Farrington died Friday at his home in Tallahassee following a brief illness, said Steve Schale, a close friend of the family.

Based in the state capital, he was regarded as well-sourced, fair and kind, with a good sense of humor. He also was a big sports fan who boasted of having visited every major league ballpark.

Many reporters called him a mentor and friend. They said he was trusted by politicians on both side of the aisle.

“I was amazed by the many calls he would get from everyone from big-name politicians and their aides to back-office workers telling him what was going on behind the scenes,” said Terry Spencer, former Florida news editor for the AP.

Among the politicians paying tribute to Farrington was former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

“Brendan was an old school journalist,” Bush posted on X. “He was a real pro.”

From Massachusetts beginnings, he became a Florida fixture

Originally from Wilbraham, Massachusetts, Farrington began his career as a general assignment reporter at The Patriot Ledger, the daily newspaper in Quincy, in 1988. He joined the AP in Miami in the late 1990s and transferred to Tallahassee in 2001.

Spencer said one of his favorite memories of Farrington was when he assigned him on election night 2014 to be with Charlie Crist, who was running for governor against Rick Scott in a tight race. Crist decided to concede, connecting with Scott over Farrington's phone.

Gary Fineout, a reporter at Politico who formerly worked for the AP in Tallahassee with Farrington, said he was a beautiful writer who could handle a multitude of subjects. “He was always very willing to go out and to cover hurricanes, be prepared for natural disasters," Fineout said. “He would always jump into that coverage as soon as it was needed.”

Schale said Farrington would try to frame what was happening through the lives of the people impacted by a hurricane or other event.

Farrington also enjoyed collecting stories that he would turn into an annual “weird Florida” roundup in years past.

“Some stories were gruesome, but bizarre. Like the man who injured his finger during a fight then cut it off, cooked it with scrambled eggs and ate it,” his story from 1999 read. “Apparently he didn't consider other options, like the Orlando-area man who lost a chunk of a finger while slicing a frozen pig then underwent leech treatment to save the digit.”

In 2021, the press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was suspended from what was then called Twitter after excoriating Farrington for journalism that pointed out that one of DeSantis’ multimillion-dollar donors invested in a company that was making the COVID-19 treatment drug Regeneron.

In one tweet, she wrote that if Farrington didn’t change the story, she would “put you on blast.” She also retweeted a message that said “Light. Them. Up.” in reference to the AP, whose president had interceded. Farrington said he received lots of abuse online after the press secretary's comments, tweeting to his followers: “For your sake, I hope government doesn’t threaten your safety. I’ll be fine, I hope. Freedom. Just please don’t kill me.”

He was a creator of good stories and ‘selfies with a stranger’

Farrington left the AP in January 2025 after he was one of a group of employees who accepted voluntary buyouts.

Spencer said one of Farrington's favorite stories, from 2011, was about the then-new president of the Florida Senate who had written a book on politics for Brevard Community College, where he had taught. Mike Haridopolos received $152,000 in taxpayer money for the effort in lieu of teaching — but the single available copy of the 175-page, double-spaced manuscript called “Florida Legislative History and Processes” could only be read at the school.

College administrators swore that that would change, but they also acknowledged the arrangement negotiated by the college president with Haridopolos at the time was unusual and expensive. The president defended it. Haridopolos, a Republican who was later elected to the U.S. House in 2024 representing Florida's 8th Congressional District, did not respond to requests for comment at the time.

Farrington enjoyed talking to people and posted "selfies with a stranger” with people he had just met at a bar, restaurant or on the street, Spencer said.

“Brendan loved everyone he met, and made friends everywhere he went,” his wife, Amy Farrington, said in a statement. “He believed in the decency that lives inside every one of us.”

Marta Lavandier, an AP photographer based in Miami, first knew Farrington when the two worked at the Patriot-Ledger together. He attended her wedding. When she got to Miami, she would photograph the start or end of the legislative session in Tallahassee.

“He was always a lot of fun, almost like the center of attention," she said. “He was always happy, had a good, great wit to him, a good friend, a mentor to many.”

In addition to his wife, Farrington is survived by a son, Cullen Farrington; his mother, Ethel Farrington; three brothers and a sister.

The dogs are Belgian Malinois, according to Animal Care. Officials also confirmed the dogs belong to the mother’s fiancé.

Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called around 6:30 p.m. Friday to an apartment complex near Southwest 28th Avenue and Griffin Road for a severe dog attack.

Animal Care officials said officers tried to contact the dogs’ owner Friday evening, but he did not return to the scene.

On Saturday, after Animal Care officers completed their investigation at the hospital, they went back to the apartment and confiscated both dogs, according to officials.

The dogs are now at the animal shelter as officials look into their histories. Deputies are continuing their investigation.

The police presence drew attention from neighbors, who were shocked by what happened.

“That’s terrible, man,” said Corey Clemson, who lives nearby. “I have a three-year-old son and I know dogs sometimes, anything can happen at any moment.”

As of the latest update, shelter officials said the baby remains in the ICU.

The mother was also injured while trying to protect her child.

The annual event, hosted by the city of Sunrise, brought together children of all ages for a morning of competition, strategy and learning.

Organizers say the tournament continues to grow each year, drawing young players eager to test their skills across the chessboard.

Sot from Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan:

The Mayor’s Chess Challenge gives children an opportunity to put those skills into practice while connecting with other young players in the community.

And for many of the participants, the early morning start was well worth it for a chance to make their next move.

Music played as hundreds of customized cars bounced, tilted and otherwise made their way along the annual King of the Streets event, part of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Spectators and participants of all ages celebrated the culture, which once was the target of police crackdowns and is now commemorated on U.S. Postal Service stamps.

“We finally got our stamp of approval,” said Roberto Hernandez, founder of the San Francisco Lowrider Council. In addition to this year’s rollout of stamps featuring five classic lowriders, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced a specialized state lowrider license plate.

“We have a lot to celebrate this year,” Hernandez said.

Lowriding has deep roots in Mexican American and Chicano communities in the U.S. Southwest, with California widely credited as the birthplace of the modern lowrider movement. States including Texas and Arizona have their own long histories that contributed to the culture.

Hernandez calls lowriding an art form and each vehicle an art piece. Cars are transformed with lowered suspensions, elaborate paint, chrome, custom interiors and hydraulics capable of making the vehicles bounce and hop.

For many participants, it is also an expression of Mexican American identity, family and craftsmanship.

“It’s about driving low, being seen and going slow,” said Johnny Castro, who was participating Saturday, adding: “We go slow so people can see us, see our art that we put together here, because it does take time and money to put these cars together.”

The road to acceptance for lowriding has been long. Hernandez recalls a time when police issued citations, made arrests and shut down Mission Street. He ultimately sued the city and police department, arguing for the right to cruise. But the fight wasn't unique to San Francisco.

Beginning in the 1980s, other California cities adopted anti-cruising rules. Critics of those laws argued enforcement disproportionately affected Latino communities and stigmatized a cultural tradition.

In 2023, Newsom signed legislation removing California’s restrictions on cruising and stripping local governments of the ability to enact bans based on repeatedly driving through an area.

Lowriding has become a family affair for Castro.

“Rolling with my wife and my kids. We all have our own little rides, and it’s great,” he said.

Las autoridades informaron que el accidente fue reportado en la cuadra 500 de Southwest 27th Avenue. Indicaron que el niño estaba siendo trasladado al Broward Health Medical Center para recibir tratamiento adicional.

Las autoridades no habían divulgado de inmediato la edad, el sexo ni el estado de salud del niño, ni detalles adicionales sobre cómo ocurrió el accidente.

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Police said the crash was reported in the 500 block of Southwest 27th Avenue. They said the boy was transported by Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue medics to Broward Health Medical Center for further treatment.

Detectives said he lives on the block and was trying to cross the street to get to a nearby convenience store.

The driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators, police said. Authorities ultimately ruled the crash an accident and decided not to file any charges.

They said the northbound and southbound lanes in the 500 block of Southwest 27th Avenue were closed due to the crash.

Authorities said the boy was in stable condition as of Saturday afternoon.

The boy’s identify has yet to be released.

The statement by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis came long after the dawn attempt, which the coalition said was intercepted. Some residents in Riyadh heard an explosion. Later, some saw a plume of smoke near the airport. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The statement also said the Houthis tried to attack civilian infrastructure in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu — where a key Saudi pipeline ends — and in Taif, Baysh and Farasan but they were thwarted, giving no further details.

The Houthis earlier claimed, without providing evidence, that they had targeted “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and facilities of Saudi oil giant Aramco in Yanbu, causing “massive fires.” Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, did not respond to a request for comment.

The growing conflict near another important global shipping corridor has brought new pressures for markets.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed they attacked with cruise and ballistic missiles as well as drones. He said Saudi Arabia had attempted to target the rebel-held city of Sanaa in neighboring Yemen, without giving details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claims.

Recent days have seen one escalation after another. On Thursday, the first civilian casualty was reported as the Saudi civil defense said debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed a Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia.

And on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said the Houthis had tried to attack Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, with a drone that it said was intercepted, calling the security of the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad a “red line.” The Houthis fiercely denied the accusation.

The United States, a close Saudi ally, has signaled it has no current fight with the Houthis. Regional officials have told The Associated Press that Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and instead has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for air defense support.

Meanwhile, fighting has surged inside Yemen between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government. The rebels raced down the country's Red Sea coast over a week ago, seizing the key port city of Mokha and islands on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.

That has improved their surveillance of passing ships, though the Houthis have said they are only targeting Saudi ones.

The fighting in Yemen also marks a return to a devastating civil war after four years of relative calm.

___

Anna reported from Jerusalem.

En un acto protocolar, Peña —que arribó acompañado de su esposa— y el canciller paraguayo Rubén Ramírez fueron recibidos por Rodríguez en el Palacio de Miraflores.

Durante la cita, se dialogó sobre el intercambio comercial, la atención consular a los ciudadanos de ambos países, así como temas energéticos y “compromisos financieros pendientes”, informó la presidencia venezolana en un comunicado.

La suscripción de un comunicado conjunto por parte de los cancilleres, selló la visita oficial de Peña que “permite avanzar hacia una nueva etapa y fijar una hoja de ruta” entre ambos países.

Según mencionó la víspera el canciller paraguayo, el encuentro constituye el “inicio de un diálogo” orientado al restablecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas o consulares. No se ha fijado una fecha para la eventual reapertura de embajadas.

Los lazos entre Caracas y Asunción se fracturaron en enero de 2025, luego que el gobierno paraguayo reconoció a Edmundo González como presidente electo en los comicios de 2024, y el organismo electoral declaró ganador al ahora defenestrado expresidente Nicolás Maduro, en medio de las denuncias de la oposición de un supuesto “fraude electoral”.

Uno de los temas álgidos entre ambas naciones se relaciona con una deuda pendiente del gobierno paraguayo con la estatal Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) por la compra de crudo por unos 300 millones de dólares. Aunque Paraguay admite la deuda, el monto sobre los intereses está en litigio en un tribunal arbitral internacional con sede en París.

Es la segunda visita de un presidente latinoamericano a Venezuela desde que Rodríguez asumió la presidencia encargada tras la detención de Maduro, capturado el 3 de enero en una intervención militar estadounidense. En abril, Rodríguez recibió al entonces mandatario colombiano Gustavo Petro.

Nacua did not practice Saturday, sidelined for the second straight day with an injury that is not related to a core muscle injury the fourth-year standout sustained during a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys in August, coach Sean McVay said.

“This is a different thing,” McVay said. “Had a really good practice, I guess it was our (game week) Wednesday, but it was Thursday. Felt good, but didn't feel totally like himself, his ability to be able to kind of open up and really hit full speed. He had some soreness in there, and so that's why we've kind of been smart with him the last couple days.”

Nacua had five receptions for 74 yards in the season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia. He set career highs with 129 receptions for 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.

Nacua's backup, Jordan Whittington, is doubtful because of a quad injury, which means the Rams (0-1) could be without two of their key run-blocking wideouts. Undersized speedsters Xavier Smith and Tutu Atwell would be the next players up at that specific receiver spot in McVay's offense.

McVay did confirm that three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald is set to play after the lineman ended his retirement last month.

Donald said Friday he was planning to go against the Giants (1-0) after spending the previous two seasons out of football.

“He said it, he's going,” McVay said. “Whatever Aaron says, I support.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

A statement from the Detroit suburb issued by a spokesperson came in response to a lawsuit on Thursday that accused the city and its mayor of spending thousands of dollars to celebrate Muslim holidays while ignoring Christian and Jewish holidays.

The lawsuit in federal court revived complaints about city government that arose a year ago after the Dearborn mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, told Ted Barham, a local pastor, that he was not welcome in the city and he would stage a parade when he left.

The lawsuit by Margot Cleveland, a journalist for The Federalist, accused the city and its mayor, a Democrat, of favoring the Muslim faith over other religious beliefs in a city with a population of over 100,000 people that is majority Arab American.

It said the city for too long “has been a hostile place for Christians and Jews.”

And it added that “Hammoud has taken this hostility to the next level, openly conveying the message that Christians and Jews are not welcome in the city and are, indeed, second-class citizens.”

In its statement Saturday, the city responded by saying it "has a longstanding commitment to serving all residents fairly and equitably, regardless of faith or background.

“Our city has increasingly come under attack precisely because of its welcoming nature and the diversity of the people who proudly call Dearborn home,” the statement said.

It added: "That will not change who we are. Dearborn will continue to uphold the rights and dignity of every resident and remain a city where everyone is treated with fairness, respect, and equal protection under the law.”

The lawsuit sought unspecified damages and asked a judge to find that the city had violated the Constitution and order it to comply with the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment.

According to the lawsuit, the city of Dearborn last year spent $1,500 of public money on Ramadan banners and $5,000 on a crescent-moon symbol displayed in its Peace Park while its police department sold Ramadan-themed shirts bearing the official department emblem.

Yet, the lawsuit said, the city failed to mark the approach of the Christian holiday of Easter and the Jewish holiday of Passover in similar fashion.

When Cleveland complained and asked that other religious holidays be honored, she was repeatedly ignored, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit noted the September 2025 clash at a City Council meeting between Hammoud and Barham, saying the mayor spoke against the pastor after Barham criticized the city for naming a street after Osama Siblani, who it said had supported organizations designated as terrorist by the U.S. government.

Barham said it was “quite inappropriate” and that it would be like naming a street “Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street.”

Media reports about the City Council clash led to a November rally in Dearborn that attracted conservative influencers.

Hammoud told The Guardian for an article published in November: “People misconstrue my words and my frustration with an individual who is a bad faith actor in our community, and apply it to a whole faith, when everyone knows the city of Dearborn is a place where everyone is welcome — Christian or Jew or whatever your background.”

Elor Azaria's conviction in 2017 for manslaughter and his release after serving two-thirds of his 18-month sentence drew enormous attention in Israel, where military service is compulsory for most Jewish men. In his first interview after his release, Azaria said that “I would act exactly the same, because that’s how I needed to act.”

Azaria had approached Abdel Fattah al-Sharif as he lay on the ground, unarmed and badly hurt, after stabbing a soldier in the city of Hebron. A cellphone video captured Azaria shooting al-Sharif in the head.

The office of President Isaac Herzog said in a statement that he acted on the recommendation of Defense Minister Israel Katz. The statement cited the time that had passed, and the spirit of the approaching Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, as among the factors in the decision.

Herzog's office also said Azaria, who was 20 when he was sentenced, had “expressed his sorrow” in his request. The statement noted that in an earlier request, he called his gunshot an “operational error.”

In a separate statement, Katz called it a “right, humane, and fitting decision” and said Azaria had been in a “complex operational mission.” But the military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, in a letter to the defense minister had said the pardon shouldn't be granted, Israeli media reported.

The conviction was a rare case of a military court ruling against a soldier for deadly action taken in the field. Top generals had pressed for his prosecution, while many in the Israeli public supported Azaria at a time when there had been a series of stabbings and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs. Some supporters protested outside the trial.

On Saturday, Israel's hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement that “canceling the criminal record of someone who killed a terrorist makes me emotional and very happy.”

Some Palestinians and human rights groups had described Azaria's sentence as far too lenient. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of three to five years.

The statement by Herzog's office on Saturday said that his decision “does not constitute a reassessment of the case.”

The divisions over Azaria's case led to public polling and political pressures that led the defense minister at the time, Moshe Yaalon, to resign.

After the verdict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Azaria to be pardoned.

After the sentencing, the Palestinian government minister in charge of prisoner affairs, Issa Karaka, called it a “joke.”

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Approbato celebrated with loved ones at 60 Vines Restaurant last Saturday, where she blew out her birthday candles and took part in a celebration honoring more than a century of life.

Born in Brooklyn in 1921, Approbato moved to Boca Raton in 1980. She spent years working at Manufacturers Hanover Bank in New York and was married to her late husband, Albert, for 50 years.

Approbato has lived at Edgewater in Boca Raton for the past 15 years. Her family says they wanted to make sure her 105th birthday was a celebration she would never forget.

With family and friends gathered around her, Kay marked the milestone with a smile — celebrating 105 years of memories, family and life.

Happy 105th birthday, Kay.

Approbato celebró con sus seres queridos en el restaurante 60 Vines el sábado pasado, donde apagó las velas de su cumpleaños y participó en una celebración en honor a más de un siglo de vida.

Nacida en Brooklyn en 1921, Approbato se mudó a Boca Ratón en 1980. Trabajó durante años en Manufacturers Hanover Bank en Nueva York y estuvo casada con su difunto esposo, Albert, durante 50 años.

Approbato ha vivido en Edgewater en Boca Ratón durante los últimos 15 años. Su familia dice que quería asegurarse de que su cumpleaños número 105 fuera una celebración que nunca olvidaría.

Con familiares y amigos reunidos a su alrededor, Kay conmemoró el hito con una sonrisa, celebrando 105 años de recuerdos, familia y vida.

Feliz cumpleaños número 105, Kay.

Health workers and other front-line workers in the Ebola response are being prioritized to receive the Ervebo vaccine that was effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type of virus. Clinical trials are ongoing to find a licensed vaccine for the current outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no licensed vaccine or treatment.

The rollout is targeting the Bunia and Mongbwalu zones in Ituri province, health authorities said Saturday. Both areas are among the hardest-hit by the virus.

“Our collective duty is to protect life. Launching this vaccination drive for front-line staff in Ituri is not an arbitrary choice, as these workers are particularly exposed and deeply involved in the response,” the military governor of Ituri, Maj. Gen. Gaby Kasongo Mulumba, said Saturday.

The campaign in Ituri and North Kivu is expected to cover 20,000 front-line workers over a period of six to nine months.

As of Saturday, the country had recorded 7,541 confirmed cases, including 3,639 deaths, according to government figures, while 1,823 people have recovered. The outbreak is concentrated in Ituri province and is known to be the deadliest of all past 17 Ebola outbreaks in the country.

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

Dr. Jeannot Elua, whom The Associated Press met at a health facility in Bunia, said the vaccine was “beneficial.”

“We healthcare workers don’t really have a choice: we are going to receive it,” he said. “Some people here had already received the previous vaccine. I received it myself, because it was mandatory.”

Another front-line health worker, Dr. Jean Paul Uzele, who was vaccinated with Ervebo during the 10th Ebola outbreak, said it was unclear to him whether he should get vaccinated again.

“If it arrives, we will receive it too," he said. “But the question is whether we need to be vaccinated a second time."

Last month, the Ervebo vaccine was rolled out in Kisangani in the Tshopo province. The campaign was expected to cover 14 health zones in Tshopo, Bas-Uele and Haut-Uele provinces.

The use of Ervebo is taking place in a specific scientific context. The vaccine is licensed for use against Ebola virus disease caused by the Zaire strain — a different, more common type of Ebola virus.

The World Health Organization said last month that 70,000 doses of Ervebo were approved for use in Congo.

About 50,000 doses are intended for front-line and health workers, while 20,000 doses will be used in a clinical trial to study whether the vaccine protects against Bundibugyo virus, which is causing the current outbreak and has no licensed vaccine or treatment.

The vaccine is being used under a compassionate-use program, which allows a medical product to be used in a serious disease situation even though it has not been specifically approved for that particular use.

Health authorities said Ervebo could offer some protection against the Bundibugyo virus because the two viruses are related. But whether the vaccine can actually prevent illness in people infected with Bundibugyo Ebola is still being studied.

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The 40-pound puppy recently arrived at the Humane Society of Broward, where staff have been working with him on commands and behavior. Shelter officials describe Bourbon as smart, treat-motivated and affectionate.

The shelter is currently near capacity, with dogs and cats waiting for adoptive families. Another featured animal, Mel, is a 3-year-old calico cat who has become more affectionate with staff after initially being hesitant around people.

The HSBC is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and no appointment is required to meet available animals. Click here for more information on how you can adopt a pet.

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Justin Bieber and Harry Styles are among the artists reportedly being considered, with Miley Cyrus also mentioned as a possibility.

The game will be played at SoFi Stadium, marking the second time the Super Bowl has been held in Los Angeles since the NFL returned to the region.

The city’s last Super Bowl featured a West Coast hip-hop lineup headlined by Dr. Dre, with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar also performing.

Fans can weigh in on who they want to see take the stage at Super Bowl LXI in the comment section below.

The No. 2-ranked McIlroy's birdie- eagle finish on the back-to-back closing par 5s at Wentworth left him on 11-under 205 after the third round, just two strokes off the lead held by Manuel Elvira and Filippo Cello on a crowded leaderboard.

There are 15 players within three shots of the lead — but one name stands out.

“I feel like I’ve given myself a real opportunity tomorrow,” said McIlroy, who won the European tour's flagship event in 2014 — in the same summer he captured two major titles, the British Open and the PGA Championship.

On a day when second-round leader Ryan Gerard went backward with a 75, many others took a big step forward — even if the top of the leaderboard doesn't contain too many household names.

Neither Celli (69) nor Elvira (68) have won a title on the European tour, while two of the three players tied for third place a shot back — Johannes Veerman (64) and Alejandro Del Rey (64) — are ranked No. 357 and No. 236, respectively.

The other player on 12 under is J.J. Spaun, the former U.S. Open winner who shot 68 as he looks to prove a point after missing out on selection for next week's Presidents Cup.

“It’s a bummer to miss out on the team events, whether it’s Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup,” Spaun said. “Definitely carrying a bit of a chip on my shoulder this week.”

McIlroy is in a five-man group in a tie for sixth place that also includes Adam Scott (71) and LIV Golf star Joaquin Niemann (67).

“It’s going to be an interesting day,” McIlroy said, looking ahead to the final round. “There’s a lot of people around the lead. I think the conditions the last couple of days, that’s the reason it hasn’t let anyone get away from the pack just because it has played so tricky and difficult.”

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here

El cachorro de 40 libras llegó recientemente a la Sociedad Protectora de Animales de Broward, donde el personal ha estado trabajando con él en órdenes y comportamiento. Los funcionarios del refugio describen a Bourbon como inteligente, motivado por las golosinas y cariñoso.

El refugio se encuentra actualmente casi al límite de su capacidad, con perros y gatos esperando familias que los adopten. Otro animal destacado, Mel, es una gata calicó de 3 años que se ha vuelto más cariñosa con el personal después de mostrarse inicialmente reacia a estar cerca de las personas.

La HSBC está abierta los siete días de la semana de 11 a.m. a 6 p.m. y no se requiere cita para conocer a los animales disponibles. Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre cómo puede adoptar una mascota.

Justin Bieber y Harry Styles se encuentran entre los artistas que, según reportes, están siendo considerados, mientras que Miley Cyrus también ha sido mencionada como una posibilidad.

El partido se disputará en el SoFi Stadium, lo que marcará la segunda vez que el Super Bowl se celebra en Los Ángeles desde que la NFL regresó a la región.

El último Super Bowl de la ciudad contó con una alineación de hip-hop de la Costa Oeste encabezada por Dr. Dre, con Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige y Kendrick Lamar también presentándose.

Los aficionados pueden opinar sobre a quién quieren ver en el escenario del Super Bowl LXI en la sección de comentarios a continuación.

On Saturday, as the No. 8 Rebels prepared to host No. 7 LSU, Ole Miss fans were eager to mock and heckle Kiffin in myriad ways — and did so amid abundant security measures designed to ensure any expressions of betrayal, resentment or anger didn’t get out of hand as the lightning-rod coach returned to campus, this time with the Tigers.

The scene made Jessica Perkins, a 47-year-old Oxford-area dentist and Ole Miss graduate, a bit nervous.

She noted lightheartedly that “absolutely nothing good,” can happen when “the added animosity of the Kiffin situation” is layered upon longstanding rivals indulging in a full day of consumption of alcohol in oppressively hot weather — mostly sunny and in the mid 90s.

“Let's just play football and ignore the whole elephant in the room,” Perkins said. “We're the hospitality people. So, we're also praying that everybody stays safe, doesn't act stupid and we just show everybody a good time. Ole Miss is always going to win the party.”

LSU fans are regularly referred to as “corndogs” (because of the deep-fried aroma at their stadium) by fans at rival Southeastern Conference schools, and art posted at tailgate tents last year portrayed Kiffin riding one like a rodeo cowboy.

Predictably, Kiffin is now an object of sometimes creative derision in Oxford.

The famous, tree-lined, tailgating spot known as The Grove — where the Rebels walk on their way into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium — was teeming with people early in the morning. And when Kiffin's image appeared live on a big screen for an interview on ESPN, the first-year LSU coach was booed heartily.

Makeshift signs held aloft by members of the crowd behind the set referred to Kiffin as a traitor and portrayed him sticking corndogs up his nose and in his mouth. One stated, “This sign was listed as ‘doubtful,’” poking fun at Kiffin's apparent act of gamesmanship when he listed LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt as “doubtful” on Wednesday night before ultimately taking his name off the injury report by Friday night.

Matt Garrett, a 49-year-old Oxford resident and Ole Miss graduate, said a lot of the heckling was in good fun and that many in Mississippi were not “truly angry” at Kiffin because “he's done a lot for northern Mississippi and a lot for this program.”

Garrett said Ole Miss fans were just annoyed at the timing of his departure, right before the Rebels entered the College Football Playoff, and because of how Kiffin abruptly fled Oxford aboard a private jet sent to fetch him by LSU.

“How they kind of handled everything in the process was very unprofessional,” Garrett said. “There is going to be some anger, I'm sure, but hopefully with the Southern hospitality we have, we'll keep everything under control.”

Social media video late this week showed that Kiffin invited LSU fraternities and sororities to LSU's football facility to heckle the Tigers — an effort to provide a taste of what they would face on Saturday.

“We just try to do everything to simulate the game, simulate the day,” Kiffin said when asked about it during his morning TV appearance as boos and chants laced with vulgarities emanated from the crowd in The Grove. “There’s going to be a lot of emotion all through the stadium obviously that you’re feeling there right now.”

Mississippi state officials have said they were assembling the state’s largest law enforcement presence ever for a college football game this weekend in Oxford, a town of about 26,000 permanent residents, where authorities expected around 100,000 people to converge — many of them without tickets for 64,000-seat Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

“Our priority is making sure everyone can enjoy the game and surrounding events safely,” said Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. “This enhanced presence is about being prepared, staying proactive and working together.”

When Ole Miss played at Tennessee in 2021, bringing Kiffin back to another one of his previous coaching stops, play was halted for about 20 minutes after Volunteers fans upset about a fourth-down spot of the ball in the closing minutes of a close game pelted the field with objects. Kiffin said he was hit by golf balls and liquor bottles.

Ole Miss coach Pete Golding echoed the calls for restraint from Rebels fans.

“About Oxford, the first thing you talk about is the people there. Let’s not lose that over a game, over a person or anything else like that,” Golding said this week at his regular news conference. “There’s nothing wrong with being competitive, being in the moment, being really loud and being an unbelievable fan. At the end of the day, don’t lose what we’ve created.”

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The lawsuit, which was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that the leading AI companies violated antitrust laws when they agreed to coordinate slowdown efforts, and that doing so would reduce the value consumers get for paid AI subscriptions.

The coordination largely took place on Sept. 12, the lawsuit argues, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging for industrywide cooperation on decelerating advancements in favor of enhanced safety measures. That same day, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk and Google DeepMind's co-founder and chair Demis Hassabis each publicly responded to Amodei's proposals in agreement.

But the lawsuit also alleges that the coordination began to take shape months earlier. It points to a statement from July 2026 that high-ranking employees from several of the leading AI labs signed that acknowledged the "intense competitive pressure not to unilaterally slow” development. That statement called on the government to support a global effort to slow automated AI development.

It is clear that an agreement among the chief rivals in AI that their progress “should be slower than competition would otherwise produce has an anticompetitive effect on consumers,” the plaintiffs argue.

Lawyers representing four named plaintiffs, who pay for subscriptions to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Gemini, are bringing the lawsuit on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of other paid subscribers to those services.

The plaintiffs don't object to the companies individually deciding to slow their own progress in favor of safety. They instead argue in the complaint that antitrust laws forbid them from taking the “shortcut” of agreeing to “substitute collective restraint for individual accountability.” A competitive market allows for responsibility and genuine progress, the lawsuit argues.

“AI will quickly spin out of human control and could kill us all if we allow AI safety and protocol ... to be controlled by private self-serving agreements between the world’s most powerful ‘for profit’ technology companies,” said Nick Rowley, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

Representatives for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and SpaceXAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

In his initial essay proposing the slowdown, Amodei acknowledged potential antitrust challenges, writing that it would be helpful for the U.S. government to mediate “or at least enable” these cross-lab discussions. The government wouldn't need to participate, he wrote, but it would need to “issue a narrow waiver for certain kinds of safety conversations.”

In response, Altman said on social media that OpenAI welcomes the idea of a “federal framework that sets consistent safety requirements,” but said “we do not believe we need to wait for an antitrust exemption or legislation to begin the work of providing this confidence.”

While the recent conversations about pacing development were spurred by increasing concerns about AI evading human control, several leaders in the AI space have long talked about developing a shared set of standards or otherwise coordinating to ensure safety efforts remain paramount.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend they are not against the AI companies asking Congress, the White House or any other agency to develop AI regulation, nor are they against the companies asking for an antitrust exemption.

But achieving that kind of collaboration with the federal government could be an uphill battle.

President Donald Trump rejected the calls for regulation on social media. He has claimed that any efforts to limit the technology are part of a “conspiracy." He called into question why the industry leaders would be calling for regulation that, he says, “if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy.” Trump said Saturday on social media that he is forming an AI task force and will appoint an “AI czar,” but he provided scant detail.

The Trump administration has been vocal about wanting American AI labs to outpace and excel against Chinese competition. While several Democratic leaders and candidates have called for sweeping action on AI regulation, Republicans have largely mirrored Trump's position.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said in a recent Senate hearing that “there is no world” in which he would agree to give “the most powerful companies in the history of the world” an exemption from antitrust laws to collaborate, arguing that they could collude together and stifle competition.

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The depression has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and is slowly moving to the north at 2 mph.

Tropical Depression Six is forecast to strengthen over the next 24 hours into a tropical storm before gradually weakening early next week.

If it does become a tropical storm, the next name of the season is Fay.

This system is not a threat to land or the United States. The rest of the Atlantic remains quiet with no new tropical development expected over the next seven days.

Hurricane season ends on Nov. 30. So far this season there’s been five named storms and no hurricanes. This is the latest the Atlantic has ever gone without a hurricane.

La depresión tiene vientos máximos sostenidos de 35 mph y se desplaza lentamente hacia el norte a 2 mph.

Se pronostica que la Depresión Tropical Seis se fortalecerá durante las próximas 24 horas hasta convertirse en tormenta tropical antes de debilitarse gradualmente a principios de la próxima semana.

Si se convierte en tormenta tropical, el próximo nombre de la temporada será Fay.

Este sistema no representa una amenaza para tierra firme ni para Estados Unidos. El resto del Atlántico permanece tranquilo, sin que se espere nuevo desarrollo tropical durante los próximos siete días.

La temporada de huracanes termina el 30 de noviembre. Hasta ahora esta temporada se han registrado cinco tormentas con nombre y ningún huracán. Esta es la fecha más tardía en que el Atlántico ha llegado sin registrar un huracán.

Police officers made several arrests after some protesters started throwing fireworks and other projectiles at them.

Justice Minister David van Weel called on X for an “extremely firm” response to what he described as “disgusting scenes” at the protest. He said that demonstrators made Nazi salutes, chanted antisemitic slogans, attacked police and threw fireworks at riot officers.

“Thanks to all the police officers who are once again standing up for our democratic rule of law,” he wrote.

The Hague municipality banned the march after violence broke out among demonstrators gathered at the Malieveld, a park in the city center, and later ordered the crowd to disperse.

Saturday’s unrest came a year after rioting erupted around a right-wing demonstration. A police car was set on fire during clashes between black-clad protesters and police, and the headquarters of the centrist D66 party — whose leader, Rob Jetten, is now prime minister — was attacked.

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The Explorers pulled away for a 45-7 victory despite rainy conditions, improving their record to 4-1.

High School Spotlight is a chance to showcase the athletes representing schools and communities across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Whether it’s a game-winning touchdown, a big save on the soccer field, a volleyball celebration, a cheerleading routine, a cross-country finish or a memorable moment with teammates, we want to see it.

Click here for more information on how to submit your pictures.

Los Explorers se despegaron para lograr una victoria de 45-7 a pesar de las condiciones lluviosas, mejorando su récord a 4-1.

High School Spotlight es una oportunidad para destacar a los atletas que representan a escuelas y comunidades de los condados Miami-Dade, Broward y Monroe.

Ya sea un touchdown para ganar el partido, una gran atajada en el campo de fútbol, una celebración de voleibol, una rutina de porristas, la llegada a la meta en una carrera de campo traviesa o un momento memorable con compañeros de equipo, queremos verlo.

Haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre cómo enviar sus fotografías.

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The sixth annual Celebrate Your Life 5K got underway around 7 a.m. at Tradewinds Park. The event supports Tony’s Tribe, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention, awareness and mental health education.

“This is not just a 5K, this is a movement,” said Judy Albelo of Tony’s Tribe. “We feel that it takes a village to support people. So, we create this safe space, and everyone feels very supportive.”

Organizers say the event is designed to bring the community together while encouraging conversations about mental health and suicide prevention.

Tony’s Tribe is also launching a scholarship for students pursuing careers in the mental health field.

More information about Tony’s Tribe and ways to get involved is available at tonystribe.org.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health or suicide crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

La sexta edición anual de Celebrate Your Life 5K comenzó alrededor de las 7 a.m. en Tradewinds Park. El evento apoya a Tony’s Tribe, una organización sin fines de lucro enfocada en la prevención del suicidio, la concientización y la educación sobre salud mental.

“Esto no es solo una carrera 5K, es un movimiento”, dijo Judy Albelo, de Tony’s Tribe. “Creemos que se necesita una comunidad para apoyar a las personas. Por eso, creamos este espacio seguro y todos se sienten muy apoyados”.

Los organizadores dicen que el evento está diseñado para unir a la comunidad mientras fomenta conversaciones sobre la salud mental y la prevención del suicidio.

Tony’s Tribe también está lanzando una beca para estudiantes que buscan carreras en el campo de la salud mental.

Más información sobre Tony’s Tribe y las formas de participar está disponible en tonystribe.org.

Si usted o alguien que conoce está atravesando una crisis de salud mental o suicidio, llame o envíe un mensaje de texto al 988 para comunicarse con la Línea de Prevención del Suicidio y Crisis. Hay ayuda disponible las 24 horas del día, los siete días de la semana.

Narges Mohammadi, 54, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, was temporarily released from prison for medical reasons earlier this year after falling unconscious and being transferred to a hospital.

Her memoir — titled “A Woman Never Stops Fighting” — was written behind bars, with parts of it smuggled out by fellow inmates. Editions in French, German and nine other languages are being released this month. The English and Farsi editions will be released next year.

In an interview conducted Friday by The Associated Press from outside Iran, Mohammadi said that Iranians are grappling with multiple crises stemming from the ongoing war and deepening economic pressure, and the brutal crackdowns on protests.

“I am sorry to say, but since the outbreak of war, in the past months and last year and a half, we have seen that repression in society has severely increased and now, with these economic pressures and with the repression that really has left no room for people to breathe, it’s the people who are paying an extremely heavy price,” she said.

But she said that many Iranians continue to resist, a change she traces back to the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in a hospital after being detained for violating authorities' strict Islamic dress code.

The release of Mohammadi's book this month coincides with Amini's death to honor her memory, her representatives said. The English and Farsi editions will be released in September 2027 for the same reason.

“If you go out into the streets, you see a wave of resistance among the people, a wave of awareness, and their determination to stand up for their rights,” Mohammadi said. She said that government repression has intensified, but that many in a new younger generation “know their rights” and were standing firm. “And that gives us reason for hope,” she said.

The AP agreed not to ask Mohammadi specific questions about the political situation and leadership in Iran, because of concerns for her safety, though she commented generally about the cost of war.

Mohammadi says her detention was ‘life-threatening’

In her interview with the AP, Mohammadi — who has been jailed repeatedly over decades of advocating for human rights and was behind bars when she was awarded the Nobel Prize — described her most recent arrest, detention and health.

She said that she was severely beaten by security forces when detained in December, in the northeastern city of Mashhad. She and a group of activists were attending a memorial ceremony for human rights lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead in his office.

She was arrested while giving a public speech. She was sentenced to 7½ years for attending that rally. She is now facing a total of 16 years and more than 100 lashes. She hasn’t been flogged, but spent long periods in solitary confinement.

“My detention was really life-threatening,” she said. “My head was severely hurt, because most of the hits were to my head, and despite being in that condition, they kept me for two months in solitary confinement during which my condition was really concerning.”

She lost consciousness on May 1 and was released on bail nearly 10 days later and transferred to a hospital in Tehran, where she remained for another two weeks.

She smuggled out fragments of her memoir, which she had started writing in 2019 during an earlier stint in Iran's notorious Evin prison in Tehran, where many political prisoners are held. She had lost her handwritten notes that year when they moved her to another site.

This time, “with the help of fellow inmates, we got a few pages out, a few pages at a time,” she said. “If it weren’t for them, I couldn’t have done it.”

As for her health, “I am recovering,” Mohammadi said.

Mohammadi says other women inspired her

Mohammadi said that she took inspiration from other women’s stories growing up, beginning with her own mother.

“I tried to put an image to each of these — how these women really managed to change their world, their society, themselves, the next generation — make them aware, make them resist,” she said.

She also recalled “terrifying memories” from her childhood during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and how she developed “a hatred for war.”

“I wasn’t more than a child when the Iran-Iraq war happened, but I remember a lot of the repression, repression of many political currents and forces, many executions that happened in the silence and darkness of Evin and prisons around the country,” she said.

She risks return to prison

She recalled her concern when she learned that Evin prison had been bombed during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in 2025, a period when she was out of prison.

“At that moment, I felt that, in this country, we are at the intersection of injustice, discrimination, war, authoritarianism,” she said. “All of those are trampling on our people’s human rights.”

Mohammadi has been handed down sentences totaling 44 years. She has already spent 10 years in prison, including 161 days in solitary confinement. She has been banned from traveling abroad since 2009, and is unable to join her husband and two children who live in exile in France.

“My sentence is currently suspended, and I must return whenever the judiciary issues the order,” Mohammadi later said in a text message shared by her team.

The voting to elect members of the State Duma is Russia's first parliamentary election since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The three-day election, which began Friday and ends Sunday, features virtually no opposition and is all but certain to secure the Kremlin’s political dominance.

Yabloko said that officials at the polling station accused a party election observer of attempting to “disrupt the elections” and called the police, which “used force” against him.

It was unclear whether he received prompt medical attention after falling unconscious, the party said in a statement on Telegram Saturday, adding that he was taken to a police station and charged with disobeying police orders.

Russian officials didn't immediately comment on the incident.

Yabloko, the only registered political entity that dared to criticize Russia's war with Ukraine, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only has a few dozen candidates in the single-constituency races. Additionally, some anti-war politicians have been imprisoned or forced to flee abroad before the campaign.

Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticized some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that many of their election observers were turned away from polling stations.

The parties also reported various violations, including sealed ballot boxes being opened, the refusal to issue paper ballots and provide turnout data for verification, and doors to polling stations not being secured overnight.

On Friday, Yabloko’s leader appealed to Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, over what the party said were numerous denials of entry to its observers and pressure on them.

“The scale of what’s happening does not allow us to view this as a misunderstanding,” Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov said.

Russia didn't invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor the election, with the Russian Foreign Ministry accusing the body of “double standards” for its criticism of Russia.

It said that it had invited other international organizations, as well as observers from OSCE member states, in its place.

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said that the decision was a breach of Russia’s commitments as a member state of the organization.

“This persistent rejection of independent scrutiny follows a deeply worrying pattern of disregard for the principles of transparency, democratic accountability and the rule of law,” he said.

Russia’s Central Election Commission said that more than 380,000 electoral observers had been registered before the vote, including representatives from 11 political parties. Of those registered, 97,040 observers were linked to the United Russia party, with the next largest group, 42,743 observers, representing Russia’s Communist Party.

It also said that 1,126 international election observers and “electoral experts” have been registered from 133 countries and 13 international organizations.

Russia also tightened restrictions on election observers in the lead-up to the parliamentary vote. Under a new code of ethics, observers are banned from making statements “that could be construed as undermining confidence in the electoral system.”

Russian authorities spread the parliamentary election over the weekend in a bid to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters, and they allowed electronic balloting.

For the first time, the parliamentary election includes residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began, but still doesn’t fully control. Voting also is taking place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

The Kremlin wants the vote to underline public support for the war in Ukraine and give a veneer of legitimacy to it. It has sought to avoid any political risks by stamping out even the slightest sign of dissent.

The main Kremlin party, United Russia, is all but assured to retain its overwhelming control of the lower house, the State Duma. Several smaller parties of the “systemic opposition” that vote in sync with the government on all key issues also are expected to retain their presence.

Mensah terminó con 30 pases completos en 34 intentos, sin intercepciones, y los Hurricanes de Miami sumaron su tercera victoria de la temporada, todavía invictos. Sus 24 pases completos consecutivos superaron el récord de la ACC para un solo partido, que era de 15. Contando el encuentro anterior de Miami contra Florida A&M, su racha llegó a 35 pases completos seguidos.

Mensah, quien llegó al encuentro con ocho pases de touchdown y 62 pases completos en 65 intentos durante la temporada, acertó sus primeros nueve lanzamientos del viernes para sumar 65 yardas. Entre ellos estuvo un pase de touchdown de nueve yardas a Josh Moore. En su primera posesión, Miami recorrió 93 yardas en 14 jugadas y consumió siete minutos y 33 segundos.

Los Hurricanes mantuvieron la presión durante la primera mitad. En su segunda serie ofensiva de anotación, Mensah encontró completamente desmarcado al ala cerrada Elija Lofton para un touchdown de 21 yardas que puso a Miami al frente por 14-7.

Después, Miami se apoyó en su ataque terrestre.

Los corredores Mark Fletcher Jr. y Marty Brown ayudaron a los Hurricanes a avanzar por el campo. Brown logró una carrera de 32 yardas que dejó el balón a una yarda de la zona de anotación de Wake Forest. Sin embargo, aparentemente se lesionó la rodilla derecha en esa jugada y más tarde fue retirado del campo en un carrito de asistencia médica. Dos jugadas después, Fletcher anotó con una carrera de una yarda para ampliar la ventaja a 21-7.

Antes del descanso, Mensah continuó su actuación histórica al completar su vigésimo pase consecutivo, esta vez a Malachi Toney. Toney cerró la primera mitad con diez recepciones para 111 yardas, mientras que Jake Weinberg añadió un gol de campo de 27 yardas para que Miami se fuera al descanso con ventaja de 24-7.

Wake Forest, con un balance de dos victorias y una derrota, había respondido al touchdown inicial de Miami con una buena primera serie ofensiva. Su quarterback, Gio Lopez, completó cuatro de cinco pases para 55 yardas. Conectó con Kam Shanks y Kamrean Johnson antes de encontrar nuevamente a Johnson, completamente desmarcado, para un touchdown de diez yardas.

Lopez terminó con tres pases de touchdown, incluidos uno de 23 yardas al receptor Jack Foley y otro de 17 yardas al receptor Carlos Hernandez en el tercer cuarto.

La defensa de Miami tuvo dificultades, especialmente para contener el ataque aéreo de los Demon Deacons de Wake Forest. Los Hurricanes ya habían comenzado el encuentro sin sus esquineros titulares, Xavier Lucas y O.J. Frederique, y también perdieron temporalmente al liniero defensivo Ahmad Moten por una lesión en el brazo izquierdo. Moten regresó más tarde, mientras que Keona Davis y Justin Scott cubrieron su ausencia en la línea defensiva.

Aun así, la defensa de Miami respondió con jugadas clave en momentos importantes.

Marquis Lightfoot, defensor encargado de presionar por el extremo de la línea, abrió la segunda mitad derribando a Lopez detrás de la línea de golpeo, una jugada conocida como sack. Después, Bryce Fitzgerald realizó una contundente tacleada sobre Shanks en campo abierto y obligó a Wake Forest a despejar.

Más adelante, Mensah condujo otra serie ofensiva de touchdown. Varias carreras de Javian Mallory ayudaron a Miami a avanzar antes de que Mensah conectara con Toney para la anotación. Fue su pase completo número 23 de manera consecutiva en el partido y extendió su racha a 31 contando el encuentro de la semana anterior.

Tras completar 24 pases seguidos, Mensah finalmente falló un lanzamiento cuando quedaban poco más de tres minutos del tercer cuarto. Así terminó su racha récord de la ACC y Miami tuvo que despejar.

Wake Forest respondió con dos series ofensivas de touchdown. Lopez encontró a Foley para una anotación de 23 yardas y después conectó con Hernandez en un pase de 17 yardas hacia un costado de la zona de anotación, en una ruta conocida como slot fade, para recortar la ventaja de Miami.

En su siguiente posesión, Wake Forest llegó a territorio de Miami gracias a un pase de Lopez a Foley que produjo un avance de 49 yardas. Sin embargo, en cuarta oportunidad y con cinco yardas por avanzar, la presión del liniero defensivo Damon Wilson provocó que Lopez fallara su pase a Hernandez. Los Hurricanes recuperaron así la posesión del balón.

Los Demon Deacons tuvieron otra oportunidad más adelante, pero la defensa de Miami consiguió su jugada más importante de la noche. La presión del liniero defensivo Damon Wilson II provocó que un jugador rival cometiera un sujetando ilegal, o holding, dentro de su propia zona de anotación. La infracción dio lugar a un safety, que otorgó dos puntos a Miami y amplió su ventaja a 33-20 cuando quedaban poco más de 13 minutos de juego.

Wake Forest generó pocas amenazas importantes después de eso, y Miami salió de Winston-Salem con la victoria.

Mensah ha comenzado la temporada 2026 con 71 pases completos en 79 intentos, 873 yardas, 11 touchdowns y ninguna intercepción. En tres partidos, apenas ha lanzado siete pases incompletos.

Toney terminó el encuentro del viernes con 12 recepciones para 114 yardas y un touchdown. Fletcher sumó 85 yardas y una anotación en 16 acarreos.

Los Hurricanes también se marcharon preocupados por Brown, quien sufrió lo que parecía ser una lesión grave de rodilla durante su carrera de 32 yardas.

Próximos partidos

Miami, con tres victorias y ninguna derrota, recibirá el próximo sábado a Central Michigan, que tiene una victoria y una derrota.

Wake Forest, con dos victorias y una derrota, visitará el próximo sábado a Louisville, equipo que ocupa el puesto 23 del ranking nacional y tiene una victoria y una derrota.

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Mensah finished 30 of 34 without an interception as the Hurricanes improved to 3-0. His 24 straight completions broke the ACC single-game record of 15, and his streak reached 35 consecutive completions dating to Miami’s previous game against Florida A&M.

Mensah, who entered the game with eight touchdowns and had completed 62 of 65 passes on the season, opened Friday night by completing his first nine attempts for 65 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown pass to Josh Moore. Miami drove 93 yards in 14 plays over 7:33 on its opening possession.

The Hurricanes kept the pressure on through the first half. Mensah found tight end Elija Lofton for a wide-open 21-yard touchdown on Miami’s second scoring drive, giving the Hurricanes a 14-7 lead.

Miami then leaned on its running game.

Running backs Mark Fletcher Jr. and Marty Brown helped move the Hurricanes down the field, with Brown breaking through for a 32-yard run to the Wake Forest 1-yard line. Brown appeared to injure his right knee on the play and was later carted from the field. Fletcher scored from a yard out two plays later to make it 21-7.

Mensah continued his record-setting night before halftime, connecting on his 20th straight pass to Malachi Toney. Toney finished the half with 10 catches for 111 yards, while Jake Weinberg added a 27-yard field goal to give Miami a 24-7 lead at halftime.

Wake Forest answered Miami’s opening touchdown with a strong first drive of its own. Quarterback Gio Lopez completed four of five passes for 55 yards, finding Kam Shanks and Kamrean Johnson before hitting Johnson for a wide-open 10-yard touchdown.

Lopez finished with three touchdown passes, including a 23-yard score to wide receiver Jack Foley and a 17-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Carlos Hernandez in the third quarter.

Miami’s defense had its share of problems, particularly against the Demon Deacons’ passing game. The Hurricanes entered the game already without starting cornerbacks Xavier Lucas and O.J. Frederique and also briefly lost defensive tackle Ahmad Moten to a left arm injury. Moten later returned, while Keona Davis and Justin Scott filled in along the defensive front during his absence.

Miami’s defense did come up with key plays when it mattered.

Hurricanes EDGE Marquis Lightfoot opened the second half with a sack of Lopez, and Bryce Fitzgerald made a strong open-field tackle on Shanks to force a punt.

Mensah later led another touchdown drive, with several runs by Javian Mallory helping Miami move down the field before Mensah found Toney for a touchdown. The completion was Mensah’s 23rd straight of the game and extended his streak to 31 dating to the previous week.

After 24 consecutive completions, Mensah finally threw an incompletion with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter, ending the ACC-record streak and forcing Miami to punt.

Wake Forest responded with two touchdown drives. Lopez found Foley for a 23-yard score before connecting with Hernandez on a 17-yard slot-fade touchdown to cut Miami’s lead.

Wake Forest moved into Miami territory on its next possession, with Lopez connecting with Foley for a 49-yard gain. But on fourth-and-5, pressure from Miami defensive lineman Damon Wilson forced Lopez to miss Hernandez, and the Hurricanes took over on downs.

The Demon Deacons had another chance late, but Miami’s defense made its biggest play of the night. A holding penalty in the end zone forced by defensive lineman Damon Wilson II resulted in a safety, extending the Hurricanes’ lead to 33-20 with just over 13 minutes remaining.

That proved to be one of the final significant threats as Miami escaped Winston-Salem with the victory.

Mensah has opened the 2026 season with 71 completions on 79 attempts for 873 yards, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. He has thrown just seven incompletions through three games.

Toney finished Friday with 12 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. Fletcher carried 16 times for 85 yards and a score.

The Hurricanes also left the game concerned about Brown, who sustained what appeared to be a serious knee injury on his 32-yard run.

Up next:

Miami (3-0) hosts Central Michigan (1-1) next Saturday.

Wake Forest (2-1) travels to No. 23 Louisville (1-1) next Saturday

After four straight wins for the champions, the 3-0 defeat at Amex Stadium on Saturday came out of nowhere, and conceding the third goal from a corner — typically an area of strength for Arsenal — summed up an unusually sloppy performance from Mikel Arteta’s team.

Pascal Gross and Charalampos Kostoulas scored in the first half with shots from outside the penalty area, before Chema Andres completed the win with a header at the back post from Gross’ corner.

“There are certain basics that you need to accomplish in football, especially in the Premier League, that we were very far from," said Arteta, who described it as a “big lesson.”

“The amount of technical errors that we did, and we didn’t respect any principle of play that you have to, to get out of man-to-man situations. That put us always on the back foot.”

The victory will have been especially sweet for Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler, who said “only one team tried to play football” after his team’s narrow home loss to Arsenal last season.

Arsenal has often struggled against Brighton, which was the last team to inflict such a heavy defeat on the Gunners in any competition — winning 3-0 at Emirates Stadium in May 2023.

It completed a brilliant week for Brighton, which beat Coventry 5-0 in the league last weekend and came from two goals down in midweek to beat Manchester United 3-2 away in the English League Cup.

“We have to have the belief to compete with the best teams in the league,” Hurzeler said.

Manchester City — the other team to win its first four games — can now move three points clear in the standings by beating Sunderland on Sunday.

More misery for big-spending Tottenham

Fresh off a $400 million summer spend, Tottenham remains without a win in five league games this season after losing 3-2 at home to Aston Villa.

Johan Manzambi, a 20-year-old attacking midfielder who starred for Switzerland at the World Cup, made his first start for Villa and scored the opening goal against the run of play in first-half-stoppage time. He set up another for fellow new signing Nicolas Jackson, before Emi Buendia’s long-range strike in the 79th sent Villa on its way to a first league win of the campaign.

Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke grabbed late consolations for Spurs — its first league goals this season — but it is now two draws and three defeats in the league for Roberto De Zerbi's team, which also lost in the English League Cup this week.

After back-to-back 17th-place finishes in the 20-team Premier League, Tottenham’s leadership oversaw a huge squad rebuild in the offseason in a show of confidence in De Zerbi.

There’s been no payback so far in terms of results and De Zerbi — a combustible Italian coach — is under growing pressure heading into a long international break.

He said he didn't speak to his players after the game “because I didn’t want to say anything.”

“I was very disappointed, very sad, very frustrated for the performance," De Zerbi said, “because we can’t lose this game in this way.”

To make matters worse for Tottenham, World Cup-winning Spain right back Pedro Porro was forced off midway through the first half with an injury.

Wins for Newcastle and Everton

Fast starts helped Newcastle and Everton claim wins over promoted teams.

Newcastle scored twice in the first seven minutes — through Lewis Hall and Joe Willock — to set up a 2-1 victory over previously unbeaten Hull.

Thierno Barry's 11th-minute goal was enough for Everton to beat Ipswich 1-0.

The league's other promoted club, Coventry, got a first win since coming up, beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 away.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Agentes dijeron que acudieron poco después de las 6 p.m. al área de Northwest 145th Street y 11th Court después de recibir un reporte de una mujer que estaba siendo atacada por varios perros.

Cuando los agentes llegaron, encontraron a la mujer siendo atendida por paramédicos del Departamento de Bomberos y Rescate de Miami-Dade. Los agentes dijeron que también vieron a varios perros en el patio delantero de una casa.

Mientras los agentes intentaban cerrar y asegurar una puerta para contener a los perros, los animales intentaron atacar a uno de los agentes, según funcionarios de MDSO. Las autoridades dijeron que un agente entonces disparó su arma de servicio, provocando que los perros retrocedieran y huyeran en dirección desconocida.

Dijeron que la mujer, quien no ha sido identificada hasta el momento, fue trasladada por paramédicos de MDFR a un hospital cercano en condición crítica.

No estaba claro si alguno de los perros fue alcanzado por los disparos.

Ningún agente ni otros civiles resultaron heridos en el incidente, según los investigadores.

Los agentes no han divulgado información adicional sobre los perros involucrados en el ataque hasta el momento.

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Miami Fire Rescue crews said they responded to the fire at about 1:20 a.m. and extinguished the flames before they could extend into the interior of the home.

No injuries were reported.

Officials did not immediately provide additional information about the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage.

At 1:20 am, MFR responded to a structure fire on Venetian Drive. Crews quickly extinguished the flames containing it to the balcony preventing damage or extension to the interior part of the home. No injuries were reported. #miami #fire #firefighters pic.twitter.com/aB0lp8geOf

— Miami Fire Rescue (@CityofMiamiFire) September 19, 2026

Equipos de Miami Fire Rescue informaron que respondieron al incendio alrededor de la 1:20 a.m. y extinguieron las llamas antes de que pudieran propagarse al interior de la vivienda.

No se reportaron personas heridas.

Las autoridades no proporcionaron de inmediato información adicional sobre la causa del incendio ni la magnitud de los daños.

At 1:20 am, MFR responded to a structure fire on Venetian Drive. Crews quickly extinguished the flames containing it to the balcony preventing damage or extension to the interior part of the home. No injuries were reported. #miami #fire #firefighters pic.twitter.com/aB0lp8geOf

— Miami Fire Rescue (@CityofMiamiFire) September 19, 2026

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Miami Fire Rescue said crews were dispatched at about 1:52 a.m. to the 3700 block of Northwest 23rd Court for a report of a person with an “alleged gunshot wound.”

They said the boy was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in “extremely critical condition.”

Authorities said a 45-year-old woman was also transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital for evaluation. Miami Fire Rescue said she had no reported injuries.

Police closed Northwest 23rd Court near 38th Street as officers and detectives investigated. Several Miami police cruisers could be seen at the scene with emergency lights flashing, while police tape surrounded a home investigator appeared to be focusing on.

Crime scene investigators were also seen entering and leaving the area with equipment. A clear evidence bag containing what appeared to be a gun was also visible at the scene.

Neighbors told Local 10 News they heard multiple gunshots followed by yelling and the sound of people running through the area.

One neighbor said he heard about seven gunshots. Another said security-camera footage captured activity in the area, but he later claimed that footage had been deleted and could not be shared.

The investigation remained active on Saturday morning, and police had not immediately released additional details about what led to the shooting or any information about the boy injured in the shooting.

Miami Fire Rescue informó que los equipos fueron enviados alrededor de la 1:52 a.m. a la cuadra 3700 de Northwest 23rd Court tras un reporte de una persona con una “presunta herida de bala”.

Indicaron que el adolescente fue trasladado al Ryder Trauma Center del Jackson Memorial Hospital en “condición extremadamente crítica”.

Las autoridades informaron que una mujer de 45 años también fue trasladada al Jackson Memorial Hospital para ser evaluada. Miami Fire Rescue indicó que no se reportaron lesiones.

La policía cerró Northwest 23rd Court cerca de 38th Street mientras agentes y detectives investigaban. Varias patrullas de la policía de Miami podían verse en la escena con las luces de emergencia encendidas, mientras cinta policial rodeaba una vivienda en la que los investigadores parecían estar concentrando su atención.

Investigadores de la escena del crimen también fueron vistos entrando y saliendo del área con equipo. En la escena también se observó una bolsa transparente de evidencia que contenía lo que parecía ser un arma.

Vecinos dijeron a Local 10 News que escucharon múltiples disparos seguidos de gritos y el sonido de personas corriendo por el área.

Un vecino dijo que escuchó alrededor de siete disparos. Otro dijo que las imágenes de una cámara de seguridad captaron actividad en el área, pero posteriormente afirmó que esas imágenes habían sido eliminadas y no podían ser compartidas.

La investigación permanecía activa la mañana de este sábado, y la policía no había divulgado de inmediato detalles adicionales sobre lo que provocó la balacera ni información sobre el adolescente herido en la balacera.

The $1 billion institution in Exposition Park near his alma mater the University of Southern California has become a life's work for him and his wife and co-founder, businesswoman Mellody Hobson. Its galaxies of galleries are filled almost entirely with their own collections.

The 82-year-old Lucas has a love of doing things that are supposed to be impossible. The project was first conceived for San Franciso and Chicago and reached the initial design phase in both cities before Lucas was “kicked out,” as he put it. The Los Angeles museum mixes the work of populist painters, commercial illustrators and comic artists with the kind of fine artists more associated with major museums.

Here's a look at five things to make sure to see on a visit.

Slay, princess

In the considerable green space that surrounds the museum, visitors will see statuary that includes a sculpture of Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia in her metal bikini choking Jabba the Hutt to death, a scene from 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.”

Titled “The Hutt Slayer” and commissioned for the space, it's one of a handful of inevitable nods to “Star Wars” in and around the museum, but that faraway galaxy represents just a small fraction of its holdings and initial exhibits.

The inaugural “Star Wars in Motion” exhibit shows vehicles used in the original trilogy and the Lucas-directed prequels. A Naboo starfighter hangs in a more permanent spot in the lobby of its library. A stroll on the paths through the grass will also bring views of statues of Yoda, Grogu, and Natalie Portman's Padmé Amidala.

Banksy, high above the street

The museum is full of paintings from artists like Norman Rockwell who have long been considered the opposite of cool. But it has no lack of younger, hipper content.

In a not-easy-to-find fifth-floor gallery are two walls of stenciled murals from the elusive and apparently recently “unmasked” British street artist Banksy, who worked personally with Lucas on his contributions to the institution.

The work, whose presence was announced in the final weeks before the museum's opening, includes the familiar image of a girl releasing a heart-shaped balloon.

Nearby are activist murals from artists including Judith Baca and Diego Rivera.

Don't forget to look up at the oculus

Architect Ma Yansong's big, billowing building almost seems to hover around and envelop the surrounding structures, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

He has likened it to a cloud, and perhaps its signature spot is an opening in that cloud, an oculus in the center of the dome above the main plaza that looks almost celestial.

Ma told The Associated Press the spot is “almost like a spiritual space.”

“I think architecture is a narrative, is storytelling,” he said. “The plaza, the oculus, the roof, different atmospheres that we provided, I think it's very important that the building become an emotional space for people.”

A rare but familiar Frida Kahlo self-portrait

A Frida Kahlo portrait hung in a prominent spot in the museum's fourth-floor galleries will look as familiar to many visitors as some of the surrounding superhero art. But that belies how special it is. It may alone make a visit worth it for her devotees.

The 1940 “Autorretrato Dedicado al Dr. Eloesser,” or “Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser,” was acquired by the Lucas Museum in 2020, and became one of the few such portraits from the artist held outside her native Mexico.

It shows her with a bloom of flowers in her hair, wearing a thorn necklace with drops of blood, and silver earrings that were a gift from Pablo Picasso, whose work is also in the museum collection.

Soon after the museum acquired it in 2020, the director at the time told the Los Angeles Times she considered it “The Mona Lisa of Mexico.”

The painting is dedicated to Leo Eloesser, a San Francisco Bay Area physician who helped Kahlo with her chronic pain.

A banner across the bottom calls him “mi médico y mi mejor amigo” — my doctor and my best friend.

Dogs playing poker show the museum's high and low cards

In a perfect encapsulation of the museum's merger of high and low art, just a few steps from the Kahlo portrait is Cassius Marcellus Coolidge’s 1894 “Poker Game,” which shows a group of dogs playing cards.

Often considered the height of lowbrow, kitschy barroom art, it's the first in a series of 18 oil paintings on the theme from the American artist. It gets a new, elevated view in a museum that specializes in it.

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

¾ cup diced yellow onion, small diced

3 cups of your favorite tomato sauce

heavy pinch oregano

heavy pinch crushed chili flakes

1 teaspoon salt, if desired

6 eggs

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ bunch basil

We served our eggs with thinly sliced and toasted Italian bread.

In a large skillet over medium-low heat, add the oil. Cook the onion and garlic until soft. Add the tomato sauce, oregano and chili flake. Season if needed.

When hot, crack an egg in a small bowl; using a spoon make a well in the sauce and pour in the cracked egg. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for about 4 minutes or until the whites are just set.

Remove from the heat and top with parmesan cheese and basil.

Serve with toasted bread.

1 good piece of rye or pumpernickel bread, toasted nice and crispy

1 avocado sliced thin, cut ends, then in half then slice

For topping:

toasted sesame seeds

sliced chives

radishes and cucumbers, shaved thin on a Japanese mandolin

green tahini (recipe below)

Place a layer of sliced avocado down on your toast. Top with shaved radish and cucumber. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, sliced chives and a drizzle of green tahini.

Green Tahini

1 cup picked cilantro leaves

1 cup picked Italian parsley leaves

¼ cup thinly sliced chives

¼ cup picked dill

pinch ground cumin, if desired

½ cup tahini

juice of 1 lemon

1 garlic clove

½ teaspoon salt, minced

at least 6-8 tablespoons of water

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Add as much water as needed to achieve a drizzling consistency. Taste for seasoning.

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 cups good quality buttermilk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients. Gently whisk together the ingredients. Do not overmix but don’t leave lumps either.

Heat a waffle iron. Brush with a little oil or use cooking spray. Pour the batter into the waffle iron and spread it out a little to try and prevent overflow. Cook until golden.

Serve with your favorite toppings. (We served our waffles with chocolate ganache, whipped cream and dried raspberries.

Running back Tyler Reed continued his strong season on the ground, breaking loose for a long run deep into Mavericks territory as the Raiders pulled away.

The Aquinas improved to 5-0 with the victory.

High School Spotlight is a chance to showcase the athletes representing schools and communities across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Whether it’s a game-winning touchdown, a big save on the soccer field, a volleyball celebration, a cheerleading routine, a cross-country finish or a memorable moment with teammates, we want to see it.

Click here for more information on how to submit your pictures.

The actions were a clear escalation of Trump’s long-running efforts — in the courts and through administrative action — to restrict news coverage by journalists he finds objectionable, and the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States. Trump had said Friday he would ban all three outlets because of coverage he disliked.

White House reporters from the two cable networks — Betsy Klein of CNN and Akayla Gardner of MS NOW — both went live to report they’d been turned away, their press badges deactivated, when arriving for their jobs at the White House. Soon after, Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also denied entry and had her badge confiscated.

All three news outlets hinted at legal action. “We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights,” Politico Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger said in a statement to the Politico newsroom. A CNN statement said the network “will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account."

And MS NOW said it “intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.”

In his second term, Trump and his administration have upped the ante and punished certain media outlets, both in the courtroom and through regulatory action. Trump has also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms — insulting them in briefings, or in his recent speech at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

The WHCA's president, Jacqui Heinrich, called on the administration to immediately restore the three outlets' access. “The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future,” Heinrich said. “The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably.”

CNN and MS NOW correspondents are turned away

Network correspondents are usually present on the weekends when the president is in Washington or at nearby Camp David. Trump is at the presidential retreat in Maryland this weekend.

MS NOW's Gardner reported that she had walked through two gates successfully, but once she got to where her badge needed to be scanned, an officer told her it was disabled and asked her to hand it over. He said the decision “was above him," she reported. An MS NOW producer was able to get in, but a photographer's badge was also disabled, Gardner said.

Klein, senior White House reporter at CNN, also said her badge had been deactivated. It was confiscated, and she was handed back the clear plastic case. She said she was referred to the White House press office for further information.

Amy Kristin Sanders, a professor at Penn State University and an expert in media law, said it has "become pretty clear that this administration is not interested in playing by traditional First Amendment rules and norms.

“The second Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on press freedom and delegitimize independent journalism far exceed those of any other modern American president," Sanders said. "It is not an exaggeration to say his hostile actions toward news organizations and individual reporters have a chilling effect on freedom of expression around the world.”

CNN media analyst Brian Stelter called the move “a direct threat to press freedom in the United States.”

“It’s so much bigger than CNN,” Stelter said. “This is a free speech test in America.”

Trump calls these and other outlets ‘fake news’

The president wrote on his social media site Friday that effective immediately, “I am banning” CNN, MS NOW and Politico “from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Minutes later, speaking at an event in the Oval Office, Trump was asked to explain his statement.

“Because they’re fake news,” he said. “You get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN, it’s just fake. That’s why their ratings are no good. When you look at MS NOW … , it’s fake news.”

“And when you look at Politico ... the stories they wrote are fake. So there’s a lot of news and there may be others to join them, and maybe they can get better,” he said. “But our country has to have honest news.”

The move follows the president’s decision last year to bar Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other events in retaliation for the news outlet’s decision not to follow his lead in changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which lies partially in Mexican and other waters. The AP said that it would note when appropriate that Trump had ordered it renamed the “Gulf of America.”

The AP filed suit and the case is ongoing. Since returning to office, Trump has pursued other legal action against a variety of different outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC. His administration is also involved in a long-simmering confrontation involving ABC over renewal of its broadcast licenses.

The AP said Saturday it supported the news organizations banned this week. In a statement, the news cooperative said: “No news organization — or person — should be retaliated against by the government over the words they use.”

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Associated Press journalist Mike Householder contributed.

Here is some of the key vocabulary, decoded.

For starters ...

UNGA: Shorthand (often pronounced “UN'-gah”) for the U.N. General Assembly's “High-level Week,” when presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other top leaders of all 193 U.N. member countries are invited to speak to the world and each other. New Yorkers sometimes just groan “General Assembly” to describe what many experience as a week of epic traffic, but the assembly isn't just this meeting. It's a body that discusses many global issues and votes on resolutions throughout the year.

GENERAL DEBATE: The centerpiece of the week, it gives each country's leader (or a designee) the microphone for a state-of-the-world speech. This year's theme is “restoring trust, managing transformation" and ensuring the 81-year-old United Nations “delivers for all.” But speakers often opine on the planet's biggest issues and hot spots, spotlight domestic accomplishments and needs, air grievances and try to exude statesmanship. While the “debate” is more a series of speeches than an interactive discussion, rebuttals are allowed at the end of each long day, and some embittered neighbor nations routinely go multiple rounds.

BILATERAL (or “bilat,” for short): Private meetings between high-ranking officials of two countries. Many UNGA veterans say the gathering's real value lies in these tête-à-têtes and other personal, off-camera encounters among decision-makers.

MINISTERIAL: Applies to meetings of cabinet-level officials, such as foreign ministers, from different countries.

SECURITY COUNCIL: The U.N.'s most powerful component, charged with maintaining international peace and security. The 15-member council can enact binding (though sometimes ignored) resolutions, impose sanctions and deploy peacekeeping troops. While this week is the General Assembly's show, the council generally also holds a high-wattage meeting or two.

Fun with numbers!

P5: The Security Council's five permanent members with veto power. Under a structure set up in 1945, they are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

E10: The Security Council's 10 elected, nonpermanent members. The General Assembly elects them for two-year terms in seats allocated by region. Calls for council reform are an UNGA staple. One major complaint is the lack of permanent members from Africa and the Latin America-Caribbean region, though some other nations also have angled for years for a permanent presence.

G77: Stands for the “Group of 77 and China,” a developing-countries interest group that formed within the U.N. in 1964. Despite its name, it actually now has 134 members.

COP31: A major U.N. climate conference coming up in November in Antalya, Turkey.

1.5 DEGREES: A crucial climate threshold. Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, countries agreed to work to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial times. The goal has long seemed elusive, and the U.N. acknowledged this month that the planet will surpass that threshold in the next few years.

Initial here

SDGs: The U.N.'s “ sustainable development goals,” which range from combating climate change to eliminating hunger and poverty to achieving gender equality. The U.N.'s member countries unanimously adopted the goals in 2015 as a 15-year action plan, but the pace is seriously lagging.

SIDS: At the U.N., this stands for some 39 “small island developing states.” UNGA is an important platform for them to elevate concerns such as climate change and the existential threat they face from projections of rising seas and intensifying storms, often a painfully timely subject at a meeting that falls in the thick of the Atlantic hurricane season.

BRICS: A developing-economies coalition that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and has grown to 11 countries. There are many international groups centered around regional, economic, defense or other ties, but BRICS nations boast about half the world’s population and a lot of its resources and economic activity. The group has been a venue for China and Russia to project influence and work to counter the West. It also is struggling with internal divisions.

NGO: “Nongovernmental organization,” such as an advocacy group, charitable foundation or nonprofit relief organization.

LDCs: Very poor nations that are known at the U.N. as “ least-developed countries.” Forty-four nations currently meet the criteria, which include a gross national income of $1,088 or less per person per year.

IFIs: International financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which were established at a 1944 U.N. conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Critics see the Bretton Woods duo as sclerotic entities that have badly failed poor and developing countries. The institutions have defended their work while saying they are trying to evolve.

Phrasebook

MULTILATERALISM: Global or near-global partnership that is united and collectively develops enduring rules and shared norms. The idea undergirds the U.N. itself, though many warn it's under threat.

MULTIPOLAR: A scenario in which there are several different and sometimes competing centers of power, not a single superpower or two.

MULTISTAKEHOLDER: An approach to big projects and problem-solving that incorporates not only governments but businesses, NGOs and possibly others. Fans see this concept as key to the future of world cooperation. But some progressive groups view it as a sell-out to big corporations and other powers that be.

TWO-STATE SOLUTION: A concept for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by establishing an independent Palestinian nation living in peace alongside Israel. The framework was set down in the 1993 Oslo Accords and embraced by the U.N., but progress toward implementing it stalled long before the recent Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal.

SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION: Collaboration among countries, organizations and people in what is known as the Global South. The term refers to developing nations that are largely, though not exclusively, in the Southern Hemisphere and generally want a bigger say in their own development and in international affairs.

UNILATERAL COERCIVE MEASURES: A usually critical way of describing sanctions imposed by one country in hopes of spurring some action in another.

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Deputies said they responded shortly after 6 p.m. to the area of Northwest 145th Street and 11th Court in the Mitchell Lake area after receiving a report of a woman being attacked by at least four dogs.

When deputies arrived, they found the woman being treated by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue medics. Deputies said they also saw multiple dogs in the front yard of a home.

Surveillance video obtained by Local 10 on Friday shows the woman getting out of a vehicle and walking away before a group of dogs runs toward her. The dogs appear to attack the woman and drag her to the ground.

As deputies attempted to close and secure a gate to contain the dogs, the animals tried to attack one of the deputies, according to MDSO officials. Authorities said a deputy then fired their service weapon, causing the dogs to retreat and flee in an unknown direction.

They said the woman, who has not been identified at this time, was transported by MDFR medics to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

It was unclear whether any of the dogs were struck by gunfire.

A woman who did not want to be identified or show her face told Local 10 the dogs belong to her ex-husband and have been an ongoing concern. She said she had previously tried to create barriers to keep the dogs from escaping and had contacted animal control about the animals.

A neighbor who helped during Thursday’s attack described the incident as “terrifying.”

The woman said she used wires, cables and anything else she could find to get the dogs to leave. She also said she tried to get an animal services organization to take in the dogs but was told it was full and could not accept any more animals.

“It’s very sad,” she said. “It broke my heart because before I tried to call shelter to come pick up the dog, but they don’t want to come pick up the dog.”

Fany Shogreen, who lives nearby that the dogs involved in the attack have “been a problem for a month.”

“Those dogs are killers,” she said. “I don’t know if they’re hiding here (or) they’re still on the loose.”

A Miami-Dade Animal Services spokesperson told Local 10 News that the agency has one dog in its custody and is searching for three others believed to have been involved in the attack. It was unclear whether any charges had been filed or whether any would be filed.

No deputies or other civilians were injured in the incident, according to investigators.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, scores of online health services have launched with the promise of quick, convenient access to drugs for ADHD, sexual dysfunction, anxiety, weight loss and more.

Increasingly, though, government regulators are accusing these companies of deceptive, unethical business practices, including disclosing their customers’ health data, signing them up for hard-to-cancel subscriptions and bypassing real-time consultations with doctors.

The Federal Trade Commission’s latest lawsuit alleges that telehealth pioneer Hims & Hers engaged in all of those tactics, running afoul of U.S. consumer protection laws.

Hims has disputed the government's claims, calling them “an effort to generate headlines at our expense.”

In recent years, FTC officials have filed similar cases against more than a half-dozen telehealth companies, including online therapy provider BetterHelp and pharmacy discount service GoodRx. In both cases, regulators said the companies shared users' health data with online platforms such as Meta and Google, without getting permission.

Experts say part of the problem is that federal laws that govern the handling of health information generally don’t apply to telehealth companies.

“There’s an entire universe of companies collecting huge amounts of consumer health data every day that aren’t covered by our current health sector-specific laws,” said Andrew Crawford, an attorney with the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology.

Here are some things to know before signing up for a telehealth service:

Don’t expect to actually talk to a physician

Nearly all telehealth visits begin with a questionnaire in which users provide details about their medical history and possible medications they’re interested in.

According to the FTC’s lawsuit, Hims customers were automatically enrolled and billed for recurring prescriptions with “virtually no opportunity to review the provider’s recommended treatment.”

Researchers have documented similar practices across the industry, even for injectable weight-loss drugs that typically require a physical exam and other precautions before beginning treatment.

A recent analysis of nearly 50 telehealth companies selling GLP-1 drugs found that less than a third actually required any real-time video or audio consultation with a physician. In some cases, the prescriptions were approved within minutes.

“What we saw overwhelmingly was that it was incredibly easy to get access to the GLP-1s,” said Dr. Reshma Ramachandran of Yale University, who led the study. “Most of the time, the prescription was automatically sent, without even an opportunity to stop the dispensing.”

The lack of a real-time conversation means many patients aren’t getting the type of care recommended by medical societies that prescribe GLP-1s, including discussions about weight-loss goals, past efforts and eating disorders.

Only a little more than half the websites had a question about eating disorders — which GLP-1 drugs can induce or worsen — on their intake questionnaires, the researchers found.

Your data may be shared with advertisers, social media companies and others

Americans often assume that any personal health information they share is protected by HIPAA, the federal privacy law that governs the handling of medical information. But the law generally only applies to specific types of health businesses, including medical offices, hospitals and insurers, not telehealth companies offering prescriptions, counseling, DNA tests and other online services.

Privacy experts say that legal gap is one reason companies continue to disclose sensitive health information to advertisers and search engines.

“There isn’t a clear federal law saying: ‘Don’t do this,’” said Justin Brookman, Consumer Reports' director of technology policy. “There’s just a body of soft law and settled cases with the FTC that many companies probably aren’t even aware of.”

Because HIPAA does not cover every direct-to-consumer health platform, the FTC has generally used its broader authority to take action against “fraudulent, deceptive or unethical business methods.” In practice, that means showing that telehealth companies disclosed their customers' health information after initially saying they wouldn't.

Hims told customers that its platform offered a “100% online, private and secure” means of sharing information with the company's medical professionals, according to the FTC complaint. But instead the company shared the data with Meta and other online platforms, the FTC alleges.

Still, experts say the penalties available to regulators are limited. In most cases, companies sign a legal agreement stating that they'll stop the practices cited by regulators.

Lawmakers in California, Connecticut, Maryland and other states have passed new online privacy laws that include special protections for health information. But there's been little enforcement against telehealth companies that break those rules.

Online privacy tools offer a bit of protection

For now, privacy experts recommend using ad blockers and private web browsers — sometimes called “incognito” windows — when logging onto telehealth websites. Those tools can make it harder for companies to track your location, online history and other personal information.

It's also a good idea to read any user agreements to get a sense of how the company plans to use your personal data, said Crawford. Some telehealth sites, for example, explicitly state in their privacy policies that they have the right to sell data about users' sex lives.

The only surefire way to protect your information may simply be to decline the terms of service, usually one of the first steps required before accessing telehealth.

“The system we have now overly burdens consumers to do a ton of work in terms of understanding how each piece of technology collecting their personal data is going to handle it,” he said. “But even if you do all that work, you often have little agency.”

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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.

But the 60-year-old medical writer from the Philadelphia suburbs has consistently backed her party's congressman, five-term Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.

Until now.

This year, Ryan is so fed up with Trump and his grip on Congress that she is planning to vote in November for Fitzpatrick's Democratic opponent in the 1st Congressional District, Bob Harvie, a twice countywide elected commissioner who is a former social studies teacher.

Even though Fitzpatrick has pitched himself as a voice of reason in Washington, Ryan said that “I don't see it happening.”

Defections like this one could sink Fitzpatrick’s reelection chances and cost Republicans their narrow U.S. House majority. As one of the few Republicans representing a congressional district won by Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race two years ago, Fitzpatrick has done as much as any House Republican to distance himself from Trump: Fitzpatrick voted against Trump's tariffs, his signature tax legislation and his power to wage war against Iran without congressional approval. The lawmaker even skipped Trump’s recent midterm convention in Dallas.

But that may not be enough to overcome the collateral damage of the president’s sagging approval rating and soaring fuel prices because of the war.

Fitzpatrick, speaking briefly after a Sept. 11 memorial in his district, said he understands this year's political challenges and always considers what is best for his constituents with every vote.

“That’s the job,” he said. Representatives for Fitzpatrick did not respond to requests for a more complete interview.

Democrats have tried for years to defeat Fitzpatrick

Harvie describes the race and his decision to run in almost existential terms.

“The lack of trust in our government, the lack of trust in each other and seeing each other as enemies based just on, you know, the color of your skin, the religion you practice, who you voted for,” he said in an interview this summer. “I worry about just the basic foundations of this nation.”

Fitzpatrick has consistently survived challenges in his politically mixed district. He won by 13 percentage points in 2024 when Harris won by less than a single point in the district. In 2022, he won by about 10 points when Democrats were elected to the U.S. Senate and governorship. In 2020, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won the district by about 5 points while Fitzpatrick carried it by about 13 points.

“Every two years Democrats in Washington label Congressman Fitzpatrick as vulnerable. Every two years he wins anyway,” said Robert Speel, an associate professor of political science at the Penn State campus in Erie. “It’s, to some extent, possibly like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and failing each time.”

Harvie pointed to his deep roots in the district as a basis for why he could be different from previous Democrats who ran against Fitzpatrick.

“I’m not somebody who needs to be reintroduced or introduced to people of this district. And that’s very, very different than any race he’s ever run before,” he said.

Jean Dolan, 61, is a Democratic voter from Newtown who has never backed Fitzpatrick and does not plan to this year. She has been frustrated with Trump's immigration crackdown and she worries about how anti-vaccine sentiment in his administration could affect public health. As she sees it, Fitzpatrick is not independent enough from his party's leaders.

“He's a nice guy. I know people like him a lot in the community,” she said. But, she added, “you have to serve everyone in your district."

Fitzpatrick has been willing to criticize Trump

Fitzpatrick graduated with an MBA and a law degree and worked as a special agent for the FBI and as an assistant U.S. attorney. He also worked in private practice as a lawyer and accountant before running for the seat previously held by his brother, Mike Fitzpatrick, who died of cancer in 2020.

Jim Rachau, a 45-year-old photographer from Doylestown, is a registered independent who plans to vote for Fitzpatrick again this year. Rachau is not thrilled with the war or the economy, but said Fitzpatrick has earned his support with his prior public service as an FBI agent.

“You would think serving for the public good, he would have their best interest at heart,” Rachau said.

In Congress, Fitzpatrick has not shied away from disagreeing with Trump. He criticized the president, for example, in April when Trump called Pope Leo XIV “weak,” and captive to the “Radical Left."

“There’s so many angry voices out there. We all know that's the case,” Fitzpatrick said in an episode of a podcast launched this year with U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who represents a battleground district in New York. “People are sick and tired of the noise. They’re sick and tired of elected officials not being focused on the kitchen table issues that people really care about.”

Fitzpatrick also posts online regularly about meeting with groups across the district. He recently showed up to a picket line with striking sheet metal workers; he dropped by a local Catholic church's parish picnic; and he stopped at a community college hosting a maternity coalition.

Fitzpatrick spends millions on attack ads against Harvie

Fitzpatrick has also unleashed a wave of spending in the race already, disbursing nearly $5 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Negative attack ads against Harvie have mushroomed. Many claim Harvie is under FBI investigation, which the Democrat denies. He has filed a federal defamation lawsuit against a super PAC running some of the ads.

According to the suit, local media reported in 2020 with few details that the FBI was investigating local government and that Harvie was called to testify as a witness in the case. His attorneys say he has never been charged.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

No debate has been scheduled between Fitzpatrick and Harvie, but the men appeared at the same Sept. 11 memorial, standing on opposite sides of the speaker’s lectern. They did not appear to speak to each other.

Ryan, the medical writer from the Philadelphia suburbs, said she is thinking less about Fitzpatrick and more about how Republicans in Congress and their reluctance to buck the president.

“Incumbents just feel they can’t cross that line. If they do, they’re not going to get reelected," she said. But she acknowledged that may not matter in the end. "They might not get reelected anyway.”

The shortfalls are setting off alarms among Democratic strategists, who are betting on high turnout and robust voter protection efforts to boost the party's chances this fall. They are worried that many grassroots groups will not be able to mount effective registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, much less protect against the possibility of election interference from the Republican administration.

America Votes, a coordinating hub for more than 400 progressive groups, has fallen “well below” the level of funding it had during the 2022 midterms, Daria Dawson, America Votes’ executive director, said in a statement to The Associated Press. America Votes has acted as a nerve center for the voter mobilization efforts of groups such as the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, the League of Conservation Voters, the AFL-CIO and SEIU labor unions, as well as local groups focused on racial justice, climate and civil liberties.

“There is still time to reach voters and bring them into this election, but we are no longer talking about a future opportunity,” Dawson said. "The window to engage them is open now, and it is narrowing every day.”

‘Surrender, not strategy,’ a Democratic operative says

Wealthy donors and philanthropic groups have reduced their support of many liberal causes since the 2024 presidential election. That pullback has been especially stark for voting groups geared toward engaging communities of color.

While multiple organizers said some funders had expressed an interest in adopting different strategies, racial justice organizers have felt that as a betrayal.

A retreat in donor support is “handcuffing our ability to persuade our communities to vote in a year where there is no Voting Rights Act,” said Esosa Osa, a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Onyx Impact, a research group focused on combating misinformation in Black communities.

The Supreme Court this year knocked out one of the last remaining pillars of that landmark 1965 law, essentially gutting it.

“We are watching surrender, not strategy,” Osa said.

A July memo circulated among major Democratic fundraisers warned that “the organizations that registered and persuaded millions of voters to participate in the 2018 and 2022 midterms are drastically underfunded. They have raised nearly 40% less than they had at this point in those cycles.”

It further warned that funding voter mobilization groups was especially critical “given that the Democratic brand is underperforming on generic ballot tests relative to historical comparisons and the president’s approval ratings.”

The shortfalls have led organizations focused on engaging and mobilizing key voting groups to scale back operations and staffing over the last year. That has included programs aimed at registering and mobilizing lower-propensity voters, voters of color, and rural and younger voters.

The Democratic National Committee, which has faced its own funding challenges, has consolidated voter engagement efforts this year partly in response to the ecosystem's past shortcomings. The DNC in a statement said it was making “historic investments” in its organizing but did not address the weaknesses among allied groups.

“We are expanding our voter protection infrastructure to defend Americans’ sacred right to vote, hold Trump and Republicans accountable in court, and register and mobilize voters across the country,” said Angelo Fernández Hernández, a DNC spokesperson.

Shifting donor priorities affect voter turnout groups

The reasons for the troubled funding landscape are varied and at times unclear, according to nearly two dozen fundraisers and organizers who spoke with the AP. Some donors, still disappointed with the Democratic Party and some of its allies following the 2024 presidential election, have closed their pocketbooks to liberal causes entirely.

While a small group of liberal megadonors has continued to bankroll progressive causes, most focus their support on liberal legal organizations that have taken the Trump administration to court, rather than political or voter engagement groups.

Others, including major philanthropic institutions, have pulled back out of fear of retribution that giving to political or racial justice causes could draw the administration's ire. Organizers who have engaged with potential donors said the administration’s targeting of political opponents and diversity initiatives seems to have put a chill on fundraising for their causes.

Tameka Ramsey-Brown, founding director of the Michigan Coalition on Black Civic Participation, said multiple donors since the 2024 election had asked whether her group could remove the word “Black” from its name or find financial conduits to mask the source of donations for fear of retribution from the administration.

“Just being Black in this country again has become a bad word, and it has made it that much more difficult just to raise money because funders don’t want the added pressure and stress or attacks on them by funding us,” she said.

Smaller budgets force shifting strategies

Many of the nonprofit groups that traditionally have conducted the registration, voter education and organizing say they are trying to adapt to their new, leaner reality.

Vamos a Votar, an initiative of the largest civil rights and advocacy groups focused on Latino communities, has had to readjust its ambitions this year due to a lack of investment from funders.

“This is shaping up to be a cycle where investments haven't gone to the Black and brown communities that will ultimately decide this election,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a member of the initiative.

In a September pitch circulated among donors, the coalition said it aimed to invest $27.5 million in voter engagement and persuasion efforts this year, but still required $5.4 million from donors to fund voter turnout efforts across 10 states and 17 House districts. Even that investment reflected reduced ambitions from previous pitches to donors early this year.

“It has been extremely disappointing to see that progressive donors are not meeting the moment," said Héctor Sánchez Barba, the CEO of Mi Familia Vota, one of the affiliated organizations. “We are not waiting. We are always on the front lines for our democracy and our communities.”

To counter the funding cutbacks, some groups have begun relying more heavily on artificial intelligence to provide voter registration guides, share information in multiple languages and track potential election issues. Some groups have increased their partnerships with ride-sharing companies to provide free rides to polling places instead of bus shuttles.

With fewer in-person organizers, some groups are also focusing on social media and partnering with liberal content creators to boost their messages.

“In my more than 30 years of organizing, it has never been this bad to raise money to support Black causes of any kind,” said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, a nonpartisan civil rights group. “We're going to do the work, our state affiliates are doing all that is possible. ... But the bottom line is that those who believe that democracy matters should make sure they fund the work.”

This pair of lawsuits are the first to be filed after the recent passage of laws by California and Congress, which strengthen U.S.-based claims to artwork that were forcibly taken from Jewish families during World War II.

One lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair Daniel Gryczman against Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena for the return of “Adam and Eve.” These are two life-size oil-on-panel masterpieces created by Lucas Carnach the Elder in 1530.

The other lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles the same day by the daughters of the late Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and California-based animator who was held in Auschwitz. It demanded the return of watercolors of fellow prisoners that the artist was forced to paint for Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician who had earned the nickname the “Angel of Death.”

Spokespersons for both museums say the museums legally hold titles to the works, and intend to continue displaying them to the public. The lawsuits don’t specify the monetary value of the paintings.

Artworks pit Jewish families against museums

The issue of Nazi-looted art is an emotional, legally and ethically charged topic that pits Jewish families that have suffered inter-generational trauma against museums that say they are trying to preserve a painful, yet important, chapter of history. Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime orchestrated the largest art theft in world history, seizing over 600,000 works of art across Europe from Jewish families, collectors and museums. Decades later, many of these masterpieces reside in prominent museums around the world, making the push for their recovery more complex than a simple property dispute.

Rabbi Noah Farkas is president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, the organization to which Marei von Saher, sole heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, has signed over her rights. The paintings were seized from Goudstikker's collection by Hermann Goring, Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command and changed a number of hands before being sold in the 1960s to the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, which was renamed Norton Simon Museum in honor of its benefactor.

Farkas said the federation plans to use most of the net proceeds from the recovered art to provide much-needed help to the about 2,500 Holocaust survivors living in the Los Angeles area.

“These are incredibly beautiful European masterpieces stolen from a Jewish family to enrich the Nazi party and fund the war and death machine against the people,” he said. “It's our honor to take on this role on behalf of the community and use most of the proceeds to help these elderly survivors live out the last years of their lives in dignity, comfort and peace – something their family members were denied during the Holocaust.”

Marei von Saher, in a statement, said she is grateful to the Jewish organization for taking up her family’s cause.

“This effort represents a meaningful step toward justice for Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi era atrocities,” she said.

New legislation gives lawsuits second wind

California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, D-Woodland Hills, wrote Assembly Bill 2867, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2024, which requires that the state law must apply in lawsuits brought by California residents or their heirs to recover art seized during the Holocaust or during other acts of persecution. Gabriel, who co-chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, introduced the legislation in response to a federal court ruling, which allowed the state-owned Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid to keep a multimillion-dollar Camille Pissarro impressionist masterpiece.

That painting had been taken by the Nazis from the Cassirer family in 1939. This case, which prompted this new law, is expected to be heard in federal court in California next month.

Gabriel said it’s time for museums to “do some deep introspection on whether they want to be on the right side of history.”

Museums want to preserve paintings for posterity

Norton Simon Museum released a statement pointing out that a federal court in 2018 unanimously determined that the museum had proper title to the Cranach paintings. In May 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to get involved in the case, leaving in place lower court rulings.

They said the Cranach paintings, which originally belonged to the Stroganoff family, were put up for sale in 1931 by the Soviet Union in an illicit auction in Berlin where they were purchased by Goudstikker. After a complicated journey, the paintings were sold to the museum by a Stroganoff family descendant. The museum later restored and preserved the pieces.

“For nearly 50 years, they have been on view at the Norton Simon Museum and will continue to be accessible to the public for years to come,” the statement said.

Pawel Sawicki, a spokesperson for the Auschwitz Memorial, said the watercolors of Roma victims that Gottliebova Babbitt was forced to paint by Mengele to document his horrendous experiments and racial research, “must remain in the Memorial” to document the man's crimes. He said these paintings must not be mischaracterized as “Nazi-looted art” because Gottliebova Babbitt painted them against her will as a prisoner and therefore didn’t have ownership of the watercolors.

While he understands the family’s sentiments, Sawicki said the portraits of Roma and Sinti victims are among the few remaining documents of Mengele’s criminal experiments and should be treated as unique documents related to the history of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

“While fully respecting the rights of people who created some of the documents here, we are of the opinion that any loss in the collections of the Memorial will constitute irreparable harm,” he said. “ … The loss of even the smallest part of the documentation is an irreparable loss and blemish on the memory of the victims of Auschwitz.”

Advocates hope cases will now be heard on their merit

Joel Greenberg, founder of Art Ashes, a Philadelphia-area nonprofit that helps Jewish families track down and recover Nazi-looted art, said in addition to the California law, President Donald Trump signed into law and updated the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025. This new law permanently eliminated the expiration date to allow Holocaust survivors and their heirs to indefinitely pursue the recovery of these works of art.

Greenberg said the new federal law gave families the right to reclaim their art for up to six years from the time they find out in whose possession they are.

“These new laws mean that technical defenses will no longer stick in court,” he said. “Every case will be heard on its merits.”

He said the new legislation also ensures that these Jewish families have their day in court and a fair process to determine ownership of the stolen art.

“It will make sure the stories of what happened to European Jewry is not lost and forgotten,” he said. “The art can still be returned to the rightful owner.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Facing a packed schedule, competition in basketball started on Sept. 10 — more than a week ago. The semifinals in men's basketball were on Friday, a day before the official opening.

Soccer has been going on for almost as long. The Summer Olympics typically start a few days early, but this multi-sport event pushes the envelope.

Welcome to the Asian Games, which feature at least 11,000 athletes. The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris had about 10,700. The last Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in 2023 had roughly 12,000.

Japanese organizers have yet to release an official athlete total from the 45 countries and regions contesting 43 sports. But it seems likely to reach the total in China of three years ago. Maybe more with a few new sports added.

The games feature the old-standby Olympic disciplines like track and field, swimming and soccer. But there are some Asian specialties, too: kurash, kabaddi, and sepaktakraw to name three.

Kurash is an ancient form of wrestling that originated in Uzbekistan. Kabaddi looks like a game of team tag with a physical edge. And sepaktakraw is a mix of volleyball and soccer.

Games organizers have also added mixed martial arts, padel and teqball to the menu — with esports also on the schedule — hence the time crunch.

Host Japan has the largest delegation with 933 athletes and China came with just over 800. China won 201 gold medals in the last games, followed by Japan (52) and South Korea (42). That pattern is expected to be repeated.

The usual protocol and pomp led by Japan's royal family

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako headed the list of dignitaries. The president of the Olympic Council of Asia, Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, elected earlier this year, was alongside.

“Tonight the eyes of Asia, and much of the world, turn to Japan,” Sheikh Joaan said in his address, which was followed by the Emperor officially opening the games.

The president of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry, was also present.

The theme of the opening ceremony was the “Harmonic Heart Beat,” and the stage on the infield at the Nagoya City Stadium was in the shape of a large heart.

Afghanistan led off the traditional parade of athletes with Japan coming in last and, of course, receiving thunderous applause.

Getting started should be a relief for organizers

The Asian Games have been dotted with controversies in the leadup to the opening ceremony. This also happens in the rush to get ready for most Olympics.

First, there’s the issue of housing for athletes. Japanese organizers decided against building a dedicated athletes village. They opted instead to house an estimated 17,000 athletes and officials on a massive cruise ship, in hotels, and in wooden containers converted to lodging.

Japan officially spent $13 billion on the Tokyo Olympics, delayed until 2021 by the pandemic. A government audit suggested the figure was likely twice that large. So lavish spending was out this time.

Athletes have complained the beds and rooms are too small, some have reported the wooden huts have leaks, and logistics could be an issue with venues spread out around Nagoya.

This is Japan’s third largest metropolitan area with a population of about 9.5 million and located about 200 miles (350 kilometers) south of Tokyo.

Then the inevitable politics. On Friday, the day before the official opening, two incidents made headlines.

Organizers played the North Korean national anthem at a field hockey game between South Korea and Bangladesh. South Korea players stood at attention, bewildered the North Korean anthem was playing.

Many South Koreans are, in fact, unfamiliar with North Korea's anthem and did not know what they were hearing.

At about the same time, Taiwanese sports minister Lee Yang — a two-time Olympic gold medalist in badminton — was temporarily barred from a welcoming ceremony involving Taiwan, and other countries including North Korea, Palestine and India.

The Olympic Council of Asia attributed it to a misunderstanding but did not entirely clarify. Yang was eventually allowed to participate.

Taiwan competes in the Asian Games and the Olympics under the name of Chinese Taipei and without their flag due to China’s claim on the island off its east coast.

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See full AP coverage of Asian sports here

Police said Amiyah Brennan was last seen at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday near Northwest 211th Street and 32nd Avenue, police said. They said she was traveling on foot at the time.

Investigators said Amiyah is 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs around 125 pounds. She has black hair, brown eyes and was last seen wearing a peach tank top, black pajama pants with pink print and possibly carrying a red backpack.

They said Amiyah does not have a reported mental illness.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to contact the Miami Gardens Police Department at 305-474-6473 or Detective E. Rhymer at 305-474-2100.

Mayor Dominik Krause put the first keg on tap with only two strokes and the traditional cry of “O’zapft is” — or “It's been tapped.”

Thousands of revelers — the women dressed in Bavarian dirndls, the men in lederhosen — stormed the beer tents on Munich's Theresienwiese fairground in the morning to get a good spot on the benches. To the sounds of brass music and the taste of freshly tapped beer, they soon started singing, dancing and swaying.

Besides beer, pretzels, pork roast and sausages were also sought-after delicacies.

Over the course of 16 days, through Oct. 4, some 6 million visitors are expected at the Oktoberfest. The majority of them come from Munich and southern Germany. However, millions of guests also travel from other parts of Germany and from around the world.

German authorities tightened security measures, after the festival last year had to close temporarily due to overcrowding. AI-powered cameras were installed for this year's fest to detect large crowds early on, the German news agency dpa reported.

A ban on knives and flying objects — especially drones — was also in effect. There are entry checks, large bags are prohibited — and smoking marijuana is not allowed. About 600 police officers are on duty around the festival in addition to Bavarian riot police, specialized pickpocket investigators, and international task forces from eight countries, dpa reported.

Revelers did not seem intimidated by the security precautions.

Ava Laboncher, a visitor from the United States, was excited to be part of the celebrations. “I love it, I think the vibes are super high, it’s amazing," she said.

Ben Dawson, from New Zealand, promised to drink lots of beer “and probably get hammered,” and “do it again tomorrow.”

An upper-air low-pressure system over the eastern Gulf will pull in tropical moisture and add several more inches of rain on top of the 4 to 7 inches we’ve already seen in some spots over the past week.

This is great news for our drought conditions. However, your outdoor plans might be impacted, especially later in the day.

Little change is expected through next week, so keep the umbrellas handy and be prepared for even more rain, which could push our totals to around 15 inches for the month in some spots.

There’s no drier air in sight, although some computer models hint at our first cold front of the season by next weekend.

Despite the fact that autumn arrives Tuesday, we’ll see highs near 90 degrees through the next seven days, so our South Florida fall will have to wait a while longer.

Elian Flores and his 11-year-old brother, Benji, were playing scientists in a bathroom at their home when they mixed several household items.

The brothers mixed hand sanitizer, soap and rubbing alcohol. Then, a lighter came into the picture.

Seconds later, Elian’s shirt caught fire.

The frantic 911 call came into a nearby fire station, and emergency responders headed to the boy’s home. They were only a couple of minutes away.

Elian was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, nearly two hours away.

Family members surrounded him with love and prayers as he was discharged from Ryder.

His family said Elian was covered in blisters after the fire, including on his face and body.

“It was a lot,” his brother Donnie Flores said. “Like every day he had to go through the cleaning, changing of bandages.”

The fire caused burns to Elian’s face, chest, right arm and knee.

As his younger brother was on fire, Donnie Flores knew to get him into the shower as quickly as possible.

Now, Elian is back home and still finding ways to thank the people supporting him.

“Thank you for the love and support,” he said from his hospital room.

His family has started a GoFundMe to help with his recovery, including bandages, medicine and treatment for his burns.

Elian is expected to make a full recovery, though he has a lot of physical therapy ahead.

His death was announced on Saturday by Inter, the soccer club where he spent his entire 17-year playing career. No cause of death was given but Mazzola had been suffering from a long, unspecified illness.

“FC Internazionale Milano, its President Giuseppe Marotta, Vice President Javier Zanetti, head coach Cristian Chivu and his staff, the players, and everyone at Inter mourn with profound sorrow the passing of Sandro Mazzola, a Nerazzurri and world football legend,” Inter said in an emotional statement.

“Sandro Mazzola was one of the greatest footballers in history. Not only in the history of the Nerazzurri.”

An icon, a captain, and a champion

A product of the Inter youth academy, Mazzola made his Serie A debut as a teenager in 1961, against Juventus, scoring his team’s only goal in a 9–1 rout.

Mazzola, an attacking midfielder or second striker, went on to net 158 goals in 565 matches for Inter, helping the Nerazzurri to four Serie A titles and two European Cups.

He also won the European Championship with Italy in 1968. Mazzola, who scored 22 goals in 70 matches for the Azzurri, played in three World Cups, reaching the final with Italy in 1970.

Mazzola was runner-up in the 1971 Ballon d’Or, behind soccer great Johan Cruyff.

“The passing of Sandro Mazzola is a source of deep sorrow for me and for all of Italian soccer," said Giovanni Malagò, president of the Italian soccer federation. "We have lost a legend, one of the figures who helped make our soccer great on the global stage.

“Sandro was an icon, a captain, and a champion who defined an era and became part of our collective memory.”

Worthy of his father's name

Mazzola was the son of another iconic player, Valentino Mazzola, who died in the Superga air disaster along with the whole ‘Grande Torino’ team in 1949, when Sandro was 6 years old.

“He was Valentino’s son — a man who managed to turn a monumental surname into an equally magnificent legacy, built on talent, personality, courage, and extraordinary humanity,” Malagò said.

"I like to think that he has finally reunited with his father and with those champions alongside whom he wrote one of the finest chapters in the history of Italian soccer.”

After Mazzola scored two goals to help Inter beat Real Madrid 3-1 in the 1964 European final, Real Madrid star Ferenc Puskás told him “You are worthy of your father Valentino" as the duo swapped shirts.

Mazzola was top scorer in the competition that season, and top scorer in Serie A in the following season.

Italian Premier pays tribute

After retiring in 1977, Mazzola held an executive position at Inter and then went on to become the team's sporting director from 1995 to 1999. He was a regular visitor to Inter's headquarters and training grounds after leaving the club.

Mazzola was also a TV sports commentator, including the 1982 World Cup final and the 2006 edition, both won by Italy.

Among the tributes, AC Milan called Mazzola “a historic and loyal rival, a legend of Inter and the national team, a protagonist in the history of Italian soccer.”

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni paid tribute to Mazzola on social media.

“With the passing of Sandro Mazzola, we lose a great champion and one of the most beloved figures in the history of Italian soccer,” she wrote.

"Legend of Inter and the Azzurri, European champions in 1968, he brought joy and passion to generations of Italians, leaving an indelible mark on our nation ... To his family, to all his loved ones, and to the fans, my most heartfelt condolences."

‘The star with the moustache’

Mazzola's funeral will take place on Monday, at the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, the same church where the funeral of Milan and Italy soccer star Franco Baresi took place last month.

Inter ended its statement by describing how Mazzola wished to be remembered.

“The star with the moustache shone on the pitch, and still does today,” Inter said. "As he often said, he had one final wish: “To be remembered as a good man, someone who keeps fighting even when winning is impossible, like in that 9-1.”

“We will, Sandro.”

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

The Arctic island's top leaders echoed that stance and said the deal, which has not yet been made public, was long in coming.

U.S., Greenlandic and Danish officials had quietly negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the territory of roughly 56,000 residents. With the announcement of the pact, Trump is able to tout a foreign policy achievement ahead of the midterm elections in the United States.

Trump said Friday that the agreement would give the U.S. “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.”

Denmark and the U.S. already have a long-standing security agreement that allows the U.S. to deploy forces in Greenland, and it was not immediately clear how this deal would be different from that.

“I think it’s obvious that we can expect more bases in Greenland. But it’s important to say that if we look in the past, especially during the Cold War, the U.S. had immense military presence in Greenland," said Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defense College and the head of research at the Center for Arctic Security Studies.

He said it was a win for Trump. "It’s important for him to show that he’s a good businessman, that he kind of forced the pressure on Denmark and Greenland into something new.”

The deal is expected to be signed at the UN

After Trump's announcement, the office of Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the deal will be signed next week at the United Nations General Assembly. Parliamentary action was still needed by the Danish and Greenlandic governments before it can be enforced, she added.

“Next week could be a good week … for Greenland, Denmark, and the United States alike,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen wrote on Instagram on Saturday morning.

“A period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic — and thus also our shared security within NATO and Europe,” he added.

Greenland’s government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the deal would benefit "not only our collective security, but also the continued development here in the country.”

The island's foreign minister, Múte B. Egede, said he was pleased “we now have an agreement within reach.”

“I’m pleased that we finally have an end product within reach," he told Denmark’s TV2 broadcaster. "It’s about time.”

Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO Military Committee, said later Saturday in the Danish capital that the agreement was “very, very welcome,” without commenting on it further.

Trump said that with the agreement, the U.S. would “immediately” begin the process of developing a larger military presence on the mineral-rich Danish territory.

The U.S. had held several bases and installations on Greenland through the Cold War, before dialing back its presence. It still operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951.

The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

Few details about the deal are known so far

A U.S. State Department official said the agreement bans any non-NATO base in Greenland, limits adversaries from being able to make investments in Greenland, and guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base on the island. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Denmark and Greenland did not explicitly confirm any of the specifics in Trump’s statements, nor did they provide more details.

After his return to the White House, Trump had called on Denmark to sell the island to the U.S., while insisting Greenland is crucial for U.S. security. He pointedly wouldn’t rule out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally of the U.S.

Denmark and Greenland repeatedly said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the U.S. gathering intelligence there. The U.S. push for Greenland was also fiercely opposed by Russia and much of Europe.

Greenland grassroots pro-sovereignty activist Orla Joelsen wrote on X that “our fight against Trump’s ambition to take over Greenland has been won.”

“The new agreement explicitly recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination,” the activist added.

Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher and Arctic security expert at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said that Trump tries to sell it as a win. "He obviously didn’t get in this agreement what he originally set out to have — that is sovereign control over all of Greenland as a part of the United States.”

Relief that a deal seems close

In Denmark, many expressed relief that a deal with the U.S. seemed close.

Michael Burgaard from Gentofte, north of Copenhagen, was hopeful the crisis was over “because just a fortnight ago, Donald Trump posted this map showing Greenland ... as part of the U.S.”

“We were kind of worried that he would take all of Greenland by force," added the 56-year-old telecommunications worker. "So, the fact that we can settle this in a diplomatic way ... I think it’s good.”

Michael Frees, a 51-year-old high school teacher in Copenhagen, said he thinks the agreement is “the most realistic solution for us right now."

“We are a small nation and of course we have to cooperate with bigger countries and also the European Union,” he said.

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Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Kostya Manenkov in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

Jakub Mensik beat Shelton 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to level the best-of-five series at 2-2 before Jiri Lehecka sent a roaring Prague crowd into raptures by beating Tien 6-3, 7-5 in the deciding singles.

It was a second straight loss for Shelton, a day after he was beaten by Lehecka.

American pair Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek had made it 2-1 after winning their doubles match over Adam Pavlasek and Patrik Riki 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8).

Austria made the Final 8 after Jurji Rodionov beat Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 7-6, 6-3 to build an insurmountable 3-1 advantage. Austria also won the doubles match on the outdoor clay in Vienna, a day after it split the opening single matches with Belgium.

Toby Samuel and Wimbledon semifinalist Arthur Fery won their singles matches to put Britain 2-0 up at home to Ecuador.

Zverev wins for Germany

Alexander Zverev gave Germany a 1-0 lead over Croatia by beating Matej Dodig 6-4, 7-6 (3), before Dino Prizmic leveled the series with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Daniel Altmaier.

It was Zverev’s first match since winning the U.S. Open final last weekend against American Ben Shelton. That came after the 29-year-old Zverev won his first Grand Slam title at the French Open in June.

The second-ranked Zverev, who had 15 aces, dominated on the indoor hardcourt in Halle, Germany, with Dodig having no break-point chances.

Doubles and reverse singles are scheduled for Sunday in the best-of-five match series. The winning team advances to the Final 8 in Bologna, Italy, in November.

South Korea makes Davis Cup history for Asia

South Korea earlier became the first Asian nation to reach the Final 8 after clinching its match against India 3-1.

The South Koreans came from a set down in both singles matches on Friday to lead 2-0.

It lost the opening doubles Saturday but Soonwoo Kwan beat Sumit Nagal 6-1, 6-2 in the first reverse singles.

The Final 8 format was introduced in 2022.

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Tehran has sent Washington its conditions for ending the war via Qatar, a key mediator. Israeli strikes killed three people in Gaza. And Israel's military said it struck Hezbollah targets across several areas in southern Lebanon.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage is available here.

Saudi Arabia says Houthis tried to attack its capital

Saudi Arabia on Saturday confirmed that Yemen’s Houthi rebels tried to attack its capital with a ballistic missile, the first targeting of Riyadh since the escalation in fighting with the Tehran-backed rebels that has opened a new front in the Iran war.

The statement by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis came long after the dawn attempt, which the coalition said was intercepted. Some residents in Riyadh heard an explosion. Later, some saw a plume of smoke near the airport. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The statement also said the Houthis tried to attack civilian infrastructure in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu — where a key Saudi pipeline ends — and in Taif, Baysh and Farasan but they were thwarted, giving no further details.

The Houthis earlier claimed, without providing evidence, that they had targeted “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and facilities of Saudi oil giant Aramco in Yanbu, causing “massive fires.” Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, did not respond to a request for comment.

Explosion heard in Saudi capital after alerts

At least one explosion was heard in Riyadh after the first alert for the Saudi capital since the latest escalation in fighting with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Residents near the airport said they saw a plume of smoke later in the morning.

No casualties or damage were reported. Saudi authorities have previously reported intercepting Houthi missiles and drones.

The Houthis later claimed, without providing evidence, they targeted “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and facilities of Saudi oil giant Aramco in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, causing “massive fires.” Neither Saudi authorities nor Aramco, the world's largest oil company, responded to a request for comment.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed they attacked with cruise and ballistic missiles as well as drones. He also said Saudi Arabia attempted to target the rebel-held city of Sanaa in Yemen, without giving details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claims.

Iran awaits US response to its conditions for ending the war

The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, told Al Jazeera in an interview that Iran is waiting for President Donald Trump's response after Tehran conveyed its conditions for ending the war via Qatar.

It was not clear when the conditions were shared. Rezaei said they include ending the war on all fronts, releasing assets seized from Iran and ending the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. Earlier U.S.-Iran negotiations fell apart.

He also said Iran wants the fighting involving Yemen and Saudi Arabia to end.

Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel

Iran's state TV said a man identified as Hossein Pedram was executed after being convicted on charges of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad.

The report said Pedram shared classified information on “sensitive military sites” in Iran's Isfahan province. It didn't say how he accessed the information. He was reportedly arrested after those sites, which included missile bases, were targeted in last year's 12-day air war by the U.S. and Israel.

A recent surge of executions in Iran prompted an international outcry by rights groups.

US military says oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz

The head of U.S. Central Command said the military has supported the transit of 1 billion barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two months and claimed that Iran has “exported zero barrels” because of a U.S. blockade.

Adm. Brad Cooper said the strait's primary transit lanes have been cleared of mines, and the volume of oil, natural gas and cargo transiting over the past two weeks is the highest it has been in six months — or shortly after the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes.

But monitors say shipping traffic remains well below prewar levels. Iran continues to attack ships as it asserts control over the waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the war.

Israeli strikes kill 3 men in Gaza

Gaza’s Health Ministry and Shifa Hospital officials said one man was killed in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City. Another man, identified as the son of the ministry's director general, was killed as he walked in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it struck “several military operatives.”

Later, officials at Shifa Hospital said an Israeli strike on a civilian vehicle in Gaza City killed one person and wounded at least four others. “The body was completely charred,” managing director Rami Mhanna said.

Israel’s military said it “struck a Hamas military operative."

The heaviest fighting between Israel and Hamas has subsided since a ceasefire last October, but Israeli fire has killed more than 13,780 Palestinians in Gaza since then, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Israel launches airstrikes in southern Lebanon

Israel's military said it struck targets of the Hezbollah militant group across several areas in southern Lebanon.

The strikes took place after two soldiers were wounded when their vehicle drove over a Hezbollah explosive device in an area of southern Lebanon occupied by Israeli troops, the military said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported three Israeli airstrikes on the southern town of Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa. It said the third strike almost hit paramedics heading to the area. It said no one was hurt.

Pakistani, Iranian foreign ministers talk shipping safety

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar discussed uninterrupted energy supplies and safe passage for commercial ships during a telephone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Dar cited the potential effects of disruptions on developing countries and global supply chains.

Rising energy prices have increased pressure on Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government. An Islamist party has threatened to march on the capital, Islamabad, unless the government lowers fuel prices.

Iran race managers charged for allowing women to run without headscarves

Iran’s state TV said the Tehran prosecutor’s office filed charges against race organizers after women participated without covering their hair because “legal and Islamic Sharia” wasn’t observed.

The country's ruling theocracy requires women to wear scarves that cover their hair and loose-fitting clothes that hide their bodies.

Footage circulated online shows women running the 10-kilometer (6-mile) race without the hair covering. Habib Sotoudehnejad, head of Tehran’s sports department, said about 5% of participants violated race rules. The race was run separately for men and women.

Turkey suggests military support for the Saudis

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan suggested Turkey could provide military support to Saudi Arabia under a recently signed defense pact.

Asked in a TV interview about the possibility of the three-member alliance, which also includes Pakistan, engaging in military action against Yemen’s Houthis, Fidan said Turkey would “face no difficulty in meeting” any military needs.

“We observe very serious attacks on Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he told broadcaster NTV. “We have an alliance agreement in place and we stand by our word.”

Kids return to school in war-devastated Gaza

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said more than 280,000 children in Gaza are attending school in tents and heavily damaged classrooms.

At one school in Nuseirat, some classrooms have no desks, leaving children to sit on blankets on the floor. Still, some families said a return to school brings back a familiar sense of routine that was upended by war.

UNRWA education program chief Tawfiq al-Hourani said the agency three years ago operated 182 fully equipped schools. He said 95% of them have since been lost.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

The confrontation began Friday after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a mosque, and gunmen stormed the facility, killing 21 people and wounding 103 others.

The coordinated attack occurred at a compound in Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. Many of the casualties were police officers and people attending prayers at a mosque.

Several militants took up positions inside the complex, and a shootout with security officers ensued, police official Mohammad Sadiq said. The complex houses the police's Special Branch intelligence agency, offices of the Counter Terrorism Department, and houses of counterterrorism officers who have carried out operations against militants across the province in recent years.

Sadiq said that the operation ended after 20 hours. Security forces were searching the compound and nearby areas, and the bodies of eight attackers were recovered, according to local police. Bursts of gunfire could be heard in the compound as additional security personnel arrived, residents said, before the operation ended.

Sadiq said that two attackers detonated explosives inside the compound Saturday morning and that police had killed six assailants so far, not including the bombers. It was unclear whether the new explosions caused additional casualties or how many militants remained inside.

Pakistan's Information Ministry on Saturday appeared to leave open the possibility of new strikes inside Afghanistan, and blamed the attack on militants with alleged roots in Afghanistan and accused the Afghan Taliban government of sheltering and supporting groups that launch attacks inside Pakistan.

“The attack, perpetrated by the vilest of Khawarij with roots in Afghanistan, reminds us that terrorism has no religion and no justification. Those who perpetrate, facilitate or shelter such acts are the worst among humankind,” the Information Ministry said in a post on X. Pakistan uses the phrase Khawarij for Pakistani Taliban and other militants.

The ministry said that “Pakistan has both the will and the capability to eliminate terrorist threats wherever they are” and added that Islamabad would take all necessary measures under international law to protect its citizens, territory and sovereignty. It said that Kabul must take “credible, verifiable and sustained measures” to dismantle militant sanctuaries and recruitment and training networks.

It acknowledged that Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Kohat attack, but said that condemnation must be followed by concrete action.

The suicide attack on Friday brought down an outer wall of the police offices and badly damaged the mosque.

Funeral prayers for police officers killed in the assault were held late Friday at the police lines in Kohat, and their bodies and those of killed civilians were returned to their families for burial, Sadiq said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, but suspicion was likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which has intensified attacks on police and other security forces in recent years.

The TTP is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021. Pakistan frequently accuses the Taliban government in Kabul of sheltering TTP leaders and allowing militants to carry out cross-border attacks. Afghanistan’s government denies the allegations.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in separate statements and expressed sorrow over the deaths. Zardari said that eliminating militants was essential to national security.

In 2023, a suicide bomber killed 101 people, mostly police officers, at a mosque inside a heavily fortified police compound in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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Munir Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, contributed to this report.

Officials in Kyiv vigorously denounced the action as illegal, and a human rights activist described residents there as being coerced to participate in the election.

While the vote across Russia started Friday and lasts until Sunday to help boost turnout, balloting actually has been underway in the annexed parts of Ukraine and some areas on the Russian side of the border since the end of last month. Officials cited security reasons for the extended period.

Russian authorities say the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia territories, often referred to by Moscow officials as the “new regions,” have over 3.5 million voters. They were annexed by Russia in September 2022, despite not fully being under Moscow's control. The move has not been recognized internationally.

At one polling station in the Russian-held part of the Donetsk region, voters dropped their ballots in a box as an armed Russian soldier stood nearby and watched.

Putin stressed the importance of voting in the regions

In a speech Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of balloting in those regions for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. Residents there will be voting for the Duma “for the first time since their reunification with Russia.”

He noted that Russian soldiers involved in the fighting also will vote.

Voting also is taking place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The first wartime election to the State Duma is intended to secure the Kremlin’s political dominance and showcase public support for the war.

“Your choice and resolve will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our fighters, that we are a united people, bound by shared values, historical memory, and love for the Motherland and that nobody can divide or intimidate us, undermine our statehood and political system,” Putin said.

Ukraine urges other countries not to recognize the vote

Authorities in Kyiv called the voting in those territories illegal and urged foreign governments and international organizations not to recognize the election. They warned Ukrainians that taking part in organizing the vote could carry criminal liability.

A coalition of nine Ukrainian human rights groups called on residents of the Russia-held territories to stay away from the polls.

“We urge residents of the temporarily occupied territories, above all, to protect their lives and health and to look after their own safety,” the coalition said in a statement. “Holding Russian elections in the temporarily occupied territories is an attempt to use the electoral process to legitimize the Russian occupation and the attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories.”

European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand said the voting in Russian-held regions represented "another blatant violation of international law. The European Union does not, and will never recognize either the holding of these, so-called elections, sham elections, in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or their results.”

Activists describ

e coercion to vote

Violeta Artemchuk, coordinator of the Donbas SOS human rights group who was among those who signed the statement, said members of local election commissions were going house to house, escorted by Russian troops and security agents, to force people to vote.

Moscow-appointed authorities exert pressure on residents, threatening those who work in the public sector with dismissal if they fail to vote and making pensions and other social payments conditional on participating, Artemchuk said.

“For instance, if a person with a disability or a pensioner relies on social assistance and does not take part in the ‘voting,’ they could be added to a list of individuals deemed ‘disloyal’ to the so-called authorities and subsequently deprived of their benefits or humanitarian assistance,” she said.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst with the Kyiv-based Penta Center, emphasized that "elections held at gunpoint are a farce.”

“The very fact that voting takes place amid endless shelling and bombing reflects the Kremlin’s attitude toward the people and the electoral process in the occupied territories," Fesenko told The Associated Press.

"It’s nothing short of a mockery. Any electoral procedures conducted by the Russian occupation authorities have nothing to do with democracy,” he said.

When President Donald Trump launched his war against Iran in late February, energy analysts issued dire warnings that oil prices could more than double during a protracted conflict and urged investors and motorists to buckle up for a bumpy ride.

The war grinds on and oil prices certainly remain volatile. But the most dire projections have not yet come to pass six months into a conflict that has no end in sight.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making a much-anticipated state visit to Washington next week, could make a credible argument that the world has his country's energy strategy to thank for that.

It's unclear how much the two leaders will discuss Iran during the visit, which comes as Trump's Republican Party faces pressure from voters over high gasoline prices, and as China's buffer is being further tested as the conflict in the Middle East spreads. Trump, who has sought to keep a fragile trade truce with Beijing intact, has been careful in public comments about differences with Xi over the country’s relationship with Iran.

“We’ve been free-riding off Beijing in a weird way,” said Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East program at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank. “China’s doing it because they understand that they’re on the train that Trump is driving off a cliff. If oil prices go way up, that hurts the global economy. If it hurts the global economy, it hurts them.”

China's stockpiles helped Xi weather the storm — so far

Beijing spent years and billions of dollars amassing the world’s largest oil stockpile, building its strategic reserve to about 1.4 billion barrels by the end of last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's estimates. To protect China from foreign supply risks, Xi made energy self-reliance a part of the country’s latest five-year plan.

Drawing from the massive stockpile allowed China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer and Iran's top buyer, to dramatically cut crude imports once the U.S. and Israel began their bombardment and Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. The country was also helped by its shift toward electric vehicles in recent years and increasingly tapping into other energy alternatives.

China's oil import diet in turn helped ease global demand, softening the upward price effects for the United States, Europe and beyond.

“The Chinese deserve credit,” said retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank. “They did in 10 years what took us 25 years after the 1973 oil crisis to do: really build a kind of strategic petroleum reserve that could allow you to weather this.”

But that resilience faces new challenges. Attacks by Iran-backed militias this month led Saudi Arabia to temporarily shut a vital pipeline that transports crude across the kingdom to ports on the Red Sea.

The Yemen-based Houthis have also seized two strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, bolstering the Iran-backed rebels’ ability to disrupt a key maritime shipping route. Planned talks among Gulf nations focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which were supposed to take place earlier this week, have also been put on hold.

Before he meets Xi, Trump is set to meet Tuesday with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council in New York, on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly. The group includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Oil industry experts say the moment remains tenuous

Analysts at Bank of America last week forecast oil at $83 a barrel for the second half of the year “in light of more persistent disruptions to Hormuz,” but said they still expected shipping through the strait to gradually pick up.

But if violence escalates and keeps a chokehold on traffic, prices could reach $95 to $120 a barrel, while damage to major energy infrastructure could produce spikes of up to $150 a barrel, the analysts wrote.

Brent crude averaged about $69 per barrel last year and currently is hovering around $100. Brent crude briefly peaked in late April, touching $126.

How China has weathered the volatile oil market caused by Trump's war is ultimately seen by Beijing as “a vindication of Xi’s last five-year plan and his focus on self-reliance,” said Jonathan Czin, a former senior CIA analyst who is now at the Brookings Institution.

Deep differences between Trump and Xi on Iran persist

The war in Iran — and its impact on the global economy — is expected to be on the agenda for the Trump-Xi talks. But the prospects of the world's two biggest powers coming up with a breakthrough appear dim.

Over the course of the conflict, the Trump administration has faced resistance when urging Beijing to use its considerable economic leverage to press the Islamic Republic to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Chinese officials, who have expressed strong opposition to the U.S. war, also have bristled at more recent administration threats to ratchet up economic pressure on nations and entities still doing business with Iran.

To be certain, analysts say there's little altruism in how China came to sit on its massive stockpile of oil.

Experts believe Beijing was driven by contingency planning for potential military action to take over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. Tapping the reserves now has been far from ideal for Beijing — but seeing global oil prices skyrocket was not ideal, either.

Trump treads carefully on differences with China over Iran

The leaders last met in Beijing just four months ago, and could meet twice more later this year.

After the talks in May, Trump claimed Xi agreed with him that a nuclear-armed Iran is a bad idea and that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened. Chinese officials have neither affirmed nor denied Trump's telling of the private conversation.

The U.S. administration has also warned China not to aid Iran's military effort. But earlier this week, Trump downplayed a Wall Street Journal report that Chinese entities had supplied Tehran with satellite images of a Jordanian military base ahead of an Iran strike in July that killed three U.S. soldiers working there.

“You know, when they say that China spies on us, I say you’re right, and we spy on them too,” Trump told reporters.

Trump at the outset of the war called the conflict a “little excursion” that would last a matter of weeks.

He also has repeatedly predicted that oil prices will quickly plummet once the conflict ends. Less than three months into the conflict, he even declared “everybody was wrong” because the most dire projections for oil prices didn't come to pass.

The White House did not respond to queries on whether Trump credits China's actions with helping keep oil prices from hitting the worst-case levels.

But energy analysts credit Beijing's slashing imports as having the single greatest impact on moderating prices since the start of the war. China's crude imports averaged just 8.1 million barrels per day in the second quarter. That's almost 4 million barrels per day, or 32% lower than in the first three months of the year, according to U.S. data.

“It's remarkable how China managed the market,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, a firm providing consulting services and analysis in the oil and gas industry. “They didn't panic and by turning to their inventories they kept the price down for everybody.”

As chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett became famous for his unwavering and methodical investing style: Buy good businesses when their prices are low, stay on the sidelines when prices are too high and be patient with well-chosen picks. He rode that to decades of beating the rest of the U.S. stock market before he retired as Berkshire's chairman on Friday, less than a year after giving up his role as CEO.

The formula of buying good things at low prices sounds simple, and it’s the foundation of a style of investing called “value” hunting. But it periodically comes under criticism when the hot new thing is enthralling Wall Street, whether it's dot-com stocks in the late 1990s or gold when its price was setting records early this year. (Buffett is famously skeptical of gold as an investment, saying it “has two significant shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative.”)

The investing world has had other celebrities. J.P. Morgan built his reputation by investing in railroads during the 19th century. Andrew Carnegie helped build the U.S. steel industry and became famous for his philanthropy. Jim Cramer and Kevin O'Leary are on TV shows. But few ever cracked into the national consciousness like Buffett, and none did so from near the geographic center of the country in Omaha, Nebraska.

Buffett offers enduring lessons on life and investing

Many professional investors also adhere to Buffett's style of bargain-hunting. But none have had the kind of folksy humor and candor that can draw hordes of investors each year, like those attending Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting.

More than 40,000 people would pack an Omaha arena on the first Saturday in May to hear from Buffett and his longtime investing partner, Charlie Munger, who died in 2023 and espoused a similar take-it-slow and make-it-right approach to investing. Besides talking about how they hunted for well-run businesses and the news of the day, they would also regularly confess to their own mistakes and crack wise.

“Not a day goes by where what I've learned about Warren doesn't affect me positively, both personally and financially,” said Todd Finkle, a retired professor. He grew up in Omaha, knows Buffett's children and wrote the book, “Warren Buffett: Investor and Entrepreneur.”

When Finkle would bring students to visit the “Oracle of Omaha” for extended Q-and-A meetings, Finkle said the first topic Buffett would discuss was never financial.

“He didn’t say anything about money. The first topic that he would always bring up is that the most important thing you’ll do in your life is to pick who to marry.”

He built a reputation for honesty and trust

Following a scandal at Salomon Brothers, in which Berkshire Hathaway had an ownership stake, Buffett became chairman and testified in Congress. He said all employees were told, “After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.”

That reputation for honesty, along with his famed patience for investments, helped Buffett stay famous even in this “post-truth” era where people scroll through feeds at finger-flicking speed. He's such an icon that scammers would use him in AI-generated videos that appeared to show him endorsing questionable investments or political candidates.

On Reddit's WallStreetBets forum, traders share picks for potential get-rich-quick opportunities in day-trading stocks and options. The discussion jumps from idea to idea, but even the denizens there know Buffett and his famous advice to “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”

His reputation is so strong and his advice so well-known that some memes on the forum ironically joke about doing the opposite, with a picture of Buffett suggesting that everyone freak out and sell in a panic.

Buffett's lessons go well beyond business

Bob Miles, who has taught a college course about Buffett for 16 years, said that people might initially get attracted to Buffett because he is rich and has made many Berkshire shareholders wealthy. But their interest deepens after reading Buffett’s annual letters, which became required reading for many investors, and hearing him speak in interviews.

Through reading and listening, people would glean nuggets from Buffett like his core rules for investing: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.” Or that “you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out,” referencing how tough times will quickly show who has been taking too much risk. He also suggested that “who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”

“People associate him with successful investing, but I look at him more and more as kind of a guide toward how to live a successful life, whatever your talents happen to be,” Miles said.

Few investors have broad appeal like Buffett

At the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of business, trips for students to Berkshire's annual meetings were always a hot ticket. “I don’t know of any time that it wasn’t popular,” said David Musto, a finance professor at the school and faculty director of the Jacobs Master of Science in Quantitative Finance.

With Buffett’s departure from the stage, the obvious question is whether anyone else could replace him as the world’s most famous value investor.

Musto said some other big names still exist in the investing world, such as Will Danoff at Fidelity Investments, who is retiring from day-to-day management at the end of the year. But it's difficult to find someone with as strong and as long a track record as Buffett's. Or the wit and personality.

Musto said it's important for value investing to remain a force in the market, particularly when traders are jumping into meme stocks, obscure cryptocurrencies and other bets built more on hope that their prices will go up than belief that it's a good business trading at a good price.

“It certainly helps to have people in the middle,” Musto said, “thinking about the value of a stock.”

More than 650 infections have been reported in Italy so far this year, accounting for roughly half of all cases recorded in Europe, according to local health authorities.

“Higher temperatures linked to climate change help mosquitoes reproduce and extend the transmission season, increasing the chances that infected mosquitoes will spread the virus to people,” said Antonino Bella, researcher at Italy’s National Institute of Health, or ISS.

West Nile has been considered endemic in Italy since 2020, when cases started to surge, and is now reported every summer and early fall. About 80% of infected people develop no symptoms, while most others experience a mild flu-like illness. Severe neurological complications occur in a small minority of cases, mainly among older adults and people with underlying health conditions.

Experts say this year’s case numbers are broadly in line with recent seasons.

But warmer temperatures favor mosquito reproduction and can mean the transmission season sometimes lasts as late as November, Bella explained. Areas once largely unaffected are increasingly reporting infections, reflecting a gradual expansion of the virus across the country.

Italy’s experience with the virus is drawing attention from European countries located farther north. A Belgian research team visited the ISS last May to study Italy’s research and surveillance system after the country began recording locally acquired West Nile cases.

The Netherlands this year has reported more than two dozen West Nile cases, the first since 2020, as well as several deaths, according to its public health institute.

“There’s no doubt that warming weather will expand the period of replication for the virus and the vector in more countries,” said Marc-Alain Widdowson, who leads the Pandemic Threats, Communicable Diseases, and AMR Division at the World Health Organization’s Europe office.

“You’ve got to be careful not to say that climate change is all of it, but certainly a warming climate means that we have a longer mosquito season, so that the vectors can survive for longer. Warm temperatures also mean that the virus itself will survive better,” he added.

Experts note that Italy’s extensive monitoring network, which tracks mosquitoes, birds, blood donors and human infections, also helps explain why the country detects so many cases.

“There are definitely trends which we think are contributing to increased activity,” Widdowson said, citing a warming climate, loss of biodiversity and changes in land use. A longer mosquito season creates more opportunities for transmission, he added, while declines in bird diversity may favor species that are efficient reservoirs of the virus.

In June, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or ECDC, warned that because Europe is experiencing a warming trend — with heat waves and flooding becoming more frequent and severe, and summers getting longer and warmer — the conditions are more favorable for invasive mosquito species such as Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti.

Aedes aegypti — known to transmit dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, zika and West Nile viruses — has been established in Cyprus since 2022 and may spread to other European countries.

A decade ago, the Aedes albopictus mosquito was established in eight European countries, with 114 regions affected. This year, the mosquito is established in 13 countries and 337 regions, the ECDC said.

Hyde, 70, a farmer and former construction worker, said he is supporting 36-year-old Will Lawrence, a longtime liberal activist who until recently was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, instead of incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett, a Republican who has not flatly opposed the Mason project.

“He's been out to my house several times,” Hyde said of Lawrence.

Ewart, 43, a fellow opponent of the data center project, was startled to hear that. After all, Republicans have tried to turn Lawrence into a national symbol of Democratic radicalism because he once called for an end to fossil fuels, defunding the police and maintaining open borders. “Lawrence has said a lot of crazy stuff,” Ewart said. “I don't trust him.”

Hyde wasn't convinced. “Right now, what's a bigger fight — a data center or socialism?”

Data centers are the leading example of how Lawrence is trying to defy expectations in a classic swing district by harnessing unease over the rapid pace of artificial intelligence's development, which has created anxieties that hopscotch ideological lines and could upend the nation's politics. It's also created an opening for a wave of leftist Democrats like Lawrence who have long argued that their outsider, anticorporate message can have broader appeal than the moderate establishment.

Lawrence has widened his aim to the entire AI industry, calling for a pause on AI development in the wake of fears from some at the companies that the technology could eliminate humanity.

“We need to put a stop to this, because right now the whole thing is out of control and alarm bells are going off,” Lawrence said at a press conference where he also urged the halting of data center construction.

Democrat lets DSA membership lapse, rejects ‘ideological label’

The co-founder of the aggressive environmental group The Sunrise Movement, Lawrence is not like the candidates who normally triumph in Michigan's evenly-divided 7th Congressional District. The previous Democrat to have represented the district is currently Michigan's junior senator, Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and steadfast moderate. Lawrence once pleaded online for moderate Democrats to “hurry up and die.”

“He wants to show up and talk about data centers all day to distract from the vulnerability he has on abolishing the police and the border,” Barrett, who is seeking a second term, said in an interview.

Lawrence bristled at that charge, noting that he's been protesting data centers since last fall when a wave of new projects was proposed across the district and the state.

“I'm talking about it because I give a damn about the people of this district,” Lawrence said in an interview. “My whole career is about fighting back against corporate power, standing with regular working people who are getting screwed over.”

Lawrence says he's moved on from many of his previous stances and online postings, including defunding the police or having open borders — a suggestion he said was made during more of a “performance.” He declines to identify himself anymore as a socialist, saying an “ideological label” leads to division. He let his membership in the DSA, whose Lansing chapter a member has said was founded in the living room of the building where Lawrence lived after college, lapse this summer. Lawrence's campaign said he was not present at the founding.

Some Republicans could not believe their luck when Lawrence beat two more traditional candidates in August's Democratic primary.

“We think it's a comical mistake by the Democratic establishment to let somebody like him slip through,” said Ty Bommarito, chair of the Michigan College Republicans and a senior at Michigan State University, the 51,000-student institution in Lawrence's hometown of East Lansing.

But other observers warned against underestimating Lawrence, who made a mark in the primary by energetically stumping across the district, which stretches from Detroit's furthest exurbs to farming communities west of the state capital of Lansing, and has continued at a frenetic pace leading into the general election.

“There's more energy in this Lawrence campaign than I've seen for a very, very long time,” said Lingg Brewer, an 81-year-old former Democratic state lawmaker in Lansing. “The excitement in this town I think equals that for Obama when he first ran.”

'Right now I'm kind of a one-issue voter'

Lawrence has spent plenty of time with students on Michigan State's sprawling campus, but he's also become a staple at meetings of residents — often farmers or other rural denizens — fighting data center proposals. Water-rich Michigan, whose Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer embraced the industry initially, has seen a wave of potential projects over the past year.

On the night of the Mason council meeting, Lawrence had to pass on appearing at a simultaneous township council meeting on the opposite side of his district to stand against a different potential project there.

Lawrence wore a cap in the same shade of red as President Donald Trump's campaign hats, but with the phrase “No Data Centers in Mason” instead of “Make America Great Again.” The standing-room-only meeting was full of people wearing identical caps.

Lawrence's reliable opposition to data centers has won him support from some unexpected quarters in the town of 8,000. “I'm sure I disagree with a whole lot of his policies,” Zach Bartels, 48, who identified himself as a conservative independent, said of Lawrence, “but right now I'm kind of a one-issue voter.”

Patrick Lind, 51, regularly votes Republican, but he's not sure if he will this year. “The partisan issue is going to be a lot less important than the data center issue,” Lind said.

Ashley Wickham, 38, says she's never been involved in politics and hadn't voted in a congressional primary before last month's, which was open to any voter regardless of party affiliation. She cast her ballot for Lawrence, noting that he's been to almost every anti-data center event over the past year.

“I'm definitely going to support him, because he supported me,” said Wickham, who bought a house in Mason just before the potential data center was announced last November.

At the time, the city said there was not an official proposed project but disclosed it was in discussions to annex 405 neighboring acres where a company could build a $1 billion hyperscale facility. The community has been convulsed with opposition ever since.

Both candidates say they want AI limits, but to different degrees

Lawrence scolded the council members, who sat stoically through dozens of speeches. “They say there's a significant chance that all human beings may be killed by what they're building — what they want to build in Mason,” Lawrence said. “How hard is it to just listen to the residents and just say ‘No’?”

Lawrence threw barbs at Barrett, whom he has slammed for accepting donations from technology firms and voting last year for a version of Trump's tax-and-budget bill that would have banned any state from regulating AI for 10 years. The provision was removed from the final version of the bill.

A representative of Barrett's office read a statement from the congressman, who was in Washington and could not attend the meeting. The statement reiterated Barrett's view that local officials should decide on data centers rather than the federal government. In the interview, Barrett said he also favors limits on AI, and the 22-year Army veteran noted that he's proposed legislation banning its use on the battlefield.

Outside the Mason City Council chamber, Ewart said he's urged Barrett to come out more forcefully against the project and warned the congressman about local disappointment with him.

Ewart narrowly lost a Republican primary last month to represent the area in the state legislature, and he warned that voters shouldn't gamble on Lawrence even if they oppose data centers.

“The question is how fast the socialism comes in,” Ewart said.

It remains to be seen how Sheeran will handle the performance at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field given the departure of his opening acts and supporting band. Sheeran has performed much of his Loop Tour concerts solo, but he had been joined for several songs at each stop by the Irish folk band Beoga. Macklemore, Sheeran’s original U.S. opener, had been replaced by Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish singer Aaron Rowe before they backed out.

Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator, was due to tour with Sheeran in South America later this year before he too dropped out earlier this week.

Sheeran has not said anything publicly since losing the artists' support. As of Saturday afternoon, tickets were still available for the show, and his website did not list any replacement acts.

A group of about 50 pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied outside the stadium. Rose Tejada, 20, of Philadelphia, expressed disappointment that Sheeran did not take a stand on the issue.

“This is endemic in Western culture that we believe we can stay out of conflict, be apolitical,” Tejada said.

The show comes after a tumultuous week that opened with Macklemore being dropped in response to exclaiming “Free Palestine” during a Sept. 5 show in New Jersey. Sheeran has said he was not responsible for the decision, which came at the urging of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. His company owns a stadium where Sheeran’s tour was scheduled to play on Friday.

Within hours of Sheeran's statement Tuesday, his supporting acts withdrew.

Jessica Grono, 51, planned to drive 30 minutes from her Phoenixville home to attend the concert. She has liked Sheeran since his song “The A Team” was released in 2011 and loves his voice, music and storytelling.

“I feel bad for him,” Grono said, adding that he has not said anything wrong and should not be penalized for others’ words.

Macklemore said Wednesday he is donating $1 million to support Palestinian relief efforts and called on Kraft to match the gift; a spokesperson for Kraft has said the billionaire and Sheeran have each agreed to donate $2 million but have not specified where the money will be directed. Sheeran's representatives have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Sheeran’s Loop Tour was the highest-grossing in the world, with an average box office gross of over $7 million per city, Pollstar said in May. Through the end of 2025, Sheeran was the No. 3 top-earning concert act since 2021.

Sheeran has said the tour promoter was ultimately responsible for the decision to drop Macklemore.

The Grammy winner was adamant in his Tuesday statement that he wouldn't be drawn into discussion of the war in Gaza, arguing that his fans don’t come to his shows to hear about these issues.

He also said he “spoke with the venues at length all week to try to build a bridge” before Macklemore was dropped. He insisted he would never willingly let down his fans or abandon the touring crew and others who rely on him to make a living.

While promoters and venues wield great power over concert tours, experts say an artist of Sheeran's magnitude generally has the final say about what happens concerning the shows.

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Associated Press journalist Jessica Hill in Las Vegas contributed.

N.C. State quarterback CJ Bailey fumbled in the end zone while trying to run out the clock or potentially take a safety in the final seconds and handed Vanderbilt a 35-31 victory no one saw coming in Nashville.

It was as improbable a finish as the Music City Miracle, the famous last-second kickoff return in January 2000 that gave the NFL’s Tennessee Titans a 22–16 playoff win over the Buffalo Bills.

Bailey and the Wolfpack (1-2) were attempting to milk the clock on the final snap, a fourth-and-3 play from their 5-yard line with 6 seconds remaining.

Miles Capers knocked the ball out of Bailey’s hands, and Cayden Van Daniels recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. It capped Vanderbilt’s rally from a 17-0 deficit in the first half.

The ending was reminiscent of Miami’s debacle against Georgia Tech in October 2023, when Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal chose to run the ball instead of taking a knee with 26 seconds left and no timeouts remaining for Georgia Tech. Miami’s Donald Chaney Jr. fumbled, Georgia Tech’s Kyle Canard recovered and the Yellow Jackets won on a 44-yard touchdown pass from Haynes King to Christian Leary.

N.C. State coach Dave Doeren surely will lament his decision to try to run out the clock. The Wolfpack could have punted or had Bailey run out of the back of the end zone.

N.C. State was looking for its first road win against a Southeastern Conference opponent since 1977. Vanderbilt (3-0) matched its largest comeback victory since beating Ole Miss in 2012. Vandy's fumble recovery in the end zone ended up being the team's only lead of the game.

According to ESPN, college football teams were 1,046-1 over the last 20 seasons when having the ball and the lead with 10 seconds to go in a game. The lone loss: Michigan falling to rival Michigan State in 2015.

LSU-Ole Miss game is the one to watch

Lane Kiffin was wildly booed long before he arrived at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday for the LSU-Ole Miss game.

Kiffin appeared remotely on ESPN's “College GameDay," and Mississippi fans still angry about how he left the Rebels for LSU late last season greeted him with a chorus of expletive-laced chants. It was a clear sign of what Kiffin and the Tigers should expect when they play at Ole Miss later Saturday.

“I really appreciate you guys gaslighting them with this,” Kiffin said from the team hotel.

It was the latest in a growing buildup for the first top-10 matchup between No. 7 LSU and eight-ranked Ole Miss since 1962.

It started when Kiffin left the Rebels to take the LSU job and a $91 million contract just as the team he had coached for six years was days away from its first appearance in the College Football Playoff. Kiffin wanted to stay through the playoff, but Ole Miss moved on to coach Pete Golding and advanced to the CFP semifinals. LSU finished 7-6, capped by a loss in the Texas Bowl.

The off-field storylines haven't stopped since. Kiffin's comments about whether Black players could be recruited to Ole Miss, lawsuits alleging Ole Miss transfers owe big money for reneging on their NIL deals and LSU’s now-abandoned defiance of rules against rostering former pro players have only brightened the spotlight for this one.

LSU threw another wrinkle into the mix by saying midweek that quarterback Sam Leavitt was “doubtful” to play, sparking immediate fan accusations of gamesmanship. He's been upgraded since and is expected to start.

Kiffin himself acknowledged there could be “hatred” in the stands Saturday. Security has been dramatically increased as authorities expect 100,000 people in Oxford, a town whose school-year population of about 25,000 is virtually all students.

The winner improves to 3-0 on the season — and gets savory bragging rights.

The undercard

There is a good one in the ACC: No. 16 SMU at No. 23 Louisville, the league leaders in total offense featuring SMU's Kevin Jennings (402.5 yard per game) and Louisville’s Lincoln Kienholz (375.0).

Both are eager to keep pace with No. 5 Miami, which beat Wake Forest 33-20 on Friday night as Darian Mensah completed 30 of 34 passes, including his first 24 attempts, for 220 yards and three touchdowns.

In the Big 12, two of the favorites opened league play with a terrific game Friday night in Lubbock, where No. 13 Texas Tech held on for a 28-26 win over No. 22 Houston. Cougars QB Conner Weigman came up just short of a 2-point conversion in the final minute, a play that went to the Big 12 replay review room — the broadcast audience was able to watch and listen to the analysis — before it was upheld.

Best of the rest

There also are several intriguing matchups pitting 2-0 teams that can be best viewed as measuring stick games, including Virginia Tech at Maryland, Mississippi State at South Carolina and these:

— Florida at Auburn. Gators QB Aaron Philo, who will make his first road start, has completed 76% of his passes with five touchdowns. Byrum Brown, who has been new Auburn coach Alex Golesh's starting QB for all or part of four seasons, was a 1,000-yard rusher last year.

— No. 25 Virginia vs. West Virginia in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Mountaineers, 2-0 for the first time since 2018, are playing their border-state rival for the first time since 2002.

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Weigman's third TD pass, a 10-yarder to Patrick Overmyer with 49 seconds left, gave the Cougars (2-1, 0-1) a chance to tie in the conference opener for both teams. On the try for 2, Weigman took off to the left and lunged forward with the ball extended, though his knee came down before the ball broke the plane of the end zone.

“There’s no moral victories,” Houston coach Willie Fritz said. “We came here to win. And we didn’t win.”

The audience viewing on Fox Sports was able to watch and listen to the Big 12 replay officials at the conference headquarters reviewing and discussing that play before ruling that Weigman was short. That was one of several replays on which viewers got an inside look.

Will Hammond was 17-of-27 passing for 257 yards and a touchdown for the Red Raiders (3-0, 1-0), who were down 10-0 and had only one offensive snap 9 1/2 minutes into their first Friday home game since 1941.

“It just shows the resilience of this team and the belief they have in each other. There was never a time that those guys got down. They just kept fighting,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “I just continue to believe that as the season goes, we’ll keep getting better and better again.”

Weigman finished 27 of 38 for 282 yards.

After only two carries for 5 yards before halftime, Williams had consecutive runs of 19, 5 and 29 yards — the last a burst through the left side and pretty much untouched to the end zone to make it 21-17 only 2 1/2 minutes into the second half. Dickey had a 1-yard scoring run with 7:36 left.

Houston led 17-14 just before halftime after Koby Young made an over-the-shoulder catch and pinned the ball against his shoulder pads while falling over the pylon for a 46-yard touchdown.

Hammond had a 28-yard pass to Kenny Johnson to convert third-and-12 before they also hooked up for a 35-yard touchdown a minute into the second quarter. Johnson finished with four catches for 113 yards.

After a field goal on the game's opening drive, the Cougars immediately got the ball back on Will James’ nifty interception along the sideline when Tommy Castellanos, who started instead of Hammond, was trying to throw away the ball while under pressure.

That led to Amare Thomas’ 11-yard TD reception when he twisted and extended the ball lunging forward toward the end zone while being knocked down for a 10-0 lead. He was initially marked short, but it became a score after a replay review.

Hammond is Tech's No. 1 quarterback

Castellanos, the former Florida State and Boston College QB, didn’t join the Red Raiders until a week before the season opener. After the interception, he didn't take another snap until his 3-yard TD run with 3:39 left in the first half.

“Will Hammond is our starting quarterback. We have packages for Tommy and those packages will continue to grow,” McGuire said. “We had two plays we're going to run right there. If we don’t get pressure, then I think we have a huge play starting right off the bat. ... The plan was two plays and Will come into the game."

Hammond had been expected to be the starter this year before an ACL injury last October. But there was also the offseason saga surrounding departed transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who would have started but was declared ineligible after an NCAA gambling investigation. Hammond, meanwhile, had no setbacks in his recovery and was ready for the start of this season.

The Takeaway

Houston: The Cougars were 6-0 in road games last season on way to a 10-win season. ... Houston had 104 yards rushing by halftime, and finished with 176 against a Texas Tech defense whose seven-game streak not allowing 100 in a game was the longest in FBS.

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders won their 10th consecutive home game, though they gave up more than 17 points for the first time in that stretch. It is their longest home winning streak since 12 in a row from 2007-09.

Up Next

Both teams play their final nonconference game at home Sept. 26. Houston hosts Georgia Southern, and Texas Tech takes on Sam Houston.

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The first-place Braves beat the Houston Astros 6-2 to punch their ticket to the postseason for the eighth time in nine years. They secured at least a National League wild card and reduced their magic number to three for winning the NL East.

Afterward there was no wild celebration, but rather a simple toast with bubbly before they began looking ahead.

“We've got our eyes on bigger and better things,” outfielder Michael Harris II said. “We’re trying to win the East. So got to go out there and do what we know we can do and hopefully we can celebrate big for that.”

First-year manager Walt Weiss echoed the sentiment shared by Harris.

“Everything you get in this league is earned,” Weiss said. “I’ve said it a few times this year, but great group, what they’ve overcome this year, and hopefully some bigger celebrations ahead.”

Harris, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson each hit a two-run homer to help the Braves bounce back after dropping two of three games to the Chicago Cubs this week.

Atlanta is trying to hold off the Philadelphia Phillies for the NL East title and could wrap up the division crown as soon as Sunday. Atlanta’s win Friday night coupled with Philadelphia’s 6-3 loss to the Mets gave the Braves a five-game lead over the Phillies with eight to play.

Weiss was asked about helping the team back to the playoffs in his first season as manager after spending eight seasons as Brian Snitker’s bench coach.

“I always say it’s always about the players,” Weiss said. “They’re the ones out there performing. We've got a good staff. When you accomplish things, it’s an organizational effort. ... It takes everybody and we've got a really good group.”

If the Braves take the division, it will be their seventh NL East championship in nine years.

Atlanta's return to the playoffs comes after a disappointing 2025 season in which the team went 76-86 and finished fourth in the division, snapping a streak of seven straight playoff appearances that included six consecutive NL East titles from 2018-23. That run was highlighted by beating the Astros to win the 2021 World Series.

Friday’s victory gave the Braves 90 wins, marking the fifth time in the last eight full seasons that they’ve reached the mark. The only teams with more 90-win seasons in that stretch are the Dodgers with eight and the Brewers and Yankees with six apiece.

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In the fourth quarter, the Hurricanes' defense had to take the lead.

Mensah connected on his first 24 passes on the way to setting Atlantic Coast Conference records for consecutive completions, while Miami's defense came up with four straight fourth-quarter stops to beat Wake Forest 33-20 on Friday night.

“I think a ton of credit goes to the defense for just bowing up and executing at a high level,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said.

The defense carried the Hurricanes home on a night that started with the offense rolling along with a vibe of near inevitability, starting with Mensah putting pass after pass on the numbers and hitting receivers in perfect stride to make big plays downfield.

Mensah completed 30 of 34 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns, including a 9-yarder to Joshua Moore on the game's first possession and a perfect-execution throw back to the left side on Elija Lofton's 21-yard score.

Menah added a short TD throw to star sophomore receiver Malachi Toney as Miami (3-0, 2-0) took a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter, only to see its prolific offense grind to an abrupt halt with four straight three-and-outs while seeing multiple players get banged up.

That ultimately gave the Hurricanes' defense its chance to step up as Wake Forest tried to rally.

“I have a lot of faith in our defense, they give us some trouble in practice,” Mensah said. “So for them to go out there, it's no surprise. Them dudes over there are all ballers."

Gio Lopez threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns for the Demon Deacons (2-1, 0-1), including a perfect throw to the back right corner of the end zone for Carlos Hernandez on a 17-yard strike that pulled Wake Forest to 31-20 with 14:56 left.

But from there, Miami pressured Lopez in the end zone to draw a holding penalty for a safety. Then, after Wake Forest drove all the way to the 13, the Hurricanes again pressured Lopez into an inaccurate throw on fourth down in the end zone.

Miami freshman JJ Dunnigan followed by rushing around the end to harass Lopez into another hurried and off-target throw on fourth down with 5:24 left. Then Ethan O'Connor picked off Lopez's pass at the 2:24 mark in the red zone, effectively ending this one.

“We had some opportunities to really get back in that game in the foruth quarter, just could never quite get over the hump,” Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert said.

The takeaway

Miami: The Hurricanes had been nothing short of dominant while leading the country in total offense (702.5) and ranking second in the Bowl Subdivision ranks in scoring (61.0), which had been part of their jump. The defense's play late offered a positive on a night when Miami was tested with a relatively close game compared to a pair of blowouts to open the year.

“It's a good feeling, but we're all one team," said defensive lineman Marquise Lightfoot, who had a third-quarter sack of Lopez. "So they've got our back when we need them, and we've got their back when they need us."

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons were chasing a rare win against the nation's elite. They entered Friday with a 1-68 mark against teams in the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll, with the only win coming against No. 4 Tennessee in 1946. One culprit in this setback: 13 penalties for 137 yards, including two that negated big fourth-quarter punt returns.

“We need to learn from this and get better,” Dickert said. “Our execution wasn't at a high enough level.”

Mensah's marks

Mensah ultimately completed 35 straight passes going back to last week against Florida A&M, breaking the ACC mark of 30 consecutive completions over multiple games set by North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky in September 2016. His 24-for-24 start broke the ACC single-game record of 18, held by three players.

Injury list

Miami had multiple players banged up, including Toney and top running back Mark Fletcher Jr. The Hurricanes also saw defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. briefly exit the game in the first quarter with his left arm hanging by his side, though he returned ot the game.

The list also included running back CharMar Brown, who went down in the second quarter on the heels of a 32-yard run to just shy of the goal line. He stayed down in the end zone with team medical staff examining his right knee, then was helped to the sideline and later carted to the tunnel.

Up next

Miami: Hosts Central Michigan next Saturday.

Wake Forest: At No. 23 Louisville next Saturday.

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BSO deputies responded to an animal bite call around 6:30 p.m. at the Koosh Living apartments near Southwest 28th Avenue and Griffin Road.

The circumstances of the attack, including how many dogs were involved and the ages of the people involved, were not immediately clear.

Investigators said the dogs have been located. Broward County Animal Care was also called to the scene.

Authorities were working to learn the conditions of the child and woman.

Corey Clemson, who lives nearby, said the incident was concerning, especially as a parent.

“That’s terrible, man. I have a 3-year-old son and I know dogs sometimes, anything can happen at any moment,” Clemson said.

Clemson said people need to be vigilant about their surroundings and avoid certain situations when possible.

“If you can’t keep your dog away from children if they’re not friendly, just do that,” he said.

Detectives remained on scene as they gathered evidence.

Clemson said he hopes everyone involved will be OK.

Rubio Rivera, who lives in southern Miami-Dade, said therapy helped the boy to understand that what happened was not his fault and healing was possible. It also helped the girl to get support as she faced her abuser in court and testified.

Rubio Rivera, the executive director of Homestead-based nonprofit Mujeres Unidas En Justicia Educacion Y Reforma, or MUJER, said the organization has been helping victims like them for about 21 years.

“These are not just statistics. They are real people. They are our neighbors, and their stories were changed because Miami-Dade County chose to invest,” Rubio Rivera said about the county’s community-based organization, or CBO, grants program, which the county’s office of management and budget runs.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s proposed budget did not increase funding for CBOs. Rubio Rivera was among the members of the Advocacy Collective, a group of more than 60 organizations asking commissioners to increase funding for CBOs by 3%.

“Last year was being proposed to cut all CBOs at one point, and we fully funded them last year, and we are fully funding them this year,” Anthony Rodriguez, the commission’s chairman, said during the meeting. “We are in a real financial deficit guys, and I keep hearing like asking for increases ... We kind of got to be realistic here with ourselves.”

Hours later, Rodriguez was pushing for the commission to allocate $5 million to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, a marketing organization that works to attract tourism. The Miami Herald reported that GMCVB gave Rodriguez’s political committee free skybox seats for a FIFA World Cup match.

The $5 million boost for GMCVB was a decision that Commissioners Oliver G. Gilbert, III, Danielle Cohen Higgins, and René Garcia supported. Commissioners Raquel A. Regalado, Micky Steinberg, and Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez opposed it.

“There are no guardrails on conflicts of interest,” Bermudez said.

Like Rubio Rivera, Tina Brown, the chief executive officer of the Overtown Youth Center in Miami, also wore the Advocacy Collective’s blue and white “Caring for Our Community’s Most Vulnerable Members” T-shirt to ask commissioners to invest in needy children and families.

“As needs continue to grow in Miami-Dade County, we have deployed more than $1.6 million in rental assistance to help families remain safe,” Brown told commissioners. “CBO funding is not just another line item. It puts resources directly into communities through organizations that are already on the ground, already trusted, and already doing the work.”

Commissioners did not increase funding for CBOs. They did include the $5 million for the GMCVB in the approved $14.26 billion budget, while keeping operating property tax rates flat at 4.57 mills, during the meeting at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown that ended on Friday morning.

Related story: Miami-Dade commissioners raise concerns about county’s ‘Welcome to Vice City’ deal with Rockstar Games

Related record from proposed budget

Watch the meeting

Related proposed budget

• Volume 1
• Volume 2
• Volume 3

Related documents

• Budget-in-brief (7 pages)
• Agenda item (698 pages)

Related reports

• North Miami council approves $238.9 million budget, keeps 7.4 millage rate
• Fort Lauderdale commissioners adopt $1.28 billion budget, keep same millage rate for 19th year

Related social media

Miami-Dade Chair Anthony Rodriguez said he wants to send $5M in mostly property-tax dollars to Miami-Dade’s tourism bureau. The GMCVB gave Rodriguez’s PAC $38K worth of World Cup skybox tickets in June. The board already gets $37M from county hotel taxes https://t.co/Tl6uVskyHt

— Doug Hanks (@doug_hanks) September 18, 2026

During the budget process, there was a gap between what Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz requested, what Mayor Daniella Levine Cava proposed, and what commissioners passed before sunrise.

“What was approved last night was general fund of $66 million additional, which is almost $1 billion in total, but on top of that, her total budget is $1.2 billion,” Levine Cava said Friday.

Related story: Miami-Dade commissioners raise concerns about county’s ‘Welcome to Vice City’ deal with Rockstar Games

Cordero-Stutz told commissioners that she would consider appealing to the Florida Cabinet’s Administration Commission if the agency’s needs aren’t met.

“My starting salaries are a problem. They are not where they need to be,” Cordero-Stutz told commissioners about deputies’ pay.

The sheriff told commissioners that she had an inherited 7.5% cost increase and needed an additional 4.97% to go above and beyond. She also said the MDSO was “woefully” understaffed, there was a need to increase the starting salary for new recruits, and the training center needed repairs.

“You have all seen our stations,” Cordero-Stutz told commissioners. “They are in terrible shape.”

Cordero-Stutz told commissioners that there was a need for $62.5 million in collective-bargaining “obligated” funds, as part of the third year of the bill.

“The sheriff’s office has no control over that dollar amount, none,” Cordero-Stutz said. “I must pay it.”

Related story: Miami-Dade commissioners decline to give domestic violence victim advocates more support than last year

Cordero-Stutz said the MDSO was going to gradually move towards having an independent IT department.

Levine Cava said Cordero-Stutz asked for an additional $45 million, and the commission has “the ability” to work on budget amendments in the future.

“It would not be really fair of me to stand here and say that I will take that off the table. I can’t do that,” Cordero-Stutz told commissioners about appealing to the state. “At the end of the day, I need a budget of my needs. I need to be able to pay the bill. I need to be able to move this agency forward.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis chairs the Florida Cabinet’s Administration Commission, which is tasked by state law to “resolve state agency personnel matters.”

The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office also has other revenue streams and separate contracts with the airport, seaport, and the parks department, according to Levine Cava.

“If the cabinet directs that we need to increase the sheriff’s budget, then, of course, the commission will meet again, and we will prepare recommendations on what services must be cut,” Levine Cava said.

Related story: Miami-Dade sheriff asks commissioners for bigger budget: ‘Anything less is defunding the police’

“I am enormously proud of what we have built together and believe this is the right moment for both me and the organization to begin a new chapter,” Steven Kolb said in a statement.

Kolb is stepping down after two decades leading the council, which is known as the fashion industry’s main trade organization.

The incident Sunday involved the top fashion executive forcibly restraining two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and putting his hands over their mouths at the runway show for Cos, a brand owned by H&M. It quickly stunned many in the fashion world.

Kolb, who is well known and respected in the New York fashion world, earlier apologized for his actions. He also had announced he was taking a leave from his job pending an investigation.

CFDA described Kolb as a “dedicated leader and tireless champion of American fashion.”

“We respect Steven’s decision to step down and are grateful for his many years of leadership and service to the CFDA and our industry,” the association said in a statement on social media.

Moira Colley, senior director of media relations for PETA in New York, said earlier in the week that the group planned to meet with Kolb to discuss ending the use of wool and animal skins in clothing. The organization had initially planned on filing a police report against Kolb, but changed course after visiting police and consulting attorneys.

PETA issued a statement after Kolb’s announcement Friday, saying the group still planned to meet with him and “hopefully others in the industry will meet and take meaningful steps to stop this epidemic of cruelty to animals.”

The group has also recognized Kolb’s previous involvement in getting fur banned from runway shows on the CFDA schedule.

Andrija Barak had been trying to disrupt the runway show on Sunday, calling out slogans about the use of wool. In the video, Kolb is seen covering her mouth with his hands and restraining her with both his arms and a leg over her body as he seeks to let the show continue.

Separately he is seen pushing Mason Melito and also putting his hands over his mouth.

The crowd streamed in from the nearest subway stop, crowding streets in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington and locking down traffic as they walked, many carrying signs, as they joined in “Hands Around the Kennedy Center.” At one point some held hands and formed a human chain around the center.

Chris Raleigh, co-founder of Hands Off the Arts, which set up the gathering, said in an interview that he hoped the event would show that people are willing to fight to keep Trump's plans for the building at bay.

One of the most iconic buildings on the Potomac River waterfront, the Kennedy Center has been a focus of Trump’s remake of Washington since 2025, when he began installing favorites onto its governing board. Late last year, he had his named placed on the center. A judge ruled that Trump’s name was illegally added and ordered it removed.

The Kennedy Center board, which is aligned with the president, voted Tuesday to close the center indefinitely for repairs hours after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked their plans to return Trump’s name to the building. On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.

Raleigh said he, like others, is concerned that Trump could take the step without notifying the court. “Look at the East Wing,” he said. “We got up one morning and there was a giant hole there.”

Raleigh said the Kennedy Center is more in the public eye than the East Wing was. He added he doesn’t believe the president fully understands why people are so upset “but that’s our job right? This may be the line that no one expected but this is where the line is going to be.”

A landmark of the performing arts has gone silent

Protesters talked about the importance of the center as the pinnacle of the nation's performing arts world.

Bud Wilkinson, a local member of the arts community, set up a chalkboard with Trump's name written on it hundreds of times. Protesters flocked to him to erase the names and replace them with hearts.

“The Kennedy Center is vital to the arts in Washington. We need it. We need this,” Wilkinson said. “This is not just about putting the president’s name on the Kennedy Center. It’s about censoring the performances and the programming. That’s what started all this. So that’s what the nitty-gritty really is about this. So I want to replace all of this with love. That’s why there’s a heart.”

Alina Baciu talked about the opportunities and relationships that students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts have with the center and how those relationships might be impacted by what's going on.

Her daughter had numerous opportunities to take advantage of all the center had to offer as a student at Duke Ellington, she said. “I mean, they borrowed the beautiful costumes and the beautiful dresses from the Washington National Opera for their performances at Duke Ellington,” she said. They also performed on the center's Millennium Stage.

"All of those things have gone away because of this craziness. And it just hurts my heart,” Baciu said.

Laura Steinberg, a volunteer for the last 10 years, said the loss of performances has already been heart- wrenching. “This reminds me of that picture from Tiananmen Square, where that young man stood in front of the tank,” she said of the throngs present. “This was my visceral response to this. I’ll stand in front of the wrecking ball if it’s going to come to that. My guess is many of these people would come down because we saw what he did to the East Wing. Nobody thought he would actually do it. So I think the shock has mobilized people.”

Friday's event followed a tumultuous week in federal courts in Washington where filings and counter-filings flooded the courts as the administration continues pushing for the president’s vanity projects. The administration has made substantive steps to begin work on a number of projects, despite the fact they are still being litigated. Such projects include Trump's triumphal arch and the administration’s takeover of East Potomac Golf Links and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said he was willing to save the center, which he said was losing money. He did not address a question about demolishing it.

“We have a lot of people working very hard on it to save it," he said. "I can save it easily, but why should we be doing that and then raise money for the rest of our lives to keep it afloat? Because that’s what you have to do, if we get no recognition. I think the Trump administration should be recognized as having saved the Kennedy Center.”

La alcaldía de Buenos Aires anunció el viernes que no autorizará la realización de “eventos, diversiones o actos en el espacio público” de la capital argentina entre el 6 y el 13 de noviembre por la organización de la visita papal, una decisión que afecta la 35ª Marcha del Orgullo prevista para el 7 de noviembre.

El colectivo LGBT+ rechazó la resolución y ratificó la movilización para el día previsto, lo cual abre un frente de conflicto justo en la antesala de la primera visita de un papa al país sudamericano después de casi cuatro décadas.

“Comprendemos la relevancia institucional de la visita de un jefe de Estado y máximo representante de la Iglesia Católica… Lo que no comprendemos es que esa circunstancia sea presentada como una razón suficiente para plantear la suspensión de uno de los acontecimientos públicos más importantes, históricos y multitudinarios de la ciudad, aún más teniendo en cuenta que el papa llega a nuestro país recién al día siguiente”, expresaron en un comunicado los organizadores de la Marcha del Orgullo.

León XIV iniciará el 8 de noviembre una visita de cuatro días en Argentina, como parte de su primera gira por Latinoamérica que también incluirá Uruguay y Perú. El último líder de la Iglesia católica que pisó suelo argentino fue Juan Pablo II en abril de 1987.

Los argumentos de Buenos Aires

En una resolución publicada el viernes, la alcaldía de Buenos Aires sostuvo que la visita papal “constituye un acontecimiento de trascendencia institucional, religiosa y social de carácter excepcional y de una magnitud extraordinaria” y que por tal motivo demanda “la adopción de medidas preventivas orientadas a garantizar la seguridad del visitante ilustre, de los asistentes y de la población en general”.

Entre ellas mencionó “un esquema especial de ordenamiento del tránsito, que comprenderá cortes, restricciones temporarias, desvíos” y una afectación “extraordinaria” de recursos humanos y materiales de las fuerzas de Seguridad y de otras áreas.

“La realización de otros eventos en el espacio público durante el mismo periodo resultaría incompatible con las condiciones de seguridad, orden y movilidad que el gobierno de la ciudad debe garantizar a la población, y podría comprometer el normal y seguro desenvolvimiento de la visita del Sumo Pontífice”, argumentó la alcaldía.

Una marcha con historia

En las últimas décadas, Argentina se ha puesto a la vanguardia en la región con la ampliación de derechos a favor de la comunidad LGTB. Fue el primer país de Latinoamérica en habilitar el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo en 2010 y dos años después sancionó una inédita ley de identidad de género que consagró el derecho de toda persona a solicitar la rectificación registral del sexo y el cambio de nombre de pila e imagen en el documento cuando no coincidan con su identidad de género autopercibida.

Estas conquistas se lograron en gran medida por el impulso de una activa comunidad LGTB que desde hace más de 30 años realiza la Marcha del Orgullo en Buenos Aires.

“La suspensión de la marcha del 7 de noviembre no puede ser presentada como una decisión operativa menor”, advirtieron los organizadores en respuesta a la decisión de las autoridades capitalinas. “Cambiar su fecha no significa mover una actividad en una agenda: significa alterar una organización federal ya desplegada, compromisos asumidos desde hace meses y decisiones concretas tomadas por miles de personas para poder participar”.

Los convocantes aclararon que no recibieron un pedido formal de las autoridades del gobierno nacional de Javier Milei ni del Vaticano para cambiar la fecha y que se trata de una decisión del alcalde de centro-derecha Jorge Macri que se inscribe en el marco de un retroceso en las políticas a favor de las minorías sexuales.

“El planteo del Gobierno de la Ciudad parece una excusa más para postergar a la diversidad”, denunciaron.

Tras ratificar la Marcha del Orgullo para el 7 de noviembre, reclamaron a la alcaldía “acompañarla, garantizarla y cuidarla”.

“Acompañar la diversidad no consiste solamente en reivindicarla discursivamente o cuando no genera dificultades. Gobernar una ciudad diversa significa garantizar efectivamente esa diversidad”, concluyeron.

Mia Dio, Miss Universe Cuba, visited the Local 10 News studios as she prepares for the big event.

“Miss Universe as a platform is incredibly important, but just representing Cuba, that’s a story,” Dio said.

Dio calls herself a digital activist and has more than 1 million followers on Instagram.

The 25-year-old FIU graduate studied international relations and political science. She’s also known for being open about one of pageantry’s worst-kept secrets: plastic surgery.

Dio has openly discussed her own procedures on social media and says she isn’t afraid to address her critics.

Some have questioned why the Miss Universe Cuba pageant is held in Miami instead of Cuba.

“The exile community here in Miami was able to bring back this pageant in order for Cuba to finally have representation,” Dio said.

She’s also faced criticism over her appearance and whether she represents what people consider to be a Cuban look.

“First of all, I look just like my mom,” Dio said. “Cuba is incredibly diverse.”

Dio said she believes actions speak louder than words, and she’s using her platform to shine a light on the island she now represents.

She said she wants to put human rights at the forefront and recognize the tough reality people on the island are still living.

Asked what her message about Cuba would be if she were asked about it during the final question at Miss Universe, Dio said: “Regime change. What does that look like? Opportunity for the people.”

She also discussed medical diplomacy and its impact on Cuba.

“We can talk about things like how medical diplomacy makes the Cuban regime look really good to the outside world, but in reality it’s almost like slave labor,” Dio said.

Dio said the most powerful tool Cuban people have is their word.

The 75th diamond edition of Miss Universe will be held in Puerto Rico later this year, which will be a sort of homecoming for Dio.

The South Florida native representing Cuba actually lives in Puerto Rico.

“OK, don’t judge me for this, but originally it was for love,” Dio said.

She said she fell in love with the people and the island’s proximity to an experience she might have had in Cuba if it had more access to opportunities.

And when asked one more pressing question — croquetas or ropa vieja? — Dio chose ropa vieja.

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A Local 10 News crew was at the intersection of Southeast Second Avenue and Seventh Street in Dania Beach, where vehicles moved cautiously through standing water. Some cars appeared partially submerged, while a school bus navigated the flooded roadway.

The conditions extended to the airport, where video showed flooding in areas used by travelers and motorists. Drivers were advised to use caution and expect delays, particularly on side streets.

In Oakland Park, a Local 10 News crew visited flooded streets along Oakland Park Boulevard, Northeast Sixth Avenue and Prospect Road. Water accumulated along both sides of the roadway, with motorists driving slowly through flooded sections.

One driver was left stranded and had to push his own vehicle out of the floodwaters.

Others took the risk of driving through the moving water, while some parked vehicles had water rising above their tires.

A crash involving a white pickup truck and a blue car was reported near the flooded roadway. It was not immediately clear whether the weather contributed to the collision or whether either vehicle became disabled because of the flooding.

In Dania Beach, vehicles moved cautiously through standing water near Southeast Second Avenue and Seventh Street. Some cars appeared partially submerged, while a school bus navigated the flooded roadway.

Flooding extended to Pompano Beach, where a resident shared surveillance video showing water surrounding his property. The water rose high enough for orange barricades to be seen floating in the flooded area.

There was a ground stop at the airport, but it was later lifted.

The weather also disrupted school transportation across Broward County. School bus drop-offs were delayed, and some drivers took additional precautions by avoiding areas where flooding was too severe.

Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn warned parents that students could be dropped off later than usual because of the weather.

Some drivers became stuck in floodwaters, prompting nearby residents to come out and help push vehicles to safety.

As the rain continued Friday afternoon, motorists were urged to avoid driving through flooded roadways when possible and to proceed slowly where water had accumulated.

No road closures had been reported in the Oakland Park area at the time, despite flooding in several locations.

When Xi’s plan lands at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Wednesday, Trump will be there to welcome Xi for the state visit, senior administration officials told reporters. That’s unusual -- Trump typically meets foreign leaders at the White House.

The heart of the visit comes Thursday when Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcome Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at an arrival ceremony held indoors on the State Floor of the White House. Trump and Xi will also participate in a review of troops in the Rose Garden before they retreat behind closed doors for their talks.

The first lady and Peng Liyuan will hold a separate engagement while their spouses get down to business. Details were not released during a call the officials held Friday to brief reporters on Xi's visit.

Xi and his wife will also be the guests of honor Thursday as Trump and the first lady host the Chinese delegation for a state dinner in the East Room. Trump described the dinner as an event everyone wants to attend. Both leaders will deliver remarks.

“Thousands of people would love to be at that dinner,” Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office. He appeared to lament that the 1,000-person ballroom he is adding onto the White House will not be available for the soiree because it is still under construction. “This is a very tough ticket for me.”

“I've told a lot of very good friends of mine, ‘you just can’t come,'" Trump said.

White House shares some names on the state dinner guest list

But some of the Republican president's tech industry friends have been invited.

Among the executives scheduled to attend the state dinner are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai of Google and Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies, the White House said.

Also on the guest list are Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, and Tim Cook, who recently stepped down as the CEO of Apple.

Next Friday, Xi and Peng Liyuan are scheduled to return to the White House for a private tea with the Trumps, who will then take them on a tour of the National Archives, the home of some of the United States’ most important founding documents as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.

Xi will head for Joint Base Andrews after the tour.

Tariffs, artificial intelligence, rare earths on the agenda

As for other substantive parts of the visit, U.S. officials said Washington and Beijing may be ready to ease some tariffs on some nonstrategic goods.

Discussing the visit during a call with reporters, senior U.S. officials said such a move might affect a narrow band of goods that would advantage both sides. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, did not elaborate.

But they said they did not expect the United States would be ready to ease export controls to allow for a greater flow of rare earth minerals, critical components in a wide range of products, into the global market.

The officials said China maintaining an acceptable flow of such minerals would be discussed, but there was unlikely to be an exchange involving reduced U.S. export controls.

Separately, Treasury Secretary Bessent will meet over the weekend in New York with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss a range of economic issues, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly.

Artificial intelligence will be a focus of the talks, the person said.

In Beijing, China’s commerce ministry announced that He would lead a delegation to the U.S. from Saturday to Wednesday for economic and trade consultations.

Also on the agenda will be China’s stockpiles of rare earth minerals, essential to everything from smartphones to fighter jets. Beijing has used its near-monopoly on the minerals to bring the United States to the negotiating table in a trade war started by Trump’s tariffs and other sanctions on China. The talks might continue at the working level into Monday, the person said.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will join Bessent on Sunday for the meeting with He, Greer’s office announced Friday evening.

Trump visited China in May, as well as in his first term, for talks with Xi, who rolled out the red carpet for his American counterpart.

Xi was last in the United States for a state visit in September 2015 during the administration of Democrat Barack Obama.

—-

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Paul Wiseman and Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report.

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Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said the shooting happened around 9:10 a.m. in the area of the 15700 block of Southwest 140th Street.

Investigators said the FDLE agent was inside his vehicle when a man standing in the street approached and began striking the vehicle’s window.

They said the agent got out of his car, and an altercation began. Video obtained by Local 10 News shows a man wearing red, who appears to have a gun in his right hand, being body-slammed onto the pavement by a man wearing black shorts.

Investigators said the man who was body-slammed was the FDLE agent.

The video shows the two men continuing to struggle before the man who tackled the agent gets on top of him. A gunshot is then heard.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded and pronounced the man dead at the scene, according to investigators.

They said the FDLE agent was taken to a hospital. The agency said he was placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting.

“I heard some commotion,” said Julyana Adam, who was in the area when she heard that “a single gunshot went off.”

“By the time we all made it downstairs, there was somebody laying on the floor,” she added. “He was five steps away from being home and didn’t make it in.”

The man’s death was especially difficult for those who knew him.

His roommate and close friend of five years, Mauricio Salinas, identified him as 28-year-old Daniel Shand. However, investigators have not yet publicly identified him.

“He was nice a good person,” Salinas said when describing Shand to Local 10 News “I don’t think he deserved what happened to him.“

Salinas said he would often try to keep Shand calm when he became angry and said his friend had been working to improve himself. He said Shand was driving home from the gym in a red Toyota when he got into the altercation with the FDLE agent.

“I don’t know why the altercation happened. All I know is (when) I came out, he was already gone,” he said. “I think he was a person that was looking for redemption. (To) do better than he was yesterday.”

Deputies spent much of Thursday investigating the area. A body covered by a tarp could be seen in the roadway as investigators processed the scene.

A nearby school, Jorge Mas Canosa Middle School, was temporarily placed on lockdown because of what Miami-Dade County Public Schools described as “non-school related police activity in the area.” The lockdown was later lifted.

Authorities have not released additional details about what led to the confrontation.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Just hours after Congress approved the loan, President Rodrigo Paz announced an immediate end to subsidies for the diesel powering Bolivia’s trucks, buses and tractors — a step toward meeting IMF demands. Gasoline, used mainly in private cars, would remain subsidized for now, though Paz had already scaled back that support in recent months.

The Senate ratified the IMF agreement a day after the lower house approved it, clearing the final legislative hurdle for the three-year financing program aimed at replenishing dwindling foreign reserves and stabilizing the ailing economy marked by high inflation and weak growth. The IMF first announced the staff-level agreement in July after months of negotiations with Paz’s market-friendly government, which took power last year after nearly two decades of socialist rule as part of a wave of new Latin American leaders allied with the Trump administration.

The program still requires approval from the IMF’s executive board before funds can be disbursed. Economy Minister Christian Morales told senators that the deal would give other lenders, including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, greater confidence in the government and help it secure about $5 billion in additional financing.

But the assistance is conditioned on tough economic measures, including the elimination of fuel subsidies, that threaten to reignite unrest in Bolivia, where weeks of road blockades in June and July paralyzed much of the South American nation as demonstrators demanded Paz’s resignation. Congress on Thursday extended for another 90 days a state of emergency that Paz had declared to clear roads during the protests. It allows for military intervention and the suspension of some civil liberties.

The Bolivian Workers’ Central, the country’s main labor federation, and other unions have voiced fierce opposition to the IMF loan, warning that the government spending cuts required under the deal would drive up living costs and deepen hardship for struggling families.

Although Paz’s Christian Democratic Party lacks a majority in Congress, the centrist and right-wing lawmakers that dominate both chambers rallied behind the deal. The Movement Toward Socialism, the party that dominated Bolivian politics after the former coca growers’ union leader Evo Morales won the presidency in 2005, now holds just two of the 130 seats in the lower house and none in the 36-member Senate.

Declining natural gas exports have deprived Bolivia of dollars needed to import gasoline and diesel, contributing to chronic fuel shortages that began in 2023 and have persisted under Paz. The Iran war has pushed up global fuel costs, making fuel subsidies an even greater burden on public finances.

“No one can buy something expensive and sell it cheap,” Paz said in his late-night declaration that diesel in Bolivia would now be sold at international prices.

To cushion the blow, he announced about $79 million in cash assistance for 2.9 million Bolivians, along with loans on preferential terms for truckers, small businesses and producers facing higher diesel costs. He pledged to redirect subsidy spending toward schools, hospitals and roads.

He promised the change would end the country’s persistent diesel shortages, which have disrupted harvests and delayed deliveries of imported goods. “With this measure, we guarantee supplies 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said.

___

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The lawsuit lists Walter, Delaware Life Insurance Co., Clear Spring Life and Annuity, TWG Global Holdings and Walter’s Guggenheim Partners investment firm as defendants.

Ira Rosner, a 67-year-old Florida man, brought the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday. He purchased a policy from Delaware Life in April and he had until late May to withdraw his money without penalty. However, the company did not disclose the investigation to him until June,

Rosner is seeking a jury trial in the lawsuit that seeks damages for negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and aiding and abetting fraud.

TWG Global didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Walter has been under investigation since last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission following a whistleblower complaint regarding alleged misrepresented loans made between companies within his business portfolio.

TWG Global Holdings is the holding company through which Walter controls Delaware Life, Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co. and his stake in Guggenheim Partners. TWG Global denied any wrongdoing involving the probe in a statement last month.

Walter and co-owner Todd Boehly sold their stakes in English Premier League club Chelsea this week. Last month, Walter agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers in a surprise move less than a year after buying the NBA franchise from the Buss family. The deal is under review by the league.

The Dodgers have been adamant that Walter has no plans to sell the baseball team.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The Sikh victim was attacked from behind early Sunday while in a restroom at the Bitter Creek rest stop on Interstate 80 midway between Cheyenne and Salt Lake City, according to court documents. He suffered stabs to the neck and chest and over a dozen other cuts but survived.

While police say the motive is unknown, the attack came after deadly crashes involving Sikh truck drivers led to debate about commercial driver's licensing requirements — sparking hatred toward Sikhs as a group, community leaders said.

Anti-Sikh sentiment has been especially severe on truck-driving forums, said one Sikh in the trucking industry, Harsimran Singh, CEO of Gillson Trucking in Stockton, California.

"I’ve been here for the last 25-plus years," Singh said. "I never felt this kind of hate before.”

Police were still investigating what prompted the Wyoming attack by a man who left the rest area driving a truck-trailer combination, Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Jeff Sheaman said.

“We have zero motive,” Sheaman said.

The victim allegedly told police he was trying to use the restroom when he was attacked from behind. He pushed the attacker, he said, and didn't see the knife at first, according to the police affidavit filed in the case.

Within hours, police arrested Andrew Kris Bzdak in nearby Carbon County, Wyoming. A family at the rest area who heard the attack allegedly followed Bzdak's truck back onto the highway and tipped off police to help find him, according to the affidavit.

Video taken from a truck at the rest area showed the victim walk casually into the restroom, followed by a man police said was Bzdak. Soon after, Bzdak allegedly was recorded running from the restroom, followed by the stumbling, wounded victim who fell at least once, according to the affidavit.

Bzdak remained jailed on $1 million bond Friday in Rock Springs, on suspicion of attempted murder, a crime punishable in Wyoming by up to life in prison. An initial appearance was scheduled for Thursday.

A phone message left at an address for Bzdak in Catawissa, Pennsylvania, wasn't immediately returned, nor was a phone message for him at the jail and for his Wyoming public defender, Gary Arnell.

Despite no evident motive, the attack was unnerving for Sikhs, who number around 750,000 in the U.S. Many live in California.

Sikh men wear beards, uncut hair and turbans, and many work as truck drivers. Advocacy groups estimate at least 150,000 Sikh truck drivers work in the U.S.

In August 2025, authorities said a Sikh truck driver's U-turn on a Florida turnpike caused a crash that killed three people. The crash prompted investigations as well as reports about Sikh truck drivers being harassed.

Then last October, a Sikh truck driver accused of being under the influence of drugs caused a fiery crash that killed three people, authorities said.

Both drivers were in the U.S. illegally, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which Singh, the trucking CEO, blamed for stirring anti-immigrant hatred with social media posts.

One such post, since taken down, showed a dark-skinned man with a beard that read, “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr. Singh.” DHS officials have said the post referred specifically to the driver in the Florida crash. But Sikh community representatives pointed out that a large number of Sikhs — well over 100,000 in the U.S. and millions worldwide — have the last name Singh.

No matter what motivated the attack, the crime is difficult to separate from racism toward Sikhs, said Jasjit Singh, legal services director for the Sikh community group Jakara Movement and a representative of the victim.

“We were making noise about this,” Jasjit Singh said. “That is how the community feels. Until something really bad happens to us, nothing is going to really happen.”

The victim was headed home Friday after five days in a Casper hospital and hopes to drive his truck across Wyoming again, Jasjit Singh said.

But Harsimran Singh, the trucking CEO, also remained apprehensive.

“We are probably going to see more of this,” Harsimran Singh said. “I'm not surprised that it has happened.”

La gasolina seguirá subsidiada hasta fin de año, según un decreto anterior, y dejará de estarlo definitivamente en enero del año próximo.

En un mensaje al país, el mandatario centroderechista explicó que el gobierno gasta semanalmente 55 millones de dólares en el subsidio a los combustibles, lo cual es insostenible para la economía. Anunció también que el gobierno compensará a las familias de menores ingresos con un bono, créditos para la vivienda, reprogramación de deudas tributarias y la eliminación de gravámenes para la importación de maquinaria y equipos para los gremios y la industria.

“Es la decisión más responsable con el país. Subsidio o futuro. Hay que tomar medidas, por muy duras que sean”, manifestó Paz en su mensaje, difundido en la televisora estatal.

“Se están cerrando acuerdos trascendentales para Bolivia”, había declarado previamente el mismo día, y agregó que su gobierno “tomará decisiones. Algunas serán difíciles porque los precios internacionales nos están obligando a decisiones complejas”.

Dijo que el dinero destinado a las subvenciones se asignará a la exploración y producción de hidrocarburos.

Su gobierno ya había anunciado un alza en el precio del diésel para grandes consumidores a mediados de agosto, pero la medida no mejoró el abastecimiento de ese carburante, que se ha convertido en el más escaso y ello ha afectado gravemente la producción agropecuaria. Los transportistas deben hacer fila hasta por tres días para abastecerse.

A pesar de que Paz no tiene una mayoría legislativa sólida, el crédito fue aprobado por legisladores de centro y de derecha, que dominan las dos cámaras. La izquierda gobernó el país durante casi 20 años, con los presidentes Evo Morales (2006-2019) y Luis Arce (2020-2025).

Por su parte, el ministro de Economía, Christian Morales, dijo en la sesión del Senado que también se viabilizarán “otros créditos por unos 5.000 millones de dólares, que estarán destinados a inversiones, infraestructura y educación”.

La aprobación se da un día después de que el poder legislativo votara a favor de ampliar por 90 días el estado de excepción, establecido por Paz tras las duras protestas de 53 días que paralizaron gran parte del país andino entre junio y julio, y en las que se pedía la renuncia del mandatario.

Es el crédito más alto concedido a Bolivia por el Fondo Monetario Internacional en los últimos años y ayudará a “blindar nuestras reservas y estabilizar la economía”, declaró Paz previamente en la red social X tras la aprobación.

Las exigencias del FMI han puesto en alerta a los sindicatos, que no se han pronunciado sobre la nueva medida de Paz, pero anticiparon su rechazo a cualquier incremento de precios y amenazan con reactivar las protestas.

La escasez de diésel es más grave que la de la gasolina, ya que el país debe importar casi el 85% de lo que se consume, mientras que la importación de la gasolina ronda el 55% del consumo interno. Los dos carburantes son escasos. El contrabando, la corrupción y el mercado negro agravaron más la situación, ya que buena parte del combustible subsidiado se desvía a dicho mercado, donde se vende a mayor precio o sale del país, según las autoridades.

La Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) y otros sindicatos han rechazado el endeudamiento externo por su impacto directo en la economía del país, y han advertido que las exigencias del FMI tendrán efecto en la inflación —que el año pasado cerró en 20%— y en la economía de las familias.

Paz heredó una serie de problemas acumulados durante los gobiernos anteriores, entre ellos el deterioro de la producción de gas natural, la reducción de la generación de divisas, las dificultades para importar productos, la inflación y el creciente malestar social.

La escasez de combustibles que el país importa para vender a precio subvencionado es crónica y está disparando el malestar social. La subvención significa una sangría de las finanzas públicas y es una de las causas de la peor crisis que vive el país en 40 años, según expertos.

Lindberg, the son-in-law of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, is now the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs. He will replace Cindy McCain as executive director of the Rome-based World Food Program.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Qu Dongyu made the joint announcement after WFP’s board confirmed it agreed with the appointment.

Lindberg, 37, will take the helm of WFP as it struggles to raise money to help feed tens of millions of people in need. The agency, which relies on donations, says as many as 266 million people are facing acute hunger, but it is aiming to help just 110 million this year because of funding cuts.

The United States has for many years been the largest donor to the U.N. food agency, and the job heading it has gone to an American since the early 1990s.

Lindberg has been in his USDA role for just over a year, and President Donald Trump nominated him to head the World Food Program.

A native of South Dakota, Lindberg founded and served as president of the South Dakota Trade Association, overseeing the expansion of exports from the state. He also served as chief of staff and chief strategy officer of the U.S. Export-Import Bank in the first Trump administration.

Guterres and Qu expressed deep appreciation to McCain, widow of late Arizona senator and Republican presidential nominee John McCain, “for her leadership and dedicated service to WFP.” She stepped down in February after suffering a mild stroke in October 2025.

“She has led the program through one of the most demanding periods in its history, serving as a steadfast voice for people affected by conflict, disaster and severe hunger — and for the courageous personnel serving them on the front lines,” they said in a joint statement.

Guterres and Qu also expressed appreciation to Carl Skau, the food agency’s deputy executive director who has been acting executive director since McCain left and will remain in that position until Lindberg takes over.

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This story corrects the last paragraph to say that Carl Skau has been WFP’s acting executive director since McCain left and will remain so until Lindberg takes over.

They also knew they didn't have time to fix them before playing on Thursday against the Buffalo Bills — a game they lost 41-31.

Now, Dan Campbell is hoping to solve two games worth of issues before the Lions play again on Sept. 27 against the New York Jets.

“With a short week, we know we can't really make all the adjustments that we need right now,” Campbell said after his team survived two Saints plays that would have won the game. “After we play Buffalo, we're going to be making two weeks worth of fixes.”

It's a long list. Since taking a 21-0 lead early in the third quarter against New Orleans, the Lions have been outscored 71-41. It could have been worse — Buffalo led 21-0 in the second quarter and scored six touchdowns on their first seven drives.

“We stalled out early, and that hurt us,” Campbell said. “You're down three scores and, really, we haven't done anything offensively. So we needed a lot of help to come on offense to be able to answer back, and we fell short.”

Lions quarterback Jared Goff agreed. He threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns without turning the ball over, but the slow start meant Detroit never got back within one score.

The Lions also struggled in the first half against the Saints, only leading 7-0 before two turnovers by Tyler Shough led to 14 quick points at the start of the second half.

“I think for the last two games, really, we’ve had good moments, but I think we need to really understand that we need to start good,” Goff said. “We need to start on that momentum and ignite some of those plays in the first drive and not allow ourselves to get in these holes.”

Of course, it is hard to blame the offense on a night where Josh Allen tore Detroit's defense to shreds. He put up five touchdowns — three passing and two running — and more than 350 yards of offense. When the Bills decided to run the ball in the second half with the lead, James Cook III added 135 yards and a touchdown.

“We knew we were going to give up some plays to (Allen) — we can live with that,” Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said. “But we've got to be able to stop the running back. That's what we have to do.”

That didn't happen against Buffalo, and the Lions have nine days to fix it before New York arrives.

What's working

Goff has 533 yards passing and six touchdowns in the first two games of the season without a turnover. As usual, Amon-Ra St. Brown has done much of the damage, catching 19 passes for 209 yards and four touchdowns, but tight end Sam LaPorta and running back Jahmyr Gibbs each have 11 catches.

What needs help

The Lions started the season with both starting safeties — Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph — on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, meaning they will miss at least the first four games. Without them, the Lions have given up 658 passing yards and six touchdowns to Shough and Allen.

Things got worse against Buffalo, as replacement starter Avonte Maddox missed the second half with a foot injury and left the stadium on crutches and in a walking boot.

"Maddox is pretty tough, so when he didn’t come back, that makes me nervous,” Campbell said. “But I won’t know (the full extent of the injury) until Tuesday.”

Stock up

The Lions offense badly missed LaPorta when he was limited to nine games last year by a back injury, but he's made 11 catches for 100 yards in the first two games of 2026.

His average catch has only come 3.6 yards downfield, but he has added another 5.5 yards after the catch.

Stock down

Detroit is down three starting offensive linemen — center Cade Mays is on injured reserve, while guard Christian Mahogany and tackle Blake Miller got hurt against the Saints — and the Bills took advantage. Goff was sacked four times while Gibbs only gained 52 yards on 16 carries.

Injuries

With the extra rest before playing the Jets, Campbell is hoping to have Mahogany and Miller back in the lineup, but Maddox missing games would be a massive problem. Chuck Clark would probably move into the starting lineup, but he's already playing most defensive snaps as a fifth defensive back, so they would have to move someone into that role.

Key number

7.2 — the number of yards Allen averaged on 44 touches. That's fewer than the last time they faced him, when he averaged 9.8 yards on 44 touches in a 45-41 Bills win, but it will be tough for the Lions to win many games if quarterbacks keep slashing them to pieces.

Next steps

Use the time off to find reinforcements for the offensive line and secondary — either by getting injured players back onto the field or with players off the current 53-man roster.

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Thunderstorms could soak parts of the Florida Keys Friday evening while Broward and Miami-Dade counties catch a reprieve from downpours. However, a random shower or two is not out of the question overnight.

As Saturday unfolds, more showers and storms will develop across the region, especially during the afternoon.

Sunday also will offer a hefty dose of afternoon storms.

Seasonable temperatures are forecast for the weekend, with lows in the mid- and upper 70s and highs in the upper 80s.

The scientists issued their warning in Togo's capital, Lome, where they have gathered this week to discuss the region's level of preparation for disease outbreaks and dependence on vaccines from Western countries.

They said governments in the region have to cooperate to strengthen disease detection and invest in diagnostic capacities, citing lessons from Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks that the region has grappled with in the past decade.

Between 2014 and 2016, an Ebola outbreak killed at least 11,000 people across West Africa, overwhelmingly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“We need to anticipate these outbreaks,” said Kossi Kabo, the head of the Association of Medical Biologists of Togo and a co-chair of the congress. “We shouldn’t wait for an epidemic to emerge somewhere before responding. By then, it would be too late.”

Africa as a whole remains at risk for outbreaks. The rare Bundibugyo virus has killed over 3,600 people among nearly 7,500 cases in Congo since mid-May, when Congolese authorities announced a fresh deadly Ebola outbreak. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the tolls are likely three times the official figures and the outbreak is already history's fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak. The virus spread without detection for several weeks. Also, Hantavirus was detected on a cruise ship that docked in the Atlantic off Cape Verde in May.

Scientists are worried that in the absence of a major outbreak threatening the region, maintenance of the health systems has waned, leaving them unprepared for potential future epidemics.

Arthur Bodurie Calvin Garber, president of the Sierra Leone Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists, said the governments must also invest in people as much as infrastructure.

“It’s totally allowed. And a lot of people have parties and all,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, before adding, “But, as I understand it, he paid them back.” He also said, “I hear he paid them back” without elaborating.

ProPublica first reported this week that Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, helped pay to rent a private island and for a fireworks show when Donald Trump Jr. and socialite Bettina Anderson were married in the Bahamas in May.

In a subsequent post on her Instagram page signed by the couple, Bettina Trump wrote that Kremlev, head of the International Boxing Association, was a “dear friend” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.”

In the post, Bettina Trump said she and the president’s son were married in a private ceremony “surrounded ONLY by our family.”

Still, the president — who did not attend the wedding, saying at the time he was too busy — defended Kremlev's involvement as part of the festivities. Without providing details he said of his son, “a person that he knows — I guess a friend of his — gave him a wedding party.”

“That's very common,” Trump said, adding, “I've given wedding parties to numerous people,” while also seeming to suggest that there was no background check done for these kinds of gifts.

“With all of that being said, I understand that Don's paying him back,” Trump said.

The president also divulged for the first time that he'd previously heard about Kremlev's involvement, saying of his son, “I asked about it."

"He said, ‘No, I’m paying him back, Dad,"’ Trump said as he recalled their past conversation, which he noted had occurred “a while ago.”

“So I heard he's paying him,” Trump said.

ProPublica reported that the wedding was heavily funded by Kremlev, including that he “footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars" in expenses like renting out one of two private islands where the three-day party was held.

The gift came as Russia remains at war with Ukraine following its invasion more than four years ago, and as Trump has failed to broker a promised peace deal between both sides.

Kremlev was recently honored with the Order of Friendship by Putin, according to the International Boxing Association. He also accompanied Putin to China as part of a Russian delegation, according to the Chinese state media cited by ProPublica.

El plan amplía las operaciones conjuntas ya existentes entre autoridades federales, estatales y municipales a lo largo de las principales autopistas de Río y en territorios seleccionados, con énfasis en un mayor intercambio de inteligencia, una labor policial coordinada y operativos de inspección.

El senador Flávio Bolsonaro, principal rival de Lula e hijo del expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, y el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, han acusado a Lula de actuar de manera insuficiente para frenar a los grupos de crimen organizado que controlan amplias zonas de Río y áreas remotas, tales como franjas de la Amazonia.

“Este es un nuevo comienzo para crear un nuevo modelo de seguridad pública en este país”, manifestó Lula. “Dios quiso que empezáramos por Río de Janeiro, porque si funciona en Río, funcionará en todo el país”.

Las medidas incluyen ampliar la labor policial coordinada, las inspecciones, la inteligencia y la vigilancia a lo largo de los principales corredores logísticos del estado para combatir el robo de cargamento y el tráfico de armas y drogas, al tiempo que también se persigue a las redes financieras del crimen organizado.

“Muchas personas preguntan por qué Lula, que ha sido presidente tres veces, no se ha hecho ya cargo de la seguridad pública”, expresó el mandatario. Señaló que, desde la Constitución de 1988, la mayor parte de la seguridad pública ha estado en manos de los gobiernos estatales, un error que, según dijo, su gobierno desea corregir.

Algunos observadores sostienen que el gobierno de Lula aceleró los empeños para combatir el crimen organizado tras la operación policial más letal en la historia de Río el año pasado, en la que murieron más de 120 personas. Las encuestas posteriores mostraron un aumento en el índice de aprobación del entonces gobernador Claudio Castro y un fuerte respaldo a la redada letal.

En mayo, Lula lanzó un proyecto contra el crimen organizado de 2.000 millones de dólares, el cual incluyó reforzar la lucha contra el tráfico de armas, atacar las finanzas de las organizaciones criminales, elevar la calidad de las investigaciones de homicidios e invertir en el sistema penitenciario del país.

El viernes, el mandatario volvió a criticar la decisión de Trump, tomada a comienzos de este año, de clasificar al Primer Comando de la Capital, o PCC, y al Comando Vermelho, o CV, como organizaciones terroristas extranjeras. Dijo que, si bien esos grupos aterrorizan a las poblaciones locales, no son organizaciones terroristas porque buscan ganancias y no un cambio político.

Algunos analistas y políticos han dicho que dicha clasificación del PCC y el CV es un intento de entrometerse en las cruciales elecciones de Brasil al hacer que Lula parezca blando frente al crimen.

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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.

“That is the plan,” Donald said Friday.

”I think that's all of our plan. We can have a conversation, we'll figure it out, but I'm feeling really good."

A three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and eight-time All-Pro defensive lineman, Donald had been out of football for two seasons before rejoining the Rams (0-1) last month. However, he was around the organization enough that it never really felt to him like a prolonged absence. The only uncertainty was how long it would take him to feel physically ready to step back on the field in an NFL game.

After skipping the trip to Melbourne, Australia for the season opener, instead remaining in Southern California to continue his preparations, another week of practice seems to have given Donald the answer he wanted.

“Feel a lot better now that I got more practices under my belt instead of one, so kind of getting in a groove of things, understanding everything a lot better," Donald said. “I've been playing a lot more free, a lot more loose, and looking more like myself to me.”

Defensive tackle Kobie Turner called Donald's likely return an extra jolt of enthusiasm for a team looking to shake off a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

“I mean, AD is AD," Turner said. “So, excited for him to have the opportunity to go and put it on display on Monday, and excited to be out there with him.”

Donald's presence would give the defense a great pass rusher to help offset the loss of Myles Garrett for at least four games because of knee surgery. It was the seismic trade for Garrett in June that got Donald thinking about rejoining the Rams, but the 35-year-old will have to wait a little longer to play alongside Garrett.

“He won't be gone forever, so let him rest up, get healthy, and he'll be back soon,” Donald said. “So, hold it down while he's gone, and then when he's back, we'll get rolling.”

Donald doesn't feel any pressure to make up for Garrett's absence because of teammates such as Turner, Braden Fiske and outside linebacker Byron Young. But not having Garrett could open up Donald to the frequent double or triple teams from opposing blocking schemes he faced while amassing 111 sacks in 154 career games.

The Giants (1-0) came into this week believing Donald would be available.

“Expect him to play like Aaron Donald, which is a game-wrecking type player inside,” New York coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday. “Penetrating, active movement player who can wreck the game, really any particular play in a lot of different ways, run and pass.”

Donald is also likely to be on a significantly reduced snap count compared to 2023 when he was used 81% of the time. He expects that to work in his favor, particularly since it should have him being prioritized in obvious situations to go after the quarterback.

“I'm gonna go out there, play hard,” Donald said. “When I need a break, tap out, let the next guy go out there and eat, and I'll be right back. ... So, whatever that role is, I'm ready for it.”

The Rams will welcome whatever Donald can give them as they are already facing mounting adversity.

Star wide receiver Puka Nacua did not practice because of a hip injury, and his backup, Jordan Whittington, was not available due to a quadriceps injury.

Nacua missed practice time leading up to the regular season because of soreness in the psoas muscle that runs from the back through the pelvis to the legs. He sustained the injury during a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys on Aug. 11.

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He will participate in a “pull-aside” meeting — a more casual meeting than a formal bilateral sit-down — with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, according to Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Waltz also told reporters on a Friday call that Trump will be meeting with Andy Burnham, the United Kingdom prime minister, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Trump also will meet with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The measure was a final legacy item for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close ally and friend of the president who had just returned from Ukraine when he unexpectedly died in July. In the works for more than a year, the bill passed with large bipartisan margins: 86-11 in the Senate and 262-159 in the House.

It’s meant to starve Russian President Vladimir Putin of the resources Moscow needs to continue its war in Ukraine after invading its neighbor more than four years ago. The bill, also drafted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sanctions Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy moving.

It also directs Trump to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.

Sen. Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham's sister, said in a statement Friday: “I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day. I know he would be so proud. Lindsey believed this bill, which he worked on for well over a year, would help end the war through squeezing Putin economically and forcing his customers to reevaluate their relationship with Russia.”

Darline Graham was appointed to complete her late brother's Senate term.

“If he were here today, he would be jubilant about our bill’s passage — and already thinking about the next one,” Blumenthal said of Graham after the House passed the legislation Wednesday evening. Blumenthal added, “Putin is a thug who understands only force and strength, which is what we must show clearly and unequivocally.”

Despite overwhelming support on Capitol Hill, the legislation faced criticism from a vocal set of Democratic lawmakers who warned that Trump could use his new expanded tariff powers to impose fresh levies in the European Union and elsewhere.

“Why in the world would this Congress or the People’s House give this president unfettered authority to visit more tariffs on the world that will have an adverse economic impact on the American people?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said as he laid out his opposition to the bill. “I can’t do it.”

Graham’s journey to getting Trump’s sign-off on the bill had been full of fits and starts, as the White House had to be convinced that the president would be able to retain sufficient flexibility on sanctions. Eventually, Trump gave a nod to the bill after it included his push for a five-year extension of existing sanctions on Iran.

With its upscale homes and historic bayfront setting, it’s easy to overlook the plight of hunger in this community, but the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry stands as a reminder that the need is real and ongoing.

Many special services take place at Christ Episcopal Church, and they extend beyond Sunday.

Every Monday and Tuesday, the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry is there serving the most needy and vulnerable in the 33133 zip code.

“The pantry has been here since 1984, so 42 years, and it was started by parishioners here at Christ Episcopal Church,” said director of outreach Deb Dolson.

Parnice Lee’s mom, Fredericka Simmons Brown, was one of the founding members.

“She was 94 years old and still working every Tuesday with the Pantry,” she said.

Lee, who grew up in west Coconut Grove, has continued the tradition, giving her time for the past 13 years.

“I have to come whether it’s raining or not because she would always tell me come serve the Lord,” said Lee.

She’s one of 50 volunteers who show up faithfully every week to receive deliveries and then meticulously sort and pack the grocery bags, labeling some with the names and special needs of family members.

“We send out about 235 bags of groceries every week,” she said.

Roughly 80% are delivered to nearby homes while the rest are picked up at the pantry.

The pantry had one of their prayers answered this week when, as part of Local 10’s annual Food for Thought program, Publix donated volunteer hours and hundreds of pounds of food.

“Being part of Food for Thought program is so important to us at Publix, because we get a chance to bring a light to organizations that mean so much to these communities, and Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry is a great example of that,” said Publix Media Relations Manager Lindsey Willis.

And as long as the people of the 33133 need it, the pantry at the pink church will provide it.

To date, the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry has distributed more than 8,000 bags of groceries.

They’re also good citizens of the Earth, composting more than three tons of organic material.

The nonprofit relies on private donations to keep its doors open.

Trump did not directly respond when a reporter asked whether he planned to demolish the theater, as he's threatened to do, but said “the place is a dump” and he would “do a better job building it than anybody else.”

He said the Kennedy Center would require an ongoing subsidy to stay open and suggested it would be his burden to raise money to fill that gap.

“Why should I do everything and then for the rest of my life, have to go out and raise money?” Trump said.

He said only he could have secured the $257 million that Congress has approved for Kennedy Center repairs.

“I think the Trump administration should be recognized as having saved the Kennedy Center because nobody else could do it,” he added, repeating a comment he made days earlier while campaigning in North Carolina.

The Kennedy Center board, which is aligned with the president, voted Tuesday to close the center indefinitely for repairs hours after a judge blocked their plans to return Trump's name to the building. On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.

Trump on Friday called U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper “a very hostile judge."

He spoke in the Oval Office during a health care event as his Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., looked on. The venue was designated by Congress as a memorial for the secretary's uncle, President John F. Kennedy.

“I should be very careful because Bobby is standing right behind me," Trump said. “And I cherish that, too. I actually like the name of Kennedy and Trump, Trump and Kennedy, because it showed bipartisanship. It showed a Republican Party and a Democrat party working together.”

A wave of artists have canceled their Kennedy Center appearances in that past year after the Trump-loyal board added his name to the building's facade, renaming it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

Cooper ruled that Trump's name was illegally added and ordered it removed.

The policy, announced Friday, is the second revision this year in what has long been one of the most controversial and distinctive teachings of the religious organization.

The new policy says that individuals can receive products derived from blood donated by other people. It says they can receive medical treatments that involve the use of the four main components of whole blood: plasma, platelets and red and white blood cells.

“Each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care,” said Geoffrey W. Jackson, a member of the Governing Body of the organization, based in New York State.

The new announcement also allows members to decide as a matter of individual conscience whether to donate blood to be used for blood products for the medical treatment of others.

But the organization continues to oppose members receiving transfusions of whole blood or donating blood for that purpose.

In March, the Governing Body also announced a revised policy, authorizing members to have their blood stored for their own future medical treatment, but not for others’.

Critics have faulted the organization for prohibiting the use of a proven treatment that can be lifesaving in replenishing blood lost in surgeries, accidents or violence. Critics, including former church members, say that the teaching has led to deaths that could have been prevented.

The Jehovah's Witnesses' longtime opposition to blood transfusions derives from their interpretation of Bible passages requiring believers to “abstain” from blood. While Jewish and other Christian religious traditions have interpreted this as a dietary law, Jehovah's Witnesses have extended that prohibition to transfusions.

Blood components are often used for specific treatments.

Plasma, the liquid component of blood, is often used for those suffering from trauma or certain diseases, according to the American Red Cross. Red cells can be used to treat conditions such as anemia and white cells to treat certain infections. Platelets are used in some cancer and other treatments.

Members shouldn’t make the decision on using blood products lightly, Paul Gillies, international spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, said in an interview.

“What we’re saying is you have to pray about it, you have to study it, you have to see what the Bible has to say about it, because blood in the Bible represents life,” Gillies said. Members need to consider all these factors before reaching “a decision that you feel happy about with your God.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses, who emerged in 19th century America, share many Christian beliefs with other churches but diverge on key theological issues, such as the nature of Jesus and biblical prophecy. They are almost alone in their beliefs about blood transfusions. Jehovah’s Witnesses reported a U.S. membership of 1.3 million in 2025, with a worldwide membership of 9.2 million in more than 200 countries and territories.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade dijeron que la balacera ocurrió alrededor de las 9:10 a.m. en el área de la cuadra 15700 de Southwest 140th Street.

Los investigadores dijeron que el agente de FDLE estaba dentro de su vehículo cuando un hombre que estaba parado en la calle se acercó y comenzó a golpear la ventana del vehículo.

Dijeron que el agente salió de su automóvil y comenzó un altercado. Un video obtenido por Local 10 News muestra a un hombre vestido de rojo, quien parece tener un arma en la mano derecha, siendo derribado contra el pavimento por un hombre que vestía pantalones cortos negros.

Los investigadores dijeron que el hombre que fue derribado era el agente de FDLE.

El video muestra a los dos hombres continuando el forcejeo antes de que el hombre que derribó al agente se coloque encima de él. Luego se escucha un disparo.

Equipos del Departamento de Bomberos y Rescate de Miami-Dade respondieron y declararon al hombre muerto en el lugar, según los investigadores.

Dijeron que el agente de FDLE fue trasladado a un hospital. La agencia dijo que fue puesto en licencia administrativa, como es el procedimiento estándar después de una balacera en la que está involucrado un agente.

Vecinos dijeron a Local 10 que escucharon a los dos hombres discutir por una situación relacionada con estacionamiento antes de escuchar un solo disparo.

“Escuché un alboroto”, dijo Julyana Adam, quien estaba en el área cuando escuchó que “se produjo un solo disparo”.

“Para cuando todos bajamos, había alguien tendido en el suelo”, agregó. “Es bastante devastador enterarse de que estaba suplicando ‘solo quiero llegar a casa’. Estaba a cinco pasos de llegar a su casa y no lo logró”.

La muerte del hombre fue especialmente difícil para quienes lo conocían.

Su compañero de vivienda y amigo cercano desde hace cinco años, Mauricio Salinas, lo identificó como Daniel Thomas Shand, de 27 años, y lo describió como una buena persona. Sin embargo, los investigadores aún no lo han identificado públicamente.

“Era amable, una buena persona”, dijo Salinas. “No creo que mereciera lo que le pasó”.

Salinas dijo que a menudo ayudaba a calmar a Shand cuando se enojaba y dijo que su amigo había estado trabajando para mejorar como persona.

“No sé por qué ocurrió el altercado. Lo único que sé es que cuando salí, él ya había muerto”, dijo. “Creo que era una persona que esperaba encontrar redención y ser mejor de lo que era ayer”.

Los agentes pasaron gran parte del jueves investigando el área. Se podía ver un cuerpo cubierto con una lona en la carretera mientras los investigadores procesaban la escena.

Una escuela cercana, Jorge Mas Canosa Middle School, fue puesta temporalmente bajo cierre preventivo debido a lo que las Escuelas Públicas del Condado Miami-Dade describieron como “actividad policial en el área no relacionada con la escuela”. El cierre preventivo fue levantado posteriormente.

Las autoridades no han divulgado detalles adicionales sobre lo que provocó el enfrentamiento.

La investigación continúa.

Glover saw the whale surfacing on Wednesday while he was fishing for salmon and striped bass from a 21-foot (6.4-meter) boat, less than half the length of the animal. He shot a few videos as the whale broke the surface of the water in California's largest river, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from its more typical home of the Pacific Ocean.

“One of the guys on the boat, he said, ‘I see a whale.’ He saw the spout,” Glover said. “At first we didn't believe it. We thought he had mistaken a dolphin or a porpoise. Then we saw the spout again, and there's no mistaking a whale spout.”

The rare inland visit from a whale has attracted the attention of scientists who want to know what kind of condition it's in and how it wound up so far from the sea. The whale entered San Francisco Bay earlier in the week and has been traveling east in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California's largest river delta, The Marine Mammal Center said in a statement.

The center, which is in Sausalito, said its cetacean team is planning to assess and monitor the animal. The public should avoid interacting with the whale and trying to change its course, said Kathi George, the center's director of cetacean conservation biology.

“While it’s unknown whether this whale is just passing through or if there is an underlying, unknown ailment, the best thing people can do is experience this adult whale’s presence from a respectful distance,” George said.

The whale is known to researchers through a photo identification catalog and has been documented 15 times over the past 24 years, the center said. The most recent documented sighting before this week was in Baja California in February, the center said. Researchers don't know whether the whale is male or female.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both declined to comment about this week's sighting.

The whale isn't the first to travel so far inland. In 1985, a humpback whale known as Humphrey spent several weeks in the Rio Vista area before returning to the ocean, The Marine Mammal Center said. A mother-calf pair known as Delta and Dawn spent nearly three weeks in the Sacramento River Delta in 2007 before returning, the center said. The whales eventually made their way back to the ocean, the center said.

Humpback whales are among the largest animals on Earth and can weigh up to 80,000 pounds (35,287 kilograms). They are known for their dramatic lunges at the water's surface, an activity called breaching, and their complex underwater songs.

Seeing the whale so far upriver was a thrill, Glover said. The animal seemed in good shape despite being far from home, he added.

“It came up and went down in fairly regular intervals,” he said. “It was moving along at a fair clip. It wasn't acting erratically other than that it was upstream in a freshwater river.”

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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to accelerate implementation of a California law that calls for independent oversight of AI companies and the use of “kill switches” so developers have the ability to shut down their systems.

“California will do what it can. But this nation needs to get in the game. Washington, D.C. needs to do its job,” Newsom said on his podcast Friday.

The order came a day after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, also expected to be a leading Democratic presidential prospect, delivered a speech outlining the steps he’s taking locally to confront AI risk. Like Newson, he conceded that states have obvious limitations in regulating a global technology.

The efforts come as AI leaders have issued dire warnings about the potentially catastrophic threat posed by rogue AI agents. The country has begun grappling with the impact of a technology that could bring both tremendous gains in areas like medical research and automation but also unleash deadly viruses, cause widespread economic upheaval and help terrorists inflict harm.

While Trump has angrily dismissed the warnings as a “HOAX,” Democratic lawmakers and candidates across the country are delivering speeches and proposing legislation as they sense a political opening heading into the midterms and the next presidential race.

Trump dismisses warnings

Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk have all called for greater government oversight of the industry after a series of hacks revealed AI agents conspiring to deceive humans.

Trump has responded by saying that he is “the only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs.”

Democrats quickly pounced.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is seeking reelection in a state Trump won two years ago, said at a campaign rally last weekend that “a capable president would move swiftly to secure and reassure the American people, rush inspectors into frontier labs, fortify the nation against bioterrorism, demand legislation from Congress, and lead the world toward an AI treaty.”

Ossoff, seen as a potential 2028 contender, said geriatric politicians have little comprehension of AI technology.

“An ancient establishment, barely capable of email, sleepwalks into a technological revolution while the president dismantles precautions and calls us fools for worrying,” he said.

Another potential White House contender, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, told Politico he will introduce legislation next week to create a fund that AI companies would contribute to support workers affected by the disruption.

Shapiro, in his speech, called for new federal rules to require independent, third-party oversight, increased transparency, and to “prioritize safety above all else.” In his state, he noted that he has already signed an executive order to establish “real guardrails governing how Pennsylvania uses generative AI.” But he acknowledged that states have obvious limits.

“It’s going to require national and, in fact, international, leadership and collaboration,” he said.

Alex Bores, a soon-to-be-former New York State lawmaker who lost his congressional primary this summer after AI companies angry over an AI safety bill he championed spent millions to defeat him, said: “The salience of this issue has climbed dramatically.”

“People want there to be real action on it,” he said. “Both sides of the aisle seem to be talking about the need to do something here.”

Bores, who recently launched a political advocacy group aimed at influencing how his party responds to the technology, said he was encouraged by governors who seemed to be pivoting from calling on the federal government to act to working on their own regulations.

“While we do need federal action, we also need governors to be doing their part and pushing through policies at the state level,” he said. “I’ve been encouraged by the vibe shift” over the last few days.

A divide is emerging along party lines

While it remains early, polling suggests a growing ideological divide over AI, with Democrats becoming more alarmed over the last few years, while Republicans have become less concerned.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to be “more concerned than excited” about the growing use of AI in daily life, according to a June Pew Research Center poll.

About half of U.S. adults overall say the increased use of AI in daily life makes them “more concerned than excited.” Another Pew Research Center poll from June found that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults think that AI will cause job losses in the U.S. over the next 20 years, up 7 percentage points since 2024.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, has been calling on Republican Senate leadership to establish a select committee on A.I. as soon as possible.

“I worry about this as a true existential threat. This is the first time that we’ve created technology to destroy humanity that could be controlled by not humans,” he said on MSNOW.

The concern has not filtered down to some local races

While potential 2028 candidates have been eager to weigh in on AI, the issue has been less potent in many local races, where some fear the kind of spending that Bores faced.

At a rally in New York's highly competitive 17th Congressional district on Wednesday, the audience cheered as Democratic candidate Cait Conley vowed to ban data centers that power AI and cloud computing. But no direct mention was made of the broader technology or its risks.

There have been exceptions.

In Michigan, both candidates for a tightly contested Senate seat have called for some level of slowdown. At a town hall on Sept. 11, Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed said AI was keeping him up at night, describing it as an existential risk.

“We need to all hit pause,” said El-Sayed, who wants to halt frontier research and mandate new public oversight, including turning AI companies into public benefit corporations, creating a new regulatory agency and banning the use of AI to deny medical care, make hiring or firing decisions — or fire a weapon.

On Monday, Republican nominee Mike Rogers called for an AI slowdown in an X post after Amodei’s warning.

“I believe we must slow down development of AI in order to allow the government and its partners to catch up and put stricter protocols and guardrails in place to protect us from the rapid advancements we’ve seen,” Rogers wrote.

Bores said that data centers had fueled such backlash not only because of concerns over their immediate local impact, but also because, “It is the first time that AI is meeting democracy.”

“Of course they're channeling all of their concerns about it into the fight against data centers,” he said. ____

Steve Peoples in New York, Linley Sanders in Washington and Jacqueline GaNun in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.

New York said it will make the roster move on Saturday. The placement could be backdated to Thursday, meaning it is possible Judge could return for New York’s regular-season finale on Sept. 27.

Boone didn't offer any guarantees that would happen.

“I don’t know,” Boone said. “I don’t have a timeline on him. He’s on the IL now. I’m not going to predict anything. He’s getting treated and we’ll see what transpires.”

Judge was removed for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning Wednesday during a game against the Minnesota Twins because of the discomfort in his leg. Judge said at the time it was a precautionary move, but Boone said symptoms persisted and an MRI showed the strain.

Judge was 4 for 23 with 13 strikeouts and one extra-base hit in seven games since returning last week from a broken rib, which kept him out of the lineup for more than three months.

Boone said utilityman Max Schuemann will be recalled from Triple-A to take Judge's place on the roster. Schuemann is batting .194 with two homers and eight RBIs in 87 big league plate appearances this season.

Three-time All-Star Cody Bellinger said he was frustrated for Judge because he knows how hard the 34-year-old has worked to get back into the lineup.

“It hurts. We all know he's the best hitter in the game,” Bellinger said. “But for us in here, the mindset is that we're going to have to find a way. I think the talent in this locker room speaks for itself, and I'm fully confident that we have enough talent in here to go out and beat anybody.”

Judge is hitting .241 with 18 homers and 41 RBIs over 66 games this season. The Yankees have already clinched a playoff spot but entered Friday five games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

Boone echoed Bellinger's sentiment that the Yankees have enough talent to weather another Judge injury. Ben Rice leads New York with 38 homers while Bellinger is hitting .276 with a team-high 25 doubles, 16 homers and 71 RBIs.

The Yankees entered with 47-39 record in the games Judge has missed this season and a 41-25 mark in games that he's played.

“We've got a lot of really good offensive players,” Boone said. “A lot of good players, guys who are playing really well now. The reality is we've had to play a lot of this year without him. There's no replacing a player like Aaron Judge, but we have high expectations that don't change.”

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