Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue personnel responded to a power pole on fire at about 8:45 a.m. on Saturday at Southeast 12 Avenue and Las Olas Boulevard.

“Saturday is usually very busy for us,” said Andrea Sarracino, the owner of The Sarracino Salon. “Unfortunately, we had to cancel the whole day.”

The Florida Power & Light Company’s outage map showed there were about 34 customers affected at about 9 a.m.

Some had power restored by 3 p.m., and FPL was still working on the others and expected to have all power restored by this afternoon.

A boat captain who identified as Leo said a boat exploded during startup, likely because of a gas leak, and it was the “scariest moment” of his life.

More than 25 M-DFR units, including Fireboat 21 and Ocean Rescue teams, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers, responded shortly before 12:50 p.m. to Haulover Park.

This is a developing story. Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mariana Ortiz contributed to this report.

Watch Local 10 News or refresh the page for the latest updates.

The victims of the April 19 shooting in Shreveport included seven siblings who were shot by their father in an attack that also killed their cousin.

The service on Mother’s Day weekend at Summer Grove Baptist Church began with a long procession of mourners slowly filing past eight white caskets with large photos of the children next to them. Gold crowns and bouquets of white flowers were placed on top of the closed caskets. A choir behind the altar and individual singers performed throughout the service.

“In spite of how you may be feeling today, we still need to know that God is still good,” Bishop Bernard Kimble, senior pastor of the Mount Olive Baptist Church, said in opening remarks.

The funeral's pamphlet contained tributes to each of the children, who ranged in age from 3 to 11. Some of them had affectionate nicknames: 3-year-old Jayla Elkins was “Jaybae;” Kayla Pugh, 6, was called “K-Mae,” and 10-year-old Mar’Kaydon Pugh was “K-Bug.”

Six-year-old Khedarrion Snow had “a sweet and loving heart,” and “though his life on earth was short, his light was mighty,” according to the pamphlet. Layla Pugh, 7, was “bright, intelligent, bold, and full of love” and enjoyed making TikTok videos with her siblings and cousins.

Pastor and gospel singer Kim Burrell reminded family and community members trying to make sense of the shootings that “God is still on the throne.”

“To ask the question, 'Why is this fair, God? How could you, Lord?' He’s still God,” Burrell said. “The same God that healed you from the stuff that you don’t want to tell nobody about. But he is a God that doesn’t have to give us all the clues. Just know that he makes no mistakes.”

The children’s father, Shamar Elkins, used an assault-style weapon despite a 2019 felony firearms conviction. His wife, who was seeking a divorce, and another woman were wounded in the shooting that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood.

Elkins died after fleeing and a police pursuit. It was not clear whether he was killed by officers who fired or from a self-inflicted gunshot, according to police.

An investigation remains ongoing into the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in more than two years.

During the service, other speakers included Shreveport Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor, who acknowledged that “there are no words sufficient to ease this pain,” while Councilman James Green implored audience members to collectively “take off our funeral face” because “this is a celebration” of the children's lives.

Indeed, churchgoers often stood clapping their hands in response to singers and speakers. The children's names were read or shown several times throughout the service, where Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed the city's condolences.

“May we honor them by carrying forward the gentleness, joy and love they so freely shared,” Arceneaux said.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry ordered U.S. and state flags to be flown at half-staff over the next week at the Capitol and state government buildings. A message read from Landry said the victims “were the light of their homes and the heart of their classrooms. They were full of promise and found joy in the simplest things, such as dancing, playing outside and sharing laughter with family and friends. Their futures were bright and held great promise.”

“It is incumbent upon us to honor the memory of those lost by standing together against such senseless violence.”

Among those in attendance was former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, whose political career was cut short by a 2011 assassination attempt.

“She just wanted to come and just let the family know that this pain is not just in Louisiana,” said U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Louisiana. “This pain is all across the nation.”

Buses were made available afterward to transport mourners to a graveside burial. At the conclusion of the church service, Kimble prayed for healing to begin.

“Help us as we move from this spot,” he said. “Because we know, oh God, grief is only temporary. And if we'll put our hands in your favor, you'll lead us through this.”

The Trackhouse Racing driver qualified first on the 2.45-mile road course, earning the fifth pole of his NASCAR Cup Series career in his 62nd start — the fastest to reach that mark in nearly 20 years ( Denny Hamlin needed 49 starts to capture his fifth pole in April 2007).

Seeking to defend a dominant win last August at Watkins Glen, van Gisbergen is expecting tire management will be a major factor in Sunday’s 100-lap race. During practice, lap times dropped by 4 to 5 seconds over the course of a run as drivers found extra speed in cool, damp conditions. After 42 Cup races in the summer at Watkins Glen, Sunday will mark the first held during the spring.

“I expected it to be faster, but the falloff was insane,” said van Gisbergen, who became the ninth Cup driver to qualify first on his birthday with his first pole since last July at Sonoma Raceway. “I didn’t expect it to be that extreme. It was kind of like Bristol when it’s cold, and the tires would fall apart. It was very interesting. It’ll be a good race to watch but probably a hard one to manage.”

The New Zealand native will be the favorite, having won five of the last six races on road or street courses in NASCAR’s premier series. Michael McDowell qualified a season-best second, nearly 0.3 seconds behind van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet.

“I feel like SVG kicked my butt,” said McDowell, whose No. 71 Chevy has finished outside the top 20 in four consecutive races. “But I’m really proud of everybody at Spire Motorsports. It’s been a rough few weeks here. Tire falloff was incredible in practice, so we got a decent lap in there, but man, then you watch how fast SVG is.”

Austin Cindric qualified third, followed by Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch, who are teammates of van Gisbergen at Trackhouse Racing. The team is off to a slow start with only a combined four top 10s this season.

“We’ve got some good cars here this weekend, and hopefully we can capitalize on that,” van Gisbergen said.

Coming off his second win of the season, Chase Elliott, who leads active drivers with seven road-course wins, qualified a career-worst 27th at Watkins Glen (site of his first Cup win in 2018).

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Shannon Smith, the director of community engagement at Coca-Cola Florida, said the trophy tour exhibit also includes giveaways.

“For most, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Smith said.

The trophy and an interactive exhibit were on display at Florida International University’s Pitbull Stadium, at 11310 SW 17 St., in University Park.

“To have the actual trophy 20 feet away from us right now, and everyone who experiences this activation gets the opportunity to take a photo with. It is absolutely fantastic, super exciting,”

The trophy will be on display again from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit this page.

More than 20 foxhounds, a breed specifically trained to run alongside horses and hunters, took to the turf course Saturday to kick off the race day as fans cheer and take photos and videos.

The huntsman and his team, who are called whippers-in, has the sometimes difficult task of keeping the hounds on course, especially when they can get distracted by the tens of thousands of spectators in the infield and all their delicious tailgating food.

One hound loved the attention from the fans so much that she veered off course, said Charles Montgomery, a master and huntsman with the Mells Foxhounds, the hunting group that runs their dogs in the steeplechase. “She had the best time. She loved going into the beer tents,” Montgomery said.

She loved it so much, she ran to the beer tent again the next year, so now she's not invited back to the race, Montgomery said.

The Iroquois Steeplechase is one of the premier American steeplechase races, with a total of $730,000 awarded in purses, on a grass turf course with hurdles that opened in 1941 as a Work Progress Administration project. The Nashville race was founded by members of the Hillsboro Hounds, another fox hunting club in the Nashville area.

Steeplechase racing and fox hunting are wedded together, said Stephen Heard, one of the trustees of the Iroquois Steeplechase and a member of the Mells Foxhounds group. The tradition came from the British Isles, where horses were raced from church steeple to church steeple and trained to jump obstacles like fences while hunting with dogs.

“Many of the horses that we use fox hunting are ex-steeplechase horses," said Heard.

With 25,000 spectators who are eating and drinking in tents and in the stands, the dogs need some time to adjust to the noise and smells.

“I took one dog last year and he heard the speakers and he said, ‘This is not for me,'" Charles Montgomery said.

“It's high pressure,” said Boo Montgomery, one of the whippers-in. When a child held out a fried chicken leg through the rails one time, it was a temptation no hound could resist. “You couldn't fault Brightly for stopping and having a snack,” she said, of one of the foxhounds.

Charles Montgomery said he usually will bring the veteran hunting hounds who can guide the younger dogs along the course. On the morning of the race, the dogs bounded off their trailer, eager to sniff grass and chew on sticks and roll in the clover.

The hounds wear GPS-equipped collars whenever they hunt and when they come to the racetrack. That came in handy last year when a dog got spooked and took off into the wooded park nearby.

While the racetrack is not their normal working environment, the hounds seem to enjoy the challenge that comes with kicking off the horse races, said Boo Montgomery.

“It's a great exposure for hunting to get to see these hounds and the horses,” said Boo Montgomery. “It's nice to be able to show off.”

Los ataques del viernes sembraron dudas sobre el frágil alto el fuego, adoptado hace un mes, que Estados Unidos ha insistido en que sigue vigente. Washington espera una respuesta de Teherán a su última propuesta de acuerdo para poner fin a la guerra, reabrir el estrecho de Ormuz y revertir el controvertido programa nuclear iraní.

El ejército de Estados Unidos informó el viernes que sus fuerzas habían inutilizado dos petroleros iraníes que intentaban romper el bloqueo estadounidense de los puertos de Irán. Horas antes, el ejército indicó que frustró ataques contra tres buques de la Marina y atacó instalaciones militares iraníes en el estrecho.

Por su parte, el Ministerio del Interior de Baréin, una pequeña isla en el golfo Pérsico, reportó el sábado el arresto de 41 personas a las que acusa de formar parte de un grupo afiliado a la Guardia Revolucionaria iraní. Se están llevando a cabo investigaciones para tomar medidas adicionales contra cualquiera que esté vinculado al grupo, agregó sin ofrecer más detalles.

Baréin está gobernado por una monarquía suní pero, como ocurre con Irán, su población es mayoritariamente chií. Grupos de derechos humanos sostienen que el reino ha utilizado la guerra entre Irán y Estados Unidos —cuya Quinta Flota tiene su base allí— como pretexto para reprimir la disidencia interna.

EEUU dice que respondió a un ataque en el estrecho de Ormuz

Irán ha cerrado casi por completo la vía marítima, crucial para el comercio de petróleo y gas global, desde que Estados Unidos e Israel iniciaron la guerra el 28 de febrero, lo que causó un alza global de los precios del combustible y sacudió los mercados mundiales. Estados Unidos ha impuesto su propio bloqueo a los puertos de Irán.

El ejército estadounidense publicó un video de los dos petroleros iraníes en el que se veía como uno de sus cazas impactaba en sus chimeneas el viernes. A principios de semana, un avión militar de Estados Unidos destruyó el timón de un petrolero que, según el ejército, intentaba romper su bloqueo.

Durante la noche, un ataque estadounidense mató al menos a un marinero e hirió a otros 10 a bordo de un buque de carga que se incendió, informó una agencia de noticias afiliada al poder judicial iraní. No estaba claro si la embarcación era uno de los dos petroleros que Washington reconoció haber atacado.

Pese a los ataques, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, ha insistido en que el alto el fuego se mantiene. También ha reiterado las amenazas de reanudar los bombardeos a gran escala si la República Islámica no acepta un acuerdo para reabrir el estrecho y revertir su programa nuclear.

El viernes, el portavoz del Ministerio de Exteriores iraní, Esmail Baghaei, afirmó que el país no prestaba atención a los “plazos” y que Teherán continúa revisando una propuesta de la Casa Blanca relacionada con las negociaciones en curso, según la agencia noticiosa estatal IRNA.

Un alto funcionario iraní también declaró el viernes que el líder supremo del país, Moytabá Jamenei, gozaba de “plena salud” y que, en algún momento, aparecería en público.

Las declaraciones las hizo Mazaher Hosseini, vinculado a la oficina del anterior líder supremo de Irán, en una concentración progubernamental. Hosseini sostuvo que Moytabá había sufrido lesiones en una rodilla y en la espalda, pero que se habían curado ya en gran medida y ahora se encontraba bien.

Jamenei no ha sido visto en público desde que comenzó la guerra, y la ausencia continuada de imágenes, audios o videos verificados de él ha alimentado las especulaciones sobre su situación. Comentarios como los de Hosseini son vistos por algunos como intentos de contrarrestar las dudas de que quizá no esté vivo.

Llamados a la calma

A medida que aumentan las tensiones, se ha producido una oleada de actividad diplomática en todo el mundo.

El Ministerio de Exteriores de Rusia dijo el sábado que, igual que Arabia Saudí, pide que continúen los esfuerzos diplomáticos para alcanzar un “acuerdo sostenible y a largo plazo” que ponga fin a la guerra, según el propio ministerio ruso.

Los principales diplomáticos de Egipto y Qatar reiteraron también que la diplomacia es el único camino para encontrar una solución al conflicto, según el resumen de una llamada telefónica que mantuvieron el sábado el ministro de Exteriores egipcio, Badr Abdelatty, y su homólogo qatarí, el jeque Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

El primer ministro de Pakistán, Shehbaz Sharif, dijo que su país ha estado en contacto con Estados Unidos e Irán “día y noche” en un esfuerzo por extender el alto el fuego y alcanzar un acuerdo de paz.

Los Bravos anunciaron la muerte de Cox el sábado; pero no dieron detalles. Cox sufrió un derrame cerebral en 2019.

“Bobby fue el mejor mánager que jamás vistió un uniforme de los Bravos”, señaló el equipo en un comunicado. “Condujo a nuestro equipo a 14 títulos divisionales consecutivos, cinco banderines de la Liga Nacional y el inolvidable título de la Serie Mundial en 1995. Su legado como mánager de los Braves nunca será igualado”.

Cox asumió el mando de un equipo que estaba en el último lugar en junio de 1990 y llevó a los Bravos a pasar de al primer puesto en 1991 antes de perder la Serie Mundial ante los Mellizos de Minnesota en siete juegos. Ese fue el inicio de lo que sería un récord de 14 títulos divisionales consecutivos, una hazaña que ningún equipo profesional de ningún deporte había logrado.

Dirigió a los Bravos durante 25 años y condujo a Atlanta a su único título de la Serie Mundial en 1995, se retiró después de la temporada de 2010 y fue exaltado al Salón de la Fama en 2014.

En medio de un brote de hantavirus en el que hay varios estadounidenses afectados y acapara titulares en todo el mundo, la principal agencia de salud pública del gobierno de Estados Unidos, los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC, por sus siglas en inglés), ha estado inusualmente ausente, según varios expertos.

Para el presidente Donald Trump, “parece que tenemos las cosas bajo muy buen control”, como les dijo a los reporteros el viernes por la noche.

Para los expertos, la situación a bordo del crucero no se ha descontrolado porque, a diferencia del COVID-19 o el sarampión o la gripe, el hantavirus no se propaga con facilidad. Han sido los expertos sanitarios de otros países, no de Estados Unidos, quienes se han ocupado principalmente del brote durante la última semana.

“Los CDC ni siquiera están en el juego”, afirmó Lawrence Gostin, experto internacional en salud pública de la Universidad de Georgetown. “Nunca había visto eso”.

Las acciones de los CDC no se aceleraron sino hasta las últimas horas del viernes.

Autoridades de salud confirmaron el despliegue de un equipo a las Islas Canarias de España, adonde se prevé que el barco llegue a primera hora del domingo, hora local, para reunirse con los estadounidenses a bordo. Indicaron que un segundo equipo irá a la Base de la Fuerza Aérea Offutt, en Nebraska, como parte de un plan para evacuar a los pasajeros estadounidenses del barco a un centro de cuarentena de la Universidad de Nebraska para su evaluación y vigilancia. Además, los CDC emitieron su primera alerta sanitaria para médicos de Estados Unidos, advirtiéndoles sobre la posibilidad de casos importados.

En su primera sesión informativa, realizada el sábado por teléfono y solo para reporteros invitados, los funcionarios prometieron ser transparentes al actualizar al público, pero señalaron que los medios no podían citar a los oradores por su nombre, conforme a reglas establecidas por asesores del secretario de Salud, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. No respondieron directamente a una pregunta sobre si los pasajeros estadounidenses podrían salir del centro médico universitario cuando quisieran.

La función disminuida de los CDC en este brote es un indicador de que la agencia ya no es la fuerza en salud internacional ni el protector de la salud nacional que alguna vez fue, dijeron algunos expertos.

El brote de hantavirus es “un evento centinela” que indica “qué tan bien preparado está el país ante una amenaza de enfermedad. Y ahora mismo, lamento mucho decir que no estamos preparados”, dijo la doctora Jeanne Marrazzo, directora ejecutiva de la Sociedad de Enfermedades Infecciosas de Estados Unidos.

Cómo se desarrolló el brote

A principios del mes pasado, un hombre neerlandés de 70 años desarrolló una enfermedad febril en un crucero que viajaba de Argentina a la Antártida y a algunas islas del Atlántico Sur. Murió menos de una semana después. Más personas enfermaron, incluida la esposa del hombre y una mujer alemana, quienes también fallecieron.

El hantavirus se identificó por primera vez como causa de la enfermedad en uno de los casos el 2 de mayo. La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) entró en acción y para el lunes ya lo calificaba como un brote. En el barco había alrededor de dos docenas de estadounidenses, entre ellos, unos siete que desembarcaron el mes pasado y 17 que permanecieron a bordo.

La OMS ocupa el escenario central

Durante décadas, los CDC se asociaron con la OMS en situaciones como esta. Los centros actuaban como un pilar de cualquier investigación internacional, aportando personal y experiencia para ayudar a desentrañar el misterio de un brote, desarrollar formas de controlarlo y comunicar al público lo que debía saber y cuánto debía preocuparse.

Acciones como esas fueron una de las principales razones por las que los CDC desarrollaron su reputación como la principal agencia de salud pública del mundo.

Pero esta vez, la OMS ha estado en el escenario central. Realizó la evaluación de riesgo en la que se indicó a la gente que el brote no representa una amenaza de pandemia.

“No creo que esto sea una amenaza enorme para Estados Unidos”, manifestó Jennifer Nuzzo, directora del Centro de Pandemias de la Universidad Brown. Pero la forma en que se ha desarrollado esta situación “solo muestra lo vacío e insustancial que están los CDC en este momento”, añadió.

Turbulencia bajo Trump

La situación actual se produce después de 16 tumultuosos meses durante los cuales el gobierno del presidente Donald Trump se retiró de la OMS, en ocasiones ha restringido la posibilidad de que científicos de los CDC hablen con homólogos internacionales y emprendió un plan para construir su propia red internacional de salud pública mediante acuerdos uno a uno con países individuales.

El gobierno ha despedido a miles de científicos y profesionales de salud pública de los CDC, incluidos miembros del programa de saneamiento de barcos de la agencia.

Mientras esto ocurría, Kennedy dijo que estaba trabajando para “restaurar el enfoque de los CDC en las enfermedades infecciosas, invertir en innovación y reconstruir la confianza mediante la integridad y la transparencia”.

A la espera de noticias de los CDC

Los CDC no han guardado completo silencio sobre el hantavirus.

La agencia emitió el miércoles un breve comunicado en el que señaló que el riesgo para el público estadounidense es “extremadamente bajo” y describió al gobierno de Estados Unidos como “el líder mundial en seguridad sanitaria global”.

“Eso no solo fue inútil, sino que en realidad provoca un daño, porque un principio central de las comunicaciones en salud pública es la humildad”, comentó Nuzzo.

El director interino de los CDC, el doctor Jay Bhattacharya, publicó un mensaje en redes sociales en el que indicó que la agencia aportaba su experiencia para coordinarse con otras agencias federales y autoridades internacionales. Autoridades de Arizona dijeron esta semana que se enteraron por los CDC de que uno de los estadounidenses que dejó el barco —una persona asintomática y que no se considera contagiosa— ya había regresado al estado. Funcionarios de la OMS dijeron que la agencia ha compartido información técnica.

Los centros también “monitorean el estado de salud y preparan apoyo médico para todos los pasajeros estadounidenses en el crucero”, escribió Bhattacharya.

Pero la mayoría de los funcionarios federales de salud se han mostrado herméticos y han rechazado solicitudes de entrevista.

Comparación con el COVID-19

En entrevistas realizadas esta semana, algunos expertos hicieron una comparación con un incidente ocurrido en 2020 que tuvo que ver con el Diamond Princess, un crucero anclado en Japón que se convirtió en el escenario de uno de los primeros grandes brotes de COVID-19 fuera de China.

Los CDC enviaron personal al puerto, ayudaron a evacuar a pasajeros estadounidenses, gestionaron cuarentenas, compartieron datos genéticos sobre el virus, coordinaron con la OMS y Japón, realizaron sesiones informativas públicas y publicaron rápidamente informes “que se convirtieron en los datos de referencia mundial sobre la transmisión del COVID en cruceros”, señaló el doctor Tom Frieden, exdirector de los CDC.

Algunos aspectos de la respuesta internacional al Diamond Princess fueron criticados, y no detuvo el brote ni frenó la propagación del COVID-19 por el mundo. Pero algunos expertos dicen que no fue por falta de esfuerzo de los CDC.

“Los CDC estaban encima del tema, muy visibles, muy activos en tratar de gestionarlo y contenerlo”, indicó Gostin, mientras que el trabajo de la agencia ahora está retrasado y atenuado.

En lugar de trabajar con casi todas las naciones del mundo a través de la OMS, el gobierno de Trump ha impulsado acuerdos sanitarios bilaterales con países individuales para el intercambio de información, el apoyo de salud pública y lo que describe como “la introducción de tecnologías estadounidenses innovadoras”. Actualmente hay alrededor de 30 acuerdos en vigor.

Eso no es suficiente, sostuvo Gostin. “No se puede cubrir una crisis sanitaria global haciendo acuerdos uno a uno con países aquí y allá”, afirmó.

The second and final rookie minicamp session Saturday lacked physicality by design. Harbaugh wants top-10 draft picks Arvell Reese and Francis "“Sisi” Mauigoa and the rest of the players involved to understand it's not a competitive camp but rather a chance to prepare for the next phase of offseason workouts.

“This is not a camp where you’re trying to go out there and make plays,” Harbaugh said. “There really are no plays to be made. It’s a rehearsal type of camp. ... We’re going to kind of do the dance, so to speak, of football. We’re not actually competing against one another.”

That comes later, when veterans are in the mix for organized team activities, mandatory minicamp and then training camp, which begins in late July at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. After 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Harbaugh is bringing a deliberate approach to his new challenge, and the real tests are still far away.

“The true competition comes in the preseason games,” Harbaugh said. “That’s when you can say it’s the most competitive. I’d say it’s kind of a ramp up to that.”

Harbaugh brings gravitas because he has won the Super Bowl and coached Baltimore to the playoffs 12 times. He was in the postseason six other times as an assistant in Philadelphia.

With the Eagles, Harbaugh worked with defensive back Rod Hood, and the Giants drafted nephew Colton Hood, a cornerback out of Tennessee, in the second round. Rookie minicamp was Colton Hood's first opportunity to be on the field with Harbaugh.

“My uncle told me what to expect, and it was everything that I expected,” said Hood, whose interception ripping the ball out of tryout running back Miles Davis' hands was the highlight Saturday. “Just hard-nosed coach, old-school, but he loves his players. He wants them to be great, so it’s that tough love kind of thing.”

Giants have a kicking competition

Harbaugh comes from a special teams background, so it should be no surprise that he and the front office are spicing up the next few months with a kicking competition. Michigan's Dominic Zvada was signed as an undrafted free agent to compete for the job against holdover Ben Sauls and veteran addition Jason Sanders.

“We’ll kick field goals, I think, every other practice,” Harbaugh said. “We may be kicking them every practice because we’ve got three guys to kick, and we’ll just see how it shakes out.”

Zvada made 95.5% of his field-goal attempts in 2024, best in the nation, then just 68% last season. At 6-foot-3, Zvada is “big for a kicker,” Harbaugh said, with a strong leg to boot.

“More than anything just the consistency,” Harbaugh said. “He does a nice job of getting downfield through the kick, and because of that he tends to kick a straight ball consistently. If you do that, you probably have a chance.”

Arvell Reese impresses early

Reese still being available when the Giants were on the clock with the fifth pick was somewhat unexpected, and now they're beginning the process of what assistant general manager Brandon Brown called maximizing the Ohio State product's abilities.

They see him as a weak-side linebacker, not an edge rusher like many other teams, and the first impression of Reese at rookie minicamp was a strong one.

“Picks things up really quick,” Harbaugh said. “Very serious-minded, very diligent about the assignments. I don’t think he got one assignment wrong throughout the two days, which is great to see.”

Odell Beckham Jr. remains in limbo

A contract has not yet materialized since receiver Odell Beckham Jr. worked out for New York last month, and it might not at all. Harbaugh said he spoke to Beckham three or four times over the past week while the 33-year-old trains in Arizona and did not indicate anything was imminent.

“It’s got to be right for both parties,” Harbaugh said. "I’m pretty sure that he can make a team in the National Football League right now, but can he make a difference? It’s something he wants to do. Is his body going to hold up in the way he wants it to? And all those things are questions that need to get answered for anybody at that age.”

Beckham has not played in an NFL game since Dec. 8, 2024.

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

El avión, que cubría la ruta de Denver al Aeropuerto Internacional de Los Ángeles, “reportó haber golpeado a un peatón durante el despegue en DEN aproximadamente a las 11:19 p.m. del viernes”, escribió la cuenta oficial del aeropuerto en X.

Un portavoz del aeropuerto indicó que el peatón, que saltó una valla perimetral, murió. Señaló que la persona, que no ha sido identificada, fue impactada dos minutos después de ingresar al aeropuerto. No se cree que fuera un empleado del aeropuerto.

“Nos estamos deteniendo en la pista”, le dice el piloto a la torre de control, según el sitio ATC.com. “Acabamos de golpear a alguien. Tenemos un incendio en un motor”.

El piloto le dijo al controlador de tránsito aéreo que tenían “231 almas” a bordo y que “un individuo estaba caminando por la pista”.

El controlador de tránsito aéreo responde que “ya están saliendo los camiones”, antes de que el piloto le diga a la torre que “tenemos humo en la aeronave. Vamos a evacuar en la pista”.

Frontier Airlines señaló en un comunicado que el vuelo 4345 fue el involucrado en la colisión y que “se reportó humo en la cabina y los pilotos abortaron el despegue”. No estaba claro si el humo estaba relacionado con el impacto con el peatón.

“El Airbus A321 transportaba a 224 pasajeros y siete miembros de la tripulación”, indicó la aerolínea. “Estamos investigando este incidente y recopilando más información en coordinación con el aeropuerto y otras autoridades de seguridad”.

Luego, los pasajeros fueron evacuados por los toboganes y el equipo de emergencia los trasladó en autobús a la terminal. El portavoz del aeropuerto dijo que 12 pasajeros sufrieron lesiones leves y cinco fueron llevados a hospitales locales.

El Aeropuerto de Denver informó que se notificó a la Junta Nacional de Seguridad en el Transporte y que la pista 17L, donde ocurrió el incidente, permanecerá cerrada mientras se realiza una investigación. Se espera que reabra más tarde hoy.

Apenas un día antes, un empleado de Delta Air Lines murió trabajando en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Orlando. En un comunicado, la aerolínea indicó que el empleado falleció la noche del jueves sin proporcionar detalles del incidente ni el nombre del trabajador.

“Estamos enfocados en brindar todo nuestro apoyo a la familia y en cuidar a nuestro equipo de Orlando durante este momento difícil”, manifestó la aerolínea. “Estamos trabajando con las autoridades locales mientras se pone en marcha una investigación completa para determinar qué ocurrió”.

Thitikul started with a three-shot lead and it was gone quickly after a bogey on the second hole and a fast start by Hannah Green.

But Thitikul kept her cool and kept marching along on a Mountain Ridge course softened by spells of rain, but still difficult enough with its contoured greens to present problems.

Thitikul got up-and-down for par with a nifty pitch on the 18th to finish at 10-under 216, two shots over Celine Boutier of France, who had a 67.

“It’s a new day and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but just going to let golf be golf and then let myself be committed to golf and then just go by the flow with it and then just give myself a lot of chances,” Thitikul said. “Another opportunity under my belt that I have in the final round again.”

Hye-Jin Choi had a 66 and was three shots behind.

Green was only the first of the contenders who got within one shot of Thitikul with a four-hole stretch on the front nine that she played in 4 under, including an eagle on the par-5 eighth. But no one could surge ahead.

Ruoning Yin of China was within one shot playing the par-4 15th when she got in trouble off the tee and had a full short iron into for her fourth shot. She hit that to 5 feet and looked as though she might escape with a bogey. But she shockingly three-putted for triple bogey.

Yin answered with a birdie on the par-3 16th with its accessible front pin and had to settle for a 68, leaving her in a tie for fourth at at 6-under 210 along with Green and Allisen Corpuz, who has not won since the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach in 2023. Corpuz shot 68.

“Just my brain, not working on this hole,” Yin said. “When I three-putted on 15 I was like ... I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t angry. I just felt like I still have so many birdie chances coming up. ... I think my game is in a great spot and I think I starting to figure it out this course a little bit.”

Green dropped two shots on the back, including a bogey on the 18th, and she finished when the rain was at its strongest.

“I’m going to have to do exactly what I did on the front nine — put myself in good positions off the tee as well as on the greens,” Green said. “I felt like on the back nine I had a couple of opportunities to make a birdie but it was a downhill putt, so you just can’t be aggressive.”

Boutier played bogey-free after her opening hole, including a string of three birdies over four holes on the back nine to get within one shot.

“I feel like you have to be pretty smart and kind of like almost patient about it, because sometimes you’re tempted to go for things but it’s not always the smartest choice,” Boutier said.

Thitikul, so precise most of the cloudy day, got up-and-down from in front of the green on the par-5 17th for a birdie that gave her a two-shot cushion, and she protected it with a bold play over the cross bunkers from the rough on the 18th, and a super pitch up the false front to save par.

She lost her No. 1 ranking two weeks ago when Thitikul missed the cut at The Chevron Championship in search of her first major, and Nelly Korda won The Chevron and the following week in Mexico. Korda is not playing this week.

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

Leer en español

Chewy was attempting to break a world record with the largest dog pool party.

The event was from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Chewy Bark Park, at 4500 Ponce De Leon Boulevard.

Las autoridades informaron que a las 12:48 p.m., más de 25 unidades de MDFR, incluidos el Fireboat 21 y equipos de Ocean Rescue, junto con oficiales de la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida, respondieron a la escena.

Al llegar, los equipos de rescate indicaron que encontraron a “múltiples pacientes” y rápidamente solicitaron recursos adicionales.

Indicaron que el incidente fue elevado a un “Incidente con Múltiples Víctimas Nivel 2” debido a la cantidad de personas que necesitaban atención médica.

Las autoridades informaron que las 15 personas fueron trasladadas a un hospital cercano. No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre sus edades o condiciones.

La causa de la explosión reportada permanece bajo investigación.

Esta es una noticia en desarrollo. Vea Local 10 News o actualice la página para conocer las últimas novedades.

Chewy intentaba romper un récord mundial con la fiesta de piscina para perros más grande.

El evento se realizó de 10 a.m. a 1 p.m. en Chewy Bark Park, ubicado en el 4500 de Ponce De Leon Boulevard.

“Hoy despedimos con profundo dolor a Germán Vargas Lleras, nuestro líder natural, servidor público incansable y una de las voces más firmes y determinantes de la política colombiana”, lamentó Cambio Radical sin detallar la causa de su muerte.

Vargas nació el 19 de febrero de 1962 en Bogotá en el seno de una influyente familia. Su abuelo materno fue el expresidente liberal Carlos Lleras Restrepo, quien gobernó entre 1966 y 1970, y cuyos pasos Vargas quiso seguir con dos aspiraciones presidenciales que no resultaron exitosas.

En su prolífica vida política, fue el vicepresidente de Juan Manuel Santos en su segundo mandato entre 2014 y 2017, renunciando antes de que culminara su encargo para aspirar a la presidencia en 2018, en la que resultó vencedor el conservador Iván Duque.

En sus últimos años de vida enfrentó problemas de salud. En 2016, cuando era vicepresidente, fue sometido a radioterapias y a una operación de resección de un meningioma -un tumor en las meninges- que fue calificada por sus médicos de exitosa.

En días recientes, había preocupación por su salud luego de que el expresidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez le deseara pronta mejoría desde la red social X.

“En mala hora de la Patria muere Germán Vargas Lleras. Su partida ocurre en el momento que la democracia más necesitaba de su verticalidad”, escribió Uribe Vélez, con quien tuvieron cercanía política.

Conocido por sus ambiciosos proyectos de infraestructura y construcción de vivienda cuando fue en el gobierno de Santos también su ministro de Vivienda, se preciaba de conocer el Estado y ser buen ejecutor.

“Fue un coequipero excepcional, con un conocimiento profundo del país y una inmejorable capacidad de ejecución al servicio de Colombia”, aseguró Santos en sus condolencias en la red social X dirigidas a su familia.

Vargas deja una hija, Clemencia, fruto de su matrimonio con la bailarina María Beatriz Umaña, así como a su nieto, con quien publicó unas de las últimas fotografías en redes sociales este año.

Fue un duro crítico del actual gobierno de Gustavo Petro, primer presidente izquierdista en el país, a quien cuestionaba por sus aspiraciones para reformar la Constitución, que no han avanzado, así como de presuntamente utilizar su poder para apoyar en la actual carrera presidencial a su candidato de izquierda, Iván Cepeda.

Petro lamentó en X la muerte de Vargas, a quien reconoció como un opositor serio que lo cuestionó con argumentos. “Tanto en el Senado como en campaña se comportó como un gladiador. En general contradictor mío, lamento que su seriedad en el debate desaparezca”, indicó el mandatario.

Catholic LGBTQ+ advocates cheered this week when a Vatican working group released a report featuring the testimony of two gay, married Catholics who spoke openly about their sexuality, faith and how the Catholic Church’s negative teaching on homosexuality had hurt them.

Additionally, Leo made clear during a recent airborne news conference that he believed the church’s teachings on social justice, equality and freedom were far more important than its teaching on sexual morality, suggesting he doesn’t intend to prioritize the issue.

At that same news conference, though, Leo indicated he will go no further than Francis on the contentious matter of same-sex blessings. The Vatican has recently renewed its opposition to any local efforts to deviate from the Holy See stance.

For the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit who has spearheaded the church’s outreach to the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S., the developments signal strong continuity with Francis.

“If the Catholic Church has begun to listen to LGBTQ Catholics as part of its methodology, the church has already moved forward in a significant way,” he wrote recently.

But the signals have prompted criticism from conservatives, who have stressed official Catholic teaching — unchanged during even Francis’ pontificate — that says homosexual activity is “intrinsically disordered.”

A synod document featuring searing testimony

The Vatican working group report summarized the work of experts studying controversial topics that emerged after Francis’ yearslong reform effort. The report has no binding value and is merely a synthesis of deliberations. It’s not clear what, if anything, Leo will do with it.

The testimony of the gay men, contained in annexes published on the Vatican’s synod website, featured moving accounts of how one, from Portugal, came to terms with his homosexuality and married his husband. The man also recounted how he sometimes struggled with his faith because of insensitive remarks from a Catholic spiritual director and forced “conversion therapy,” the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations.

The other testimony, from an American, criticized the therapy he went through and counseling he received from a Catholic pastoral group, Courage, that seeks to help people with same-sex attraction live chastely.

“My sexuality isn’t a perversion, disorder, or cross; it’s a gift from God,” the person wrote.

Courage, in a statement Friday, decried the negative depiction of its work, saying it has never been involved in “reparative therapy.”

“Courage has suffered calumny and detraction before, but usually from secular outlets,” the group said. “It is a great sadness and an additional wound to our members to have this false and unjust depiction in a Vatican document.”

Martin said the publication marked the first time that an official Vatican report “has included such detailed stories from LGBTQ Catholics. As such, it marks a significant step forward in the church’s relationship with the LGBTQ community.”

Bishop Joseph Strickland, whom Francis removed as bishop of Tyler, Texas, said the report was “deeply alarming” and contradicted church teaching about sexuality, sin, marriage and morality. In a post on his personal website entitled “An Emergency in the Church,” Strickland said the church’s teaching on homosexuality didn’t come from prejudice but from God.

“To suggest that the sin does not consist in the same-sex relationship itself is not merely confusing language. It is a direct assault upon Catholic moral doctrine and upon the words of Scripture itself,” he wrote.

The German church guidelines

The issue of LGBTQ+ outreach is coming to a head in Germany, where Catholic bishops have issued guidelines for priests on performing same-sex blessings that seemingly go beyond what Francis’ Vatican decreed in 2023.

That year, the Vatican’s doctrine office issued a declaration, known by its Latin title “Fiducia Supplicans,” that allowed priests to offer spontaneous, nonliturgical blessings to same-sex couples, provided such blessings aren’t confused with the rites and rituals of a wedding. Church teaching holds that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and woman.

The declaration prompted an unprecedented, continentwide dissent from African bishops and other conservatives, prompting the Vatican to clarify that such blessings must be brief, “10 or 15 seconds,” and aren’t a blessing of the union per se but the people in it.

In April 2025, German bishops and an influential lay organization published guidelines on implementing the declaration.

While stressing the spontaneous, nonliturgical nature of the blessing, the guidelines say they are for the relationship as opposed to individuals, and provide criteria for a proper celebration. The guidelines say, for example, there should be appropriate liturgical readings, “care in the preparation” of the event, and that people invited should offer “acclamation, prayer and song.”

Leo revealed last month, while traveling home from Africa, that the Vatican had told the Germans that it doesn’t agree with their proposals. This week, the 2024 letter in which the Holy See articulated its position was put online.

The letter, signed by doctrine chief Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, said the guidelines’ reference to acclamation resembled that of marriage and “in this sense effectively legitimizes the status of these couples, contrary to what is stated” in the Vatican’s 2023 declaration.

Fernández’s letter complained that the German guidelines’ mention of the location, aesthetic and music in a blessing suggested a liturgical ceremony that “contradicts” what the Vatican had allowed.

The letter didn’t veto the German guidelines outright but offered Fernández’s “observations.”

LGBTQ+ advocates welcome Leo’s measured approach

Leo met Thursday with German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who — despite Fernández’s letter — recently recommended that priests in his archdiocese use the German guidelines as a basis for their pastoral care.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Wednesday that talk of sanctions against German priests who use the guidelines was “premature” and said dialogue with German bishops was ongoing.

The hope is “never to have to resort to sanctions, that problems can be resolved peacefully, as should be the case in the church,” Parolin said.

Martin said the Vatican had been clear that the Vatican’s 2023 declaration limited blessing of same-sex couples only under certain circumstances.

“But the synod has also made it clear that it is inviting the church to listen, in a new way, to the experiences of LGBTQ Catholics. So, to me, there is no contradiction,” he told The Associated Press. ”Both ‘Fiducia’ and the synod report are steps forward in the church’s ministry to LGBTQ people.”

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ+ Catholics, praised Leo’s comments on church teaching about sexual morality.

Returning from Africa, Leo was asked about Marx’s adoption of the German guidelines and how he intended to preserve the unity of the church over the divisive issue of same-sex blessings.

“It is very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters,” Leo said. “I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.”

DeBernardo said it was “good to hear from the pope that he is making a decisive turn away from the church’s obsession with sexual matters.”

He also welcomed Leo’s “measured” comments about the German same-sex guidelines.

“He did not condemn or even criticize German church leaders. He simply said there is disagreement, and that this is not a cause for disunity,” DeBernardo said. “Both the new moral emphasis on social issues instead of sexuality, and the fostering of a more collegial church are good news for LGBTQ+ Catholics.”

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Geir Moulson contributed from Berlin.

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

In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts.

To President Donald Trump, “We seem to have things under very good control,” as he told reporters Friday evening.

To experts, the situation aboard a cruise ship has not spiraled because, unlike COVID-19 or measles or the flu, hantavirus does not spread easily. It has been health experts in other countries, not the United States, who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the past week.

“The CDC is not even a player,” said Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University. “I’ve never seen that before.”

Not until late Friday did CDC actions accelerate.

Health officials confirmed the deployment of a team to Spain’s Canary Islands, where the ship was expected to arrive early Sunday local time, to meet the Americans onboard. They said a second team will go to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska as part of a plan to evacuate American passengers from the ship to a University of Nebraska quarantine center for evaluation and monitoring. Also, the CDC issued its first health alert to U.S. doctors, advising them of the possibility of imported cases.

At their first briefing, held Saturday by telephone only for invited reporters, officials pledged to be transparent in updating the public but said the media could not cite the speakers by name under rules set by aides to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They did not directly answer a question about whether the American passengers could leave the university medical facility when they wanted.

The CDC’s diminished role in this outbreak is an indicator the agency is no longer the force in international health or the protector of domestic health that it once was, some experts said.

The hantavirus outbreak is “a sentinel event” that speaks to “how well the country is prepared for a disease threat. And right now, I’m very sorry to say that we are not prepared,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

How the outbreak unfolded

Early last month, a 70-year-old Dutch man developed a feverish illness on a cruise ship traveling from Argentina to Antarctica and some islands in the South Atlantic. He died less than a week later. More people became sick, including the man’s wife and a German woman, who both died.

Hantavirus was first identified as a cause of sickness of one of the cases on May 2. The World Health Organization swung into action and by Monday was calling it an outbreak. About two dozen Americans were on the ship, including about seven who disembarked last month and 17 who remained on board.

It’s WHO taking center stage

For decades, the CDC partnered with the WHO in such situations. The CDC acted as a mainstay of any international investigation, providing staff and expertise to help unravel any outbreak mystery, develop ways to control it and communicate to the public what they should know and how they should worry.

Such actions were a large reason why the CDC developed a reputation as the world’s premier public health agency.

But this time, the WHO has been center stage. It made the risk assessment that has told people the outbreak is not a pandemic threat.

“I don’t think this is a giant threat to the United States,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center. But how this situation has played out “just shows how empty and vapid the CDC is right now,” she said.

Tumult under Trump

The current situation comes after 16 tumultuous months during which the Trump administration withdrew from the WHO, has restricted CDC scientists from talking to international counterparts at times and embarked on a plan to build its own international public health network through one-on-one agreements with individual countries.

The administration has laid off thousands of CDC scientists and public health professionals, including members of the agency’s ship sanitation program.

As this was playing out, Kennedy said he was working to “restore the CDC’s focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency.”

Waiting to hear from the CDC

The CDC has not been completely silent on hantavirus.

The agency on Wednesday issued a short statement that said the risk to the American public is “extremely low,” and described the U.S. government as “the world’s leader in global health security.”

Said Nuzzo: “Not only was that not helpful, it actually does damage because a core principle of public health communications is humility.”

The CDC’s acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, posted a message on social media that the agency was lending its expertise in coordinating with other federal agencies and international authorities. Arizona officials this week said they learned from the CDC that one of the Americans who left the ship — a person with no symptoms and not considered contagious — had already returned to the state. WHO officials said the CDC has been sharing technical information.

The CDC also is “monitoring the health status and preparing medical support for all of the American passengers on the cruise,” Bhattacharya wrote.

But federal health officials have mostly been tight-lipped, declining interview requests. The first on-camera appearance by a CDC official came Saturday morning, when Bhattacharya appeared on a Fox News program and said, “My message to the American people is please don’t worry.” But he got some details wrong and overstated what was known about the outbreak.

He incorrectly said two passengers in their 80s had died after they had contracted the virus while bird-watching in Argentina. The travelers were a 70-year-old Dutch man and his 69-year-old wife and while Argentine health officials think it is possible they were infected during a bird-watching outing, it has not been established.

COVID-19 comparison

In interviews this week, some experts made a comparison with a 2020 incident involving the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship docked in Japan that became the setting of one of the first large COVID-19 outbreaks outside of China.

The CDC sent personnel to the port, helped evacuate American passengers, ran quarantines, shared genetic data on the virus, coordinated with the WHO and Japan, held public briefings and rapidly published reports “that became the world’s reference data on cruise ship COVID transmission,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director.

Some aspects of the international response to the Diamond Princess were criticized, and it did not halt the outbreak or stop COVID-19’s spread across the world. But some experts say it was not for the CDC’s lack of trying.

“The CDC was right on top of it, very visible, very active in trying to manage and contain it,” Gostin said, while the agency’s work now is delayed and subdued.

Instead of working with nearly all of the world’s nations through the WHO, the Trump administration has pursued bilateral health agreements with individual nations for information sharing, public health support, and what it describes as “the introduction of innovative American technologies.” Roughly 30 agreements are currently in place.

That’s not sufficient, Gostin said. “You can’t possibly cover a global health crisis by doing one-on-one deals with countries here and there,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in New York, Darlene Superville in Washington and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.

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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.

Hefty marks — even without winning a championship — for the New Jersey native trusted enough to get plugged into most of UFC’s milestone cards in its rise into a billion-dollar global sports behemoth.

“I’m not just out there just to win,” Miller said of his fight style. “I’m out there to win to make me happy; to make me excited with the way that happens.”

Miller’s joy was dimmed over the last year when his teenage son was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer. He dropped the fight week schedule for hospital visits and threw his focus into his family — all while knowing he would indeed return to the cage again.

When Miller fights Jared Gordon in a lightweight bout on Saturday night at UFC 328 in Newark, New Jersey, he’ll mark more than his 47th career UFC fight and aim for his 28th career UFC victory.

He’ll celebrate fighting for the first time since his son beat cancer.

Wyatt Miller was diagnosed with rhadbomyosacroma, a rare type of cancer that starts as a growth of cells in soft tissue and is more common in childhood.

Miller said the cancer cells were tucked into his son’s left eye socket and sinus area and first popped up as a sign of trouble last July when Wyatt complained that it felt like he had something stuck in his eye. There was a noticeable lump that indeed proved cancerous.

The health issues were, naturally, scary for all involved, though the family was grateful the cancer did not spread and force Wyatt to face more dire circumstances.

“The vast majority of it came out when they did the biopsy,” Miller said. “It kind of just popped out on its own.”

Wyatt underwent two courses of chemotherapy and fives week of proton radiation at Rutgers University Cancer Institute that Miller said doctors told the family could have potential side effects later in life. Wyatt will need scans and MRIs about every three months for the next year or so, to make sure the cancer has not returned.

He’ll need scans and cancer check-ups for rhadbomyosacroma well into his 20s. The disease had some ill effects on Wyatt’s vision but doctors said the tumors didn’t seem to present behind the eyeball and get tangled up in the optic nerves, which could have led to permanent damaging effects with his vision.

“He’s just a stud,” Miller said with a smile. “He’s just an amazing young man.”

Miller, tied for second with most finishes and most submissions in UFC history, has made a nice financial life for himself in a sport where fighter pay lags well behind the eight-figure annual salaries found in the traditional stick-and-ball sports. Yet, because UFC fighters are classified as independent contractors, not employees, the company is not obligated to provide benefits such as health insurance or retirement plans.

So, it doesn’t.

Miller pays for his own health insurance plan for his family and admitted that — while, yes, he had a bit more of a financial cushion — the out-of-pocket bills and other expenses have piled up during Wyatt’s cancer battle.

“It is what it is, right? We are contractors and that’s the way it goes,” Miller said. “We acted quickly, and he got treatment quickly, and he needed it quickly. We were lucky it was just where it was because it tends to spread to the lungs.”

Miller expected his wife and their four children — including Wyatt — to attend his fight for one of the few times in his career.

His son’s cancer scare kept him out of the cage for 13 months, an eternity for a fighter who made a habit of competing multiple times a year. Miller lost to Chase Hooper at UFC 314 in April 2025 and admitted he missed “that push, the grind of it” of all those training camps in his life without a fight to train for.

Miller is a New Jersey native and cut his teeth as a young pro in MMA cards in the state and has since seemingly fought on every East Coast card since his UFC debut in 2008. He first fought in Newark at UFC 111 in 2010 and has the distinction of being the only fighter to compete at UFC 100, UFC 200 and UFC 300.

He turns 43 in August, making UFC 400 seem like the ultimate long shot, even though he’s not quite ready to hang up his gloves.

Consider, when the 37-year-old Gordon made his UFC debut in 2017, Miller already had 26 fights on his resume under the company banner.

Miller credited his longevity in large part to good health and good fortune — he rattled off a list of fighters and coaches he knows who suffered freak injuries — to a career that may put his career fights record out of reach by the time he finally retires.

“I’ve always tried to train like a professional,” Miller said. “That’s really kind of it.”

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AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

Cox died in Marietta, Georgia, according to the Atlanta Braves. He had a stroke in 2019 and heart issues that complicated his recovery.

“Bobby was the best manager to ever wear a Braves uniform. He led our team to 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and the unforgettable World Series title in 1995. His Braves managerial legacy will never be matched,” the Braves said in a statement.

Cox took over a last-place team in June 1990 and led the Braves to a worst-to-first finish in 1991, losing the World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games. That was the start of what was to become a record 14 consecutive division titles, a feat no professional team in any sport had accomplished.

He managed the Braves for 25 years and led Atlanta to its first World Series title in 1995, retired after the 2010 season and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.

“Bobby was a favorite among all in the baseball community, especially those who played for him. His wealth of knowledge on player development and the intricacies of managing the game were rewarded with the sport’s ultimate prize in 2014 — enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame," the Braves said.

As of Saturday, Cox ranks fourth all-time with 2,504 wins, fifth with 4,508 games, first with 15 division titles including a record 14 in a row, first with 16 playoff appearances and fourth with 67 playoff victories.

Only Connie Mack, John McGraw and Tony La Russa had more regular-season wins than Cox. His 158 regular-season ejections also was the most among managers.

Gov. Brian Kemp said the state of Georgia and the Braves lost a true legend in Cox.

“His vision, talent and management style not only earned him a spot in the National Hall of Fame, but also built a legacy that will endure for generations to come,” Kemp said.

Cox's death came four days after that of fellow Atlanta icon Ted Turner, who as owner of Braves lured Cox back to the team in 1990.

“RIP my second father,” Andruw Jones wrote on social media. The 10-time Gold Glove winner with Atlanta in July will become the sixth who played for Cox with the Braves to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Braves retired Cox’s No. 6 jersey in 2011, when he joined the team’s Hall of Fame.

“He is the Atlanta Braves,” catcher Brian McCann said in 2019. “He’s the best.”

McCann described Cox as “one of the best human beings any of us have ever met.”

Cox spent 29 seasons as a major league manager, including four with Toronto. He managed 16 postseason teams. He brought an old-school approach to the dugout. He always wore spikes and stirrups, and his fatherly demeanor inspired loyalty from his players.

Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux said players around the league always wanted to know what it was like playing for Bobby Cox: “The first word that comes to mind is respect. He had that from players. When Bobby talked, we listened. We wanted to play for him.”

Cox was the first NL manager to win at least 100 games in a season five times. He was Manager of the Year four times and the only one to win in consecutive years (2004, 2005). He also had close ties with his successors, Fredi Gonzalez and Brian Snitker.

He regularly attended games and spring training before a stroke in 2019 that affected his speech and movement. Cox recovered enough to visit the Braves later that season, watching a game from the press box level. His wife, Pam, said in 2020 that heart trouble slowed his recovery from the stroke.

His long marriage survived a 1995 confrontation in which he was accused of hitting his wife in the face. He was charged with simple battery and in custody for an hour. The following day, Bobby and Pam appeared at a news conference and each denied he hit her in the face.

Cox said the couple would seek counseling. The charge was eventually dropped.

Despite all his regular-season success, Cox won only the one World Series title in five tries. He led the Braves to Atlanta’s first major professional sports championship in 1995, beating the Cleveland Indians in six games to win the World Series. Cox said critics usually focused on the World Series losses instead.

“We have been to a lot of World Series, and we’ve played great,” Cox said. “We probably didn’t play as good in the one that we won."

The Braves lost in 1992 to Toronto in six games and in 1996 in six to the New York Yankees before being swept by the Yankees in 1999.

“It’s a game of breaks when you get down to a four-game, must-win series,” Cox said. “We’ve played well. We’re proud of what we’ve done. They always ask that, though. It is irritating, to be honest with you.”

Tom Glavine played for Cox during those glory years and believed it was unfair to blame the manager for Atlanta’s playoff woes.

“It always amazes me that when we win in the regular season, Bobby Cox gets no credit,” Glavine said. “But when we don’t win in the postseason, he gets the blame.”

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 21, 1941, Cox graduated from Selma High School in California in 1959 and attended nearby Reedley Junior College before signing with the Dodgers for a $40,000 bonus.

He spent seven years in the Dodgers’ farm system before being traded to the Braves’ organization, playing one year at Richmond (1967). He was traded to the Yankees for Bob Tillman and Dale Roberts and played third base for his only two seasons in the majors (1968-69) before bad knees forced him to retire at age 30.

Cox began the first of six years as a minor league manager in 1971. He returned to the majors in 1977 as a first base coach for the Yankees, who went on to win the World Series.

His first major league managerial job came with the Braves in 1978. The best season of his first stint in Atlanta was an 81-80 finish in 1980, and he went 266-323 in four seasons.

The Toronto Blue Jays hired Cox in 1982, and he led them to their first American League East championship in 1985, in his fourth and final year there. He was lured back to the Braves as general manager by Turner, their outrageous owner and visionary media mogul, in 1986.

As GM, his Atlanta teams never had a winning season. Cox did develop many of the players key to the Braves’ success in the ’90s: Glavine, John Smoltz, Jeff Blauser, Mark Lemke, Dave Justice, Javy Lopez and Ron Gant. He also had two No. 1 draft picks who excelled, Steve Avery and Chipper Jones.

Cox returned as field manager on June 22, 1990, after Russ Nixon was fired.

“It’s pretty impressive that he starts as a GM; he signs half the guys down there up front, and then he comes down and manages them,” Maddux said.

Cox usually shied away from the limelight and was uncomfortable when talking about himself.

“Honestly, I’m just doing my job. I let everything else fall where it may,” he said.

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

The street banners dotted the downtown landscape, the handmade signs were visible from any vantage point inside the sold out arena and, of course, Caitlin Clark jerseys and T-shirts remained a trendy favorite. And why not live it up as Clark's 10-month wait to play a meaningful game on her home court finally ended with the weekend's featured matchup between Clark and the Fever and Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings.

Yet even with the anticipation of seeing two of the league's most popular players and the last four No. 1 draft picks squaring off in Game 1, nobody sounded more excited or reflective than Clark.

“I think there's a different juice inside your body when you're putting on your uniform and you're mentally locked in to go and play a basketball game,” she said before tipoff. “Like I was excited for my teammates last year, 100% I was their biggest fan. But it's not the same, it just isn't. I missed having the butterflies in my stomach before a game. Like I love that, and that means you're ready.”

The WNBA schedule makers certainly gave fans what they wanted following an offseason filled with collective bargaining agreement negotiations and uncertainty about this year's action.

By Friday night, it was all in the past. Two old rivals, the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun, played the first game of the league's 30th season with two potentially budding rivals, the Seattle Storm and Golden State Valkyries, capping the night in the third and final game. In between, fans got their first glimpse of the expansion Toronto Tempo against Washington.

That set up Saturday's nationally televised matinee between Clark and Bueckers, who scored the Wings' first basket on a 3-pointer in the game's opening minute. Clark answered with a driving layup. And while the two met last week in Indianapolis, that was just a preseason game.

This time, Clark and her teammates walked down the stairs and through the crowd to the court for player introductions with the loudest roar, naturally, reserved for Clark.

“I'm getting chills right now just thinking about where we are as a league," Fever coach Stephanie White said. “I mean this is what we dreamed about, right? From the time I was a rookie in this league to the time we won a championship in 2012 (with the Fever) when we were seeing sold out arenas only in championship games or in Finals games to becoming mainstream.”

While Clark played a big role in making sellouts the norm — in college and the WNBA — it's not just about Clark anymore.

Saturday's crowd included a small group in UConn jerseys, a nod to both Bueckers and rookie Azzi Fudd, this year's No. 1 draft pick, while another had a cutout of Bueckers on a sign saying she'd skipped her prom to attend the game. And there was a smattering of Bueckers fans dressed in Dallas jerseys, too.

“It's huge. I watched a lot of the games on YouTube TV las night so to be able to play on national television where a lot more people have access to it,” Bueckers said. “There's way more accessibility to it than when I was growing up watching the Minnesota Lynx. There wasn't as much national television coverage, you didn't see shows about it, you didn't so much on social media.”

But the addition of Bueckers, last year's WNBA Rookie of the Year, and the return of Clark, the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, from a season-ending groin injury have the league poised for potentially its biggest season yet.

And the opening weekend fanfare had a little bit of everything — David Letterman and NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton sitting courtside, a moment to honor some of the pioneers from the Women's Professional Basketball League and Fever players walking through the crowd to the court during player introductions with the two biggest roars reserved for Clark and Bueckers.

“I think it's great for women's basketball more than anything,” Clark said referring to the four No. 1 picks — Fever center Aliyah Boston in 2023, herself in 2024, Bueckers in 2025 and Fudd this year. “And you know this might be the first time this has ever really happened in sports — having two No. 1 picks on both sides. I think it speaks to the young talent in this league, how excited fans are about them and how excited they are about these two teams having us match up in the first game of the season."

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

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NASA has now released more than 12,000 of the star-filled photographs, making the collection available for the public to explore.

Among the highlights are images of Earth shining in its full brilliance, as well as views showing the planet peeking over the lunar surface.

Other photos bring the moon into closer focus, revealing detailed textures of its surface — including the region where the Artemis IV crew hopes to land in 2028.

The collection also includes a point-of-view image taken from inside the Orion spacecraft, showing what the four astronauts saw outside their window during the mission.

NASA officials described the image set as a first-of-its-kind look at deep space travel from the astronauts’ perspective.

Local 10 viewers can take a closer look at the photos by clicking here.

La NASA ahora ha publicado más de 12,000 fotografías llenas de estrellas, poniendo la colección a disposición del público para su exploración.

Entre las imágenes destacadas se encuentran fotografías de la Tierra brillando en todo su esplendor, así como vistas que muestran al planeta asomándose sobre la superficie lunar.

Otras fotos muestran la Luna más de cerca, revelando texturas detalladas de su superficie, incluida la región donde la tripulación de Artemis IV espera aterrizar en 2028.

La colección también incluye una imagen en primera persona tomada desde el interior de la nave Orion, mostrando lo que los cuatro astronautas vieron fuera de su ventana durante la misión.

Funcionarios de la NASA describieron el conjunto de imágenes como una mirada sin precedentes a los viajes en el espacio profundo desde la perspectiva de los astronautas.

Los televidentes de Local 10 pueden ver las fotos más de cerca haciendo clic aquí.

Phil Mickelson shot 29 here in 2014.

The front nine round which included six birdies briefly moved Gotterup to 5 under for the tournament, just four shots behind leader Sungjae Im, who tees off later in the day.

However, Gotterup gave a shot back with a bogey on the par-4 11th hole.

Gotterup has been all over the flagstick in the third round, including a 124-yard approach shot on the par-4 second hole that came to a stop just inches from the hole.

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

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According to an incident report from the Hollywood Police Department, Sapp went to the department’s headquarters at 3250 Hollywood Blvd. around 10:45 a.m. on March 3.

While there, police said Sapp, 53, made an “unusual amount of requests,” preventing a female city employee from performing her duties.

Police said a Hollywood police lieutenant repeatedly told Sapp he could not record video inside an official police area, but Sapp allegedly refused and continued recording.

In a separate incident on April 22 around 11:15 a.m., a court filing obtained by Local 10 News states Sapp showed a detective a video connected to the March incident and insisted he had greeted the employee by saying hello.

However, the city employee later described Sapp in a statement as “rude, aggressive and intimidating.”

According to the report, Sapp also referenced “an ongoing court case” involving the employee and said she could potentially lose her job as a result.

Authorities said Sapp was later issued a notice to appear in court.

Court records show Sapp is facing with one count of interference with city employees in the performance of official duties.

Officials said the ordinance makes it unlawful to “obstruct, hinder, impede, delay and/or frustrate” city employees while carrying out official duties.

As part of the case, Sapp was also ordered to have no contact with victims or witnesses and remain at least 500 feet away from employees who work inside the building.

In a video posted to Instagram on April 20, Sapp defended his actions.

“I’m trying to do right and see what’s happening in my city hall where we pay a lot of money,” Sapp said.

Sapp also questioned whether he could speak with a city employee “at the door,” despite a sign outside the room stating: “Restricted access: Employees Only.”

In the same video, Sapp said he was “just trying to do right,” adding that he wanted “to see what was happening in my city hall where we pay a lot of money and they gave themselves a raise.”

Sapp also claimed that he was assaulted, threatened with arrest and thrown out of city hall in a place where he believed you can ask questions.

Sapp is scheduled to appear in court on June 10 for a hearing on the case.

Según un informe del incidente del Departamento de Policía de Hollywood, Sapp acudió a la sede del departamento ubicada en el 3250 de Hollywood Blvd. alrededor de las 10:45 a.m. del 3 de marzo.

Mientras estaba allí, la Policía indicó que Sapp, de 53 años, realizó una “cantidad inusual de solicitudes”, impidiendo que una empleada municipal realizara sus funciones.

La Policía indicó que un teniente de la Policía de Hollywood le dijo repetidamente a Sapp que no podía grabar video dentro de un área oficial de la Policía, pero presuntamente Sapp se negó y continuó grabando.

En un incidente separado el 22 de abril alrededor de las 11:15 a.m., un documento judicial obtenido por Local 10 News establece que Sapp mostró a un detective un video relacionado con el incidente de marzo e insistió en que había saludado a la empleada diciendo hola.

Sin embargo, la empleada municipal posteriormente describió a Sapp en una declaración como “grosero, agresivo e intimidante”.

Según el informe, Sapp también hizo referencia a “un caso judicial en curso” relacionado con la empleada y dijo que ella podría perder su trabajo como resultado.

Las autoridades informaron que posteriormente a Sapp se le emitió una citación para comparecer ante el tribunal.

Los registros judiciales muestran que Sapp enfrenta un cargo de interferencia con empleados municipales en el desempeño de funciones oficiales.

Las autoridades indicaron que la ordenanza considera ilegal “obstruir, dificultar, impedir, retrasar y/o frustrar” a empleados municipales mientras realizan funciones oficiales.

Como parte del caso, también se ordenó a Sapp no tener contacto con víctimas o testigos y permanecer al menos a 500 pies de distancia de empleados que trabajan dentro del edificio.

En un video publicado en Instagram el 20 de abril, Sapp defendió sus acciones.

“Estoy tratando de hacer lo correcto y ver qué está pasando en mi ayuntamiento donde pagamos mucho dinero”, dijo Sapp.

Sapp también cuestionó si podía hablar con una empleada municipal “en la puerta”, a pesar de un letrero fuera de la sala que decía: “Acceso restringido: solo empleados”.

En el mismo video, Sapp dijo que “solo estaba tratando de hacer lo correcto”, agregando que quería “ver qué estaba pasando en mi ayuntamiento donde pagamos mucho dinero y ellos mismos se dieron un aumento”.

“En el video, Sapp también dijo que fue agredido, amenazado con arresto y expulsado del ayuntamiento en un lugar donde se pueden hacer preguntas”.

Sapp tiene previsto comparecer ante el tribunal el 10 de junio para una audiencia sobre el caso.

A free, digital textbook overseen by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center aims to be a high-caliber guide to help high school and college educators nationwide teach more effectively about AAPI experiences. “Foundations and Futures: Asian American and Pacific Islander Multimedia Textbook” is the culmination of years of work by 100 contributors, from curriculum developers to illustrators.

“Our presence, our practices, our cultural rituals and things like that are not deemed as ‘American,’” Karen Umemoto, a co-editor and the Center’s director, told The AP exclusively before the $12 million project's official launch Saturday. “The actual putting together of this textbook also became our fight for inclusion and represents our right to be seen, our right to speak.”

The textbook covers a wide breadth of AAPI communities and their struggles, with more chapters to be added on a rolling basis. While May is AAPI Heritage Month, this platform is about keeping the spotlight on year-round.

“Young people are going to have so many different opportunities to see themselves and their communities represented in this core text. Now I can’t wait,” said Kelly Fong, a co-editor.

These scholars are well aware that with President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans working to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in education, it may be difficult to persuade some states and teachers to use the textbook at first. But that's not dampening their enthusiasm.

Working through anti-Asian and anti-immigrant sentiment

Academic freedom and editorial independence have been guiding principles since they first developed the idea for this textbook eight years ago. Then came the pandemic, and with it, a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Racial reckoning and fighting anti-Asian hate became part of the national conversation as they developed a prototype.

“COVID, I think, was really one of the things that shaped the textbook the way that it did,” Fong said. “We understood that it was about education as one of the ways to fight racism.”

The project felt like a “bridge” as a 2021 California law made ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement, Fong added. By 2022, the Asian American Studies Center received federal and state funding for the textbook.

At a time when a large share of AAPI adults still worry about racial discrimination and now anti-immigrant rhetoric, Umemoto hopes learning stories about the challenges and achievements of individual immigrants will create some “historical empathy.”

Giving voice to underrepresented AAPI voices, including women

The textbook’s expansive scope goes well beyond the Japanese detention camps and Chinese laborers mentioned in standard textbooks. The editorial team whittled 150 ideas for chapter topics down to 50, with sections on the formation of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and Asian Americans in the South, chapters related to Vietnamese, Hmong and Indigenous Hawaiians, and archival photos and embedded videos, including one on Filipino farmworkers narrated by rapper Ruby Ibarra.

“We were trying to be as inclusive as possible,” said Melany De La Cruz-Viesca, the Center's deputy director.

The book also gives space to individual female stories. You can read about Cornelia Delute, a Filipina supporter of the United Farm Workers, or Mamie Tape, an 8-year-old Chinese American girl whose efforts to attend public school were approved by the California Supreme Court.

As the first woman of color and Asian American woman elected to Congress, Patsy Takemoto Mink opposed the Vietnam War and worked to prevent sex discrimination in education through Title IX. For her section, they found a political scientist who could contribute intimate knowledge — her daughter, Gwendolyn “Wendy” Mink.

“I’m just glad that the whole project exists,” Mink said, since her mother's generation is dwindling. “She was a fighter, she was principled, she offered hope to people who felt beaten down by defeats on struggles for justice. I hear it less because fewer people know about her deeply.”

Elevating AAPI history amid anti-DEI sentiment

The political landscape has shifted dramatically since the textbook was first proposed. Republicans now say DEI initiatives discriminate against white and Asian students in the college admissions process, a view shared by some Asian American advocates. The Trump administration has attempted to withhold funding from schools, including UCLA, for factoring race in admissions and for campus programs that support students based on their identities.

Some states have set up hotlines or websites to report any DEI practices at publicly-funded schools. And with critics likening ethnic studies to indoctrination, some schools are reluctant to support Asian American history in K-12 classrooms. Many teachers have been thrust onto “the front lines” of a cultural back-and-forth, Fong said.

“It's changed for the teachers who we were hoping would use the textbook. We have tried to figure out how to respond to best support them,” Fong said. “We don’t necessarily have an answer to that yet.”

While some states are focusing less on incorporating AAPI history now, the work continues in others -- often led by lobbying from large AAPI populations, said Tina Ellsworth, president of the National Council for the Social Studies.

Ellsworth, who has been a textbook reviewer, said textbooks have improved somewhat in terms of cultural relevancy and sensitivity to language. But she says this multimedia textbook “will come in very handy” as teachers seek additional materials on marginalized histories, particularly because it's free and attached to a reputable university.

“It’s just about letting people know that it’s out there,” Ellsworth said.

The textbook's authors are seeking another $5 million through private donations to expand it, market it and pay for cloud storage. New sections could involve Tongan Americans and Taiwanese Americans. “There are so many fascinating stories that have yet to be shared with the world,” Umemoto said.

The Giants received minor league left-hander Matt Wilkinson and the 29th pick in the 2026 amateur draft in the trade.

Cleveland optioned Bo Naylor to Triple-A Columbus to make room for Bailey. Naylor has been the Guardians' regular catcher since 2023.

Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti said before Saturday night's game against the Minnesota Twins that the organization has had interest in Bailey for a long time, but the right opportunity didn't happen until this past week.

“We didn’t set out necessarily to acquire catching, but this was an opportunity that we felt made sense because it in our view will help us win games and help us pursue our goal of winning a World Series,” Antonetti said. “About a week ago, we had some initial dialogue with the Giants and it seemed like for the first time there might be the opportunity to overlap."

Bailey has been regarded as one of the top defensive catchers in the game thanks in part to his elite pitch-framing skills since being called up in 2023. He leads the majors since 2023 with 69 catcher framing runs and 42 defensive runs saved over the past two-plus seasons.

But his hitting has been an issue and bottomed out this season. Bailey was batting .146 with one homer and five RBIs in 89 plate appearances. His .396 OPS ranked last among 286 players with at least 75 plate appearances this season.

Bailey had become expendable for the Giants with Daniel Susac and Jesus Rodriguez expected to handle most of the catching duties, with Eric Haase as another option. Those players have provided much more offense for the Giants, who enter the day last in the majors in scoring with 3.16 runs per game and tied with the New York Mets for the worst record in the National League.

Bailey, who turns 27 later this month, won Gold Gloves at catcher in 2024 and 2025. He is a career .224 hitter with a .611 OPS. He arrived in Cleveland before the game and is available off the bench as a pinch-hitter.

Naylor had a .237 batting average as a rookie in 2023 but has struggled offensively the past two-plus seasons. His .143 batting average this season is last in the majors among the 29 catchers with at least 90 plate appearances.

His .192 batting average since 2024 is next-to-last among catchers with at least 200 games played.

“That was probably my least favorite conversation I’ve had since getting this job (in 2024),” manager Stephen Vogt said of the conversation with Naylor about being sent down. “We still believe that Bo has a bright future with us, but any time you send somebody away from here, it’s the worst. But that one, especially.”

The Guardians entered the day with a 21-19 record and in first place in the AL Central. Austin Hedges also has seen steady playing time behind the plate along with David Fry.

The 23-year-old Wilkinson pitched for Canada in the World Baseball Classic earlier this year. He has made six starts this season at Double-A Akron, going 1-2 with a 1.59 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 28 1-3 innings.

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Dubow reported from San Francisco and Reedy from Cleveland.

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

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Families, survivors and supporters filled the event with music, dancing and community spirit, while sharing personal stories about how epilepsy has impacted their lives.

“Honestly, I didn’t know much about epilepsy until my son was diagnosed,” said Aleida Cardona, whose son Dominic was diagnosed before his first birthday and is now 13 years old.

Cardona said epilepsy affects far more than seizures.

“It’s a lot more than just seizures, it goes way beyond that,” she said. “We’re here to support all the purple warriors, all the families. Just to give back.”

Many attendees said they came to honor loved ones living with epilepsy or those who died from the disorder.

“For my uncle Clayton, that died with epilepsy,” 9-year-old Lily said.

“And for my brother Roger who has epilepsy,” 10-year-old Enid added.

Local 10 News reporter Saira Anwer also shared her personal experience living with epilepsy for nearly a decade.

“It’s so special to see so many people come out. Florida is the state with the highest prevalence of epilepsy cases,” she said. “So this mission here in Florida is even more important just to bring people together. It impacts people in so many different ways.”

Organizers with Epilepsy Alliance Florida said the goal of the event is to connect families with resources and remind them they are not alone.

“It is possible with the right support to live a very fulfilling, great life,” said Monica Rodriguez with Epilepsy Alliance Florida. “That’s what we’re here to do — help people get there.”

The organization was also raising money during Saturday’s event and said it is close to reaching its $200,000 fundraising goal. Click here to learn how you can contribute.

Familias, sobrevivientes y simpatizantes llenaron el evento de música, baile y espíritu comunitario, mientras compartían historias personales sobre cómo la epilepsia ha impactado sus vidas.

“Honestamente, no sabía mucho sobre la epilepsia hasta que mi hijo fue diagnosticado”, dijo Aleida Cardona, cuyo hijo Dominic fue diagnosticado antes de cumplir su primer año y ahora tiene 13 años.

Cardona dijo que la epilepsia afecta mucho más que las convulsiones.

“Es mucho más que solo convulsiones, va mucho más allá de eso”, dijo. “Estamos aquí para apoyar a todos los guerreros púrpura, a todas las familias. Solo para retribuir”.

Muchos asistentes dijeron que acudieron para honrar a seres queridos que viven con epilepsia o que murieron a causa del trastorno.

“Por mi tío Clayton, que murió con epilepsia”, dijo Lily, de 9 años.

“Y por mi hermano Roger, que tiene epilepsia”, agregó Enid, de 10 años.

La reportera de Local 10 News Saira Anwer también compartió su experiencia personal viviendo con epilepsia durante casi una década.

“Es muy especial ver a tantas personas reunirse. Florida es el estado con la mayor prevalencia de casos de epilepsia”, dijo. “Por eso esta misión aquí en Florida es aún más importante, simplemente para unir a las personas. Impacta a la gente de muchas maneras diferentes”.

Organizadores de Epilepsy Alliance Florida dijeron que el objetivo del evento es conectar a las familias con recursos y recordarles que no están solas.

“Es posible vivir una vida muy plena y maravillosa con el apoyo adecuado”, dijo Monica Rodriguez, de Epilepsy Alliance Florida. “Eso es lo que estamos aquí para hacer: ayudar a las personas a lograrlo”.

La organización también estuvo recaudando fondos durante el evento del sábado y dijo que está cerca de alcanzar su meta de recaudación de $200,000 USD. Haga clic aquí para conocer cómo puede contribuir.

The three drone strikes south of Beirut marked another escalation since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on April 17. Both Israel and Hezbollah have continued their daily attacks despite the truce.

On Wednesday night, Israel’s air force carried out an airstrike on a southern suburb in which Israel said it killed a senior Hezbollah military official. It was the first strike near the capital since the ceasefire was reached.

Two of the strikes on Saturday took place on the highway linking Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon in which several people were wounded, while the third happened on a road leading to Lebanon’s Chouf region killing three, the state-run National News Agency said.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw a dead body on the highway in the town of Saadiyat.

The Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven, including a child, and wounded 15. The ministry said this was an initial count.

The agency reported strikes in southern Lebanon, including one on the village of Bourj Rahhal that killed three and another in Maifadoun that killed one.

The Health Ministry, meanwhile, said three Israeli drone strikes killed a Syrian man who was riding a motorcycle with his 12-year-old daughter in the city of Nabatiyeh.

The ministry said that after the initial strike, the man and his daughter managed to move away from the site only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man. The girl then moved about 100 meters (yards) away and was hit again by the drone after she had been already wounded. The girl later died in a hospital, NNA said.

“The Ministry of Public Health denounces this barbaric targeting and the deliberate violence against civilians and children in Lebanon,” the ministry said in its statement added that the strike marks an ongoing series “of grave violations of International Humanitarian Law.”

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired explosive drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon adding that three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in one of the attacks. It added that Hezbollah fired drones inside Lebanon as well in which one hit an Israeli vehicle without inflicting casualties.

Hezbollah claimed several attacks inside Lebanon as well as firing a drone at an Israeli military post in the northern town of Misgav Am.

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on Hezbollah's main backer, Iran. Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.

Later, Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in more than three decades. The two countries have formally been in a state of war since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

A new round of talks is scheduled to take place in Washington over two days starting Thursday.

A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on April 17. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.

In the Syrian capital of Damascus, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held talks Saturday with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in which they discussed strengthening relations between the two neighbors and boosting security cooperation amid regional wars.

Speaking to reporters before heading back home, Salam said that Lebanon will not be used again to harm “our Arab brothers, on top of them Syria.” Salam was indirectly referring to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria’s civil that broke out in 2011 by backing the five-decade Assad family rule that ended in December 2024.

Los más jóvenes de la familia Osuna agarran la pelota de hule que pesa 3,2 kilos, siete veces más que una de fútbol, y empiezan a jugar. Solo la cadera puede tocarla: saltando si llega por el aire, tirándose al suelo si va rodando.

Mientras México se prepara para coorganizar la Copa Mundial de Fútbol, el país echa la vista atrás 3.400 años para recordar uno de los deportes de equipo más antiguos que se conocen, el juego de pelota o ulama, una práctica casi aniquilada durante la conquista, que sobrevivió en remotas zonas del noroeste mexicano para renacer a finales del siglo XX.

Ahora, tanto las autoridades como los jugadores quieren aprovechar la cita mundialista para reivindicar este juego autóctono y recordar al mundo que algunas de las pelotas más antiguas de la humanidad rodaron por estas tierras.

Quienes lo juegan saben que su atractivo turístico detonó su renacimiento pero muchos se preguntan si el exotismo es la imagen que quieren proyectar de una tradición que forma parte de su identidad.

“Hay que quitar al juego la idea de fósil vivo”, señala Emilie Carreón, investigadora de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) y directora de un proyecto académico-deportivo para estudiarlo y practicarlo.

Para los Osuna es un deporte trasmitido por generaciones que no quieren perder. Por eso tras la muerte del jugador de ulama Aurelio Osuna, su viuda, María Herrera, de 53 años, continuó con su legado enseñando a sus nietos en su pequeño pueblo de Sinaloa, 1.000 kilómetros al noroeste de Ciudad de México.

“Esta semilla va a dar frutos algún día”, asegura.

Un ritual prehispánico

El libro sagrado maya, el Popol Vuh, cuenta que el mundo fue creado a partir de un juego de pelota, donde la luz y la oscuridad se enfrentaron para equilibrar la vida y la muerte y poner al universo en movimiento.

Antes que los mayas, lo practicaban los olmecas —la civilización conocida más antigua de Mesoamérica— y la recreación de ese choche de fuerzas contrarias fue común en varias culturas prehispánicas de esta región como demuestran las varias pelotas de hule milenarias encontradas en México y las cerca de 2.000 canchas halladas desde Nicaragua a Arizona, muchas flanqueadas por taludes o con aros en lo alto como las emblemáticas de Chichén Itzá.

El juego, representado en códices, relieves y esculturas, tenía muchas variantes y significados: rituales, ceremonias de fertilidad o de guerra, actos políticos, sacrificios.

Es cierto que algunos jugadores eran decapitados —posiblemente los perdedores—- pero Carlos Navarrete, arqueólogo y antropólogo guatemalteco, aclara que eso sólo ocurrió en algunos lugares y ciertos momentos. Esta práctica física muy exigente era sobre todo un evento lleno de emoción y apuestas.

El conquistador Hernán Cortés quedó tan impresionado por el espectáculo que le mostró el emperador azteca Moctezuma que regresó a España con jugadores y pelotas de hule para hacer una demostración ante la corte de Carlos V, escribió Carreón en una revista de antropología.

Sin embargo, los colonizadores acabaron prohibiendo el ulama y mandaron destruir sus canchas, posiblemente por considerarlas una forma de resistencia a la evangelización. “La pelota era el demonio vivo” para la Iglesia católica, agrega la académica.

El juego, practicándolo con la cadera, el antebrazo o un mazo, sobrevivió en la costa norte del Pacífico, zonas donde el proceso colonial fue liderado por los Jesuitas que permitieron el juego en festividades católicas, afirma Manuel Aguilar Moreno, profesor de Historia del Arte en la Universidad Estatal de California.

El primer día de las Olimpiadas de México 1968 miles de espectadores quedaron asombrados con una exhibición realizada por hombres fornidos, cuyos cuerpos se contorneaban de forma insospechada para mantener el ‘hule’ en movimiento el mayor tiempo posible. El evento detonó el interés por estudiar este juego y preservarlo.

El resurgir del ulama

Luis Aurelio Osuna, 30, el hijo mayor de Herrera, empezó a jugar ulama de cadera a la salida de la escuela, como décadas atrás hizo su padre, en un rancho donde no había nada más con que distraerse. Ahora, sus tres hijos también juegan.

Osuna y su madre enseñan a los niños primero a golpear la pelota y luego poco a poco las reglas, que incluyen un complicado sistema de marcador con puntos que se ganan y se pierden. Los equipos tienen hasta seis miembros.

Lo hacen por pasión, pero también por pragmatismo en un estado donde el crimen organizado siempre está latente. “Necesitamos encontrar la manera de que se entretengan en cosas buenas”, dice Osuna.

Los niños a veces participan en exhibiciones y partidos formales pero nada parecido a los de antes, que reunían a jugadores de muchos ranchos en festividades religiosas y podían alargarse durante días. Poco a poco se perdió el interés en el juego y, además, las pelotas eran cada vez más difíciles de conseguir.

En la década de 1980, el cineasta Roberto Rochín localizó en la sierra de Sinaloa al que quizás era el último fabricante de pelotas de hule. El artesano las elaboraba de forma similar a los olmecas, quienes descubrieron que mezclando la savia caliente del árbol de hule con una planta concreta lograban un material resistente, elástico y muy duradero. Esa civilización fabricó algunas de las pelotas más antiguas del mundo.

Sentimientos encontrados

En los años 90, personal de un resort del Caribe mexicano cruzó el país en busca de familias de Sinaloa que representaran el juego de pelota como reclamo turístico en la Rivera Maya donde ya nadie lo jugaba.

“Es puro espectáculo: se pintan, se ponen plumajes”, critica Herrera. Pero también reconoce lo importante que fue todo eso. “Ahí empezó a renacer”.

La práctica comenzó a extenderse por México con diferentes nombres y modalidades y a conocerse en el exterior. Osuna, con el equipo de familiares que formó su padre, llegó a “darle al hule” en un anfiteatro romano de Italia. Llamó tanto la atención, recuerda, que los contrataron para un anuncio de desodorantes.

A un mes del inicio del Mundial, se preparan exposiciones sobre el juego en Ciudad de México y Guadalajara y tanto autoridades como empresas han vuelto a explotar el exotismo de los jugadores en anuncios para ensalzar las raíces mexicanas de cara a la cita deportiva internacional, algo que ha vuelto a generar sentimientos encontrados.

“No somos monitos de circo”, dice Ángel Ortega, un jugador de Ciudad de México de 21 años, que participó en una grabación con futbolistas pero no pudo mostrar cómo se juega el ulama.

Ilse Sil, jugadora e integrante del proyecto de UNAM que dirige Carreón, cree que además de recuperar las normas y tradiciones de cómo se juega en cada región, se necesita redignificar a los jugadores y adaptar la práctica a los nuevos tiempos.

El apoyo institucional ayudará a preservar el ulama pero considera que las autoridades deben promoverlo en comunidades y escuelas para captar a más jóvenes, porque sigue siendo un deporte muy minoritario, con un estimado de unos 1.000 jugadores, principalmente en México y Guatemala.

En Los Llanitos, nietos de Herrera no paran de jugar. No les importa dónde —en la tierra, en una cancha, en el corredor de su casa—, pero siempre prefieren hacerlo con la “reliquia” familiar: una vieja pelota de hule hecha a mano de la forma tradicional en las montañas de Sinaloa. Los niños aseguran que amortigua mejor los golpes.

Kiki, de ocho años, es el más entusiasta. Lleva la mitad de su vida jugando y tiene claro su sueño: tener su propio equipo.

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They said Sunrise Fire Rescue and Lauderhill Fire Rescue crews responded to reports of a smell of smoke inside an apartment building near the 5900 block of Northwest 16th Place. When crews arrived, they found heavy fire coming from multiple windows on the second floor of the complex.

Firefighters then launched an “aggressive fire attack” and were able to keep the flames from spreading through the attic and the rest of the second floor, officials said.

They said occupants safely evacuated the building, and no injuries were reported among residents or fire rescue personnel.

Fire officials remained at the scene awaiting assistance from the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which authorities say will help investigate the cause of the fire.

Officials said two families were displaced due to the fire and that the Red Cross is assisting them with temporary support.

No other details about the fire were immediately released.

Indicaron que equipos de Sunrise Fire Rescue y Lauderhill Fire Rescue respondieron a reportes de olor a humo dentro de un edificio de apartamentos cerca de la cuadra 5900 de Northwest 16th Place. Cuando llegaron, encontraron un intenso incendio saliendo de múltiples ventanas en el segundo piso del complejo.

Los bomberos iniciaron entonces un “agresivo ataque contra el fuego” y lograron evitar que las llamas se propagaran por el ático y el resto del segundo piso, informaron las autoridades.

Indicaron que los ocupantes evacuaron el edificio de manera segura y no se reportaron heridos entre los residentes ni el personal de rescate.

Funcionarios de bomberos permanecían en la escena a la espera de asistencia de la Oficina del Jefe Estatal de Bomberos, que ayudará a investigar la causa del incendio, según las autoridades.

Las autoridades indicaron que dos familias fueron desplazadas debido al incendio y que la Cruz Roja les está brindando apoyo temporal.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre el incendio.

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A new online survey suggests opinions are split when it comes to how mothers prefer to be celebrated. Among mothers ages 18 to 44, 42% say they prefer spending time with family, with many also placing greater value on homemade gifts rather than store-bought items.

Meanwhile, 53% of mothers surveyed say they still prefer traditional gifts such as flowers or quality time with loved ones.

But shoppers heading to the stores this year may feel the impact of rising prices, with inflation and gas costs potentially influencing how people celebrate.

In the end, some say it comes down to what matters most to each mom.

We want to know what you think — cash, flowers, margaritas, or quality time?

Let us know in the poll or comment section below.

Una nueva encuesta en línea sugiere que las opiniones están divididas cuando se trata de cómo las madres prefieren ser celebradas. Entre las madres de 18 a 44 años, el 42% dice que prefiere pasar tiempo con la familia, y muchas también valoran más los regalos hechos en casa que los comprados en tiendas.

Mientras tanto, el 53% de las madres encuestadas dijo que aún prefiere regalos tradicionales como flores o tiempo de calidad con sus seres queridos.

Pero los compradores que vayan a las tiendas este año podrían sentir el impacto del aumento de precios, ya que la inflación y los costos de la gasolina podrían influir en cómo las personas celebran.

Al final, algunos dicen que todo depende de lo que más valore cada madre.

Queremos saber qué piensa usted: ¿dinero en efectivo, flores, margaritas o tiempo de calidad?

Déjenos saber en la encuesta o en la sección de comentarios abajo.

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Daisy is described as a 40-pound “love bug” who is good with kids and other dogs based on her time in a foster home. Shelter staff say she is shy at first but has a gentle, affectionate personality that comes out as she gets more comfortable.

At the shelter, Daisy has been quiet and calm, often resting on her bed. She also does well in the car and may bark when excited. Staff note she is heartworm positive, but say she will be treated at no additional cost to the adopter.

HSBC officials are encouraging families to visit the shelter to meet available animals.

HSBC’s Cherie Wachter said Daisy would make a strong addition to a home, especially for families considering a pet as a Mother’s Day surprise, as long as the whole family is involved in the decision.

In addition to Daisy, the shelter also has several cats and a pair of guinea pigs available for adoption.

The guinea pigs, nicknamed “Baby Doll” and “Black Mask,” weigh about 2.2 pounds each—larger than average for their species. Staff jokingly described them as “big boned,” but said they are cuddly and do well in pairs, and they are hoping to place them in a home together.

The shelter is located at 2070 Griffin Road, one block west of Interstate 95. Adoption services open daily at 11 a.m.

Click here for more information if you would like to adopt a pet.

Daisy es descrita como una “amorosa” de 40 libras que se lleva bien con niños y otros perros, según su tiempo en un hogar temporal. El personal del refugio indicó que al principio es tímida, pero tiene una personalidad gentil y cariñosa que se manifiesta a medida que gana confianza.

En el refugio, Daisy ha estado tranquila y calmada, descansando con frecuencia en su cama. También se comporta bien en el automóvil y puede ladrar cuando se emociona. El personal señaló que es positiva a gusano del corazón, pero indicó que recibirá tratamiento sin costo adicional para el adoptante.

Funcionarios de la HSBC están alentando a las familias a visitar el refugio para conocer a los animales disponibles.

Cherie Wachter, de la HSBC, dijo que Daisy sería una gran incorporación para un hogar, especialmente para familias que consideran una mascota como sorpresa del Día de las Madres, siempre y cuando toda la familia participe en la decisión.

Además de Daisy, el refugio también tiene varios gatos y una pareja de conejillos de Indias disponibles para adopción.

Los conejillos de Indias, apodados “Baby Doll” y “Black Mask”, pesan aproximadamente 2.2 libras cada uno, más grandes de lo habitual para su especie. El personal bromeó describiéndolos como de “huesos grandes”, pero indicó que son cariñosos y se llevan bien en pareja, y esperan colocarlos juntos en un hogar.

El refugio está ubicado en el 2070 de Griffin Road, a una cuadra al oeste de la Interestatal 95. Los servicios de adopción abren todos los días a las 11 a.m.

Haga clic aquí para más información si desea adoptar una mascota.

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At least 12 countries and five states in the U.S. are reporting cases.

The outbreak was first reported aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic after it departed Argentina last month.

“This is not Covid,” Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Aileen Marty said.

Marty said the Andes virus does not spread easily because it has a long incubation period that can take weeks.

But she stressed the virus is very deadly.

“These viruses go to the cells that line capillaries in the lungs and they look normal but they act weird and they are leaky and they allow fluid from your blood to seep into the airways of your lungs and makes it almost impossible for people to breathe,” Marty said.

Marty said she is concerned about how prepared the U.S. is to respond if cases do spread.

“If we’re not careful we may see secondary cases,” Marty said.

“The United States doesn’t have a healthcare system. The states have a healthcare system,” she added.

“Some states will be more strict, some may not. Some states have enough funding to do all the necessary contact tracing, some may not,” Marty said.

In the meantime, infectious disease specialist at Memorial Regional Hospital Dr. Kenneth Poon said this is a good time to practice the basics.

“Good handwashing and hygiene -- there’s no need for widespread masking or anything,” Poon said.

When asked about people rethinking their travel plans, Marty said, “If they’re going to Argentina, they certainly should be rethinking their travel plans.”

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Police say Kimora Mosley left her Fort Lauderdale home in the 5600 block of Northeast 18th Avenue at approximately 11:15 p.m.

They said she has been found and is “unharmed and in good spirits.”

Investigators also said that no foul play is suspected at this time.

Al menos 12 países y cinco estados de Estados Unidos reportan casos.

El brote fue reportado por primera vez a bordo de un crucero en el Atlántico después de que salió de Argentina el mes pasado.

“Esto no es Covid”, dijo la experta en enfermedades infecciosas, la doctora Aileen Marty.

Marty indicó que el virus Andes no se propaga fácilmente porque tiene un largo período de incubación que puede tomar semanas.

Pero enfatizó que el virus es muy mortal.

“Estos virus atacan las células que recubren los capilares en los pulmones y se ven normales, pero actúan de manera extraña y presentan filtraciones, permitiendo que el líquido de la sangre se filtre hacia las vías respiratorias de los pulmones y hace casi imposible que las personas respiren”, dijo Marty.

Marty señaló que le preocupa qué tan preparado está Estados Unidos para responder si los casos continúan propagándose.

“Si no tenemos cuidado, podríamos ver casos secundarios”, dijo Marty.

“Estados Unidos no tiene un sistema de salud. Los estados tienen un sistema de salud”, agregó.

“Algunos estados serán más estrictos, otros quizás no. Algunos estados tienen suficiente financiamiento para hacer todo el rastreo de contactos necesario, otros quizás no”, dijo Marty.

Mientras tanto, el especialista en enfermedades infecciosas del Memorial Regional Hospital, doctor Kenneth Poon, dijo que este es un buen momento para practicar las medidas básicas.

“Buen lavado de manos e higiene — no hay necesidad de uso generalizado de mascarillas ni nada de eso”, dijo Poon.

Cuando se le preguntó sobre personas reconsiderando sus planes de viaje, Marty respondió: “Si van a Argentina, definitivamente deberían reconsiderar sus planes de viaje.”

El juicio comenzó el 8 de marzo dentro del Tribunal Federal Wilkie D. Ferguson y, tras más de dos meses de testimonios, los jurados declararon a los cuatro acusados culpables de la mayoría de los cargos.

Los fiscales afirman que los hombres ayudaron a planificar y apoyar la operación que condujo al asesinato de Moïse dentro de su residencia cerca de Puerto Príncipe el 7 de julio de 2021.

Antonio Intriago, propietario de una empresa de seguridad del sur de Florida, fue declarado culpable de casi todos los cargos en su contra, incluidos cargos de conspiración relacionados con el complot.

Sin embargo, los jurados lo declararon no culpable del séptimo cargo de la acusación, un cargo de conspiración para matar o secuestrar a una persona fuera de Estados Unidos.

Los otros acusados —incluidos Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Walter Veintemilla y James Solages— también fueron declarados culpables de múltiples cargos.

“Pensamos que el caso del gobierno era insuficiente, pero tenemos que respetar el sistema y el veredicto”, dijo David Howard, abogado de Pretel.

Varios miembros de la comunidad haitiano-estadounidense del sur de Florida también llenaron el tribunal durante el juicio y muchos dijeron estar encantados de que el jurado alcanzara un veredicto después de años esperando respuestas.

“Se hizo justicia”, dijo la observadora del juicio Marie Jose Sejour. “Nadie merecía morir.”

La Policía indicó que Kimora Mosley salió de su vivienda en la cuadra 5600 de Northeast 18th Avenue en Fort Lauderdale aproximadamente a las 11:15 p.m.

Según los investigadores, fue vista por última vez vistiendo una camiseta negra y pantalones cortos negros de bicicleta, y llevaba una camiseta colorida envuelta en el cabello.

Las autoridades describieron a Kimora como una niña afroamericana, de 4 pies y 10 pulgadas de estatura y aproximadamente 80 libras de peso.

Cualquier persona con información sobre su paradero debe comunicarse de inmediato al 911 o con su departamento de Policía local.

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During his speech, DeSantis said time has proven that the Brigade 2506 fighters were on the right side of history.

“If Cuba was free, it would be an amazingly successful country,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis was there to sign the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement bill into law, aiming to restrict influence from “foreign countries of concern.”

Related document: Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement (FIRE) Act

The law’s key provisions include bans on surrogacy or adoption contracts, penalties for officials accepting foreign benefits, and restrictions on lobbying and government contracting.

DeSantis said Cuba needs regime change.

“You can’t do business with criminals,” DeSantis said.

The law also applies to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Syria.

Also on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the sanctions against GAESA, or Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a Cuban military business conglomerate, and Moa Nickel, a partnership between the Cuban state and Canadian company Sherritt International.

Rubio said GAESA “is taking anything that makes money in Cuba and illegally putting it into the pockets of a few regime insiders.”

Related story: Feds seek to strip U.S. citizenship of ex-ambassador who spied for Cuba

Watch DeSantis’s speech

Durante su discurso, DeSantis dijo que el tiempo ha demostrado que los combatientes de la Brigada 2506 estaban del lado correcto de la historia.

“Si Cuba fuera libre, sería un país increíblemente exitoso”, dijo DeSantis.

DeSantis estuvo allí para promulgar la ley de Restricción y Aplicación contra la Interferencia Extranjera, con el objetivo de restringir la influencia de “países extranjeros de preocupación”.

Documento relacionado: Ley de Restricción y Aplicación contra la Interferencia Extranjera (FIRE)

Las disposiciones clave de la ley incluyen prohibiciones sobre contratos de gestación subrogada o adopción, sanciones para funcionarios que acepten beneficios extranjeros y restricciones sobre cabildeo y contratación gubernamental.

DeSantis dijo que Cuba necesita un cambio de régimen.

“No se puede hacer negocios con criminales”, dijo DeSantis.

La ley también aplica a China, Rusia, Irán, Corea del Norte, Venezuela y Siria.

También el viernes, el secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, se refirió a las sanciones contra GAESA, o Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., un conglomerado empresarial militar cubano, y Moa Nickel, una asociación entre el Estado cubano y la empresa canadiense Sherritt International.

Rubio dijo que GAESA “está tomando todo lo que genera dinero en Cuba y colocándolo ilegalmente en los bolsillos de unos pocos miembros del régimen”.

Historia relacionada: Autoridades federales buscan despojar de la ciudadanía estadounidense a ex embajador que espió para Cuba

Vea el discurso de DeSantis

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The cruise ship is scheduled to return to Port Canaveral on Monday.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said 102 passengers and 13 crew members became ill and have since been isolated.

The cruise line also confirmed it disinfected all areas of the ship and increased sanitizing procedures.

CDC officials say this is the fourth gastrointestinal illness outbreak reported on a cruise ship so far this year.

In March, authorities confirmed that more than 150 people fell ill on a Princess cruise ship that also departed from Port Everglades.

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“The kids love it. I used to come when I was a kid. I wanted to bring them so they can see,” said South Florida resident Michael Dorry.

You’ll hear the jets before you ever see them.

The fast-moving fighters roar overhead, racing across the sky.

“The planes are too fast to record. You got to keep up with them big time,” said local Courtney Cardozo.

When they finally come into view, it’s nothing short of spectacular.

“I think the first Thunderbirds, I think there were six of them. I think there was the Raptor jets, I think. It was pretty cool,” Dorry said.

Also on the program is a squad of Navy pilots flying F/A-18 Super Hornets.

Clifton “Marv” Helterbran, a South Florida native, is taking part in the air show for the first time. Helterbran will be calling the shots over the radio as a weapons specialist operator.

“Speed, a lot of speed, a lot of noise. It’s great enthusiasm. Every single one of us loves what we do. That’s why we’re out here,” Helterbran said.

It’s that enthusiasm — and speed — that drew families out a day early.

“They’ve enjoyed it. A little loud for the little one. They’ve enjoyed it. It’s a cool show for the little one,” Dorry said.

Local 10 spoke with Fort Lauderdale Air Dot Show spokesman Chris Dirato, who says crowds will be massive over the weekend.

“Yes, I mean tens of thousands actually over the next, each day, both Saturday and Sunday,” Dirato said. “It’s going to be terrific event. You know, the weather is cooperating thanks to you meteorologists, so they performed the magic touch.”

Dirato highlighted the headlining acts, including the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.

“But we’re going to have a great event, you know, of course the headliners, US Air Force Thunderbirds, and that’s everybody’s fan favorite. They fly 18 inches apart in formation flying, so there’s something to behold,” he said.

Local 10’s Gabrielle Arzola pointed to the speed of the aircraft on display.

“You’ll actually hear them before you see them. And let’s also keep in mind, fun fact, I looked this up, that F-18 can go a little over 11,100 mph.”

Dirato said the event carries added meaning this year.

“Yeah, I mean, and that’s a big thing, you know, we have a heavy military flavor as a result of that, America’s 250th birthday. It’s a signature event and we’re so happy to bring this great show to the fans of Fort Lauderdale and South Florida,” he said.

He also pointed to other aircraft in the lineup.

“So you know we have the F-22 Raptor, and they are. Maneuverable, the fastest and maneuverable fighter jet in the world,” he said. “And we have the F/A-18 Super Hornet with the Navy, so the Red Bull Air Force is here. We have a little bit of everything for everybody.”

On viewing access, Dirato said beachgoers will have options.

“Well, yeah, south of Sunrise, and you know premium viewing tickets are available,” he said.

“Go to the website and check out and see what’s what’s suitable for your budget or go on the free side of the beach and you know the beaches are going to be packed so it’s going to be hot today. Make sure you hydrate, bring suntan lotion, but you’re gonna have a great day watching these talented aviators,” he added.

Click here to read more information about the show.

“A los niños les encanta. Yo venía cuando era niño. Quería traerlos para que pudieran verlo”, dijo el residente del sur de Florida Michael Dorry.

Escuchará los aviones antes de verlos.

Los veloces cazas rugen sobre sus cabezas, cruzando el cielo a toda velocidad.

“Los aviones son demasiado rápidos para grabarlos. Hay que seguirles el ritmo de verdad”, dijo la residente local Courtney Cardozo.

Cuando finalmente aparecen a la vista, es simplemente espectacular.

“Creo que los primeros fueron los Thunderbirds, creo que eran seis. Creo que también estaban los jets Raptor. Fue bastante genial”, dijo Dorry.

También forma parte del programa un escuadrón de pilotos de la Marina que vuelan aviones F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Clifton “Marv” Helterbran, nativo del sur de Florida, participa en el espectáculo aéreo por primera vez. Helterbran estará dando instrucciones por radio como operador especialista en armamento.

“Velocidad, mucha velocidad, mucho ruido. Es un gran entusiasmo. A todos nosotros nos encanta lo que hacemos. Por eso estamos aquí”, dijo Helterbran.

Es ese entusiasmo —y la velocidad— lo que atrajo a las familias un día antes.

“Lo han disfrutado. Un poco ruidoso para el más pequeño. Lo han disfrutado. Es un gran espectáculo para el pequeño”, dijo Dorry.

Local 10 habló con el portavoz del Fort Lauderdale Air Dot Show, Chris Dirato, quien aseguró que las multitudes serán enormes durante el fin de semana.

“Sí, quiero decir, decenas de miles de personas en realidad durante los próximos días, tanto sábado como domingo”, dijo Dirato. “Será un evento fantástico. Ya saben, el clima está cooperando gracias a ustedes los meteorólogos, así que hicieron su toque mágico”.

Dirato destacó las principales atracciones, incluidos los Thunderbirds de la Fuerza Aérea de Estados Unidos.

“Pero vamos a tener un gran evento, por supuesto los principales protagonistas, los Thunderbirds de la Fuerza Aérea de Estados Unidos, y esos son los favoritos de todos. Vuelan a solo 18 pulgadas de distancia en formación, así que es algo impresionante de ver”, dijo.

La reportera de Local 10 Gabrielle Arzola señaló la velocidad de las aeronaves en exhibición.

“De hecho, los escuchará antes de verlos. Y también tengamos en cuenta este dato curioso, lo busqué, ese F-18 puede superar un poco las 11,100 mph”.

Dirato dijo que el evento tiene un significado adicional este año.

“Sí, quiero decir, y eso es algo importante, tenemos una fuerte presencia militar como resultado de eso, el 250 aniversario de Estados Unidos. Es un evento emblemático y estamos muy felices de traer este gran espectáculo a los fanáticos de Fort Lauderdale y del sur de Florida”, dijo.

También destacó otras aeronaves incluidas en la exhibición.

“Tenemos el F-22 Raptor, y son los aviones de combate más rápidos y maniobrables del mundo”, dijo. “Y tenemos el F/A-18 Super Hornet de la Marina, además de la Red Bull Air Force. Tenemos un poco de todo para todos”.

Sobre el acceso para ver el espectáculo, Dirato indicó que los asistentes a la playa tendrán opciones.

“Bueno, sí, al sur de Sunrise, y ya saben, hay boletos premium disponibles”, dijo.

“Entren al sitio web y revisen qué se ajusta a su presupuesto o vayan al lado gratuito de la playa, y ya saben, las playas estarán llenas, así que hará calor hoy. Asegúrense de hidratarse, llevar bloqueador solar, pero tendrán un gran día viendo a estos talentosos aviadores”, agregó.

Haga clic aquí para leer más información sobre el espectáculo.

El crucero tiene previsto regresar a Port Everglades el lunes.

Funcionarios de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de Estados Unidos (CDC) informaron que 102 pasajeros y 13 miembros de la tripulación se enfermaron y desde entonces han sido aislados.

La línea de cruceros también confirmó que desinfectó todas las áreas del barco y aumentó los procedimientos de sanitización.

Funcionarios de los CDC indicaron que este es el cuarto brote de enfermedad gastrointestinal reportado en un crucero en lo que va del año.

En marzo, más de 150 personas se enfermaron en un crucero de Princess que también salió de Port Everglades.

We have explored the mysteries of Machu Picchu and were awestruck in The Outback by the magical monoliths rising into the sky.

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“What an incredible privilege it has been to have Local 10 document these trips. I have these video scrapbooks of the greatest times of my life,” Magill said.

From an adventure into wild Florida to a journey to the bottom of the world in Antarctica, our Local 10 News Eco Hero Contest winners have learned countless conservation lessons, and we have documented every step.

All these great times were made possible thanks to Magill’s foundation. The Eco Hero Contest, an annual competition for South Florida high school students dedicated to environmental conservation, is his lasting legacy.

“What if I could take one kid and make that kid an ambassador for the other kids? We know kids aren’t always as open to listening to us as adults as they are to listening to their peers,” Magill said. “Let’s plant a seed that grows, take them to the Galapagos or Antartica or Australia, and they become ambassadors.”

Over the years, our Eco Hero team has tracked the elusive platypus in the Australian rainforest and encountered the deadly bushmaster snake in Peru.

We have gone swimming with Florida’s lumbering manatees, and cozied up with Canada’s majestic wolf dogs.

“The most impactful for me was Antarctica; it’s the end of the Earth,” Magill said. “I remember looking at it with no sign of humans. There is something so special about being in that sort of peace and tranquility.”

Since Magill announced his retirement as Zoo Miami’s communications director, life has been anything but peaceful. The accolades just keep rolling in.

“I never thought I would have Ron Magill Day on Miami Beach,” he said.

In his office, Magill kept a wall of TV history: Rows and rows of photos of reporters.

“These are the people who enabled me to do the job I do. These are storytellers,” Magill said.

Yes, he is retiring, but he is moving from one office to another, just 30 yards north, next door, really, to the Zoo Miami Foundation, where he will take on a new role as Goodwill Ambassador.

“That’s working on conservation, working on the conservation endowment, leading travel programs,” Magill said. “God knows, I love travel and being able to speak at schools.”

The Eco Hero winners had encouraging messages.

Bela Perdomo, who traveled with us to Antarctica, is pursuing a doctorate in biomedical engineering at Florida State University. Her goal is to make space travel safe for humans.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of you and the rest of the crew, so thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy your future adventures,” Perdomo said in a message to Magill.

Justine Padron, who traveled with us to Canada, said the lessons she learned stuck.

“Thank you so much for everything you did to make my trip to Canada so amazing is something I will remember for the rest of my life,” Padron said in a message to Magill.

Sienna Robertson, who participated in the Wild Florida trip, also had a message for Magill: “All the memories and all the experiences from that trip have stuck with me and have encouraged me to pursue environmental conservation.”

Last year’s Eco Hero, Brielle Martinez, who is studying at the University of Central Florida, said conservation continues to be her passion.

“Becoming the Eco-Hero Down Under was one of the best experiences of my life, and I know that you will continue to make a lasting impact in our community and around the world,” Martinez said. “You are amazing.”

Magill is eager to continue to work with students. His next journey: The Pantanal in South America, the world’s largest tropical wetland and home to the highest density of jaguars globally.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much money you have in your bank account, what kind of car or size of the house you live in, it’s that you make a difference in the life of a child,” Magill said.

WATCH THE SPECIAL

Eco-Hero Antarctica: Expedition To The Bottom of The Earth

Hemos explorado los misterios de Machu Picchu y quedamos maravillados en The Outback con los mágicos monolitos que se elevan hacia el cielo.

“Qué privilegio tan increíble ha sido que Local 10 documentara estos viajes. Tengo estos álbumes de video de los mejores momentos de mi vida”, dijo Magill.

Desde una aventura en la naturaleza salvaje de Florida hasta un viaje al fin del mundo en la Antártida, los ganadores de nuestro concurso Eco Hero de Local 10 News han aprendido innumerables lecciones sobre conservación, y hemos documentado cada paso.

Todos estos grandes momentos fueron posibles gracias a la fundación de Magill. El concurso Eco Hero, una competencia anual para estudiantes de secundaria del sur de Florida dedicada a la conservación ambiental, es su legado duradero.

“¿Qué pasaría si pudiera tomar a un niño y convertirlo en embajador para los demás niños? Sabemos que los niños no siempre están tan abiertos a escucharnos como adultos como sí lo están a escuchar a sus compañeros”, dijo Magill. “Plantemos una semilla que crezca, llévenlos a Galápagos, Antártida o Australia, y se convierten en embajadores”.

A lo largo de los años, nuestro equipo Eco Hero ha rastreado al escurridizo ornitorrinco en la selva tropical australiana y se ha encontrado con la mortal serpiente bushmaster en Perú.

Hemos nadado con los enormes manatíes de Florida y convivido de cerca con los majestuosos perros lobo de Canadá.

“El más impactante para mí fue la Antártida; es el fin de la Tierra”, dijo Magill. “Recuerdo observarla sin señales de humanos. Hay algo muy especial en estar en ese tipo de paz y tranquilidad”.

Desde que Magill anunció su retiro como director de comunicaciones de Zoo Miami, la vida ha sido de todo menos tranquila. Los reconocimientos siguen llegando.

“Nunca pensé que tendría un Día de Ron Magill en Miami Beach”, dijo.

En su oficina, Magill mantenía una pared de historia televisiva: filas y filas de fotos de reporteros.

“Estas son las personas que me permitieron hacer el trabajo que hago. Estos son narradores de historias”, dijo Magill.

Sí, se está retirando, pero se mudará de una oficina a otra, apenas a unos 30 metros al norte, literalmente al lado, a la Fundación Zoo Miami, donde asumirá un nuevo rol como embajador de buena voluntad.

“Eso implica trabajar en conservación, en el fondo patrimonial de conservación, liderar programas de viajes”, dijo Magill. “Dios sabe que amo viajar y poder hablar en las escuelas”.

Los ganadores de Eco Hero tuvieron mensajes de aliento.

Bela Perdomo, quien viajó con nosotros a la Antártida, cursa un doctorado en ingeniería biomédica en Florida State University. Su meta es hacer que los viajes espaciales sean seguros para los humanos.

“No estaría donde estoy hoy sin el apoyo suyo y del resto del equipo, así que muchas gracias, y espero que disfrute sus futuras aventuras”, dijo Perdomo en un mensaje para Magill.

Justine Padron, quien viajó con nosotros a Canadá, dijo que las lecciones que aprendió permanecen con ella.

“Muchas gracias por todo lo que hizo para que mi viaje a Canadá fuera tan increíble, es algo que recordaré por el resto de mi vida”, dijo Padron en un mensaje para Magill.

Sienna Robertson, quien participó en el viaje Wild Florida, también tuvo un mensaje para Magill: “Todos los recuerdos y experiencias de ese viaje permanecen conmigo y me han motivado a seguir la conservación ambiental”.

La Eco Hero del año pasado, Brielle Martinez, quien estudia en University of Central Florida, dijo que la conservación sigue siendo su pasión.

“Convertirme en la Eco Hero Down Under fue una de las mejores experiencias de mi vida, y sé que continuará dejando un impacto duradero en nuestra comunidad y alrededor del mundo”, dijo Martinez. “Usted es increíble”.

Magill está ansioso por continuar trabajando con estudiantes. Su próximo viaje: El Pantanal en Sudamérica, el humedal tropical más grande del mundo y hogar de la mayor densidad de jaguares del planeta.

“Al final del día, no importa cuánto dinero tengas en tu cuenta bancaria, qué tipo de auto conduzcas o el tamaño de la casa en la que vivas, lo importante es marcar una diferencia en la vida de un niño”, dijo Magill.

Vea el especial

Eco-Hero Antarctica: Expedition To The Bottom of The Earth

Cheers rang around Etihad Stadium after second half goals from Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush helped second-placed City close the gap on leader Arsenal to two points.

It was a different atmosphere at Anfield where Liverpool fans jeered as the defending champion dropped more points in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea.

Third-placed Manchester United drew at Sunderland 0-0 while there were wins for Champions League-chasing Bournemouth and Brighton.

City keeps title hopes alive

Another big goal from Doku settled City nerves and kept manager Pep Guardiola in contention for a seventh Premier League title.

“I love it. I love to be here again,” Guardiola said, adding he feels no tension in the heat of the title race.

A well-organized Brentford managed to frustrate City until Doku came up with a moment of magic on the hour — curling a right-footed shot into the far corner.

It was a near-carbon copy of his late equalizer against Everton that salvaged a 3-3 draw for Guardiola's team on Monday.

That draw put the title race in Arsenal's hands, but victory against Brentford ensured the pressure remained on the Gunners to get a win at West Ham on Sunday.

“Come on you Irons!” Guardiola said at the end of his post-game news conference in reference to West Ham's nickname.

Haaland bundled the ball over the line in the 75th for City's second and his 50th of the season for his club and national team Norway.

Substitute Marmoush got the third in added time.

Jeers for Liverpool

The draw with Chelsea at Anfield saw Liverpool move a step closer to guaranteed Champions League qualification — fourth in the table with two rounds left — but another unconvincing performance sparked a frustrated reaction from the crowd.

There were boos at the final whistle to mark growing unrest from Liverpool supporters in a season that has seen the team tamely surrender the title despite spending around $570 million in the transfer market.

There has been speculation about the job of coach Arne Slot, who insists there will be improvements next term.

“This season they (fans) will have their opinion and it will not change, but if we can have the summer that we are planning to have I am 100% convinced we will be a different team next season," he said. "Different in terms of results, different in how things look."

Liverpool can make certain of a place in the Champions League with a victory at Aston Villa next Friday. But it could find itself in fifth place by the time that game kicks off.

Villa was fifth and would leapfrog Liverpool by beating relegated Burnley on Sunday. The top five automatically qualify for the Champions League and English clubs could get a sixth spot if Villa wins the Europa League and finishes outside the top four.

The draw allowed Chelsea to break its six-game losing streak. Enzo Fernandez's bouncing free kick went in before halftime to equalize after Ryan Gravenberch's early goal.

Liverpool twice went close to a winner in the second half when Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk hit the woodwork.

Unlikely Champions League contenders

Bournemouth and Brighton were still pushing for Champions League qualification after both recorded wins.

Sixth-placed Bournemouth won at Fulham 1-0 in a game in which both teams were reduced to 10 men.

Brighton was seventh and beat last-placed Wolverhampton 3-0.

A goal after 35 seconds for Jamie Hinshelwood was the fastest Brighton has ever recorded in the Premier League, according to stats provider Opta.

Man U misses players

Without injured striker Benjamin Sesko and Brazil midfielder Casemiro, United failed to find a breakthrough at Sunderland.

United managed just one shot on target in a dour match that could have ended in a Sunderland win when Lutsharel Geertruida hit the post late on.

Championship playoffs

Middlesbrough and Southampton drew 0-0 in the first leg of their Championship playoff semifinal.

Buildup to the match was dominated by allegations Southampton spied on Boro's training. The English Football League charged Southampton with a breach of its rules after Boro complained there was “unauthorized filming on private property” ahead of the game.

After the first leg Boro coach Kim Hellberg let his feelings be known, saying “someone has made a decision to cheat.”

He said he was angry and disappointed “because it’s a big game and you try to get advantage in an ugly way ... unfair way.”

The second leg is at Southampton on Tuesday.

___

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

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At approximately 7:20 p.m., deputies said they responded to the 1100 block of South Military Trail after reports of a shooting.

They said two individuals who were known to the victim attempted to rob the person at gunpoint. During the encounter, one of the suspects fired a weapon at the victim, according to investigators.

Authorities said the victim managed to escape and was not injured.

Through investigative methods, deputies said they later located one of the suspects involved and took that individual into custody. The second suspect’s involvement and whereabouts weren’t immediately released.

Detectives with BSO’s Robbery and Crime Scene Units said they’re investigating the circumstances surrounding the attempted armed robbery and shooting.

The suspect in custody has not yet been identified.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

Aproximadamente a las 7:20 p.m., agentes respondieron a la cuadra 1100 de South Military Trail tras reportes de una balacera.

Indicaron que dos individuos que conocían a la víctima intentaron robarle a punta de pistola. Durante el encuentro, uno de los sospechosos disparó un arma contra la víctima, según los investigadores.

Las autoridades informaron que la víctima logró escapar y no resultó herida.

Mediante métodos de investigación, los agentes indicaron que posteriormente localizaron a uno de los sospechosos involucrados y lo pusieron bajo custodia. La participación y el paradero del segundo sospechoso no fueron divulgados de inmediato.

Detectives de las unidades de Robos y Escena del Crimen de la BSO informaron que investigan las circunstancias que rodean el intento de robo a mano armada y la balacera.

El sospechoso bajo custodia aún no ha sido identificado.

Cualquier persona con información sobre el caso debe llamar a Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

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Records show Leroy Wright, 46, is facing one count each of offenses against students by authority figures, unlawful sexual activity with a specific minor and a charge related to obscene materials involving a minor.

The school, located at 1751 NW 36th St. in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood, lists Wright as a teacher on its website as of Saturday morning.

Wright, who was arrested on Friday, is scheduled to appear before a judge Saturday morning.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools has been contacted for comment as investigators work to learn more about the circumstances leading to his arrest.

Local 10 has also requested his arrest report from local authorities.

As of Saturday morning, he was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bond was listed as “to be set.”

The district reacted to the arrest with a statement on Saturday that read:

“Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is aware of the arrest of an employee from Miami Jackson Senior High School by the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. The type of behavior this individual is accused of will not be tolerated, as it runs contrary to the professional conduct we expect from all employees,” the statement read. “The District has initiated employment termination proceedings and will ensure the individual is precluded from seeking future employment with the District. At M-DCPS, the safety and well-being of all students remain our top priority.”

Los registros muestran que Leroy Wright, de 46 años, enfrenta un cargo de delitos contra estudiantes por parte de figuras de autoridad, un cargo de actividad sexual ilegal con un menor específico y un cargo relacionado con material obsceno que involucra a un menor.

La escuela, ubicada en el 1751 NW 36th St. en el vecindario de Allapattah en Miami, muestra a Wright como maestro en su sitio web hasta la mañana del sábado.

Wright, quien fue arrestado el viernes, tiene previsto comparecer ante un juez la mañana del sábado.

Las Escuelas Públicas del condado Miami-Dade fueron contactadas para comentarios mientras los investigadores trabajan para conocer más sobre las circunstancias que llevaron a su arresto.

Local 10 también solicitó su informe de arresto a las autoridades locales.

Hasta la mañana del sábado, permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, donde su fianza figuraba como “pendiente por establecer”.

El distrito reaccionó al arresto con un comunicado el sábado que indicaba:

“Las Escuelas Públicas del condado Miami-Dade (M-DCPS) están al tanto del arresto de un empleado de Miami Jackson Senior High School por parte del Departamento de Policía Escolar de Miami-Dade. El tipo de conducta del que se acusa a este individuo no será tolerado, ya que va en contra de la conducta profesional que esperamos de todos los empleados”, indica el comunicado. “El Distrito ha iniciado procedimientos para terminar su empleo y garantizará que el individuo quede impedido de buscar empleo futuro en el Distrito. En M-DCPS, la seguridad y el bienestar de todos los estudiantes siguen siendo nuestra máxima prioridad.”

Another calls for court interventions by the Department of Justice on behalf of Amish parents fighting New York vaccine requirements and Catholic nuns challenging that state’s requirement that they accommodate hospice patients’ gender identities.

And the chair of the Religious Liberty Commission is calling for a federal hotline with this automated recording: “There is no separation of church and state.”

These are just some of the recommendations that members of the advisory panel formed by President Donald Trump last year want to see included in the commission’s final report.

That report is still in the works, but commissioners had an opportunity to describe their wish lists during their most recent meeting in April. There was little dissent as the commissioners, most drawn from Trump’s base of conservative Christian supporters, covered the items they want in the report.

Their ideas reflect the prevailing perspectives on the definition of religious liberty among many conservative Catholic and evangelical activists: increasing avenues for religious expression in public schools; expanding opportunities for faith-based organizations to receive public money; and allowing for religious-based exemptions in areas ranging from labor law to classroom lessons to healthcare mandates.

Such views have also been reflected in Supreme Court decisions issued in recent years by its conservative majority.

Commission criticized for narrow views

Critics of the commission say it embodies a one-sided perspective of Trump’s supporters and is threatening a well-established constitutional separation of church and state, despite the chair's claims.

A lawsuit by a progressive interreligious coalition argues that the commission fails to comply with federal law requiring advisory panels to feature diverse members and viewpoints.

The lawsuit echoes criticism that most commissioners are conservative Christian clerics and commentators; one is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi. The coalition says members have asserted that America is specifically a Judeo-Christian or Christian nation and notes that most commission meetings took place at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, an institution with Christian leadership.

The Republican administration is asking a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit. The government is citing legal technicalities and contending the law does not define how a commission should be fairly balanced or whose viewpoints should be represented.

Another entity created by Trump — the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias — issued a report saying Christians faced discrimination under the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden in areas such as education, tax law and prosecution of anti-abortion protesters. Progressive groups said that report failed to document systemic discrimination, focused on causes favored by conservative Christians and amounted to advocacy rather than an investigation.

In a further interlocking of Trump-related initiatives, several members of the Religious Liberty Commission are scheduled to take part in a May 17 prayer event marking the country’s upcoming 250th birthday. Several also participated in a recent Bible-reading marathon staged largely at the Museum of the Bible.

Harmony and tension within the commission

The commission has mostly featured agreement among members, with one dramatic exception. One commissioner, Carrie Prejean Boller, was ousted in February after a contentious hearing on antisemitism.

Commission Chair Dan Patrick said Prejean Boller sought to “hijack” the hearing, in which she had sharp exchanges with witnesses about the definition of antisemitism and defended commentator Candace Owens, denying her record of antisemitic statements. Prejean Boller, a Catholic, contended she was wrongly ousted for expressing her beliefs.

In other hearings, witnesses described how they defied workplace regulations that they said conflicted with their conservative religious values on gender, abortion, COVID-19 vaccines and more. Some said they were prevented, at least temporarily, from displaying a religious symbol at work or trying to sing a Christian song at a school talent show.

At the hearing devoted to antisemitism, Jewish witnesses spoke of being harassed and threatened at campus pro-Palestinian protests against Israel. The commission has also heard from some Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other witnesses.

Even so, critics said the commission mostly focused on conservative Christian and right-leaning political grievances.

The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of the progressive Interfaith Alliance, one of the groups suing over the commission’s composition, said the panel’s omissions are as significant as what it focuses on.

He said the commission has failed adequately to address such issues as anti-Muslim efforts in Texas and elsewhere, and also the rise of antisemitism on the right, not just the left.

Separation of church and state debate

Raushenbush said he is especially worried about the commission chair's challenging the very notion of church-state separation.

Patrick, a Republican who is the Texas lieutenant governor, repeatedly denounced a concept that is embedded in Supreme Court precedent.

“We need to say there is no separation of church and state,” Patrick said at the April meeting. “That’s a lie.” He suggested printing “a million bumper stickers” to that effect.

No one at the commission meeting disagreed.

Trump made similar comments at a prayer event at the White House in 2025. “They say separation between church and state,” Trump said. “I said, all right, let’s forget about that for one time.”

While the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the Constitution, 20th-century decisions by the Supreme Court cited Thomas Jefferson's description of the First Amendment as creating “a wall of separation between church and state." The court applied the First Amendment's prohibition of any church “establishment” to the states in addition to the federal government, citing the 14th Amendment's ban on states denying citizens’ rights.

Courts have since wrestled with how to balance freedom of religion and freedom from government-sponsored religion.

Concerns touch on schools, vaccines, workplaces and more

Patrick has advocated for prayer and Ten Commandments postings in public schools.

“I don’t have any malice towards anyone that doesn’t believe in any type of faith,” Patrick told fellow commissioners. “That’s fine. That’s what America is about. But these organizations that are pushed by some ideology and pushed by someone’s bank account who wants to remove God from our country? We need to push back.”

On other issues, various commissioners called for requiring schools and workplaces to post notices of the rights of religious expression and exemptions.

Some called for restoring full pay and pension benefits for military service members who were discharged for refusing COVID-19 vaccines.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, called for enabling religious groups such as Catholic Charities to receive federal money without compromising on traditional church teachings about the family.

He also said Catholic immigrants in detention should have humane treatment and access to sacraments and that immigration agents should not disrupt worship services in enforcement actions. The administration last year eliminated a policy against immigration enforcement in sanctuaries, which other religious leaders said should not occur at any time.

Kelly Shackelford, president and chief executive officer of the legal organization First Liberty Institute, called for new requirements that governments pay all legal bills if they lose a religious liberty case. He said many individuals lack the money to challenge the government in court.

“That would be a huge shifting of power in favor of citizens,” he said.

___

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

But as of Thursday, they will no longer cast the same ballot despite living across the street from each other.

That’s because Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the congressional district of Memphis, which has long enjoyed its own Democratic-leaning U.S. House seat. Now, the city is split into three Republican-leaning districts, its majority-Black population sliced up and bound to mostly white, rural and conservative communities along lines that branch away from Fowler and Wilson’s East Memphis neighborhood.

A line runs down the middle of the street, placing Fowler in the 8th Congressional District, which runs hundreds of miles to central Tennessee across a dozen counties. Wilson is zoned for the 9th District, which extends across most of the state’s southern border before curving up to encompass the largely white and affluent Nashville suburbs.

“I think it’s horrible,” said Fowler, who is white. “This isn’t just going to be bad for Black folks in Memphis, but poor whites in these new districts also aren’t going to get services. How are any of these congressmen going to serve all these different counties?”

Part of a national redistricting competition

The redraw was sparked by a ruling from the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court that may be a death knell for congressional representation of majority-Black Southern communities such as Memphis.

For 60 years, a provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act required mapmakers to prove they were not discriminating against racial minorities in how they drew districts, often leading to political boundaries that allowed some minority communities to vote for their preferred representative rather than having their vote diluted by white majorities surrounding them.

The rule had the greatest effect in Southern states, where neighboring Black and white communities remain highly polarized in partisan politics.

On April 29, the justices severely weakened that requirement, ruling that the way courts had handled it improperly injected racial matters into redistricting in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Republicans across the South immediately leaped at the chance to redraw their maps before the November elections to eliminate as many Democratic-held, majority-minority congressional seats as possible.

Tennessee’s legislature was the first in a GOP-controlled state to finalize a new map. But it is one of several Southern states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina among them — engaged in a broader partisan redistricting competition sweeping the country.

Republicans have long complained that the Voting Rights Act prevented them from doing to Democratic, majority-Black districts what Democrats in states they control do to conservative-leaning, white and rural areas — scatter their voters for partisan gain. That is what Tennessee Republicans did in their initial congressional map in 2021 to the state’s other large reservoir of Democrats in Nashville, where they did not have to step gingerly because that city is majority white.

“Tennessee is a conservative state and our congressional delegation should reflect that,” said Republican state Sen. John Stevens, who shepherded the bill for a new map that made all nine congressional districts solidly Republican.

A ‘central place’ in pursuit of racial justice

Wilson, the Memphis musician who is Black, was less distraught by the carving up of his neighborhood for partisan purposes. He saw the move as just another trial facing the city after a surge of federal agents sent by President Donald Trump to combat crime and amid narratives about Memphis' safety from neighboring suburbs and Republican state lawmakers.

“It’s a hustling community. We’re going to make ends meet for our families,” Wilson said. “The legacy of Memphis is music and our civil rights history,” he said, adding the two were intertwined. “Hard times mean you’re going to try and find your gift. That’s what we do here; music in Memphis is a way of life.”

The Memphis district predates the Voting Rights Act. For at least a century, well before Congress acted to protect minority voting rights, Tennessee has believed it made sense for its metropolis on the Mississippi River to have its own U.S. House district. But since that law was passed in 1965, anyone who tried to split up the district for partisan gain could be sued and have the maps thrown out. Now, legal experts say that is not much of a risk.

Nonetheless, Democrats and civil rights groups are suing to block the map. The symbolism is especially sharp as the city is home to the National Civil Rights Museum, built around the motel where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. When the legislature passed the new maps, Democrats and protesters shouted “hands off Memphis!” and waved signs accusing Republicans of bringing back Jim Crow.

“Memphis is not just any city; it holds a central place in the national story of our quest for racial justice in this country and how, over time, we have increasingly achieved civil, voting, and economic rights for all Americans,” said Eric Holder, a former U.S. attorney general who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “Black citizens protested, marched and died there for the right to vote.”

Contentious relations with the rest of Tennessee

Memphis has faced dual stories in recent years. Billions of dollars in private investment and federal dollars have flooded into the area in recent years, but many local businesses still express concerns about a lagging regional economy.

Residents who spoke with The Associated Press expressed concerns about safety and public services but bristled at stereotypes about rampant crime. The twin stories are often on display in the river city, where pothole-filled streets run from empty storefronts to ornate mansion-filled neighborhoods and leafy college campuses only blocks away.

The city has long had a contentious relationship with the rest of the state, which voted for Trump in 2024 by a roughly 2-1 margin.

The conservative legislature in Nashville has clashed repeatedly with Memphis and accused its leaders of broad mismanagement. The legislature passed a law blocking many police overhaul efforts in Memphis that were put in place after the death of Tyre Nichols, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of city officers in 2023. It passed another measure seizing control of Memphis’ airport board and those of other cities across the state, and gave the state attorney general, also a Republican, the power to remove Memphis' elected district attorney.

“The state legislature is trying to take it over,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the white Democrat who still represents the city in Congress until the new lines kick in after the midterms. “And that’s absurd. It was all partially because it’s a majority Black city.”

Black Tennesseans deprived of fair representation, expert says

Thomas Goodman, a politics and law professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, notes that the new congressional districts may lead to greater friction over who receives attention — and funding — from lawmakers. Memphis residents will soon share districts with Republican towns with starkly different economies, geographies and demographics. Whoever holds those congressional seats will have an incentive to pay attention to those voters and not to Memphis’ population.

“It would not only deprive Black Tennesseans of proper representation,” Goodman said. “These changes also break up the city of Memphis as an entity into multiple districts, thereby removing a dedicated agent in government who knows the people, who understands their concerns and can speak for them and deliver on behalf of their interests and desires.”

Chris Wiley’s house sits in what was, before this week, a quiet street in Midtown Memphis dotted with duplexes, tidy lawns and sports fields. Now his neighborhood is carved apart at the intersection of three congressional districts. That is not surprising, he said, because “Tennessee is all about the dollar” rather than residents.

“Memphis is majority Black, so if you mess with that, what’s the point of even voting in Tennessee?” said Wiley, a 29-year-old sports stadium worker who is Black. “Whatever the congressional numbers, whatever that is, we don’t count on the scale as high, anyway.”

____

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and AP videojournalist Sophie Bates contributed to this report.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults — and around half of those under 50 — get health information from social media or podcasts.

Researchers also looked at the social media profiles of 6,828 health and wellness influencers with at least 100,000 followers. Only about 4 in 10 list a background as a health professional. About one-third called themselves coaches, about 3 in 10 described themselves as entrepreneurs and about 1 in 10 cited their own life experience, like being a parent.

Despite the wide range of expertise, about half of people who get health and wellness information from influencers said the influencers help them better understand their own health, while about one-third said it hasn't made much difference. About 1 in 10 said it made them more confused.

Experts say a bit of skepticism is key to interacting with posts about fitness, mental health and personal health. Here are their tips on how to be a smarter consumer.

How to vet a health influencer's credentials

Experts said the biggest green flag is when an influencer's credentials are easy to find on their profile. Beware the fill-in-the-blank “coach” who can't prove their training.

Courtney Babilya, a certified medical exercise specialist and personal trainer who has more than 430,000 followers on Instagram, has seen this with maternity content: "Someone has a baby and suddenly they’re a pregnancy coach.”

“We have to be careful with people who have an experience in one thing and suddenly become a ‘coach’ on that,” she said.

Coach is a business model, not a sign of training. Babilya shares her own experience dealing with chronic illness online, but keeps it separate from her professional advice.

"You do have an obligation to make sure that you are not giving someone a false idea or spreading a message that isn’t going to be applicable to everyone," she said.

Don't fall for viral shock factor

If it brings up big emotions, pause. For people who can't access care or feel unheard by their doctors, an offbeat opinion could feel like a long-sought answer. The Pew survey found 53% of uninsured people got health information from social media, compared to 38% of those who were insured.

But people who are trying to share good medical information online are not trying to incite fear or surprise, said Dr. Fatima Daoud Yilmaz, an OB-GYN at Stony Brook Medicine in New York, whose popular “Feminine Aisle” video series rates drug store products.

Even if the person has expertise, ask yourself: Are they speaking outside the scope of their knowledge? Is what they're saying in line with scientific consensus?

“All opinions are not created equal when it comes to something such as health or medicine or science,” said Daoud.

Look out for exaggerated or definitive claims, especially in the first few seconds of the video when influencers are trying hard to grab your attention, added Babilya.

Ambivalent wording is a good sign, said Nedra Glover Tawwab, a practicing therapist and author. In her videos on boundaries and mental health, she couches with “maybe,” “sometimes,” “perhaps," rather than diagnosing her 1.8 million followers on Instagram.

If you feel like you've found a diagnosis online, that is your sign to seek out a professional, Tawwab said.

Follow the influencer money

People on social media are making money — for some, it is their livelihood.

“It doesn’t mean that all of the information that they put out is biased, but it should tell consumers of that information to take it with a grain of salt because they do have financial incentive to be pushing information like this,” Daoud said.

Babilya's platform is now a full-time job, and the way she helps support her family. Taking partnerships and brand deals was not an easy decision, but one that makes her work sustainable.

Babilya said she prioritizes being upfront with her audience and making sure her ads are transparently labeled.

Stop being a passive scroller

Experts also recommend pausing to check the video’s sources. Look for gold standard science. Some posts are not well fact-checked, Babilya warned, citing studies that have nothing to do with what the influencer says it does.

Use the same standard as when you’re vetting a purchase online. Look at the larger conversation around the advice as you would reading product reviews, Tawwab said.

Two-thirds of users said they just happen to come across the content rather than seeking it out, according to the Pew survey.

If you want to control your feed, it will take time and ongoing effort, said Ash Milton of the University of Minnesota, who studies how users navigate online mental health information.

“You have to work for it because the algorithm is designed to be passive consumption,” Milton said.

You can use “Hidden Words” on Instagram or “Not Interested” on TikTok to filter out certain content, though Milton notes TikTok might not know exactly what in the video you're not interested in. Use your own reaction as a barometer to limit content by asking yourself: Is the health information actually applicable and helpful to your life, or just relatable?

Find a doctor you trust

Confirm with a trusted health professional before acting on anything you see online.

Influencers can say anything while medical professionals are ethically and legally liable for your care, and “may face professional and personal consequences for the advice that they give you," Daoud said.

“Ultimately, talk to the medical provider who knows you,” she said.

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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 plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” according to a post on the airport’s official X account.

A spokesperson for the airport said the person, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.

“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”

The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement that flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the collision.

The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.

“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” the airline said.

Passengers were evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.

One passenger, Jacob Athens, posted video showing people sliding down with their backpacks. He also posted photos of what looked like a damaged engine.

“As we were lifting off the engine of the plane exploded. There was so much smoke we couldn’t even see 1 ft in front of us,” Athens said on his Facebook page, adding that passengers had to wait for over a hour on the runway and “still no transport or help with the cold.”

Other video shows passengers calmly walking down the aisle of the plane and using the slide to evacuate. They were told to step away from the plane.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, was closed amid an investigation. It reopened Saturday around 11 a.m.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the person “breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.”

He added: “No one should EVER trespass on an airport.”

The incident came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident or the name of the employee.

“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”

But President Donald Trump might be interested in the role.

Shortly after the United States and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday, Trump made a quick jaunt to the National Mall to review the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that he ordered repainted a color he describes as “American flag blue.”

The project has been on his mind lately. During an hour-plus speech Monday to small-business owners, Trump spent about nine minutes talking about the paint job, detailing the granite floor and boasting that he whittled the renovation's cost to $1.9 million from what he said was an initial $350 million estimate.

Trump's next project might be East Potomac Park, home to an affordable, accessible public golf course with views of the Washington Monument.

The Republican president has talked of transforming it into a posh “U.S. Open-caliber course.” Signs were posted this week warning of a disruption and preservation advocates took the government to court as debris dumped there from the White House East Wing demolition tested positive for lead.

By late Friday, the nonprofit that operates the course said it would continue managing the space until the National Park Service begins a “historic restoration.”

Meanwhile, the White House told a planning agency that it would cost taxpayers at least $7.5 million to follow through on Trump's plan to paint the granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white.

And that was just this week in Washington's extreme makeover.

All the president's projects

Over the past year, Trump has bulldozed the East Wing to make way for a ballroom. His name was added to the facades of the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center, which he plans to close for a two-year renovation. His face adorns a banner at the Department of Justice's headquarters, among others. He is pushing for a triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery and has closed parks, including Lafayette Square across from the White House, for a rehab.

Trump is guaranteeing himself a lasting imprint on a city where he won just 6.5% of the vote in 2024. He is flexing extraordinary executive power and offering fresh insight into how he spends his time, perhaps a president's most valuable asset.

As the Washington projects unfolded this week, the ceasefire in Iran was at risk of unraveling, motor club AAA said the average price of a gallon of gas surpassed $4.50 and elections provided new evidence of Democratic enthusiasm heading into the November elections.

“It's not a zero-sum game but obviously all presidents have limited amounts of capital they can use and limited amounts of attention that they have to give,” said presidential historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton University. “And he's deciding, in a moment of war, a moment of economic instability, that this is a priority.”

Trump rejects such concerns.

Asked at the Reflecting Pool why he was focused on the project given the U.S. military action in Iran, he said, “Our country is about beauty, cleanliness, safety, great people. Not a filthy capital.”

Political considerations for Republicans

For Republicans defending slim congressional majorities, it is not so simple. Many would prefer to talk about policy accomplishments, including tax cuts, rather than multimillion-dollar Washington construction projects.

While few directly criticize Trump, there is an acknowledgment that the party needs to confront economic realities.

“A lot of Americans are very worried about the cost of living and we need to address it,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said recently.

A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted in late April found that 52% percent of Americans oppose Trump’s planned arch. That includes about 6 in 10 independents. Some 51% of Republicans favor it.

Americans oppose the ballroom by a 2-to-1 margin, driven largely by Democrats and independents. About 2 in 10 Republicans oppose the project, according to the poll. The poll did not find a notable shift in support of the ballroom after a shooting at last month’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Trump has cited that incident in his push for a secure facility, something he did not mention when he initially ordered the demolition of the East Wing.

Trump is showing no sign of backing away from any of the projects. In a sign of the GOP's loyalty to him, Republican senators added $1 billion in White House security upgrades for the ballroom to an unrelated bill this week. Trump initially said taxpayer money would not be needed.

A dizzying pace of change in Washington

In a city where historic preservation is often sacred, the pace of change has been dizzying.

Rebecca Miller, the executive director of DC Preservation League, has spent 23 years at the organization, which sued to stop the golf course takeover and joined a coalition attempting to force the Kennedy Center to comply with preservation laws. She said her organization has worked with administrations of both parties and called the Trump moves “highly unusual.”

“One of the problems that we have right now is an administration that seems to think that it can just plow ahead without any input,” she said. “These assets are owned by the people of the United States. They're not anybody's personal portfolio.”

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Trump is “laser-focused on lowering costs for working families, deporting illegal criminals, keeping our cities safe, beautifying our nation’s capital, and protecting our national security by ensuring Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon all at the same time.”

This is not the first time a White House has taken an interest in Washington's appearance.

During Lyndon Johnson's administration, first lady Lady Bird Johnson oversaw beautification efforts that included planting trees and flowers throughout the District of Columbia.

Her efforts were sometimes derided as distractions from other pressing issues, such as the Vietnam War. But she implemented them in coordination with local officials.

“Lady Bird Johnson was trying to bring out the natural beauty of Washington,” said Mark Updegrove, chairman of the LBJ Foundation and a presidential historian. “Donald Trump is trying to remake the nation's capital in his own image.”

Trump's assertion of power over Washington, including the continued deployment of National Guard troops, has animated the city's Democratic primary next month for key local offices, including mayor and delegate to Congress.

The first question at a forum for mayoral candidates this week focused on how to protect the Home Rule Act, the 1973 law that gave the city limited self-government. The candidates said they would stand up to Trump as needed, though one contender, Vincent Orange, noted that national Democrats had also failed the district.

“The two times that we had an opportunity at statehood, it was the Democrats who let us down," he said, referring to failed congressional attempts to make the city a state with full rights of representation.

In an interview, Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. Council member and top candidate in the mayor's race, said city officials need to do a better job of making their case in Congress for statehood. She said Trump's impact on the city is broader than the renovations, as she referred to the troop deployments as a “federal occupation” and noted the fallout from immigration enforcement activity and cuts to the federal workforce.

“The people of our city are afraid,” she said. “It's the mayor's job to really let the nation know that D.C. has uniquely been left vulnerable.”

Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who often supported the city's autonomy when he was a congressman, said the renovations offer an “opportunity to bring some money into the city and spruce up stuff that you wouldn't have had otherwise.”

“But this is tough,” he said. “This is not a city that is in love with the president."

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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Iranian state TV reported the warning a day after the United States struck two Iranian oil tankers, while a tenuous ceasefire appeared to be holding.

Meanwhile Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s regional headquarters, said it arrested dozens of people it alleged had links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Friday's attacks cast doubt on the month-old ceasefire that the U.S. has insisted is still in effect. Washington awaits Iran's response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

The U.S. military said Friday its forces disabled two Iranian tankers that were trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports. Hours earlier, the military said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships and struck Iranian military facilities in the strait.

Bahrain says arrests were linked to Guard funding attempt

Bahrain said it had arrested 41 people it said are part of a group affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard. The interior ministry said investigations confirmed they were in contact with the Guard and collected funds “with the aim of sending them to Iran” to support its "terrorist operations.”

The small Persian Gulf island is led by a Sunni Muslim monarchy but, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population. Rights groups have said the kingdom has used the war between Iran and the U.S., which bases its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as an excuse to crack down on dissent.

Iran issued a warning to Bahrain.

“Siding with the U.S.-backed resolution will bring severe consequences. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital lifeline; do not risk closing it on yourselves FOREVER," Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission of Iran’s parliament, said on social media.

Iran has mostly blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, causing a global spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets.

The U.S. has imposed its own blockade of Iran’s ports. U.S. Central Command said on Saturday its forces had turned back 58 commercial ships and “disabled” four since the blockade began April 13.

Britain deploys warship to the Middle East

Britain’s defense ministry said it was deploying a warship to the Middle East to join a potential mission to protect commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end.

The ministry said the HMS Dragon will “preposition” in the region, ready to join a U.K.- and French-led security plan. France announced this week it was moving its aircraft carrier strike group into the Red Sea in preparation.

Britain and France have led meetings involving several dozen countries on a coalition to reestablish freedom of navigation in the strait. But they stress it won’t start until there is a sustainable ceasefire and the maritime industry is reassured ships can go through the strait safely.

Diplomacy continues ‘day and night’

U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. On Friday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the country was not paying attention to “deadlines,” according to state-run IRNA.

Diplomacy continues. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country has been in contact with the U.S. and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace deal.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Saturday that it, as well as Saudi Arabia, was calling for diplomatic efforts to reach a “sustainable, long-term agreement” to end the war.

Egyptian and Qatari top diplomats reiterated that diplomacy is the sole path to a solution, according to a readout of a Saturday phone call between the two foreign ministers.

On Friday, a top Iranian official said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was in “complete health” and eventually would appear in public. Khamenei hasn’t been seen or heard in public since the war began, fueling speculation about his status.

Mazaher Hosseini, affiliated with the office of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was Mojtaba’s father and who was killed at the start of the war, made the comment at a pro-government gathering. Hosseini said Mojtaba had suffered knee and back injuries in the war’s opening attacks but they’ve largely healed.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

The vessel is expected to arrive Sunday at the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, and passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area,” said the head of Spain’s emergency services, Virginia Barcones.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship.

While three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are known to be infected with hantavirus, cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Friday there were no people with symptoms of a possible infection on board the Dutch-flagged ship, the MV Hondius.

The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public from the outbreak as low.

On Friday, the WHO said a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger has tested negative for hantavirus. Her possible infection had raised concerns about the virus’ potential transmissibility.

The flight attendant’s negative result should ease concerns among the public, said Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman. “The risk remains absolutely low,” he said. “This is not a new COVID.”

Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.

Passengers on the ship worry about how people will treat them

In interviews with The Associated Press, two Spanish passengers — speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears they’ll be ostracized once on land — said that despite the outbreak, their days aboard have passed with relative tranquility. Some people are bird-watching, and others are gathering in common areas to read or attend talks, while wearing masks and social distancing. Both passengers told AP they’re worried about how they’ll be treated in Spain and once home.

“We’re scared by all the news that’s coming out, by how people are going to receive us, by how people see us,” one said. “We’re just normal people. We’ve heard that this is a millionaires’ cruise, and it’s the complete opposite of reality. And we’re scared by this.”

Officials sought to reassure the public in the Canary Islands about possible exposure to the virus among the general population.

Once the ship reaches Tenerife, passengers will be evacuated in small boats to buses only after their repatriation flights are ready to take them, Spanish officials said Friday. Passengers will be transported in isolated and guarded vehicles, officials said, adding that the parts of the airport they travel through will be cordoned off.

Countries scramble to track passengers who disembarked

On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator said Thursday.

It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a ship passenger, the WHO said.

The KLM flight attendant who tested negative for the virus was working on a flight headed from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25, and had later fallen ill.

The cruise passenger briefly aboard that flight — a Dutch woman whose husband died on the ship — was too ill to stay on the international flight to Europe and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died.

The Dutch public health service is undertaking contact tracing on passengers who had contact with the ill woman before she left the plane.

On Friday, U.K. health authorities said a third British national who had been a passenger on the ship is suspected of being infected with hantavirus. The U.K. Health Security Agency said the person is on the island of Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory in the south Atlantic where the ship stopped in April. There was no word on the condition of the person.

Spanish health officials said Friday a woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante has symptoms consistent with ‌a hantavirus infection and is being tested.

She was a passenger on the same flight as the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg after traveling on the cruise ship, Secretary of ⁠State for Health Javier Padilla told reporters.

Two other Britons who were on the ship have been confirmed to have the virus. One is hospitalized in the Netherlands and the other in South Africa.

Authorities in South Africa are working to trace contacts of any passengers who previously got off the ship. They have focused mainly on an April 25 flight from the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic to Johannesburg, the day after some passengers disembarked on the island.

Some state officials across the U.S. said they are monitoring a small number of residents who were on the ship and already went home, as well as people who may have come into contact with ship passengers. None has symptoms.

Health officials in the US detail plans for American passengers

The U.S. agreed to send a plane to repatriate about 17 Americans who are still on the ship. Those passengers will be quarantined at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine, the hospital said Friday. None have symptoms.

Doctors will determine how long the quarantine will last after assessing the passengers.

The dedicated biocontainment and quarantine unit in Omaha previously was used to treat Ebola patients and some of the first COVID-19 patients. Nebraska Medicine is one of a handful of hospitals in the U.S. with specialized treatment units for people with highly dangerous infectious diseases.

“We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement.

The British government said it will charter a plane to evacuate the nearly two dozen British nationals onboard.

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Associated Press writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, Stefanie Dazio in Berlin, David Biller in Rome and Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.

“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.

“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.

The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.

Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.

Some Tenerife residents say they don't want the ship there

Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.

“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”

Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.

“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”

Passengers can take only limited belongings and will be isolated

Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”

The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor, with people ferried off in small boats. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting for them, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.

Authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights on Sunday and Monday, the director of the WHO's Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, Maria Van Kerkove, said in a briefing Saturday.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.

All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.

Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.

A medical evacuation plane will be on standby

According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infectious diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.

The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.

As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.

Countries scramble to track passengers who disembarked

Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.

On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.

It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.

Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.

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Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.

The slain hikers were among 20 who set out to ascend the 1,355-meter (4,445-foot) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early Friday, spewing a thick ash column that rose about 10 kilometers (6 miles) into the air.

The woman, identified by authorities only as Enjel and known as a local hiker, was located Saturday afternoon, about 50 meters (165 feet) from the rim of the main crater, said Iwan Ramdani, who heads local Search and Rescue Office. The location of the bodies of two Singaporean climbers remains unknown, and rescue teams are continuing operations amid high volcanic activity, he said.

“The rescue efforts went through a situation that required careful calculation and a well-planned evacuation strategy,” Ramdani said, “We took into account the potential escalation of volcanic activity as well as the safety of all personnel.”

Hours after the eruption, 17 climbers had been safely evacuated, including seven Singaporean nationals and two Indonesians who eventually joined the rescue operation and provided information on climbing routes of the victims before the eruption. Ten of those evacuated suffered minor burn injuries.

The search operation that involved more than 100 personnel supported by drones resumed early Saturday, focusing on a 700 square-meter (7,500 square-foot) area where clues were found during earlier searches, despite hazardous terrain and continuing eruptions, according to Ramdani.

He said rescuers were prioritizing safety because Dukono’s volcanic activity remains elevated.

“The main challenge in this search effort is that we are racing against ongoing eruptions,” Ramdani said in a video statement, “When the authorities declare conditions safe, we move closer to the crater area, but when an eruption occurs, we must immediately secure all search personnel from potential danger.”

Indonesia’s volcanology agency reported multiple eruptions from early Saturday through late morning, including ash columns rising as high as 3,000 meters (nearly 10,000 feet) above the crater. Lava bursts were also observed overnight from a monitoring post near the volcano.

Mount Dukono has been on the second-highest alert level status since 2008. Authorities enforced a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) exclusion zone around the active crater in December 2024.

Local authorities formally closed all hiking routes to Mount Dukono in April and reinforced the ban following Friday’s incident. The National Disaster Management Agency warned that entering restricted zones could result in legal sanctions.

The agency urged climbers and tour operators to comply with safety recommendations, noting that similar restrictions apply to dozens of other active volcanoes across the country currently at elevated alert levels.

Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is home to more than 120 active volcanoes.

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According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened in the waters off Little Palm Island, which is just south of Ramrod Key.

Deputies said the 27-year-old woman, who authorities identifed as Jocelyn Brown, had a dive flag up as the boater sped by and hit her.

Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said occupants of the striking boat recovered Brown from the water and transported her to shore. They confirmed that Brown later died from her injuries.

Authorities have not yet said whether the boater will face charges.

They did confirm that the FWC is handling the investigation.

A front to our north this weekend will move closer by early next week, increasing the chance of scattered showers and storms from Monday through Wednesday. Highs in the lower 90s this weekend will eventually slip back into the mid- to upper 80s by the middle of next week.

“My players recognized their mistake, expressed their remorse and asked for forgiveness,” Arbeloa told reporters in Madrid on Saturday in his first public appearance since the fight.

“That is enough for me,” he said. “What I am not going to do is burn them on a pyre in a town square, because they don’t deserve that. It is time to turn the page."

The tussle by the two midfielders when Madrid practiced on Thursday ended with Valverde at the hospital to treat a head wound. Valverde said he had hit his head on a table, calling the incident “a meaningless fight.”

Madrid said both players apologized to one another the next day when they met with club officials investigating the incident. They also apologized to their teammates, coaching staff and fans.

The 15-time European champion, however, found the spat a serious enough breach of team discipline to slap the players with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player.

Arbeloa said he was satisfied with how the club had handled the situation, while also adding that he had seen worse behavior in his playing career as a defender, which included Madrid, Liverpool, West Ham and Spain’s national team.

“I had a teammate that hit another with a golf club,” he said, without giving any more detail. “Situations like this have always happened, but I am not justifying them.”

During Arbeloa's playing days at Liverpool, teammates Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise were involved in an incident in which Bellamy hit Riise with a golf club prior to a Champions League game at Barcelona in 2007.

Arbeloa’s harshest words were not for Valverde and Tchouaméni, but rather for whoever it was who told the media about the fight. It was first reported by Spanish sports daily Marca.

“That what happens in the changing room ends up being filtered (to the media) for me is a betrayal of Real Madrid,” he said. “These things must stay in the changing room.”

And now a trip to Camp Nou with everything to lose

Madrid is facing a second straight season without a major trophy, despite having France star Kylian Mbappé on the squad.

The 43-year-old Arbeloa has only been in charge since January when he was promoted from Madrid's reserve team to substitute the fired Xabi Alonso. It would be a major shock if he is not replaced after the season given the inconsistent play of his star-studded side.

Arbeloa now has the difficult task of rallying his players for a game at fierce rival Barcelona on Sunday. Only a win by Madrid can stop Barcelona from clinching a second straight La Liga title, and even then it would likely just delay a title celebration by Barcelona with the Catalan club 11 points ahead of Madrid with four games left.

“There is no doubt I have to take the responsibility for the fact that we have not risen to the challenge this season,” Arbeloa said. “It is clear that feelings of frustration and anger can push you into situations that you don’t desire. But now we must focus on (Sunday’s) game.”

Tchouaméni will be in Madrid's squad for the clasico, Arbeloa said, while Valverde is on medical leave recovering from his head injury.

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

Magyar’s center-right Tisza party defeated Orbán’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orbán a reputation among his critics as a far-right authoritarian.

In a speech to tens of thousands of supporters in a square outside the parliament building after being sworn in, the new prime minister told the crowd: “Today, every freedom-loving person in the world would like to be Hungarian a little.”

“You have taught the country and the world that it is the most ordinary, flesh-and-blood people that can defeat the most vicious tyranny,” Magyar said to roaring applause.

As Hungary's new leader, Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and governmental checks and balances that were heavily eroded during Orbán's rule, and to clamp down on alleged corruption.

His administration is expected to transform political dynamics within the European Union, where the former prime minister had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, most recently concerning support for neighboring Ukraine.

A parliament without Orbán

On Saturday, Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who founded Tisza in 2024, entered the sprawling neo-Gothic parliament building alongside 140 of his party representatives.

Tisza now controls 141 seats in Hungary's 199-seat parliament. Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition controls 52 seats, down from 135, while the far-right Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party holds six seats.

The 199 representatives took their oaths of office at around 11 a.m. Orbán was not among them for the first time since Hungary’s first post-Communist parliament was formed in 1990.

Magyar earlier called on Hungarians to attend an all-day “regime-change” celebration on Kossuth Square outside parliament to mark his inauguration and the end of the Orbán era. Many of those gathered waved Hungarian and EU flags and wore Tisza T-shirts.

In his speech, Magyar delivered a message of unity, and promised to help heal the deep social divisions he said Orbán's government had sown.

“Today is the fulfillment of the long journey that we have made together in recent years, the fulfillment of the common belief that Hungary is able to get back on its feet, is able to believe in itself and to once again be a common homeland for all Hungarians,” he said.

Hungary's new National Assembly has 54 women lawmakers, most from the Tisza party — more than a quarter of the total and the most in Hungary’s history.

One of them, Andrea Szepesi, an economist from Budapest, said it was “about time” that more women held seats in parliament. Under Orbán's rule, there were fewer women in government than in nearly all of the EU's other 26 nations.

“Finally, women are able to participate in this new, beautiful democratic system and the flourishing of the country,” Szepesi told The Associated Press.

Repairing relations with the EU

Magyar has promised to repair his country’s ties with the EU, which Orbán had pushed to a breaking point, and to restore Hungary’s place among Western democracies, whose standing had been called into question as Orbán drifted ever closer to Russia.

The EU flag was raised on the parliament building’s facade Saturday afternoon for the first time since Orbán’s government removed it in 2014.

Unlocking about 17 billion euros ($20 billion) of EU funds for Hungary frozen during Orbán’s time in office over rule-of-law and corruption concerns is also among the new prime minister’s top priorities. The money is sorely needed to help jump-start Hungary’s struggling economy, which has stagnated for the past four years.

Another attendee of the celebration, 27-year-old web designer Áron Farsang, said he expects the new Tisza government to restore Hungary's democratic institutions and to “lead us back toward the European Union.”

“I would also really like it if we could get rid of the Russian influence as soon as possible,” he said. “I’m thinking about energy dependency and their general political style.”

Accounting for the past

Many of the nearly 3.4 million Hungarians that voted for Tisza expect Magyar to hold Fidesz officials and their business allies accountable for the perceived misconduct of the outgoing administration.

In his speech to the National Assembly, he called on Fidesz-appointed heads of government institutions, including President Tamás Sulyok, to resign no later than May 31.

Magyar plans to form a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds misused during Orbán’s tenure. He’s also vowed to suspend the news services of Hungary’s public broadcaster — widely seen as a mouthpiece of Orbán’s party — until objectivity can be restored.

In his speech to lawmakers, Magyar referenced his intentions to hold former officials accountable for past abuses, saying voters had “given us a mandate to open a new chapter in Hungary’s history.

Fresh cuts and bruises on those long arms after fighting for paint position and jockeying for rebounds all night with the Minnesota Timberwolves made clear Wembanyama had to put in plenty of work to compile 39 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in a 115-108 victory in Game 3 on Friday that gave the Spurs a 2-1 lead in their second-round NBA playoff series.

“It's going to happen," Wembanyama said. “They're Wolves, after all.”

The Spurs stayed unbeaten on the road in this postseason with their first win in a truly close game, after four victories in the first round over the Portland Trail Blazers with margins between 12 and 21 points.

“They just continue showing growth,” coach Mitch Johnson said.

Starting with Wembanyama. The 22-year-old phenom from France in his first NBA postseason has played in only seven playoff games, but he has wasted no time writing quite a legacy.

The only other players in NBA history to hit the 35-point, 15-rebound, five-block thresholds in a playoff game? Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Shaquille O'Neal. And only Wembanyama has now done it while shooting better than 70% from the floor. The 7-foot-4 star was 13 for 18 — and 10 for 12 from the line.

“It’s good to be along with the big fellas,” said Wembanyama, who credited Olajuwon for teaching him a spin fadeaway he sank over his mentor Rudy Gobert during a 16-point fourth quarter.

He did that despite picking up his fifth foul with 6:18 left, sitting for only about a minute down the stretch while helping the Spurs pull away each time the Wolves were within one possession.

“Just staying calm, getting my senses back,” Wembanyama said. “Our coaches tell us what to do. They give us the recipe, so as long as we stay steady and we trust our process we’re going to be all right.”

Wembanyama set an NBA postseason record with 12 blocked shots in the series opener, but he lamented his lack of impact on offense after the 104-102 loss to the Wolves on Monday. He stormed out of the gate for Game 2 by immediately asserting his dominance on both ends of the floor that sparked the Spurs to a 133-95 victory on Wednesday, and the travel north did nothing to stem that.

With a pair of effortless slams off lobs to start, the first one done in reverse, Wembanyama scored the first seven points for the Spurs as they sailed to an 18-3 lead. But he was even more of a force on defense, lurking in the paint and frequently prompting the Wolves to alter their layups and floaters to avoid being swatted.

“He's a world-class defender. You’re always aware of him,” Wolves guard Ayo Dosunmu said. "Yeah, he’s a gift at that end of the court.”

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

For the chicken:

boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded lightly to slightly flatten the chicken

Za’atar, as needed to crust the chicken

kosher salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

olive oil, as needed to sear the chicken

For the salad:

romaine lettuce leaves, cut or torn into small pieces

pomegranate seeds

crumbled feta cheese

toasted sesame seeds

For the dressing:

2 oil-packed anchovy fillets, chopped

1 small garlic clove, chopped

juice from ½ a lemon, freshly squeezed

3 tablespoon tahini

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons grapeseed or sunflower oil

water, as needed

3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan

kosher salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make the dressing:

Combine the anchovies, garlic clove, lemon juice, tahini, ¼ cup cool water and Dijon mustard in a small food processor. Puree until smooth. Drizzle in the olive oil with the food processor running. If the dressing becomes too thick, you can add in a little water, a tablespoon at a time and puree to thin the dressing. Stir in the parmesan cheese and season to taste and salt and pepper.

To make salad:

Generously coat the chicken breast filets with za’atar spice and season with salt and pepper. Heat a drizzle of olive in a sauté pan and cook the chicken on both sides until cooked through.

Dress the lettuce with as much of the Caesar dressing as desired. Toss with pomegranate seeds and feta cheese. Transfer the salad to your serving plate. Top with toasted sesame seeds and the za’atar chicken.

For the salad:

½ block firm tofu, drained, cut into 1-inch cubes

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon garlic powder

kosher salt, to taste

olive oil, as needed to sear to sear the tofu

romaine lettuce leaves, cut or torn into small pieces

For garnish:

crunchy chickpeas, purchased, optional

vegan parmesan cheese, shaved thin with a peeler

For the dressing:

5½ ounces roasted salted cashews

4½ - 6 ounces water from soaking the cashews

2 heads roasted garlic (see note)

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire

1 teaspoon nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

juice from ½ a lemon, freshly squeezed

kosher salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make the dressing:

Soak the cashews overnight in cool water in the refrigerator. The next day, drain the water from the cashews, reserving the soaking liquid for the dressing.

Combine drained cashews, the roasted garlic, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, Worcestershire, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard and lemon juice in a blender. Add a couple ounces of the soaking liquid and blend the dressing. Add more liquid as needed to achieve a creamy, smooth dressing that is your desired consistency. Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper as desired.

To make the salad:

Season the tofu with onion powder, garlic powder and salt to taste. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a sauté pan, a nonstick pan works best. Sear the seasoned tofu until golden brown.

Dress the lettuce with as much of the Caesar dressing as desired. Transfer lettuce to a serving dish. Top with the seared tofu, crunchy chickpeas and vegan parmesan, if using. Garnish with a few cracks of freshly ground black pepper.

For the roasted garlic:

To make oven-roasted garlic, slice off the top ¼-inch of a whole bulb to expose the cloves, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt. Wrap it in aluminum foil and bake at 400˚F for 40–70 minutes until the cloves are golden brown and soft. Let cool enough to handle and then squeeze out the soft garlic cloves and reserve for the recipe. Discard the garlic skin.

For the salad:

8 ounces Skirt steak

kosher salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

olive oil, as needed to sear the steak

1 cup tiny broccoli florets

1 cup broccoli stalk, touch woody end trimmed and discarded, peeled and cut into thin strips

3 cups kale, leaves very finely diced

Pecorino cheese, finely grated

CHEAT Caesar salad dressing:

3 each anchovies

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

juice from ½ a lemon, freshly squeezed

splash water, as needed

1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated

kosher salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make the dressing:

Place the anchovies in a medium bowl and use a whisk to break them up as much as possible. Add in the mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, minced garlic and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Add a splash of water if the dressing is too thick. Stir in the grated parmesan cheese. Season to taste as desired with salt and pepper.

To make the salad:

Season the steak with salt and pepper. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a sauté pan. Sear the skirt steak to your desired doneness. Allow to rest for a few minutes before slicing. Transfer the sliced steak to a plate.

While the steak cooks, mix the kale, broccoli florets and stalks with as much Caesar dressing as desired. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Top the seared steak with the dressed salad. Garnish the salad with a generous amount of grated pecorino cheese and a few cracks of black pepper.

The jury limited its action to countries under investigation by the International Criminal Court for human rights abuses, but some say the U.S. should have been included. British artist Anish Kapoor cited “the politics of hate and war and all that that’s been going on now for too long.”

Visitors to the Giardini and Arsenale venues will vote for the best national pavilion, from 100 participants, and best participant in the main curated show, “In Minor Keys,” in Eurovision style. The vote will be anonymous, and by email, the Biennale said Saturday. Winners will be announced closing day, Nov. 22.

Ahead of the opening, protesters objecting to Israel's participation clashed with police on Friday. Earlier in the week, feminist groups from Ukraine and Russia converged on the Russian Pavilion and Palestinians remembered artists killed in Gaza.

Some places to start:

Koyo Kouoh’s ‘In Minor Keys’

A towering red feathered sculpture with beaded embroidery greets visitors to the main curated show. Rooted in New Orleans Black Masking culture born from practices brought by enslaved Africans, the costume-like sculpture signals the show’s focus on minority perspectives.

The first African woman chosen to curate the main Biennale exhibition, the late Koyo Kouoh assembled 110 artists and artistic groups under a title meant to spotlight the overlooked, and five co-curators carried on her legacy after her death a year ago.

“She was someone who thought about making spaces for everyone to shine and we see it in her exhibition, we see it with ourselves,” said co-curator Marie Helene Pereira.

Britain's Lubaina Himid explores life as a newcomer

Lubaina Himid, a Turner Prize winner, explores what it is like to make a home in a new place in her exhibition titled “Predicting History: Testing Translation” for the British Pavilion, featuring brightly hued paintings of couples facing the dilemmas of newcomers.

In one, two architects are trying to decide where to build. “One of them is trying to decide, would we build a building here, that proves that we have contributed to the culture, and the other architect is saying ’No, no, no, no, no. Let’s build something that we can escape in tomorrow,” said Himid, who was born in Zanzibar and has spent more than 70 years in Great Britain.

The Vatican’s Mystic Garden

The Vatican is offering spiritual respite from the world’s turmoil in the Mystic Gardens of Discalced Carmelite order next to Venice’s main train station.

Participants walk among the vineyards and pass a pomegranate tree and beds of herbs, wearing headphones that pick up music by the 12th-Century abbess, mystic and composer, St. Hildegard of Bingen, reinterpreted by artists such as Brian Eno and Patti Smith.

“Music also helps us delve into ourselves and understand, to use a phrase by Hildegard, the symphony that God has placed in our lives,” said Rev. Ermanno Barucco, prior of the Carmelite order.

Austrian Pavilion uses effluent as an artistic medium

A naked woman hangs from a bell outside the Austrian Pavilion, a human clapper making the performance art by Florentina Holzinger one of the hottest appointments in the Giardini. Inside, a nude rider swirls around on a Jet Ski inside a tank — emblematic of Venice’s relegation as an over-touristed amusement park.

A naked woman breathes through a scuba mouthpiece in another huge tank filled with water that has been flushed from nearby toilets and filtered multiple times. The presentation is called “Seaworld Venice.”

Israel: a meditation on love and war

Inside Romanian-born artist Belu-Simion Fainaru's installation, water drips from suspended tubes into a pool, stopping in cycles for just 42 seconds, representing divine creative power in Jewish mysticism. Locks hung around the pavilion, like those placed by lovers on bridges around Europe, are engraved with the commandment “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” in Hebrew, and the hopeful exhortation: “This too shall pass.”

“I am against boycott, I’m for dialogue, and that’s a political statement,” said Fainaru, who called the jury's exclusion of Israel a form of discrimination.

Art as a daily practice in the Estonian Pavilion

Estonian artist Merike Estna will work throughout the Biennale on a huge wall painting inside a community center gymnasium that was once a church — the space's layered history mirroring her practice of spilling paint to build deeply textured surfaces over time. The act of daily painting represents the undervalued quotidian work of women.

Curator Natalia Sielewicz likened it to “the everyday feminism of sustaining life, of sustaining our planet.''

Security was tight in Moscow as Putin and several foreign leaders attended the parade, which was scaled down even as a U.S.-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities.

Putin, in power for more than a quarter-century, has used Victory Day, Russia’s most important secular holiday, to showcase the country’s military might and rally support for his military action in Ukraine, now in its fifth year.

Speaking at the parade, Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of NATO," and are fighting for a “just cause.”

“Victory has always been and will be ours,” Putin said, as columns of troops lined up on Red Square. “The key to success is our moral strength, courage and valor, our unity and ability to endure anything and overcome any challenge.”

But in a notable shift this year, the parade took place without tanks, missiles and other equipment put on display every year since 2008, aside from a traditional flyover of combat jets.

Officials explained the change of format by the “current operational situation” and the threat of Ukrainian attacks. The authorities also ordered restrictions on all mobile internet access and text messaging services in the Russian capital on Saturday. Putin told reporters Saturday after the parade that it didn’t feature heavy weaponry because the military needs it on the battlefield in Ukraine.

For the first time, Saturday's parade featured troops from North Korea, a tribute to Pyongyang that sent its soldiers to fight alongside Moscow forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region.

Earlier ceasefires failed to hold until Trump stepped in

Russia declared a unilateral ceasefire for Friday and Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a truce that was supposed to begin on May 6, but neither held as the parties traded blame for continuing attacks.

Fears about the festivities' security eased Friday, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine have bowed to his request for a ceasefire running Saturday through Monday and an exchange of prisoners, declaring that the break in fighting could be the “beginning of the end” of the war.

Zelenskyy, who said earlier this week that the Russian authorities “fear drones may buzz over Red Square” on May 9, followed up on Trump's statement by declaring Red Square temporarily off-limits for Ukrainian strikes and mockingly permitting Russia to hold its Victory Day celebrations on Saturday, a move that the Kremlin shrugged off as a “silly joke.”

Putin told reporters after the parade that Trump offered to broker a ceasefire after Russia informed the U.S. and others that it would launch a massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv fraught with collateral damage if Ukraine attempts to disrupt Saturday’s festivities.

“We just described the situation to our friends, colleagues and partners: We don't have any intention to exacerbate or worsen relations with anyone, but it could happen because all control and decision-making centers in Kyiv are located close to diplomatic missions,” Putin said. “When we started such a dialogue with the U.S. administration, we warned them about this, pointed out the possible consequences and asked them to do everything necessary to ensure the security of their diplomatic mission.”

He noted that Russia immediately welcomed Trump's offer that was driven by humanitarian motives and “respect to our common victory over Nazism.”

Putin has used Victory Day celebrations to encourage national pride and underline Russia’s position as a global power. The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in 1941-45 in what it calls the Great Patriotic War, an enormous sacrifice that left a deep scar in the national psyche and remains a rare point of consensus in the nation’s divisive history under Communist rule.

Putin says he could meet Zelenskyy when a peace deal is ready for signing

Russia’s bigger and better-equipped military has been making slow but steady gains along the more than 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) front line. Ukraine has hit back with increasingly efficient long-range attacks, striking Russian energy facilities, manufacturing plants and military depots. It has developed drones capable of reaching targets over 1,000 kilometers (more than 600 miles) deep into Russia, far beyond its capabilities before 2022.

Zelenskyy has proposed to meet with Putin to negotiate a peace deal, but dismissed the Russian leader's suggestion that he come to Moscow. On Saturday, Putin said he could meet with Zelenskyy in another country, but only to endorse a comprehensive accord.

“A meeting in a third country is also possible, but only after a peace treaty aimed at a long-term historic perspective is finalized,” Putin told reporters. “This should be a final deal, not the negotiations.”

Putin praises foreign guests, Merz criticizes Fico

Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko attended the festivities in the Russian capital.

Putin hailed the foreign guests who attended the parade for “personal courage,” noting that they had decided to come to Moscow before the ceasefire brokered by Trump defused security concerns.

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, a European Union member, laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial just outside the Kremlin walls but stayed away from the Red Square parade. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Fico’s trip, saying, "I deeply regret this, and we will discuss his visit to Moscow with him.”

Speaking at a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin, Fico bemoaned what he called a new “Iron Curtain” in Europe that hampered trade, and emphasized the importance of Russia's energy supplies to Slovakia. Putin hailed the Slovak leader for conducting a “sovereign” foreign policy and honoring the memory of fallen Red Army soldiers.

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

Ian Happ extended his on-base streak to 29 games, Michael Busch hit a three-run double and the Cubs clinched their second 10-game winning streak this year with a 7-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.

It's the first time since 1935 that Chicago has had two 10-game winning streaks in a season. The only time the Cubs had more was in 1906 with four.

“That means you’re doing something that’s pretty rare, and I think we realize that,” manager Craig Counsell said.

The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers were the previous major league team with two 10-game winning streaks within the first 39 games of a season, according to Sportradar. They did it in their first 24 games.

“Baseball is a game of a ridiculous amount of stats and things to look up, so anytime you have to go that far back, it is obviously a good sign, especially on a positive like that,” Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “We're just going to keep it rolling.”

These Cubs have done it pretty quickly, too, with a pair of 10-game winning streaks by May 8.

“That’s a crazy sentence,” Hoerner said.

Milwaukee had two winning streaks of at least 10 games last season on the way to winning the NL Central title and finishing five games ahead of Chicago.

The Cubs have the best record in the majors at 27-12 and have won 20 of their last 23 games, with three consecutive losses separating those long win streaks.

“If you break it to small things, it’s just come and play a good game today, and we played a really good game today, a really well-rounded, well-pitched for sure, with some pressure a lot in a bunch of innings," Counsell said. "It's been the recipe for a lot of wins.”

When the Cubs had multiple 10-game winning streaks in 1935, their Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett was the NL MVP and Charlie Grimm the manager while winning 100 games. The only time they have done that since was their 2016 World Series championship year, when they won 103 games in the regular season.

“Two double-digit winning streaks in a season, that sounds pretty wild to me,” said Ben Brown, who threw four hitless innings in his first start this season after 12 relief appearances.

“That’s kudos to all the guys in the clubhouse, all the coaches, all the trainers, the sports staff,” he added. “That is some goosebumps to think about how talented this team is. It’s special to be a part of, it’s special to witness, it’s special to watch.”

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

Wembanyama went 13 of 18 from the floor and 10 of 12 from the line, adding five blocks and a full night of paint deterrence as the Spurs won their second straight game after dropping the opener at home.

“It was like holding the ship together. We had a lead. We didn’t need to rush. We needed to be consistent,” Wembanyama said.

De'Aaron Fox scored 17 points, and Stephon Castle had 13 points and 12 assists with a team-high plus-17 rating.

Anthony Edwards had 32 points and 14 rebounds and Naz Reid added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves, whose defense kept them alive after a woeful start but allowed the Spurs to shoot 6 for 10 from 3-point range in the pivotal third quarter.

Minnesota will host Game 4 on Sunday night. The series shifts back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday.

Jaden McDaniels drew Wembanyama's fifth foul with 6:18 left and brought the Wolves within 99-98 on pair of free throws, but the Spurs never trailed in the second half despite never leading by double digits. Wembanyama sat for about a minute before coach Mitch Johnson sent him back in.

“We were going to not leave any bullets in the chamber in terms of keeping him on the bench," Johnson said. "We were going to play him, and then if he fouled out, we deal with that.”

Wembanyama didn't flinch despite the foul risk, finishing with 16 points in the fourth quarter. His 3-pointer that answered Reid's pushed San Antonio's lead to six with 3:06 to go. Reid tried another one near the end of the shot clock on the next possession that hit the rim and Wembanyama snagged for another rebound.

Edwards, who showed Minnesota yet again his swift healing ability by returning from a deep bone bruise in his hyperextended left knee after just one week to make the start of the series, had 22 points in the first half to help them snap back from an early 18-3 deficit.

“He needed that. We needed that,” coach Chris Finch said. “He’s battling back to find a game like this, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the result that went along with it.”

The Wolves missed their first 12 shots and didn't get a basket to go down until Rudy Gobert's putback with 6:52 had elapsed, but unlike in the 133-95 drubbing they took in Game 2 on Wednesday they had the defensive intelligence and tenacity at the ready to make up for the long shooting lulls.

Edwards hit a buzzer-beating 31-footer at the end of the first quarter, and McDaniels swished a 3-pointer from the wing to end the first half with a 51-all tie.

McDaniels and Julius Randle were the most affected by Wembanyama's presence, unable to get their short-range and rim-attacking game going. They shot a combined 8 for 34 from the floor.

“I went in the locker room and told the guys we had a bunch of great looks,” Edwards said. “If we make our shots, we win this game.”

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

Shea Theodore had a goal and an assist and Brayden McNabb scored a short-handed goal as the Golden Knights stormed to a 5-0 lead after two periods, silencing a sellout crowd in Orange County and erasing memories of their rough offensive outing in Game 2.

“Our desperation level definitely got higher,” Marner said. “I just like the way that we came out and started. The first 10 minutes really, we just played our game and got to it, and that's something we were missing the first two games.”

Carter Hart made 30 saves as Vegas moved halfway to the Western Conference finals while sending the upstart Ducks to the worst loss of their first postseason in eight years.

Game 4 is Sunday night in Anaheim.

Marner got his natural hat trick in the first two periods, giving him six goals in the past four games of his first playoff run with his new team. The longtime Maple Leafs forward delivered Vegas’ first four-point playoff performance since 2019 and prompted a few hats to be thrown onto the ice when he slipped his third goal under Ville Husso with 2:04 left in the second.

“I think (Marner) is very confident in what he brings," Vegas coach John Tortorella said. "People give him (grief) all the time about playoffs, and this and that, and I don’t think it bothers him a lick. He just plays. He’s a hockey player, and I’m glad he’s doing some things for us.”

Marner's three goals were more than he scored in last spring's entire 13-game playoff run with Toronto, where the Ontario native frequently got criticism for not delivering in the postseason.

“It's always nice to try to contribute, but at the end of the day, you just want to win games,” Marner said. “There's been a lot of different moments so far in this playoffs that people have stepped up and made big plays. Tonight, (there were) a lot of great plays by people around me to set me up in a spot where I could succeed.”

Beckett Sennecke and Chris Kreider scored in the third period for the Ducks, who got embarrassed in their team’s first home game in the second round since 2017. Kreider's goal was the 50th of his playoff career.

“I thought they played well, but I don't think we brought our best,” Ducks forward Alex Killorn said. “Maybe a little bit comfortable, in all honesty. They're a great team. We just have to have a little bit of a better start and effort.”

Lukas Dostal gave up three goals on eight shots in a rough first period before Husso replaced him. Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said he wasn't sure whether Dostal would start Game 4.

“They were desperate. They were hungrier,” Quenneville said after his team’s first home playoff loss of the spring. “I think there’s a lesson to take out of today’s game, and it’s only going to get harder every single game. ... They play like they’re an experienced bunch and they know what is necessary as you progress in a series. They got our attention.”

Vegas captain Mark Stone didn't play in the third period after apparently incurring a lower-body injury in the first period. Tortorella declined to give details.

Theodore, Anaheim's first-round draft pick in 2013, put Vegas ahead 66 seconds after the opening faceoff with his 20th postseason goal.

The 35-year-old McNabb then scored the third short-handed goal of his 14-year NHL career, and Marner capped the Knights' stellar first period with his fourth playoff goal on a power play. Marner tapped in a pass from Theodore midway through the second.

Brett Howden put his sixth playoff goal into an empty net with 1:56 left.

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The data were released just days ahead of a planned meeting next week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

That beat analysts’ estimates and was a significant improvement from March’s 2.5% year-on-year expansion. Exports to the U.S. rose 11.3% from the year before, up from a 26.5% drop in March.

Imports climbed 25.3%, slower than the 27.8% growth in March but still robust.

The Trump-Xi summit comes at a time when relations are beset by multiple issues, with efforts to end the war in Iran eclipsing the usual sources of friction.

“We’re expecting that overall external demand will remain a solid driver of growth this year,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at Dutch bank ING, likely led by China’s exports of semiconductors and autos.

In March, Chinese leaders set an annual economic growth target of 4.5% to 5%, slightly lower than last year’s 5% expansion and the lowest target since 1991. Export growth is expected to continue to power its wider economy, especially as shipments increased from China to Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa over the past months.

China’s exports to the U.S. have fallen for most of the months since Trump imposed steeper tariffs and harsher controls on sharing of technology after he took office last year. But trade with the U.S. is likely improving this year, said Song, particularly because of the base effects of sharp declines caused by Trump’s tariff hikes in 2025.

Apart from efforts to broker a peace agreement to end the Iran war, trade and export controls, including rare earths and U.S. tech restrictions on China, will likely be on the agenda during the Trump-Xi summit, following a yearlong U.S.-China trade truce reached late last year when the two leaders last met in South Korea.

Major breakthroughs on export controls are unlikely, but the leaders’ upcoming meeting may bring “incremental” steps to troubleshoot trade friction, HSBC economists said in a recent research note.

“On balance, China looks to have more leverage,” wrote Leah Fahy, senior China economist of Capital Economics, in a note. “But higher tariffs haven’t stopped China’s exports from continuing to surge over the past year, and Beijing has showed that it is prepared to wait out U.S. pressure.”

For China, oil and fuel price hikes caused by the war in Iran are also feeding higher manufacturing and logistics costs across its many factories, said Wei Li, head of multi-asset investments at BNP Paribas Securities (China), while higher global inflation could dampen consumer purchasing power in China’s overseas markets.

Still, China’s overall economy has remained resilient compared with other countries, owing to its large oil reserves and more diversified energy sources.

ING’s Song said China’s trade surplus, which reached an all-time high of almost $1.2 trillion last year, could narrow for the whole of this year. Imports so far have been stronger in 2026, though China is still recovering from a prolonged property slump that has dragged on consumption and investment.

Africa imported 44,358 electric vehicles from China in 2025, according to data from China’s Commerce Ministry, up from 19,386 in 2024. The shipments, valued at over $200 million, highlight growing demand, especially in Ethiopia after it banned new imports of gas and diesel-powered vehicles in 2024.

More than 115,000 EVs are now on Ethiopia's roads, accounting for about 8% of the national fleet. In 2025, it imported a third of Africa’s imports from China, ahead of other major markets in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria.

As the Iran war drags on, Ethiopia’s fuel shortages are rippling through transport systems and daily life, reinforcing its effort to cut costly imports of oil and gas and strengthen its energy security. However that trend is raising questions about charging infrastructure and affordability.

Ethiopia’s spends about $4.2 billion on fuel imports annually, straining its foreign currency reserves.

Its minister of Trade and Regional Integration, Kassahun Gofe, said in a statement that the country also is spending up to $128 million monthly on fuel subsidies, while shipments fell short by more than 180,000 metric tons as the imports are disrupted by Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping route for about a fifth of oil from the Gulf region before the war.

The government has redoubled its campaign for quicker EV adoption, framing it as a critical buffer against external supply shocks.

“From a general perspective, it is sustainable,” said Hiten Parmar, executive director of South African- based The Electric Mission. “By replacing imported fuel with domestically generated electricity, Ethiopia is strengthening its energy security position.”

Ethiopia has an edge

Ethiopia has a special advantage in that more than 90% of its electricity comes from renewable sources, mainly hydro and solar. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africa's largest hydroelectric project, is expected to double its power generation, though the facility and has fueled a decade-long dispute over water supplies with downstream Egypt and Sudan.

“That scale of generation creates a foundation for electrified transport,” Parmar said. “It allows EVs to be powered by locally produced clean energy, rather than costly imports.”

“By gradually adopting EVs, that intensive fuel import expenditure can be reduced and redirected into other critical development needs,” Parmar said.

Globally, the International Energy Agency estimates electric vehicles displaced more than 1 million barrels of oil consumption per day in 2024.

Countries across Africa are pushing for more EVs

Egypt, South Africa and Morocco also are pursuing a transition to EV use, adopting a mix of policy incentives, investing in manufacturing capacity and in clean energy.

“That transition is beginning to ease pressure on fuel demand,” said Bob Wesonga, policy and investments lead at the Africa E-Mobility Alliance.

“That’s over 100,000 vehicle owners who are no longer directly exposed to pump price shocks,” he said. “In the medium to long term, this creates a buffer against global oil volatility.”

For those who have switched, the savings are significant.

“A private EV owner now spends roughly $4 a month on charging compared to about $27 previously spent on fuel,” Wesonga said. “For public transport operators, the difference is even more striking.”

Charging stations and other infrastructure are still lacking

The transition to EVs faces some daunting structural hurdles, Parmar notes.

“The technology is already mature, the challenge is building it out fast enough,” he said.

Ethiopia is deploying ultra-fast charging hubs in its capital Addis Ababa, but scaling them nationwide will take time and investment.

“The biggest hurdle is the last-mile power distribution,” Wesonga said. “While Ethiopia has a surplus of generation, getting that power reliably to where it’s needed, especially outside Addis Ababa, remains a challenge.”

Frequent blackouts and delays in connecting high-capacity charging stations have slowed construction of needed infrastructure, even as demand for electric vehicles rises.

“Charging infrastructure is still heavily concentrated in the capital and along a few corridors,” Wesonga said. “That limits e-mobility to specific areas and creates a bottleneck as adoption grows.”

Plans to assemble EVs raise question of affordability

Ethiopia is one of several countries in Africa looking to build their own EV industries. Official data show 17 electric vehicle assembly plants are in the pipeline in Ethiopia, with plans to raise that number to 60 by 2030. It's part of a broader strategy to localize production and reduce costs.

Affordability, however, remains a major constraint. While operating costs are lower, prices of electric vehicles remain high relative to average incomes.

“The purchase price is still out of reach for many,” Wesonga said. “At the same time, restrictions on fossil fuel vehicles have pushed up the cost of used cars, creating additional barriers.”

That dynamic could have unintended social impacts if not managed carefully.

“A national fleet transition is always gradual,” Parmar said. “Existing combustion vehicles will remain in use for some time, and the transition needs to account for livelihoods tied to that system.”

Even so, both experts say the long-term trajectory remains clear. Lower operating and maintenance costs for electric vehicles could reduce transport costs over time, easing the price of goods and improving access to economic opportunities.

Ethiopia is also looking to lessons from countries such as China and Norway, where policy support, infrastructure investment and consumer incentives have driven rapid adoption.

“This is not just about transport,” Wesonga said. “It’s about reshaping how the country uses energy, and who benefits from that shift.”

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Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier and Nick Suzuki, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Canadiens. Rookie goalie Jakub Dobes made 27 saves, and Montreal extended its trend of alternating wins and losses after doing so in a seven-game first-round series win over Tampa Bay.

Montreal advanced to the second round on Newhook's game-winner 11:07 into the third period of a 2-1 series-clinching win on Sunday. Meantime, the Canadiens' top offensive threats continue to struggle. Cole Caufield extended his point drought to five games, while Juraj Slafkovsky has one assist in his past eight outings.

“I think as a group we knew we needed a big effort tonight, a bounce-back, a bounce-forward game,” said Newhook, who gave the team a pregame boost with an energetic reading of the starting lineup. “When you get the lineup read you just try to supply some energy there early and just try and carry that into the game.”

Zach Benson scored for Buffalo, but Alex Lyon allowed four goals on 27 shots. He previously allowed seven goals in six-plus appearances since replacing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was was pulled after two periods in a 4-2 loss to Boston in Game 2 of their first-round series.

The series shifts to Montreal for Game 3 on Sunday night.

It’ll be the Canadiens' first trip home after being on the road since traveling to Tampa Bay last weekend. The team stayed in Florida for two days before flying directly to Buffalo on Tuesday.

The Sabres dropped to 2-3 at home this postseason, but they won all three games — including the Game 6 series clincher — at Boston.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first period of Game 1, Montreal flipped the script.

Peyton Krebs’ turnover in Buffalo’s zone led to Newhook scoring at 1:36 by sneaking a shot under Lyon’s blocker arm. Matheson scored 2:51 later by floating in a shot from the left point that beat Lyon over his right shoulder.

“Awful game. Not acceptable,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “They wanted to compete the first 10 (minutes), and then that’s what kind of set the tone for the whole game. It’s hard to come back, especially in the playoffs, when an opponent is up two. So, can’t happen.”

Dobes said the difference between Games 1 and 2 was the Canadiens' ability to adjust to a much faster opponent in Buffalo after a grueling, tight-checking series against the defensive-minded Lightning.

“You play Game 7, I feel like we didn’t have much chance to prepare and kind of settle everything together and reset our minds,” he said. “I feel like we adjusted today really well. And yeah, I feel we catch a breath in the series. And I feel that we are ready to play our hockey and compete against the team for the rest of the series.”

Buffalo’s power play came up empty on five chances after going 2 for 3 in Game 1. The Sabres have converted just three of 32 power-play opportunities this postseason.

Newhook’s second goal, scored 4:47 into the second period, came four seconds after the Sabres' power play failed to register a shot with Carrier off for hooking.

Carrier’s goal 3:54 into the third was emblematic of Buffalo's evening. With the Sabres buzzing the Montreal net, Tage Thompson kept the puck in at the right point only to lose his balance and spin down to the ice. Carrier picked up the loose puck and scored to put Montreal up 4-1.

Benson whiffed on a tip-in chance two minutes later. In the first period, Buffalo’s Alex Tuch had the puck roll off his stick while attempting a shot breaking up the right wing, and Jack Quinn shot over the top of the net after being set up alone in the slot.

“Trying to chase the game, try and force plays that aren’t there, and just wasn’t executing,” Thompson said. “I think everything I touched turned into disaster tonight. So, tough one. Got to be better. It’s as simple as just flush that one, move on.”

Thompson then gave a blunt response when asked if he was playing with an injury by saying: “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

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Funcionarios actuales y anteriores del archipiélago, en el punto más austral de Sudamérica, insisten en que el virus no se originó en el depósito de basura de Ushuaia, que según dijeron autoridades sanitarias nacionales esta semana es el lugar más probable en el que dos turistas holandeses lo habrían contraído mientras observaban aves.

“Personalmente creo que estamos en una campaña de desprestigio del destino”, dijo Juan Facundo Petrina, director de epidemiología de la provincia, a los periodistas en una conferencia de prensa desde Ushuaia.

Según explicó, en un principio los funcionarios federales no se comunicaron con las autoridades locales. En cambio, se enteraron del supuesto vínculo con Ushuaia a través de informes de prensa. Además, Tierra del Fuego nunca ha registrado un caso de hantavirus —y mucho menos de la variante Andes involucrada en el brote del barco—, a diferencia de provincias argentinas más al norte.

La pareja holandesa —ambos fallecidos— pasó apenas dos días en Tierra del Fuego durante su viaje de cuatro meses por Argentina y Chile, lo que reduce drásticamente la probabilidad de que la infección haya ocurrido aquí, agregó.

Al ser la principal puerta de entrada a la Antártida, la remota ciudad de Ushuaia recibió el año pasado a más de 157.000 pasajeros de cruceros, casi el doble de su población local. Los turistas con alto poder adquisitivo se han vuelto cada vez más vitales para la economía de Tierra del Fuego, mientras que su medular sector de fabricación de productos electrónicos se resiente por los recortes a barreras comerciales y subsidios implementados por el presidente Javier Milei.

“Hoy todo el mundo está asociando Ushuaia con un virus letal, con viajes en crucero, y... de esa manera las reservas para la próxima temporada la verdad que van a bajar, porque nadie va a querer exponerse”, sostuvo Rubén Rafael, exministro de Salud de Tierra del Fuego. “La reputación de Ushuaia bajo estas condiciones está sufriendo mucho como destino turístico”.

Los investigadores argentinos aún no han llegado

Al ser consultado el viernes sobre si el Ministerio de Salud de Argentina seguía respaldando la teoría de que el brote se originó en el basurero de Ushuaia, un funcionario del ministerio —que habló a condición de guardar el anonimato porque no está autorizado a referirse a la investigación— indicó que nada había cambiado y que Ushuaia era el único lugar al que el ministerio estaba enviando investigadores, aunque reconoció que seguía siendo posible que el virus se hubiera originado en otra parte del país.

El Ministerio de Salud anunció el miércoles que enviaría expertos del Instituto Malbrán —respaldado por el Estado— para atrapar ratas en el basurero de Ushuaia y en zonas cercanas, y analizarlas en busca de la cepa Andes del hantavirus.

Más de dos días después, los investigadores aún no han llegado. El funcionario restó importancia a la demora, considerándola normal en la lenta burocracia de Argentina.

En Tierra del Fuego, Petrina dijo que esperaba que los investigadores nacionales limpiaran el nombre de Ushuaia. Señaló que se estaba llevando tiempo “determinar los lugares puntuales en donde vamos a hacer los trampeos y los análisis”.

Otros en la provincia, de tendencia izquierdista, se quejaron de que la demora del gobierno y la falta de transparencia formaban parte de un patrón más amplio desde que Milei aplicó su “motosierra” al sistema de salud del país: retiró a Argentina de la Organización Mundial de la Salud semanas después de que el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump hiciera lo mismo, y recortó fondos a programas nacionales encargados de rastrear enfermedades infecciosas.

“El tema de la salud en la Argentina está pasando un grave problema", apuntó Rafael, el exministro de salud provincial. "El sistema está muy debilitado… eso da como consecuencia que estén muy lentos para reaccionar, y la verdad que nos expone a todos”.

Fuera de Argentina, expertos en salud pública enfatizaron que la investigación es un paso crucial para evitar que se repita una situación similar.

“No es una emergencia extrema, pero sigue siendo urgente en términos de recopilar los datos”, expresó Celine Gounder, epidemióloga que se desempeña como editora general de salud pública en KFF Health News y que previamente asesoró al gobierno del presidente estadounidense Joe Biden sobre la pandemia de coronavirus.

“Si hay un virus de Andes que sea más infeccioso a nivel local, uno querría saberlo para poder advertir a los residentes y tomar medidas para prevenir que se infecten. Y si todavía no han iniciado ese proceso, eso sería preocupante”, agregó.

Una búsqueda ardua de respuestas

La pareja holandesa que la OMS ha identificado como los primeros pasajeros de crucero infectados con la variante de Andes —el único hantavirus que, en casos raros, podría propagarse de persona a persona— llegó a Argentina en noviembre pasado, según el Ministerio de Salud de la nación.

La pareja, de 70 y 69 años, pasó semanas recorriendo el país en auto de norte a sur antes de realizar una serie de cruces fronterizos entre Argentina y Chile, los cuales se extendieron por meses. También viajaron entre Argentina y Uruguay en marzo, antes de embarcarse el 1 de abril en el crucero antártico que partió de Ushuaia.

Los gobiernos de Chile, que ya ha registrado brotes mortales de la variante Andes, y de Uruguay, que no los ha tenido, declararon que la pareja no pudo haberse infectado durante su visita a sus territorios, basándose en el período de incubación del virus, el cual es de hasta ocho semanas. No ofrecieron detalles.

Debido a que la pareja murió, reconstruir sus pasos por el país es sumamente difícil, dijeron funcionarios de salud argentinos, y añadieron que están trabajando para completar algunos vacíos en sus desplazamientos.

Muchos epidemiólogos argentinos independientes creen que el brote de hantavirus probablemente surgió en los bosques de la Patagonia central, otro importante destino turístico, en el que recientemente las autoridades han registrado casos de hantavirus y en el que proliferan ratas de cola larga conocidas por portar la variante Andes, a diferencia de lo que ocurre en Ushuaia.

“Entonces ahora hay mucha presión mediática. Entonces no sería raro que tampoco les interese (al gobierno), pero digan: ‘bueno, vamos a callar un poco las voces haciendo algo’”, apuntó Raúl González Ittig, profesor de genética de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

———

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

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Brunson shook off a 2-of-8 start from the floor and finished 11 of 22 in 38 minutes to send the Knicks to their sixth straight postseason victory.

“I'm Linus. Jalen's my blanket,” first-year Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “He helps me relax at a lot of different times during the course of the game."

With 2016 and 2018 Villanova national championship banners hanging in the rafters, the so-called Nova Knicks all took turns taking the fight out of the Sixers in the fourth quarter, turning a four-point lead into another double-digit victory.

Josh Hart had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Mikal Bridges added 23 points, pushing the Knicks within one victory of their second straight conference finals appearance.

When Brown took the job after Tom Thibodeau was fired, the veteran coach said he wouldn't know what kind of team he really had until he got “into the trenches with them.”

Brown now sees the makings of a championship team.

“Yeah, OK, we might have a chance at this,” he said.

The Knicks have the luxury not to rush back forward OG Anunoby, who's averaging 21.4 points per game in the postseason. He sat out with a strained right hamstring and remains day to day.

Joel Embiid scored 18 points for the Sixers in his return after he missed Game 2 with a sprained right ankle and a sore right hip.

"I thought he gave us everything he could," coach Nick Nurse said.

Embiid's return from an appendectomy helped spur the Sixers' rally from a 3-1 deficit in the opening round to stun the Celtics.

Beating the Knicks four straight times — including twice in New York — seems like a much harder hill to climb for Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 22 points and Maxey added 17. Paul George scored 15 points in the first quarter, then went scoreless and missed all nine shots the rest of the game as the Sixers blew a 12-point lead.

George and Maxey each failed to shoot a single free throw.

The 76ers gamely tried to make it a series. Quintin Grimes hit his first two 3s of the game early in the fourth to trim the lead to 88-84.

The familiar faces in Philly — Brunson, Hart and Bridges all played for Villanova — seized control of the game.

Hart and Bridges made consecutive baskets that pushed the lead to 92-84. Brunson, the stone-cold shooter built for these moments, buried a 3 from the top of the arc that made it 95-86 during a 9-0 Knicks run, to the delight of the visiting fans.

Embiid openly pleaded with fans ahead of the series not to sell their tickets to New Yorkers.

Celebrity Row regulars at Madison Square Garden, Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet, Tracy Morgan and Ben Stiller all made the trip to Philadelphia, along with thousands of less famous Knicks fans — and the split crowd erupted in cheers, boos and the occasional middle finger on just about every basket.

Chalamet rose from his seat and applauded when Landry Shamet buried a late 3 in the third that stretched the lead to 85-76. Shamet had 14 points this entire postseason before he scored 15 in Game 3.

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Three forensic document examiners who reviewed the notes at the request of The Associated Press concluded that they have or appear to have common authorship, with shared characteristics such as the same spacing, letter shapes, usage of capital letters and unique punctuation.

In the first note, made public this week, the writer states: “They investigated me for month — found nothing!!!” and talks about being able to choose the “time to say goodbye.” The other note, which has been public for years, is a list of grievances about conditions at the jail, including the showers, food and “Giant Bugs.”

While no one has definitively said Epstein wrote the notes, they point to his grim outlook before his death and echo some frustrations he conveyed to jail personnel about being confined in the crumbling Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan after living in luxury for decades. They also contain phrases he had used in the past.

Both notes, written in pen on notepad paper, include the underlined phrase “NO FUN” and end with double exclamation points — the first of which is bowed slightly with similar curvature. The first few words of each note are larger than the rest and each successive line slants away from the left margin.

“These are the kinds of things that would suggest that we're dealing with the same writer,” said Thomas Vastrick, the president of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.

“They are written by the same person,” said Bart Baggett, who founded the forensic analysis firm Handwriting Experts Inc. and has testified in court as an expert witness more than 130 times.

“Both of those documents have the same author,” said Grace Warmbier, who worked for a decade for the New York City Police Department performing document examinations and handwriting analysis.

None of the experts were able to say definitively that Epstein wrote the notes, in part because there are few if any confirmed examples of his handwriting in the millions of pages of records the Justice Department recently released on the late financier.

In addition to the two jail notes, Warmbier and Vastrick also reviewed writing samples from the former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, including part of a note he sent to the New York Daily News in 2019 in which he denied any involvement in Epstein's death.

Warmbier ruled out Tartaglione as the author, finding “significant dissimilarities between his handwriting and the handwriting in question.”

Vastrick said Tartaglione's writing samples had “a wide range of variation from one to another” and that there were at least some similarities that require further examination.

“At this point, I certainly would not eliminate him as a potential writer,” Vastrick said. “I don’t at the same time want to suggest that he is the writer.”

For years, only a few people known about the note that Tartaglione claimed he found. Then, last summer, he mentioned it on writer Jessica Reed Kraus’ podcast. That piqued the interest of writers at The New York Times, who convinced a judge on Wednesday to release the note, which had been sealed in an unrelated case.

Tartaglione, an ex-police officer serving a life sentence for killing four people, said he discovered the note in a book in his cell after Epstein was found on July 23, 2019, on the floor with a strip of bedsheet around his neck. Epstein was placed on suicide watch and moved to a different cell. He had no cellmate when he was found dead on Aug. 10, 2019.

Epstein and Tartaglione shared a cell for about two weeks, beginning soon after Epstein’s July 6, 2019, arrest on sex trafficking charges and ending with the suspected suicide attempt. Both men were awaiting trials.

According to a chronology in the Justice Department's files on Epstein, Tartaglione told his lawyer about the note four days after the suspected July 23 attempt. There is no indication that anyone alerted jail officials or Epstein's representatives.

The note was later submitted as evidence in Tartaglione’s criminal case and placed under seal amid a dispute over his legal representation. It wasn’t mentioned in government reports examining the circumstances of Epstein’s death, nor did it surface in the Justice Department’s files. The other note, found after Epstein's death, was shown on CBS' “60 Minutes” in 2020 and is in the files.

Beyond handwriting analysis, the phrasing of the notes could give clues to their authorship. The note Tartaglione said he found contains the line: “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!”

Epstein previously referenced that line, mimicking dialogue from a 1931 “Little Rascals” film, in three emails that were included in the Justice Department's files, including one he sent to his brother four months before going to jail.

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Associated Press videojournalist David R. Martin contributed.

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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. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

The Hurricanes and the Avalanche have put on a clinic for how to start the race.

The top two teams in the NHL during the regular season, seemingly on a collision course to meet in the Stanley Cup Final, have been performing on the ice with a force to match their natural-disaster-themed nicknames. Neither the Canes nor the Avs have lost a game in these playoffs.

With a 4-1 win at Philadelphia on Thursday to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Hurricanes became the 13th team in NHL history to start a postseason with seven straight wins. Eight of the first 12 won the Stanley Cup.

The Hurricanes will send sizzling goalie Frederik Andersen out for Game 4 on Saturday to try to finish off the Flyers, seeking a sweep that would give them the league's first 8-0 start in the playoffs since 1985.

“I would anticipate we’re going to give it our best, because we’re going to need to,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’re not going to win if we don’t put our best foot forward.”

Only three teams in NHL history have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, but plenty of teams have managed to at least force a fifth game.

“The fourth one is the hardest one to win. No one wants to go home,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “It's going to be a brand-new challenge.”

Only two teams have started the playoffs 7-0 in the last three decades. Colorado, which has already scored 14 goals on Minnesota in their Western Conference semifinal series, would make it two in the same year by winning Game 3 on Saturday night. The NHL gave the Avalanche and Wild three days between games to sync up the schedules of the four ongoing series.

“For our team, the energy and pace that we want to play with on a nightly basis that helps us have success, it doesn’t hurt,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “It doesn’t hurt to be rested and recovered and still get a little practice time in to go out and feel good about your puck touches and your systems and everything. Meetings don’t have to get crammed in. You can take your time and get feedback from the guys."

The Hurricanes, who have made the playoffs in each of eight seasons under Brind’Amour, lost to eventual champion Florida in the Eastern Conference finals last year. They would tie for the 10th-longest winning streak in a single NHL postseason by beating the Flyers on Saturday. Twenty-three teams in league history have won eight or more consecutive playoff games in the same year, and 18 of them won the Stanley Cup.

One of the five that came up short was the 1992 Chicago Blackhawks, who matched the all-time record with 11 straight playoff wins. The Pittsburgh Penguins also staked claim to the record that spring, finishing with a four-game sweep in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Avalanche are aiming to emulate the way the Canes powered through the Philadelphia crowd noise to win a feisty Game 3. Minnesota has not hosted a game this late in the postseason since 2015.

“It will be a rockin’ environment,” Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood said. “That’s what makes playoff so fun, right?”

Carolina Hurricanes at Philadelphia Flyers

When/Where to Watch: Game 4, Saturday, 6 p.m. EDT (TNT, truTV, HBO Max).

Series: Hurricanes lead 3-0.

The Flyers have been unable to solve Carolina's stifling defense, with just three goals in three games. Their league-worst power play during the regular season has carried over, with just one goal in 12 opportunities in this series and a 3-for-29 showing in nine playoff games.

Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild

When/Where to Watch: Game 4, Saturday, 9 p.m. EDT (TNT, truTV, HBO Max).

Series: Avalanche lead 2-0.

The Wild have spent the extra time off trying to shore up their penalty kill, which has been dearly missing center Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin. But after dominating Dallas at even strength in the first round they've also struggled to contain Colorado's high-octane forwards in 5-on-5 situations. Minnesota might go back to rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt after giving Filip Gustavsson the net for a 5-2 loss in Game 2.

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AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia and Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Video posted on social media by U.S. Southern Command shows a black, boat-shaped image before what appears to be an explosion, followed by a column of fire rising from the ocean.

Southern Command said it “immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor.”

The White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump has signed off on a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy that sets eliminating drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere as the administration’s highest priority.

The Trump administration’s campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters, including the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has gone on since early September and killed at least 193 people in total. The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs. The strikes have ramped up again in recent weeks.

At the same time, Trump has sought to press regional leaders to work more closely with the U.S. to target cartels and take military action themselves against drug traffickers and transnational gangs that he says pose an “unacceptable threat” to the hemisphere’s national security.

Critics, meanwhile, have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes.

McIlroy said the answer will likely depend on what happens with LIV's financial situation in the coming months.

Last month, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund pulled the plug on future funding for LIV Golf, which had lured away stars including Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau with lucrative, guaranteed contracts. LIV's uncertain future raises new questions about whether some players should be allowed to return to the PGA Tour — and if so, under what set of rules or penalties.

The PGA Tour recently offered a temporary path back for some LIV players. Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka took advantage of the opportunity.

Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are among the players who remain under contract with LIV beyond this season.

However, Rahm resolved his financial dispute with the European tour, known commercially as the DP World Tour. That move potentially gives him a place to compete in 2027 and beyond.

“If it is a scenario where they have the option to come back and play on the traditional tours, I think (PGA Tour CEO) Brian Rolapp has said anything that makes this tour stronger, anything that makes the DP World Tour stronger, I think everyone should be open to that,” McIlroy said after finishing his second round at the Truist Championship. “That’s just good business practice.”

For now, McIlroy, like most in golf, is in a wait-and-see mode — although he expressed skepticism about the rival tour raising enough money to continue in its current form.

“They’re going to go and try and find alternative investment, whatever that may look like,” McIlroy said. “But when one of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds in the world thinks that you’re too expensive for them, that sort of says something.”

McIlroy, the No. 2 player in the world, has become the face of the game along with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler.

He has been an outspoken critic in the past of players who bolted for big paydays that came with joining the Saudi-backed tour.

“Obviously the guys over there are under contract and if they are able to keep it going and get a schedule together next year, it seems like those guys are still going to play the majority of their golf on LIV, in whatever form it takes,” McIlroy said.

DeChambeau’s contract with LIV is up after the season and he has reportedly asked for a new, $500 million deal.

McIlroy has softened his stance on those who moved on to LIV over the years, and reiterated on Friday that he was “probably too judgmental” in his opinions.

But he said LIV is “not for me.”

“I’m not going to judge anyone for not wanting to play on the PGA Tour,” McIlroy said. “I don’t know, does that mean that they go play DP World Tour, maybe; if that’s a pathway, that would make the DP World Tour stronger, and I would be delighted with that.”

But he also questioned why top players would not want to compete against the world's best every week.

“If you want to be the most competitive golfer you can be, this is the place to be,” McIlroy said of the PGA Tour. “And if you don’t want to play here, I think that says something about you.”

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

The two-time Cy Young Award winner is set to rejoin the rotation sooner than anticipated after teammate Tyler Glasnow left a start early this week because of back trouble. Glasnow was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday with low back spasms, and Los Angeles recalled right-hander Paul Gervase from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Snell missed most of the 2025 regular season because of a lingering shoulder injury, making just 11 starts after signing a $182 million, five-year contract in November 2024. But the left-hander went 3-2 in six postseason games to help the Dodgers win their second consecutive World Series title.

Snell has been on the IL since late March with left shoulder fatigue. He had been scheduled to make one more minor league rehabilitation start for Class A Ontario on Saturday, but instead will face the Braves at Dodger Stadium.

Glasnow exited after one inning against the Houston Astros on Wednesday. He had an MRI that showed “nothing really significant,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday before the opener of a three-game series against Atlanta.

The 32-year-old Glasnow is 3-0 with a 2.72 ERA in seven outings this season.

The 6-foot-10 Gervase, 25, is 2-0 with a 3.65 ERA in nine games for Oklahoma City this year. He made one appearance for the Dodgers last season, striking out two batters in two innings. He also pitched in five games for Tampa Bay, compiling a 4.26 ERA.

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

“Creo que vamos a ver eventos meteorológicos que nunca hemos visto antes en la historia moderna”, manifestó el viernes Jeff Berardelli, meteorólogo en jefe y especialista en clima de WFLA-TV en Tampa, Florida.

Se prevé que un episodio de El Niño se desarrolle desde mediados de este año, lo que afectará los patrones globales de temperatura y lluvia, según la Organización Meteorológica Mundial. Aunque los modelos indican que podría tratarse de un evento fuerte, la OMM advirtió que a los modelos también les resulta más difícil hacer pronósticos precisos a estas alturas del año.

Qué es El Niño

El Niño es un calentamiento cíclico y natural de zonas del Pacífico ecuatorial que luego altera los patrones meteorológicos del mundo. Su contraparte, La Niña, se caracteriza por aguas más frías que el promedio.

Berardelli explicó que un episodio de El Niño, en esencia, redistribuye el calor en la Tierra. Actualmente, el calor subsuperficial en el Pacífico se desplaza hacia el este a través del océano y asciende a la superficie desde las aguas profundas, las etapas iniciales de El Niño.

La Actualización Climática Estacional Global de la OMM mostró que las temperaturas de la superficie del mar están aumentando rápidamente. Hay un alto grado de certeza en el inicio de El Niño, seguido de una mayor intensificación en los meses posteriores, según Wilfran Moufouma Okia, jefe de predicción climática de la OMM.

El Niño suele ocurrir cada dos a siete años, y dura alrededor de nueve a 12 meses, indicó la OMM.

Por qué está causando alarma

Daniel Swain, climatólogo del Instituto de California para Recursos Hídricos, señaló que parece que los modelos predictivos van por buen camino. Esto se debe a que el volumen y la intensidad de las anomalías de agua cálida subsuperficial —o pulsos de agua inusualmente cálida que son una parte clave de la física de El Niño— son aproximadamente tan grandes como los que se han observado en el registro histórico, añadió.

Los eventos más fuertes se denominan “super-Niños”.

“Uno de los componentes clave para que se materialice por completo está ocurriendo, de hecho”, comentó Swain el viernes. “Aún no sabemos exactamente qué va a pasar. No está garantizado que sea un super-Niño. Pero existe el potencial de que ocurra algo verdaderamente notable”.

Si el Pacífico libera mucho calor, eso potencia el sistema climático y causa estragos en el clima, afirmó Berardelli. Con más calor, habrá olas de calor más intensas, se agravará la sequía en algunas zonas, pero también habrá más humedad en el aire, lo que conduce a inundaciones más severas, explicó.

El Niño también atenúa la temporada de huracanes en el Atlántico porque hay tanto calor en el Pacífico que compite con el Atlántico, agregó Berardelli. Lugares como el Caribe estarán especialmente secos este verano boreal y probablemente tendrán menos sistemas tropicales, indicó.

Dónde podríamos ver los impactos

El Niño tiene efectos globales. En Estados Unidos, parece que este verano será más caluroso de lo normal, con olas de calor significativas, indicó Berardelli. Aunque los detalles son difíciles de precisar con tanta anticipación, Berardelli también espera ver tormentas eléctricas más frecuentes en el suroeste de Estados Unidos.

La degradación forestal, causada por incendios forestales, tala y sequía, afecta a cerca del 40% de la Amazonía. Esto podría agravarse en 2026 con un Niño fuerte.

Swain sostuvo que el exceso de calor que El Niño lleva a la superficie, combinado con el calentamiento del planeta debido al cambio climático, conducirá a un calor global récord. Swain prevé altas temperaturas récord en el mundo más adelante este año, el próximo año o en ambos.

“En este momento, todos los indicadores apuntan a que el próximo año va a ser un año bastante salvaje desde una perspectiva climática global”, expresó Swain.

Michael Mann, climatólogo de la Universidad de Pensilvania, dijo que, aunque El Niño eleva un poco las temperaturas globales durante uno o dos años, básicamente es un “juego de suma cero”. Por lo general, oscila de vuelta hacia La Niña, que a su vez reduce las temperaturas globales durante uno o dos años, añadió. Lo que debe preocupar es la tendencia de calentamiento constante a más largo plazo, que continuará mientras la gente siga quemando combustibles fósiles, señaló Mann el viernes.

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El periodista de The Associated Press, Peter Prengaman, contribuyó a este despacho.

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La cobertura climática y ambiental de The Associated Press recibe apoyo financiero de múltiples fundaciones privadas. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido. Consulte las normas de AP para trabajar con filantropías, una lista de patrocinadores y las áreas de cobertura financiadas en AP.org.

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

Leer en español

Helterbran, better known as “Marv,” is a member of the Strike Fighter Squadron 122, or VFA-122, also known as the “Flying Eagles.”

“The challenge we have out here is just the airspace,” Helterbran said. “The fact that the major airfield around here are still active, so the safety brief this morning, we got a nice talk as far as how to keep ourselves safe."

There were also military pilots flying demonstrations of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the Thunderbirds, and the F-22 Raptor.

There were already spectators on Friday at Fort Lauderdale Beach.

“I used to come when I was a kid, and it was great. I wanted to bring them, so they could see,” Michael Dorry said, while holding his son. “The Thunderbirds, that was when it was six of them ... Those were pretty cool.”

Helterbran, who will be calling the shots over the radio during the show, said there will be a lot of speed.

“Things come up, nothing ever really goes as planned, as we all kind of know in life, so the biggest challenge is going to be dealing with the punches,” Helterbran said.

The show’s performances, which also include the U.S. Special Operations Command’s Para-Commandos and the RedBull helicopter, are from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The viewing area is on the beach at State Road A1A and Sunrise Boulevard. Admission starts at $35.

Useful links

• Page for tickets
• Parking options
• Performers’ lineup

"I grabbed three of them,” Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said before a 4-3 loss to the Athletics.

Shakur was raised in New York and Baltimore before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980s. He lived in Oakland, California, in the early 1990s, which made Friday's matchup between the Orioles and Athletics an appropriate time to honor the rap icon, who was killed in 1996. The familiar riff from “California Love” was played while the starting lineup for the A's — who left Oakland before last season — was being announced.

Albernaz mentioned “Pain” when asked his favorite Tupac song.

“This is back on — I'm dating myself — Napster or LimeWire, trying to download that,” Albernaz said.

He also said “All Eyez On Me” best encapsulates the current Baltimore team.

Everyone on the Orioles' active roster was born in 1989 or later, so it wasn't immedately clear if the players were familiar with Shakur's music.

“I hope so,” Albernaz said. “I probably should ask around about that.”

Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, Tupac's sister, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The game drew 39,311 fans, the most for a Baltimore home game since opening day.

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

Current and former officials in the archipelago at the southernmost point of South America insist that the virus did not originate from the trash heap in Ushuaia that national health authorities named earlier this week as the most likely place two Dutch tourists contracted it while bird-watching.

“I believe we are facing a smear campaign against this destination,” Juan Facundo Petrina, the province’s director of epidemiology, told reporters Friday in a press conference from Ushuaia.

Federal officials didn’t contact local authorities initially — instead, they discovered the purported Ushuaia connection via media reports, he said. Additionally, Tierra del Fuego has never recorded a case of the hantavirus — let alone the Andes variant involved in the ship outbreak — unlike Argentine provinces further north.

The Dutch couple — both of whom died — spent just two days in Tierra del Fuego during their four-monthlong trip through Argentina and Chile, he added, which “dramatically reduces the likelihood that the infection happened here.”

As the main gateway to Antarctica, the remote town of Ushuaia drew over 157,000 cruise passengers last year — almost double its local population. Deep-pocketed cruisers have increasingly grown vital to Tierra del Fuego's economy as its core electronic manufacturing sector reels from libertarian President Javier Milei's slashing of trade barriers and subsidies.

“Now the whole world is associating Ushuaia, and cruise travel, with a lethal virus, and if this continues, reservations for next season are honestly going to plummet because nobody will want to be exposed,” said Rubén Rafael, the former health minister of Tierra del Fuego. “Ushuaia’s reputation as a tourist destination is suffering badly."

Argentine investigators have yet to arrive

When asked Friday whether the Argentine Health Ministry still favored the outbreak origin theory of the Ushuaia landfill, a ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk about the investigation, said that nothing had changed and that Ushuaia was the only place where the ministry was sending investigators, adding that it remained possible the virus originated elsewhere in Argentina.

The Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that it would dispatch experts from the state-backed Malbran Institute to trap rats at the Ushuaia trash heap and nearby areas and test them for the Andes strain of the hantavirus.

Over two days later, the investigators have yet to arrive. The official dismissed the delay as normal for Argentina’s slow-moving bureaucracy.

In Tierra del Fuego, Petrina said he hoped national investigators would clear Ushuaia's name. He said it was taking a while “to determine all the exact locations where trapping and analysis will take place."

Others in the left-leaning province complained that the government's delay and lack of transparency came as part of a wider pattern ever since Milei took his chain saw to the country's health system, withdrawing his country from the World Health Organization weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump did the same and defunding national programs responsible for tracking infectious diseases.

“The health system in Argentina is going through a serious crisis,” said Rafael, the former provincial health minister. “The system is weakened, and as a result, the response to this outbreak has been very slow. That exposes all of us.”

Outside Argentina, public health experts said that the investigation is a critical step so that a similar situation can be avoided.

“It's not an extreme emergency, but it's still of urgency in terms of collecting the data,” said Celine Gounder, an epidemiologist who serves as editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News and previously advised the Biden administration on the coronavirus pandemic.

“If there is an Andes virus that is more infectious locally you’d want to know that so that you can warn local residents and take measures to prevent their infection. And if they haven’t started that process yet, that would be concerning.”

A daunting hunt for answers

The Dutch couple that the WHO has identified as the first cruise passengers infected with the Andes variant — the only hantavirus that may be able to spread from person-to-person in rare cases — arrived in Argentina last November, according to the Argentine Health Ministry.

The couple, 70 and 69 years old, spent weeks driving up and down the country before making a series of border crossings between Argentina and Chile over months. They also traveled between Argentina and Uruguay in March before embarking on the Antarctic cruise from Ushuaia on April 1.

The governments of Chile, which has seen deadly outbreaks of the Andes variant before, and Uruguay, which hasn't, declared the couple couldn't have become infected while visiting based on the virus' up-to-eight-week incubation period. They didn't offer details.

Because the couple died, retracing their steps through the country is exceedingly difficult, said Argentine health officials, adding that they're working to fill in some gaps in the couple's travels.

Many independent Argentine epidemiologists believe that the hantavirus outbreak most likely emerged from the woodlands of central Patagonia, another major tourist destination where authorities have recently recorded hantavirus cases and long-tailed rats known to carry the Andes variant run rampant — unlike in Ushuaia.

“With the media pressure now, it wouldn’t surprise me if the government's response has been more about quieting criticism by appearing to act,” said Raul González Ittig, genetics professor at the National University of Cordoba.

The No. 2 player in the world heated up on the back nine Friday at Quail Hollow and finished with a 4-under 67 to climb into contention at the Truist Championship, four shots behind 36-hole leader Sungjae Im, who was at 9-under 133.

Playing his first tournament since winning the green jacket for a second time on April 12 at Augusta National, McIlroy was 1 under and buried on the leaderboard eight shots back when he made the turn.

But birdies at No. 10 and 11 got him rolling and he seemed to feed off the energy from the crowd, just as he’s done in his previous four wins in Charlotte, where he has a large following.

McIlroy’s approach shots got closer and closer, and he added birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 16. He shot 32 on the back nine despite lipping out his par putt on the par-4 18th hole after finding a greenside bunker.

“It was a good day to get myself back in the hunt, and feel like I have a real chance going into the weekend,” McIlroy said.

At one point, McIlroy hit 14 straight greens in regulation — a personal course record.

“I started to make some good swings, especially with the irons,” McIlroy said. “I played one tournament in seven weeks, so I think just getting the reps under my belt a little bit and getting a scorecard in my hand. I feel like your patterns on the golf course are always a little bit different than your patterns on the range, or it is for me anyway.”

McIlroy isn’t the only big name in contention.

Tommy Fleetwood shot 67 for the second straight day and trailed Im by one shot. Justin Thomas was two back along with PGA Tour newcomer Alex Fitzpatrick, the brother of Matt Fitzpatrick.

Rickie Fowler vaulted into the mix with the day’s low round of 8-under 63, which included nine birdies.

Cameron Young, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, shot 70 and was five shots back.

Fleetwood said he scored well despite not having his best stuff.

“It’s just nice to even get a couple of days where you have something to show for your work, I guess,” said Fleetwood, who will play in the final pairing with Im on Saturday. “Just a nice reminder that it will come good at some point if you keep doing the right things. So that’s been great. I just hope it continues.”

For Im, the season hasn’t gone as well he’s hoped. He’s battled through a wrist injury and has only one top-40 finish.

Now healthy, that may be about to change.

The South Korean followed an opening round 7-under 64 with a 69 as he looks for his first tour win since 2021 in Las Vegas.

“I know this course very well, so I’m taking advantage of that,” Im said. “And then the scrambling, because of the play with the Presidents Cup, I know where to miss the greens, I’m very familiar with this golf course. But I didn’t putt very well today, but I’m happy with where I’m at.”

Thomas won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in 2017 and said this is the best he’s felt physically since having surgery to treat a herniated disk in his lower back in November.

He would have posted back-to-back 67s had he not missed a birdie putt on his final hole Friday.

“I felt like I’m close,” Thomas said. “I’ve really been pleased the last couple weeks.”

Chandler Blanchet had the shot of the day, a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole. It was the fourth ace on No. 17 in tournament history and the first since Mark Hubbard in 2023.

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

Raymond Epps, a former Marine, was falsely accused by Fox of being a government agent causing trouble near the Capitol that day so that it would be blamed on Trump fans. He said he and his wife sold an Arizona ranch where they lived and moved into a recreational vehicle because of the harassment they faced after Fox's reports.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Hall in Delaware granted Fox's motion to dismiss the case, finding Epps failed to show enough evidence to prove that Fox knew its statements were false.

The judge previously dismissed the case in 2024 but gave Epps a second chance to file his case. Her Friday ruling said he still fell short.

Epps had named Tucker Carlson, who was fired from Fox in April 2023, as being the most active promoter of the conspiracy theory. At the time, Carlson hosted Fox’s most popular show. Epps was featured in more than two dozen segments on Carlson’s prime-time show, the lawsuit said.

“In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party," lawyers for Epps wrote in their lawsuit. "Eventually, they turned on one of their own.”

In a statement Friday night, Fox News said it was "pleased with the federal court’s ruling, further preserving the press freedoms of the First Amendment.”

Epps pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge related to the Jan. 6 riot and was sentenced to a year of probation. He was later pardoned by Trump alongside 1,500 others who received clemency for their roles in the insurrection.

Federal prosecutors have backed up Epps’ vehement denials that he was a government plant or FBI operative. They say Epps has never been a government employee or agent beyond serving in the U.S. Marines from 1979 to 1983.

Miami-Dade and Broward counties can expect mainly clear skies Friday night with temperatures forecast to drop to the mid and upper 70s overnight.

Saturday will feature plenty of sun and southerly winds. Temperatures will make a run for the low 90s -- factor in humidity and it could feel like the upper 90s.

Mother’s Day will bring partly cloudy skies and a gentle, southeast breeze. Plan for morning low temperatures in the upper 70s and afternoon highs in the low 90s with heat indices in the upper 90s. A stray, afternoon shower or thunderstorm is not completely out of the question.

Embiid struggled through a short night in the Knicks’ 137-98 romp in Game 1, scoring 14 points on 3-for-11 shooting before the starters were benched with the game out of reach.

Embiid had been listed as probable to play in that game and the Knicks repeatedly took advantage of his lack of mobility to create open shots.

He had been expected to play Game 2 but was ruled out hours beforehand.

Embiid had an appendectomy late in the regular season. He returned during Game 4 of Philadelphia’s first-round series against Boston and helped the 76ers overcome a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Celtics.

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

El Departamento de Estado estadounidense comunicó el jueves que de acuerdo con una orden ejecutiva presidencial del 1 mayo se disponía castigar a socios que colaboren con GAESA y reiteró la calificación a Cuba como una amenaza a la seguridad de Estados Unidos.

El secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, defendió la medida en la jornada.

En la lista también incorporó a MoaNickel —la inversión conjunta de explotación de níquel de la isla con la canadiense Sherritt— quien inmediatamente se retiró del negocio.

“Es muy preocupante. La economía (isleña) ya estaba prácticamente paralizada”, dijo a The Associated Press el economista Pavel Vidal, de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Cali. “Creo que muy pocos (socios comerciales foráneos) se arriesguen a no obedecer estas sanciones”.

Se trata de un “aislamiento total, por el miedo que va a generar entre los bancos, las aseguradoras, es decir todas las empresas internacionales, de tener cualquier vínculo con Cuba” y sobre todo por el peso que tiene GAESA en esos nexos, agregó Vidal.

En base a informes que el propio Vidal analizó, GAESA controla alrededor del 40% del Producto Interno de la isla. En 2024 tenía una reserva de 14.000 millones de dólares y sus ingresos anuales superaban en tres veces los del presupuesto del Estado cubano.

“No solo se les puede congelar sus activos (a las empresas extranjeras), sino que también se pueden bloquear o restringir sus cuentas en Estados Unidos así como los viajes a Estados Unidos de sus accionistas, inversores, empleados y filiales”, advirtió, por su parte, Lee Schlenker, investigador asociado del Instituto Quincy en Washington. “Ya no podrán operar a través del sistema financiero estadounidense”.

GAESA, una corporación polémica

Creada en la década los años 90 bajo control de las Fuerzas Armadas de la isla, GAESA fue inicialmente la respuesta empresarial para enfrentar la crisis económica producida por la caída de la Unión Soviética y las ya entonces fuertes sanciones de Estados Unidos.

La idea tras su génesis, según los expertos, fue lograr una compañía eficiente bajo la vertical égida de los militares cubanos, con fama de disciplinados. Hasta su muerte en 2022 se desempeñó como su gerente el general de división, Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, quien además fue yerno del expresidente Raúl Castro y padre de Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, quien ha sido señalado como un contacto en conversaciones con Estados Unidos. La sanciones del jueves incorporaron a la lista negra a la también general, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, quien sucedió a López-Calleja.

Según la poca información disponible, GAESA tiene bajo su control decenas de tiendas minoristas, desde alimentos y electrodomésticos hasta ropa, rentadoras de autos, financieras, agencias de viaje, importadoras y maneja la administración de hoteles.

Rubio dijo que castigar a las firmas o personas que se acerquen a GAESA busca atacar “al régimen militar cubano y a las élites” en un contexto de peligro para la seguridad nacional de su país.

Trump impuso el cerco energético a la isla en enero que agudizó una crisis economica que llevaba un lustro. Cuba ha recibido solo un barco de crudo ruso en cinco meses y su producción nacional de petróleo vital para su economía es de apenas del 40%.

Las consecuencias para la población fueron devastadoras: apagones, cortes de bombeo de agua, el transporte semiparalizado, vuelos cancelados, industrias inoperantes, jornadas laborales recortadas, recogida de basura limitada, actividades culturales cerradas y el amplio servicio de salud pública o seguridad social afectado.

Líderes religiosos o de países, expertos y hasta funcionarios de Naciones Unidas han advertido de una crisis humanitaria.

Practice No. 1 of rookie minicamp also served as the first under head coach Jeff Hafley, with general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan joining him on the field to get a close look at the team’s newest players.

Among them was the team’s first round pick from the 2026 NFL Draft, offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor, the massive Alabama product wearing No. 74, who said he was fired up to take the field for the first time in a Dolphins uniform.

“I loved it. I’m not gonna lie. Like I’m overly happy, you know. I had a good day. I had some good preparation, you know, it’s, it’s hot out here, but I hydrated pretty well, so I feel really good,” he said. “Heart wasn’t beating too fast, so that’s definitely a good sign of getting acclimated to it. I feel so good, honestly, especially in my number, man. Got my number too.”

Fans are already buzzing about rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, a second-round pick out of Texas Tech, who says he’s leaned on Dolphins legend Zach Thomas — also a Texas Tech alum — as a mentor.

“It’s real easy to see the blueprint of what he did, and he reached out right after I got drafted, and he’s the best,” Rodriguez said of Thomas. “He’s a great person, a great human being, along with being a great football player.”

Dolphins rookie tight end Will Kacmarek, a third round pick out of Ohio State, said he’s focused on being a professional so his team can count on him.

“It’s all about being a pro — showing up on time with a notebook and being ahead of the playbook," he said. “When your number is called, you can perform to the best of your ability.”

Dolphins fifth-round rookie safety Michael Taaffe said coaches are emphasizing fundamentals early in camp as players adjust to the NFL level.

“Coach (Hafley) reminded us that it’s gonna be nothing like a real practice. This is just getting us into the fundamentals and techniques, trying to get us to adapt to how they really practice,” he said. “I’m just trying to learn as much as I can, put my head down and grind.”

The Dolphins on Friday also announced that they have signed 11 undrafted college free agents: center Jim Bonifas, tackle Kevin Cline, quarterback Mark Gronowski, running back Anthony Hankerson, defensive lineman Rene Konga, wide receiver Donaven McCulley, edge Rodney McGraw, safety Louis Moore, running back Le’Veon Moss, edge Mason Reiger and defensive lineman Kahlil Saunders.

Dolphins 2026 draft recap

• Round 1, No. 12: Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama (trade with Dallas)

• Round 1, No. 27: Chris Johnson, CB. San Diego State (trade with San Francisco)

• Round 2, No. 43: Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech

• Round 3, No. 75 Caleb Douglas, WR, Texas Tech

• Round 3, No. 87: Will Kacmarek, TE, Ohio State

• Round 3, No. 94: Chris Bell, WR, Louisville

• Round 4, No. 130 Trey Moore, EDGE, Texas

• Round 4, No. 138 Kyle Louis, LB, Pittsburgh

• Round 5, No. 158, Michael Taaffe, S, Texas

• Round 5, No. 177 Kevin Coleman Jr., WR, Missouri

• Round 5, No. 180 Seydou Traore, TE, Mississippi State

• Round 6, No. 200 DJ Campbell, G, Texas

• Round 7, No 238 Max Llewellyn, EDGE, Iowa

Sullivan used words like “toughness” and “conviction” when discussing his selections with the media. He now hopes his first draft class as general manager will help move Miami a step closer to returning to the playoffs sooner rather than later.

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Mayor Eileen Higgins and City Manager James Reyes announced the appointment of current Doral Police Department Chief Edwin Lopez to replace retiring Chief Manny Morales.

In a news release on Friday, Higgins described Lopez as “a homegrown leader, dedicated public servant and 28-year veteran who has spent his career serving our community with professionalism and integrity.”

In the same release, Reyes said Lopez “brings an exceptional record of leadership, a deep commitment to transparency, and a proven approach to community policing that has earned the trust of the communities where he has served.”

Lopez was appointed as chief of DPD in 2023 after serving as the chief of the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, where he rose through the ranks over more than two decades.

In a separate statement, Doral Mayor Christi Fraga called Lopez an “exceptional leader” and said “we will truly miss him here in Doral.”

“During his time in the city, he strengthened our department, supported our officers and helped build a strong foundation that positions us well for the future,” she said. “His impact will be felt long after his departure.”

She later told Local 10 News in an interview, “We’re sad to see him go but we know he’ll do great things.”

“We definitely talked to him about how we could retain him, but we understand that this is a big opportunity and something I’m sure has been a goal for his career,” Fraga said.

Lopez, meanwhile, said in part in a statement that he was “humbled by the opportunity to continue building on that legacy while working to keep the community safe and strengthen relationships” in Miami.

Miami officials said Lopez “will assume the role later this year” as Morales retires.

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The trial started on March 8 inside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Federal Courthouse — and after more than two months of testimony, jurors found all four defendants guilty on most counts.

Prosecutors say the men helped plan and support the operation that led to Moïse’s assassination inside his home near Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021.

Antonio Intriago, the owner of a South Florida security company, was found guilty on nearly all counts against him, including conspiracy charges connected to the plot.

But jurors found him not guilty on count seven of the indictment, a charge of conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the United States.

The other defendants — including Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Walter Veintemilla, and James Solages — were also found guilty on multiple counts.

“We thought the government case was insufficient, but we have to respect the system and the verdict,” David Howard, Pretel’s attorney, said.

Several members of South Florida’s Haitian American community also packed the courthouse throughout the trial and many said they’re thrilled the jury reached a verdict after years of waiting for answers.

“Justice is served,” trial observer Marie Jose Sejour said. “Nobody deserved to die.”