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, regularly attacked journalists in his morning news briefings, going as far as to dox critical reporters, Sheinbaum has taken a more measured tone in the face of criticism.

But the president has been plagued by scandals involving the United States in recent weeks as she comes under pressure to maintain a strong relationship with Washington in the face of renegotiating a free-trade agreement and threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to take action on cartels.

Sheinbaum has underscored Mexico's sovereignty, a narrative that increasingly has been questioned.

Last month, two CIA agents were killed in a car crash along with local Mexican investigators on their return from an anti-narcotics operation in the northern state of Chihuahua. Sheinbaum said she had no knowledge of the operation, and Mexican and U.S. authorities contradicted themselves for days.

A week later, a New York court charged Sinaloa's governor — a high-ranking member of Sheinbaum's party and ally of López Obrador — with drug trafficking and weapons offenses, accused of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the U.S.

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

——

Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report from New York.

The department imposed the bond requirement last year for countries that it said had high rates of people overstaying their visas and other security issues as part of the Republican administration’s broader crackdown on immigration.

Travelers to the United States from 50 countries are required to pay the new bond, and five of those countries have qualified for the World Cup — Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia.

Citizens from those five countries who have purchased tickets from FIFA are now exempt from the visa bond requirement. World Cup team players, coaches and some staff already had been exempt from the bond requirement as part of the administration’s orders to prioritize the processing of visas for the tournament.

“The United States is excited to organize the biggest and best FIFA World Cup in history," Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar said. “We are waiving visa bonds for qualified fans who bought World Cup tickets" and opted in to the FIFA Pass system that allows expedited visa appointments as of April 15.

In its own statement, FIFA said the announcement shows “our ongoing collaboration with the U.S. government and the White House task force for the FIFA World Cup to deliver a successful, record-breaking and unforgettable global event” and thanked the administration for the partnership.

The waiver is a rare loosening of immigration requirements under the administration and will ease travel burdens for at least some visitors to the U.S. for the World Cup, which begins June 11 and is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The administration has taken dramatic steps to restrict immigration in ways critics say are incongruous with the unifying message a global sporting event such as the World Cup is supposed to project.

For instance, the administration has barred travelers from Iran and Haiti, though World Cup players, coaches and other support personnel are exempt. Travelers from the Ivory Coast and Senegal face partial restrictions under an expanded version of that travel ban, even without the visa bond exemption.

Foreign travelers also had faced potential new requirements to submit their social media histories, although that policy from U.S. Customs and Border Protection had not gone into effect. Also, the administration had deployed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at airports recently when Transportation Security Administration personnel were not being paid during a partial federal shutdown.

Those measures prompted Amnesty International and dozens of U.S. civil and human rights groups to issue a “World Cup travel advisory" that warns travelers about the climate in the U.S.

In a report this month, the main advocacy group for U.S. hotels blamed visa barriers and other geopolitical issues for “significantly suppressing international demand,” leading to hotel bookings for the soccer tournament that are far below what had initially been anticipated.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association said travelers are concerned about potentially lengthy visa wait times and increased fees, along with uncertainty about how they're being processed to enter the U.S.

The bond requirements are part of the administration’s larger effort to clamp down on migrants who travel to the U.S. on temporary visas but then overstay them. Visa applicants from the affected countries are required to pay $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 in bonds, which will be refunded if the traveler complies with the terms of the visa or if the visa application is denied.

As of early April, the number of World Cup fans affected by the bond requirement was believed to be relatively small, perhaps only about 250 people, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. But they said that number was changing rapidly as more people buy tickets and some with tickets opt against traveling.

FIFA had requested the waiver, which had to be approved by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, and was the topic of discussion at multiple meetings at the White House and elsewhere in Washington for several months, the officials said.

Speaking at the end of three days of spring meetings in a posh resort in northeast Florida, Phillips said ACC coaches and athletic directors reached consensus on wanting to double the current College Football Playoff model.

“When you’re leaving national championship-contending teams and schools out of the playoff, you don’t have the right number,” Phillips said. “We lived through it.”

Phillips pointed to unbeaten Florida State getting snubbed from a four-team CFP field in 2023 and Notre Dame getting left out of last year’s 12-team model.

“Notre Dame was a CFP-worthy team this year; they just were,” he said. “The other rationale is there is so much investment going on in the sport of football and in college athletics. … If you’re going to ask presidents and chancellors and boards to continue to invest in their football programs, it’s really important that they have hope, that they have an opportunity at the beginning of the season to get into the playoff.”

Coaches and administrators have clamored for more access to the lucrative and potentially job-saving playoff. They point to having just 12 playoff spots for 138 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, a miniscule percentage compared to many other collegiate sports or major professional leagues.

“The more the merrier,” Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said. “The more opportunities to get teams in and give student-athletes opportunities.”

Phillips also said television partner ESPN “has been pretty clear with all of us that they’d like it to stay at 12, maybe 14, but no higher than 16.”

No matter how much the ACC and other leagues support a 24-team playoff, the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference have exclusive power to determine the CFP's future. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and the SEC's Greg Sankey have the ultimate say on any expansion.

The SEC is pushing to expand to 16 teams, with an emphasis on at-large bids. The Big Ten supports 24 teams and initially wanted multiple automatic qualifiers from each conference.

The playoff expanded from four to 12 teams in 2024, and after decision-makers failed to reach an expansion agreement, the CFP will use the same model for the 2026-27 season. The discussion carries major implications for the college football calendar, including the start and end of the season and the role of money-making conference championship games.

An NCAA committee last month recommended that FBS teams play a 12-game schedule over 14 weeks beginning in 2027 with the season starting on the Thursday of what is now designated Week Zero and ending the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Last week, the American Football Coaches Association proposed changes to the schedule that included eliminating conference championship games, reducing scheduled bye weeks from two to one and reducing the minimum number of days between games to no fewer than six.

Sankey stood firm earlier this week on expanding to a 16-team CFP.

Sankey said all changes in college athletics must come with appropriate research — something he believes the SEC has provided in support of a four-team expansion to 16. To Sankey, moving to 16 teams is an unknown, with one big question being whether an expanded playoff would make up for an SEC title game that generates more than $80 million a year for the powerhouse conference.

The current CFP contract includes a deadline of Dec. 1, 2026, to make any changes for the following season.

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According to an arrest report from the Miami Gardens Police Department, the crime happened at about 9:40 a.m. Monday near Carol City Middle School.

Police said the victim was walking on the sidewalk along Northwest 37^th Avenue and 188^th Street when Carlos Alberto Jean, of Miami, parked his white truck on the swale and then walked toward the victim in a “hasty manner.”

According to the report, Jean told the victim that she was beautiful and that he wanted to “trick her out” and “spoil her.”

After asking the victim her age and whether she had a boyfriend, he asked her, “When do you turn 13?” and then wrote his phone number on her arm, authorities said.

Police said Jean then touched the victim’s vaginal area over her clothing as he returned the pen to her, at which point the victim jumped back and continued to walk toward the school.

According to the report, the girl reported the incident after arriving at school and detectives reviewed the school’s cameras which captured the victim’s interaction with Jean, corroborating her accusations.

Police said the victim identified Jean in a photo lineup and he was taken into custody the following day on charges of lewd & lascivious molestation on a child 12-16 and battery.

Jean provided some kind of admission, which was redacted from the publicly released report, but denied touching the victim’s vagina, according to the report.

A spokesperson for MGPD told Local 10 News that two other girls “in adjacent jurisdictions” have since come forward to report that they were approached by Jean near their schools in the early morning hours.

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

Anyone who believes they or someone they know was victimized by Jean is asked to call Detective Jocelyn Herrera at 305-474-1424 or email jocelyn.herrera@mgpdfl.org. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

And in the league's eyes, that's to be expected.

Mindful of criticism from players and coaches that seems like a constant in any postseason, the NBA's senior vice president of referee development and training freely acknowledges that there is a difference between regular-season basketball and playoff basketball — a point that nobody within the league likely would largue.

But refereeing, Monty McCutchen insists, doesn't fundamentally change at playoff time.

“It would be very difficult on our players, on our coaches, most certainly on our referees, if the intensity of a seven-game series that we see in the playoffs exhibited itself over 82 games," McCutchen said at the NBA draft combine. “NBA playoff basketball is one of the great spectacles of all sport in my opinion. You get the combination of the passion and strength of our players and coaching staffs in tight spaces over seven-game series. And I think that that absolutely makes for a different game.”

Given the stakes of the postseason, it's only natural for every play to come under more scrutiny and for emotions to run hotter.

— San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama was ejected from a playoff game this week for elbowing Minnesota's Naz Reid, a play that led to Spurs coach Mitch Johnson saying his team's 7-foot-4 star is constantly dealing with some sort of physicality that goes over the line and inevitably will force him to react. “At some level, you have to protect yourself,” Johnson said. “Every single play on every single part of the floor, people are trying to impose their physicality on him. I get it. We get it. That’s part of the game."

— Austin Reaves and the Los Angeles Lakers held an impromptu meeting at midcourt with referees after a playoff loss in Oklahoma City to voice concerns.

— Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson pointed out that Cavs star guard Donovan Mitchell wasn't getting to the line very often in Games 1 and 2 of the series with Detroit; Mitchell got there 11 times, total, in those games (both Cleveland losses) and got there 11.5 times on average in the next two games (both Cleveland wins). That, in turn, led to Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff to comment after Game 4.

And those are just some examples.

“Standing up for your team is a job descriptor of an NBA head coach and most certainly I don’t begrudge a head coach the desire to represent for himself, his team, most certainly his players," McCutchen said. "That’s part of the voice of an NBA head coach that I have an understanding of. My job is to take those commentaries and decide or see what is true and what is avocation. And now, even if it is true, it’s very important that I’m not putting my foot on the scale of a series.”

Playoff referees — not all referees get playoff assignments, and the roster of officials gets pared down after each round based on performance — study tape after games, just as they do in the regular season. Every call is evaluated, and McCutchen has said several times in recent years that the league's referee corps is constantly striving to do better.

“We’re not putting our whistles in our pocket,” McCutchen said. “That being said, I think it’s fair to debate, talk about passionately, like many of our fans and people in the media do, about whether that’s the appropriate enough of whistles to blow. But we are trying to meet the moments of the passion of the playoffs in a way that upholds our standards.”

That tends to come with more calls. The NBA is seeing an increase in foul calls from the regular season to the playoffs for the 66th time in its 80-year history. This season is seeing a differential of higher than 10% in that regard for only the sixth time in the last 60 years. (The five biggest increases in that differential, ranging from 13% to 17%, all took place between 1949 and 1955.)

McCutchen looks at the playoffs this way: Aggression is good, rough is not.

“We don’t like to see ejections," McCutchen said. "Our goal would be to get through all these games where we meet this right up to the edge of rough and you have this really aggressive, passionate game that is adjudicated and an environment is created in which that environment of aggressiveness is rewarded — because we have the best players in any sport, in my opinion — but that it doesn’t creep over to rough. That’s the goal.”

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

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court targets the Memphis Safe Task Force, comprising agents from 13 federal agencies that President Donald Trump ordered to the city to fight crime alongside Tennessee State Troopers and the Tennessee National Guard.

Since late September, hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel tied to the task force have made traffic stops, served warrants and searched for fugitives in the majority Black city of about 610,000 people. The lawsuit says the task force has conducted over 120,000 traffic stops.

"In the professed name of crime control, Task Force agents have stopped, menaced, and arrested Memphians engaging in routine, day-to-day activities,” the lawsuit states. “In response, Memphians encountering Task Force agents in public, including Plaintiffs, have stopped to gather information about and record Task Force activities.”

The U.S. Department of Justice released a statement on Wednesday in response to the lawsuit.

“In eight months, the Memphis Safe Task Force has made over 9,000 arrests, including 951 known gang members, and located 150 missing children, drastically increasing public safety in the Memphis community. The Department will not tolerate any action that puts our law enforcement officers at risk. We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and remain committed to fair, impartial, and professional law enforcement practices to keep Memphians and the American people safe.”

Hunter Demster, a Memphis resident and plaintiff, says he regularly sees the task force stopping cars in his neighborhood, which has a large Hispanic population. In one interaction, he was surrounded by task force agents after he filmed a traffic stop and told the people in the car that they had a right not to speak to police.

“It is a terrifying feeling," Demster said. “I did nothing illegal. I used my First Amendment protected rights to hold up a phone and say some ‘know your rights’ information.”

Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberty Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said the Tennessee law is written so broadly that officers have wide discretion to invoke it against observers even when the observers are not impeding their actions.

“When observers go to the scene of task force activity and they are observing, they’re gathering information," Kim said. “They are picking up their phones and cameras and documenting what’s happening. That’s all core protected First Amendment activity. And it’s not a basis for the government to essentially react in the way that they’re reacting.”

Federal officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, have visited Memphis to praise the task force. Miller in October predicted the surge in law enforcement would make the city “safer than any of you could ever possibly imagine” and that “businesses and investment are going to pour in, and Memphis will be richer than ever before.”

The task force is part of a larger effort by Trump to use National Guard troops and surge federal law enforcement in cities, particularly ones controlled by Democrats. Following troop deployments in the District of Columbia and Los Angeles, he referred to Portland, Oregon, as “war-ravaged” and threatened apocalyptic force in Chicago. Speaking last year to U.S. military leaders in Virginia, Trump proposed using cities as training grounds for the armed forces.

The lawsuit accuses task force agents of systematically retaliating against the four plaintiffs and other members of the public engaged in similar observations. It claims the threats and harassment are the “direct result of federal policy” that views observing federal agents performing their duties in public as a threat of harm to those agents. The lawsuit also claims that federal and state officials have failed to train their agents not to retaliate against citizens engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that retaliation against the plaintiffs for observing and recording law enforcement activity is unconstitutional and to prohibit the agents from further retaliation. It also targets a Tennessee law that requires observers to stand at least 25 feet (7.6 meters) away from law enforcement officers, if they are warned to do so, or face arrest. The suit asks the court to declare unconstitutional the use of the “Halo Law” against defendants who are not interfering with agents or impeding their duties.

This series, which started streaming Wednesday and is based on a collection of romance books written by Elle Kennedy, follows the steamy love lives of members of a college hockey team. Like a different romance series, Netflix's “Bridgerton,” each season will focus on a different couple’s story.

We begin “Off Campus” with the story of team captain Garrett Graham and Hannah Wells, played by Belmont Cameli and Ella Bright. After an embarrassing encounter — Wells, working as a janitor, stumbles upon Graham naked in the locker room — the two make an arrangement. They will pretend to date, to make the guy Wells is really interested in jealous, and in turn she will tutor Graham in a class he's having trouble with. Their deal soon leads to something more.

Room for more than one ‘hockey show’ on TV

“Off Campus” began production about a year ago, before “Heated Rivalry” — the phenomenon about gay pro hockey players, adapted from Rachel Reid's books — made its HBO debut. There will inevitably be comparisons between the two shows. But the actors in “Off Campus” say there is room for more than one hockey series.

“There’s new shows and movies about American football all the time. Nobody’s like, Oh great, here comes another ‘Remember the Titans,’” Cameli said. “‘Heated Rivalry’ had a ton of success and it deserved it and those guys are great. I’m thrilled for them.”

“Off Campus” creator and showrunner Louisa Levy is impressed that “Heated Rivalry” is breaking barriers with its storytelling.

“Not only is it another hockey show, it’s a queer hockey show, which is amazing. And it’s also very different from our show,” Levy said. “Our show is in college. Our show follows a group of friends. It’s a different kind of romance.”

The success of the Canadian-made “Heated Rivalry” is also a source of pride for another “Off Campus” actor, Stephen Kalyn.

“Seeing another Canadian creator make such a very popular and hit show, it’s really inspiring, honestly,” said Kalyn, who plays Dean Di Laurentis. “I’m just proud. I’m a proud Canadian.”

Honing their hockey skills

“Off Campus” mostly follows its hockey players' lives off the ice. Still, they wanted to make the action look realistic.

“We did ask all the guys to put themselves on tape skating to make sure that they could at least stand on ice before we shot, because it is important. We want it to feel organic,” Levy said. “There are certain things that you can cut around and certain things that are a little bit harder.”

Before filming, the actors were put through a two-week hockey boot camp to get comfortable on skates and the ice. A former hockey pro, Dave Tomlinson, was brought in to help them learn the basics.

“We did a lot of the close-ups as we’re skating,” said Jalen Thomas Brooks, who plays John Tucker. “There’s no like, pretending to skate. We’re all on skates moving, actually striding. But when it comes to the big, big sequences, those are sometimes stunt doubles.”

Kalyn has actual hockey experience and could perform more of his own moves on camera.

“I grew up playing hockey my whole life, so it’s such a treat to be able to play hockey and act — the two things that I love,” Kalyn said.

Next up on the ice

Season 2 of “Off Campus” begins filming very soon, and will star Cipriano. A video of him surprising India Fowler with the news that she got the part of his love interest, Grace Ivers, was recently released online.

While Cipriano is “excited for Logan to meet Grace at some point,” he's focused on celebrating the release of Season 1.

“We don’t need to think about the future right now,” he said.

Cameli is looking forward to his co-stars getting their own major storylines.

“They’re all really prepared for whenever their turn is up next,” Cameli said. “I love these guys. I mean, they’re are all like so talented and skilled and sweet, and they are just really great people. You know, do they ask me for advice all the time about everything? Yes. Am I giving them brilliant nuggets constantly? Absolutely.”

Unlike “Bridgerton,” where the couple du jour only pops up here and there on the show after their season has played out, Cameli and Bright say they're sticking around.

“We're not going anywhere,” promised Bright. “I’m just excited to see Hannah and Garrett in their relationship and what challenges that they might overcome being together.”

A decade of conflict between the world's two biggest economies has left U.S.-China trade greatly reduced from the boom times of the 2000s and 2010s, forcing companies to regroup. Many American firms have shifted production out of China to countries like Vietnam and India. And Chinese firms have scrambled to find new customers in Europe and Southeast Asia.

But the two countries are finding that they still need each other. "The idea of somehow China being totally independent of us and us being totally independent of China, I think, is a fiction,'' said financier Wilbur Ross, who served as U.S. Commerce secretary in Trump's first term.

This week's summit is primarily about keeping the economic relationship stable, with only modest policy announcements expected. A trade truce reached last October likely will be extended, while China may announce plans to buy American soybeans, beef and Boeing airplanes. U.S. officials also have teased the creation of a Board of Trade.

Watching closely will be American farmers who were shut out of the Chinese soybean market for most of 2025, as well as U.S. manufacturers who lost access to China’s rare earth minerals they need to make everything from smartphones to fighter jets.

In China, manufacturer Michael Lu is hoping the Xi-Trump summit will herald more positive signs. Chances of U.S.-China commerce going back to the roaring trade of 15 years ago may be slim, but factory owners in China are expecting for at least some improvements. “The U.S. used to be a more stable market,’’ said Lu, founder and CEO of gift box producer Brothersbox in the southern city of Dongguan.

A freefall in U.S.-China trade

Before Trump began slapping taxes on Chinese imports in 2018, the average U.S. tariff on China stood at 3.1%. Now, even after coming down from the triple-digit levels they briefly hit last year, they are still at almost 48%, according Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

In 2016, the United States did more business with China than any other country. Trade between the two countries — exports plus imports — accounted for more than 13% of America’s trade with the rest of the world. By last year, China’s share had been halved to 6.4%. Mexico and Canada had leapfrogged China to become the top two U.S. trading partners.

The problem with the pre-Trump U.S.-China trade boom was that it was so lopsided. China sold far more to the United States than it bought. The U.S. deficit in the trade of goods and services with China peaked at $377 billion in 2018. Last year, it was down to $168 billion, the lowest since 2004.

Still, China has exported so much to other markets — Southeast Asia and Europe, in particular — that it recorded a record global trade surplus of $1.2 trillion last year.

Chinese companies find workarounds

The American government’s statistics probably overstate the drop in U.S.-China trade. Many Chinese companies have relocated to Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand and now send their stuff onto the United States, dodging U.S. tariffs. The Trump administration wants to crack down on these “transshipments.’’

As China sent fewer goods to the United States last year, goods imports from Southeast Asia surged — up 42% from Vietnam, 44% from Thailand, 24% from Indonesia.

“It would be wrong to think that China is no longer relevant for the U.S. market,’’ said Zongyuan Zoe Liu, senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Chinese goods are still coming into the U.S.’’

Velong Enterprises, which was founded in China’s southern Guangdong province in 2002 and makes kitchen gadgets and grilling tools for Walmart and other U.S. retailers, diversified its supply chain in the years since Trump’s first term in the White House in order to serve U.S. customers, including by adding production capacity in Cambodia and India.

“Most serious manufacturers did not simply ‘leave China,’” said Velong CEO and founder Jacob Rothman. “Instead, they built multi-country supply chains around China.”

Contending with erratic tariffs

The trade war with China has taken a toll on Appu Jacob Varghese, who owns Zion Foodtrucks, a small food truck manufacturer outside Colorado Springs that imports Chinese equipment for its trucks.

“Last year,’’ Varghese said, “a lot of my hair turned white.’’

What tormented Varghese was the erratic way Trump imposed his taxes on Chinese imports. They changed unpredictably from week to week – and briefly shot up to a terrifying 145%. Zion Foodtrucks relied on Chinese suppliers for the cooking and fire-suppression equipment that goes into its $50,000 to $60,000 food trucks.

Zion’s customers typically signed a fixed-price contract and took delivery of a brand-new food truck six weeks later. Trump’s fluctuating tariffs meant the Varghese’s costs were bouncing around wildly – but his contracts kept him from raising prices.

He managed to get through the year but he knew he needed to find suppliers outside China. These days, he gets about half his cooking equipment from Vietnam and Thailand, and the fire-fighting gear comes from U.S. and Israeli suppliers.

He speaks highly of his Chinese suppliers but doesn’t expect to ever rely so heavily on them again. Given the testy relations between Washington and Beijing, he said, “it’s too risky.’’

Shifting away from China

A lot of U.S. companies are pulling back from China. Apple has moved some of its production of its iPhones to India. Nike has stepped up production in Vietnam.

“Trade tensions can flare up quite quickly, and that makes the U.S. firms hesitant to rely too heavily on Chinese supply,” said Sarah Tan, a Singapore-based economist at Moody’s Analytics whose focus includes China.

InStyler, a hair appliances company outside Los Angeles that once relied entirely on Chinese suppliers, is shifting some production to South Korea and France and is eyeing Italy, Vietnam and Mexico. CEO Dan Fugardi said trade tensions aren’t behind the moves; InStyler is rolling out some more high-end products for luxury hotel clients, and “there’s a little bit of panache that goes with manufacturing in France.’’

Still, reducing reliance on China, he said, “doubles as an insurance plan so that we’re not caught with our pants down."

Tit-for-tat

The trade skirmishing between Beijing and Washington has extended beyond traditional tariffs and counter tariffs.

The United States has blocked shipments of the most advanced computer chips to China, and the Chinese have blasted back by periodically cutting off supplies of rare earth minerals crucial for electronics.

Last year, the Chinese limited exports of tungsten – a super strong metal used in defense, aerospace and medical device production – because it can be used by the military as well as by private industry. China controls about 80% of the world’s tungsten.

China also stopped buying U.S. soybeans, delivering a well-aimed blow at Trump’s supporters in rural America. After U.S.-China talks in October, the Chinese resumed the purchases. But U.S. soybean exports to China nonetheless dropped 75% in 2025.

The tit-for-tat moves showed just how much damage the United States and China can do to each other. Now there’s hope that Trump and Xi can lower the temperature this week in Beijing.

“We are the No. 1 trading player. They are next in line,’’ said former Commerce Secretary Ross. “We have to coexist in some way. The question is, what will be the rules of the road, and who will benefit the most from those rules.″

____

Chan reported from Hong Kong.

The Palestinian Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent identified the man as Zakaria Qatusa, 44, from the town of Deir Qadis, about 20 kilometers (13 miles) northwest of the site of the shooting Tuesday evening in the West Bank town of Al-Ram, which abuts the wall.

Israeli police didn't immediately respond to queries about the shooting. The funeral for the man was held on Wednesday.

Khalid Qatusa, his brother, said that he was a father of four who was crossing the wall in order to work in Israel.

“He was forced to resort to this method as there was no other opportunity to meet the needs of his household and live a dignified life. This was the only way,” he said. “He was neither an aggressor nor a threat.”

An increasing number of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank have attempted to enter Israel illegally to work in recent years. Before the Israel-Hamas war, tens of thousands of Palestinians held permits to work in Israel, but access was sharply restricted after the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Since then, unemployment has surged amid a deep economic slowdown and a shortage of jobs in the occupied West Bank. Other shootings have taken place at the same location separating the West Bank town of Al-Ram from Beit Hanina, an east Jerusalem neighborhood.

Also on Wednesday, a Palestinian teenager was killed in a clash with Israeli settlers in the northern West Bank village of Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry identified the victim as 16-year-old Youssef Kaabneh.

The Israeli military said soldiers and police officers entered the area in response to reports that livestock from an Israeli outpost was stolen. They said they worked to disperse a violent riot and were investigating the incident.

Family members said settlers and Israeli soldiers descended on the Bedouin community and that Kaabneh was shot during a confrontation involving a sheep herd. As Israeli settlers expand their presence and outposts, livestock theft has been a major source of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians this year.

“Our lives have become a living hell. Settlers can now enter any house or farm and confiscate whatever they want, as if we are spoils of war,” said Ismail Owais, a 60-year-old resident of the village.

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli forces or settlers killed at least 47 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this year as of May 11. Several, like Kaabneh, have been teenagers.

Kemp signed the bill privately Tuesday, the final day after Georgia's 2026 legislative session for the governor to sign or veto bills.

Republicans have repeatedly targeted Willis because of her prosecution of Republican President Donald Trump after he pushed to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in Georgia in 2020.

Willis and DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said the bill violates the Georgia Constitution and promised a lawsuit.

“This is a blatant attempt by Republicans to give their candidates an edge in Democratic counties by hiding their party affiliation from voters,” the two Democrats said in a statement Tuesday.

State Sen. John Albers, a Republican from the Atlanta suburb of Roswell who pushed the bill, said during the legislative session that he believed it will promote public safety. The counties’ elected sheriffs will continue to be elected under party labels when it goes into effect in 2028.

The move comes as Democrats have steadily been wiping out Republican officials in the core Atlanta counties of swing-state Georgia. It will move elections for all affected officials except district attorneys to May, when voters choose nonpartisan judges. That means a smaller electorate than in November, with turnout mostly driven by primaries for partisan offices that are held at the same time. If no candidate wins a majority, nonpartisan runoffs would be held in June.

The measure applies in Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, as well as the suburbs of Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties are the three most important Democratic jurisdictions in the state. Cobb and Gwinnett, once the suburban heartlands of Georgia Republicans, have increasingly voted for Democrats since 2016.

Democrats have said Republicans are trying to make it so GOP members running without party labels have a better chance to win in Democratic jurisdictions. Critics say that if it's such good policy for urban Atlanta then it should apply to all 159 of Georgia's counties.

Willis and Boston suggested Republicans were also targeting the counties because each has elected a Black woman as district attorney.

Republicans have passed multiple bills in recent years targeting district attorneys, particularly Willis. The association representing district attorneys has argued the law can't change the partisan status of district attorneys because they aren't county officers, but instead state judicial branch officers.

The association argued that a state constitutional amendment is needed instead. Democrats could block such a change because it requires a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly to propose such a measure to go before Georgia voters.

The school said in a statement early Sunday that Hardy, a Doak Walker Award finalist for the Tigers, had been shot and was in stable condition. Police later said Hardy was shot in the upper leg while attending an outdoor concert at a bike club in Laurel, about 90 minutes away from where he grew up in the small town of Oma, Mississippi.

Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz said during an event in Dallas late Tuesday that the timetable for Hardy's recovery is undetermined.

“We'll take it day by day,” Drinkwitz said. “He will be back healthy. You know, when you're dealing with elite athletes, right, getting back healthy and getting back to elite status is a little tricky in these situations. There is an opportunity he could be back this year; there is an opportunity he couldn't be back this year.

“We won't know those answers for a few weeks,” Drinkwitz added.

Laurel police Sgt. Macon Davis told the Laurel (Mississippi) Leader-Call three people of interest were in custody following the incident. Davis described the scene as a “melee,” saying at least two people were injured and it was a miracle others were not.

The 20-year-old Hardy began his career at Louisiana-Monroe, where he ran for more than 1,300 yards with 13 touchdowns during his freshman season. He transferred to Missouri before last season and ran for 1,649 yards — second among players in the Football Bowl Subdivision — and scored 16 touchdowns in helping the Tigers go 8-5 with a loss to Virginia in the Gator Bowl.

His best game came against Mississippi State last November, when he ran 25 times for 300 yards and three touchdowns, joining Devin West as the only players in school history with a 300-yard rushing game. Hardy also ran for 250 yards in a game against Louisiana.

Several mock drafts already list the 5-foot-10, 205-pound Hardy as the No. 1 running back available next April.

“He has the full support of our team to help him in his recovery,” Drinkwitz said, “and we're taking it day by day.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

The American pair were among the entrants confirmed on Wednesday by organizers for the clay-court tournament at Roland-Garros, which begins on May 24 in western Paris.

The 45-year-old Williams will not play in the women's singles.

Williams was a wild-card entry at the Australian Open, where she lost in the first round and became the oldest woman to compete in an Australian Open singles main draw.

A seven-time major winner in singles, Williams previously held the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles.

Williams lost the French Open singles final to her younger sister Serena in 2002 and they twice won the French Open doubles together, in 1999 and 2010.

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

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The school resource officer reported finding a student with a box cutter at the school at 7600 Tam Oshanter Boulevard, according to a spokesperson for BCPS.

During the investigation, the school was on the “secure status” safety protocol with students locked in their classrooms, and later returned to normal operations, according to the BCPS spokesperson.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos and Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.

Location

El agente escolar reportó haber encontrado a un estudiante con un cúter en la escuela ubicada en el 7600 de Tam Oshanter Boulevard, según una portavoz de BCPS.

Durante la investigación, la escuela estuvo bajo el protocolo de seguridad “secure status”, con los estudiantes encerrados en sus salones de clase, y posteriormente regresó a operaciones normales, según la portavoz de BCPS.

La editora de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Mercedes Cevallos, y la editora senior de asignaciones, Frine Gomez, contribuyeron a este reporte.

Ubicación

Los agentes se enfocaban en una vivienda en el área de Northeast First Court y 76th Street.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward (BSO), la BSO y el Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale realizaban una investigación criminal conjunta en el área.

No está claro qué buscaban los oficiales, pero sí requirió excavaciones.

Las autoridades fueron vistas literalmente desenterrando montículos de tierra y aparentemente revisándolos.

Debido a que la investigación sigue activa y en curso, funcionarios de la BSO dijeron que no podían proporcionar información adicional.

Las autoridades se retiraron del área alrededor de las 8 p.m.

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Officers with the Plantation Police Department said Kayla Anthonique Simpson was last seen on May 6 at Plantation High School, located at 6901 NW 16th St.

Police said Simpson is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 110 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes.

She was last seen wearing a white long-sleeve top, a gray shirt and black slides with a large colorful bow in her hair, according to police. She was carrying a black backpack and a small black purse.

Police said Simpson has a “blessed” tattoo on her right ring finger and a nose piercing.

Anyone with information is asked to call the PPD at 954-797-2100.

Agentes del Departamento de Policía de Plantation informaron que Kayla Anthonique Simpson fue vista por última vez el 6 de mayo en Plantation High School, ubicada en el 6901 de Northwest 16th St.

La policía indicó que Simpson mide 5 pies y 4 pulgadas y pesa aproximadamente 110 libras. Tiene cabello negro y ojos marrones.

Según la policía, fue vista por última vez usando una blusa blanca de manga larga, una camisa gris y sandalias negras con un gran lazo colorido en el cabello. Llevaba una mochila negra y un pequeño bolso negro.

La policía indicó que Simpson tiene un tatuaje que dice “blessed” en el dedo anular derecho y un piercing en la nariz.

Cualquier persona con información debe llamar al PPD al 954-797-2100.

Weinstein, 74, has myriad health problems, including cancer and a history of heart trouble, and he uses a wheelchair. He has been behind bars since 2020 and told a court in January that his “health is deteriorating” in New York's infamously troubled Rikers Island jail.

The ex-producer wasn’t in the courtroom, but rather was waiting elsewhere in the courthouse, when defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said around 3 p.m. that court officers had told him that Weinstein was having chest pains.

Jurors weren't in the room at the time. They were about four hours into their closed-door discussions, and they had just sent a note asking to rehear part of accuser Jessica Mann ’s testimony — a brief portion in which she said she was “spacing out” during cross-examination — and to review a lengthy prosecution timeline of emails and other evidence.

Judge Curtis Farber ultimately told jurors only that there were “unforeseen reasons” for sending them home a bit earlier than planned. Prosecutors and Weinstein’s lawyers had left the courtroom so jurors would be less likely to speculate about Weinstein’s absence.

“He wants to be here, but he’s having chest pains,” Agnifilo told the judge before ducking out of the courtroom.

Jurors are due to get the requested information and resume deliberations Thursday.

Weinstein has had health problems at court before. When he was sent to jail for the first time in 2020, he was taken from the courthouse in an ambulance to be checked out at a hospital for heart palpitations and high blood pressure. In 2024, he was rushed from Rikers to a hospital and had emergency surgery to remove fluid on his heart and lungs.

Mann, 40, has testified that she and Weinstein had a consensual relationship, but that he subjected her to unwanted sex in a Manhattan hotel room in March 2013 after she repeatedly said no. Lawyers for Weinstein have maintained that the encounter was consensual, and they have emphasized that Mann continued seeing Weinstein afterward and expressing warmth toward him. Mann has said she was mired in complicated feelings about him, herself and what had happened, and was “normalizing everything.”

Her viewpoint changed in 2017, when a series of sexual misconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning Weinstein propelled the #MeToo campaign to hold people — especially powerful men — accountable for sexual misbehavior. Weinstein has said he “acted wrongly” but never assaulted anyone.

Some of those accusations later generated criminal convictions against Weinstein in New York and California.

An appeals court overturned his 2020 New York conviction on charges that involved Mann and another accuser. At a retrial last year, jurors failed to reach a verdict on Mann's portion of the case, leading to a second retrial this year. He is charged with one count of rape in the third degree.

The current jury heard nearly three weeks of testimony, five days of it from Mann. Weinstein decided not to testify.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted. Mann, however, has agreed to be named.

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An earlier version of this story erroneously suggested that Weinstein left the courtroom after experiencing chest pains. Weinstein was not in court at the time.

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Deputies identified one of the women as Ariadnis Mejias and the man as Luis Sanchez after thefts from a password-protected package room at Motion at Dadeland at 8400 South Dixie Highway, records show.

Surveillance video showed the duo stealing at least six packages on March 18, Mejias stealing three packages on March 22, and Mejias and a woman stealing two packages on March 31, according to a deputy’s report.

Among the stolen mail was a credit card that surveillance video shows Mejias and Sanchez later used to buy some $444 in merchandise at Macy’s, according to the arrest report.

Mejias surrendered to deputies on Tuesday at the Kendall District Station, and corrections booked her at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Mejias faced three counts of burglary of an occupied structure and fraudulent use of a credit card. She also had seven warrant cases while out on felony bond for burglary and petit theft.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Los agentes identificaron a una de las mujeres como Ariadnis Mejias y al hombre como Luis Sánchez tras los robos en una sala de paquetes protegida con contraseña en Motion at Dadeland, ubicado en el 8400 de South Dixie Highway, muestran los registros.

Videos de vigilancia mostraron al dúo robando al menos seis paquetes el 18 de marzo, a Mejias robando tres paquetes el 22 de marzo y a Mejias junto a otra mujer robando dos paquetes el 31 de marzo, según un informe de un agente.

Entre la correspondencia robada había una tarjeta de crédito que, según los videos de vigilancia, Mejias y Sánchez usaron posteriormente para comprar aproximadamente $444 USD en mercancía en Macy’s, de acuerdo con el reporte de arresto.

Mejias se entregó a los agentes el martes en la estación del distrito Kendall, y funcionarios correccionales la ingresaron en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Mejias enfrenta tres cargos de robo a una estructura ocupada y uso fraudulento de una tarjeta de crédito. También tenía siete casos con orden de arresto mientras estaba libre bajo fianza por delitos graves de robo y hurto menor.

El editor de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Carson Merlo, contribuyó a este reporte.

There was no Senate-confirmed U.S. surgeon general. The head of the National Institutes of Health was doubling as the acting head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Food and Drug Administration lacked a permanent vaccine chief after that official was ousted for a second time in a year.

Then on Tuesday Dr. Marty Makary resigned as head of the FDA, leaving another major health agency with only an acting commissioner. Makary's departure widens a leadership gap that has plagued HHS throughout Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure.

Across a vast and multilayered government, in which many leadership positions must be confirmed by a Senate that shares only a narrow partisan majority with the administration, it’s typical for some roles to remain unfilled or be occupied by interim leaders. But critics say the level of upheaval in the current HHS is unusual and the lack of scientific expertise among its leadership is concerning.

“It's a sign that something is not right in this department,” said Dr. Daniel Jernigan, a former senior employee at the CDC.

Critics say the problem has only been compounded by a raft of cuts and firings and by the broader disruption brought by Kennedy's health policies.

HHS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said most Americans don’t pay attention to these agencies’ leaders until a public health concern arises — like with the hantavirus outbreak. At moments like this, she said, there are opportunities to build public trust in federal health agencies, which has fallen in recent years.

“The key question for me is, when we need these agencies to speak, will they have the capacity to draw the science together and tell us what we need to know?” Jamieson said.

FDA’s leadership void happens as it faces ongoing challenges

At the FDA, Makary leaves behind unfinished initiatives and ongoing reviews under scrutiny, including work on ultra-processed foods, food dyes, antidepressants and COVID-19 shots.

Whoever steps into the role on a permanent basis will inherit the same challenge that dogged Makary’s tenure: balancing the anti-regulatory interests of traditional Republicans with the anti-corporate priorities of Kennedy, who is focused on scrutinizing ingredients in food, medicines and vaccines.

The FDA is developing a first-of-its-kind definition of “ultra-processed foods,” which Kennedy blames for elevated rates of diabetes, obesity and other chronic conditions among Americans. That task has fallen to the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods, Kyle Diamantas, who recently described the effort on ultra-processed foods as “really hard,” at a health conference.

Diamantas was tapped by Trump to lead the FDA on an acting basis. He is also serving as a chief counselor to Kennedy. An attorney and friend of Donald Trump Jr, he is the first person in more than a half-century to head the FDA without a degree in medicine or science.

“Kyle Diamantas now has a nearly impossible charge,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, a former FDA official now at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “Leading, as a non-scientist, a science-based agency under an unqualified secretary who puts his own medical and nutritional pet peeves over evidence-based public health.”

CDC has cycled through a revolving door of short-term directors

The Trump administration’s first pick to run the CDC was former Florida Rep. Dr. David Weldon, but his March 2025 Senate confirmation hearing was canceled an hour before it was to begin. Weldon said at the time that he’d been told not enough senators were willing to vote for him.

The White House then moved on to Susan Monarez, who was confirmed by the Senate, but she was ousted in less than a month over disagreements on the administration's agenda. Several key CDC scientific leaders resigned in protest, saying Monarez’s dismissal dashed their hopes that a CDC director would be able to guard against political meddling in the agency’s scientific research and health recommendations.

Since then, multiple HHS officials have been acting director. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya has been overseeing the CDC since February. Last month, Trump nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general, to be the next CDC director, a choice the Senate must confirm.

Current and former CDC employees say that there’s been a void in experienced public health leadership at the agency and that Kennedy’s aides have slowed and sometimes choked off its ability to communicate with the public and do the full scope of science-based work it was doing in the past.

HHS officials have said that the CDC’s critical public health functions have remained “intact and effective” and that changes at the agency have been part of an effort “to restore credibility through transparency, gold standard science, and accountability.”

Jernigan, who last August resigned from a senior role at the CDC that has yet to be filled by a permanent replacement, said the leadership shuffle means there hasn't been a “strong, present CDC director” in place to campaign for important agency funding, hiring or retention of skilled scientists.

As the current hantavirus outbreak unfolded, the CDC deployed teams to evacuate and quarantine Americans who may have been exposed, health officials briefed reporters and Bhattacharya went on a Fox News program to urge Americans not to worry. But he got some details wrong and overstated what was known at the time about the outbreak. Jernigan urged the CDC to let more career scientists speak to the public.

“That will do more for trust and for calming the nerves of the U.S. right now,” he said.

Changes come as the White House and HHS have shifted messaging

Leadership shake-ups come as HHS and the White House have shifted their focus to health initiatives related to diet, lifestyle and affordability in recent months ahead of the midterm elections, publicly veering away from Kennedy’s first-year effort to roll back vaccine guidelines.

While Kennedy boasted about being allowed to pick his own deputies at the beginning of his term, the administration's recent picks signal that the health secretary's close allies may no longer be at the top of the list.

For example, last month, after withdrawing a U.S. surgeon general nominee who was embedded in Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement, Trump nominated radiologist and former Fox News personality Dr. Nicole Saphier. She has advocated vaccines more forcefully than Kennedy, and at times she has criticized actions by the current HHS as “embarrassing.” She will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

Still, as the leadership turmoil creates a vacuum within the nation’s health agencies, Kennedy has remained prominent at the top as a voice for them all. That worries Jernigan, who said Kennedy won’t always center the best science in his decisions.

“The driver for the secretary is the ideology,” Jernigan said. “And that’s not a strategy for really improving the health of Americans.”

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Stobbe and Swenson reported from New York.

Chicago Park District officials announced last week that bird-watchers observed nesting activity starting in February in Park 597 along the Calumet River on the city's Southeast Side. The first eaglet was spotted in the nest on April 28 and a second was confirmed May 7.

Irene Tostado, a park district spokesperson, said the eaglets appear to be two to three weeks old.

Pat Pearson and her husband, Steve, discovered the first eaglet.

“We started looking around, and lo and behold, this little fuzzy head sticks up with a big beak and we were just ecstatic. Patty actually broke into tears. I started crying," Steve Pearson said. "It was really very touching, because we had this kind of instinct, I think, just the wonder and the awe of seeing these eagles right here in Chicago with a baby. It was really overwhelming.”

Habitat degradation and insecticide contamination of food sources decimated the bald eagle population in the second half of the 20th century, but the bird has made a dramatic comeback over the last 40 years. The bald eagle — the official national bird of the United States — was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007.

They're not an uncommon sight in the Chicago area. The park district said it counted a dozen bald eagles in the restored wetlands of Big Marsh Park in one day in 2018. But Stephen Bell, who oversees Park 597, said his staff hasn't found any record of a successful eaglet hatching in Chicago for more than 100 years.

Park 597 was home to a city water treatment plant until the park district took over the property in 2019 and started restoring the natural habitat. Bell said soil improvements, upgraded vegetation and enhanced habitat for amphibians and reptiles have attracted muskrats, mice and deer, as well as eagles.

“Give Mother Nature a chance and you'd be surprised what she can do with just a little bit of help from like the park district and the city of Chicago," Pat Pearson said. “Neither one of the organizations could have done it themselves, but between the two of them, it's shocking what can happen to land in areas that you think are just absolutely unredeemable.”

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Richmond reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press photographer Erin Hooley contributed.

Race organizers announced Wednesday that reserved seating for this year's race would be sold out by the end of the day and that the local blackout would be lifted.

Official attendance figures for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” are not announced, but there are an estimated 275,000 grandstand seats around the 2.5-mile oval and the total crowd, which includes general admission tickets on the infield, reaches an estimated 350,000.

“Anticipation for race day is approaching an all-time high right here in central Indiana and across the globe,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said in a statement. “We can’t thank the world’s greatest and most loyal fans enough. The stars of the IndyCar Series are ready for an unparalleled showcase of speed, bravery and competition in front of a historic and massive crowd.”

It’s the second straight year reserved seats have sold out, marking the third time it’s happened since 2016. The local blackout also was lifted in 2016 and 2025.

All badges and passes providing access to pit lane and Gasoline Alley also are sold out, making four-time IndyCar champion and defending 500 winner Alex Palou hopeful he can become the seventh back-to-back 500 winner — and the first to do it in front of two sellout crowds. Palou posted the fastest speed in Tuesday's first practice session.

“I think last year, it got announced like the Saturday before (the race) so we're like a week ahead, so it's big,” Palou said. “It's incredible to see that and to be part of it when there's so much momentum. I feel like I've been seeing that every single race.”

For those who want to attend the race but don't have tickets, all hope is not lost.

General admission tickets and a limited number of hospitality tickets are still available. Plus, reserved seats can still be purchased on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's official resale marketplace through 4 p.m. on May 20. Practices also will be held Thursday, Friday and Monday with qualifying set for Saturday and Sunday. The final practice will be held May 22, Carb Day.

“Last year, the energy was wild, so it's special — even with the rain delay and all of the people sticking around,” said Santonio Ferrucci, who has finished in the top 10 in each of his seven career starts at the Brickyard. “It's impressive.”

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

A new study reveals genetic clues about a human ancestor called Homo erectus. H. erectus arose in Africa about 2 million years ago and spread to other parts of the globe, including Asia and possibly Europe.

Scientists have found remains from this early human in countries including Indonesia, Spain, China and Georgia. But genes and proteins don't preserve well so information about the early humans' internal makeup has proved elusive.

In a new work, researchers siphoned ancient enamel proteins from H. erectus teeth belonging to five men and one woman that were recovered across several locations in China to learn how these early humans may have mingled.

The 400,000-year-old teeth all had two key mutations in a protein found in tooth enamel. One mutation hasn't been observed before and could be a unique calling card belonging to East Asian members of H. erectus.

The second, though, was more complex. Scientists identified a variant that's also present in a small fraction of modern humans — as well as one of our extinct cousins called Denisovans.

That told scientists that H. erectus could have mated with and passed their genes to Denisovans in the past. But how did it get to us? Scientists think that may have happened later when our ancestors intermingled with Denisovans.

“This traces who we are now back to our ancestors in a really cool and exciting way, using new methods,” said paleoanthropologist Ryan McRae with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was not involved with the new research.

The exact relationships between all these early human relatives are still a bit murky. It could be that H. erectus is actually just an ancestor to the Denisovans, who inherited those genes over time, McRae said.

It's a tough puzzle to detangle with extremely limited data. Finding more fossils and testing the limited evidence for remnants of DNA can help firm up the human evolutionary story.

“We really need to get more DNA” and bits of H. erectus to figure out how this predecessor “is exactly related to other humans,” said study author Qiaomei Fu with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in China.

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