According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, a woman working at the front desk of the Salvation Army located at 1907 NW 38th St. when she received two calls from the same number, saying the man on the phone requested to speak with a specific case worker supervisor.

The woman told deputies the name associated with the phone number was displayed as “Alex Boom.”

On the second call, authorities said the woman put the man on speaker, and that’s when she and a second witness heard him say, “You know who I am, there’s a live bomb in the building.”

The building was subsequently evacuated and searched for explosive devices by MDSO K9 units, deputies said. After several hours, the building was deemed safe and people were allowed back inside.

Investigators determined that the phone number where the calls came from belonged to Juan Carlos Siblia-Lopez, who deputies said lived with his mother in Hialeah.

According to an arrest form, Siblia-Lopez confirmed that his phone was registered under the name “Alex Boom” and later confessed to calling in the bomb threat. He was then charged with falsely reporting a bomb threat.

As of Thursday morning, Siblia-Lopez was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond listed as “to be set.”

As we discussed in yesterday’s newsletter, however, longer range forecast models continue to indicate the possibility of development by later next week with a strong tropical wave emerging over the eastern Atlantic around next Tuesday or Wednesday (August 25-26).

The development of this next candidate is by no means a lock, but the signal has been the most pronounced we’ve seen amongst all major models and modeling camps (AI and traditional physics-based models). We saw some models perk up with the last two waves – Invest 92L and Invest 94L – only to fall flat in later cycles as the waves fizzled. And even with this one, we’re seeing some hemming and hawing between model runs, with Google’s DeepMind peeling back its early enthusiasm in overnight runs.

Nevertheless, the difference between mid-August with the last two waves and late August with the one ahead is noteworthy, and the Atlantic is better primed to support development in late August and early September than it is just a few weeks prior, something we know well from climatology.

Systems this season will largely struggle, but late August through mid-October is kind of like July in the South. Even on “cool” days, it can still feel hot. A heatwave in July hits differently than one in March, and that’s why we stay vigilant this time of year. Hurricane season wants to give us storm-equivalent heatwaves by September, even in “cool” years.

The good news in late August and early September is the threats often, though certainly not always, originate over the wide open Atlantic, which gives us plenty of time to watch and prepare. That’s obviously the case here, and regardless, we have plenty of time to follow the trends.

For now, we don’t anticipate any tropical threats on the Atlantic side through at least the end of next week.

Another close call for Hawaii this weekend?

Meanwhile, out in the central Pacific, we can’t give the same reassurances to Hawaii, where officials are still assessing damage and only beginning recovery efforts in the wake of Lala last weekend.

Invest 90E, located about 1,000 miles southeast of Hawaii, is expected to gradually organize into a tropical depression and named storm (Moke pronounced MOH-keh) in the coming days as it moves in the general direction of Hawaii.

It’s too soon to know if future Moke will pose a direct threat to the islands, but models suggest it could be in the vicinity by this upcoming weekend.

Until the system fully forms, models will be jumpy, and for now, this is simply one that interests in the state – and particularly on the Big Island – should monitor. At least for now, conditions don’t seem as conducive to strengthening as they were with Lala, but it doesn’t take a direct hit from a hurricane to cause problems, especially in places with weakened infrastructure and still-swollen rivers from Lala’s historic rain.

In the latest such instance, the social media giant is fighting allegations in a California federal court that it contributes to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately and stealthily designing features to get children hooked on its platforms Instagram and Facebook. Four states are seeking billions of dollars in damages as well as fundamental changes to how Meta runs those apps.

Children’s mental health, and what they do and see on social media, are all issues “Meta takes seriously and tries to act on,” Paul Schmidt, a lawyer for the tech giant, said in opening statements this week.

Critics say the company's safety record falls short and that many of its protections simply don’t work.

They include Marc Berkman, executive director at the Organization for Social Media Safety, who said Meta introduced safeguards promising to protect children in response to public pressure rather than out of concern.

There’s been a “lack of real institutional willingness to act here,” Berkman said.

Here’s a look at some of the changes Meta has introduced, along with the work advocates say could still be done.

Access to users and content-focused protections

Most of the changes Meta has introduced focus on addressing harassment and offensive content.

Instagram users have always been able to block others — and, along with Meta’s oldest crown jewel, Facebook — the app has gradually added features for reporting problematic accounts and inappropriate content.

In 2016, Instagram users were given the option to delete or filter comments they found offensive, and later added warnings that prompted users to reconsider posting potentially harmful content, as well as options to limit comments and tags on their posts.

Meta also says it prevents adults from starting private chats with teens if they are not already connected, and has increased checks to make sure users under 13 — the minimum age for holding a Facebook or Instagram account — aren't online. Schmidt said in his opening remarks that Meta recognizes some users still sign up using incorrect birthdays but that the company takes enforcement of age limits seriously.

The company says it also posts warnings and resources at the top of Instagram search results related to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, and touts its “Teen Accounts,” launched in 2024, as a safe space for teenagers online. It aligns photo and video restrictions for teen accounts with those for a PG-13 movie, unless there’s parental permission otherwise.

Critics complain these changes amount to little more than corporate posturing.

A September 2025 report from former employee and whistleblower Arturo Béjar and four online safety advocacy nonprofits accused Meta of not taking “real steps” to address youth safety, instead opting for “splashy headlines about new tools for parents and Instagram Teen Accounts for underage users.”

“We really found that overall what Meta was marketing under Teen Accounts was very lacking in actual protections,” said Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at Fairplay, which co-authored the report. They evaluated 47 of Meta’s 53 safety features for teens on Instagram and found 60% of them were either not available or didn't work as advertised, Hinkle said.

Meta called the report's findings “misleading” and “dangerously speculative.”

Scrolling and core design

Researchers say Meta's efforts to reduce the risk of children becoming addicted to the scrolling features of social media platforms have been largely unsuccessful.

Ashley Shea, a Ph.D. candidate specializing in social media and online spaces at Cornell University, points to what academics call “attention-capture deceptive designs” that are not exclusive to Meta's platforms. They include infinite scrolling, “casino style” pulls to refresh content, push notifications and algorithmic recommendations. Those features “prey on the cognitive vulnerabilities” of young people with developing brains, in particular the need to feel rewarded.

Meta has taken important steps to address problematic content, cyberbullies and sexual predators, Shea said, but she has not seen the same level of effort to offset the addictive impact of attention-capture deceptive designs.

Nudges and time management controls

“There’s no question that some teens struggle to manage their time with social media,” Schmidt said Tuesday, adding that Meta’s time management tools prove its evolution on the issue. Those tools include parental supervision controls and in-app “nudges” for teen users who repeatedly look at the same type of content or spend too long on Instagram or Facebook late at night.

Hinkle notes the “entirely voluntary” time management tools are not easy to set up, and amount to “far too little too late.”

Béjar, the former Meta employee and whistleblower, agrees. In testimony Wednesday, he said a tool called “Take a Break” is “designed to fail.” Users have to turn the feature on themselves and, he said, very few do.

Across the board, tech companies exist to maximize revenue, said Berkman, and for almost every social media platform today, that means “maximizing children using their features for as long as they can.”

Legal challenges focused on “the fact that these are defective products by design because of their features, not the content per se” is something new, Shea added. And beyond the courtroom, mounting pressure on lawmakers could bring more industrywide changes.

“The momentum only continues to grow,” she said. “Ultimately, these are for-profit companies that respond to economic pressures. And so I think that the more economic pressure they’re confronted with through these litigations, the quicker they will have to adapt.”

In 2022, the federal agency had imposed a ban on imports of sugar and other products made by Central Romana Corporation, Ltd., accusing the company of isolating workers, withholding wages and fostering abusive working and living conditions.

The ban, however, was lifted last year under the Trump administration, sparking an outcry that was revived when the nonprofit Corporate Accountability Lab published a report Tuesday noting that forced labor persists. The report was published following more than three years’ worth of investigations.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, sent a letter Thursday to Customs and Border Protection requesting information behind the reversal of the ban. He accused the agency of appearing “to have abruptly abandoned its own established administrative procedures.”

“Circumventing standard trade enforcement processes for politically connected, billionaire-owned corporations undermines the integrity of U.S. trade policy,” Wyden wrote.

He requested administrative records, final recommendations and other documents related to the case.

The Associated Press sought comment from the agency, which acknowledged the emailed request but had not yet commented.

“Ensuring that U.S. trade enforcement mechanisms are immune from political interference and adhere to statutory requirements is critical to ensuring that forced labor does not illegally enter the supply chain of goods unwittingly bought by American businesses and consumers,” Wyden wrote.

According to an arrest report from the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department, an officer was conducting a traffic stop near 17200 Collins Ave. at about 4 p.m. when a driver alerted the officer to a small child walking alone on the sidewalk.

The boy was walking north along the sidewalk parallel to Collins Avenue, police said. The officer reported that the boy had visible redness on his face and was carrying a half-eaten slice of pizza.

Police said the officer placed the child in a patrol vehicle while officers searched the surrounding area for his parents or guardians.

The officer showed the child’s photograph to several people before going to a nearby apartment complex on 174th Street in an attempt to identify him, the report stated.

According to the report, the officer later spotted a woman walking quickly outside the complex with a girl. The woman was identified as the boy’s mother and told police she was searching for her son, the report stated.

Police said she then contacted her husband, Semyon Levin, 63, who responded to the scene and told police the child had been under his supervision when he lost sight of him, the report states.

Investigators said Levin told them he had been eating at a nearby Starbucks at 17100 Collins Ave. with his son at about 3 p.m. when he lost sight of the boy.

Levin was then taken to the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department for further questioning.

According to the report, Levin waived his Miranda rights and told detectives during a recorded interview that he realized his son was missing but did not immediately contact police for help.

Investigators said Levin also told them that his 9-year-old and 7-year-old daughters had left Starbucks and walked home without an adult. Levin said he believed his son may have left with his 9-year-old sister, according to the report.

Police said Levin told detectives he frequently loses sight of the boy because his son has “too much energy,” making him difficult to keep track of.

When detectives asked why he did not call police after realizing the boy was missing, Levin said he did not believe the situation constituted an emergency, according to the report.

Investigators estimated the child was wandering alone for approximately one hour.

Police also alleged that Levin had opportunities to alert law enforcement after leaving Starbucks. According to the report, Levin saw an officer wearing a clearly marked police vest in the lobby of his apartment building, while an unmarked police vehicle with its emergency lights activated was outside. The officer was showing the child’s photograph to a security guard in the lobby at the time, authorities said.

Investigators concluded that Levin failed to provide the supervision and care required for his son and that his actions endangered the child’s safety and health.

Levin was arrested on a child neglect charge and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center for processing.

As of Thursday morning, Levin remained jailed at TGK. Online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”

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Commander Thomas Rigo had finished work July 3 but stayed a little longer while patrolling the Intracoastal.

Then he heard a mother screaming from the shore.

Rigo looked over and saw Noah’s mother jumping into a pool after finding her daughter unresponsive.

“I look to my left. I see her jumping in the pool all dressed up, and she pulls this lifeless baby,” Rigo said.

Noah had nearly drowned in the pool, and her mother desperately needed help.

Rigo ran over and put his CPR training to work. He is certified as a CPR instructor in Bay Harbor Islands.

“I didn’t even realize what was going on in the moment. It just all, like, happened so quickly, but after, you know, he saved her life and we got to know what happened, we were just even more shocked at finding out the details that he happened to be on a boat at the right time,” Noah’s mother, Tiffany, said.

Then came the moment Noah’s family knew she was going to be OK.

“All I heard was her say, ‘Mama,’ and I like, I knew she was going to be OK,” Tiffany said.

Rigo was later honored with a lifesaving award.

“You saved our little girl, and honestly, there’s no other way that we could thank you besides constantly saying ‘thank you,’” Tiffany said.

Noah’s brother also made the moment even more special, hugging his sister and telling her to thank the commander.

“He saved you,” he told her.

The family and Rigo say they will be tied together forever after the lifesaving rescue.

El comandante Thomas Rigo había terminado de trabajar el 3 de julio, pero se quedó un poco más mientras patrullaba el Intracoastal.

Entonces escuchó a una madre gritando desde la orilla.

Rigo miró y vio a la madre de Noah saltar a una piscina después de encontrar a su hija inconsciente.

“Miro a mi izquierda. La veo saltar a la piscina completamente vestida y saca a esta bebé sin signos de vida”, dijo Rigo.

Noah estuvo a punto de ahogarse en la piscina y su madre necesitaba ayuda desesperadamente.

Rigo corrió hasta el lugar y puso en práctica su entrenamiento de RCP. Está certificado como instructor de RCP en Bay Harbor Islands.

“Ni siquiera me di cuenta de lo que estaba pasando en ese momento. Todo sucedió muy rápido, pero después, ya sabes, él le salvó la vida y supimos lo que había ocurrido, quedamos aún más sorprendidos al conocer los detalles de que él estaba en un bote justo en el momento indicado”, dijo Tiffany, la madre de Noah.

Luego llegó el momento en que la familia de Noah supo que ella estaría bien.

“Todo lo que escuché fue que dijo, “Mamá”, y supe que iba a estar bien”, dijo Tiffany.

Rigo fue homenajeado posteriormente con un reconocimiento por salvar una vida.

“Salvaste a nuestra pequeña y, sinceramente, no hay otra manera en que podamos agradecértelo aparte de decirte constantemente “gracias””, dijo Tiffany.

El hermano de Noah también hizo que el momento fuera aún más especial al abrazar a su hermana y decirle que le diera las gracias al comandante.

“Él te salvó”, le dijo.

La familia y Rigo dicen que estarán unidos para siempre después del rescate que le salvó la vida.

The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

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White House legislative affairs director James Braid is leaving his post

Braid was in charge of helping to shepherd Trump’s legislative agenda through a Congress where his Republican Party controlled both chambers.

Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that Braid “played a critical role in all of the administration’s achievements in Congress,” including the sweeping tax and spending legislation approved last summer.

Vance described Braid as “brilliant” and “one of the hardest workers you will ever meet.”

The vice president didn’t provide details of Braid’s next job, saying only that he was “very excited to see what he does next.”

Fresh US aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East

The Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East, the U.S. military said Thursday.

The Washington is relieving the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln after reports that sailors were facing mental health challenges and supply shortages while supporting the Iran war.

The Lincoln’s deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea. Democratic lawmakers are pressing for accountability from the Pentagon over conditions aboard the carrier, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said were “completely misrepresented.”

The deployment of the Washington to the Middle East has left Asia without an American carrier strike group at a time when China shows more signs of aggression.

Rubio designates US citizen jailed in China as ‘wrongfully detained’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has designated a U.S. citizen scholar jailed in China as “wrongfully detained” as Trump prepares to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House next month.

The State Department said Thursday that Rubio had decided that Min Zin, who was arrested by Chinese authorities in June, is being unjustly held.

“We call on Beijing to release all U.S. citizens arbitrarily detained or exit-banned in China,” the department said.

The designation raises the profile of his case within the U.S. government and in the past has led to additional attention and resources being devoted to securing the release of wrongful detainees.

Min Zin, who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy, was arrested on suspicion of spying. He was a student activist in Myanmar’s 1988 uprising, a student-led movement that the government at the time reacted to with military force. He eventually sought asylum in the U.S.

House Democrats add five new candidates to ‘red to blue’ program

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said the expansion showcases the depth of its candidate bench as they try to wrest majority control of the House.

Chair Suzan DelBene said the candidates are “proven fighters” at a time when voters are “eager for leaders who will always put the well-being of their communities first, not rubber stamp Trump’s failed agenda.”

The candidates include retired Army Brigadier General Leela Gray in Florida, former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo in Kentucky, Maine state auditor Matt Dunlap, former Navy helicopter pilot Nancy Lacore in South Carolina and former Rep. Tom Perriello in Virginia. The “red to blue” program invests in promising candidates with funding and other support.

Democrats narrow their list of 2028 presidential convention sites

Democrats on Thursday narrowed the list of potential host cities for their 2028 presidential convention to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia as their party looks ahead to a wide-open primary to succeed President Trump.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the cities put forward “incredibly strong bids,” and he promised the convention would be an “inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee.”

A final decision is expected to be made later this year by party leaders. Republicans have already chosen Houston for the site of their 2028 convention.

The Democratic convention, scheduled for Aug. 7-10, 2028, traditionally gives the party a chance to formally introduce its nominee to the country, rally the base and kick-start the most intense period of campaigning ahead of the general election.

The party didn’t specify why Atlanta and Chicago, which was the site of the 2024 convention, were eliminated. Officials visited all five cities in April and May, considering logistical and fundraising capacity among other factors.

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Trump plays White House tour guide to show off work on his helipad and ballroom

Trump played White House tour guide on Wednesday, showing off the helipad he is building on the lawn before leaning over to autograph a piece of it and bragging about the ballroom he’s rushing to complete despite legal challenges.

Trump gushed for several uninterrupted minutes about granite being laid and said the chopper landing area would leave visiting foreign leaders “very impressed” — including Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is coming next month.

At times, he sounded almost like a construction manager, singing the praises of granite over asphalt in painstaking detail and noting for reporters he brought out for the show that the stone could withstand 35,000 pounds per square inch of pressure.

The president also revealed for the first time that he has replaced the walkway from the White House’s diplomatic entrance along with a portion of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn with white granite.

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The US national debt now stands at $40 trillion

The national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion Wednesday, a staggering milestone as defense costs, social programs like Social Security and Medicare and interest on the burgeoning deficit make up an enormous share of federal spending.

The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

The unprecedented $40 trillion figure highlights competing administration priorities, from boosting defense spending that the U.S. relies on to carry out President Donald Trump’s almost 6-month-old war in Iran to lowering the cost of gas and groceries.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said the Trump administration “has been focused on slashing waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending while accelerating economic growth to get America’s debt-to-GDP ratio trending in the right direction.”

However, experts say the exploding debt and the latest record milestone are already affecting Americans’ pocketbooks by raising borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lowering wages from businesses that have less money available to invest, and creating more expensive goods and services.

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El presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel admitió a principios de esta semana que el sistema de salud, uno de los llamados “grandes logros” de la Revolución cubana, está al borde del colapso total. Hay miles de cubanos en la isla esperando cirugías que no pueden realizarse debido a la falta de médicos, medicamentos, equipos y las malas condiciones de los hospitales.

Durante años, Cuba ha estado enviando brigadas médicas alrededor del mundo para ayudar a pagar su deuda y exportar los ideales de su revolución. El gobierno de Estados Unidos ha acusado a Cuba de trata de personas por estas acciones.

18 de agosto: Estrategia de Trump para Cuba: ¿Realmente hay un plan?

¿Realmente tiene la administración del presidente Trump un plan para Cuba?

Después de meses de intercambios retóricos, uno comienza a preguntarse si la administración del presidente Trump realmente sabe qué hacer con Cuba. Seguimos escuchando que al secretario de Estado Marco Rubio se le asignó la responsabilidad de encargarse de Cuba y del resto de América Latina, región que conoce extremadamente bien. Pero, por lo que escucho, altos funcionarios de la Casa Blanca siguen interfiriendo.

Continuar sancionando operaciones e individuos en Cuba no hará caer al gobierno. Ahora escuchamos del secretario Rubio y de miembros de nuestra delegación cubanoamericana en el Congreso que la fecha prevista se ha aplazado, y esperan que para 2029 se hayan producido cambios en Cuba, lo cual es absolutamente ridículo.

14 de agosto: Cuba recurre a inversionistas globales mientras las sanciones de EE. UU. y las reclamaciones de propiedades elevan los riesgos

El gobierno cubano se ha dado cuenta de que los esfuerzos para atraer inversiones de empresas estadounidenses y de cubano-estadounidenses han fracasado en gran medida debido a las numerosas sanciones impuestas por Estados Unidos y al hecho de que los riesgos aún superan las oportunidades.

Sin embargo, el gobierno cubano está tratando con mucho empeño de atraer empresas de todo el mundo para que se hagan cargo de muchas operaciones y negocios en Cuba. Con muchos hoteleros europeos y otras empresas que recientemente han abandonado Cuba, seguirá siendo un desafío atraer nuevos inversionistas.

Una cosa que estas empresas deberían tener en cuenta antes de comenzar operaciones en Cuba es que podrían estar operando en propiedades que fueron confiscadas por el gobierno cubano a principios de la década de 1960. Como resultado, podrían enfrentar posibles desafíos legales en el futuro.

Solo para las empresas estadounidenses, hay 5,913 negocios y propiedades que fueron confiscados y registrados ante el Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos.

13 de agosto: El centenario del nacimiento de Fidel Castro genera reflexión sobre su legado en Cuba

El jueves se cumple el centenario del nacimiento de Fidel Castro, un hombre cuya personalidad narcisista tomó el control de Cuba después de derrocar a Fulgencio Batista el 1 de enero de 1959. Hizo promesas al pueblo cubano que posteriormente traicionó por sus propias ambiciones egoístas y sed de poder.

En su juicio del 16 de octubre de 1953, tras el fallido ataque contra los cuarteles militares de Moncada en Santiago de Cuba, dijo la famosa frase: “La historia me absolverá”.

Al final, la historia lo juzgará como un dictador despiadado que destruyó Cuba, empobreció a su pueblo e infligió un sufrimiento tremendo a toda una nación.

12 de agosto: Cuba representa un difícil desafío de política exterior para Rubio

“Quién va primero, quién va segundo, No Sé va tercero”.

La famosa rutina cómica de Abbott y Costello puede compararse con las estrategias de política exterior de la administración Trump en estos días. Las negociaciones diplomáticas son complejas y complicadas, especialmente cuando se trata de países, gobiernos e individuos con los que Estados Unidos no ha tenido buenas relaciones.

Fuentes confiables me dicen que existen enormes diferencias entre los equipos de la Casa Blanca y el Departamento de Estado sobre cómo manejar las negociaciones relacionadas con Ucrania, Rusia, Israel-Gaza, Irán, Venezuela y Cuba. No ayuda que quienes negocian en nombre de Estados Unidos tengan poca o ninguna experiencia diplomática.

Por ahora, mantengámonos dentro del área de experiencia: Cuba. Mientras el presidente Trump piensa que Cuba puede resolverse en dos meses, el secretario de Estado Marco Rubio sabe muy bien, al igual que su equipo de alto nivel, que negociar con Cuba no es fácil.

El gobierno cubano está dispuesto a continuar introduciendo cambios cosméticos en su moribunda economía sin renunciar al control político. Estados Unidos puede continuar sancionando a todos en la isla, y al gobierno cubano no podría importarle menos. Mientras tanto, el pueblo de Cuba continúa sufriendo enormes dificultades. Sin embargo, es poco probable que el pueblo se vuelva contra el gobierno. La consecuencia de hacerlo puede significar pasar años en prisión.

Mientras tanto, en Miami, continúa el juego de adivinanzas sobre quién reemplazará a Raúl Castro cuando muera, junto con los preparativos para posibles planes de transición para Cuba. Una transición hacia un sistema democrático de gobierno en Cuba tomará tiempo. Una sociedad civil no puede construirse de la noche a la mañana. También es importante recordar que Cuba no tenía un gobierno democrático antes de 1959.

Para Rubio, las expectativas de la comunidad cubanoamericana son altas. Sin embargo, la mayoría de la comunidad entiende que no será fácil lograr que el gobierno cubano realice cambios políticos, salvo mediante una invasión militar estadounidense. Sin embargo, Rubio necesita una victoria, especialmente si está considerando otra candidatura presidencial. Los fracasos de las políticas exteriores de la administración Trump en todo el mundo podrían afectar la futura campaña presidencial de Rubio.

Entonces, ¿cuál será el próximo paso de Rubio sobre Cuba? El reloj está corriendo.

10 de agosto: ¿Atrapará el gato al ratón esta vez?

Mientras el secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, continúa presionando al gobierno cubano para que cambie, el presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel apareció en la televisión cubana este pasado fin de semana y anunció al pueblo cubano que el gobierno estaba realizando importantes “cambios transformadores” en la economía.

Díaz-Canel también dijo al pueblo cubano que se necesitarían tiempo y paciencia, dos cosas que el pueblo cubano ya no tiene. Díaz-Canel continuó diciendo que los beneficios de estos cambios comenzarán a verse para 2029.

Fuentes en Washington, D.C., me han dicho que la administración del presidente Trump está buscando determinar si hay alguien en el gobierno cubano, como Delcy Rodríguez en Venezuela, que entregue a Raúl Castro o incluso asuma el control del actual gobierno y esté dispuesto a negociar con Estados Unidos.

El Miami Herald reportó este fin de semana que el general Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, actual ministro del Interior de Cuba, podría ser aceptable para Estados Unidos. El general Casas es considerado de línea dura y, por lo tanto, es poco probable que rompa con el liderazgo cubano.

Como he dicho antes, el caso de Venezuela es bastante diferente al de Cuba. Mientras Raúl Castro esté vivo, creo que el gobierno cubano continuará en el poder y hará promesas al pueblo cubano que no puede cumplir.

8 de agosto: Líder opositor cubano dice que la transformación de Cuba debe incluir a quienes están en la isla

Según el líder opositor cubano José Daniel Ferrer, cualquier plan para transformar Cuba debe incluir a los cubanos que están en la isla.

Pero, ¿tienen los cubanos en la isla la capacidad y las herramientas para participar en un proceso de este tipo? Después de vivir durante casi 68 años bajo un sistema totalitario que ha moldeado los valores y las actitudes personales de la población, podría tomar tiempo no solo cambiarlo sino, más importante aún, mantener esos cambios.

Las democracias no se construyen en un día. Se necesitará tiempo y paciencia. Recordemos también que antes de la Revolución Cubana, Cuba tuvo una dictadura bajo Batista.

6 de agosto: Estados Unidos anuncia un nuevo paquete de sanciones económicas contra Cuba; también sanciona a dos de los principales generales cubanos

El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos anunció el jueves un nuevo paquete de sanciones económicas contra Cuba. Al mismo tiempo, también fueron sancionados dos de los principales generales de Cuba: Álvaro López Miera, ministro de Defensa, y el general Roberto Sotolongo, jefe de las Fuerzas Armadas.

5 de agosto: Según informe, la CIA crea grupo de trabajo sobre Cuba

The New York Times informó sobre la creación de un grupo de trabajo de la CIA sobre Cuba con el propósito de ejercer mayor presión sobre el gobierno cubano para que implemente cambios políticos y económicos en su sistema.

Esta noticia probablemente será recibida por Cuba como una amenaza adicional por parte de Estados Unidos.

5 de agosto: Presidente cubano confirma conversaciones en curso entre La Habana y Estados Unidos

El presidente de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, confirmó hoy que existen conversaciones en curso entre La Habana y Washington con el propósito de evitar una confrontación militar y tratar de encontrar soluciones a los problemas entre ambas naciones.

El gobierno cubano entiende que se está quedando sin opciones y que, muy probablemente, necesitará llegar a un acuerdo con Estados Unidos. ¿Incluirá un cambio de régimen?

Actualización del 3 de agosto: Rubio habla sobre las actividades de espionaje de Cuba en Estados Unidos

El pasado fin de semana, en una entrevista con Fox News, el secretario de Estado y asesor de Seguridad Nacional de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, habló sobre las actividades de espionaje que Cuba continúa realizando en Estados Unidos.

Rubio afirmó que espías cubanos continúan infiltrándose en el gobierno de Estados Unidos, instituciones financieras, organizaciones e instituciones académicas. También sostuvo que Cuba sigue representando una amenaza para la seguridad nacional de Estados Unidos.

El Dr. Andy S. Gómez es el analista de Cuba de Local 10. Gómez es considerado uno de los principales especialistas sobre Cuba. Trabajó durante 32 años en el ámbito de la educación superior antes de retirarse de la Universidad de Miami en 2012.

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Deputies said Itiaba Ekong, 36, is charged with first-degree felony murder, burglary with an assault and/or battery and grand theft.

According to authorities, MDSO deputies with the Intracoastal District responded to the area of Northeast 199th Street and 10th Avenue at about 10:20 p.m. on Feb. 4, 2021, to conduct a welfare check and found an unresponsive man wrapped in a blanket.

The man, identified as Lenoris Henry Marlowe, 45, had stab wounds on his body and was pronounced dead at the scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue medics, authorities said.

“For over five years, detectives worked tirelessly to uncover what happened and bring justice to the victim’s friends and family,” MDSO officials said in a news release. “Through investigative means, detectives identified the subject as Mr. Itiaba Ekong. Mr. Ekong admitted to detectives that he stabbed the victim.”

Court records show Ekong is already serving a life sentence for another case in which he was convicted of armed robbery.

Records show he has a lengthy criminal history involving convictions for crimes such as burglary, grand theft, simple battery, armed robbery and trafficking in stolen property.

A motive for the 2021 stabbing has not been confirmed by detectives.

Los agentes dijeron que Itiaba Ekong, de 36 años, enfrenta cargos de asesinato en primer grado durante la comisión de un delito grave, robo con allanamiento con agresión y/o lesiones y hurto mayor.

Según las autoridades, agentes de MDSO del Distrito Intracoastal respondieron al área de Northeast 199th Street y 10th Avenue alrededor de las 10:20 p.m. del 4 de febrero de 2021 para realizar una verificación de bienestar y encontraron a un hombre inconsciente envuelto en una manta.

El hombre, identificado como Lenoris Henry Marlowe, de 45 años, tenía heridas de arma blanca en el cuerpo y fue declarado muerto en el lugar por paramédicos de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, dijeron las autoridades.

“Durante más de cinco años, los detectives trabajaron incansablemente para descubrir qué ocurrió y hacer justicia para los amigos y familiares de la víctima”, dijeron funcionarios de MDSO en un comunicado de prensa. “Mediante técnicas de investigación, los detectives identificaron al sospechoso como el Sr. Itiaba Ekong. El Sr. Ekong admitió ante los detectives que apuñaló a la víctima”.

Los registros judiciales muestran que Ekong ya cumple una condena de cadena perpetua por otro caso en el que fue declarado culpable de robo a mano armada.

Los registros muestran que tiene un extenso historial criminal que incluye condenas por delitos como robo con allanamiento, hurto mayor, agresión simple, robo a mano armada y tráfico de propiedad robada.

Los detectives no han confirmado el motivo del apuñalamiento de 2021.

“We can only do the bare minimum,” WFP executive director Carl Skau said Wednesday during a visit to a nutrition center on the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu. “We’re only providing these nutrition supplies to the children that are really the worst hit.”

The reduced funds, because of cuts in international aid by donors and the redirection of resources to other humanitarian crises, meant that the WFP is unable to expand its assistance in Somalia, Skau said.

Millions of people at risk but far less aid

The WFP projects that 1.9 million children under age 5 in the country will suffer acute malnutrition this year, including nearly 500,000 who will require urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Overall, around 30% of the population faces critical levels of food insecurity, the U.N. has said.

“We had 10 times more resources than now,” Skau said of the 2022 hunger emergency that was caused by a prolonged drought. “We were able to step in, and we prevented a famine here in Somalia."

“We know what’s going on, we have the capacity, we have the experience of dealing with this. We just need the resources now to do it.”

The consequences of the current food shortage, which is also a result of drought, conflict and the displacement of people, are seen at the Feynuus Health Center in Mogadishu’s Kahda district. Dozens of women carrying babies waited beneath a large tree or crowded along the veranda of the corrugated-metal facility seeking help.

Inside, health workers placed children in a blue weighing sling, screened them for malnutrition, and distributed therapeutic food.

One desperate mother tells her story

Halima Mohamed Hassan, a mother of six, had walked nearly 3 kilometers (2 miles) carrying her malnourished 4-year-old child. She is pregnant, but said she hadn't eaten for two days. Her last meal was plain rice.

Health workers treated the child she brought with a special nutrient-dense food, while Hassan said that her other children were also malnourished, but she wasn't able to bring them to the center.

“I could not carry all of them,” she said.

Hassan fled the Lower Shabelle region four months ago after her husband died of malnutrition, she said. Food and water became scarce, and conflict made it increasingly dangerous for the family to stay.

She and her children walked for four nights before reaching a camp for internally displaced people on Mogadishu’s outskirts.

Hassan now shares a makeshift shelter with her widowed mother and her mother's four other children. The two women look for occasional work washing clothes in nearby neighborhoods to feed their household of 12.

A health center tries its best to help

The Feynuus center receives between 250 and 350 patients daily, mainly displaced women and children from regions outside Mogadishu, said Abdirahman Barkhad, program director of Youth Link Somalia, which operates the center.

Barkhad said that about 10 nearby health and nutrition centers had closed because of a reduction in humanitarian funding, increasing pressure on those that remain.

“We have witnessed children collapsing, because their families do not have enough food,” he said.

Mohamud Moallim Abdulle, commissioner of the Somali Disaster Management Agency, described the country’s food situation as “extremely alarming.”

He said that an estimated 1.85 million children are malnourished, while around 6 million people are affected by drought, and 2 million urgently need assistance.

They don’t know where their next meal is

Skau said that mothers he met this week in the town of Burhakaba described drought, insecurity, and also rising food prices as the main drivers of the crisis. Some had lost their crops and fled their homes. Others walked for three or four hours to reach health facilities, because aid workers couldn't reach them.

“I spoke to women with eight to 10 children,” Skau said. “They don’t know where the next meal is going to come from.”

Insecurity, with Somalia battling a 20-year-long insurgency by the al-Shabab militant group, also makes humanitarian operations more expensive. WFP must use aircraft in areas where staff and supplies can't travel safely by road, and some communities are inaccessible, Skau said.

He said that conflict in the Middle East was adding to the pressure by driving up fuel and food prices, limiting agricultural supplies, and drawing funding toward other emergencies.

After her child received some food at the center, Hassan began the walk back to the camp they live in. Her five other children were still waiting and hungry, she said, and she would have to return with them one at a time.

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Bodeen died Monday after a struggle with cancer and complications from a stroke, his daughter, Ingrid, said Thursday by telephone from Taiwan.

Bodeen, who spoke fluent Mandarin with a proud Taiwan accent, spent much of his career detailing China's rise to an economic, political and military superpower — and the accompanying friction from what critics have long called Beijing’s heavy-handed efforts to establish dominance in Asia and beyond.

“Chris was a reporter who would go anywhere and do anything for the story,” said Charles Hutzler, AP's former bureau chief in Beijing. After a huge quake flattened a swath of Sichuan province in 2008, Bodeen composed his account from one devastated town sentence by sentence over text messages because of damaged telecommunications networks. "It was one of the first eyewitness reports the AP and the world received about one of the worst earthquakes in decades,” Hutzler recalled.

He was an expert on politics and Chinese military issues

From AP bureaus in Shanghai, Beijing and Taipei, Bodeen was for years the news agency's go-to person on Chinese politics and military issues, able to quickly determine the newsworthiness of the government's often abstruse statements.

“A chat with Chris would inevitably turn into a remarkable history lesson," said Emily Wang Fujiyama, former Greater China news director. “He had astounding knowledge of the region and would be writing about China’s military presence in the South China Sea, pivot to Taiwan’s intricate politics, and just as deftly write about the political sensitivities of Tibet, Mongolia and China.”

Bodeen was born in Missouri on Sept. 9, 1970, but he spent parts of his childhood in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. His father was a foreign service officer and his mother a former diplomat, his daughter, Ingrid, said. Friends and colleagues remembered his love of the Boston Red Sox, esoteric punk rock -- and his contagious enthusiasm for the job of journalism.

"He was the blondest, palest person you’ll ever meet” yet also spoke pitch-perfect Chinese, said Ted Anthony, AP’s former China news editor and news director for Asia. “So when the earthquake in Sichuan happened in 2008, he went out there, put on one of his ever-present ballcaps to cover his hair, and slouched down. He passed as Chinese, started interviewing people and sailed under the scrutiny of the authorities.”

He was 'always ready for adventure’

Bodeen joined the AP in 1996, in Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island China claims as its own, before working as an editor on the agency’s international desk in New York and then joining the AP bureau in Beijing as a correspondent, in 2000. He majored in history and Asian studies at Tufts University, graduating in 1993.

“Chris Bodeen was always ready for adventure. Hiding in the hills of Hainan Island, China, to try to report on the return of an American Air Force plane forced down in 2001, he was the best colleague to be with,” said Raf Wober, a video journalist in the AP's Hong Kong bureau.

In a 2017 story on efforts to burnish the image of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Bodeen described state broadcaster China Central Television leading its evening national news bulletin “with more than four minutes of uninterrupted clapping for Xi as he met with adoring citizens,” and a Russian translator who “was so engrossed with reading a recent speech by Xi, Xinhua (the official news agency) said, that he skipped lunch and dinner just to finish studying it.”

While much of this might have seemed amusing to outsiders, Bodeen was careful to note that “the domination of (Xi’s) image in official propaganda evokes, for some, the painful memories of the upheaval of the 1960s and ’70s, when Mao (Zedong) was accorded the status of a near deity.”

Julie Pace, AP's executive editor, remembered Bodeen as not only an effective China correspondent but as a fellow journalist whose knowledge elevated those around him.

“Chris cared deeply about his work and the value of on-the-ground reporting in such an important region of the world," she said. "His expertise informed AP’s audiences for so many years, but also helped lift up so many colleagues.”

Passion for family and work was his hallmark

Bodeen was deeply proud of his two daughters and loved showing off their artwork and achievements — and creative Halloween costumes — to colleagues. “Every parent thinks their kids are the best, but, hand to God, these girls are both adorable and seriously tough cookies,” he wrote of his children.

“He truly, passionately loved what he did, as much as he loved being a dad," Ingrid Bodeen said. She recalled that when her father spent long stints reporting from Afghanistan during her childhood, “he would always have my mom fax over my spelling lists and homework so we could work on them together. He never missed a spelling test week.”

Bodeen was also beloved by colleagues for his sharp sense of humor, his knowledge of good local food and an encyclopedic knowledge of movie and TV comedies from the ’70s and ’80s.

Kanis Leung, an AP reporter in Hong Kong, said that Bodeen once told her about an old correspondent's description of news reporting as “the art of shoving 50 pounds of oatmeal into a 10-pound sack."

“Except,” Leung said, "he didn’t say oatmeal.”

Bodeen is survived by his wife, Yen Ling, daughters Ingrid, 26, and Naomi, 22, his parents and a sister.

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Medley police officers escorted Miguel Antonio Perez, 34, and his mother, Maria Rodriguez, 60, from the police department to jail after the two were arrested Wednesday morning in Miami Beach.

They now face felony charges, including organized scheme to defraud and grand theft.

“The investigation revealed that company president Maria Rodriguez was entrusted with the company’s financial accounts, credit cards and payrolls,” said Andres Oviedo, a Medley police public information officer.

Police launched an undercover investigation, called Operation Iron Illusion, in April 2025 after officers responded to a report of financial fraud at Iron Container Holdings LLC.

Detectives found that Rodriguez allegedly used company funds for private luxury purchases, disguising them as miscellaneous company expenses.

Police also say she hired her son, Perez, as a security guard, initially setting his salary at $42,000 a year.

According to warrants, Rodriguez later made the security guard position remote and increased Perez’s salary to $114,000. Investigators say Perez never actually performed any security duties.

The investigation found that the two allegedly used company credit cards to pay for a Brickell condo, an elite gym membership, designer clothing from Saks Fifth Avenue and car insurance.

The alleged spending also included rentals for a luxury yacht and a Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

“The fraud leaves a trail,” Oviedo said. “And trails can be followed.”

As of Wednesday, Rodriguez and Perez remained at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Their bonds were each set at $30,000.

Police said they will continue using every available resource to investigate similar crimes.

Agentes de la policía de Medley escoltaron a Miguel Antonio Perez, de 34 años, y a su madre, Maria Rodriguez, de 60, desde el departamento de policía hasta la cárcel después de que ambos fueran arrestados la mañana del miércoles en Miami Beach.

Ahora enfrentan cargos por delitos graves, entre ellos esquema organizado para defraudar y hurto mayor.

“La investigación reveló que a la presidenta de la empresa, Maria Rodriguez, se le habían confiado las cuentas financieras, tarjetas de crédito y nóminas de la compañía”, dijo Andres Oviedo, oficial de información pública de la policía de Medley.

La policía inició una investigación encubierta, denominada Operación Iron Illusion, en abril de 2025 después de que agentes respondieran a un reporte de fraude financiero en Iron Container Holdings LLC.

Los detectives determinaron que Rodriguez presuntamente utilizó fondos de la empresa para compras personales de lujo, ocultándolas como gastos diversos de la compañía.

La policía también dice que contrató a su hijo, Perez, como guardia de seguridad, fijando inicialmente su salario en $42,000 USD al año.

Según las órdenes judiciales, Rodriguez posteriormente convirtió el puesto de guardia de seguridad en remoto y aumentó el salario de Perez a $114,000 USD. Los investigadores dicen que Perez nunca realizó ninguna labor de seguridad.

La investigación determinó que ambos presuntamente utilizaron tarjetas de crédito de la empresa para pagar un condominio en Brickell, una membresía en un gimnasio exclusivo, ropa de diseñador de Saks Fifth Avenue y seguro de automóvil.

Los presuntos gastos también incluyeron el alquiler de un yate de lujo y de un Mercedes-Benz Clase S.

“El fraude deja un rastro”, dijo Oviedo. “Y los rastros pueden seguirse”.

Hasta el miércoles, Rodriguez y Perez permanecían en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. Sus fianzas fueron fijadas en $30,000 USD para cada uno.

La policía dijo que continuará utilizando todos los recursos disponibles para investigar delitos similares.

Salazar, de 64 años y actual representante, ganó el martes las primarias republicanas con 81% de los votos. V. Michael Arias, un abogado de Coral Gables y su único oponente, perdió con 19% de los votos.

Según los informes de la Comisión Federal de Elecciones de EE. UU. sobre las contribuciones de campaña, el total de ingresos de Salazar superó los 1,99 millones de dólares, sus desembolsos totales fueron superiores a 1,15 millones de dólares y su efectivo disponible superó los 2,25 millones de dólares.

Rodriguez, de 69 años, ganó las primarias demócratas con 54% de los votos. Robin Peguero, ex fiscal federal y su único oponente, perdió con 46% de los votos.

De acuerdo a informes de la FEC sobre las contribuciones de campaña, el total de ingresos de Rodríguez superó los 661.170 dólares, el total de sus desembolsos fue superior a los 336.000 dólares y su efectivo disponible superó los 325.000 dólares.

La Oficina del Censo de EE. UU. reportó en 2024 que el distrito tiene alrededor de 788,713 habitantes. Abarca aproximadamente 119 millas cuadradas en el condado de Miami-Dade, según Census Reporter.

La fecha límite para registrarse para votar es el 5 de octubre. La fecha límite para solicitar una boleta para votar por correo es el 22 de octubre. La votación anticipada será del 24 al 31 de octubre. Las elecciones de medio término serán el 3 de noviembre.

Ganadora de Primarias Republicanas pronuncia discurso

Ganador de Primarias Demócratas pronuncia discurso

Resultados de elecciones

Las autoridades arrestaron el martes al sospechoso Eddie Zewayne Bussey, de 28 años, de Yonkers, Nueva York, por casi una docena de cargos graves, incluidos secuestro y múltiples cargos de intento de asesinato y agresión sexual.

Un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami indica que la mujer, de 40 años, había salido de un club nocturno en el vecindario Wynwood de la ciudad entre las 3:30 y las 4:30 a.m.; su teléfono se había quedado sin batería y caminaba a casa por Biscayne Boulevard, sin poder solicitar un transporte.

Cerca de Northeast 24th Street, la policía dijo que la mujer notó a Bussey, un desconocido, “siguiéndola y gritándole comentarios no solicitados como: ‘Déjame probarte’”.

“La víctima cruzó Biscayne Boulevard tratando de alejarse de (Bussey), pero él continuó siguiéndola e imitando su mismo movimiento al cruzar la calle”, señala el informe del MPD.

La policía dijo que la mujer entró a un edificio de oficinas en 4770 Biscayne Blvd., en el vecindario Bay Point, después de “notar que estaba bien iluminado y temer por su seguridad”.

Las autoridades dijeron que ella entró al vestíbulo y subió al ascensor hasta el piso 12 para intentar encontrar a alguien que pudiera ayudarla. No pudo.

La Policía dijo que, después de regresar al vestíbulo, vio a Bussey entrar. Intentó salir por otra puerta, dijeron, pero resultó estar cerrada.

En un ataque captado por una cámara de vigilancia, Bussey se expuso, golpeó y estranguló a la mujer, luego la arrastró del cabello y la llevó a un cuarto de correo, donde continuó golpeándola, pateándola y estrangulándola mientras ella intentaba defenderse, según el informe. La Policía dijo que se escuchaba a Bussey decirle, “Pruébalo”, “Te voy a violar” y “Te voy a matar” antes de cometer múltiples actos sexuales contra ella.

Las autoridades dijeron que la víctima rompió dos de los collares de Bussey mientras intentaba quitárselo de encima. Dijeron que pudo correr hasta una farmacia CVS cercana, donde pudo llamar a la Policía.

“La víctima sufrió lesiones visibles, incluidos moretones y decoloración en el rostro, los labios, la garganta, la espalda, las costillas, la cadera y el muslo, así como una laceración en la mejilla”, señala el informe.

La Policía dijo que las pruebas de ADN de un kit de violación vincularon el crimen con Bussey y que los agentes lo encontraron el martes cerca de Northwest 36th Street y 13th Avenue, en el vecindario Allapattah de la ciudad.

Según el informe, Bussey dijo a los investigadores que llevaba aproximadamente un mes alojándose en Miami con su hermano en un alquiler de corta duración en Wynwood. El informe señala que inicialmente dijo a los agentes que había “caminado a casa y permaneció allí durante el resto de la noche”, pero luego, después de que le mostraron una imagen fija de las cámaras de vigilancia del edificio de oficinas Bay Point, “se retractó y les dijo a los detectives que estaba en el lugar del incidente para cargar su teléfono”.

La Policía dijo que afirmó que, en el edificio, la víctima hizo “comentarios racistas” y luego “le escupió, lo que provocó que perdiera el conocimiento y comenzara a golpearla”.

Pero dijeron que “negó haberla agredido sexualmente” porque “ella es una mujer y a él solo le gustan los hombres”.

Un informe de arresto separado señala que Bussey se mostró agresivo con los agentes mientras intentaban recolectar una muestra de ADN conforme a una orden judicial, escupiéndoles y forcejeando con ellos. También dijeron que “pateó repetidamente la pared y la puerta dentro del cuarto de interrogatorio”, causando daños.

Hasta la tarde del miércoles, Bussey permanecía detenido en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, con una fianza que figuraba en los registros de la cárcel como “por establecerse”.

Caruso, de 67 años y residente de Riviera Beach, compareció ante un juez del condado Palm Beach con ropa de prisión, esposas y grilletes. No habló durante la breve audiencia y permitió que su abogado se dirigiera al tribunal.

El juez ordenó que Caruso permaneciera detenido sin derecho a fianza mientras espera ser trasladado al condado Orange, donde enfrenta cargos que incluyen secuestro, conducta lasciva o indecente, exhibición lasciva o indecente, atraer o persuadir a un menor y abuso infantil con daño psicológico.

El juez también ordenó a Caruso no tener contacto con la presunta víctima ni con la familia de la víctima.

Las autoridades han dicho que la investigación continúa.

Una orden de arresto obtenida por Local 10 News señala que la víctima, menor de 12 años y conocida por Caruso, afirmó que Caruso tuvo actividad sexual con él en dos ocasiones distintas: una alrededor del Día de Acción de Gracias de 2024 y otra durante un crucero familiar en agosto de 2025.

Caruso ha negado las acusaciones, según su declaración jurada de arresto.

Las autoridades dijeron que Caruso fue arrestado el martes y suspendido inmediatamente de su cargo por el gobernador Ron DeSantis. La orden ejecutiva de DeSantis le prohíbe a Caruso desempeñar cualquier función oficial y suspende su salario y beneficios.

Shannon Ramsey-Chessman asumió como secretaria interina tras la suspensión de Caruso.

Caruso fue nombrado secretario de los tribunales de circuito y contralor del condado Palm Beach por DeSantis en 2025, después de haber servido en la Cámara de Representantes de Florida. Se había postulado para la reelección al cargo de secretario.

El arresto ocurre más de tres años después de que Caruso respaldara una legislación que creó en Florida un delito de agresión sexual con pena capital para ciertos delitos sexuales contra menores. La ley permite la pena de muerte en los casos que cumplen con sus requisitos.

“Obviamente, fue una decisión muy fácil para mí destituirlo de ese cargo”, dijo DeSantis el martes. “Me enorgullece que contemos con sanciones muy severas para quienes abusan de niños; si resulta condenado, le esperan consecuencias gravísimas”.

La ley de Florida contempla la pena de muerte para los adultos condenados por agresión sexual grave contra un menor de 12 años. La disposición se aplica a casos de agresión sexual —o intentos de cometerla— que causen lesiones en los órganos sexuales del menor.

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Court records show Marcus Sanchez, of Medley, was convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree arson and tampering with evidence.

According to an arrest report from the Miami Police Department, firefighters responded to a blaze on the morning of Aug. 18, 2024, at a home in the 3000 block of Southwest 13th Street.

Local 10 News learned the home was used as a multi-unit short term rental property, and police confirmed that the fire occurred in the rear unit.

According to the arrest report, while working to extinguish the flames, firefighters discovered a burned body on the floor of the unit.

While securing the scene, a dispatcher advised that a man, later identified as Sanchez, had driven himself to Coral Gables Hospital, seeking medical treatment for severe burns all over his body.

Police said Sanchez was then transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center due to the severity of his injuries.

According to the arrest report, a detective spoke with Sanchez as he was being transferred to the trauma center, but Sanchez’s statement to the detective was redacted from the publicly released report. Investigators said Sanchez killed the victim, a woman he had been in a relationship with for years, and set the home on fire to cover up the crime.

Police said the fire marshal investigating the cause of the blaze deployed an “arson dog” named Rex, which identified accelerant on Sanchez’s shoes.

Surveillance video from a Chevron gas station also showed Sanchez purchasing a red five-gallon fuel can and then filling it up at a pump, authorities said.

Los registros judiciales muestran que Marcus Sanchez, de Medley, fue declarado culpable de asesinato en segundo grado, incendio provocado en primer grado y manipulación de pruebas.

Según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami, los bomberos respondieron a un incendio la mañana del 18 de agosto de 2024 en una vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 3000 de Southwest 13th Street.

Local 10 News supo que la vivienda era utilizada como una propiedad de alquiler a corto plazo con varias unidades, y la policía confirmó que el incendio ocurrió en la unidad trasera.

Según el informe de arresto, mientras trabajaban para extinguir las llamas, los bomberos descubrieron un cuerpo quemado en el piso de la unidad.

Mientras aseguraban la escena, un despachador informó que un hombre, posteriormente identificado como Sanchez, había conducido por su cuenta hasta Coral Gables Hospital para recibir tratamiento médico por quemaduras graves en todo el cuerpo.

La policía dijo que Sanchez fue trasladado posteriormente al Ryder Trauma Center de Jackson Memorial Hospital debido a la gravedad de sus lesiones.

Según el informe de arresto, un detective habló con Sanchez mientras era trasladado al centro de trauma, pero la declaración de Sanchez al detective fue censurada en el informe divulgado públicamente. Los investigadores dijeron que Sanchez mató a la víctima, una mujer con quien había mantenido una relación durante años, e incendió la vivienda para encubrir el crimen.

La policía dijo que el jefe de bomberos que investigaba la causa del incendio utilizó un “perro detector de incendios provocados” llamado Rex, que identificó un acelerante en los zapatos de Sanchez.

Un video de vigilancia de una gasolinera Chevron también mostró a Sanchez comprando un recipiente rojo de cinco galones para combustible y luego llenándolo en una bomba, dijeron las autoridades.

Un piloto de Lady Lori Helicopters transportaba a un grupo de seis turistas desde Suyian Conservancy hasta el monte Ololokwe cuando el helicóptero monomotor se estrelló en el condado de Samburu, según la Autoridad de Aviación Civil de Kenia y el operador del helicóptero.

Las siete víctimas eran José Alberto Suárez, Roger E. Duarte, Adam Hlavaty, Henry Parra, Michele Sensi-Contugi, Stephany Hollihan, y Josh Outram.

Suárez, quien creció en Coral Gables, era presidente y gerente general de las estaciones propiedad de Telemundo en Orlando, Tampa y Fort Myers; tenía 55 años.

Hlavaty era ejecutivo del sector inmobiliario que se desempeñó como vicepresidente de Desarrollo de Benihana y fue miembro de la Junta Directiva del Coral Gables Art Museum; tenía 42 años.

Parra era un ejecutivo, co fundador de Trax USA con base en Coral Gables; tenía 55 años. Parra y Hlavaty estaban casados ​​y vivían en Coral Gables

Duarte fue el empresario detrás de Hospitality Capital Partners, propietario de George Stone Crabs y cofundador de My Ceviche; tenía 42 años.

La familia de Duarte estaba “devastada y desconsolada por el trágico accidente de helicóptero en Kenia... la magnitud de esta tragedia es imposible de comprender y no hay palabras para expresar la profundidad de nuestro dolor”, escribió un portavoz en un comunicado.

Autoridades de Ecuador identificaron a Sensi-Contugi, de 44 años, como Director del CIES —Centro de Inteligencia Estratégica del País— y un estrecho aliado del presidente ecuatoriano Daniel Noboa. Hollihan, de 42 años y diseñadora de moda, casada con Sensi-Contugi.

En un comunicado, un portavoz de la Latin American Fashion Summit describió a Hollihan, fundadora de Sensi Studio, como “una verdadera visionaria y una fuerza extraordinaria” que puso en valor el trabajo de los artesanos con la “paja toquilla

Harper’s Bazaar informó que Hollihan nació en la ciudad portuaria ecuatoriana de Guayaquil y ejerció como orgullosa embajadora de los artesanos de su país en Estados Unidos y Europa.”.

El portavoz de la familia de Duarte identificó a Suárez, Hlavaty, Parra, Sensi-Contugi y Holliham como “amigos entrañables”, y al piloto como Josh Outram.

“Me apasiona enormemente volar; lo que Kenia ofrece —especialmente el norte— son algunos de los paisajes más diversos que existen”, declaró Outram el año pasado a un redactor de Elewana, añadiendo que también prestaba apoyo aéreo para el monitoreo de la fauna silvestre.

La Reserva Loisaba emitió un comunicado describiendo a las víctimas como huéspedes de &Beyond, una agencia de viajes.

En un comunicado de NBCU, los ejecutivos Cesar Conde, Valari Staab y José Cancela describieron a Suárez como “un líder profundamente respetado y un querido amigo y colega” que “aportó energía, humor, calidez y un fuerte sentido de propósito a su trabajo”.

Suárez, exalumno de Coral Gables High School, comenzó su carrera como reportero y presentador. Trabajó con NBCUniversal News Group durante más de dos décadas y también dirigió estaciones en San Antonio, Sacramento, Fresno, Salt Lake City y Las Vegas.

Durante su tiempo en WUPW Fox Toledo, Suárez ganó tres premios Emmy por Mejor Noticiero Diario y varios premios de la Associated Press, según su biografía con NBCU.

La carrera de Suárez también incluyó labores de programación y liderazgo digital y creativo para Telemundo Station Group, NBC6 y Telemundo 51 en Miami.

Lee Schrager, amigo de Duarte y empresario conocido por su labor en el Food Network South Beach, afirmó que no le sorprendió cuando Forbes incluyó a Duarte en su lista “30 under 30″ (30 menores de 30 años).

“Tenía una ética de trabajo increíble”, comentó Schrager.

A Duarte le sobreviven sus dos hijos, Roger y George, y su esposa, Nicole Valls, cuya familia fundó Versailles, el emblemático restaurante cubano del barrio de La Pequeña Habana en Miami.

Publicaciones relacionadas en redes sociales

Siete personas mueren en accidente de helicóptero en Kenia; cuatro eran turistas de Estados Unidos pic.twitter.com/9RdTRp0LOK

— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10), 19 de agosto de 2026

El Servicio Nacional de Aduana del Ecuador expresa sus más sentidas condolencias ante el sensible fallecimiento de Michele Sensi-Contugi y su esposa Stephany Hollihan. Paz en su tumba. pic.twitter.com/E1GWcfbgAY

— Servicio Nacional de Aduana del Ecuador (@SENAE_Aduana)August 19, 2026

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Una actualización sobre el accidente aéreo en Samburu, del operador y las personas a bordo.Lea el comunicado completo a continuación: pic.twitter.com/WjiggB3vvo

— Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (@CAA_Kenya), 19 de agosto de 2026

Las labores de búsqueda y recuperación continúan, obstaculizadas por el difícil acceso al terreno y un incendio activo en el lugar del accidente.

Un equipo adicional fue enviado desde Isiolo para reforzar la operación.

Se darán a conocer más actualizaciones. https://t.co/XUjWArYul3pic.twitter.com/qSApuA1b0y

— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross), 19 de agosto de 2026

ACTUALIZACIÓN DEL INCIDENTE

Referencia: ASCI-KE-20260819-SAMBURU-HELICOPTER-CRASHNivel del incidente: CRÍTICO (Nivel 4) – Accidente fatal de helicóptero; todos los ocupantes fallecieron

RESUMEN DE LA ACTUALIZACIÓN

La Autoridad de Aviación Civil de Kenia (KCAA) confirmó oficialmente un accidente fatal de helicóptero en el monte… pic.twitter.com/Q5ChZkMd7A

Lea el comunicado

He co-founded The San Isidro Movement in Havana, and he helped lead the courageous group of artists, writers, and academics to protest Decree 349, a law that required state approval for all artistic expression.

The performance artist used the Cuban flag and was arrested on July 11, 2021. Cuban prosecutors filed charges of public disorder, contempt, and insulting national symbols. In 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.

“I went on more than five hunger strikes ... I am not going to offer a justification because I have nothing to justify,” the 38-year-old exiled dissident said on Friday in downtown Miami.

The Cuban government freed him from the maximum-security Guanajay prison on July 7. He was ordered to leave the island and arrived at Miami International Airport on July 18 on a humanitarian parole.

He was forced to leave his son behind on the island.

“It’s literally like being in a coma and then waking up,” he said.

Some of the art that he created while in prison in Cuba was framed and on display on Friday at the Freedom Tower. His installation was at the Freedom Hall. The exhibit, he said, was the reward.

“They are the impression of a suffering, of a state of mind,” he said about his artwork.

He said he hopes the communist regime will fall and Cubans will learn what it’s like to be free.

The Museum of Art and Design, or MOAD, at Miami Dade College presented “Luis Manuel Otero Alcántra: nos encontramos,” the exhibit.

“His journey of resilience and determination echoes in the halls of the Freedom Tower’s history,” Amy Galpin, MOAD’s executive director and chief curator, said in a statement.

Ernesto Fundora, the director of the “Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: Estamos conectados,” a documentary, was at the opening from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday at 600 Biscayne Boulevard.

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Witnesses and police said a suspect stabbed the teenager near the North Miami Library, located at 835 NE 132nd St. It’s located across the street from North Miami Senior High School.

Those witnesses said the two teenagers were fighting in the parking lot when one teen pulled out a knife and stabbed the other in the arm.

Witnesses said the two teenagers knew each other.

Authorities said the boy was taken “to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening injury.”

Police taped off the library parking lot as they investigated.

North Miami police said their investigation remained “ongoing” Wednesday evening.

Despite their investigation, the teenager behind the stabbing has yet to be caught.

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Maya Garcia, 19, told Local 10 News in an exclusive interview Wednesday that she had no idea she was stepping away from a potentially deadly fire when she went outside to grab her food last week, on Aug. 12.

“It was terrifying,” Garcia said.

When she went outside to get the food, Garcia left her Samsung Galaxy A15 phone on her bed.

About a minute after the food arrived, Garcia and her dad said they heard an explosion.

“I’m sitting there and I hear an explosion behind me,” Garcia said. “Sounded like ‘boom,’ like glass shattering, ‘swoosh.’”

Her room was quickly engulfed in flames.

“You couldn’t see inside the house — flames, smoke,” Garcia said. “I’m panicking, but I’m trying to stay calm.”

The room was left in ruins, with the phone still visible among the ash. Childhood memories were destroyed.

The outlet in the room showed no visible signs of an electrical issue.

Local 10 News reached out to arson investigators, who said their report is not finished yet.

Garcia and her father said they were told by the arson investigation team that the phone was responsible for the fire.

Garcia said if the DoorDash delivery had been late, the story might have had a different ending.

For Garcia, there is one word for how she feels.

“Grateful,” she said. “I am extremely grateful. What matters is I’m alive here today.”

Local 10 News reached out to Samsung. The company responded and said they reached out to the family for information.

Testigos y la policía dijeron que un sospechoso apuñaló al adolescente cerca de la Biblioteca de North Miami, ubicada en 835 NE 132nd St. Está situada frente a North Miami Senior High School.

Esos testigos dijeron que los dos adolescentes estaban peleando en el estacionamiento cuando uno de ellos sacó un cuchillo y apuñaló al otro en el brazo.

Testigos dijeron que los dos adolescentes se conocían.

Las autoridades dijeron que el joven fue trasladado “a un hospital local con una lesión que no ponía en peligro su vida”.

La policía acordonó el estacionamiento de la biblioteca mientras investigaba.

La policía de North Miami dijo que su investigación continuaba “en curso” la noche del miércoles.

A pesar de la investigación, el adolescente responsable del apuñalamiento aún no ha sido capturado.

The deportees arrived at the Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia. The Liberia-U.S. agreement is among the largest third-country deportations driven by the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

The 1,200 deportees will include African nationals and also nationals from North America, South America and the Caribbean, according to Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah.

During a briefing on Tuesday, Liberian Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said that the majority of the deportees had committed migration-related violations and offenses, and that they could seek asylum in the West African country if they wished.

Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that aren't their own, advocates say, with about 10 of them in Africa.

Immigration lawyers have said the Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum-seekers back to their home countries.

In many cases, migrants are deported to countries they’ve never been to or where they face safety risks and are left with little choice other than to return to the home countries they were fleeing from.

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According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the shooting was reported at about 10:15 p.m. in the 200 block of Southwest First Terrace.

Local 10 News reporter Jolena Esperto was at the scene Thursday morning and said it appeared the shooting happened inside or outside of a vape shop in the plaza.

Authorities confirmed that BSO deputies and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue medics responded to the area and found the victim who had been shot.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders.

Deputies confirmed that one person was detained and there was no threat to the community, however it’s unclear whether that person will be charged in the shooting.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

An analysis by The Associated Press and Reporter Brasil of all National Mining Agency records through June shows that rare earth exploration applications have surged, with more than 86% filed in the past three years, including 268 in the first half of 2026.

The interest is already raising environmental concerns for the Amazon and other areas.

Here are takeaways from the story:

The US and others are seeking alternatives to China

Rare earth minerals are a group of chemicals essential in digital and defense technologies, used in electronics, magnets and batteries. They are also used in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors, critical to the transition away from fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal that cause global warming. The International Energy Agency estimated in 2022 that demand for rare earths could increase at least threefold by 2040.

China has nearly half of the world’s reserves and dominates global processing. Brazil has the second-largest reserves and is becoming increasingly attractive to investors seeking alternatives to China after Beijing restricted exports last year.

By reviewing all National Mining Agency records in Brazil through June, the AP-Reporter Brasil analysis found that foreign investors are driving the growing interest in rare earth exploration, accounting for more than four in 10 applications.

Australian and U.S. firms dominate the interest. Among recent deals was the acquisition of Serra Verde, Brazil’s only commercial rare earth producer, by a U.S.-backed company.

Chinese firms had not filed any rare earth exploration applications in Brazil as of June, but they are positioning themselves in the sector. Last year, state-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group acquired tin producer Mineracao Taboca and announced plans to assess rare earth potential at its Amazon mine. Separately, Shenghe Resources signed an agreement with Brazilian partners WEG Mineracao and Fenrir do Brasil to pursue rare earth projects, including one in Minas Gerais.

New mining push could impact communities and ecosystems

At least a quarter of the applications overlap with or are within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of protected areas and Indigenous territories, including in the Amazon, according to Reporter Brasil’s Energy Transition Observatory. Experts say mining projects within this buffer zone can cause environmental damage.

Depending on what is mined, toxic chemicals can be released and radioactive waste generated. Other potential impacts include deforestation and polluted water seeping into rivers and lakes, which can poison fish populations, as well as air pollution and noise.

In Goias state, in central Brazil, a small Afro-Brazilian community overlaps with mining claims by the Canadian firm Aclara Resources, which last year secured $5 million in project development financing from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.

Aclara in a statement said its project initially overlapped with the community’s territory, but “no mining activities will take place there.” Still, residents fear operations that could start as early as 2028 could affect local springs and wildlife.

Brazil is considering safeguards around foreign influence

“The challenge today is that China dominates processing and refining,” said Brazilian lawmaker Zé Silva, author of pending legislation that would establish a federal policy on critical minerals and rare earths, set investment priorities and create a national council to monitor significant foreign influence in the sector. “Under our proposal, companies are welcome to invest, but they must transfer technology to Brazil, including processing capacity.”

On Monday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the Senate would move forward with the proposed law, to defend national interests.

“We will not allow anyone from outside to come here and exploit our mineral resources, because we want their processing and transformation to happen here,” Lula said.

___

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

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward (BSO), la balacera fue reportada alrededor de las 10:15 p.m. en la cuadra 200 de Southwest First Terrace.

La reportera de Local 10 News Jolena Esperto estuvo en el lugar la mañana del jueves y dijo que al parecer la balacera ocurrió dentro o fuera de una tienda de vapeo en la plaza comercial.

Las autoridades confirmaron que agentes de BSO y paramédicos de Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue acudieron al área y encontraron a la víctima, quien había recibido disparos.

Los socorristas lo declararon muerto en el lugar.

Los agentes confirmaron que una persona fue detenida y que no había ninguna amenaza para la comunidad, sin embargo, no está claro si esa persona enfrentará cargos por la balacera.

La investigación continúa en curso.

Se pide a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre la balacera que llame a Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

En las laderas de Hautvillers, equipos de vendimiadores empiezan a trabajar a las 6:30 de la mañana entre hileras de viñas que fueron reconocidas como Patrimonio Mundial de la UNESCO en 2015.

Para Alexandre Gobillard, director de producción de la casa de champán Gobillard & Fils, iniciar la vendimia a mediados de agosto antes era casi impensable.

“Esto es histórico en Champaña", declaró Gobillard. "Llevo 30 años trabajando en la finca y cuando empecé mi padre solía decirme: ‘El 15 de agosto, vete de vacaciones’. Hoy es 18 de agosto y estamos en plena vendimia. Nunca habíamos visto algo así”.

A sus 50 años, Gobillard representa a la cuarta generación que trabaja en los viñedos familiares. Gobillard & Fils cultiva 40 hectáreas (unas 100 acres) de viñas y produce alrededor de 1,5 millones de botellas al año.

Un clima cambiante trae una vendimia más temprana

La vendimia oficial de Champaña se abrió este año entre el 12 y el 17 de agosto, según la zona y la variedad de uva, aproximadamente un mes antes de lo que antes era habitual en la región.

Una helada de finales de marzo golpeó las viñas después de que las temperaturas suaves provocaran una brotación temprana, lo que redujo la cosecha potencial. Luego vinieron cuatro olas de calor, algo que nunca había ocurrido antes, señaló Gobillard.

Las uvas quemadas por el sol se volvieron marrones, algo que, según Gobillard, rara vez había visto. Explicó que perder aproximadamente el 10% de las uvas significaría una pérdida de volumen más que afectar la calidad del vino.

Las vendimias más tempranas se han vuelto cada vez más comunes en Champaña y en otras regiones vinícolas francesas a medida que suben las temperaturas. En la vecina Italia, el calor extremo también ha llevado a productores de vino espumoso a cosechar antes y a recoger uvas por la noche.

David Chatillon, presidente de la Unión de Casas de Champán, reconoció que las condiciones meteorológicas de este año conducirán a una clara disminución de los rendimientos.

“Pero no es solo por la sequía", indicó Chatillon. "Perdimos el 43% de la producción potencial por las heladas de primavera, y la sequía claramente ha agravado aún más el problema de los menores rendimientos”.

Chatillon indicó que el cambio climático ha sido un foco de la industria durante los últimos 25 años, lo que ha impulsado inversiones en investigación e innovación para adaptarse a condiciones cambiantes, incluido el desarrollo de variedades de uva más resistentes a las enfermedades y que maduren más tarde.

El calor acelera la maduración de la uva

Gobillard ha visto cómo el cambio se ha desarrollado a lo largo de generaciones de su familia.

“La generación de mi abuelo vendimiaba 100 días después de la floración, mi padre 90 días, y hoy hemos bajado a 80", explicó Gobillard. "Vamos a tener que cambiar nuestros hábitos”.

Las temperaturas récord de este verano comprimieron aún más el periodo de maduración. En junio, las temperaturas alcanzaron los 40 grados Celsius (104 grados Fahrenheit) en partes de Champaña.

“La vid necesita agua para vivir", señaló Gobillard. "El agua se extrajo de las uvas para mantener viva la vid y, como resultado, tuvimos una concentración de azúcar mucho más alta. Por eso ocurrió mucho más rápido”.

Mientras su hija operaba la prensa, Gobillard observó cómo fluía el primer mosto del año con una mezcla de entusiasmo y ansiedad.

Tomó rápidamente una muestra para medir su nivel de azúcar, un indicador clave del contenido potencial de alcohol y de si las uvas se han recogido en el momento adecuado. “El champán no debería ser demasiado alcohólico. ... Buscamos delicadeza”, apuntó Gobillard.

Una vendimia temprana pone a prueba las tradiciones de Champaña

La vendimia temprana también plantea desafíos logísticos en una región donde tradicionalmente las uvas se recogen a mano, con algunos trabajadores aún de vacaciones de verano y otros enfrentando retrasos en el transporte.

Gobillard espera completar la vendimia en la finca en unos nueve días, un trabajo que requiere alrededor de 120 trabajadores reclutados en su mayoría en toda Francia y Polonia.

“Realmente cambia la manera en que vemos los métodos tradicionales de Champaña", sostuvo Geoffrey Bonnet-Gobillard, de 30 años, director comercial de la casa familiar de champán. "La vendimia manual conlleva muchas limitaciones: alojar a la gente, alimentarla, reclutarla. Es muy difícil, especialmente con vendimias tempranas en agosto”.

Esas presiones podrían terminar obligando a los productores a reconsiderar algunas prácticas arraigadas a medida que la maquinaria agrícola se vuelve más sofisticada, añadió.

La casa vende la mayor parte de su champán en mercados europeos, incluidos Gran Bretaña, Bélgica, Italia y España, así como en África Occidental, y destina volúmenes menores a Estados Unidos y Asia, señaló Bonnet-Gobillard.

Mucho en juego para una industria global

Según el informe sectorial de 2026 del Comité Champagne, el año pasado se enviaron 266,1 millones de botellas de champán en Francia y en el extranjero, lo que generó 5.700 millones de euros (6.600 millones de dólares) en ventas. Las exportaciones representaron el 56,5% de los envíos. El champán representó alrededor del 8% del consumo mundial de vino espumoso por volumen, pero el 31% por valor.

El sector sostiene alrededor de 30.000 empleos directos y requiere aproximadamente 100.000 trabajadores temporales para la vendimia, según el Comité Champagne.

A pesar de las difíciles condiciones de este año, Gobillard dijo que las uvas que inspeccionó eran alentadoras.

“Estoy muy contento con lo que estoy viendo", aseguró Gobillard. "Nos preocupaba que la sequía nos dejara racimos muy ligeros, pero en estas parcelas estamos realmente satisfechos. La cantidad debería ser suficiente y la calidad estará ahí”.

Pero hay poco tiempo que perder. “Es hora de cortarlas. Vamos a tener que movernos rápido”, aseveró Gobillard. _________________________________

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

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 206,000 last week from a revised 212,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, ticked up to 204,000 last week from 199,750.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a harbinger for where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have been at a historically low range of around 200,000 to 230,000 a week.

“The labor market has yet to show any sign of wear and tear from the surge in oil prices since the start of the war with Iran and the global energy supply shock,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a commentary.

The number of people collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Aug. 8 rose to 1.8 million from 1.78 million the week before.

The U.S. unemployment rate is low at 4.1%, partly because the economy has proved resilient in the face of higher energy prices. But it’s also because President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the ongoing retirement of baby boomers mean that fewer people are competing for jobs: More than 1.3 million people have dropped out of the U.S. labor force over the past year.

The job market is tough for those looking for their first job and for those who lost their jobs and are looking for new work. At the same time, companies, remembering the worker shortages that followed the end of COVID-19 lockups, are still reluctant to let go of staff; but they aren’t eager to take on new workers. Economists regularly refer to a “no hire, no fire″ job market.

In July, companies, government agencies and nonprofits together cut 23,000 jobs. So far this year, employers are adding 61,000 jobs a month. That is an improvement on the 9,700 they averaged last year — the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002. The lingering effects of high interest rates and Trump’s erratic trade policies discouraged companies from hiring in 2025.

Hiring this year remains well below the 166,00 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, let alone the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.

The Bruins are to play two games in Munich, while the Oilers will play two matches in Leon Draisaitl’s native city of Cologne during the 2027-28 NHL season. The opponents have yet to be determined.

“These events represent an important step in our commitment to grow the game in Germany. By bringing more NHL games to one of Europe’s most dynamic hockey markets, we hope to continue to deepen engagement amongst our fans, partners and local communities, while at the same time creating a significant opportunity to grow the game throughout the country,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.

The Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators were already slated to play two games in Düsseldorf in December. Those Global Series games are the second and third regular-season games the league has staged in Germany after the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings played in Berlin in 2011.

More are to follow with the NHL and NHLPA committed to bringing regular-season games to Germany for at least the next three seasons.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted earlier this week that the health system, one of the so-called “great accomplishments” of the Cuban revolution, is on the verge of total collapse. There are thousands of Cubans on the island waiting for surgeries that cannot be performed due to the lack of doctors, medicines, equipment and poor hospital conditions.

For years, Cuba has been sending medical brigades around the world to help pay-off their debt and export the ideals of their revolution. The U.S. government has accused Cuba of human trafficking for these actions.

Aug. 18: Trump’s Cuba strategy: Is there really a plan?

Does the Trump administration really have a plan for Cuba?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the cities put forward “incredibly strong bids,” and he promised the convention would be an “inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee.”

A final decision is expected to be made later this year by party leaders. Republicans have already chosen Houston for the site of their 2028 convention.

The Democratic convention, scheduled for Aug. 7-10, 2028, traditionally gives the party a chance to formally introduce its nominee to the country, rally the base and kick-start the most intense period of campaigning ahead of the general election.

The party didn’t specify why Atlanta and Chicago, which was the site of the 2024 convention, were eliminated. Officials visited all five cities in April and May, considering logistical and fundraising capacity among other factors.

The three finalists are liberal strongholds surrounded by the type of suburban areas that have become increasingly important to the party in recent elections. They also provide access to fundraising and key demographic and interest groups, like labor unions.

While Colorado and Massachusetts have gone Democratic in recent presidential elections, Pennsylvania has been among the biggest battlegrounds. Trump, a Republican, won Pennsylvania in 2024.

Philadelphia last hosted the convention in 2016, Denver in 2008 and Boston in 2004.

Before the presidential primary gets into gear, Democrats are looking at this year’s midterm elections as an opportunity to flip the narrowly divided Republican-led House and maybe take back control of the Senate.

Democrats face fundraising disadvantages compared with Republicans, along with financial debt, and Martin has confronted criticism over his stewardship of the party.

During a recent DNC meeting in Texas, Martin downplayed the critics and called for the party to unite as it tries to win the midterms and look ahead to 2028 and the end of Trump’s second term.

John Barrett, the U.S. representative in Venezuela, called the 20 excavators provided to the country, along with other equipment, highly sophisticated with the ability to be operated remotely.

It’s all part of an effort to clean up the rubble left behind after the earthquakes and to restart the battered economy of the coastal region.

Nearly 30,000 people in the area make their living by working in imports, according to the local customs’ brokers association.

The majority of them had little work up until the recent reopening of the main port.

Venezuela’s main international airport is also located there, and it remains closed.

They are both of vital importance for the economic well-being of the entire region, with the ripple effects being felt throughout the economy.

Premier Christine Fréchette also pushed back against quickly restoring U.S. alcohol to provincial stores, saying Quebec alone would decide whether American products return to shelves at the SAQ, the Quebec government corporation that controls most retail sales of wine and spirits in the province.

“Information is missing before I can make the right decisions to ensure Quebecers are protected. I am awaiting clarifications from Mr. Carney,” she said in a social media post late Wednesday.

Canada and the United States moved closer Wednesday to finalizing a trade agreement that would avert threatened 50% U.S. tariffs. Trump has said the agreement was “very fair” to both sides and predicted U.S. farmers and manufacturers would benefit. Tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports have been postponed until 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Quebec does not have a veto over a Canada-U.S. trade agreement, but it controls provincial measures such as whether U.S. alcohol is sold through the SAQ.

Carney asked provincial premiers during a briefing Wednesday to return U.S. alcohol to store shelves, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said, a step aimed at addressing one of the Trump administration’s key trade complaints.

The White House says the emerging deal includes a Canadian commitment to address restrictions on U.S. alcohol. But Carney cannot order provinces to restore sales.

Fréchette’s Coalition Avenir Québec faces voters in an October provincial election, adding political pressure as she weighs concessions affecting dairy, forestry and U.S. alcohol sales.

Houston and two other premiers voiced support for the direction of the talks, though Houston said whether Canadians would actually buy U.S. alcohol again “is a whole other discussion.”

Eight of Canada’s 10 provinces restrict or ban U.S. alcohol — measures imposed in retaliation for Trump’s previous tariffs on Canadian goods and amid anger over his repeated talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, is especially important. Its government-run LCBO, one of the world’s largest alcohol purchasers, sold nearly C$1 billion ($723 million) in U.S. products annually before pulling them from shelves last year.

While details of the emerging agreement remain vague, Trump has claimed Canada agreed to end tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.

Canada currently allows a set amount of dairy imports at low tariffs. Once imports exceed that limit, much higher tariffs apply. The U.S. says Canada’s supply-management system makes it harder for American dairy producers to gain full access to the Canadian market.

Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian minister responsible for trade with the U.S., said Canada’s “agriculture sector will be well protected and we have maintained our tough line.”

The Ervebo vaccine is licensed for use against Ebola virus, one of the viruses that cause Ebola disease, but not for Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for the current outbreak which has so far killed 2,476 people out of the 5,208 confirmed cases

WHO said in a statement that while it’s not known whether Ervebo may protect against the Bundibugyo virus, “early laboratory and animal data suggest it may provide some protection.”

The allocation includes 20,000 doses for a Phase 3 clinical trial to understand the impact of the vaccine on the Bundibugyo virus, the agency said. The remaining 50,000 doses will be used for front-line and health workers as recommended by WHO experts.

The outbreak raging in six provinces in eastern Congo has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other Ebola outbreak in history, and is spreading about three times faster compared to the 2014-2016 outbreak across West Africa — the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record with more than 11,000 deaths.

The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision, which includes WHO and other partners, said the doses will be released immediately following a request from Congo’s government.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the approval “an important example of global solidarity in action.” He said the agency and its partners remain committed to supporting strengthened surveillance, rapid detection, quality care, community engagement and vaccination efforts to bring the outbreak under control.

The lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo virus has been a major issue for responders. Most new cases have been reported outside of the people being monitored, showing the virus continues to spread faster than efforts to track it. That has been a key contributor to the recorded deaths.

The case fatality rate so far is 47.5% although it is far worse in some places where response efforts are more challenging, such as in North Kivu province where the fatality rate is up to 70%.

Experts believe the virus began spreading from the mining town of Mongbwalu as early as February, months before authorities declared the outbreak on May 15.

Comparable sales in U.S. stores, which measure sales at stores open at least a year along with online sales tied to those locations, rose 2.6% in the second quarter. They rose 4.1% in the previous quarter.

Excluding the wellness category that includes Walmart’s pharmacies, comparable sales increased 3.4% in the second quarter. Those sales were hit by federal legislation that requires pharmacies to dispense some high-cost Medicare drugs at capped prices, the retailer said. That was still below analysts’ projections of a 3.8% increase, according to FactSet.

Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business, which has become an engine of growth for the retailer, rose 24%, trailing the first-quarter pace of 26%.

Walmart is among the first batch of major retailers to report second-quarter results, which could offer industry analysts and economists another read on whether ongoing price pressures from the conflict in Iran have impacted consumer behavior.

Walmart is considered a barometer of consumer spending given its vast customer base. More than 150 million customers are on its website or in its stores every week, according to Walmart.

That may draw even more attention this quarter after U.S. data released Friday showed that retail sales were surprisingly weak in July and a new read on consumers from the University of Michigan revealed growing pessimism about the economy, with so many Americans struggling with higher costs for gas, groceries and just about everything else.

The new figures from Walmart revealed the smallest gain in comparable store sales since a 1.9% gain for the quarter ended Jan. 31, 2020, according to FactSet.

That has broadened Walmart’s customer base and the retailer has begun capturing a larger share of wealthier Americans. The biggest gains in market share for Walmart are coming from households with annual incomes over $100,000.

Walmart’s quarterly net income was $6.37 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the three-month period ended July 31. Adjusted per-share results were 81 cents, easily topping the 74 cents Wall Street had expected, according to FactSet.

Sales rose 5.9% to $187.94 billion. Analysts were predicting $186.62 billion, according to FactSet.

For the third quarter, Walmart expects earnings per share of 62 cents to 64 cents. It projects sales to be up 3% to 3.5%. That would put sales in a range of $184.88 billion to $186.23 billion. The forecasts are below analysts’ expectations of 68 cents per share and sales of $188.19 billion, according to FactSet.

For the full year, Walmart now expects earnings per share to be in the range of $2.80 to $2.87 while sales should be up anywhere from 4% to 5%. That would mean a forecast for sales in the range of $741.7 billion to $748.8 billion, according to FactSet.

Analysts expected $2.90 per share and sales of $752.06 billion for the year, according to FactSet.

“Pulitzer on the Road: Prize — Winning Works That Inform, Empower & Inspire” will launch in October at the Chicago Public Library and the Dallas Public Library and continue through May 2028, with stops at public libraries everywhere from Reading, Pennsylvania, to San Jose, California.

The exhibit will highlight more than a century of Pulitzer winners, whether such groundbreaking news reporting as the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate scandal, iconic photographs such as the AP's “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” poems by Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost, plays by Arthur Miller and Lin-Manuel Miranda or fiction by Toni Morrison and John Steinbeck.

Kingsolver, Everett and Kraus, all Pulitzer-winning novelists, will be making appearances, along with composer Gabriela Frank and photojournalist Jon Cherry among others.

“Pulitzer on the Road was created to bring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism and storytelling to communities across the country, showcasing the exceptional work that has been honored since the prizes were first awarded in 1917,” Marjorie Miller, administrator of the Pulitzers, said in a statement Thursday.

Maria McCauley, president of the American Library Association, said in a statement that the exhibit would create "opportunities for visitors to connect with the excellent prize-winning works that drive curiosity, conversation and civic engagement.”

The petition with the hashtag InfantinOut also calls for “FIFA to be rebuilt so that the current debacle can never happen again.”

“The shameful attempt by one individual — the FIFA President himself — to sell off the World Cup to private investors exposed a betrayal football will never forget,” the petition said about Infantino's plan for a commercial spinoff, which he dropped amid a furious backlash.

The fan groups include Football Supporters Europe, Football Supporters Africa and, in North America, the Independent Supporters Council, plus about 40 national fan groups worldwide.

Infantino has resisted calls to leave office despite European soccer body UEFA saying it has no confidence in him. He has also been criticized by the leadership of North America’s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation.

“Gianni Infantino has demonstrated a profound failure of leadership, incompatible with democratic governance,” the fan petition states. “The concentration of power around the FIFA Presidency, combined with opaque decision-making, personality cult clientelism, and zero accountability has destroyed any remaining trust in the world governing body."

“For the credibility of FIFA — and for the future of the game — he must resign,” the petition adds.

It also cites Infantino’s past support for projects that angered fans, including the failed European Super League project and pushing to hold World Cups every two years.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

In Gaza City, a mass funeral was held for 50 people killed in Israeli airstrikes nearly three years ago but whose remains were just recovered. Meanwhile, Syria’s foreign minister visited Pakistan, which is seeking to defuse tensions between the United States and Iran.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Thursday. Full coverage can be found here.

Iran denounces Trump's economic threat

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected the economic threats made against his country, saying that such “failed policies” will stir more hostility among Iranians and “bring more failures.”

Araghchi's comments came a few hours after President Donald Trump threatened “crushing economic measures” against Iran. Trump promised “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” but provided few details.

In a social media post, Araghchi maintained the threats aim to divert the attention of the U.S. public from domestic financial problems, adding that U.S. “economic terrorism threatens the global economy and the national sovereignty of countries around the world.”

UK and others rebuke planned West Bank settlement project

Several countries condemned the latest development in a contentious Israeli settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two.

Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing issued a tender for constructing several compounds with more than 1,200 homes in total in an open tract of land east of Jerusalem. It’s the latest step in a project under consideration for more than two decades, which critics say would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called the publication of the tender “an unacceptable and destructive act” and denounced “settler violence and terrorism.” In a statement released on Wednesday, he added that the British government “demanded an immediate reversal” and had summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires.

Egypt and Jordan also condemned Israel’s move, which Cairo said would isolate east Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded on Thursday by defending “the historic right of the Jewish people to reestablish their national home in the Land of Israel — including in the area in question.” Saar criticized Britain’s government for “blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism.”

Gaza funeral remembers 50 killed in opening strikes of Israel-Hamas war

A mass funeral Thursday in Gaza City remembered 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the opening months of the Israel-Hamas war but whose remains were only recently recovered from under rubble.

Dozens of mourners carried the remains, draped in Palestinian flags, through debris-strewn streets before lowering them into graves. Some held portraits and posters with photos of the deceased.

“We were able to recover them after three years of war, after three years of anguish, pain and torture. We were able to recover them, and dignify them in their final resting place. We were able to pray over them and bury them,” said Lina Karam, who lost her father and other members of her family.

The 50 bodies were from three families who were killed in airstrikes in November and December 2023.

The nearly three-year war has killed more than 73,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the toll.

Turkey denies delegation had visited air base in Syria that was hit by Israel

Turkey has denied that a Turkish military delegation had visited an air base in northern Syria that was hit by Israeli airstrikes, and vowed to continue supporting Syria in its efforts to rebuild its military.

The Israeli strikes targeted the Abu Duhur base early on Tuesday, causing damage but no casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had attacked the base because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreed-upon “status quo in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

Syrian officials have said that a Turkish delegation visited the base before the Israeli strike to review rehabilitation work underway there.

Syria's top diplomat discusses Middle East in Pakistan

Syria's Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani arrived in Islamabad for talks expected to focus on regional issues, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The visit comes days after Israeli airstrikes targeted an air base in northern Syria, causing damage but no casualties.

Pakistani officials say the country's political and military leadership remains in contact with both Iran and United States over efforts to de-escalate tensions and push for the resumption of talks after a 60-day deadline under a June memorandum of understanding expired. The agreement was brokered by Pakistan with help from regional countries.

Bodies of Pakistani sailors returned after Houthi attack

The bodies of two Pakistanis killed in last week’s Houthi attack on a Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have been repatriated to Pakistan.

Six Pakistani sailors who were injured in the attack have also safely returned to the country, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a post on X.

Nguyen Thi Quynh Tam, 24, said she was raped on July 5 and pressured by the man’s family to accept money and not go to police. She said the police also initially urged her to settle the matter privately.

The AP does not usually identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted. Her candor is unusual for Vietnam, where sexual violence is rarely discussed publicly, but she said she wanted to speak out to help protect other women.

“I’m doing this not just for me. But for everybody else that has been harmed,” said Tam.

Tam’s account was documented in interviews, her police complaint and communications with U.S. and Vietnamese officials. After she sought help from U.S. officials and a U.S. lawmaker, officials confirmed Thursday that they had charged the 23-year-old man.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said authorities had initiated legal proceedings “in accordance with Vietnamese law.” She did not respond to questions about alleged police pressure to settle the case.

The man charged in the case did not respond to AP queries sent via social media.

Tam, whose family moved to the United States when she was 5 years old, returned to Vietnam in May for a banking internship, hoping to reconnect with her family’s homeland. She joined a group of acquaintances on a July 4 trip to a resort in Phu Tho, near Hanoi.

The group stayed up late and when she went to bed, Tam found herself locked out of the room where she expected to sleep. She found another bedroom and fell asleep with the door unlocked, then awoke to the 23-year-old man kissing her neck.

Her complaint says Tam told him not to touch her, but he persisted and climbed on top of her. She pushed and punched him and shouted, “No!” But he pinned both her arms above her head and raped her.

Later that night, she messaged her boyfriend in the U.S. that she had been raped. The AP has seen the messages.

Afterward, she said she blamed herself and struggled mentally. Others in the group they traveled with told her the man was from a wealthy, politically-connected family and she was unsure what to do.

Tam said the man apologized twice on July 9, in a note and during a phone call. The AP has heard a recording of the call and seen the note.

On July 11, Tam and friends of her family met with the man's father in an encounter suggested by members of the group she traveled with. She said he asked how much money she wanted for not involving the police. He called five days later, again offering compensation, she said.

In an email to the The Associated Press, the father said the two had been “intimate,” but he declined to comment further. He said his family had “no intention” of pressuring Tam to drop the case.

Tam said that after she reported the incident to police on July 21, they took her back to the room where she said she was raped and asked her to reenact the assault, leaving her distraught.

“A part of me is gone. And it’s in that room,” she said.

The next day, she said, police urged her to meet with the 23-year-old and to sign a statement saying she had refused a rape kit and a lawyer. She refused. The police again asked her to settle while she was getting mental health care at a Hanoi hospital, she said.

Tam, who is from Houston, Texas, said she got little help at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, where she was told she could report the matter to Vietnamese police, or return home. She said she was discouraged when they cited a previous sexual assault case that dragged on for over a year before being dropped.

After Tam's father contacted their senator, Ted Cruz, the embassy called her to apologize. It told Cruz’s office it had supported Tam and helped her contact authorities. Her father called that “inaccurate,” according to a July 29 email exchange.

The State Department said it was aware of her case, but couldn't comment further because of legal and privacy reasons. It said American “safety and security” was its top priority.

With universities competing to pay athletes millions of dollars, some states now are propping up their strained sports budgets in ways not previously seen. The state dollars aren’t going directly to star athletes. But by funding facilities and administrative costs normally borne by the schools, states are freeing universities to use their own dollars for other purposes.

The athletics program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for the first time, is receiving $3 million earmarked from state sports betting taxes. Wisconsin lawmakers approved $15 million for athletic costs at the University of Wisconsin. And Connecticut and Louisiana also are using tax dollars to support college athletics. Even more states have considered it.

Sports business analysts see an emerging trend.

“Once one state provides that kind of assistance, schools in competing states can argue that they are being placed at a competitive disadvantage, which could create additional pressure on legislatures to respond,” said Daniel McIntosh, faculty director of the sports business program at Arizona State University.

Legal cases have accelerated spending on college athletes

NCAA rules long barred college athletes from getting paid by schools and boosters. But under pressure from lawsuits and states, the NCAA cleared the way in 2021 for athletes to receive money from private entities for the use of their name, image or likeness (NIL). Then a legal settlement last year allowed higher education institutions to directly pay athletes a total of about $20.5 million annually — on top of any scholarships and other NIL deals they receive.

That cap rose to $21.3 million for this school year, and is set to rise again the following year.

Many mid-level programs cannot afford that much. But almost all NCAA Division I athletic programs are trying to generate more money to pay athletes in a bid to remain competitive with their peers. At the same time, schools have been incurring greater costs for facilities, coaches’ salaries and travel amid conference realignments that discarded old geographic-based rivalries.

Over the past four years, athletic operating expenses at public Division I institutions shot up by nearly a third — notably outpacing revenue and running up deficits, according to an Associated Press analysis using the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database.

Federal legislation could drive athletic costs even higher

The Protect College Sports Act, pending in the U.S. Senate, has been promoted as a way to put guardrails on college sports spending. But it could potentially allow even greater spending by schools.

The latest version would allow institutions to pay up to an additional $27.5 million annually to retain players on their rosters, pushing the overall athlete payment cap close to $50 million. The higher ceiling could reduce the demand for third-party NIL deals.

But the legislation contains no provision restraining increases in state and institutional funding for athletics, said Amy Privette Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

“Without some restraint on the underlying spending competition, additional public funding could simply finance the next stage of the arms race,” McIntosh said.

States are routing money to schools in creative ways

When North Carolina launched online sports wagering in 2024, it earmarked part of the tax revenue for athletic departments at 13 public universities. But the two largest institutions — the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University — were excluded.

That changed in July under a new state budget that raises the sports betting tax. Those two schools now are projected to receive $3 million each this year and $5.8 million next year.

In the meantime, Louisiana also hiked its sports wagering tax and earmarked about $2.2 million to each of its 11 public universities in conferences with Division I football programs.

Seeking to drum up athletic revenue, Connecticut lawmakers authorized the University of Connecticut to issue vouchers for state tax credits equal to half the amount of donations, sponsorships and licensing endorsements. The program generated $1.7 million in its first four months, according to a university report.

New Jersey’s new budget allots $5 million for “events attraction and marketing” at Rutgers’ flagship campus. A university spokesperson declined to say if the money would be used for athletic programs.

Though not providing new state money, the governing board for Florida’s universities last year authorized institutions to transfer up to $22.5 million to athletics. Florida State University did so almost immediately, and other schools have since followed.

Lawmaker says a bad football team is bad for the state

The Wisconsin budget provides $14.6 million for athletic facility debt payments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and $200,000 each for the Milwaukee and Green Bay campuses.

“None of that state funds technically would go toward student athletes,” said Republican state Rep. Alex Dallman, who sponsored the legislation.

But with the state covering facility debt, the university could use its own funds “for other things, such as NIL, or just trying to compete,” said Dallman, who typically attends a couple Wisconsin football games each year.

“Having a bad football team, having uncompetitive college sports in general, would not be beneficial to our state, both culturally or economically,” Dallman said. “So we decided as a state we’d help out.”

En Waldorf, en el estado suroccidental de Renania-Palatinado, una mujer perdió la vida tras ser golpeada por la caída de un árbol, informó el jueves la agencia de noticias alemana dpa. Otra mujer sufrió lesiones graves en el mismo incidente, indicó la policía.

Las mujeres, de 58 y 47 años, caminaban juntas cuando se desató una tormenta y se refugiaron en una zona de asientos cubierta. Ambas fueron alcanzadas cuando un árbol fue arrancado de raíz y cayó sobre los asientos. La mujer de más edad murió en el lugar, señaló un portavoz policial. La otra fue trasladada a un hospital.

Un tornado golpeó la localidad de Fürstenwalde, a 78 kilómetros (49 millas) al sureste de Berlín. Algunos tejados fueron arrancados, varios autos resultaron dañados por la caída de árboles, y una persona sufrió heridas, según dpa.

En Höhr-Grenzhausen, en el distrito de Westerwald, en el oeste del país, una tormenta arrancó paredes de edificios. Al menos dos viviendas se vieron afectadas, de acuerdo con dpa. La caída de trozos de fachadas y los escombros arrastrados por el viento causaron más daños, y varios árboles fueron arrancados de raíz. En la zona se registró también un apagón generalizado mientras que fuertes ráfagas de viento volcaron un camión en la autopista A61.

También se registraron numerosas llamadas de emergencia relacionadas con el mal tiempo durante la noche en Hesse, Turingia y Baviera.

Un festival en la localidad de Kronach, en Baviera, fue evacuado parcialmente debido a las fuertes tormentas. Unos 3.500 asistentes tuvieron que abandonar la zona al aire libre del recinto a última hora de la noche del miércoles, informó la policía local. Los festejos continuaron dentro de las carpas con cervecerías.

En Wetzlar, en Hesse, la tormenta dañó unas 60 casas, según los bomberos. En algunos casos, fragmentos de techos salieron volando hasta 100 metros (110 yardas) de distancia, dijo dpa.

El Servicio Meteorológico alemán advirtió que podrían producirse más tormentas fuertes más tarde en el día, en especial en Baden-Württemberg y Baviera, en el sur del país.

Aunque en Alemania las tormentas estuvieron acompañadas de temperaturas más frescas, en el sureste de Europa seguían siendo altas y se registraron incendios en algunas partes de la región.

Los bomberos luchan contra el fuego en los Balcanes

En Serbia, un avión ruso de extinción de incendios se sumó el jueves a los esfuerzos para combatir incendios forestales que devastaron una reserva natural en el noreste, mientras el país balcánico enfrenta una nueva ola de calor en los próximos días.

El Il-76 aterrizó en Serbia el miércoles por la noche, en un ejemplo de la continuidad de las relaciones entre ambos países pese a la intención declarada de Belgrado de unirse a la Unión Europea.

El incendio en Deliblatska Pescara, o Deliblato Sands, comenzó hace un mes, pero estuvo bajo control hasta principios de agosto, cuando empezó a propagarse rápidamente calcinando miles de hectáreas (acres) de bosques de pinos y matorrales.

Varios fuegos de gran tamaño han arrasado otras partes del país, así como otros puntos en la región en las últimas semanas. Este año, el verano extremadamente caluroso y seco ha alimentado los incendios forestales en toda Europa, desde Bélgica hasta Grecia.

Bomberos croatas de la popular Dubrovnik se sumaron el jueves a la lucha para contener un incendio al otro lado de la frontera en Bosnia para evitar que se propagara hacia la ciudad medieval amurallada, que está protegida por la UNESCO.

“Fue una noche dura”, dijo el comandante de la unidad regional de bomberos, Stjepan Simović, a la agencia noticiosa Hina. “El incendio es enorme y en un terreno inaccesible, así que tenemos que estar atentos”.

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Gec informó desde Belgrado, Serbia.

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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.

In Waldorf, in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, a woman was struck by a falling tree and fatally injured, the German news agency dpa reported Thursday. Another woman suffered serious injuries in the accident, police said.

The women, 58 and 47, were walking together when a storm rolled in and they sought shelter under a covered seating area. Both women were struck when a tree was uprooted and fell onto the seating area. The 58-year-old died at the scene, a police spokesperson said. The 47-year-old was taken to a hospital.

A tornado struck the town of Fürstenwalde, 78 kilometers (49 miles) southeast of Berlin. Roofs were torn off and several cars were damaged by falling trees, and one person was injured, according to dpa.

In Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Westerwald district in western Germany, a storm tore walls from buildings. At least two homes were affected, according to dpa. Falling pieces of building facades and flying debris caused additional damage, and several trees were uprooted. A widespread power outage also hit the area, while strong gusts of wind overturned a truck on the A61 highway.

There were also numerous weather-related emergency calls overnight in Hesse, Thuringia and Bavaria.

A village festival in Kronach, Bavaria, was partially evacuated due to severe storms. About 3,500 guests had to leave the outdoor area of the festival grounds late Wednesday evening, local police said. They were able to continue celebrating inside the beer halls.

In Wetzlar, in Hesse, the storm damaged about 60 houses, according to the fire department. In some cases, pieces of roofing were blown as far as 100 meters (110 yards) away, dpa reported.

The German Weather Service warned that further severe storms could occur later in the day, particularly in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria in southern Germany.

While the storms in Germany were accompanied by cooler temperatures, high temperatures continued to be recorded in southeastern Europe, and fires raged in some parts of the region.

Firefighters are battling wildfires in the Balkans

In Serbia, a Russian firefighting plane joined efforts in Serbia on Thursday to fight wildfires that devastated a nature reserve in the northeast as the Balkan country faces a fresh heat wave in the coming days.

The Il-76 plane landed in Serbia on Wednesday evening, also illustrating continued friendly relations between the two countries despite Belgrade’s proclaimed intention to join the European Union.

The fire in Deliblatska Pescara, or Deliblato Sands, first erupted a month ago, but was under control until early August when it started spreading swiftly, engulfing thousands of acres of pine forests and shrubbery.

Several other big fires also have been raging in other parts of the country, as well as throughout the region in the past weeks. An extremely hot and dry summer this year has fueled wildfires throughout Europe, from Belgium to Greece.

Croatian firefighters from the popular tourism hot spot of Dubrovnik on Thursday joined a struggle to contain a fire across the border in Bosnia to prevent it from spreading toward the medieval walled city that is a UNESCO protected heritage site.

“It was a hard night,” regional firefighting unit commander Stjepan Simović told the Hina news agency. "The fire is huge and in an inaccessible terrain, so we have to be vigilant.”

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Gec reported from Belgrade, Serbia.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launches of about 10 short-range ballistic missiles happened from North Korea’s capital region around 5 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Thursday. The military said the missiles flew about 300 kilometers (185 miles) each toward North Korea’s eastern waters.

The military said South Korea has bolstered its surveillance posture and was closely coordinating information on the launches with the U.S. and Japan. South Korea’s presidential national security council issued a statement urging North Korea to halt ballistic missile launches.

The Japanese prime minister's office had earlier said that it detected a suspected missile launch.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, just before they began Monday. Trump cited what he said was a good relationship with Kim and South Korea’s refusal to support him over the war in Iran.

On Wednesday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries confirmed they shortened the 11-day drills by shortening their duration by about half and canceling some field training exercises. The reduction of the exercises raised worries about the allies’ joint defense posture.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed Trump’s overture later Wednesday, saying “the provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.”

“If the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer,” she said in a statement.

She denied Trump’s claim that Kim Jong Un had responded to his request for a conversation.

Kim Yo Jong still refrained from the typical North Korean reaction of fiery rhetoric and said personal relations between her brother and Trump are “still excellent.” That signals North Korea would want to wait for Trump to make bigger concessions before returning to talks.

When asked by reporters Wednesday if he would be meeting with Kim Jong Un this year, Trump said that “Yeah, I will be.” He wouldn’t answer a question about whether he is exchanging letters with Kim but said he gets along with him.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield is one of the main military exercises conducted by the U.S. and South Korea annually to enhance their ability to cope with potential North Korean aggression. Washington and Seoul say their drills are defensive in nature, but North Korea calls them an invasion rehearsal and often reacts with weapons tests.

Before this month's drills started, North Korea accused the U.S. and South Korea of plotting more provocative exercises this summer and vowed to respond with "a new level of a deterrent.” Days before the drills' start, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in its first such launches since late June.

Trump's earlier diplomacy with Kim Jong Un collapsed in 2019 due to disputes over how much sanctions relief North Korea should be given in return for dismantling its main nuclear complex, a limited denuclearization step. Kim has since shunned any talks with the U.S., pushed to modernize weapons arsenals and expanded cooperation with Russia.

Kim has said he won’t place his nuclear program back on the negotiating table. Experts say Kim has more leverage than when he first held talks with Trump in 2018 and 2019. They say Kim likely hopes to eventually win international recognition as a nuclear state and extensive sanctions relief in exchange for only limited steps toward denuclearization.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

The announcement of his contract extension ahead of Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix this weekend ends speculation that he could seek a blockbuster move to another team or quit the sport.

It comes despite Red Bull struggling to match the pace of leading team Mercedes this season, and Verstappen's own frustration with how much the 2026 cars rely on electrical power.

“After the first few races (this year), I said to Laurent (Mekies, Red Bull team principal): ‘Don’t come to me with any kind of questions about the future because I don’t even know if I want to stay.’ Honestly, we always kept it very open,” Verstappen said.

He added that talks with F1 and governing body the FIA had persuaded him that “we are slowly working towards something that becomes better and better” with the current cars, while the new contract until 2030 could cover a planned return to simpler V8 engines.

“Even if I’m not entirely happy with how the package is, I still love racing, this is still the pinnacle of motorsport, so I still want to be here,” he added.

Asked whether he’d spoken with other teams, he said: “I think I was closer to retiring than changing team.”

Seeing out the contract in full would take Verstappen to 15 seasons with Red Bull. It would be the longest-running driver-team pairing in F1 history. It comes with strong support for team principal Mekies after he replaced the team's founding boss Christian Horner last year.

In return, Mekies laid out how the team is built around Verstappen.

“He’s a lot more than the fastest driver in the world for us,” Mekies said. “He’s the central point of the team. He’s one we always refer to for all the strategic decisions we are making, and to know that he’s going to be with us in order to build that next winning cycle is phenomenal.”

Verstappen, already considered one of F1’s all-time greats at the age of 28, has yet to win a race this season. The 71-time race winner hasn’t had a winless season since his rookie year in 2015.

Verstappen’s previous contract ran through 2028 but reportedly included performance-related clauses which could have potentially allowed him to leave earlier and which fueled speculation he might seek to move.

Red Bull backed Verstappen’s career from childhood and brought him into F1 at the age of 17 in 2015 at its second team, then called Toro Rosso. That made him the youngest driver in series history, a record he still holds.

Still, there had been signs of tension in recent years amid the departures of a series of key staff including Horner last year and car design great Adrian Newey.

Verstappen also raised safety concerns this season after two separate faults with the Red Bull car’s rear wing hurled him into high-speed crashes.

Verstappen had been linked with a move to McLaren after reports of a meeting in June between his representatives and McLaren management. McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said at the time the team didn't have an opening for him and would stick with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

One driver who had been considered a potential replacement for Verstappen at Red Bull, Carlos Sainz Jr., signed a new contract on Wednesday with Williams.

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

El casco oxidado —que en su día fue una embarcación célebre conocida como el Slovenian— afloró a principios de este mes en el río Sava, cerca de la localidad serbia de Sremska Mitrovica, 70 kilómetros (45 millas) al noroeste de la capital, Belgrado.

Aunque algunas partes ya habían asomado antes del agua, los vecinos dicen que nunca se había visto el pecio tan expuesto.

“Han pasado varios años desde la última vez que se vio, así que hay bastante interés”, comentó el historiador Andrija Popovic, director del museo de la ciudad.

“De verdad es algo que no se ve todos los días”, añadió sobre el barco, al que los medios serbios han apodado “el Titanic del Sava”.

Buques de guerra, huesos de mamut y partes de construcciones antiguas han emergido de las aguas en retroceso del Danubio, el Rin y otros ríos durante la abrasadora sequía, que también ha alterado el comercio y el suministro de energía y de agua.

La falta de agua en el Danubio, en un mínimo histórico, ha afectado gravemente a centrales nucleares en Hungría y Rumania y ha detenido el tráfico en la segunda vía fluvial más grande de Europa. Una sequía de varios meses ha devastado cultivos desde Países Bajos hasta Bosnia y ha provocado una escasez de agua que llega hasta los Alpes.

El barco sobrevivió a dos guerras mundiales antes de hundirse

Según Popovic, el Slovenian fue construido en 1913 en un astillero de Budapest, Hungría, entonces parte del Imperio Austrohúngaro.

Medía aproximadamente 54 metros (177 pies) de eslora y al principio se llamaba Vag, que en húngaro alude al río más largo de Eslovaquia, el Vah. Con una máquina de vapor, el barco remolcaba cargas pesadas entre Budapest y otras localidades a lo largo del Danubio.

Durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, el barco en gran medida suspendió sus rutas, agregó Popovic. Al terminar la guerra y desmantelarse el Imperio Austrohúngaro, la propiedad del barco pasó al recién formado Reino de Serbios, Croatas y Eslovenos —que más tarde se convertiría en Yugoslavia— como parte de las reparaciones de guerra, explicó.

“Fue entonces cuando se le cambió el nombre a Slovenian”, explicó Popovic, y añadió que es un misterio “por qué se eligió ese nombre”.

Luego, durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el Slovenian —y su nuevo país— quedaron bajo ocupación de la Alemania nazi. Después de que las fuerzas antifascistas yugoslavas liberaran Belgrado en 1944, utilizaron el barco para trasladar heridos y equipo mientras empujaban a las tropas alemanas más hacia el oeste, indicó Popovic.

Popovic relató que el barco transportaba combatientes heridos cuando chocó con una mina alemana a finales de abril de 1945. “Se hundió y se ha quedado en el mismo lugar desde ese día”.

Un Danubio menguante muestra barcos alemanes y huesos de mamut

El Slovenian no es la única reliquia que ha emergido de los ríos europeos que se están secando.

En la frontera oriental de Serbia con Rumania, restos oxidados de barcos alemanes sobresalen de las aguas escasas del Danubio.

Los barcos, algunos aún cargados con armas, pertenecían a la flota del mar Negro de la Alemania nazi, que fue hundida deliberadamente cerca del final de la guerra mientras las tropas alemanas se retiraban de Rumania y las fuerzas soviéticas avanzaban más hacia el interior de Europa.

En Italia, la peor sequía en 70 años ha dejado al descubierto los pilares de un antiguo puente sobre el río Tíber que en su día usaron emperadores romanos, pero que cayó en desuso para el siglo III.

A medida que las aguas del Danubio se reducían en Bulgaria, investigadores se entusiasmaron al encontrar y recuperar una mandíbula, colmillos, un omóplato, costillas y otros fragmentos óseos pertenecientes a un mamut lanudo extinto, enterrado profundamente en la arena.

Expertos buscan formas de prepararse para un clima más extremo

Europa es el continente que se calienta más rápido en el mundo, con temperaturas que aumentan al doble del ritmo del promedio global desde la década de 1980, según el Servicio de Cambio Climático Copernicus de la Unión Europea.

Para finales de julio de 2026, la mitad de la Unión Europea y el Reino Unido estaba experimentando sequía, de acuerdo con el Observatorio Europeo de la Sequía de la Unión Europea, con el 9% del territorio en el nivel más severo de “alerta”.

Los científicos advierten que el cambio climático está agravando la frecuencia y la intensidad del calor y la aridez.

El experto serbio en hidrología Dejan Vladikovic sostuvo que la sequía actual es la combinación de la falta de nieve en invierno y una primavera muy seca.

“Lo que nos espera en el futuro... es que situaciones así serán más frecuentes”, afirmó Vladikovic. “Estamos entrando en periodos en los que esto, por desgracia, se convertirá en una nueva normalidad”.

Incluso las montañas están sufriendo. En los Alpes eslovenos, los refugios que dependen del agua de lluvia han restringido el uso de agua para alpinistas y excursionistas, incluso para duchas y baños.

El refugio Triglav, la cabaña para huéspedes a mayor altitud de Eslovenia, a 2.515 metros (8.251 pies) de elevación, está usando platos de papel este verano para ahorrar agua al lavar los utensilios.

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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.

Using a pair of hand tools, Shijin carefully inspected the sheet made from the papyrus plant, proceeding with the utmost care. After all, it most likely hadn’t been handled in a century — nor read for thousands of years.

The Papyrus Conservation Summer Seminar at the University of Michigan is the only one of its kind in the Americas, according to the university. And it's one of the few in the world designed to convey the best practices for conserving papyrus manuscripts, ancient texts written on rolls or sheets made from the papyrus plant.

“If you touch this papyrus, you can feel the history,” said Shijin, a native of China who was among nine scholars from across the globe, including Ireland, Italy and the U.S., who took the 10-day course.

Michigan’s Papyrology Collection covers texts and documents from 1000 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E. No institution on this side of the world has more of them, the Ann Arbor school said, giving the researchers access to a vast collection of ancient papyri. There are portions of the Homer epics, “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad,” writings by the philosopher Epicurus and the oldest-known copy of the Epistles of Paul.

“Carrying on this tradition is an incredible responsibility, but it also is incredibly fun and rewarding, because there’s nothing I love more than getting people together from all over the world, sharing ideas, learning from each other,” said Marieka Kaye, who manages library preservation services for physical collections at the University of Michigan Library.

Kaye said she tried to make “things comfortable and not scary, because a lot of people just feel terrified working on these ancient things.”

The seminar introduced the papyrologists and conservators to techniques in the treatment, storage and care of the ancient texts, as well as documentation practices. Papyrus and its ink can crumble, smear or break, so Kaye encouraged the students to carefully remove dirt, sand, salt and debris; use controlled moisture to soften folds and realign fibers; and dry the papyrus slowly under light weight to prevent curling.

The first seminar was held in 2012, and they have been held every two years since, except for the 2020 pandemic year. About 50 students total have taken part.

“If we don’t train the next generations of conservators, this is a craft that is going to be lost,” said Giuliano Sidro, curator of Michigan's Papyrology Collection.

Michigan has so many papyrus manuscripts on hand that its researchers haven’t gone through them all. Some of the items were acquired, while others were excavated, during university expeditions to the ancient site of Karanis, Egypt, from 1924-35. Francis Willey Kelsey, a Latin professor who died in 1927, was the driving force behind the establishment of the Papyrology Collection. He believed Michigan students studying the ancient world needed access not only to books, but to the tangible remains of antiquity. Today, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is a fixture on the Michigan campus. Its collection represents one of the finest compilations of daily-life objects from Greco-Roman Egypt located outside of Cairo.

“This is a place where you make discoveries, potentially every day, if you just go into the vault, pick out a box and open something up, and you start reading,” Sidro said.

Of course, to make sense of it, one needs to be able to decipher Arabic, ancient Greek or Latin, and even Egyptian, one of the earliest known written languages that is now extinct. A few of the seminar participants were able to read the papyri, including Arzak Mohamed, who reads Arabic, and Mauro Castiello, a papyrology doctoral student in Milan, who can translate ancient Greek and Latin.

Kaye said she always tries to include a student from Egypt among the seminar participants.

Mohamed, a postdoctoral fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, had heard about the papyrus seminar for years and always wanted to attend. The 42-year-old mother of three is from Fayoum, Egypt, not far from Karanis.

“Now, I can transfer this information from Michigan to Egypt and even in Australia,” she said. “I will be like the chain, connecting between the three countries.”

“By saving this information, we can transfer the knowledge to the next generation,” she added.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% and is on track for a fourth loss in the five days since setting its all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 430 points, or 0.8%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower.

The bond market remains the center of action after yields charged higher through the summer on worries about high inflation, gargantuan government debts and other factors. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made a move Wednesday that jolted financial markets to at least double the size of his department’s planned purchases of longer-term Treasurys from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4.

That helped push yields down after the 10-year Treasury’s yield had hit its highest level in more than a year and the 30-year yield got back to where it was in 2007, before the Great Recession sent yields toward zero worldwide. It’s a big deal because high yields slow the economy by raising interest payments for people, companies and the government, and they can undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

But analysts had cautioned the effect may be short lived, given how small the purchases are relative to the overall size of the Treasury market and how they don't fix the fundamental concerns of investors that had driven up yields. Plus, more signals arrived quickly to push worries higher.

The U.S. government’s debt topped $40 trillion on Wednesday, a staggering record that arrived just months after the national debt first blew past the $39 trillion mark in April, because Washington continues to spend far more money than it brings in.

And on Thursday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 2.5% to $93.90 as uncertainty continues about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY” late Wednesday but provided few details.

That helped push the 10-year Treasury yield up to 4.69% from 4.65% late Wednesday. It’s almost back to its 4.71% level from late Tuesday, before the Treasury Department made its announcement.

A couple encouraging reports on the U.S. economy also helped push up longer-term Treasury yields, which move with expectations for the economy and inflation in coming years. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, while another said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region appears to be much stronger than expected.

On Wall Street, Walmart was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 and fell 8.7% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on how an important underlying measure of revenue growth at its stores slowed again. Its forecast for profit in the current quarter also fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Given its massive size, Walmart offers a look at how shoppers are doing across the United States. A surprisingly weak update on sales at U.S. retailers overall last month had raised worries that shoppers may be succumbing to pressure from high inflation and a job market that may be looking less solid.

Advance Auto Parts tumbled 22.2% after the retailer reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter, even though its profit topped expectations. CEO Shane O’Kelly said that “tighter household budgets constrained spending more than we anticipated, especially during the last four weeks of the quarter.”

Spending by U.S. consumers is the main engine of the economy, and a pullback by them could exacerbate what's already a slowdown in growth for the economy.

A pullback could also mean a double-whammy for travel companies, which would see fewer bookings when they have to pay higher prices for fuel. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 4.2%, while United Airlines sank 2.6% and American Airlines lost 2.5%.

Helping to keep Wall Street’s losses in check was Deere, which reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It rose 4.1% as the company said order trends indicate the agriculture equipment business looks set to accelerate after this year.

Oil companies also rose with gains for crude prices. Exxon Mobil added 1.8%, and ConocoPhillips climbed 3%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes dipped in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi soared 5.9% for one of the world’s biggest moves after the two tech titans that dominate its market, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, jumped. Such swings have become more common for Seoul's market, which has borne the brunt of rising and falling worries that winning stocks in the artificial-intelligence boom may have shot too high.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

Moscow's forces have in recent months intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine's chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down the missiles.

Such large-scale Russian missile strikes have become a regular occurrence this summer. Just over two weeks ago, a Russian attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed 17 people, and nine were killed in the city two days before that. The United Nations said last week that Kyiv was also one of the hardest hit cities in Ukraine in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 injured.

At the same time, Ukraine has shifted the war onto Russian soil through long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused fuel shortages across the country. It has also unsettled the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, the country’s biggest online retailer.

Zelenskyy repeats his appeals for more air defense

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for countries to send more Patriot interceptors for defense, but international stockpiles are low amid the Iran war and Kyiv's more than four-year fight against Russia's all-out invasion.

Russia's overnight barrage also included cruise missiles and jet-powered drones that further strain air defenses, the Ukrainian air force said.

Explosions boomed across Kyiv in the dark, but the air force said hits were recorded at 28 locations across the country. Emergency services said 15 people were killed in the capital, with another death in the wider Kyiv region. About 40 people were wounded, Zelenskyy said, as air raid warnings lasted until after dawn.

More than 38,000 people, including over 2,000 children, sheltered in Kyiv’s subway stations overnight, the system's operator said.

“It was a massive attack,” Zelenskyy said on social media, adding that Russia “had been preparing (it) for a long time, combining different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, aiming to cause as much damage as possible to civilian infrastructure."

The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck a Kyiv industrial site manufacturing components for Flamingo cruise missiles. Sites involved in the production and storage of drones, an ammunition depot and a logistics center were also hit, it said.

Ukraine says it struck more Russian oil facilities

Russia and Ukraine have battered each other with drones and missiles as their armies struggle to gain the upper hand on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line, where huge numbers of drones are pinning down troops.

Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces struck an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s Tatarstan region, starting a fire, and the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Volna, in Russia’s Krasnodar region, where there was also a blaze. Ukraine has hit both facilities in recent months as part of its campaign to disrupt Russia’s vital oil industry.

Tatarstan leader Rustam Minnikhanov confirmed there had been a “massive attack” in the region, state news agency Tass reported, citing his press service. Many of the drones targeted Nizhnekamsk’s Zakamsk economic area, disrupting production at industrial sites and damaging residential buildings, Tass quoted him as saying.

The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 726 drones overnight over a number of Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas, in one of Ukraine's biggest aerial attacks of the war.

Ukraine's neighbors are on alert

Russia’s relentless onslaught has spooked other European countries, especially those bordering Ukraine, which fear spreading attacks from Moscow.

Amid the attack on Kyiv, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command activated its military aviation operations, ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance. Polish and other NATO military aircraft were deployed to monitor its airspace, Polish news agency PAP reported.

Romania’s Defense Ministry said that an unidentified drone crashed and burned in an uninhabited area near the Ukrainian border. Two Spanish F-18 jets, deployed on a policing mission in Romania, were scrambled after 2 a.m. local time to monitor a group of “air targets” near the border, the ministry said.

In addition, two Romanian F-16 fighter jets were deployed to destroy a naval drone seen near a major Black Sea gas project, Romania’s acting Defense Minister Radu Miruta said.

Moldova’s Defense Ministry also said its airspace was breached by at least one drone.

Russia “is increasingly testing the resolve of NATO and its partners, violating the sovereignty of neighboring states and deliberately expanding the risks posed by its war far beyond Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saw a broad threat to the European Union. “An escalating campaign of threats is underway, unsettling our citizens and seeking to divide our Union,” she said on X.

Explosions shatter windows and screams fill the air

Russia's overnight strikes hit 12 locations across Kyiv’s Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, damaging 30 apartment blocks, a school, a children’s hospital and a kindergarten, Zelenskyy said.

Larysa Bondaruk, 60, sat on the ground, holding her cat, Chanel, which had been rescued by firefighters. With tears in her eyes, she said her neighbor’s grandson had been trapped by the rubble and died. Her apartment was badly damaged.

“A rocket hit the roof. It was incredibly loud. Immediately, debris and doors were blown out. There were columns of smoke, columns of fire, screams, crying and despair,” she said. “Two people were killed in our building, but the rescuers responded quickly and professionally. I am grateful to them for that.”

In Solomianskyi district, the top two floors of a nine-story residential building were destroyed and fires broke out on other floors. People were also trapped in two residential buildings and a school shelter.

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AP reporters Vasilisa Stepanenko and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, contributed.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The decision marks a milestone in Evergrande's saga after it defaulted on more than $300 billion in liabilities when Chinese authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing in the real estate industry in 2020. That triggered a crunch among many developers and brought on a downturn in the property market that has weighed on the broader economy ever since.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court said Thursday it convicted 67-year-old Hui, who founded Evergrande, of engaging in large-scale financial fraud in inflating the group’s assets and concealing its liabilities.

In a statement, the court said Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, abused his position in orchestrating fraud and misappropriating company assets.

Evergrande group was fined 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) and Evergrande Real Estate Group was fined 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion), the court said.

“The amount involved is exceptionally large, the circumstances are particularly egregious, and extraordinarily heavy economic losses have been caused,” the statement said. “The harm to society is extremely serious. Therefore, severe punishment should be given in accordance with the law.”

Hui’s sons, Xu Tenghe and Xu Zhijian, were also sentenced alongside senior Evergrande executives and others linked to the group on charges including illegally taking public deposits, fundraising fraud and the illegal use of funds, China's official Xinhua News Agency said. A total of more than 50 individuals got prison terms of between 22 months and 18 years, it said without providing a breakdown of sentencing details.

A photo of Hui's courtroom appearance released by the Shenzhen court on Thursday showed an aged Hui, who used to be a high-profile figure but had long been out of public view, wearing a navy blue shirt standing between two uniformed officers behind a sign that read “defendant” in Chinese.

Hui pleaded guilty in April to various charges including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud and bribery after he was detained in China.

China Evergrande was founded in 1996 as China's housing boom was taking off. It defaulted on its debts in 2021 and was ordered to liquidate its assets. The broader downturn in China's massive property sector that ensued has pulled home prices down 20% or more since 2021.

Authorities in Hong Kong and mainland China earlier said their investigations found Evergrande had manipulated its financial data using tactics such as prematurely booking revenue from property sales before completion and delivery of the apartments to buyers. Revenues were overstated by roughly $80 billion over 2019 and 2020, they said.

Hui was fined 47 million yuan ($6.5 million) in 2024 and banned from China's securities markets for life by the China Securities Regulatory Commission over inflating company financial results, among other issues.

Once reported to be China’s richest man, Hui used to own the football club Guangzhou Evergrande. At one point, he and his companies were involved in investing in and building theme parks and electric vehicles.

His story was one of rags-to-riches. Born in 1958 into a rural family in central China's Henan province, he worked in the steel industry in the 1980s before establishing Evergrande, which then prospered during China's housing market boom. He was one of many businessmen who have also gained political influence by joining a major advisory organization, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

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Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu in Bangkok contributed to this report.

On the hillsides of Hautvillers, teams of grape pickers start work at 6:30 a.m. among rows of vines that were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015.

For Alexandre Gobillard, production director at the Gobillard & Fils Champagne house, beginning the harvest in mid-August was once almost unthinkable.

“It’s historic in Champagne,” he said. “I’ve been working at the estate for 30 years, and when I started, my father used to tell me: ‘On Aug. 15, go on vacation.’ Today, it’s Aug. 18 and we’re in full harvest. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

At 50, Gobillard represents the fourth generation to work the family vineyards. Gobillard & Fils grows 40 hectares (about 100 acres) of vines and produces about 1.5 million bottles a year.

A changing climate brings an earlier harvest

Champagne’s official harvest opened between Aug. 12 and Aug. 17 this year, depending on the area and grape variety — roughly a month earlier than what was once common in the region.

A late-March frost hit vines after mild temperatures triggered early budburst, reducing the potential crop. It was followed by four heat waves, which never happened before, Gobillard said.

Sun-scorched grapes turned partially brown, something Gobillard said he had rarely seen. He explained that losing roughly 10% of the grapes would mean a loss in volume rather than affect the quality of the wine.

Earlier harvests have become increasingly common in Champagne and other French wine regions as temperatures rise. In neighboring Italy, extreme heat has also prompted sparkling-wine producers to harvest sooner and pick grapes at night.

David Chatillon, president of the Union of Champagne Houses, acknowledged weather conditions this year will lead to a clear decrease in yields.

“But it’s not just because of the drought,” he said. “We lost 43% of the potential production to the spring frosts, and the drought has clearly made the problem of lower yields even worse.”

Chatillon said climate change has been a focus of the industry for the past 25 years, prompting investment in research and innovation to adapt to evolving conditions, including developing grape varieties that are more disease-resistant and ripen later.

Heat speeds grape ripening

Gobillard has seen the shift unfold across generations of his family.

“My grandfather’s generation harvested 100 days after flowering, my father’s 90 days, and today we’re down to 80,” he said. “We’re going to have to change our habits.”

This summer’s record temperatures compressed the ripening period even further. In June, temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Champagne.

“The vine needs water to live,” Gobillard said. “The water was drawn out of the grapes to keep the vine alive, and as a result we had a much higher concentration of sugar. That’s why it happened so much faster.”

As his daughter operated the wine press, Gobillard watched the year's first juice flow with a mix of excitement and anxiety.

He quickly took a sample to measure its sugar level — a key indicator of potential alcohol content and of whether the grapes have been picked at the right moment. “Champagne shouldn’t be too alcoholic. ... We’re looking for delicacy," he said.

An early harvest tests Champagne’s traditions

The early harvest also poses logistical challenges in a region where grapes are traditionally picked by hand, with some workers still on summer vacation and others facing transportation delays.

Gobillard hopes to complete the harvest at the estate in about nine days, a job requiring around 120 workers recruited mostly from across France and Poland.

“It really changes how we look at Champagne’s traditional methods,” said Geoffrey Bonnet-Gobillard, 30, commercial director of the family Champagne house. “Hand harvesting comes with a lot of constraints — housing people, feeding them, recruiting them. It’s very difficult, especially with early harvests in August.”

Those pressures could eventually force producers to reconsider some long-established practices as agricultural machinery becomes more sophisticated, he said.

The house sells most of its Champagne in European markets, including Britain, Belgium, Italy and Spain, as well as in West Africa, with smaller volumes going to the United States and Asia, Bonnet-Gobillard said.

High stakes for a global industry

According to Comité Champagne’s 2026 industry report, 266.1 million bottles of Champagne were shipped in France and abroad last year, generating 5.7 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in sales. Exports accounted for 56.5% of shipments. Champagne represented about 8% of global sparkling wine consumption by volume but 31% by value.

The sector supports around 30,000 direct jobs and requires roughly 100,000 seasonal workers for the harvest, according to Comité Champagne.

Despite this year’s difficult conditions, Gobillard said the grapes he inspected were encouraging.

“I’m very happy with what I’m seeing,” he said. “We were worried that the drought would leave us with very light bunches, but in these plots we’re really pleased. The quantity should be sufficient and the quality will be there.”

But there is little time to spare. “It’s time to cut them. We’re going to have to move quickly,” he said.

Hundreds of emails exchanged between U.S. immigration officials, which were obtained by the National Iranian American Council and made public Tuesday, offer the most transparent play by play yet of how the two countries worked together to arrange for more than 100 Iranians to be flown back to Iran on three separate immigration flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026.

The emails show that Iranian officials had some influence over which Iranian immigrants in the U.S. were sent back to their home country, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials apparently heeded some last-minute changes to deportation lists at the request of Iran.

“Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases," one unnamed ICE official wrote in late August, a month before the first deportation flight in September. Just over a week later, someone with the same job title moved to make another, unspecified change to the deportation list after they said they met with the “Director at the Iranian Embassy.”

“Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process,” the official wrote.

In a Sept. 26 email, just three days before the deportation flight left U.S. soil, an ICE official said in an email that the Iranian Embassy was still making requests for three additional Iranians on the flight. It's not clear who ended up on the flight, which ended up being much smaller than initially planned. Iranian officials were still making requests the day the flight departed, although one official wrote that those requests were denied.

Coordination of the flights remained a high priority even as ICE officials acknowledged internally that Iranians were fleeing Iran amid the deadly 12-day war with the U.S. and Israel in June 2025, emails show. The flights departed just months after the U.S. and Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran.

The new emails highlight a clear departure from a decades-long practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution forced a large number of Iranians to flee.

The deportation of Iranians to a country whose government has a pattern of violent persecution against women, religious minorities and political dissidents has drawn significant criticism from human rights activists.

The Department of Homeland Security did not offer comment in response to an emailed request sent Tuesday afternoon.

Some deportees were handpicked by Iranian officials, emails show

Iranian officials acknowledged in September 2025 that as many as 400 Iranians could be returned under an agreement with the Trump administration. They said most of the Iranians had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.

It is not clear from the emails how frequently U.S. immigration officials had direct contact with the Iranian government. Sometimes messages were conveyed through Qatari officials, who helped charter the deportation flights through Doha, but other times officials reference regular meetings with the “Iranian delegation," the “Director at the Iranian Embassy” and other unnamed Iranian officials.

It is not clear whether the people Iran put on the list had volunteered to repatriate or if they were forced. Previous reporting from The New York Times revealed that asylum-seekers were among those deported to Iran, while others said they were deported against their will.

At least one person was deported who wasn't supposed to be, emails showed.

“An Iranian not included on the final manifest we sent to the Qatari MOI was boarded on the flight,” an unnamed U.S. official wrote.

In response, another unnamed U.S. official wrote, “I have no idea how the case/person got through on the plane.”

US prioritized deportation efforts during war

Emails suggest that pressure to carry out the Iranian deportations came from the highest levels of the Trump administration, even when U.S. and Israel were exchanging strikes with Iran in a 12-day conflict between June 13 and June 24, 2025.

Just days after Trump's June 16 warning on social media that “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” the former acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, called the repatriation of Iranian immigrants a “priority" in an email sent to the agency’s head of removal operations Marcos Charles and a number of unnamed staff.

Shortly after Lyon's email, Charles forwarded the message to a group of officials whose names are redacted. An unnamed ICE official responded, warning that “removal will prove difficult” amid the ongoing conflict because Iran wasn't issuing the travel documents for Iranians eligible for deportation. On top of that, the Iranian airspace was closed to all flights during the bombings and Iranians were fleeing the country.

Charles was unfazed, telling staff in a subsequent email to make a plan to deport 58 Iranians with final removal orders in ICE custody at the time.

“We need a plan forward ASAP,” Charles wrote. Another official, who name was redacted, urged colleagues to “identify a solution for this White House priority.”

Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, said the emails undermine Trump’s assertions that the U.S. is at war with Iran to save ordinary Iranians from a repressive regime.

“It demonstrates that the top priority here was to kick out as many people as possible by whatever means necessary,” Abdi said.

Iranian officials had access to immigration detainees

On several occasions, the emails show ICE officials arranging for Iranian officials to meet for unspecified reasons with people detained in the U.S., echoing testimony from Iranian asylum-seekers in an unrelated lawsuit filed by an unaffiliated Iranian interest group in July.

Eleven Iranians in immigration detention said they were forced to meet with Iranian government officials while in ICE detention. Those Iranian authorities knew intimate details about their asylum claims, according to the sworn declarations filed in a Washington, D.C., court in July.

The lawsuit alleges that U.S. immigration agencies have been illegally sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum-seekers with the Iranian government.

The U.S. government is allowed to work with government officials of foreign countries to coordinate deportation logistics. However, federal regulations passed in the late 1990s prohibit the government from sharing information that could reveal that the person getting deported applied for asylum.

DHS vehemently disputed the lawsuit's allegations.

“These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are FALSE,” DHS said in a statement in July.

In a legal victory for Anthony, the judge who presided over his trial was removed from the case Wednesday. Judge Michael Chitty was then assigned to consider the motion from Anthony's attorneys asking for a retrial in killing of Austin Metcalf.

Anthony, now 19, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in the case. He attended Wednesday's hearing wearing a green prison jumpsuit. His parents and Metcalf's also attending the hearing.

Anthony's attorneys had asked for state District Judge John Roach to be removed in part because of a TV interview in which Roach said jurors “got it right” when they delivered a guilty verdict.

In seeking a new trial, Anthony’s attorneys have argued that the June proceedings were marred by strict courtroom rules and improper jury instructions. They have also said Anthony’s decision to not testify came after a dispute with prosecutors over an agreement to focus the trial on the events leading up to the stabbing.

Jurors in the trial had rejected Anthony’s claims he acted in self-defense during a confrontation with Metcalf in the stadium bleachers last year. Students who took the stand described a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team.

The case attracted national attention in part because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race.

During the recusal hearing Wednesday, Anthony's legal team focused on comments Roach made to a Dallas TV station after the trial had ended. In the interview, which was played as the hearing began, Roach was asked if the jury got “it right.”

“Yeah, they did,” Roach said, adding: “Whatever they say, they got it right.”

During the interview, Roach also defended his courtroom rules and spoke about the onslaught of online postings about the case.

As national attention on the killing intensified last year, the families of both Metcalf and Anthony said they had been targets of harassment.

Several schools were competing at the track event when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.

Prosecutors said Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses testified that Anthony was the aggressor.

Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.

Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.

CK Hutchison said in the statement that it had begun new arbitration proceedings against Panama and alleged that the Central American country had breached an investment protection treaty through “sovereign acts that targeted a decades-old ports concession” in a “state attack campaign” on the company’s assets in the Central American country.

Panama’s government in February seized the Balboa and Cristobal ports, located on each end of the Panama Canal, after its Supreme Court that a concession held by CK Hutchison’s subsidiary to run the two ports was unconstitutional.

The two ports at each end of the Panama Canal became part of U.S.-China tensions since Donald Trump’s return to the White House last year after he alleged China of “running” the canal.

The Panama Canal is managed and owned by Panama. But CK Hutchison’s subsidiary Panama Ports Company had run the two ports on the canal from 1997 and had renewed its concession for 25 years in 2021.

Beijing and Hong Kong had hit back at Panama over its takeover of the ports.

CK Hutchison, controlled by the family of Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, last year announced an initial $23 billion deal to sell its global ports business, including the two Panama ports, to a consortium involving U.S. investment firm BlackRock. But the deal had made little progress under geopolitical tensions and legal challenges among China, the U.S. and Panama.

In March, Panama Ports Company had separately sought at least $2 billion in compensation from Panama over its takeover of the ports which it said was unlawful under international arbitration proceedings. CK Hutchison said the actions were making progress.

CK Hutchison added that Thursday's new proceedings were focused on its treaty rights, which were distinct from Panama Ports Company’s contract rights in the earlier arbitration proceedings.

In April, the subsidiary also launched arbitration proceedings against Danish shipping and logistics group Maersk after it took over some of its port operations in Panama. Maersk said at the time that it did not believe it was liable for the claims.

“The world needs more heroes,” he told the roundtable. “And it’s not about creating more heroes because they already live among us. It’s about being able to really value their expertise, their experiences.”

The Duke of Sussex, who served 10 years in the British Army, hinted that he’d soon launch a “commercial” solution that “really values those who served rather than expect them to volunteer.”

He held the discussion with veterans, defense officials, military spouses and nonprofit leaders at a hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C. The conversation — which was organized by The Independence Fund, a nonprofit that helps critically wounded service members — lasted more than 80 minutes.

Veterans’ services and mental health have become cornerstones of Harry and his wife Meghan’s philanthropy through their Archewell Foundation. The Duke of Sussex founded the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style international competition for wounded service members, in 2014. His advocacy also includes visits with wounded military personnel, like last year’s stop at a Ukrainian clinic that rehabilitates victims of war.

Harry’s British military service included two tours in Afghanistan. He has credited his experience witnessing fellow soldiers’ battlefield injuries with inspiring him to help injured veterans lead healthy lives. In a 2023 Netflix series, he spoke openly about lacking the necessary emotional support upon his return from combat.

Harry told the roundtable that it has been refreshing to hear the latest generation of veterans express an interest in “purpose" and “service after service” —- no matter their branch or country of service. He extolled their communication skills, moral leadership and ability to work in high stress environments.

But, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, that those skills are “not being transitioned over within the civilian world."

In between jokes about each other’s hair and their alma maters, wounded veterans emphasized the importance of exercise in their rehabilitation. Garrett J. Carnes, a retired marine corporal who lost both legs, said inactivity is difficult when they’ve spent so long priding themselves on their physical fitness. “I give all glory to Jesus Christ,” he said, “but man I am so thankful that he invented Jiu-Jitsu.”

Others highlighted the need to improve the quality of veterans’ health centers in smaller towns and bolster mental health services at overworked Veterans Affairs offices.

Jason Wheeler, a U.S. Navy and Army veteran, said it's “not right” that he was unable to get his military benefits to cover a recent surgery. Sitting in a wheelchair, he teared up as he recalled the “humiliating” time he had to crawl off a commercial airplane with his service dog.

He was told he would never walk again, he said, but has since walked over 1,000 feet.

“I will not stop the fight. I will not quit,” he said. “We don’t have it in us.”

Harry’s earlier stops Wednesday included Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He did not mention reports of his decision to return to the United Kingdom for an extended stay with Meghan and their children. He declined to comment when asked to discuss the move.

Sarah Verardo, the CEO of The Independence Fund, noted Harry’s impact on the patients at Walter Reed. A few veterans who told Harry they were too injured to participate in his Invictus Games left their interactions standing “taller and stronger” after he told them there’s “no such thing,” according to Verardo.

Jane Horton, a senior defense adviser in the Trump administration and Gold Star wife, appreciated that Harry is using his platform to unite veterans.

“To see someone that has turned pain into purpose in such a beautiful way such as Prince Harry — not only turn pain into purpose, but pain into service — resonated with the whole community and means a lot to us all,” she told AP.

In an interview with AP, Harry spoke more broadly about the need to elevate “moral leadership.” He expressed concern that a “very, very small group of people are making decisions that are impacting the entire world” around politics and technology.

“What we need,” he said, “is the younger generation coming into leadership who perhaps see the world slightly differently. And I think a little less testosterone might do as well.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Is it time for something similar around the foul poles?

The Baltimore Orioles certainly felt aggrieved Wednesday night against the New York Yankees after Pete Alonso's deep fly to left field in the seventh inning was ruled foul — and the call was upheld on a review.

The play occurred with the game tied at 3. New York then scored twice in top of the eighth and went on to win 5-3.

“I think a simple fix is like football, you have the pylon camera with the plane, where it shoots right across the goal line,” Alonso said. “And I feel like, for us, we could easily have a laser or a camera that shoots straight up.”

Manager Craig Albernaz shared Alonso's frustration.

“On the dugout iPads there’s ball-tracking data with the field that the players see, so it’s really tough to have that (call) come back as ‘stands’ and have that visual in the dugout as well. It’s 2026,” Albernaz said. “There are teams using AI on the iPads and other sports use ball-tracking data for challengeable calls. Don’t understand why we don’t do it.”

At least one replay seemed to show the ball on the fair side of the pole, but it wasn’t clear what angle that shot was from.

“What I was told is in order to overturn a call, you need to have two camera angles to confirm it,” Alonso said. “But the best view, the only view that shows the ball fair or foul is the one down the line, but no other camera angle is available. So video room rules it foul, umpire obviously called it foul initially. It is what it is.”

It might have been easier for the umpire — and the replay room — to make the call if Alonso's hit hadn't been so high. It appeared to tower above the foul pole at one point.

“That we don’t have the technology in place to actually say, ‘Hey, this was fair or foul,’ is literally crazy in 2026. It’s crazy,” said Chris Bassitt, Baltimore's starting pitcher Wednesday.

Bassitt then blamed financial considerations for why such technology isn't used.

“Because it would cost money,” he said. “That’s it. I mean, that’s literally it.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

A person familiar with the trade said Wednesday night that Watson, a restricted free agent who spent his first four NBA seasons with the Nuggets, will sign a four-year contract with the Cavaliers worth $88 million that includes a player option and trade kicker.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been announced.

Cleveland will send to Denver an unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a 2032 second-round selection from the Sacramento Kings that it got after making a trade in June’s NBA draft. The Nuggets will also acquire Julian Reese from Washington.

The Cavaliers are getting a 2027 second-round pick from the Clippers, but that will be sent to the Wizards.

The 23-year-old Watson started a career-high 40 games last season and averaged career bests in points (14.6), rebounds (4.9) and assists (2.1). He gives the Cavaliers the wing player they were looking for after LeBron James signed with Philadelphia instead of returning to Cleveland for a third stint.

Besides Watson, the Cavaliers were also looking at free agents DeMar DeRozan and Jonathan Kuminga.

Strus and Dean Wade were the primary starters at small forward last season. Wade signed with Philadelphia during free agency.

Strus missed the first 67 games last season due to a broken left foot, but had some big baskets and steals during the playoffs as Cleveland reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2018. The Cavaliers were swept in that series by the New York Knicks.

Cleveland laid the groundwork for a move last week when it traded Dennis Schroder to Charlotte for Tre Mann to gain salary cap space. Mann's time in Cleveland won't last long; he's headed to Washington for Cam Whitmore.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

La figura legal, vigente por 30 días, le permitirá establecer impuestos temporales sin el aval del Congreso, con la intención de recaudar fondos para una costosa etapa de atención y reconstrucción. De la Espriella ha calculado las pérdidas por el sismo en aproximadamente 9,5 millones de dólares.

El mandatario, que se encuentra en sus primeros días en el cargo, explicó a la prensa desde Bogotá que el mecanismo excepcional es “fundamental”, ya que el país “enfrenta hoy una realidad fiscal extraordinariamente difícil, la más compleja de toda nuestra vida republicana”, por lo que no puede atender los efectos del terremoto con el presupuesto disponible.

El político conservador ha reprochado a su antecesor Gustavo Petro, opositor suyo, de dejarle vacías las arcas del Estado y un elevado déficit fiscal, por lo que prometió que su gobierno será austero y vigilará la transparencia de las obras de reconstrucción.

“La deuda bruta supera el 60% del producto interno bruto y el déficit fiscal continúa ejerciendo una enorme presión sobre las finanzas de la nación. Y en medio de esa realidad apocalíptica sobreviene una tragedia que exige recursos inmediatos”, recalcó De la Espriella.

En el terremoto —el de mayor magnitud en Colombia en lo que va del siglo— murieron al menos 314 personas, más de 4.400 resultaron heridas y 262 continúan desaparecidas, detalló De la Espriella en el balance de víctimas el miércoles.

“Los mayores esfuerzos del gobierno están direccionados a rescatar, ojalá Dios quiera, a estas 262 personas con vida”, manifestó el mandatario, pese a que han pasado 10 días desde el terremoto.

Los daños en infraestructura incluyen más de 30.600 viviendas destruidas y otras 136.900 averiadas, así como cientos de colegios, centros médicos y vías afectadas.

El decreto de emergencia económica fue firmado por el presidente y todos sus ministros, y posteriormente será revisado por la Corte Constitucional. En adelante, De la Espriella podrá expedir otros decretos con medidas específicas para atender la emergencia.

Críticas de la oposición

Petro reapareció el miércoles en la escena política para ejercer el derecho a réplica de la oposición a lo dicho el lunes por De la Espriella en una alocución, y para cuestionar el manejo gubernamental de la emergencia.

“Las 100 primeras horas son fundamentales en una emergencia para preservar la vida. La incapacidad de empalme del gobierno entrante que generó Abelardo convirtió esas horas en un desastre”, expresó Petro, en referencia a una supuesta falta de coordinación en el interior del gobierno por falta de información.

Tras ganar las elecciones, De la Espriella suspendió el “empalme” —como se conoce a la transición de gobierno en la que el gobierno saliente traspasa información al entrante— luego de que Petro desconociera su victoria en las urnas.

Petro también acusó a De la Espriella de “parcializar ayuda” por supuestas preferencias ideológicas, lo que habría cobrado “centenares de vidas”. Y reprochó que se aceptara a los rescatistas de Israel, por considerar que su presencia es “inteligencia militar” en Colombia, pero “sin experiencia en sacar sobrevivientes de edificios derruidos”.

El excandidato presidencial Iván Cepeda, que finalizó segundo en los recientes comicios, pidió que la ayuda para los damnificados llegue “sin discriminación” y que la declaratoria de emergencia económica no signifique un deterioro de “los derechos de las poblaciones más vulnerables”.

Stung from a recent bleaching event, another rescue team took to the water to save endangered nurseries.

The Coral Restoration Foundation, the world’s largest coral restoration organization, is trying to save its work from dangerous ocean heat.

“We have already asked permission from the regulators to move about 3,500 corals from our different nurseries to Elbow nurseries, seeking better conditions there. That’s happening. We’re just waiting for the green light to do it,” said Phanor Montoya, restoration program manager for the Coral Restoration Foundation.

A rescue operation ready for the call.

And this week, they got it.

Montoya said the goal was to move corals farther north, where conditions could be more suitable.

“What we needed to do today was move corals from our nurseries in the south, which is Tavernier, and move it further north, where we expect the temperatures and the conditions to be more suitable for corals during this summer,” Montoya said.

A summer like no other, fueled by man-made climate change, with the world’s oceans reaching their hottest ever recorded temperatures in July, beating the record set in 2023 — a year that saw devastating bleaching for corals in the Keys.

Those lessons spurred the Coral Restoration Foundation to act.

“The first thing that we learned from 2023 is that redundancy is key. And that’s precisely what we did today. Build a redundant gene bank,” Montoya said.

A couple dozen divers from the rescue team quickly moved 1,000 corals from different species — 130 genotypes, with five copies of each — from their Tavernier nursery north to near Elbow Reef.

“Elbow Reef is known for high water flow and is known for having some of the last elkhorn corals that survived the 2023 bleaching event. So we want to take advantage of whatever environmental conditions that location has that has provided a better outcome for the corals,” Montoya said.

The Coral Restoration Foundation isn’t alone conducting these rescue operations.

Last month, the University of Miami did the same, moving corals from its ocean nurseries to its Key Biscayne hatchery on shore.

“They’re so important and they’re so critically endangered, that we decided that the moment temperatures got above a threshold, a bleaching high temperature threshold, we would act,” said Diego Lirman, an associate professor of marine biology at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School.

But Montoya and his team are keeping their corals in the ocean — just a little farther north — limiting the stress from the relocation.

It’s also a chance to observe how these corals do in the Elbow nursery and compare how they do with their genetic equals in Tavernier.

“That’s the opportunity that this new elbow nursery brings to us to better understand how environmental conditions play in coral health condition,” Montoya said.

For now, the ocean temperatures in the Keys have held steady, slightly below the bleaching threshold in the Coral Restoration Foundation’s nurseries.

“It’s a proactive measure. It wasn’t actually triggered because we saw something happening on a reef or in our nursery. We just wanted to do it before, you know, the storm comes,” Montoya said.

“We learn from the past, that not all eggs should be in the same basket,” Montoya said.

Montoya added that the relocated corals will stay in the Elbow nursery and not be moved back later, ensuring genetic redundancy.

For now, they have only moved corals from their Tavernier nursery while they monitor the ocean temperatures.

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We’ve seen it play out in New York, the Midwest, and now in one of the biggest races in Florida.

In a major upset victory in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary, state lawmaker Angie Nixon took home a convincing win against the presumed favorite, retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman.

“The hardworking, everyday people of Florida sent a shock wave to Washington,” Nixon said. “We went up against the political establishment, against millions of dollars, out of sight spending. We were outspent 15-to-1 and we won!”

Nixon is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and is the latest addition to a growing tide of more left-leaning candidates winning Democratic across the country.

The newcomer progressives have notched other wins in house and senate primaries in New York, Colorado and Michigan.

Nixon’s Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, is wasting no time jumping on the attack, warning the Democratic-socialist ideology is a threat to the country.

“Angie Nixon, who will be my opponent in November, and her comrades want to destroy this country and everything that it is built on,” said Moody.

The DSA platform, which included recent celebrations of former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, is also facing resistance from establishment-backed Democrats.

South Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who herself is up for re-election, says she disagrees with Nixon on multiple issues, but admits that her primary win is impressive and says Democrats need to rally around tackling high prices to win back control of congress.

“I reject the DSA, I reject the fringe left socialism they are promoting,” said Wasserman Schultz. “Members of congress I the house and senate that fight to make their lives more affordable, housing, groceries, gas, utilities, healthcare.”

Lo hemos visto desarrollarse en Nueva York, el Medio Oeste y ahora en una de las contiendas más importantes de Florida.

En una importante victoria sorpresiva en las primarias demócratas para el Senado de Florida, la legisladora estatal Angie Nixon obtuvo un triunfo contundente frente a la favorita, la teniente coronel retirada Alex Vindman.

“Los trabajadores y la gente común de Florida enviaron una onda de choque a Washington”, dijo Nixon. “Nos enfrentamos al establecimiento político, a millones de dólares y a gastos fuera de la vista. Gastaron 15 a 1 más que nosotros y ganamos”.

Nixon es miembro de Socialistas Democráticos de Estados Unidos y es la incorporación más reciente a una creciente ola de candidatos de tendencia más izquierdista que están ganando primarias demócratas en todo el país.

Los nuevos progresistas han conseguido otras victorias en primarias para la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado en Nueva York, Colorado y Michigan.

La oponente republicana de Nixon, la senadora federal Ashley Moody, no pierde tiempo para lanzar ataques, advirtiendo que la ideología demócrata socialista es una amenaza para el país.

“Angie Nixon, quien será mi oponente en noviembre, y sus camaradas quieren destruir este país y todo aquello sobre lo que está construido”, dijo Moody.

La plataforma de DSA, que incluyó recientes celebraciones del ex dictador cubano Fidel Castro, también enfrenta resistencia de los demócratas respaldados por el establecimiento.

La congresista demócrata del sur de Florida Debbie Wasserman Schultz, quien también busca la reelección, dice que discrepa con Nixon en múltiples temas, pero admite que su victoria en las primarias es impresionante y afirma que los demócratas necesitan unirse en torno a la lucha contra los altos precios para recuperar el control del Congreso.

“Rechazo a DSA, rechazo el socialismo de extrema izquierda que están promoviendo”, dijo Wasserman Schultz. “Miembros del Congreso en la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado que luchan para hacer que sus vidas sean más asequibles, vivienda, alimentos, gasolina, servicios públicos, atención médica”.

Testigos relataron que un sospechoso apuñaló a un adolescente cerca de la biblioteca de North Miami, ubicada en el 835 de NE 132nd St., frente a la escuela secundaria North Miami Senior High School.

Según los testigos, dos adolescentes se estaban peleando en el estacionamiento cuando uno de ellos sacó un cuchillo y apuñaló al otro en el brazo.

Los testigos afirmaron que los dos adolescentes se conocían.

Las autoridades informaron que el joven fue trasladado “a un hospital local con una lesión que no pone en peligro su vida”.

La policía acordonó el estacionamiento de la biblioteca mientras realizaba la investigación.

La policía de North Miami indicó que la investigación seguía “en curso” el miércoles por la noche.

A pesar de la investigación, el adolescente responsable del apuñalamiento aún no ha sido capturado.

It’s been over 30 years since the state last elected a Democrat governor in 1994.

Current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won reelection by about 20% in 2022, but he’s term-limited.

One of the Democrats running is former Republican Congressman David Jolly, who left the party and became a prominent critic of President Donald Trump.

“Look, this is a governorship,” said Jolly. “I don’t have to litigate the President of the United States.”

Jolly said he is focusing on kitchen table issues.

“This is about housing, healthcare, and education,” he said. “We need more workforce and affordable housing. We have to solve our insurance prices. I think we can cut insurance by 50 to 60%.”

Jolly says he worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in Congress and added that his approach can appeal to all kinds of voters.

“I’m in a very post-ideological space in my life,” he said. “I believe in the Democratic values, but this is bigger than one party.”

A top challenger to Jolly is State Rep. Dotie Joseph of North Miami.

“I’m somebody who’s not afraid to work across the aisle, but also not afraid to fight,” said Joseph. “There are times when we need to stand up and make sure our rights are protected.”

A former government and civil rights attorney, Joseph has served in the state house since 2018.

“I want to focus on our needs right here in the state of Florida,” she said. “And for me, that focuses on affordability.”

Joseph said she wants to raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour.

In the Florida House of Representatives, she has proposed guaranteeing universal healthcare for all by creating a statewide publicly funded system.

“My message is just that I’m here for the people,” she said. “And I think for too long, we have a government that has only worked for its select few.”

There are four other candidates who are also running in the Democratic primary. They are Evelyn Castillo-Bach, Thomas Fernandez, Dayna Foster and Stephann Norman.

Según indicó la fiscalía en un comunicado, el detenido identificado solamente como Fausto “N” habría acompañado a un político local, Héctor Cuén, a la cita en la que fue secuestado Zambada en la capital de Sinaloa y fue testigo de los hechos.

Cuén fue asesinado ese mismo día, según Zambada, en el lugar donde a él le secuestraron para llevarle a Estados Unidos, aunque las autoridades de Sinaloa dijeron que el homicidio ocurrió en otro lugar.

La fiscalía acusa al detenido de su probable intervención en el encubrimiento del homicidio de Cuén y de falsedad en las declaraciones ante la justicia, ya que según indicó “incurrió en una serie de contradicciones en sus declaraciones y habría omitido proporcionar información verídica sobre lo sucedido, con la finalidad de desvirtuar la realidad y engañar a la autoridad, obstaculizando así el esclarecimiento de los hechos”.

Zambada dijo en una carta que fue engañado por Joaquín Guzmán López, un hijo de su ex socio Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, para acudir a una reunión en la que supuestamente iba a estar un político local y el entonces gobernador de Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, que dejó el cargo después de que Estados Unidos le acusara de ayudar al Cártel de Sinaloa.

La supuesta trampa contra Zambada acabó con el capo secuestrado por Guzmán López en un operativo de película, el político local asesinado, la fiscalía federal acusando a funcionarios estatales de encubrir ese crimen y con una crisis abierta entre México y Estados Unidos por una posible intervención estadounidense en la acción —aunque Washington siempre la negó— que culminó con la acusación de Washington contra diez funcionarios o exfuncionarios de Sinaloa por vínculos con el narcotráfico.

Detenidos nueve miembros del Cártel de Jalisco en Michoacán

En una acción totalmente diferente, autoridades mexicanas informaron también el miércoles de la detención de nueve presuntos miembros del Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación en el estado occidental de Michoacán, entre ellos el que consideran responsable de atacar a elementos de la Guardia Nacional en la ola de violencia que siguió a la muerte del líder de la organización criminal, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho”, el pasado febrero.

Michoacán es una región donde operan cuatro cárteles designados como terroristas por el gobierno de Donald Trump, entre ellos del de Jalisco. El gobierno mexicano aumentó el despliegue de fuerzas de seguridad a finales del año pasado después de dos sonados asesinatos y más recientemente cuando Estados Unidos paralizó sus operaciones en la región por amenazas a sus funcionarios que inspeccionaban la exportación de aguacates.

Según explicó la Secretaría de Defensa en un comunicado, los arrestos tuvieron lugar en los municipios de Tanhuato y Ecuandureo.

Posterior a las detenciones se registraron bloqueos en carreteras y la quema de algún vehículo pero, según las autoridades, todas las vías de comunicación quedaron pronto liberadas.

El detenido de mayor rango fue identificado como Heraclio “N”, alias “Tío Lako”. Le atribuyen parte de la violencia desencadenada tras la muerte de “El Mencho”, que dejó más de 70 muertos, entre ellos 25 guardias nacionales.

La iniciativa que se aplicó durante dos décadas a episodios de violencia doméstica, al igual que en muchas otras naciones, podrá activarse a partir de ahora a incidentes en espacios públicos. El máximo tribunal brasileño resolvió de igual forma que los agresores deberán ir a juicio, incluso si no tienen un vínculo familiar o sentimental con la víctima.

Los 10 integrantes del tribunal votaron a favor de extender la aplicación de la Ley Maria da Penha a situaciones como persecución, amenazas y acoso fuera del hogar.

Durante el primer semestre del año se concedieron casi 340.000 medidas de protección urgente para mujeres en virtud de los mecanismos de la Ley Maria da Penha, de acuerdo con cifras del gobierno brasileño, un incremento del 170% en comparación con el mismo periodo de 2020.

La jueza Carmen Lúcia, la única mujer en el tribunal el miércoles, manifestó que la violencia contra las mujeres ha ido en aumento en el país a pesar de la aplicación de la Ley Maria da Penha, de 2006.

Añadió que la ley necesitaba actualizarse debido a que la violencia contra las mujeres en el país también es una cuestión de poder y porque muchos de los feminicidios ocurren fuera del hogar de la mujer y en situaciones que se denuncian a la policía, pero que fueron ignoradas.

“En la vida real, los jueces rechazan (las acusaciones contra los hombres) sin justificación, dicen que no es urgente, lo dejan para el próximo lunes. Mientras tanto, una de nosotras muere”, declaró la magistrada. "Con este fallo, este Supremo Tribunal Federal demuestra que no es ciego ni sordo a todo esto que ocurre contra todas nosotras, las mujeres”.

___

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

Leer en español

Salazar, 64, the incumbent, won the Republican primary on Tuesday with 81% of the votes. V. Michael Arias, a Coral Gables-based attorney, lost with 19% of the votes.

According to the U.S. Federal Election Commission’s reports on campaign contributions, Salazar’s total receipts were more than $1.99 million, her total disbursements were more than $1.15 million, and her cash on hand was over $2.25 million.

Rodriguez, 69, won the Democratic primary with 54% of the votes. Robin Peguero, a former federal prosecutor, lost with 46% of the votes.

According to FEC reports on campaign contributions, Rodriguez’s total receipts were more than $661,170, his total disbursements were more than $336,000, and his cash on hand was more than $325,000.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez was campaigning in Westchester.

“I have to shine a spotlight on Maria Elvira Salazar. I know she, like me, worked in a television studio,” Rodriguez said. “I want to get those studio lights and focus them on her record.”

Rodriguez said his journalistic career and reputation are very different than that of Salazar’s.

“There’s one big difference, that is that I’m an honest broker of the truth,” Rodriguez said.

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

“We have an economic crisis in this community, and we need somebody in Congress who is focused on the needs, the cost-of-living needs this community is facing,” Rodriguez said.

The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5th. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Oct. 22nd. Early voting is from Oct. 24th to 31st. The midterm election is on Nov. 3rd.

Republican primary’s winner delivers speech

Democratic primary’s winner delivers speech

ELECTION RESULTS

La presidenta del partido, Nikki Fried, citó el éxito en las elecciones de juntas escolares, incluso en el condado de Sarasota, de fuerte tendencia republicana, donde candidatos respaldados por demócratas lograron cambiar el control de la junta.

“La gente, nuevamente, está cansada de las guerras culturales en nuestras juntas escolares”, dijo Fried.

Pero también reconocen el debate dentro del partido tras la victoria en las primarias de una socialista demócrata: la representante estatal Angie Nixon, demócrata por Jacksonville, es ahora la candidata del partido al Senado de Estados Unidos.

Ese debate queda al descubierto en Miami-Dade, donde la presidenta del Partido Demócrata, Laura Kelley, admite que “el socialismo no funciona”.

“No voy a ser una apologista de los socialistas demócratas. No hay lugar en nuestro partido para personas que apoyen, alaben a Fidel Castro, Nicolás Maduro y ciertamente no a Hamas”, dijo Kelley. “Y por eso creo que los Socialistas Demócratas de América, recuerden, no son el Partido Demócrata. Son una organización. Ni siquiera son un partido político. Son un grupo de personas que están verdaderamente, verdaderamente equivocadas”.

Con todo esto en mente, Local 10 News le preguntó a Fried qué pensaba sobre la elección de los votantes demócratas.

“Bueno, primero que nada, ya sabes, yo soy capitalista; empecemos por ahí”, dijo Fried.

Cuando le preguntaron si la nominación de Nixon hace “imposible” que los demócratas ganen el escaño del Senado ocupado por la republicana Ashley Moody, Fried señaló los esfuerzos de organización que han permitido ganar escaños ocupados por republicanos.

“En los últimos dos años, comenzamos lo que se llama el Proyecto Punchland, que es una organización durante todo el año y que, hasta ayer, había logrado más de 1.7, 1.8 millones de contactos con votantes, desde llamadas telefónicas hasta visitas puerta a puerta, y haciendo que los candidatos hablen con otros candidatos y con los votantes en todo el estado de Florida”, dijo. “Y hemos podido ganar 37 escaños gracias a eso”.

Por otro lado, los votantes demócratas también nominaron a un ex republicano como candidato del partido a gobernador, el ex representante de Estados Unidos David Jolly.

“Rechazo a la DSA. Rechazo a los socialistas. Soy capitalista”, dijo Jolly.

Kelley dijo: “A medida que avancemos hacia las elecciones, creo que veremos una comprensión fundamental de cuál es la diferencia entre un demócrata y un socialista demócrata. Y no son lo mismo”.

Mientras surgen voces diferentes dentro del partido tras las primarias del martes, Fried dijo que todos coinciden en una preocupación central: “Nuestro estado es completamente inasequible”.

Kelley coincidió.

“Cuando tenemos esta gran coalición donde puedes tener a alguien bastante conservador y a alguien extremadamente progresista, vamos a tener profundas diferencias políticas”, dijo. “Pero hay una gran mayoría de cosas en las que estamos de acuerdo. Y creo que debemos enfocarnos en aquello en lo que podemos estar de acuerdo. Y eso es lo que hará avanzar a los floridanos y a nuestras comunidades en términos de asequibilidad, humanidad y construcción de comunidad. Creo que esos son los fundamentos en los que todos podemos estar de acuerdo.

“Es lo que más les importa a los floridanos. Y, francamente, 30 años de gobierno republicano en este estado solo han hecho que sea más difícil para nosotros sobrevivir y prosperar”.

Experta: “Creo que los republicanos están eufóricos hoy”

Kathryn DePalo-Gould, profesora de Florida International University y experta en política, dice que las opiniones progresistas de Nixon podrían afectar a otros demócratas de Florida que aparecen más abajo en la boleta.

“Creo que los republicanos están eufóricos hoy porque nadie realmente pensó que Angie Nixon tuviera posibilidades de derrotar a Alex Vindman, quien tenía todo este dinero, ¿verdad?”, dijo DePalo-Gould. “Pero creo que la gente en el terreno tenía una idea de que él no era tan buen candidato como pensaban. Esos republicanos en el sur de Florida, creo que particularmente, están realmente emocionados de tenerla al frente de la boleta”.

Dijo que la presencia de Nixon podría movilizar a los republicanos, especialmente en el sur de Florida.

“Creo absolutamente que esto va a afectar las contiendas de los cargos que aparecen más abajo en la boleta. Quiero decir, todos, desde David Jolly, quien dice: ‘Esto no soy yo. Esto no es lo que apoyo’, algunas contiendas al Congreso quizás, pero incluso todo lo demás en la boleta, desde contiendas legislativas estatales, tal vez contiendas locales”, dijo. “Creo que esto va a aumentar la participación republicana”.

DePalo-Gould dijo que los demócratas no serán los únicos que hablarán sobre la asequibilidad.

“Anoche vieron a Byron Donalds en su discurso hablando sobre la asequibilidad. Se estaba apropiando de esta idea en particular. No creo que los republicanos quieran ceder este tema a los demócratas en absoluto”, dijo. “Creo que los demócratas están tratando de decir: ‘Somos una gran tienda de campaña’. Pero los republicanos van a decir: ‘Miren, esa tienda ahora está llena de candidatos aterradores que no van a aceptar el sueño americano, que no van a hacer que las cosas sean más asequibles’”.

“I don’t think we’ve played great,” the two-time reigning NL manager of the year said Wednesday. “We haven’t really jelled. We haven’t really come together."

The Brewers’ results tell a different story.

Milwaukee appears well on its way to earning its eighth playoff berth in the last nine seasons as it chases a fourth consecutive NL Central title. The Brewers won three of four from the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers last weekend and trounced Seattle 22-0 on Tuesday before their four-game winning streak ended with a 7-5 loss to the Mariners on Wednesday.

“There’s so much that I see that needs to improve, yet you look up and everybody’s saying, ‘Wow, I love the way you play,’ “ Murphy said before Wednesday's game. “And I look funny and I look behind me, and I see if they’re talking to someone else. Really? Maybe I’m too critical. Maybe I’m missing something. I don’t know. I do trust the team.”

They’ve been rewarding that trust.

Surviving a 17-day grind

The Brewers just completed a 17-day run that included no days off, one complete West Coast trip and part of another. They went 10-7 during that stretch.

After losing three straight games at San Diego last week, the Brewers responded by winning a series with the Dodgers, who swept them out of the NL Championship Series last year. After finally getting a day off Monday, the Brewers delivered their 22-0 blowout of Seattle that matched the most one-sided shutout in modern MLB history.

“I think it says we’re a good baseball team,” first baseman Jake Bauers said. “I think in tough times it can be easy to lose sight of that, but we have the right people around to bounce back when things get tough, and we have the right people around to continue to play winning baseball.”

Milwaukee has needed to stay hot to remain ahead of the Chicago Cubs, who have won 11 of their last 16 games and are 4 1/2 behind Milwaukee in the NL Central standings. The Brewers and Cubs face off in a four-game series Aug. 31-Sept. 3 at Wrigley Field before meeting again for three games in Milwaukee from Sept. 7-9.

During that grueling 17-day run, the Brewers encountered some criticism for their inability to acquire two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. The Brewers made a strong push to land Skubal, only to see the Detroit Tigers send him to the Dodgers instead.

Having NL Cy Young Award front-runner Jacob Misiorowski and Skubal fronting a starting rotation in a playoff series would have given the Brewers perhaps their best shot at making the postseason breakthrough that has eluded them during the franchise’s longest run of sustained success. The Brewers haven’t reached a World Series since 1982 and have never won it all.

Continuing to win without adding Skubal

Logan Henderson, an outstanding rookie pitcher the Brewers chose to keep rather than including in a trade last month, outdueled Skubal in Sunday’s series finale at Los Angeles. The 6-2 victory improved Henderson’s record to 7-2 with a 2.70 ERA.

The Brewers pivoted after the Skubal trade by acquiring former St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Dustin May, who is seeking to become the latest in a growing list of starting pitchers to improve after joining the Brewers. Left-hander Kyle Harrison, who also is thriving in his first year in Milwaukee, attributes that trend to Milwaukee’s pitching coaching staff of Chris Hook, Jim Henderson and Juan Sandoval.

“They’re so good at just knowing who you are as an individual and knowing what you need,” Harrison said. “Shoot, yeah, they’ve been doing it for a while now, too, so it’s pretty cool to have those guys you can trust and rely on.”

The Brewers believe they have the makings of a quality playoff rotation with Misiorowski, Henderson, Harrison and May. Milwaukee has withstood injuries that knocked two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff out for the season and prevented Quinn Priester from pitching at all this year.

Milwaukee’s lineup has produced the fewest homers in the big leagues, yet the Brewers remain among the top five teams in scoring. Bauers’ breakthrough season has helped the Brewers overcome down years from 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich and three-time All-Star William Contreras.

Without naming names, Murphy said: “I watch some of our leaders that might not be getting the results, but the way they handle everybody else is pretty impressive.” Murphy added that might be one of the keys to this team’s success.

Another is simply the ability to continue competing even when things aren’t going smoothly.

“Maybe that’s the secret,” Murphy said. “Maybe this team still plays well enough to be close when they’re not at their best.”

___

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

Leer en español

The pilot of a single-engine helicopter with Lady Lori Helicopters was flying a group of six tourists from the Suyian Conservancy to Mount Ololokwe when they crashed in Samburu County, according to Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority and the helicopter operator.

The seven victims were José Alberto Suárez, Roger E. Duarte, Adam Hlavaty, Henry Parra, Michele Sensi-Contugi, Stephany Hollihan, and Josh Outram.

Suárez, who grew up in Coral Gables, was the president and general manager of the Telemundo-owned stations in Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers. He was 55.

Hlavaty was a real estate executive. He was the vice president of development for Benihana and served as a board member of the Coral Gables Art Museum. He was 42.

Parra, a software executive, co-founded Trax USA, based in Coral Gables. He was 55. Parra and Hlavaty were married and lived in Coral Gables.

Duarte was the entrepreneur behind Hospitality Capital Partners, the owner of George Stone Crabs, and the co-founder of My Ceviche. He was 42.

Duarte’s family was “devastated and heartbroken by the tragic helicopter accident in Kenya ... the magnitude of this tragedy is impossible to comprehend, and there are no words to express the depth of our pain,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Authorities in Ecuador identified Sensi-Contugi, 44, as the director of CIES, the country’s strategic intelligence center, and a close ally of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa. Hollihan, 42, a fashion designer, was married to Sensi-Contugi.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Latin American Fashion Summit described Hollihan, the founder of Sensi Studio, as “a true visionary and an extraordinary force” who celebrated Ecuadorean artisans’ work with “paja toquilla.”

Harpers Bazaar reported Hollihan was born in Ecuador’s port city of Guayaquil and served as a proud ambassador of her country’s artisans in the U.S. and Europe.

The spokesperson for Duarte’s family identified Suárez, Hlavaty, Parra, Sensi-Contugi, and Holliham as “dear friends” and Outram as the pilot based in Kenya.

“I am hugely passionate about flying, and what Kenya has to offer, especially the North, are some of the most diverse landscapes,” Outram told a writer for Elewana last year, adding that he also provided aerial support for wildlife monitoring.

The Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya released a statement describing the victims of the helicopter crash as “guests” of &Beyond, a travel agency.

In a statement, NBCUniversal executives described Suárez as ”a deeply respected leader and beloved friend and colleague” who “brought energy, humor, warmth, and a strong sense of purpose to his work.”

Suárez, a Coral Gables High School alumnus, started his journalistic career as a reporter and anchor. He served as president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. He was with NBCU for about two decades, leading stations in San Antonio, Sacramento, Fresno, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas.

During his time with WUPW Fox Toledo, Suárez won three Emmys for Outstanding Daily Newscast and several Associated Press Awards, according to his biography with NBCU.

Suárez’s career also included programming, digital and creative leadership for the Telemundo Station Group, NBC6, and Telemundo 51 in Miami.

Duarte’s friend Lee Schrager, a businessman known for his work with the Food Network South Beach, said he wasn’t surprised when Forbes recognized Duarte in the 30 under 30 list.

“He had such an incredible work ethic,” Schrager said.

Duarte is survived by his two sons, Roger and George, and his wife, Nicole Valls, whose family founded Versailles, the iconic Cuban restaurant in Miami’s Little Havana.

Related social media posts

7 killed in helicopter crash in Kenya; 4 were tourists from the U.S. pic.twitter.com/9RdTRp0LOK

— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) August 19, 2026

El Servicio Nacional de Aduana del Ecuador expresa sus más sentidas condolencias ante el sensible fallecimiento de Michele Sensi-Contugi y su esposa Stephany Hollihan. Paz en su tumba. pic.twitter.com/E1GWcfbgAY

— Servicio Nacional de Aduana del Ecuador (@SENAE_Aduana) August 19, 2026

View this post on Instagram

An update on the air accident in Samburu of the operator and souls on board.
Read full statement below: pic.twitter.com/WjiggB3vvo

— Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (@CAA_Kenya) August 19, 2026

Search and recovery efforts are ongoing, hampered by difficult terrain access and an active fire at the crash site.

An additional team has been dispatched from Isiolo to reinforce the operation.

More updates to follow. https://t.co/XUjWArYul3 pic.twitter.com/qSApuA1b0y

— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross) August 19, 2026

INCIDENT UPDATE
Reference: ASCI-KE-20260819-SAMBURU-HELICOPTER-CRASH
Incident Level: CRITICAL (Level 4) – Fatal helicopter crash; all occupants deceased

UPDATE SUMMARY
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has officially confirmed a fatal helicopter accident at Mt.… pic.twitter.com/Q5ChZkMd7A

— Armistice Security Consult International® (@ASCIsecure) August 19, 2026

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

Read the statement

Related reports

• Safari helicopter crashes in northern Kenya, killing 7 people, including 5 Americans

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Para Nixon, eso incluye tener conversaciones incómodas con votantes dentro de su propio partido en un intento por convencer a votantes de ambos lados del espectro político de apoyarla en noviembre.

“Ya lo hemos hecho”, dijo. “Ya tenemos republicanos e independientes que incluso cambiaron su afiliación partidista para votar por mí en las primarias, donaron a la campaña y también fueron voluntarios”.

Durante su campaña, Nixon se vinculó con el grupo de socialistas demócratas.

Explicó que su plan es convencer a los demócratas moderados que probablemente votaron por su propio rival de partido, Alex Vindman, para que ahora la elijan a ella.

“Los temas son los mismos, así que voy a hablar con ellos, voy a tener esas conversaciones con ellos”, dijo Nixon. “No huyo de las preguntas difíciles. Creo que eso es lo que nos ayuda a avanzar aquí en este país, cuando tenemos esas conversaciones incómodas”.

Vindman agregó: “Nos quedamos cortos, pero tenemos a una Angie Nixon, y podemos felicitarla por la victoria y llevar esta batalla hasta noviembre”.

Moody quiere conservar el escaño en el Senado de Estados Unidos que ha ocupado durante poco más de un año, cuando el gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, la nombró para el cargo en reemplazo de quien ahora es secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio.

“Defendemos el sentido común, un compromiso con comunidades seguras, un compromiso con un gobierno responsable y receptivo”, dijo Moody después de ganar la nominación republicana el martes. “Un compromiso para garantizar que el gobierno del pueblo ponga primero los intereses del pueblo”.

Moody y Nixon se enfrentarán en las elecciones generales del 3 de noviembre.

The ruling Wednesday by Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green is a victory for Republicans seeking to hold onto their slim majority in the U.S. House. But the case is likely to end up in the state Supreme Court.

Missouri’s new districts already were used in the August primaries. On that same day, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a petition with thousands of signatures seeking to force a November referendum on the map. Hoskins asserted that Missouri’s Constitution doesn’t allow a referendum on congressional redistricting.

The judge agreed with Hoskins and other Republicans, who joined in defense of the new map.

“The Missouri Constitution does not supply any statement — let alone a clear one — reallocating authority over congressional redistricting away from the General Assembly to a referendum process,” Green wrote in the ruling.

Opponents of the redistricting plan quickly announced an appeal.

“Everyone knows that Cole County is not the final decision here,” said Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, who sued to try to place the new map on the ballot. “After months of delay, we are pleased to be moving forward to the Missouri Supreme Court to enforce our constitutional rights.”

Missouri’s redistricting targeted Democratic congressman

Missouri's current U.S. House delegation is made up of six Republicans and two Democrats who were elected from districts with boundaries drawn after the 2020 census.

But Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe called the Legislature into a special session on redistricting last year after Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional boundaries to their advantage ahead of the midterms.

Missouri's revised map is designed to help Republicans defeat Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It reassigns portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretches the remainder of Cleaver’s 5th Congressional District far eastward into Republican-heavy rural areas. About 59% of its voters are new to the 5th District, according to an Associated Press estimate.

State Sen. Rick Brattin won a Republican primary in the reshaped district in early August. Cleaver was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Republicans had argued that the new districts should be used in the November elections even if a voter referendum on the map was allowed to occur at the same time.

Lawsuit highlights dispute about referendum rights

The Missouri Constitution does not specifically say that a referendum can be used to decide congressional redistricting, nor does it forbid it, which is why the issue ended up in court.

Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office, which represented the secretary of state in court, argued that congressional redistricting is a legislative duty not subject to referendum without specific constitutional permission.

The attorney general and the Republican Party also argued it was too late to switch district boundaries before the November election. Changing districts after the primary would cause “widespread voter confusion” and an “erosion in confidence in the integrity of the state’s elections,” said John Gore, an attorney for national, congressional and state Republican committees.

The judge agreed, ruling that a district swap after the primary would violate federal law.

It’s been more than 100 years since a Missouri redistricting plan faced a referendum. In 1922, voters rejected a new congressional map passed by the Republican-led Legislature. The legitimacy of that referendum petition was not challenged in court.

Redistricting battle spread to numerous states

Missouri’s mid-decade redistricting effort has been among the most litigated nationally, triggering about a dozen lawsuits over the past year.

The Republican-led state was the second, after Texas, to respond to Trump’s call to redraw congressional districts. Several other states followed. All told, Republicans hope to win as many as 16 additional seats from new House maps enacted in eight states: Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats, whose counterattack faced several setbacks, think they could win up to six additional seats from new districts in California and Utah.

It remains to be seen whether the redistricting works as intended for Republicans. The president’s party historically has lost congressional seats in the midterms, and Trump’s poor approval ratings could provide an extra hurdle for Republican candidates.

___

Associated Press journalist Hannah Recht contributed from Washington.

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For Nixon, that includes having uncomfortable conversations with voters within her own party in an attempt to sway voters on both sides of the aisle for her in November.

“We already have,” she said. “Republicans and independents that actually change their party affiliations to vote for me in the primary, they donated on the campaign and they also volunteered.”

During her campaign, Nixon affiliated herself with the democratic socialist group.

She explained that her plan is to convince the moderate Democrats who likely voted for her own party opponent Alex Vindman to now choose her.

“The issues are the same and so I’m going to talk to them, I’m going to have those conversations with them,” said Nixon. “I don’t run away from hard questions. I believe that is what helps us progress here in this country, when we have those uncomfortable conversations.”

Added Vindman: “We came up short, but we have an Angie Nixon, and we can congratulate her on the win and take this battle forward to November.”

Moody wants to keep the U.S. Senate seat she has been occupying for a little over a year, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to the position to replace now-U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We are standing for common sense, a commitment to safe communities, a commitment to accountable and responsive government,” Moody said after winning the Republican nomination on Tuesday. “A commitment to ensuring the people’s government puts the people’s interest first.”

Moody and Nixon will face off in the general election on Nov. 3.

The couple's children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have already enrolled at British schools and will start classes in September, according to a person close to the Sussexes who was not authorized to speak publicly. The family plans to live at a private, non-royal residence outside of London, but plans to maintain their home in Montecito, California, and their vacation property in Portugal.

The Daily Telegraph first reported the story. When asked to discuss the reports by the AP at a roundtable event with U.S. veterans in Washington Wednesday night, Harry replied, "Nothing to say.”

Harry and Meghan gave up their royal duties and moved to California more than six years ago to earn their living through lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify. Although relations with the rest of the royal family have soured since then, Harry has recently expressed an interest in reconciliation so he could spend more time with his father, King Charles III, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer.

Charles was informed of the couple's plans on Sunday. Harry and Meghan visited the U.K. last month.

Buckingham Palace has a policy of not commenting on speculation about non-working members of the royal family. A representative for Harry and Meghan declined to comment.

According to a source close to the Sussexes, Meghan will continue heading her As Ever company from the U.K., while Harry can spend more time working with his U.K.-based charities.

Harry and Meghan have had a stormy relationship with the royal family ever since they decamped to a mansion in the exclusive Southern California enclave of Montecito.

In a series of interviews and Harry's memoir “Spare,” the couple said they left Britain to escape the restrictions of royal life and criticized palace officials for being insensitive to Meghan's mental health while alleging that at least one member of the royal family had expressed racist views when she was pregnant with their first child. Meghan describes herself as biracial.

Those tensions were exacerbated by Harry's long-running legal battle with Britain's tabloid newspapers, which he alleges illegally hacked his phones and invaded his privacy when he was younger.

The prince recently lost a lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail, though he won a 2023 judgment that condemned the publisher of the Daily Mirror for phone hacking. He also reached a settlement with the publisher of the Sun, which apologized for intruding on his life and agreed to pay substantial damages.

The latest trial has left Harry facing a potential bill for millions of pounds after the court ruled he and other plaintiffs in the case were liable for the publisher's legal fees. Associated Newspapers has filed documents showing that its legal costs amounted to 34.5 million pounds ($47 million).

Harry has also been embroiled in a legal wrangle with the British government after a government committee refused to authorize police protection for the prince and his family when they are in the U.K. The prince says he and his family need armed police protection because they are at risk simply because they are members of the royal family, regardless of whether they are working royals.

After losing a court battle over the security issue last year, Harry said he hoped to rebuild relations with his family.

“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”

Last month, Harry returned to the U.K. for a series of charity engagements. Meghan and the children joined Harry for part of the visit and they spent time with the king at his Highgrove estate in western England. It was the first time Archie and Lilibet had seen their grandfather since the late Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee in 2022.

While Harry has recently met with his father, there are no signs of a warming of relations with his brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne.

Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent, said the surprise announcement would make William “apoplectic.”

“In the short term, Harry will be able to deepen his rapprochement with his father," Hunt told Britain's Press Association. “And his presence back home will make it harder for his brother to duck a reconciliation."

___

Pollard reported from Washington.

“Les prometo que, si las elecciones fueran esta noche, ganaríamos la gobernación del estado de Florida”, dijo Jolly a sus seguidores el martes.

Donalds, mientras tanto, dijo que su campaña está enfocada en “hacer que Florida sea responsable, alcanzable y, sobre todo, asequible”.

Donalds obtuvo un respaldo clave del presidente Donald Trump al inicio de las primarias republicanas.

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

En su primera publicación en redes sociales como candidato republicano, Donalds dijo que Florida “no puede permitirse a David Jolly”.

“Estoy agradecido con mi familia, mi equipo, mis voluntarios y cada floridano que nos impulsó a esta victoria.

Ahora es el momento de que el Partido Republicano se una. Al trabajar juntos, podemos hacer que Florida sea más asequible y defender el Sueño de Florida para nuestras familias, adultos mayores y jóvenes…”  pic.twitter.com/HZBtyaCS9G

— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) August 19, 2026

“La razón por la que Florida ha seguido siendo republicana y conservadora es simplemente porque nuestras políticas funcionan. Por eso la gente viene a nuestro estado”, dijo Donalds. “La verdad es que él (Jolly) es simplemente un caballo de Troya para los socialistas demócratas de Estados Unidos”.

Jolly, un ex congresista republicano que dejó el partido en 2018, está convirtiendo el costo de vida en un tema central de su campaña.

“Todos estamos preocupados por el costo de la vivienda, la atención médica, los alimentos y la gasolina”, dijo Jolly en un anuncio de campaña publicado el miércoles.

Jolly posteriormente apareció con su compañera de fórmula, Gwen Graham, en una barbería antes de hacer una parada en Vicky Bakery.

“Rechazo el socialismo. Soy capitalista”, dijo Jolly.

También criticó a los republicanos por el costo de la vivienda.

“En este momento, la gente está perdiendo sus hogares debido al colapso y los republicanos no han hecho nada al respecto. Byron Donalds no tiene una solución”, agregó Jolly.

Jolly expresó confianza en su capacidad para derrotar a Donalds en noviembre.

“Los votantes siempre nos dicen lo que quieren”, dijo Jolly a Byron Tollefson, de Local 10, el martes. “Hace cuatro años, los votantes no estaban pidiendo un cambio, y por eso los demócratas, a pesar de nuestros valores, no estábamos donde estaban los votantes. Esta noche, los votantes están clamando por un cambio. Están rogando por un cambio. Están diciendo basta del control económico, enfoquémonos en la vivienda, la atención médica y la educación”.

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“I promise you, if the election were tonight, we would win the governorship of the state of Florida,” Jolly told supporters on Tuesday.

Donalds, meanwhile, said his campaign is focused on “making Florida accountable, achievable and most of all, affordable.”

Donalds scored a key endorsement from President Donald Trump early in the Republican primary.

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

In his first social media post as the GOP nominee, Donalds said Florida “can’t afford David Jolly.”

I am grateful to my family, my team, my volunteers, and every Floridian who powered us to this victory.

Now is the time for the Republican Party to unite. By working together, we can make Florida more affordable and defend the Florida Dream for our families, seniors, and young… pic.twitter.com/HZBtyaCS9G

— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) August 19, 2026

“The reason why Florida has continued to be Republican and be conservative is simply because our policies work. That’s why people come to our state,” Donalds said. “The truth is he (Jolly) is just a Trojan horse for Democrat socialists of America.”

Jolly, a former Republican congressman who left the party in 2018, is making the cost of living a central issue in his campaign.

“We’re all worried about the cost of housing, health care, food and gas,” Jolly said in a campaign ad posted Wednesday.

Jolly later appeared with his running mate, Gwen Graham, at a barber shop before making a stop at Vicky Bakery.

“I reject socialism. I’m a capitalist,” Jolly said.

He also criticized Republicans over the cost of housing.

“Right now, people are losing their homes because of the collapse and Republicans have done nothing about it. Byron Donalds doesn’t have a solution,” Jolly added.

Jolly expressed confidence in his ability to take down Donalds in November.

“Voters always tell us what they want,” Jolly told Local 10’s Byron Tollefson on Tuesday. “Four years ago, voters weren’t asking for change, and so Democrats, despite our values, weren’t where voters were. Tonight, voters are screaming for change. They’re begging for change. They’re saying enough with the economic grip, let’s focus on housing, healthcare and education.”

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While the first Atlantic hurricane forms on average around August 11^th, the date of the first hurricane can vary wildly. In some seasons like 2016, it can happen from an initially non-tropical system in January, but in other seasons like 2002 and 2013, it doesn’t come until the second week of September.

But they do eventually come. Even in our most inactive hurricane seasons or during ones held back by El Niño – like in 1983, 1997 (very strong El Niño), 2009, 2013, and 2015 (very strong El Niño) – we had hurricanes. Multiple hurricanes. We’ve never gone through an entire hurricane season in the reliable records without a hurricane, and the last time we recorded fewer than two hurricanes in a season was over a century ago in 1925 (and that number was almost surely an undercount due to a sparse ocean observing network that relied mainly on unlucky ships).

By August 19^th, most Atlantic hurricane seasons have notched their first hurricane. In fact, in about 7 in 10 seasons, we’ve seen the first hurricane formation by today’s date. So far in 2026, though, hurricanes have been a no-show.

It’s unusual and it speaks to just how hostile the background state is this hurricane season due to the historic El Niño.

Long-range models indicate the Atlantic will remain at a standstill for another week, but as anyone whose experienced a drought knows, they always come to an end and when it eventually rains, sometimes it pours. Last year it was Category 5 Hurricane Erin that broke the dry spell around this time in August, but we can hope this season with a powerful El Niño in play, the drought doesn’t end so dramatically.

A real (rude?) Atlantic awakening on the horizon?

While we’ve seen some signs of life this August in the Atlantic, we’ve not yet seen the big awakening or storm outbreak that often accelerates us into the busiest 6-week stretch of the season. We expect that by late August and if the overnight runs of our computer models – lit up like a December Christmas tree – are any indication, we may be in store for a flurry of activity to end the month.

The signal is perhaps the strongest we’ve seen yet this season in the deep tropics across nearly all of our major global weather models (both AI and conventional models) but the question is whether it sticks and persists.

For now, the strongest signal is far away from the U.S. and still about a week out so we have plenty of time to follow the trends. It’s an important reminder, however, that hurricane season might be on hold right now, but don’t expect it’ll last into September.

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Party Chair Nikki Fried cited success in school board races, including in deep-red Sarasota County, where Democratic-aligned candidates flipped board control.

“People, again, are tired of the cultural wars in our school boards,” Fried said.

But they are also acknowledging the intra-party debate underway in the wake of a primary win for a democratic socialist: State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, is now the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate.

That debate is laid bare in Miami-Dade, where Democratic Party Chair Laura Kelley admits, “socialism does not fly.”

“I’m not going to be a Democratic socialist apologist. There is no room in our party for people who would support, praise Fidel Castro, Nicolas Maduro and certainly not Hamas,” Kelley said. “And so I think that the Democratic Socialists of America, as an organization, remember, they’re not the Democratic Party. They’re an organization. They’re not even a political party. They’re a group of people that are truly, truly misguided.”

With all that in mind, Local 10 News asked Fried what she thought of Democratic voters’ choice.

“Well, first of all, you know, yo soy capitalista; we’ll start there,” Fried said.

When asked whether Nixon’s nomination makes it “impossible” for Democrats to flip the Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Ashley Moody, Fried pointed to organizing efforts that have flipped GOP-held seats.

“In the last two years, we have started what’s called the Punchland Project, which is year-round organizing that, as of yesterday, we had over 1.7, 1.8 million voter contacts from phones to door-knocks and having candidates talk to candidates and to voters all over the state of Florida,” she said. “And we’ve been able to flip 37 seats because of that.”

On the flip side, Democratic voters also nominated a former Republican to be the party’s nominee for governor, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly.

“I reject the DSA,” Jolly said. “I reject socialists. I am a capitalist.”

Kelley said, “As we move forward to the elections, I think that what we’ll see is, like, a fundamental understanding of what the difference between a Democrat and a Democratic Socialist is. And they’re not the same thing.”

As disparate party voices emerge from Tuesday’s primary, Fried said everyone is in alignment on one core concern: “Our state is completely unaffordable.”

Kelley agreed.

“When we have this big tent where you can have somebody who’s quite conservative to someone who is extremely progressive, we are going to have deep policy differences,” she said. “But there is a vast majority of things that we agree on. And I think we need to focus on what we can agree on. And that is what is going to move Floridians and our communities forward in terms of affordability, in terms of humanity, in terms of community building. I think those are the fundamentals that we can all agree on.

“It’s what Floridians care about most. And, frankly, 30 years of Republican rule in this state has only made it more difficult for us to survive, to thrive.”

Expert: ‘I think Republicans are gleeful today’

Kathryn DePalo-Gould, a professor at Florida International University and political expert, says Nixon’s progressive views may be a drag on other Florida Democrats down the ticket.

“I think Republicans are gleeful today because nobody really thought that Angie Nixon had a chance to beat Alex Vindman, who had all this money, right?” DePalo-Gould said. “But I think people on the ground had an idea that he wasn’t as great of a candidate as they thought. Those (Republicans) in South Florida, I think particularly are really excited to have her on the top of the ticket.”

She said Nixon’s presence could galvanize Republicans, especially in South Florida.

“I absolutely think this is gonna impact downballot races. I mean, everybody from, you know, David Jolly who is saying, ‘This is not me. This is not what I embrace,’ some congressional races perhaps, but even everything else on the ballot from state legislative races, maybe local races,” she said. “I think this is going to increase Republican turnout.”

DePalo-Gould said Democrats won’t be the only ones talking affordability.

“You saw Byron Donalds in his speech last night talking about affordability. He was grabbing on to this particular idea. I don’t think the Republicans want to cede this issue to the Democrats at all,” she said. “I think, Democrats are trying to say, ‘We’re a big tent.’ But Republicans are going to say, Look, that tent is now full of scary candidates (who) are not going to embrace the American dream, that are not going to make things more affordable.”

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Authorities arrested suspect Eddie Zewayne Bussey, 28, of Yonkers, New York, on nearly a dozen felony charges on Tuesday, including kidnapping and multiple counts of attempted murder and sexual battery.

An arrest report from the Miami Police Department states that the 40-year-old woman had left a nightclub in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m.; her phone had run out of battery and she was walking home up Biscayne Boulevard, unable to request a ride.

Near Northeast 24th Street, police said the woman noticed Bussey, a stranger, “following her and yelling unsolicited remarks toward her such as, ‘Let me taste you.’”

“The victim crossed Biscayne Boulevard attempting to distance herself from (Bussey), but he continued to follow her mimicking her same movement crossing the road,” the MPD report states.

Police said the woman walked into an office building at 4770 Biscayne Blvd., in the Bay Point neighborhood, after “noticing it was well lit and fearing (for) her safety.”

Authorities said she went into the lobby and got into the elevator, going up to the 12th floor to try to find someone to help her. She couldn’t.

Police said after going back down to the lobby, she saw Bussey coming in. She tried to exit through another door, they said, but it turned out to be locked.

In an attack caught on surveillance camera, Bussey exposed himself, punched and choked the woman, then dragged her by the hair and dragged her into a mailroom, where he continued to punch, kick and choke her as she tried to fight back, the report states. Police said Bussey could be heard telling her, “Taste it,” “I’ll rape you” and “I’ll kill you” before performing multiple sex acts on her.

Authorities said the victim broke two of Bussey’s necklaces as she tried to fight him off. They said she was able to run to a nearby CVS Pharmacy, where she was able to call police.

“The victim sustained visible injuries, including bruising and discoloration to her face, lips, throat, back, ribs, hip and thigh, as well as (a) laceration to her cheek,” the report states.

DNA evidence from a rape kit tied the crime to Bussey, police said, and officers found him Tuesday near Northwest 36th Street and 13th Avenue in the city’s Allapattah neighborhood.

Bussey, according to the report, told investigators that he’s been staying in Miami with his brother for about a month at a short-term rental in Wynwood. The report states that he initially told officers he had “walked home and remained there for the rest of the night,” but then, after being shown a surveillance still from the Bay Point office building, “recanted and told detectives he was at the incident location to charge his phone.”

Police said he claimed that at the building, the victim made “racist remarks” and then “spat on him, causing him to black out and begin to beat her.”

But they said he “denied sexually assaulting” her because “she is a (woman) and he only likes (men).”

A separate arrest report states that Bussey became combative with officers as they tried to collect a DNA sample pursuant to a warrant, spitting on them and fighting them. They said he also “repeatedly kicked the wall and door inside the interview room,” causing damage.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Bussey was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a bond listed in jail records as “to be set.”

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Authorities took Charles Weiner, 44, of Oakland Park, into custody on Wednesday.

Officials identified him as an IT employee for Broward County Transit.

Weiner is facing multiple charges of possession or control of child sex abuse material and a charge of compiling computer pornography featuring a minor.

Following his arrest, Broward County Transit released the following statement to Local 10 News:

“We are aware that a Broward County Transit employee has been arrested by the Broward Sheriff’s Office in connection with alleged possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material. The employee did not have a public-facing role. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement and following the appropriate protocols regarding his future employment.”

Broward County Transit

As of Wednesday afternoon, Weiner was being held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility on a $50,000 bond.

Las autoridades detuvieron el miércoles a Charles Weiner, de 44 años, de Oakland Park.

Las autoridades lo identificaron como empleado de TI de Broward County Transit.

Weiner enfrenta múltiples cargos por posesión o control de material de abuso sexual infantil y un cargo por compilar pornografía informática en la que aparece un menor.

Tras su arresto, Broward County Transit emitió el siguiente comunicado a Local 10

“Estamos al tanto de que un empleado de Broward County Transit fue arrestado por la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward en relación con la presunta posesión de material de abuso sexual infantil. El empleado no desempeñaba un cargo de atención al público. Estamos cooperando plenamente con las autoridades y siguiendo los protocolos correspondientes con respecto a su futuro empleo”.

— Broward County Transit

Hasta la tarde del miércoles, Weiner permanecía detenido en el Centro de Detención Paul Rein bajo una fianza de 50,000 dólares.

It was a warm, sunny day in the coastal town of Narragansett when the spill happened Sunday, and Narragansett Police Capt. Ryan Prest said he was told that the scene “started to smell bad as the squid sat out in the sun for a few hours.”

The fully-loaded trailer was taking the squid to a processing facility out of town when the trailer dislodged and tipped on its side as the driver was navigating a turn, spilling a “substantial portion” of its calamari cargo, the police department said in a statement.

Police responded at 9:27 a.m., and the intersection wasn’t reopened until 5:15 p.m., authorities said.

Video of the scene showed a trailer on its side and massive piles of squid on the road.

“Squid has a distinctive odor to it,” Richard Stevens, a Narragansett resident and fisherman, told WJAR. “It can be very foul smelling, especially if it lands on the road and stays there for awhile.”

Heavy equipment and a dump truck were used to remove the squid, Prest said.

The driver and a passenger in the truck cab weren’t injured, and no other vehicles were involved, Prest said. The Rhode Island State Police Commercial Enforcement Unit is investigating but it’s unclear if any enforcement action will be taken, Prest said.

“We have not issued any citations,” Prest said. “I’m not sure if there will be any citations issued by the state police.”

State police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Narragansett Police Department made light of the situation in a social media post on Wednesday, stating that the town is “still recovering” from the “Squidpocalypse of ’26 — the spill that put ‘slippery when wet’ to shame.”

___

Kelety reported from Phoenix.

Maya Garcia, de 19 años, dijo a Local 10 News en una entrevista exclusiva que no tenía idea de que se estaba alejando de un incendio potencialmente mortal cuando salió a recoger su comida.

“Fue aterrador”, dijo Garcia.

Cuando salió a recoger la comida, Maya dejó su teléfono Samsung Galaxy A15 sobre su cama.

Aproximadamente un minuto después de que llegó la comida, Maya y su padre dijeron que escucharon una explosión.

“Estoy sentada allí y escucho una explosión detrás de mí”, dijo Garcia. “Sonó como, boom, como vidrio rompiéndose, swoosh”.

Su habitación rápidamente quedó envuelta en llamas.

“No se podía ver dentro de la casa, llamas, humo”, dijo Garcia. “Estoy entrando en pánico, pero trato de mantener la calma”.

La habitación quedó en ruinas, con el teléfono aún visible entre las cenizas. Los recuerdos de su infancia fueron destruidos.

El tomacorriente de la habitación no mostraba señales visibles de un problema eléctrico.

Local 10 News se comunicó con investigadores de incendios provocados, quienes dijeron que su informe aún no está terminado.

Maya y su padre dijeron que el equipo de investigación de incendios provocados les informó que el teléfono fue responsable del incendio.

Maya dijo que si la entrega de DoorDash se hubiera retrasado, la historia podría haber tenido un desenlace diferente.

Para Maya, hay una palabra para describir cómo se siente.

“Agradecida”, dijo. “Estoy extremadamente agradecida. Lo que importa es que estoy viva aquí hoy”.

Local 10 News se comunicó con Samsung. La compañía respondió y se comunicó con la familia para solicitar información.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. said crews were working nonstop to fix the outages, but 75,000 customers still lacked electricity by late afternoon, mostly in Lake County next to the Illinois border.

They included more than 20,000 customers in Gary, where residents lined up again at community centers for hot meals and a place to charge phones.

The latest news for Gary wasn't good: Full restoration is not expected there until Aug. 25, NIPSCO said.

Roughly 300 poles and 44 power transmission poles need to be repaired or replaced in Gary as a result of the storm, which carried winds of 99 mph (159 kilometers per hour), said Melody Birmingham, an executive at NIPSCO's parent company.

Birmingham acknowledged the “real burden” of losing perishable food and people living for days without air conditioning after a “historic storm” that initially left 300,000 customers in the dark.

“These aren't simple repairs,” Birmingham said at a news conference. “These are systems that are being rebuilt.”

Utility says low-income residents are not ignored

Jeremy Spurrier, 51, said he's fortunate to have a generator at his Portage home, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. But the generator is expensive — it goes through about $75 of gas a day — and Spurrier said his family is relying on nonperishable food like soup. He drives to Illinois to get ice to chill his insulin.

"If I run out of ice, that’s several hundred dollars of insulin just ruined,” he said.

Gary, a majority-Black city, has been especially hit hard, with some residents voicing frustration that they're being ignored. Birmingham denied that low-income residents were being overlooked and blamed posts on social media.

“We have areas that are probably affluent where we still have customers out as well. ... This has nothing to do with race or any type of division,” said Birmingham, who is Black. “It's really a matter of where the storm hit.”

Gary Mayor Eddie Melton acknowledged that locals were “frustrated and exhausted” but said more than 600 linemen were working to restore power in the city.

"I want to reiterate this is clearly not just a Gary situation. It is a northwest Indiana situation,” Melton said.

No storm damage — but no power

A 4-year-old boy, three men and three women were among those who had died since the storms began Aug. 11, said Liz Woods, a spokesperson for the state Department of Homeland Security.

In Whiting, Myra Carden, 74, said her home wasn’t damaged by the storm — “not even a chair was blown over in the yard.” But she was in her second blackout Wednesday.

Carden, her son and three dogs lost power for more than two days last week. Then the electricity went out again Tuesday.

“More than once I have put in an outage report,” she said. ”All I get back is, ‘You already put in a report.’ Well, what do you want me to do? ... This doesn’t make sense. Of course I’m not a lineman; I’m a paralegal.”

Carden uses a generator to keep the refrigerator humming but only when someone’s home to monitor it.

“We have a deep freeze in the garage packed full with beef and chicken. I’m sure everything will be thrown away,” she said.

“Las autoridades argentinas se están acercando rápidamente hacia prácticas tecno-autoritarias”, señaló Matt Mahmoudi, investigador y asesor sobre Inteligencia Artificial y Derechos Humanos de Amnistía Internacional, durante la presentación del primer informe de la organización sobre el uso de tecnologías de vigilancia masiva en el país sudamericano.

A partir de la llegada de Milei al poder en 2023, Argentina implementó una gran cantidad de reformas en áreas de seguridad e inteligencia y expandió el uso de tecnologías de vigilancia, como el reconocimiento facial, el ciberpatrullaje, los drones y las cámaras móviles.

El cambio de paradigma sobre seguridad se dio en el marco del plan de austeridad implementado por Milei que implicó fuertes recortes presupuestarios en áreas sociales clave y detonó en violentas protestas callejeras.

Según el informe, entre 2024 y 2025 el gobierno argentino adquirió tecnologías de vigilancia por 1,2 millones de dólares a empresas como Maltego (recolección, cruce y visualización de datos provenientes de redes sociales, sitios web, datos personales, etc) y Clearview AI (reconocimiento facial), entre otras.

Efecto inhibidor

Para Amnistía, el despliegue de políticas y tecnologías de vigilancia en Argentina “tiene impactos directos en los derechos humanos”.

En particular, la organización alertó sobre su “efecto inhibidor”, que ocurre cuando la mera percepción de estar siendo vigilado modifica la conducta de las personas, limitando por ejemplo su derecho a manifestarse o provocando la autocensura en redes sociales.

“Hay una percepción generalizada de vigilancia estatal, tanto en el espacio físico como en el entorno digital”, indicó la organización.

The Associated Press consultó al Ministerio de Seguridad sobre el informe de Amnistía Internacional pero no obtuvo respuesta.

El uso de estas tecnologías no es patrimonio exclusivo del gobierno nacional. Amnistía Internacional advirtió que la alcaldía de Buenos Aires también amplió “significativamente” la cobertura territorial de cámaras y sistemas de procesamiento de imágenes.

En 2022 la justicia suspendió el sistema de reconocimiento facial de prófugos mediante el uso de algoritmos aplicados a imágenes captadas por cámaras de vigilancia en el espacio público, el cual derivó en múltiples arrestos por error.

La visita de Thiel

La presentación del informe coincide con el creciente interés del multimillonario tecnológico de Silicon Valley Peter Thiel, cofundador de PayPal y Palantir Technologies, en el país sudamericano. El tecno magnate habría adquirido una propiedad en uno de los barrios más lujosos de la capital argentina, según reportes de la prensa local, y mantuvo al menos tres encuentros con Milei, dados a conocer por el propio gobierno.

Palantir es uno de los principales proveedores globales de tecnologías de inteligencia y análisis masivos de datos para gobiernos. Recientemente firmó un acuerdo con el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos para agilizar el proceso de identificación y deportación de las personas a las que la agencia tiene en la mira. También es proveedor de Gran Bretaña, Alemania e Israel.

Amnistía Internacional comentó que por el momento no hay información pública sobre eventuales acuerdos de cooperación entre el gobierno argentino y Palantir.

“Palantir tiene una forma de aparecer en entornos muy particulares”, advirtió Mahmoudi. “Para ellos, este es un choque ideológico de civilizaciones. Y es importante tener eso en cuenta sobre Palantir, independientemente de lo que esté sucediendo aquí en Argentina”.

En paralelo, diputados opositores presentaron un proyecto para que el Parlamento rechace la presunta injerencia de Thiel en asuntos estratégicos de Argentina y lo declare persona “non grata”.

Sostienen que en los últimos meses trascendieron acuerdos entre Argentina y Estados Unidos en materia de defensa, cooperación tecnológica e inteligencia artificial que involucrarían a empresas relacionadas con Thiel, en el marco del alineamiento geopolítico de Milei con Donald Trump. El magnate y el gobierno no han hecho declaraciones públicas al respecto.

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Investigators said BSO Traffic Homicide Unit detectives responded to the intersection of Northeast 49th Street and North Federal Highway at the request of the Lighthouse Point Police Department to investigate the crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian riding a scooter.

The preliminary investigation found the scooter rider was crossing eastbound through the intersection when he was struck by a gray Toyota Corolla traveling southbound, according to detectives.

The driver, Gustavo Mendez, of Boca Raton, left the scene after the crash, authorities said.

They said Lighthouse Point Fire Rescue medics transported the victim to Broward Health North Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Detectives said that as the investigation continued, they located Mendez and the Toyota Corolla and arrested him in Boca Raton.

Additional information about the victim was withheld under Marsy’s Law.

Authorities said the investigation is “ongoing.”

Los investigadores señalaron que detectives de la Unidad de Homicidios de Tráfico de la BSO acudieron a la intersección de Northeast 49th Street y North Federal Highway, a petición del Departamento de Policía de Lighthouse Point, para investigar el accidente entre un vehículo y un peatón que conducía un scooter.

La investigación preliminar reveló que el conductor del scooter cruzaba la intersección en dirección este cuando fue embestido por un Toyota Corolla gris que circulaba hacia el sur, según indicaron los detectives.

El conductor, Gustavo Méndez, residente de Boca Raton, abandonó el lugar tras el accidente, comunicaron las autoridades.

Informaron que el personal de emergencias médicas de Lighthouse Point Fire Rescue trasladó a la víctima al centro médico Broward Health North, donde posteriormente se confirmó su fallecimiento.

Los detectives indicaron que conforme avanzaba la investigación, localizaron a Méndez y al Toyota Corolla, por lo que procedieron al arresto en Boca Raton.

No se divulgó información adicional sobre la víctima en virtud de la Ley Marsy.

Las autoridades dijeron que la investigación sigue en curso.

The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

The unprecedented $40 trillion figure highlights competing administration priorities, from boosting defense spending that the U.S. relies on to carry out President Donald Trump's almost-6-month-old war in Iran to lowering the cost of gas and groceries.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said the Trump administration “has been focused on slashing waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending while accelerating economic growth to get America’s debt-to-GDP ratio trending in the right direction.”

However, experts say the exploding debt and the latest record milestone are already affecting Americans' pocketbooks by raising borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lowering wages from businesses that have less money available to invest, and creating more expensive goods and services.

“If we want to improve our living standards, today and for the next generation, now is the time for lawmakers to put our nation on a more affordable and sustainable path," says Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a think tank focused on U.S. fiscal challenges.

The debt has exploded over several presidential administrations, as the nation's leaders spend more money than it collects in taxes. In recent memory, the multi-year COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the U.S. economy, where the federal government borrowed heavily during President Trump's first term and under former President Joe Biden to stabilize the economy and support a recovery.

More government spending was approved after Trump signed Republicans’ tax cut and spending legislation into law last year.

Advocates for a balanced budget also warn that the long-term trend of borrowing more and paying more in interest will force Americans to face tougher fiscal tradeoffs ahead.

"The federal debt is already raising the cost of living and choking out other spending and investment, threatening our economy and Americans’ long-term prosperity,” said Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“Our current fiscal trajectory is plainly unsustainable, and that’s the best-case scenario. AI disruption, a recession, global war, or any number of other events could quickly push us over the edge from a challenge into a full-blown crisis," Spellings said in a statement.

The U.S. is subject to a statutory debt limit, or a limit to federal borrowing, which Congress has the authority to set, adjust or abolish. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that the U.S. will most likely reach the $41.1 trillion debt limit sometime between late winter and mid-summer of 2027, requiring Congress to again vote on whether to raise or suspend it.

The U.S.' fiscal position stands as the worst among other developed countries, according to recent data analysis from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

En conferencia de prensa, junto al canciller peruano Carlos Espá, no se reveló la cantidad de dinero que representará la ayuda de Estados Unidos. Espá indicó que empezó una “hoja de ruta” que contempla ayuda en equipamiento, conocimiento y sobrevuelo para prevenir, mitigar y responder al fenómeno.

Navarro dijo en español que el objetivo de la reunión en Miami fue conocer las "necesidades" de Perú y “cómo podemos apoyar” con una respuesta rápida. Recordó que la ayuda en el reciente terremoto de Colombia hubiera sido más rápida “si hubiéramos estado más sincronizados”.

La conferencia ocurrió luego que el canciller peruano retornó de Miami donde estuvo junto a Navarro para conseguir cooperación de Estados Unidos frente al fenómeno climático. En otra cita el canciller también se reunió con empresarios estadounidenses interesados en invertir en planes de minería e infraestructura.

Navarro indicó que en febrero de 2027 llegará a la zona norte de la costa del Pacífico de Perú el barco hospital USNS Comfort que ya estuvo en Perú en 2018 y 2019. “Lo vamos a traer en febrero que es cuando creemos que va a ser el pico del problema con El Niño”, acotó.

El fenómeno climático El Niño es un calentamiento de las aguas del Pacífico cerca de la línea del ecuador que afecta los patrones climáticos globales. Según los meteorólogos, podría igualar o superar al fenómeno de 1997 que causó daños por olas de calor, lluvias intensas, inundaciones e incendios forestales.

La presidenta Keiko Fujimori, quien inició su gobierno el 28 de julio, ha indicado que una de las prioridades de su gestión es enfrentar el fenómeno climático. Antes de empezar su gobierno, Fujimori indicó que, según reportes científicos El Niño será “muy fuerte” y que incluso se menciona “la palabra catastrófica”.

Conveagro, que agrupa a la mayoría de agricultores de Perú, estima que podrían sumarse pérdidas por 3.000 millones de dólares, se reduciría hasta 50% la producción de alimentos y se afectaría a más de nueve millones de personas. ADEX, un gremio clave exportador, advierte impactos en las agroexportaciones por plagas y problemas fitosanitarios, mientras el sector pesquero prevé menores capturas por el calentamiento del mar.

Max D. Lederer Jr. announced his retirement, effective at the end of September, in a memo to staff on Tuesday, as well as in an interview with Stars and Stripes. In the memo, seen by The Associated Press, Lederer, the second full-time civilian in the position, wrote that it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”

The announcement comes less than four months after the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, ombudsman for the newspaper, whose job was to safeguard editorial independence. The news outlet is partly funded by the Defense Department, but has a legacy of independence from military and government leadership. “No one should be surprised that they’re kicking out the one person charged by Congress with protecting Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence," Smith wrote in a column.

Stars and Stripes has recently been at the forefront of some of the reporting on conditions for sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and concerns for their mental health during the aircraft carrier’s long deployment — concerns that President Donald Trump has downplayed.

It's part of larger, government-driven changes to the military publication

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lederer’s retirement, which comes seven months after the department announced in a social media post that it would essentially overhaul the newspaper to align with its current messaging.

Hegseth's spokesman, Sean Parnell, wrote on on X in January that the Pentagon “is returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.” He said the department will “refocus its content away from woke distractions.”

“Stars and Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Parnell wrote. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”

More broadly, the developments at Stars and Stripes come against a backdrop of increased efforts by Hegseth to control media coverage of the department.

Last year, officials attempted to impose restrictions on journalists working inside the Pentagon, which, in turn, led most news outlets to turn in their access badges and walk out.

Then this summer, the Pentagon took another step and declared its press office a classified space — instituting a policy that journalists must be accompanied by an escort on Pentagon grounds. That policy is being challenged in court. In mid-July, a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the policy could stand, overturning a lower court decision.

In her April column titled “The Pentagon is trying to silence me,” Smith, the former ombudsman, expressed concern over increasing restrictions on the media.

“For nearly a year, Pentagon leadership has placed more and more restrictions on the mainstream media,” she wrote. “The New York Times sued and when the Defense/War Department lost in court, instead of following the judge’s ruling Secretary Hegseth and company pivoted, finding another way to restrict journalists.”

Of Stars and Stripes, Smith wrote: “This newspaper has a long history of commitment to the military community and to journalistic values. Please don’t let it be controlled by Pentagon brass.”

The departing publisher objected to certain changes

Lederer was not made available for an interview with the AP. In the interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he did not feel the modernization efforts the Pentagon announced in March were appropriate, in particular a transitioning of print products to digital — a move he feared would limit accessibility for troops.

“I don’t feel that there’s a full recognition of the value of multiple platforms versus only a digital platform,” Lederer was quoted as saying.

In another development, Stars and Stripes said it could not confirm an account that, in recent weeks, a new deputy had been installed by the Pentagon under Lederer without the publisher’s prior knowledge.

In a letter seen by the AP, Rufus Friday, the chair of Stars and Stripes’ advisory board of publishers, wrote to congressional leaders about the arrival of the new deputy, a development he said “threatens Stripes’s editorial independence.”

Roughly half of Stars and Stripes' budget comes from the Pentagon, and its staff members are considered Defense Department employees.

The outlet’s mission statement emphasizes that it is “editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command” and that it is unique among news organizations tied to the Defense Department in being “governed by the principles of the First Amendment.”

The newspaper has been reporting about the military steadily since World War II, to an audience mainly of service members stationed overseas.

Lederer told Stars and Stripes that while his retirement is effective Sept. 30, he does not know whether the Pentagon will keep him as publisher until then or name an acting publisher.

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Jocelyn Noveck writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP.

Dr. Erica Schwartz also said she wouldn’t hesitate to disagree with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if necessary — but said she wouldn’t do so publicly.

Schwartz started at the head of the Atlanta-based federal agency last week, taking the reins from a series of temporary directors. She spoke to CDC employees Wednesday at her first “all hands” staff meeting. The Associated Press heard a recording of the meeting.

Schwartz mentioned an AP story this week about CDC programs that have congressional appropriations but functionally are dead or nearly dead because the CDC staffers who did the work were laid off by President Donald Trump’s administration or remain on leave.

She did not say exactly what she will do about these “zombie" programs and about staffers who feel exhausted and overloaded, but said she will meet with CDC staffers to learn more about the situation and what can be done.

“The good news is, I’m here,” she said. “I’m Week 1 of being here, and now I can certainly be able to advocate for the CDC. I think when you have (had) that leadership vacuum, it’s, you know, it’s hard to get that advocacy.”

Schwartz previously served in uniformed government jobs with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Public Health Service. When she disagrees with other leaders she does so in private, “because that’s just part of the uniformed service person in me,” she said. She said she would continue to do so, but “not in front of the media.”

She also promised to build public trust in the agency through “radical transparency, scientific rigor and honest communications,” echoing language used by Kennedy.

Schwartz is the 22nd leader of the CDC, which is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats. In her talk Wednesday, she acknowledged the challenges agency employees have faced.

Largely due to layoffs and resignations, the agency has lost 3,000-plus employees, more than one-quarter of its workforce. Morale has plummeted as a succession of mostly temporary leaders has come and gone. The front office has been staffed by political appointees with little or no training in medicine or public health.

Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement, took several steps that ran counter to CDC research and recommendations, including disbanding an expert advisory committee and appointing his own panel that included several vaccine skeptics.

CDC staffers asked questions Wednesday, including one about Trump's executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held but discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.

Schwartz said a task force on childhood vaccine safety is being established and she is on the panel. It has not met yet, she said. The panel has been given 90 days to report to Trump, she added.

Some current and former CDC employees said Schwartz appeared to be earnest, but want to see what she does.

The National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and current CDC workers, issued a statement after the meeting.

“CDC staff and the American people deserve a strong, independent leader who will follow the science, defend public health expertise and put the health and safety of the public ahead of political pressure,” the statement said. “Dr. Schwartz has spoken about rebuilding trust. That trust must be earned through action."

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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.

The team said Wednesday that Fudd will have arthroscopic surgery on her right knee next week in Connecticut, where she starred for UConn before becoming the Huskies' second consecutive top overall pick by Dallas. Reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers was the No. 1 choice last year.

Fudd was eased into the lineup as a rookie, coming off the bench for the first six games. She scored 24 points in that sixth game and immediately became a full-time starter. Fudd had a season-high 26 points in a win over Seattle in June.

Fudd, who averaged 13.1 points in 30 games, went through warmups before a home game against Golden State on Aug. 7 and was held out of the game “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the team. The soreness persisted.

Bueckers and Fudd won the 2025 national championship together at UConn before Bueckers was drafted by the Wings, who are 3-8 since a six-game winning streak that was the longest since the franchise moved to Texas 10 years ago.

Dallas is still in good shape to make the playoffs for the first time since 2023. The Wings play Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at the home of the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

The testimony of Paul Zeizel is the strongest evidence yet to support the defense contentions that Clancy should not be held legally responsible for murder because she has bipolar disorder and was in the grip of a rare mental illness called postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children before trying to kill herself. Zeizel began seeing Clancy as a patient at a hospital after the deaths.

“She was unable to conform her behavior to the rule of law. She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Zeizel said, adding that she had “a mental disease or a defect.”

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

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Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged from 8 months to 5 years old. Postpartum psychosis is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Researchers estimate that the condition — which is more serious and less common than postpartum depression — afflicts 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery.

Prosecutors say the former labor and delivery nurse planned the January 2023 killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.

Clancy was not getting better

Zeizel, who said he spent more than 35 hours with Clancy over dozens of visits and reviewed her medical records, said she went to a perinatal clinic in December 2022 because she felt her “brain was damaged,” “she should kill herself” and that she “is never going to get any better.” She also showed signs of psychosis, was paranoid and feared that people could hear her thoughts and that she would lose her children.

“She was worried that her children would be removed from her and that she would never see them again,” he said.

But just because she was in a psychotic state, Zeizel said, that didn't mean she couldn't do “everyday tasks of living” like driving and searching the internet, a reference to the fact that the day of the killings she took her daughter to the doctor, played with the children in the snow and searched online for a pharmacy and a restaurant.

“So the fact she is not talking about the unicorns in the corner, she is not slurring her words and she is not unable to walk, to your opinion to a degree of medical certainty, does that mean she is not in a psychotic state?” Clancy's attorney Kevin Reddington asked.

Zeizel responded: “It does not.”

Prosecution challenges Zeizel's credibility

On cross-examination, prosecutors pointed out mistakes Zeizel made in his report about Clancy and questioned whether he could be objective about her diagnosis when he was seeing her as a patient and working with the defense including appearing with Reddington at a news conference.

Zeizel acknowledged that there was nothing in Clancy's medical records in which she reports hearing voices telling her to kill herself, only that she told her caregivers that “she wanted to die.”

Prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of Clancy’s suicide attempt. After strangling her children, Clancy jumped from a second-story window and remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Prosecution brings up the children's birthdays

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham also read from daily reports from Tewksbury Hospital, the state psychiatric hospital where Clancy stays, that included the anniversary of the killings and what would have been her children's birthdays. Those reports mentioned her parents sometimes visiting or her talking with other patients. But they never mentioned anything she did to remember her children.

Reddington asked Zeizel if he saw anything in the record from the hospital about her “laughing, and partying and having a good time” while in the hospital.

“Lindsay Clancy has bad days and worse days,” Zeizel said.

Zeizel also said Clancy often talks about her children, aiming to dispel prosecutors' contention that she never mentions them. “She really loves them and misses them and thinks of them every single day, almost every moment of the day,” Zeizel said.

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

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Caruso, 67, of Riviera Beach, appeared before a Palm Beach County judge in prison clothing, handcuffs and shackles. He did not speak during the brief hearing and allowed his attorney to address the court.

The judge ordered Caruso held without bond while he awaits transfer to Orange County, where he faces charges including kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child and child abuse involving mental injury.

The judge also ordered Caruso to have no contact with the alleged victim or the victim’s family.

Authorities have said the investigation remains ongoing.

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

Caruso has denied the allegations, according to his arrest affidavit.

Authorities said Caruso was arrested Tuesday and immediately suspended from his position by Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis’ executive order bars Caruso from performing any official duties and suspends his pay and allowances.

Shannon Ramsey-Chessman has been sworn in as clerk ad interim following Caruso’s suspension.

Caruso was appointed Palm Beach County clerk of the circuit court and comptroller by DeSantis in 2025 after serving in the Florida House of Representatives. He had been seeking reelection to the clerk’s position.

The arrest comes more than three years after Caruso backed legislation that created a capital sexual battery offense in Florida for certain sexual offenses against children. The law allows the death penalty in cases that meet its requirements.

“Obviously it was a very easy decision for me to yank him from that position,” said DeSantis on Tuesday. “I’m proud that we have very strong penalties for people that abuse children and if he is convicted he is going to be in for a world of hurt.”

Florida law allows the death penalty for an adult convicted of capital sexual battery involving a child under 12. The law applies to sexual battery, or an attempt to commit sexual battery that injures the child’s sexual organs.

Maj. Gen. Adel Issa is the first military officer to be turned over by Lebanon since Assad’s fall in late 2024.

Lebanon’s judicial authorities decided on Tuesday to deliver Issa to Syria, after questioning him over crimes he allegedly committed during the country’s conflict.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said it had asked authorities in Lebanon to hand over Issa to Syria over alleged crimes including intentional killing of more than two persons, the crime of torture resulting in death, and acts of aggression aimed at inciting civil war and sectarian strife.

The ministry added that Issa was the commander of the Syrian army’s 17th Division and the commander of ground forces in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour until 2016. The ministry posted a photo of Issa wearing a prison uniform.

Officials in Beirut said on Tuesday that Issa was turned over to Syria in accordance with a 1951 agreement between the countries that calls for delivering suspected criminals to face justice.

After Syrian fighters opposed to Assad marched into Damascus to end the Assad family’s five-decade rule in December 2024, a number of military and security officers fled to Lebanon, where some remain.

Dozens of other former members of his security agencies accused of atrocities have been arrested and put on trial in Syria.

Last week, a Syrian court sentenced Assad and his younger brother Maher to death in absentia while their maternal cousin, Brig. Gen. Atef Najib, became the most senior security official to be sentenced to death while in custody. The Assad brothers fled to Russia during the ouster.

Issa was detained on Aug. 8 when he went to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut for some paperwork. Embassy officials contacted Lebanon’s prosecutor’s office to tell them that Issa was wanted in Syria.

Issa had fled to Lebanon by crossing illegally after Assad’s fall, the officials said.

Syria’s conflict, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011 before turning into a civil war, left 500,000 people dead and over 1 million wounded.

Fletcher spoke to The Associated Press in an interview after a visit to the southern city of Kherson, where he witnessed how communities there are coping while living under the constant threat of Russian drones. Fletcher described the visit to Kherson, split by the Dnipro River, which acts as an active front line, as “quite chilling."

Russian forces occupy the eastern bank, while Ukrainian forces hold the western bank. From across the water, kamikaze and surveillance drones routinely hunt and attack civilians, vehicles and public transit.

“It really gives us an insight into the dangers ahead of us,” he said.

The threat is also making it harder for humanitarian organizations to reach people who need assistance.

Fletcher spoke after attending a commemoration for two humanitarian workers who had died while doing their jobs.

“Drones are a real threat to not just civilians but the humanitarians who are here to protect them,” Fletcher said.

He said that aid workers are protected under international humanitarian law and yet marked humanitarian vehicles have still been hit. “So that does restrict what we can do," he said.

Local organizations are particularly exposed. More than two-thirds of operations funded through Ukraine's humanitarian fund are carried out by local organizations, according to Fletcher.

“They’re the ones who are saying most loudly to us, we’re not protected,” he said.

Fletcher said the U.N. needs more than $2 billion for its prioritized humanitarian response in Ukraine this year, with winter among his biggest concerns. Damage to civilian infrastructure, including electricity, water and gas systems, could once again leave millions vulnerable during the harsh winter months, raising fears of a repeat of last winter’s severe conditions.

The U.N. has sharply narrowed its humanitarian priorities all over the world as donor funding has fallen. Fletcher said the organization initially identified 87 million people facing the most severe humanitarian needs, but that figure has since risen to about 92 million with the onslaught of Ebola in Africa, the earthquake in Venezuela and other conflicts.

The U.N. is seeking $23 billion to provide life-saving assistance to those people and had raised about $11 billion, said Fletcher.

Ukraine is relatively well funded compared with many other crises, he added, with roughly 70–75% of its hyper-prioritized funding requirement covered. But even full funding of the humanitarian plan would address only part of Ukraine’s needs.

Fletcher also admitted that raising money for humanitarian operations has become more difficult as governments have increasingly redirected spending toward defense and domestic priorities.

“We’re in a more transactional world, I would say a more selfish world,” he said.

Fletcher said the U.N. now has to demonstrate that it is using limited taxpayer money efficiently and strategically.

“We have to show governments that we are spending their taxpayers’ money sensibly, wisely, in a prioritized way,” he said.

In a stark new assessment released on Wednesday, the U.N. warned that 907 aid workers were victims of violence last year and over 1,000 have been killed in three years. Fletcher said he could not reassure colleagues that those responsible would be held accountable based on how the international community has reacted.

He said accountability should extend beyond identifying the person who physically carried out an attack.

“I want to see investigations into the people who fired the weapon or flew the drone,” he said.

During his second day of testimony, Arturo Béjar said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.

“If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” he said.

The trial that began Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, pits Meta against the states of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey and is expected to last about six weeks. The four states were among 29 that sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy — the other 25 will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in state courts, including one underway in Tennessee.

The lawsuit accuses Meta of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and hide these harms from the public. It also argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.

Meta says users must be at least 13 years old to create an account, in line with the law, called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

“The attitude in particular on Instagram was ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Béjar said in response to a question about his perception of the company’s attitude towards users under 13.

The company has rejected the claims and said evidence at the trial will show its commitment to safety.

“You will hear over the course of this case a lot of important issues, issues like teen mental health, issues like social media, issues like how teens use social media,” Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt said Tuesday. “Those are important issues, and they’re issues where Meta believes that it has a responsibility. It has a responsibility to act on its own. It has a responsibility to try to work with teens and parents in partnership to try to address those questions.”

Plaintiffs' witness says safety was an ‘afterthought’

Béjar worked at Facebook from 2009 to 2015, attracting wide attention for his work to combat cyberbullying. He returned from 2019 to 2021 as a contractor to work on safety issues. He testified before Congress in 2023 about social media and the teen mental health crisis, saying that Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, knew about harms Instagram was causing but chose not to make meaningful changes to address them.

In his testimony Wednesday, Béjar said employee performance reviews and compensation for those who worked on user-facing products were mostly focused on user numbers and how long they spend with those products.

“In that context, safety was an afterthought,” he said.

The states are seeking changes to user experiences for Facebook and Instagram as well as financial damages, which could include billions of dollars in penalties. In a written statement, the office of California's attorney general said if Meta loses, the amount of any damages would be set by the court.

“This case is about stopping Meta from offering a dangerous product to teens, and from lying to teens, families, and the public about the dangerousness of their platforms. The primary remedy under our state consumer protection law is an injunction,” the statement said.

Béjar walked through Meta features he said were designed for adults and are “inherently unsafe for teenagers.”

This includes video autoplay, which can mean teens see videos that may cause them harm even if they don't click on them; as well as various counters that track how many people liked, viewed or commented on your content or how many followers you have.

Child development experts have noted teenagers are more susceptible to social comparison than adults, so products that reward popularity can be more harmful to their mental health.

Age verification has been criticized for not going far enough

Despite Meta's statements that it works to find kids under 13 on its platforms and ban them, Béjar testified that he found “tens of thousands” of kids under 13 on Instagram through his research. He said it was “common knowledge” at the company that such young children were on Instagram.

“Meta has one of the most sophisticated infrastructures in the world to detect fake accounts,” he said. But despite that, he added, there were “no goals, no metrics” to detect and check kids’ ages who were suspected to be under 13.

Over the years, Meta has introduced features it says are designed to make the experience safer for young people. But Béjar said these did not work.

For instance, a tool called “Take a Break," introduced in 2021, is a feature that is "designed to fail,” he said. First, it is a setting that people have to turn on if they want to use it. Béjar said that in his experience building settings, very few users actually go through the trouble of turning them on. He compared it to an airbag that drivers have to turn on every time they get in a car.

“A safety tool has to be on by default,” he said.

The feature can also be dismissed with a tap of a finger. If Meta was serious about wanting users to take a break, Béjar said, it would not be so easily swiped away.

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AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this story from Los Angeles.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the Texans haven’t announced the severity of his injury.

Higgins fell awkwardly while running a route during a joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday in Houston. Coach DeMeco Ryans said at the time that Higgins was being evaluated for a leg injury.

The second-year receiver was expected to team up with No. 1 wideout Nico Collins in the Texans offense led by quarterback C.J. Stroud. A second-round pick in the 2025 draft, Higgins made 41 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns in his rookie year.

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here