Police officers described two of the three injured as suspects of the shooting at 10:30 p.m. outside of Checkers at 2645 NW 183 St., in Miami Gardens.

The third person wounded showed up at a nearby hospital after police officers responded to the ShotSpotter alert, according to police.

Location

The shooting was at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday outside the Five Stars Banquet Hall in Sunrise. A suspect was arrested, according to the Sunrise Police Department.

Witnesses said about 150 guests were celebrating inside the banquet hall at 6072 West Oakland Park Boulevard when a person who was using a wheelchair was shot outside.

Eril Jerome, who was celebrating his father-in-law’s birthday with family at the banquet hall, said they heard about four shots fired.

For a while, Jerome and other party guests couldn’t leave because their cars were parked within the crime scene. The shopping plaza reopened.

This is a developing story.

Location

Swire Properties, a real estate developer, worked with BG Group personnel and Miami police officers to close the Brickell Key Bridge, which connects the man-made, triangular-shaped island to Brickell.

The bridge will reopen at 1:30 p.m. The deadline for residents to leave Brickell Key was 7 a.m. The BG Group personnel asked residents to keep windows closed and turn off their air conditioning units during the implosion.

Emergency vehicles were staged at 6:30 a.m. near 500 Brickell Key Drive. The vibration monitors were installed at 6 a.m.

The final setup of barricades and signage to secure the “exclusion zone” on both land and water was at 4 a.m.

The implosion will make way for the two-story The Residences at Mandarin Oriental that Swire Properties expects to complete in 2030.

Rubble remains where hotel once stood

Crowd gets last pictures of building

Location

High pressure near the Carolinas will flex its muscles again, kicking up strong east to northeast winds along the beaches, so the rip current risk remains dangerously high, and a small craft advisory remains in effect for the boaters.

Otherwise, the weather looks great for all outdoor activities today, and it looks like an extended period of dry, sunny weather is settling in through at least the next 5 days.

Highs in the lower 80s today will climb into the middle 80s later this week.

One man, Malcolm Wright, was beaten to death in front of his family in 1949. His offense? “Hogging the road.” Further research revealed that his mule-drawn wagon was, to his killers, moving too slowly.

The panels are among thousands of exhibits and artifacts inside the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the adjoining Museum of Mississippi History. Called the Two Mississippi Museums, the massive complex in sight of the state Capitol is a central part of the state’s America 250 celebration.

“That’s just the people that we know about," Kiama Johnson, who was visiting from Monroe, Louisiana, said of the victim panels as she sat beyond the display and fought back tears. "Just imagine the ones that we don’t. Imagine the ones that’s never going to be written in history books.”

Mississippi’s warts-and-all approach to reflecting its history as part of the state’s official commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary is a stark contrast with what has taken place at the national level since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

Easing the discomfort of a sometimes brutal American history has been a central theme of Trump’s administration. He signed an executive order his first day back in office eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government. That, along with a March 2025 executive order, ” Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” have led to signs being changed at federal parks, exhibits being altered or in some cases removed, and military bases being renamed.

Part of the Republican administration's preparations to celebrate the 250th anniversary have included putting pressure on federal institutions, including the Smithsonian, to tell a version of history that is less focused on discrimination and episodes of racial violence.

In Mississippi, a temporary exhibit created specifically for the commemoration — Mississippi Made -- fills a space that is routinely changed to entice visitors to return. But it is housed in a space where achievement is intertwined with the state’s dark past involving Native Americans, enslaved people and the Civil Rights era.

Nan Prince, director of collections for the Mississippi Department of Archives & History, said the instructions were simple from scholars, politicians, staff members, and civic and civil rights groups when the museums were being conceived and built.

“Don’t brush over anything, don’t whitewash anything," she said. "Just tell the absolute truth.”

‘We weren’t going to hide anything'

Jackson Mayor John Horhn was a state senator when he began pushing for the Civil Rights Museum in 1999. His efforts finally got a boost when Haley Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman, became governor.

Plans for the museum eventually were combined with a parallel effort to move the state history museum from the Capitol grounds, with the complex opening in 2017.

The approach to creating a state history museum was the same — tell the full story, beginning with how Native Americans were removed from the land.

“We said at the beginning we weren’t going to hide anything," Barbour said in an interview, noting that he grew up in an era of segregation. "We weren’t gonna try to justify what was done. That’s what the people wanted — to say, ‘Look, we’re not proud of this, but we’re not going to deny it.’”

Other states have made sure to highlight their diversity in their presentations for the 250th anniversary. The America 250 description for neighboring Alabama includes milestones in the Civil Rights Movement.

Mississippi takes its history head-on. Its “America 250 MS” platform says the state’s history mirrors the American story, with the removal of Native Americans making way for slavery and slavery leading to the Civil War, followed by Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era.

Horhn praised the willingness of Mississippi leaders to use the museums to tell the state's full story.

“We still have issues, we still have a lot of challenges," he said. "But it’s a demonstration that progress has been made.”

‘It just made me want to weep’

The History Museum opens into a gallery that explores Mississippi’s first people, the Native Americans. The entrance is dominated by a 500-year-old canoe, a vivid reminder that Native Americans were here thousands of years before settlers arrived and forced them out, taking the land to begin growing cotton, which was tended by enslaved people.

Across the lobby sits the Civil Rights Museum. The first audio exhibit is abrupt: “We don’t serve your kind,” a menacing voice tells visitors, triggered when they cross the museum threshold.

It is one of several phrases once commonplace in the nation’s segregated past that bombard visitors at the opening to the gallery.

The museum also does not shy away from presenting one of the state's most infamous racial killings, that of Emmett Till. The 14-year-old was kidnapped, tortured and killed in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman in a rural Mississippi grocery store.

Till’s murder was a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Thousands came to his funeral in Chicago, and his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, insisted on an open casket so the country could see the gruesome state of her son’s body.

At the end of the narrative, by Oprah Winfrey, visitors can see the .45-caliber pistol used to kill the teenager.

Lindsay Ward, 49, cried in the lobby after touring the Civil Rights Museum. Raised in what she described as a sheltered world in Salt Lake City, she said she had not had any exposure to the topics she encountered during her visit — "this heaviness," as she put it.

Ward, now living in Denver, said she was troubled by how recent some events were.

“We’re not talking about hundreds and hundreds of years ago. We’re talking 60 years. It just made me want to weep," she said. "It doesn’t feel great, but it’s important we understand what happened in the past.”

Connor Lynch, a history teacher and social justice advocate from Chicago, said deciding how history will be told has always been a struggle.

“All we have is human narrative” and that comes with bias, he said. "I do believe that no matter what sort of erasure the country might be doing, we know the stories. We know the truth."

‘A very difficult history,’ on full display

For the America 250 celebration, the museums created ”Mississippi Made," which highlights the state's products and achievements.

There is the common household cleaner Pine-Sol, a Nissan Frontier and a Toyota Corolla, a section citing the state's involvement in the U.S. space program and medical advances such as the first human lung transplant.

There is something else — a display by renowned Mississippi quilter Hystercine Rankin. It is a quilt telling the story of her father being killed in 1939.

Jessica Walzer, the exhibit curator, said she included it because it is one of the few story quilts in the museums’ collection and because it tells part of Mississippi's history.

“I think it’s important to have something kind of striking like that to kind of remind us that Mississippi also has this very difficult history that a lot of people have been through,” she said.

Prince, the state director of collections, said such truth had long been denied. Visitors to antebellum homes, for instance, heard about the families who lived there, but “they would never once tell you about the people that lived behind the house or the people that built the house or the people that worked the fields,” she said.

“For so long," she said, "we just tried to gloss over that because it was uncomfortable.”

She couldn't hear what her dance partner was saying from across the studio. She was late for her entrances because the music sounded too soft.

Without telling anyone, she finally made an appointment to get her hearing checked.

Mearns learned that she had hearing loss. After years of isolation, she got the tools to make sense of a world that had gotten muffled.

Now, she's one of the first dancers with the New York City Ballet to wear hearing aids during performances.

“I feel like it's a whole new chapter of my life,” Mearns, 40, said in an interview with the AP.

While hearing loss is common in older adults, it can happen at any age and can be caused by things like nerve damage, infection or head trauma. For Mearns, it may have been a blend of factors including genetics, medical conditions and exposure to loud noise.

Signs and symptoms of hearing loss

According to the National Institutes of Health, less than a fifth of American adults aged 20 to 69 who could benefit from wearing hearing aids have ever used them. That's due to lack of access, shame or embarrassment and just not knowing the symptoms.

“Hearing loss is often not detected by the person because what they can't hear, they don't know,” said Dr. Anil Lalwani, a hearing expert with Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Still, “there are a lot of symptoms of hearing loss that are not hearing less,” said Dr. Maura Cosetti with Mount Sinai’s New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

One thing to look out for is saying “what” more often, and not being able to hear friends and family in noisy settings like restaurants. Other symptoms include ringing, a sensation like something is stuck in the ears or conversations sounding muffled.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mearns couldn't hear conversations when people were wearing masks.

“I realized that I was reading everybody’s lips to understand what they were saying,” she said.

If experiencing hearing loss, you have options

Experts say to let a doctor know if you think you may be experiencing symptoms of hearing loss. They can help you connect with an audiologist or an ear, nose and throat specialist to get a hearing test.

Cosetti with Mount Sinai said the Mimi Hearing Test app can be useful resource to get a sense of your hearing. Seeing a professional is the best way to figure out what's actually going on — like whether your ears are just plugged up with wax or fluid.

Hearing aids fine-tune the sound signal that enters the brain, enhancing speech while lowering background noise. They can be expensive, but many are now available over the counter. Some Apple AirPods also can be used as hearing aids.

For more severe forms of hearing loss, doctors may recommend a device called a cochlear implant, which converts sounds into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. These include a surgically inserted component and can take months to get used to.

Hearing aids are an adjustment, but can be worth it

Mearns initially felt embarrassed to step into the booth for her hearing test, knowing she wouldn't be able to hear all the words. Her audiologist, Marta Gielarowiec, helped her understand what she was missing and guided her to appropriate hearing aids.

“It's definitely not a one size fits all. There is a lot of adjustment, tuning and calibration involved,” said Gielarowiec, who runs a practice in New York. “Overall, the goal is to maximize the hearing that’s left.”

Addressing hearing loss can help boost mental health, improve communication and slow cognitive decline for people at high risk of dementia.

When Mearns walked out of her audiologist's office wearing her aids for the first time, she felt overwhelmed. She could hear the pattering of shoes on the ground, the chirping of birds across the street and the billowing of a flag a block behind her. Returning to her dressing room, she cried.

She can now hear the full might of the orchestra when she performs — and take phone calls in her ears.

The life she was living before, she said, was exhausting. At the end of every day she was spent from the strain of asking people to repeat themselves and missing out on conversations and the punch lines of jokes.

“I don’t want people to feel what I felt, where I was embarrassed and I was quiet about it,” she said. “Because now that I’m on the other side, I’m so happy.”

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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.

As tractors and trucks that had blocked O'Connell Street were rolling out of the capital, protests continued elsewhere, with police on the other side of the country clashing with demonstrators at the Galway docks where a military vehicle was used to knock down a makeshift barrier.

The protests have caused chaos as blockades at Ireland's only oil refinery and several vital depots prevented tanker trucks from delivering fuel to service stations and more than a third of pumps ran dry. Slow-moving convoys of vehicles also caused traffic jams on major highways.

Police began cracking down Saturday, using pepper spray to help clear protesters at the Whitegate refinery in County Cork and vowing to remove others who were endangering critical infrastructure and public safety because gas shortages could prevent response by emergency services.

“They are not a legitimate form of protest,” Irish police Commissioner Justin Kelly said on Saturday. “We gave the blockaders fair warning that we were moving to enforcement and they choose to ignore it and continue to hold the country to ransom.”

But a farmer who has become a spokesman for the group in Dublin said he was angry their peaceful protest had been “ambushed” by an army of officers overnight.

Christopher Duffy said police threatened to tow their heavy vehicles, so they had to leave.

“These vehicles are very expensive with automatic transmissions and everything, and if they drag them with the engine not on they could wreck them," Duffy said. “So we have no choice, financially we have to move the vehicles.”

Protests began Tuesday and have grown as word spread on social media, with truckers, farmers, and taxi and bus operators taking part and calling for help — such as price caps or tax cuts — to bring down fuel costs they say will drive people out of business.

Government officials, who had already introduced measures to ease the burden of price rises two weeks ago, have been baffled over the rationale behind the protests because the global price spike is due to the conflict in the Middle East that has restricted oil exports.

Prime Minister Micheál Martin called the move “illogical” and said the country was on the brink of turning tankers away at ports and losing its oil supply.

The government was expected to approve a measure to help reduce the cost of gas and diesel though it was not clear if it would be enough to halt the protest movement.

Unas 27 millones de personas están llamadas a las urnas para elegir mandatario, dos vicepresidentes, los 130 miembros de la Cámara de Diputados y los 60 del Senado en el regreso a la bicameralidad luego de 30 años.

Distintos sondeos privados coincidieron en que ninguno de los postulantes a la presidencia tiene alta intención de voto ni ha logrado establecer una distancia significativa sobre sus rivales.

Perú atraviesa una crisis política que ha provocado el desfile de ocho presidentes y tres Congresos en una década y un incremento de la delincuencia que los ciudadanos identifican como su mayor preocupación.

En un contexto de fuerte incertidumbre, varios sondeos coinciden en que la derechista Keiko Fujimori —hija del fallecido expresidente Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000)— encabeza la intención de voto con 15% con su promesa de combatir la delincuencia con las Fuerzas Armadas y construir nuevas cárceles. Sin embargo, la suma del voto nulo, en blanco e indeciso lidera las proyecciones.

Detrás de Fujimori se ubican sólo cinco postulantes son fluctuaciones en la intención de voto y separados por menos de cinco puntos porcentuales entre sí. Entre ellos están dos exalcaldes de Lima: Ricardo Belmont (1989-1995) del Partido Cívico Obras, un nacionalista que asegura que renegociará los contratos de explotación de recursos naturales, y Rafael López-Aliaga (2021-2025), de Renovación Popular, un millonario que promete créditos a los pequeños empresarios a través del banco estatal.

La agenda pública está dominada por el ascenso de la delincuencia. En el último quinquenio las denuncias por extorsión —un delito que ha provocado protestas y paralizaciones frecuentes del transporte público— se han quintuplicado, mientras los asesinatos se han duplicado, de acuerdo con datos oficiales. El costo de la criminalidad consume 1,7% del PBI, el equivalente a unos 5.000 millones de dólares anuales, lo que actúa como un impuesto que asfixia el consumo y la inversión privada, según cálculos del Ministerio de Economía.

Las 92.766 mesas de votación en todo el país estarán abiertas desde las 7.00 de la mañana hasta las 17.00 hora local y el conteo de votos comenzará tras el cierre de los centros de votación. Alrededor de 1,1 millones de votantes— sufragarán desde 75 países del extranjero, en su mayoría en Estados Unidos y Argentina.

El voto en Perú es obligatorio y contempla multas de hasta 32 dólares para quienes no sufraguen. Los mayores de 70 años no están obligados a votar. Según datos del Tribunal Electoral más de 6.000 candidatos se postulan para diputados y otros 3.000 para senadores.

Las autoridades electorales anticiparon que poco antes de finalizar el domingo esperan alcanzar el 60% del conteo de los votos para presidente, pero el resultado final incluso podría demorar hasta el jueves 16 de abril, cuando se espera que lleguen algunas actas electorales del extranjero o de zonas rurales remotas.

On a recent morning, Alexandre Joseph, 35, fretted about his family’s future in a loud voice, attracting the attention of passersby in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.

“The government raised the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, hitting my family. I now am unable to feed my two children on the salary I have,” he said.

The conflict in Iran has caused oil prices in Haiti to surge, disrupting critical supply chains, doubling transportation costs and forcing millions of undernourished people to cut back on already scarce meals.

Haiti, the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, has been hit the hardest by rising oil prices that experts warn will deepen a spiraling humanitarian crisis.

‘One of the most fragile countries in the world’

On April 2, Haiti’s government announced a 37% increase in the cost of diesel and a 29% increase in the cost of gasoline.

“The consequences are huge,” said Erwan Rumen, deputy country director for the United Nations World Food Program in Haiti. “It’s one of the most fragile countries in the world.”

Almost half of Haiti’s nearly 12 million inhabitants already face high levels of acute food insecurity. In recent months, Rumen noted, about 200,000 people dropped from the emergency phase to the acute one, a significant milestone.

“What is a bit frightening is to see that so many efforts could be basically wiped out by things that are completely out of our control,” he said. “This part of the population is extremely fragile. They’re on the verge of collapsing completely.”

Gang violence has exacerbated hunger, with armed men controlling key roads and disrupting the transportation of goods. An increase in food prices will only worsen hunger in a country where gangs easily recruit children whose families need food and money.

Emmline Toussaint, main coordinator of Mary’s Meals’ BND school-feeding program in Haiti, said that gas stations in some regions are selling fuel 25% to 30% higher than even what the government stipulated because of gang violence and difficulties with trucks trying to access certain areas.

She said the U.S.-based nonprofit is forced to use boats and take longer and multiple roads to feed the 196,000 children they serve across Haiti to avoid armed groups.

“The humanitarian crisis that we’re facing right now is at its worst,” she said. “So far, we are doing our best not to step back. Now, more than ever, the kids need us. … Most of them, it’s the only meal they receive.”

‘Everything will go up’

Fedline Jean-Pierre, a soft-spoken mother of a 7-year-old boy, sat under the shade of a tattered beach umbrella as she mulled increasing the prices of carrots, tomatoes and other produce she sells at an outdoor market in Port-au-Prince.

“People are not buying now because they don’t have money,” she said, noting she likely won’t have a choice but to increase prices to survive. “I have a child to feed.”

The 35-year-old mother said she and her son have lived for two years in a cramped and unsanitary shelter, among the record 1.4 million Haitians displaced by gang violence in recent years.

“The government doesn’t do anything for me,” she said. “Gas is up now, meaning everything will go up.”

Street vendor Maxime Poulard buys charcoal from suppliers to resell at a higher price. Occasionally he sells two bags of charcoal a day, but he thinks he soon will only be able to afford to buy half a bag to resell.

“Traveling is expensive; eating is expensive; everything is expensive,” he said. “I’m not sure if I will be able to hold on much more.”

Nearly 40% of Haitians are surviving on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, Haiti’s economy contracted for the seventh consecutive year, with inflation reaching 32% at the end of fiscal year 2025.

Joseph, the factory worker, said he plans to sell soft drinks at night out of his home to try and earn more money, but even then, that won’t be enough: “We’re also going to reduce the way we normally eat.”

‘Impossible tradeoffs’

On April 6, Haitians dragged burning tires and other debris to block streets and protest the increase in fuel prices in Port-au-Prince, of which an estimated 90% is controlled by gangs.

Local media reported gunfire as some Haitians forced the drivers of small colorful buses known as tap-taps to disembark their passengers.

Marc Jean-Louis, a 29-year-old tap-tap driver, said passengers are increasingly bartering fares, but he can’t afford to offer discounts.

“All the money is going toward gas,” he said as he called on the government to reduced prices “so that everyone can breathe.”

Haitians fear more violence as the country’s poverty and hunger deepens.

Rumen, with the U.N.’s World Food Program, said they’ve been unable to reach 60,000 people in Haiti’s central region who are awaiting aid. A powerful gang recently attacked the area, killing more than 70 people, according to the U.N.

“We’re going to have more needs and less resources,” he warned.

Allen Joseph, program manager for Mercy Corps in Haiti, said rising oil prices are crushing the country’s fragile economy: “The families already spending most of their income on food will face impossible tradeoffs.”

He warned the increase will affect access to basic services, including potable water.

“This is not an abstract inflation,” he warned. “It will directly impact survival.”

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Haiti’s government confirmed that the stampede took place and said it offered its condolences to the families of the victims.

“The Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti, His Excellency Mr. Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, and the entire Government have learned with deep dismay the tragic incident that occurred this Saturday at the Citadelle Laferrière, in Milot, during a tourist activity bringing together many young people,” the government said in a statement.

Local newspaper Le Nouvelliste said at least 30 people were killed and a search was underway for survivors. It cited Jean Henry Petit, the head of civil protection for Haiti’s Nord Department.

Local media reported there were rumors that police in Milot used too much tear gas to break up a fight near the Citadelle, and that’s what caused the panic and subsequent stampede.

Neighbors are preparing for street closures and a cloud of dust as crews get ready for the controlled implosion.

“It’s never easy saying goodbye to an old friend,” said Michael Ragan, who lives nearby. “The Mandarin Oriental has been a significant part of Brickell Key. They’ve always treated us really well here.”

After 26 years, engineers will implode the hotel to make way for a larger redevelopment project.

Residents say they’ve been kept informed ahead of time.

“They’ve been pretty organized,” said Alex Boulder. “The bridge has been cleaned and everything. They gave us a lot of notice.”

On Saturday, people gathered to take photos of the waterfront property one last time, capturing what many call an iconic part of the Miami skyline.

Officials say the implosion will last about 20 seconds, with the building collapsing inward.

No evacuations are required, but those in the immediate area are being asked to stay indoors, keep windows shut and turn off air conditioning units during the demolition.

Few residents expressed concern. Police and fire crews will be on standby in case of emergencies.

Miami Police Department said the entrance to Brickell Key will be closed from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

The controlled implosion is scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

The legendary singer across genres died Sunday of multiple organ failure at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, Pratit Samdani, a physician at the hospital said. Her son, Anand Bhosle, told reporters that her last rites will be performed on Monday.

Asha was admitted at the hospital on late Saturday with a chest infection and exhaustion, her granddaughter Zanai Bhosle said in a social media post.

Asha’s timeless voice resonated across a film-obsessed India for nearly eight decades, recorded on about 12,000 songs. She boldly embraced cabaret and Western-influenced melodies to forge a distinct musical identity that stood uniquely apart from her sister, Lata Mangeshkar, herself a legendary voice revered as the “Melody Queen.”

Asha’s death was widely condoled.

“I am deeply saddened” by her passing, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a social media post.

“Her unique musical journey spanning decades has enriched our cultural heritage and touched the hearts of countless people around the world,” Modi said. “From soulful melodies to spirited compositions, her voice carried a timeless brilliance.”

Born on Sept. 8, 1933, Asha Bhosle was initiated into music by her father Dinanath Mangeshkar, who was also a trained singer. All her four siblings became accomplished singers and musicians.

Asha's first marriage, in 1949, ended in separation in 1960. Her second marriage was to iconic music composer R.D. Burman in 1980. She is survived by a son and grandchildren.

Demise ran the 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles) through the French capital in a personal-best time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 34 seconds, shaving more than a minute off the previous women’s fastest time in Paris.

The 30-year-old Demise reached the finish on Avenue Foch opposite the Arc de Triomphe ahead of compatriot Misgane Alemayehu (2:19:08) and Kenya’s Magdalyne Masai (2:19:17).

The Ethiopian-born Crippa finished in 2:05:18, five seconds ahead of Bayelign Teshager of Ethiopia and 10 ahead of Sila Kiptoo of Ethiopia.

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. on Saturday until the end of Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to abide by the ceasefire, but warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement Sunday that it had recorded 2,299 ceasefire violations by 7 a.m., including assaults, shelling and small drone launches. It said that the use of long-range drones, missiles or guided bombs had not been reported.

A Ukrainian military officer told The Associated Press on Saturday that Russian forces had continued to attack their positions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also said Sunday it had recorded 1,971 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian forces, including drone strikes. The head of Russia's Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Sunday that rescuers uncovered the bodies of two civilians who were killed in a Ukrainian attack on Saturday afternoon.

Ceasefire skepticism

Outside Kyiv, thousands gathered at an open-air national heritage park to celebrate Easter despite skepticism that a truce would hold.

Worshippers clustered outside wooden churches to take part in the annual blessing of baskets for the holiday table. Families carried dyed eggs and paska cakes baked the night before, while many women wore colorful scarves. Some waited for the blessing as others picnicked on the grass.

Irena Bulhakova expressed her doubts over prospects for peace, especially as previous attempts to secure ceasefires have had little or no impact. “Every time a ceasefire is announced for a holiday, the shelling continues regardless,” she said.

But she still reflected on the holiday’s meaning: “Good triumphs over darkness, and we hope for that very much.”

Father Roman, a Ukrainian army chaplain who led the blessing ceremonies, described Easter as a moment of faith shared by Ukrainians in their identity and future.

“We are defending our borders. We are defending our identity,” he said. “We are a free people who live on this territory. We have faith, deep traditions and historical heritage. It’s all about the identity of Ukrainians.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena spent Sunday visiting children who has lost parents fighting in the war.

“They greeted us with smiles that are priceless. We must do everything so that the children of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for Ukraine never lose faith in the world,” Zelenskyy wrote in an online post.

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

Donaldson died in Hobart, a royal statement said, without giving further details. It said that his health had been declining over the past few years, and that the queen last visited him at the end of March.

John Dalgleish Donaldson, born in Scotland on Sept. 5, 1941, was a professor of applied mathematics.

Mary became Denmark's queen in January 2024 after two decades as crown princess when her husband became the Scandinavian country's monarch. He was proclaimed King Frederik X following the abdication of his mother, Queen Margrethe II.

Frederik and Mary met during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. They married in 2004.

Sunday's statement quoted Mary as saying that “my heart is heavy.”

“But I know that when the grief settles, the memories will brighten my day, and what will remain strongest is love and gratitude for everything he gave me and taught me,” she added.

Mary's mother, Henrietta Clark Donaldson, died in 1997. Her father married Susan Moody in 2001.

The statement said the family will hold a private memorial service for Donaldson “at a later date.”

Alexandre Joseph, de 35 años, se angustió en voz alta por el futuro de su familia una mañana reciente, atrayendo la atención de transeúntes en Puerto Príncipe, la capital de Haití.

“El gobierno subió los precios de la gasolina, el diésel y el queroseno, afectando a mi familia. Ahora no puedo alimentar a mis dos hijos con el salario que tengo”, manifestó.

El conflicto en Irán ha provocado que los precios del petróleo se disparen en Haití, alterando cadenas de suministro críticas, duplicando los costos de transporte y obligando a millones de personas desnutridas a recortar comidas ya de por sí escasas.

Haití, el país más empobrecido del hemisferio occidental, ha sido el más golpeado por el aumento de los precios del petróleo, que según advierten expertos agravará una crisis humanitaria creciente.

"Uno de los países más frágiles del mundo"

El gobierno de Haití anunció el 2 de abril un aumento del 37% en el costo del diésel y del 29% en el costo de la gasolina.

“Las consecuencias son enormes”, afirmó Erwan Rumen, subdirector de país del Programa Mundial de Alimentos de las Naciones Unidas en Haití. “Es uno de los países más frágiles del mundo”.

Casi la mitad de los cerca de 12 millones de habitantes de Haití ya enfrenta altos niveles de inseguridad alimentaria aguda. En los últimos meses, señaló Rumen, unas 200.000 personas pasaron de la fase de emergencia a la fase aguda, un hito significativo.

“Lo que da un poco de miedo es ver que tantos esfuerzos podrían, básicamente, quedar borrados por cosas que están completamente fuera de nuestro control”, expresó. “Esta parte de la población es extremadamente frágil. Está al borde de colapsar por completo”.

La violencia de las pandillas ha agravado el hambre, ya que hombres armados controlan carreteras clave y alteran el transporte de mercancías. Un aumento en los precios de los alimentos sólo empeorará el hambre en un país donde las pandillas reclutan con facilidad a niños cuyas familias necesitan comida y dinero.

Emmline Toussaint, coordinadora principal del programa de alimentación escolar BND de Mary’s Meals en Haití, dijo que las gasolineras en algunas regiones están vendiendo combustible incluso entre un 25% y un 30% por encima de lo que estipuló el gobierno debido a la violencia de las pandillas y a las dificultades de los camiones para acceder a ciertas zonas.

Indicó que la organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Estados Unidos se ve obligada a usar embarcaciones y a tomar rutas más largas y múltiples caminos para alimentar a los 196.000 niños a los que atienden en todo Haití, con el fin de evitar a los grupos armados.

“La crisis humanitaria que estamos enfrentando ahora mismo está en su peor momento”, sostuvo. “Hasta ahora, estamos haciendo todo lo posible por no retroceder. Ahora, más que nunca, los niños nos necesitan. … Para la mayoría de ellos, es la única comida que reciben”.

"Todo va a subir"

Fedline Jean-Pierre, un mujer amable con un hijo de 7 años, se sentó a la sombra de una sombrilla de playa raída mientras consideraba aumentar los precios de las zanahorias, los tomates y otros productos que vende en un mercado al aire libre en Puerto Príncipe.

“Ahora la gente no compra porque no tiene dinero”, comentó, y señaló que probablemente no tendrá otra opción que subir los precios para sobrevivir. “Tengo un hijo al que alimentar”.

La mujer, de 35 años, contó que ella y su hijo han vivido durante dos años en un refugio estrecho e insalubre, dentro de la cifra récord de 1,4 millones de haitianos desplazados por la violencia de las pandillas en los últimos años.

“El gobierno no hace nada por mí”, afirmó. “Ahora subió la gasolina, lo que significa que todo va a subir”.

El vendedor ambulante Maxime Poulard compra carbón a proveedores para revenderlo a un precio más alto. En ocasiones vende dos sacos de carbón al día, pero cree que pronto solo podrá permitirse comprar medio saco para revender.

“Viajar es caro; comer es caro; todo es caro”, dijo. “No estoy seguro de que pueda aguantar mucho más”.

Casi el 40% de los haitianos sobrevive con menos de 2,15 dólares al día, según el Banco Mundial. Mientras tanto, la economía de Haití se contrajo por séptimo año consecutivo, con una inflación que alcanzó el 32% al final del año fiscal 2025.

Joseph, el obrero de fábrica, dijo que planea vender refrescos por la noche desde su casa para intentar ganar más dinero, pero aun así no será suficiente: “También vamos a reducir la forma en que normalmente comemos”.

"Decisiones imposibles"

El 6 de abril, los haitianos arrastraron neumáticos en llamas y otros escombros para bloquear calles y protestar por el aumento de los precios del combustible en Puerto Príncipe, donde se estima que las pandillas controlan el 90% de la ciudad.

Medios locales informaron de disparos mientras algunos haitianos obligaban a los conductores de pequeños autobuses coloridos conocidos como tap-taps a bajar a sus pasajeros.

Marc Jean-Louis, un conductor de tap-tap de 29 años, dijo que los pasajeros están regateando cada vez más las tarifas, pero él no puede permitirse ofrecer descuentos.

“Todo el dinero se va en gasolina”, dijo, al tiempo que pidió al gobierno que reduzca los precios “para que todos puedan respirar”.

Los haitianos temen más violencia a medida que se profundizan la pobreza y el hambre en el país.

Rumen, del Programa Mundial de Alimentos de la ONU, dijo que no han podido llegar a 60.000 personas en la región central de Haití que están esperando ayuda. Una poderosa pandilla atacó recientemente la zona y mató a más de 70 personas, según la ONU.

“Vamos a tener más necesidades y menos recursos”, advirtió.

Allen Joseph, gerente de programas de Mercy Corps en Haití, dijo que el aumento de los precios del petróleo está aplastando la frágil economía del país: “Las familias que ya gastan la mayor parte de sus ingresos en alimentos se enfrentarán a decisiones imposibles”.

Advirtió que el aumento afectará el acceso a servicios básicos, incluido el agua potable.

“Esta no es una inflación abstracta”, alertó. “Impactará directamente en la supervivencia”.

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Coto informó desde San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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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.

Romuald Wadagni, the 49-year-old finance minister and governing coalition standard-bearer, is considered Talon’s anointed successor for the seven-year term. Wadagni is being challenged by Paul Hounkpè, the sole opposition candidate.

Nearly 8 million are registered to vote across more than 17,000 polling stations in the West African nation. Benin had over 15 million people in 2024, and like many sub-Saharan African countries, its population is overwhelmingly young. Polls are expected to close at 4 p.m. with the results expected within 48 hours.

Turnout has been low in recent years, and polling stations in Cotonou, the largest city, were sparsely attended throughout the morning. The city was quiet as the election began, with public demonstrations banned on election day, but stores and streets remain open.

Analysts widely expect Wadagni to win after a parliamentary election in January, during which the opposition failed to cross the 20% threshold required to win seats, leaving Talon’s two allied parties in control of all 109 seats in the National Assembly.

Renaud Agbodjo, leader of the Democrats, was barred from competing after failing to secure a sufficient number of parliamentary endorsements — a threshold critics say was engineered to keep rivals out.

Wadagni has touted the country's economic growth during his decade as finance minister as his key strength. Benin’s economy grew 7% last year, making it one of West Africa’s steadiest performers.

“Ten years at the Finance Ministry have given him something rare in African politics: a quantified record — verifiable and difficult to dismantle in a serious debate,” said Fiacre Vidjingninou, political analyst at the Lagos-based Béhanzin Institute.

While Benin has historically been among the most stable democracies in Africa, opposition leaders and human rights organizations have accused Talon of using the justice system as a tool to sideline his political opponents.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denounced a sustained crackdown on dissent under Talon, citing arbitrary detentions, tighter restrictions on public demonstrations, and mounting pressure on independent media outlets.

Protests over the rising cost of living sprang up in recent years, but the government and security forces clamped down on any dissent.

In December, a group of military officers attempted to topple Talon’s government in a failed coup, the latest in a series of recent military takeover attempts across Africa. Most attempted coups follow a similar pattern of disputed elections, constitutional upheaval, security crises, and youth discontent.

Among the coup leaders’ key complaints was the deterioration of security in northern Benin.

For years, Benin has faced spillover violence in its north from neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger in their battle against the al-Qaida-affiliated extremist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM.

The tri-border area has long been a hotbed for extremist violence, a trend worsened by the lack of security cooperation with Niger and Burkina Faso, both now led by military juntas.

The Taiwan Work Office under China’s Communist Party issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a longstanding communication mechanism between the Communist Party and Taiwan’s Kuomingtang Party. It said it will facilitate the import of Taiwan’s aquaculture products that it had previously banned.

Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Kuomingtang, and China’s President Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting Friday during which they called for peace, without offering specifics. China claims the island as part of its territory and hasn't ruled out the use of force to annex it.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees the relationship with China, said the measures that were announced, such as promoting a communication mechanism, were “political transactions" between the two parties that circumvented the government of Taiwan.

“The government’s position is clear: to ensure the interests of the nation and its people, all Cross-Strait affairs involving public power must be negotiated by both governments on an equal and dignified basis to be effective and truly protect the rights and well-being of the people,” the Mainland Affairs Council said in response to the Chinese announcement.

Relations between China and Taiwan, which remain split since 1949, have been tense since the election of pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party in 2016. Beijing cut off most of its official dialogue with Taiwan's government, and has started sending warships and fighter jets closer toward the island on a daily basis.

In the statement, China said it plans to resume direct flights between Taiwan and mainland cities like Xi'an or Urumqi, although it remained unclear how the measures will be implemented without the approval of the Taiwanese government.

China banned its citizens from individual trips to Taiwan in 2019. Taiwan's rules now require Chinese visitors to hold a valid resident visa from another country, like the U.S. or the European Union, to apply for a visitor visa.

China also said it would work toward construction of a bridge that would connect the mainland to Matsu and Kinmen, Taiwanese islands that are closer geographically to China. The project is a longstanding proposal that Beijing has previously announced.

China banned the import of Taiwanese pineapples in 2021, and since then has extended it to other fruits and products including the grouper fish, squid and tuna.

After the initial ban on grouper, Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture said it approached China about making adjustments to ensure it met import requirements. China replied with a limited list of individual companies that were allowed to sell to China, but without explanation.

In his first public comments after the 21 hours of talks, Trump sought to exert strategic control over the waterway that was responsible for the shipping of 20% of global oil supplies before the war, hoping to eliminate Iran’s key source of leverage.

The prospect of a U.S. blockade likely will further rattle global energy markets and prices for oil, natural gas and related products. It was not immediately clear how the blockade might be carried out or when.

Trump said he has “instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.” Other nations would be involved in the planned blockade, he said, but did not name them.

Trump stressed that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were at the core of the failure to end the war, and said the U.S. was ready to “finish up” Iran at the “appropriate moment."

No word on what happens after ceasefire expires

Face-to-face talks ended earlier Sunday, the highest-level negotiations between the longtime rivals since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian officials blamed the U.S. for their breakdown without specifying sticking points. Both delegations later left Islamabad.

Neither side indicated what will happen after the 14-day ceasefire expires on April 22. Pakistani mediators urged all parties to maintain it. Both sides said their positions were clear and put the onus on the other, underscoring how little the gap had narrowed.

“We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vice President JD Vance, leading the U.S. side, said afterward.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led Iran in talks, said it was time for the United States “to decide whether it can gain our trust or not.” Iranian officials earlier said talks fell apart over two or three key issues, blaming what they called U.S. overreach.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue between Iran and the U.S. in the coming days.

Iran said it was open to continuing the dialogue, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The European Union urged further diplomatic efforts.

Iran's nuclear program is a key sticking point

Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, the fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring.

Tensions have long centered on Iran's nuclear program. Tehran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but insisted on its right to a civilian nuclear program. It has offered “affirmative commitments” in the past in writing, including in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which took well over a year of negotiations. Experts say its stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.

The current deadlock — and Vance’s take-it-or-leave-it proposal that Iran end its nuclear program — mirrored February’s nuclear talks in Switzerland.

An Iranian diplomatic official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of closed-door talks, denied that negotiations had failed over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

“Iran is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but it has the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” the official said.

In Iran, there was fresh exhaustion and anger after months of unrest that had begun with nationwide protests against economic issues and then political ones, and then weeks of sheltering from U.S. and Israeli bombardment.

“We have never sought war. But if they try to win what they failed to win on the battlefield through talks, that’s absolutely unacceptable,” 60-year-old Mohammad Bagher Karami said in Tehran.

US moves to shift status quo in Strait of Hormuz

During the talks, the U.S. military said two destroyers transited the critical strait ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran’s state media said the country’s joint military command denied that.

“We’re sweeping the strait. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” Trump said during the talks.

Before talks began, the ceasefire was already threatened by other deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran’s 10-point proposal had called for a guaranteed end to the war and sought control over the Strait of Hormuz. It wanted the end of fighting against Iran’s “regional allies,” explicitly calling for a halt to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.

Pakistani officials earlier told The Associated Press that the U.S. 15-point proposal included a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program. Speaking on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to discuss details, they said it also covered reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel presses ahead with strikes in Lebanon

The impasse raises new questions about Lebanon. Israel has said the agreement did not apply there, but Iran and Pakistan claimed otherwise. Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington after Israel’s surprise announcement authorizing talks despite the lack of official relations between the countries.

The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Though Israel’s strikes over Beirut have calmed, its attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside the ground invasion it renewed after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in the war's opening days.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported six people were killed Sunday in an Israeli strike in Maaroub village near the coastal city of Tyre.

Israel wants Lebanon's government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, but the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Boak from Miami and Magdy from Cairo. E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Collin Binkley and Ben Finley in Washington, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Ghaya Ben MBarek in Tunis contributed.

“Ted Lasso” star Nick Mohammed hosts the 50th anniversary edition of the awards at a star-studded ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, where Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Williams and Andrew Lloyd Webber will be among the trophy presenters.

Leading the nominations for Britain’s equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Awards, with 11 apiece, are homegrown heart-warmer “Paddington: The Musical” and a much-praised revival of Stephen Sondheim’s twisted fairy tale journey “Into the Woods."

Acting nominees include Marianne-Jean Baptiste, Paapa Essiedu, Rosamund Pike, Tom Hiddleston, Blanchett — for playing a vain actor in Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull” — and Cranston for his performance as a troubled patriarch in Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.”

The category of best actor in a musical includes a joint nomination for James Hameed and Arti Shah, who together play the titular marmalade-loving Peruvian bear in “Paddington.” Hameed provides the voice and remote puppetry, while Shah inhabits the bear costume onstage.

The ceremony will include performances from nominated musicals and numbers marking two significant anniversaries: 40 years of Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” and 20 years of “Wicked” in the West End.

Stage star Elaine Paige, who is known for her leading roles in hit musicals including “Cats,” “Evita,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “Piaf,” will receive this year’s Special Award.

The Olivier Awards were founded in 1976 and named after the late actor-director Laurence Olivier. The winners are chosen by voting groups of stage professionals and theatergoers.

London’s West End is celebrating a strong post-pandemic return, buoyed by new musicals such as “Paddington” and “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” and revivals including director Jamie Lloyd’s bold staging of “Evita.”

The Society of London Theatre, an industry umbrella group, says ticket sales have surpassed the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. Shows in the West End — the collective name for London's theaterland — attracted 17.6 million visitors in 2025, 3 million more than Broadway.

But there are concerns about rising ticket prices and soaring production budgets, fueled by higher costs for labor, materials and energy.

“Theaters are busier than ever, but many are operating with far less financial headroom,” the society said in a report published last month.

And perhaps his wayward driver.

McIlroy finally left an opening and several other players charged back into contention in the third round, setting up a potentially pulsating Sunday finish at Augusta National, where McIlroy and Cameron Young share the lead but six other players are now within four shots.

“The course was obviously gettable,” McIlroy said after his third-round 73 cost him what was a six-stroke lead through 36 holes. “There was a lot of good scores out there, and obviously the quality of the chasing pack is obvious. There was a lot of guys that shot good scores.”

Saturday's average score of 70.63 was the lowest in Masters history in a third round. But McIlroy ranks dead last in driving accuracy among the post-cut field, and that made it hard for him to continue the run of birdies that built his big lead Friday. He also hit the ball into the water on No. 11 and made a damaging double bogey.

Now McIlroy, trying to become the fourth player to win twice in a row at this tournament, will play in the final group with Young, who is seeking his first major championship.

“I’ll probably give myself some time to think about it right now for the next 30 minutes or so. After that, it’s kind of a battle of managing how you want to react to those things,” Young said. “To me, it’s just a matter of going right back to how am I going to run my day tomorrow, what time am I going to get here, so I can eat, so I can go see the physio? It’s just going to be back to my routine, and that’s what I’m going to lean on.”

McIlroy is No. 2 in the world rankings, one spot ahead of Young. The last time two of the top three players in the rankings were in the final group at the Masters was 2001, when Tiger Woods was No. 1 and Phil Mickelson was No. 2. Woods ended up winning by two strokes over David Duval.

Scottie Scheffler, the current No. 1, shot 65 on Saturday to move within striking distance, but he's four shots behind Young, who also shot 65, and McIlroy. The two leaders are at 11 under par. Sam Burns is at 10 under, followed by Shane Lowry another stroke back.

Jason Day and Justin Rose are at 8 under.

Rose shot 66 in the final round last year to force a playoff, but ultimately lost to McIlroy.

“The whole field is not going to help you out, put it that way,” Rose said. “It’s going to take a special round tomorrow, so there’s a chance, which is great. I’m going to try to channel a bit of last year and see what happens.”

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

The high-stakes talks in Pakistan ended after 21 hours, Vance said, with the vice president in constant communication with President Donald Trump and others in the administration.

“But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance told reporters.

The war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets has entered its seventh week.

The U.S. delegation led by Vance and the Iranian delegation led by parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf had discussed how to advance a ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Here is the latest:

The European Union urges more diplomatic efforts despite the failure of this weekend’s peace talks

″The EU remains convinced that diplomacy is key to resolve all outstanding issues,″ the 27-nation bloc’s foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said in a statement to AP on Sunday.

″The European Union will contribute to all diplomatic efforts, taking into consideration its full range of interests and concerns, in coordination with partners.″

He commended Pakistan for its mediation efforts.

European countries were not consulted on the U.S.-Israeli plans to attack Iran, and are struggling with surging energy prices and other consequences of the war. Britain and France are leading talks toward a coalition that would secure the Strait of Hormuz, after active fighting is over.

Iranian delegation leaves Islamabad after US talks

The Pakistan government statement Sunday came hours after U.S. Vice President JD Vance left to return to Washington.

The Iranian delegation included Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi saw off the delegation at the airport amid tight security, the statement said.

Oman’s foreign minister calls for the US and Iran to make ‘painful concessions’

Badr Al-Busaidi said the two nations must continue negotiations after their latest round in Islamabad failed to produce a deal.

“I urge that the ceasefire be extended and talks continue,” the foreign minister wrote in a social media post.

He called for both parties to “make painful concessions,” saying that “this is nothing as compared to the pain of failure and war.”

Trump says the US Navy will ‘immediately’ begin a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. president posted Sunday on social media that the blockade would stop vessels from entering or leaving the strait.

After U.S. officials ended peace talks with Iran in Pakistan, Trump sought to exert more strategic control over the waterway responsible for the transportation of 20% of global oil supplies — hoping to take away Iran’s key source of economic leverage in the war.

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted.

The president added that he has “also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.”

Trump stressed that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are at the core of the failure to end the war and that the U.S. is prepared to finish the war.

“(A)t an appropriate moment, we are fully ‘LOCKED AND LOADED,’ and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!” Trump posted.

UAE oil giant rejects Iran’s right to close the Strait of Hormuz

The head of Abu Dhabi’s state oil company reinforced a broad consensus in Gulf Arab states on Sunday, saying Iran has no right to close the Strait of Hormuz after negotiations in Pakistan failed to secure an agreement to reopen it.

Sultan Al Jaber posted on X that “any attempt to do so is not a regional issue; it is the disruption of a global economic lifeline and a direct threat to the energy, food and health security of every nation.”

He called it a dangerous precedent.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, known as ADNOC, is among the oil exporters that has been hit hard by the war. It declared force majeure in March, telling buyers the company couldn’t fulfill its obligations. Oil and gas make up 15% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross domestic product.

Russia and Iran’s leaders discussed collapsed US talks with Iran

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed the latest developments in the Middle East in a phone call Sunday, the Kremlin said.

Pezeshkian briefed Putin on the U.S.-Iran talks held in Pakistan and thanked Moscow for its position “aimed at de-escalating the situation,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

It also said Putin had “emphasized his readiness” to help bring about a diplomatic settlement to the hostilities and “establish a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Iranian diplomatic official denies that peace talks failed over Iran’s nuclear ambitions

In response to comments from U.S. officials that the Islamabad talks collapsed over Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning a path to a nuclear weapon, the official said: ″It is false. Iran’s position is clear. Iran is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but it has the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. This right is undeniable and must be recognized.″

However, Iran is ready to limit its nuclear activities as part of confidence-building measures, the official said, including enrichment levels.

He did not elaborate on why the talks failed and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the closed-door discussions.

Iran expert says ‘three-track scramble’ likely to follow failed Islamabad talks

In response to comments from U.S. officials that the talks in Islamabad collapsed over Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning a path to a nuclear weapon, the official said: ″It is false. Iran’s position is clear. Iran is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but it has the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. This right is undeniable and must be recognized.’’

However, Iran is ready to limit its nuclear activities as part of confidence-building measures, the official said, including enrichment levels.

He did not elaborate on why exactly the talks failed and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the closed-door discussions.

Beirut’s Orthodox Christians mark somber Easter after last week’s Israeli airstrikes

Across the central Beirut neighborhoods attacked last week in Israel’s deadly bombardment of the city, Orthodox Christians in Lebanon found themselves grasping for solace in their faith and beloved Easter rituals.

Many worshippers said they were still reeling from Wednesday’s Israeli airstrikes, which hit areas of Beirut previously considered safe and killed more than 350 people while wounding over 1,100 others.

“What happened was a crime,” said Ghada Chabo Markossian from Easter services at her Syriac Orthodox church in Msaitbeh, one of several residential neighborhoods devastated in the attack.

“God willing, during this feast, the Lord will set right … these evil things that are happening.”

The priest attributed the low attendance to a chilling fear that has grown more pervasive in the last few days of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

“Many members of the parish are afraid to come, due to the terror they experienced two or three days ago,” the Rev. Daniel Gawriya said.

Pope Leo XIV demands ceasefire in Lebanon and respect of international law

Leo said Sunday he was “closer than ever” to the people of Lebanon at the end of his noontime prayers, and called on all sides to stop fighting and seek peace.

“The principle of humanity, inscribed in the conscience of every person and recognized in international law, entails the moral obligation to protect the civilian population from the atrocious effects of war,” Leo said.

Though Israel’s strikes over Beirut have calmed in recent days, its attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside a ground invasion it renewed after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in the opening days of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

Leo wished Christians celebrating Orthodox Easter, and said he hoped especially that the international community doesn’t turn its back on the “beloved people of Ukraine.”

He noted that Wednesday marks the third anniversary of the “fratricidal war” in Sudan, and appealed for talks to end what he called an “inhuman tragedy.”

Iranian official says key demands include war reparations and controlling Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s First Vice President Reza Aref said Tehran sought U.S. recognition of its control of transit through the Strait of Hormuz in the collapsed Islamabad talks.

Iran having “authority in the Strait of Hormuz” and pursuing compensation for the damage caused by U.S. and Israeli strikes were “the rights of the (Iranian) people," he said.

“This is our firm commitment to a strong Iran,” Aref wrote on social media.

Iran’s chief negotiator in Pakistan blames the US for failing to reach a deal

In a series of posts on X, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said the Iranian delegation provided “forward-looking initiatives” during the 21-hour talks but the Americans could not gain Iran’s trust.

He said now is the time for the U.S. “to decide whether it can gain our trust or not.”

He didn’t elaborate. But Iranian state media reported earlier that major points of disagreement included Iran’s nuclear program and transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Turkish politicians condemn Israel’s criticism of Erdogan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip in a post on X in which he wrote: “Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies, unlike Erdogan who accommodates them and massacred his own Kurdish citizens.”

In response, Omer Celik, spokesperson of the ruling Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party, or AKP, said Sunday that Israel’s comments aimed to sabotage the peace talks in Pakistan, foment unrest among the Kurdish minority and pit Turkey against Iran.

Numan Kurtulmus, the speaker of Turkey’s parliament, called Netanyahu “the ringleader terrorist of the 21st century’s massacre and terror network.”

“The audacity of someone whose hands are stained with children’s blood — someone pursued by international law — to presume to lecture Turkey on morality is merely an indicator of his efforts to cover up his own crimes against humanity, and it holds no validity whatsoever,” Kurtulmus said.

Israeli strike kills 6 people in southern Lebanese town

The strike on Sunday morning hit a home of seven people in the Lebanese town of Maaroub, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

The strike came without warning, and Israel did not immediately comment on it.

Israel’s government has said its strikes target operatives or infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah militant group.

Israeli strikes over Beirut have decreased in recent days, but its attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside a ground invasion.

Iranian delegation leaves Islamabad

Iran's state-run TV said the delegation left Pakistan's capital after talks with the U.S. failed to reach a deal.

Saudi Arabia says East-West oil pipeline restored to full capacity

The East-West pipeline, used to send oil to the Red Sea for transport, was repaired after an attack, the Saudi Energy Ministry said in a statement Sunday. It said it has full capacity of about 7 million barrels a day.

The pumping station was attacked Thursday, affecting about 700,000 barrels of output through the pipeline, which has allowed Saudi Arabia to continue exporting a substantial portion of its oil.

Saudi Aramco operates the pipeline from the Aqaiq oil processing center near the Persian Gulf to the Yanbu port on the Red Sea, avoiding the Iranian chokepoint on the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. The ministry said the Manila oil field was also repaired, restoring a capacity of around 300,000 barrels a day.

It said work was still underway at another field, Kurais, to restore a capacity of another 300,000 barrels a day.

Iran says talks broke down over ‘2 to 3 big issues’

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that negotiations with the U.S. fell apart over a “gap between our opinions over two or three important issues.”

“Ultimately the talks didn’t result in an agreement,” spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told Iran’s state TV. He did not detail what those issues were.

On some topics, Baghaei said U.S. and Iranian negotiators “actually reached mutual understanding.” The negotiators discussed the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei said, but did not mention discussion of nuclear weapons.

Pakistan calls on Iran, US to keep commitment to ceasefire

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called on Iran and the United States to keep their commitment to maintain a ceasefire, after both countries ended historic face-to-face talks without an agreement.

“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” Dar said.

He added that Pakistan will continue to play is mediating role and will try to keep facilitating the dialogue between Iran and the U.S. in coming days.

It's a key moment for Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, who has traveled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.

Orbán has frustrated and even alarmed many leaders across the European Union with what they view as his steady drift away from Western partners and toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Recent revelations have shown a top member of his government frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia’s behalf within the bloc.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. and were scheduled to close at 7 p.m. Orbán and his top challenger, Péter Magyar, arrived at separate polling stations in Budapest at nearly the same time to cast their votes.

Speaking to reporters outside, Orbán, 62, said the campaign had been “a great national moment on our side” and thanked activists and supporters for their work. “I'm here to win,” he said.

The election was being closely watched in countries around Europe and beyond, which is a testament to the outsize role Orbán occupies in far-right populist politics worldwide.

Members of Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement are among those who see Orbán's government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.

After casting his vote, Magyar told reporters that the election was “a choice between East or West, propaganda or honest public discourse, corruption or clean public life.”

“I urge all Hungarian citizens to exercise their right to vote,” he said.

Casting his ballot in Budapest on Sunday, Marcell Mehringer, 21, said he was voting “primarily so that Hungary will finally be a so-called European country, and so that young people, and really everyone, will do their fundamental civic duty to unite this nation a bit and to break down these boundaries borne of hatred.”

Turnout after the first five hours of voting was 66%, according to the National Election Office. That is a record in Hungary’s post-communist history, with around 900,000 more voters having cast their ballot by 3 p.m. than during 2022 elections.

Orbán has been at the helm since 2010

During his 16 years as prime minister, Orbán has launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary's institutions and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.

He also has heavily strained Hungary's relationship with the EU, seeming to revel in using his veto power to stymie the 27-member bloc's important decisions. Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($104 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.

Yet after winning four consecutive elections with a two-thirds majority for his party in Parliament, signs have emerged that Orbán's absolute control over Hungary's politics may be reaching its end.

A serious challenger on the rise

Magyar has rapidly risen to become Orbán's most serious challenger. The 45-year-old leader of the center-right Tisza party, which is leading in independent polls, campaigned on issues affecting ordinary voters including Hungary’s faltering public health care and transportation sectors and what he describes as rampant government corruption.

A former insider within Orbán's Fidesz, Magyar broke with the party in 2024 and quickly formed Tisza. Since then, he has toured Hungary relentlessly, holding rallies in settlements big and small in a campaign blitz that recently had him visiting up to six towns daily.

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Magyar said the election will be a “referendum” on whether Hungary continues on its drift toward Russia under Orbán, or can retake its place among the democratic societies of Europe.

Tisza won 30% of the vote in European Parliament elections in 2024, and Magyar took a seat as an EU lawmaker. Tisza is a member of the European People's Party, the mainstream, center-right political family with leaders governing 12 of the EU's 27 nations.

Facing an uphill election battle

Magyar and Tisza face a tough fight. Orbán's control of Hungary's public media, which he has transformed into a mouthpiece for his party, and vast swaths of the private media market give him an advantage in spreading his message.

The unilateral transformation of Hungary's electoral system and gerrymandering of its 106 voting districts by Fidesz also will require Tisza to gain an estimated 5% more votes than Orbán’s party to achieve a simple majority.

Additionally, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries have the right to vote in Hungarian elections and traditionally have voted overwhelmingly for Orbán's party.

There also have been comments ahead of the election that external meddling and internal fraud could taint the result. Fidesz and Tisza both have launched platforms for reporting irregularities, accusing their opponents of planning to commit election abuses.

Russian secret services have plotted to interfere and tip the election in Orbán's favor, according to numerous media reports including by The Washington Post. The prime minister, however, has accused neighboring Ukraine, as well as Hungary's allies in the EU, of seeking to interfere in the vote to install a “pro-Ukraine” government.

Such accusations are part of why many in the EU who see Orbán as a danger to the bloc's future hope he loses and a new Hungarian government under Magyar will prove a better partner.

But across the Atlantic, Trump and his MAGA movement are all-in for another Orbán term. Trump has repeatedly endorsed the Hungarian leader and U.S. Vice President JD Vance made a two-day visit to Hungary last week meant to help push Orbán over the finish line.

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Associated Press journalists Béla Szandelszky, Marko Drobnjakovic and Florent Bajrami contributed to this report.

Demolition experts completed the controlled implosion of the former Mandarin Oriental, Miami on Brickell Key, a human-made island at the mouth of the Miami River, across from downtown. It marked the largest implosion for Miami in more than a decade, officials said.

The 23-story building, which opened 25 years ago, collapsed in less than 20 seconds following blasts that occurred around 8:30 a.m.

People watching the implosion safely from afar cheered and recorded phone videos as the building's framework collapsed following a series of rapid charges. Dust soon filled the air as building material crashed down. Some watchers wore face masks as they left the area.

Residents within 800 feet (244 meters) of the building were asked to stay inside their apartments during the blast with windows and doors closed.

According to Swire Properties, the demolition will make way for the groundbreaking of The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, a two-tower ultraluxury hotel and residential development scheduled for completion in 2030.

The operation follows nearly two years of planning and coordination with specialized contractors and the city, developers said. Implosion was selected as the safest and most efficient method to maintain the project timeline while minimizing disruption and ensuring the safety of the Brickell Key community.

The implosion happened a couple of minutes after what looked and sounded like blue- and pink-tinted fireworks were set off near the top of the building.

But this season, major cruise lines are skipping it. A massive landslide last summer sent parts of a glacier crashing into the water, generated a tsunami and pushed a wave high up the opposite mountain wall. Several companies opting out cited safety concerns with the still-hazardous slopes.

“Tracy Arm is the majestic princess, you know, she is the queen of fjords,” said travel agent Nate Vallier.

The destination cruise and tour companies have chosen as an alternative — nearby Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier — is “still beautiful by any means, but it’s just not the same,” he said.

Tracy Arm, southeast of Juneau, is a roughly 30-mile (50-kilometer) fjord that features two tidewater glaciers — the North and South Sawyer — and wildlife, including seals and bears.

Early on Aug. 10, 2025, a landslide originating high on a slope above the toe of the South Sawyer, near the head of the fjord, sent water surging more than a quarter mile (more than half a kilometer) up the mountain wall opposite the slide and out Tracy Arm.

No ships were in the fjord, officials said, and no deaths or injuries were reported. But kayakers camped on an island near where Tracy and Endicott arms meet had much of their gear swept away by the rushing water.

Southeast Alaska, largely encompassed by a temperate rainforest, is no stranger to landslides. And while it's long been known the fjord network in the Tracy Arm region has been susceptible, the slope that failed had not been identified as an active hazard before last summer's collapse, said Gabriel Wolken, manager of the state’s climate and ice hazards program.

Scientists are working to understand not only what caused the slope to collapse but to understand what other hazards might exist in the fjord, he said.

The area remains unstable, said Steven Sobieszczyk, a U.S. Geological Survey spokesperson. Steep landslide areas continue to change for years after an initial slide, he said by email.

“Continued rockfall and small-scale sliding from the exposed landslide scar are expected and could impact the water, potentially causing a future localized tsunami,” he said.

Major cruise companies, including Holland America, Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean said in response to inquiries from The Associated Press that they are replacing a Tracy Arm visit with Endicott Arm. MSC Cruises, Virgin Voyages and regional tour company Allen Marine also are doing Endicott and Dawes Glacier instead. Norwegian Cruise Line said it does not have voyages sailing by Tracy Arm.

Endicott already has been a stop for some ships previously and an alternative when conditions in Tracy Arm, such as excess ice, have been unsafe.

Vallier, who owns the Alaska Travel Desk, said he would have liked cruise companies to give travelers more advance notice about itinerary changes.

After leaving Seattle, the first ships of the season are due April 21 in Ketchikan and in Juneau the following week.

Seeing a glacier — particularly a dynamic, calving glacier — is a bucket-list item for many tourists, and that's what has made Tracy Arm so popular, he said. While the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau is a major attraction for the capital city and cruise port, many visitors view it from across a large lake, and it has diminished or entirely retreated from view from some hiking overlooks.

Kimberly Lebeda of Wichita, Kansas, was excited when she booked tickets for a Tracy Arm excursion for her family last year. Lebeda, who researches areas she visits, said she was sold on the scenery.

But the night before the stop, they were told that due to ice in Tracy Arm, they would go up Endicott instead. Her family and others who'd booked the excursion got off the ship and onto a smaller boat with glass windows, abundant seating and snacks. They saw seals on ice floes, waterfalls and “a wall of ice” calve from Dawes Glacier, she said.

She called it “an amazing thing to witness.”

“Was it worth it? Yes, because I don’t know if I'll ever get to do that trip again,” she said. “Again, I haven’t ever been to Tracy Arm so I can’t really compare. But to me, was it worth it and was it exciting? Absolutely.”

The demands of the Iran war also caused President Donald Trump to delay by several weeks his highly anticipated trip to China, deepening worries that the U.S. is once again getting distracted at the cost of its strategic interests in Asia, where Beijing seeks to unseat the U.S. as the regional leader.

Those skeptical of the U.S. involvement in the Middle East say the war is preventing Trump from adequately preparing for his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month, when economic interests are on the line, and they warn that a failure to focus on Asia and maintain strong deterrence could lead to greater instability, if China should believe the time is ripe to seize the self-governed island of Taiwan.

“This is precisely the wrong time for the United States to turn away and be sucked into another intractable Middle East conflict,” said Danny Russel, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “Rebalancing to Asia is highly relevant to America’s national interests, but it has been undercut by many bad decisions.”

Others defend the president's approach, arguing that the forceful steps he is taking elsewhere, including in Venezuela and Iran, serve to counter China globally.

“Beijing is the chief sponsor for the adversaries that President Trump is dealing with sequentially, and it’s wise to do this sequentially,” Matt Pottinger, who served as a deputy national security adviser in the first Trump administration, said in a recent podcast.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also said conflicts may not be confined to a single theater, suggesting that China could call upon its “junior partners” elsewhere to divert U.S. attention if it should move against Taiwan.

“Most likely it will not be limited, something in the Indo-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific,” Rutte said, speaking Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington. “It will be a multi-theater issue.”

Repercussions in Asia of the Iran war

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recently led a bipartisan group of senators to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, where they heard concerns about the impact of the war on energy costs and about the departure of U.S. military assets, including missile defense systems from South Korea and a rapid-response Marine unit from Japan.

She sought to reassure them of the U.S. commitment to deterring conflicts in Asia and shoring up regional stability.

“Failure is not an option,” Shaheen told The Associated Press after returning from Asia. “We know China has already said they intend to take Taiwan by force if they need to, and they’re on an expedited time schedule. And we also know that what happened in Europe, in the war in Ukraine, in the Middle East is affecting those calculations.”

Kurt Campbell, who served as deputy secretary of state in the Biden administration, said he’s worried that the military capabilities that the U.S. had patiently accumulated in the Indo-Pacific region might not return in full even after the Iran war ends.

The longer the conflict goes on, the more it will pull resources and focus away from Asia, said Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies the U.S. strategy in Asia. He added that future arms sales to the region also will be negatively affected.

“The United States has expended substantial numbers of munitions in the Middle East and will have to keep an increased force presence there, some of which has been redirected from Asia,” Cooper said. “Meanwhile, Xi Jinping’s wisdom in preparing a ‘war time’ economy by stockpiling and adding alternate energy sources has shown itself to be beneficial.”

Shaheen said the U.S. defense industry will struggle to meet the demand to replenish the weapons stockpile. “We’re working on a number of strategies to improve that, but at this point, timelines for weapons delivery are slipping,” she said.

The senator from New Hampshire said she's encouraged that Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are stepping up their own defense.

After 15 years and 3 presidents, pivot to Asia remains elusive

Obama's strategic rebalance to Asia reflected his understanding that the U.S. must be a player in the Pacific to harness the region’s growth and ensure continued U.S. leadership in the face of China's rising influence.

“After a decade in which we fought two wars that cost us dearly, in blood and treasure, the United States is turning our attention to the vast potential of the Asia-Pacific region,” Obama said in a speech to the Australian Parliament. “So make no mistake, the tide of war is receding, and America is looking ahead to the future that we must build.”

But the strategy was set back when a proposed trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership with key U.S. regional partners failed to get through the U.S. Senate. After Trump first took office in 2017, he withdrew the U.S. from the partnership and launched a tariff war with China.

His Democratic successor, Joe Biden, kept Trump's tariffs on China and tightened export controls on advanced technology, while strengthening regional alliances to counter China.

Middle East again grabs US attention

By the time Trump rolled out his national security strategy in late 2025, the U.S. strategy in Asia had been narrowed to military deterrence in the Taiwan Strait and the First Island Chain, a string of U.S.-aligned islands off China's coast that restrict its access to the Western Pacific.

The national security document says it's in the economic interest of the U.S. to secure access to advanced chips, which are sourced primarily from Taiwan and are needed to power everything from computers to missiles, and to protect shipping lanes in the South China Sea.

“Hence deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” the document says. “We will build a military capable of denying aggression anywhere in the First Island Chain.”

The Middle East, it says, should be getting less attention: “As this administration rescinds or eases restrictive energy policies and American energy production ramps up, America’s historic reason for focusing on the Middle East will recede."

Then came the Iran war.

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AP writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

If you met 18-year-old Arianna Crockett, you might think she has lived a normal life. But her story is anything but.

At just 8 years old, Arianna lost her right kidney after it was severely damaged and she underwent a nephrectomy.

Years later, after her family moved from Jamaica to South Florida in 2023, she was diagnosed with STAR syndrome, a condition that affects multiple parts of the body.

For years, she managed the condition, but in January, everything changed.

“I was actually at school when mom got the call from Dr. Marshall saying you need to pick her up from school right now and bring her into the ER,” Arianna said.

Doctors soon determined she was in complete kidney failure and needed a transplant quickly. Complicating matters, she learned she has a rare blood type.

“We found out that I had a very rare blood type, which is B positive,” she said. “So they said that it would be kind of harder to find me a match.”

That’s where Dr. Chen comes in. She is the director of the living donor transplant program at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and Memorial Healthcare System.

“She had several lovely family members come forward, but for various reasons they were either incompatible or not medically suitable,” Dr. Chen said.

Eventually, a match was found -- a distant family member’s wife.

“She is my second cousin’s wife and she is a universal blood type,” Arianna said. “She’s a very sweet person. I’m very grateful for her, because she gave me the kidney.”

This week, surgeons in Colorado removed the healthy kidney from the donor, placed it on a plane to South Florida, and then transported it by helicopter in the pouring rain to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, where surgeons completed the transplant.

In about 12 hours, Arianna’s long medical battle became easier.

“I feel so refreshed, you know, after a long day and tracking across country and a long surgery, that we have a good outcome,” Dr. Chen said.

Doctors say it marks a milestone procedure.

“She’s the first remote donor living unrelated kidney transplant in South Florida,” Dr. Chen said.

Now, Arianna is entering a new normal. She will still need regular lab work and check-ins for months and will take medication for the rest of her life. She hopes to go home Sunday and still plans to walk across the stage at her high school graduation.

When asked about returning to school, she said, “No more physical school.”

Doctors say living donor kidneys typically last longer than deceased donor organs -- about 15 to 25 years -- and begin working immediately.

Doctors at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital say they hope to discharge Arianna on Monday.

Trump was seen shaking hands with fans and later embracing UFC CEO and President Dana White during the event.

Earlier in the day, the president was seen coming down the stairs of Air Force One after landing at Miami International Airport.

Outside the arena, security was tight with Secret Service agents, police dogs and a SWAT team stationed ahead of his arrival.

“DJT? In the crib? Oh yessir bro. Yessir,” one fan said when asked about the president being there. Another responded, “Oh Trump? Yeah yeah yeah.”

Fans said they were excited to see the major fight night in Miami.

“We had to come because Miami’s the best city in America,” one attendee said.

Fans also took photos in front of the UFC logo with the Miami skyline in the background.

The event marked the UFC’s fifth visit to Miami so far and the first since last April. Many fans said they hope more events continue to return.

“I’ve always loved when the opportunity comes when they can come closer,” one fan said.

The event celebrated Grammy Award-winning musician, producer and philanthropist Wyclef Jean, who was recognized for his work and influence.

Acclaimed photographer and humanitarian Nigel Barker received the foundation’s inaugural Visual Impact Award.

A wide mix of entertainment figures attended the event, including supermodel Karolina Kurkova, who has long supported the foundation’s mission.

Performances also included singer Taylor Dayne, joining a lineup of artists and supporters gathered for the evening.

Organizers said the foundation continues to focus on making an impact across communities worldwide through music and creative outreach.

Only 17 years later, they both had a say in the outcome for their teams on Saturday night.

Messi helped set up Germán Berterame for a second-half goal that gave Inter Miami its first lead in its new stadium, and Mehmeti’s first MLS goal in the 77th minute pulled the New York Red Bulls into a 2-2 tie with Messi and the defending MLS Cup champions on Saturday night.

Mateo Silvetti also scored for Inter Miami (3-1-3), which is now unbeaten in its last six MLS matches. Jorge Ruvalcaba scored for the Red Bulls (3-2-2), who have one win in their last five matches but rallied to get a point out of this one after wasting an early 1-0 lead.

Berterame’s goal looked like it would give Inter Miami some control.

There were no fewer than four defenders within a couple of yards of Messi — two of them squarely between him and the net — as he brought the ball toward the box in the 55th minute, and with all those eyeballs on him nobody seemed to be marking Berterame just to his left.

No shot, no problem. In fact, it was a bit of a bad break for the Red Bulls.

Messi had the ball knocked away but it simply rolled toward Berterame, who one-timed it with his right foot for a 2-1 lead — with the greatest player ever being the first to wrap him in a celebratory headlock after the goal. It gave Inter Miami its first lead in about 150 minutes of play over two matches in its new stadium, which opened last weekend with a draw against Austin FC.

But a pair of kids made sure the lead didn’t last.

Julian Hall, 18, set up Mehmeti for the equalizer, finding space near the goal line and putting the ball into the perfect spot.

Messi had a chance in the 49th minute from about 12 yards out. He got the ball near the top of the box, stopped on a dime as Red Bulls defender Matthew Dos Santos went sliding past, flicked the ball to his left foot and tried a shot to the near post. It went just wide as he fell to the turf.

Both teams had goals waved off by offside calls — New York’s following a review — in the second half. Messi also had a 25-yard free kick stopped by Red Bulls goalie Ethan Horvath in the 94th minute.

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

Year after year, for more than a decade, the Northern Irishman threw away chances at completing the career grand slam. And when he finally accomplished the feat last year, McIlroy did it only after recovering from a ball put in the water on the back nine and a bogey at the 18th hole in regulation, and beating Justin Rose in a playoff for the green jacket.

In other words, that record 36-hole lead of six that McIlroy carried into the third round Saturday? It meant nothing.

And nothing is exactly what it was shortly after he made the turn.

McIlroy's roller coaster round included three bogeys, four birdies and a double-bogey for a 73, which dropped him to 11 under for the tournament. More importantly, hot rounds by just about everyone else on the leaderboard put the pressure on, and Cameron Young's third-round 65 put him at 11 under as well, leaving McIlroy paired with him for the final round on Sunday.

“You know, there’s a lot of guys in with a chance tomorrow,” McIlory said. “I’m still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can’t forget that, but I do know I’m going to have to be better if I want to have a chance to win.”

Indeed, McIlroy and Young will have to worry about a lot more than just each other.

Sam Burns is one shot back, while Shane Lowry rode his second career Masters ace to a 68 that left him at 9 under. Rose and Jason Day are another shot back, while Scottie Scheffler's round of 65 put him at 7 under and in the hunt for a third green jacket.

“There’s certainly no lead that’s safe out here,” Young said, "but at the same time, Rory loves it here, and he’s obviously playing some great golf. I don’t think anybody would have been surprised if he went out there and shot 65 today. It’s one of those things where if he does open the door, you have to take advantage of it.”

McIlroy tried to take all of the drama out of this edition of the Masters when he paired an opening 67 with a 65 on Friday.

But drama is exactly what he brings to Augusta National every year.

There was 2011, when McIlroy led by three making the turn, pulled his tee shot left of No. 10 into the cabins, made triple bogey and went on to shoot 80. There was 2016, when he played in the final round with Jordan Spieth but shot 77 and finished tied for 10th. And there was 2018, when he was in the final pairing with Patrick Reed and wound up finishing six shots back.

Last year, it seemed that McIlroy had finally buried his Masters demons with his playoff victory.

They surfaced yet again on Saturday.

It started with an inauspicious bogey at the first, but McIlroy recovered from that with a couple of birdies to reach 13 under. The real trouble began at the 11th, when he was standing in the middle of the fairway with momentum on his side. His approach shot bounced in front of the green, took a left turn and plopped into the pond, leaving quiet ripples across the water.

McIlroy's eventual bogey putt did a 90-degree lip-out, and the double bogey sent him falling back to the field.

“Yeah,” he said later, “this golf course has a way of — you know, when you’re not quite feeling it, you struggle.”

McIlroy followed with another bogey at the par-3 12th, when he pulled his tee shot left of the green and was unable to save par. And when it looked as if he'd regained his composure with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, he proceeded to pull his tee shot at the 17th into a stand of pine trees, leading to another bogey and dropping him into a tie with Young at 11 under.

“I thought if Rory could shoot a 68 today he might run away with the tournament,” said Lowry, his good buddy. “But the thing is, it’s not easy to go out and go after it when you’re at the top of the leaderboard.”

McIlroy was still at the top of the leaderboard, though, after a wild third round Saturday at Augusta National.

It's where he'll start the final round on Sunday, too.

“I have to look at the positives, even though there isn't that many to take today,” McIlroy said. “You know, I did bounce back. I hit some good shots coming in. But yeah, I'm in great position. I just know I need to be better tomorrow to have a chance.”

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

Strong winds out of the northeast will continue to persist with gusts up to 25 to 30 mph on Sunday. The gusts will continue to turn up our local beaches. A very high rip current risk will remain in place. It is important to stay out of the water, if you do venture in, swim in front of a lifeguard.

Sunday will feature a few stay showers in the morning with mostly dry conditions by the afternoon. Look for high temperatures in the lower 80s.

Flight DL555 landed without incident, and video obtained by Local 10 News captured the plane arriving back at FLL.

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“Plane is still circling and dumping fuel. Incident involved a mechanical issue with the aircraft’s landing gear. No other information is available at this time,” the Broward Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement to Local 10 News.

According to FlightAware, the plane was in the air for 1 hour and 13 minutes before landing back at FLL.

Flight tracking data shows the aircraft was scheduled to depart at 7:05 a.m. for Boston but was delayed until 11:58 a.m. before taking off, when it experienced the mechanical issue.

Airport officials cancelled the flight Saturday afternoon.

Passengers were frustrated after the announcement.

“Really frustrating,” said Kelly Gardner from New Hampshire. “We’re hoping the airline in some way gives us a voucher because just putting us up for the night doesn’t make me warm and fuzzy. I got to be honest -- we always fly Delta but I’m not sure about anymore.”

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The certificate comes before Saturday’s game between Inter Miami CF and the New York Red Bulls.

The stadium previously operated under a “limited-event permit” during its inaugural match, a measure that allowed the event to proceed with specific restrictions and additional safety precautions.

City officials said last week they were working to issue the temporary certificate in time for the stadium’s debut, noting the limited-event permit would serve as a backup if approvals were not finalized. They added that the procedure is “a recourse often used in these situations.”

“It’s part of the experience,” said Inter Miami fan Sordo. “It’s cool to see afterwards that we were here for day one. This is how it looks today. That means two to three years from now it might be a different experience all around us.”

Nu Stadium officially opened after years of anticipation as Inter Miami hosted Austin FC, drawing more than 20,000 fans. Despite the milestone, construction remains ongoing around the site.

Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas acknowledged ahead of the opener that work outside the stadium was still in progress.

“Outside of the stadium it’s a construction site as we prepare construction, but I think it’ll be a beautiful walk up,” he said.

He added that the overall fan experience is expected to improve in the coming weeks as construction continues and operations are further refined.

Inter Miami is seeking its first win at Nu Stadium after a 2-2 draw against Austin FC. The match against the New York Red Bulls is set for 7:30 p.m.

La Casa Blanca confirmó el encuentro de alto nivel.

Mientras tanto, el ejército de Estados Unidos dijo que dos destructores transitaron el estrecho de Ormuz, controlado por Irán, antes de realizar trabajos de despeje de minas, lo que sería una primicia desde que comenzó la guerra hace seis semanas. Sin embargo, medios estatales iraníes dijeron que el mando militar conjunto lo negó.

“Estamos despejando el estrecho. Si llegamos a un acuerdo o no no marca ninguna diferencia para mí”, dijo el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump a periodistas mientras continuaban las conversaciones cerca de las 2 de la madrugada en Islamabad. La televisora estatal iraní señaló lo que calificó como diferencias “serias”.

La delegación de Estados Unidos, encabezada por el vicepresidente JD Vance, y la delegación iraní, con el presidente del Parlamento, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, al frente, analizaban con Pakistán cómo impulsar un alto el fuego ya amenazado por las profundas discrepancias y los continuos ataques de Israel contra Líbano, cuyo ministerio de Salud dijo que el número de muertos por los ataques israelíes ha superado los 2,000.

Desde la Revolución Islámica de Irán en 1979, el contacto más directo de Estados Unidos ocurrió en 2013, cuando el presidente Barack Obama llamó al recién elegido presidente Hassan Rouhani para hablar sobre el programa nuclear iraní. Las reuniones más recientes del más alto nivel fueron entre el secretario de Estado John Kerry y su homólogo Mohammad Javad Zarif durante las negociaciones sobre el programa.

Ahora están en marcha conversaciones entre Vance, un defensor reticente de la guerra que tiene poca experiencia diplomática, y Qalibaf, un excomandante de la Guardia Revolucionaria de Irán.

Irán fija “líneas rojas”, incluida compensación por los ataques

La agencia estatal de noticias de Irán dijo que las conversaciones tripartitas comenzaron después de que se cumplieron las condiciones previas iraníes, incluida una reducción de los ataques israelíes en el sur de Líbano.

La delegación de Irán dijo a la televisión estatal iraní que presentó algunas “líneas rojas” en las reuniones con el primer ministro paquistaní Shehbaz Sharif. Entre ellas figuraban una compensación por los daños causados por los ataques estadounidense-israelíes que iniciaron la guerra el 28 de febrero y la liberación de los activos congelados de Irán.

La guerra se ha cobrado la vida de al menos 3,000 personas en Irán, 1,953 en Líbano, 23 en Israel y más de una docena en los Estados árabes del golfo Pérsico. El control asfixiante de Irán sobre el vital estrecho de Ormuz ha aislado en gran medida al golfo Pérsico y sus exportaciones de petróleo y gas de la economía mundial, disparando el precio de la energía.

Los ataques han causado daños duraderos a la infraestructura en media docena de países de Oriente Medio. El control asfixiante de Irán sobre el vital estrecho de Ormuz ha aislado en gran medida al golfo Pérsico y sus exportaciones de petróleo y gas de la economía mundial, disparando el precio de la energía.

Como un reflejo de lo mucho que está en juego, funcionarios de la región dijeron que autoridades chinas, egipcias, saudíes y qataríes estaban en Islamabad para facilitar indirectamente las conversaciones. Los funcionarios declararon bajo condición de anonimato para hablar sobre el delicado asunto.

En Teherán, residentes contaron a The Associated Press que eran escépticos, aunque tenían algo de esperanza en las conversaciones tras semanas de ataques aéreos que han dejado destrucción en su país, de unos 93 millones de habitantes.

“La paz por sí sola no es suficiente para nuestro país, porque hemos sido golpeados muy duro, ha habido enormes costos”, señaló Amir Razzai Far, de 62 años.

Y en sus palabras más contundentes hasta ahora, el papa León XIV denunció la “ilusión de omnipotencia” que alimenta la guerra.

“La paz por sí sola no es suficiente para nuestro país, porque hemos sido golpeados muy duro, ha habido enormes costos”, señaló Amir Razzai Far, de 62 años.

Y en sus palabras más contundentes hasta ahora, el papa León XIV denunció la “ilusión de omnipotencia” que alimenta la guerra.

Estados Unidos envía fuerzas para despejar minas en el estrecho de Ormuz

Antes de las conversaciones, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, acusó a Irán de usar el estrecho de Ormuz para extorsionar, y dijo a los reporteros el viernes que se abrirá “con o sin ellos”.

El cierre por parte de Irán del estrecho de Ormuz ha demostrado ser su mayor ventaja estratégica en la guerra. Antes del conflicto, alrededor de una quinta parte del petróleo comercializado en el mundo solía pasar por el estrecho en más de 100 barcos al día. Desde el inicio del alto el fuego, solo se ha registrado el paso de 12.

El sábado, Trump dijo en redes sociales que Estados Unidos había comenzado a “despejar” el estrecho.

“Hoy comenzamos el proceso de establecer un nuevo paso y compartiremos pronto esta vía segura con la industria marítima”, dijo después el comandante del Comando Central de Estados Unidos, el almirante Brad Cooper, en la declaración estadounidense sobre los destructores. En el documento se agrega que “Fuerzas adicionales de Estados Unidos, incluidos drones submarinos, se unirán al esfuerzo de despeje en los próximos días”.

El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Irán, Abbas Araghchi, apuntó que Teherán llegaba a las negociaciones con una “profunda desconfianza” derivada de ataques previos contra la República Islámica durante rondas de conversaciones anteriores. Araghchi, que forma parte de la delegación iraní que viajó a Pakistán, dijo el sábado que su país está listo para tomar represalias si es atacado de nuevo.

En su propuesta de 10 puntos, Irán pedía un final garantizado de la guerra y buscaba el control sobre el estrecho de Ormuz. Incluía poner fin a los combates contra los “aliados regionales” de Irán, pidiendo explícitamente una pausa de los ataques israelíes contra Hezbollah.

La propuesta de 15 puntos de Estados Unidos incluye restringir el programa nuclear de Irán y reabrir el estrecho.

Israel y Líbano tendrán negociaciones directas

Mientras tanto, Israel seguía atacando Líbano tras decir que no hay un cese el fuego en ese país. Irán y Pakistán discreparon. La agencia estatal libanesa de noticias informó que al menos tres personas murieron.

Se espera que las negociaciones entre Israel y Líbano comiencen el martes en Washington, informó el viernes la oficina del presidente libanés Joseph Aoun, tras el sorpresivo anuncio de que Israel autorizaba las conversaciones pese a la falta de relaciones oficiales entre los países.

Pero mientras miles de personas protestaban en Líbano contra tales negociaciones, el primer ministro Nawaf Salam dijo que había pospuesto un viaje planeado a Washington “a la luz de las circunstancias internas actuales”. Su ausencia no debería afectar las conversaciones, ya que se espera que la primera ronda sea a nivel de embajadores.

Israel quiere que el gobierno libanés asuma la responsabilidad de desarmar a Hezbollah tal como se contemplaba en un alto el fuego de noviembre de 2024. Pero no está claro si el ejército libanés puede confiscarle las armas al grupo político-paramilitar, que durante décadas ha resistido los intentos de limitar su fuerza.

Hezbollah se sumó a la guerra en apoyo de Irán en los primeros días. Israel continuó con bombardeos y una invasión terrestre contra Líbano.

El día en que se anunció el acuerdo de alto el fuego con Irán, Israel bombardeó Beirut y mató a más de 300 personas, en el día más letal en el país desde el inicio de la guerra, de acuerdo con el Ministerio de Salud libanés.

The crew of four arrived at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center and Mission Control, flying in from San Diego, where they splashed down just offshore the evening before.

After a quick reunion with their spouses and children, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen took the hangar stage, surrounded by space center workers and other invited guests. They were introduced by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, among the first to greet them aboard the recovery ship Friday.

“Ladies and gentlemen, your Artemis II crew,” Isaacman said to a standing ovation.

The jubilant crowd included flight directors and the launch director, Orion capsule and exploration system managers, high-ranking military officers, members of Congress, the space agency’s entire blue-suited astronaut corps and even retired ones, and more.

Their homecoming was poignant: They returned to NASA's Houston base on the 56th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13, whose “Houston, we’ve had a problem” refrain turned a near-disaster into triumph.

“This was not easy.” an emotional Wiseman said. “Before you launch, it feels like it’s the greatest dream on Earth. And when you’re out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends. It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth.”

Added Glover: “I have not processed what we just did and I’m afraid to start even trying."

Hansen said the four of them embodied love “and extracting joy out of that” as the four joined together to stand in a row, embracing one another. “When you look up here, you’re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you.”

During Artemis II's nearly 10-day mission, the astronauts voyaged deeper into space than the moon explorers of decades past and captured views of the lunar far side never witnessed before by human eyes. A total solar eclipse added to the cosmic wonder.

On their record-breaking flyby, the astronauts reached a maximum 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers) from Earth before hanging a U-turn behind the moon, eclipsing Apollo's 13 distance record.

The mission also revealed a new side of our planet with an Earthset photo, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray, pockmarked moon. The image echoed the famous Earthrise shot from 1968 taken by the world’s first lunar visitors, Apollo 8.

“Honestly, what struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbedly in the universe,” Koch said. “Planet Earth you are a crew.”

Despite the accomplishments, Artemis II astronauts had to contend with a more mundane problem — a malfunctioning space toilet. NASA promised a design fix before longer moon-landing missions.

Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen were the first humans to fly to the moon since Apollo 17 closed out NASA's first exploration era in 1972. Twenty-four astronauts flew to the moon during Apollo, including 12 moonwalkers.

Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell — who also flew on Apollo 8 — cheered the Artemis II crew on in a wake-up message recorded before he died last summer.

It was crucial for NASA that Artemis II go well. The space agency is already preparing for next year's Artemis III, which will see a new crew practice docking its capsule with a lunar lander in orbit around Earth. That will set the stage for the all-important Artemis IV moon landing in 2028, when two astronauts attempt a touchdown near the lunar south pole.

“The long wait is over. After a brief 53-year intermission, the show goes on,” Isaacman said.

___

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

More importantly, his ace at the par-3 sixth put him in contention for his first green jacket.

Playing with Tommy Fleetwood and trying to chase down good buddy Rory McIlroy, Lowry hit a 7-iron from 190 yards and watched the ball hop three times before disappearing into the cup. He reared back and shook his arms in celebration, almost exactly like he did a decade ago, when Lowry aced the par-3 16th during the final round of the Masters.

“You don't ever expect to make a hole-in-one. I just couldn't believe it,” he said. “Obviously, you know, you're out here, and you're in the hunt at the Masters, and you're making a hole-in-one — it's pretty cool.”

Even cooler: Lowry ended up shooting 68, leaving him 9 under for the tournament and two back of McIlroy and Cameron Young.

“We all know it’s all about tomorrow. You know what I mean?” asked Lowry, whose only major victory came at the 2019 British Open. “Obviously it matters, today, but when we get to tomorrow, that’s when, you know, we’ll see what everyone is made of.”

Perhaps more incredible than his second ace in the Masters was the fact that it was Lowry's second ace in as many events. He had a hole-in-one on the second hole at Memorial Park during the Houston Open, using the same 7-iron he used on Saturday.

As for the Masters, it was the first hole-in-one since Stewart Cink's on the 16th in 2022. And it was just the seventh ace to happen on the difficult, downhill sixth hole; Corey Conners had the last one during the 2021 tournament.

Anyone who makes a hole-in-one during the Masters is rewarded with a crystal bowl. Now, Lowry's the first with two of them.

He has a rapidly growing list of aces at some of golf's iconic venues, too. Along with his two at Augusta National, and his recent one in Houston, the Irishman has aced the 17th at TPC Sawgrass — the famed island green — and the seventh at Pebble Beach.

“Maybe I'm just good. I don't know,” Lowry said, laughing. “I don't know.”

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

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it did not have enough information to decide how much of the project can be suspended without jeopardizing the safety of the president, his family or the White House staff.

The case was returned to the trial judge who, in a March 31 ruling, barred work from proceeding without congressional approval, but suspended enforcement of that order for 14 days. The appeals court extended that for three days, to April 17, to allow the Trump administration to seek Supreme Court review.

The panel instructed U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to clarify whether — and how — his injunction interferes with the administration’s plans for safety and security.

Government lawyers had argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards and that holding up construction “would imperil the President and others who live and work in the White House,.”

Leon, in issuing the temporary pause, concluded that the preservationist group behind the legal challenge was likely to succeed because the president lacks the authority to build the ballroom without approval from Congress.

Leon exempted any construction work necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House, but said he reviewed material the government privately submitted before determining that a halt would not jeopardize national security.

The Republican administration's appeal cited materials that would be installed to make a “heavily fortified” facility and said construction included bomb shelters, military installations and a medical facility underneath the ballroom.

The appeals panel noted that much of the government's concerns focused on that below-ground security work, which the White House argued was "distinct from construction of the ballroom itself and could proceed independently.”

Now, however, the White House seems to suggest those security upgrades are “inseparable” from the project as whole, the appeals court said, making it unclear “whether and to what extent” moving forward with certain aspects of the ballroom is necessary for the safety and security of those upgrades.

Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in a statement that the organization awaited further clarification from the district court. She said the group was committed “to honoring the historic significance of the White House, advocating for our collective role as stewards, and demonstrating how broad consultation, including with the American people, results in a better overall outcome.”

The organization sued in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing for a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. The administration said aboveground construction on the ballroom would begin in April.

Leon concluded last month that the lawsuit was likely to succeed because “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” wrote Leon, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican.

Two days after Leon’s ruling, the ballroom project won final approval from a key agency that Trump had stocked with allies. Another oversight entity constituted with Trump loyalists had approved the project earlier this year. But the president had proceeded with the biggest structural change to the White House in more than 70 years before seeking input from the commissions.

Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for construction of underground bunkers and security upgrades.

The three-judge appeals court panel was made up of Patricia Millett, Neomi Rao and Bradley Garcia. Millett was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Rao was nominated by Trump. Garcia was nominated by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Rao wrote a dissenting opinion, which cited a statute that allows the president to undertake improvements to the White House.

“Importantly, the government has presented credible evidence of ongoing security vulnerabilities at the White House that would be prolonged by halting construction,” Rao wrote, adding that such concerns outweigh the “generalized aesthetic harms” presented in the lawsuit.

—-

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is facing the biggest political test of his career as his challenger Péter Magyar 's center-right Tisza party has charted a meteoric rise and is leading by double digits in most independent polls.

If Tisza wins, it will bring Orbán's 16-year grip on power to a dramatic end.

Yet many observers expect the result to be closer than polls are predicting, and that Orbán's Fidesz party can successfully mobilize its significant base of support in the countryside.

Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer and former member of Fidesz's political elite, has toured Hungary relentlessly for two years, visiting hundreds of cities, towns and villages in an effort to win over some of Orbán's rural support.

He appeared before thousands of supporters on Saturday on University Square in Debrecen, Hungary's second-largest city and traditionally a Fidesz stronghold.

Magyar struck a confident tone, saying the election would “enter Hungarian history books as the day of resurrection, the renewal of the Hungarian nation, and of the real change of regime.”

He also gestured toward supporters of Orbán, saying his camp would begin the “reunification” of Hungary after election day, something he called a “national reconciliation.”

“As the winner of the election, we will have to extend a hand to our fellow countrymen,” he said.

Orbán, who ended his campaign on Budapest's opulent Castle Hill, has campaigned primarily by sounding the alarm on myriad external dangers he says are threatening Hungarians — particularly the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Orbán doubled down on that message, telling thousands of supporters that “we are in an age of danger.”

“Hungary is facing serious challenges,” he said. “We need to say no to major power groups in the world in order to defend ourselves, and this requires knowledge, experience and routine.”

He added: “Now is not the time to take risks, to change, to renew and to adventure. Now we need to protect and secure what we have.”

Orbán’s campaign has been plagued by Hungary’s poor economic performance, revelations of the government’s increasingly close connections to Russia and corruption allegations.

He has sought to boost his appeal with voters by emphasizing his close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly endorsed the Hungarian leader. Vice President JD Vance made a two-day visit to Budapest earlier this week to push for Orbán’s reelection, even appearing at a taxpayer-funded campaign rally alongside the prime minister.

Meanwhile, Magyar has focused his campaign on issues that affect ordinary Hungarians like inflation, costs of living and the deteriorating state of public health care and transportation.

He has also spoken forcefully about what he describes as endemic governmental corruption that enriches a narrow segment of political elites — charges Orbán denies — and promised to reverse the prime minister's drift away from the European Union in favor of ever closer ties with Moscow.

As his supporters waved national flags and chanted “Európa! Európa!” in University Square, Magyar said that “many millions” of voters would show on Sunday that “Hungary’s place was, is, and will be in Europe.”

Magyar earlier visited several smaller communities in eastern Hungary including Balmazújváros, a town of around 17,000 residents.

One local Tisza activist, farmer Annamária Matkovics, said she had joined Magyar's party when it was first launched in 2024. While her region has historically been a Fidesz stronghold, Matkovics, 50, said she believes that Tisza has given people the courage to express their dissent, even if could come with consequences.

“When we’re campaigning on the street, people tell us that they’re worried that they’ll lose their jobs if they don’t vote for Fidesz, and they’re still planning to vote for Tisza,” she said. “They've had enough of the division.”

___

Iván L. Nagy contributed.

Anfernee Watts, quien también tiene una hija de 2 años, compareció el jueves ante la corte de fianza de Broward, donde un juez le negó la fianza.

Watts “admitió haber fabricado una historia para presentar a las autoridades, colocando al bebé fallecido de nuevo en el corral con la intención de hacer parecer que murió mientras dormía”, escribió un agente, según la orden de arresto.

Crystal Garcia tenía 20 años cuando dio a luz a su hijo el 11 de julio en el Memorial Regional Hospital, según la policía.

Un pediatra reportó que el bebé estaba en buen estado de salud el 28 de julio, según la orden. La tragedia ocurrió pocos días después.

“Ella restringió intencionalmente al bebé envolviéndolo firmemente en una manta, asegurando un chupón en su boca y sujetándolo en un asiento de auto antes de colocarlo dentro de una bañera y aislarlo detrás de una puerta cerrada mientras sonaba música a alto volumen”, y “ignoró deliberadamente su angustia y no lo revisó durante varias horas”, escribió un detective, según la orden.

Personal de Hollywood Fire Rescue declaró muerto al bebé a la 1:50 p.m. del 1 de agosto en una vivienda ubicada en 6660 Thomas St., según los registros.

Los oficiales notaron una “almohadilla desechable para cambiar pañales que parecía tener manchas de sangre”, y el bebé “tenía espuma visible en la boca y labios agrietados que parecían tener sangre seca”, según la orden de arresto.

Watts dijo a los agentes que había asistido a una entrevista de trabajo cuando ocurrió la muerte, pero el supuesto entrevistador indicó que eso era falso, según la orden.

La Oficina del Médico Forense de Broward determinó que la causa de la muerte fue asfixia y la clasificó como homicidio. La evidencia también incluye un video de una cámara de vigilancia Ring que muestra a Garcia con una bolsa de basura antes de llamar al 911.

La madre de Watts contactó a la policía para reportar que Garcia, de 21 años, le dijo que el bebé murió atrapado entre el marco de la cama y el colchón, según la orden.

Garcia dejó mensajes de voz a la policía desde el 4 de agosto hasta el miércoles y admitió haber mentido y haber “asfixiado” al bebé, según la orden.

“Crystal admitió que mintió a la policía por miedo a ser arrestada”, escribió un agente, según la orden.

El Grupo de Trabajo de Fugitivos de los U.S. Marshals arrestó a la pareja el miércoles.

Registros carcelarios indican que Garcia permanecía detenida sin derecho a fianza el viernes en el North Broward Bureau, un centro de detención en Pompano Beach.

Garcia y Watts enfrentan cada uno cinco cargos: obstrucción de una investigación criminal, homicidio agravado de un menor, negligencia infantil con gran daño corporal, manipulación de evidencia y alterar o manipular un cadáver, su vestimenta o elementos circundantes sin autorización.

La madre de Watts tiene la custodia de la hija de 2 años desde que tenía aproximadamente 5 meses, luego de que Garcia y la bebé dieran positivo a THC al nacer, según la orden de arresto.

Lea una parte de la orden de arresto

Historia relacionada: pareja comparece en corte de Broward acusada por la muerte de su hijo de tres semanas y encubrimiento

Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota and Washington were granted major disaster declarations, which can unlock federal support and funding for recovery needs such as public infrastructure repairs and aid for survivors.

The announcement, in a FEMA daily briefing document, comes weeks into Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s tenure overseeing the disaster relief agency and is the latest signal that the former Republican senator from Oklahoma could ease some of the turmoil from the leadership of his predecessor, Kristi Noem, who was fired by President Donald Trump in March.

Nonetheless, FEMA’s work could be undermined by the ongoing DHS shutdown, now eight weeks long. While disaster response and recovery can continue through a shutdown because FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund does not lapse, that money is running low as the funding impasse drags on. The DHS appropriations bill would replenish the fund with more than $26 billion.

Mullin said Tuesday that he planned to brief Trump that day on the pending declaration requests, affirming his intention to speed up work on past disasters in the run-up to Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1.

“We’re trying to push this stuff forward as fast as possible,” Mullin said after surveying Hurricane Helene recovery work in North Carolina on his first official visit as DHS secretary, acknowledging that “disasters are happening constantly.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Saturday that Trump responds to such requests “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute — their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.” She said an administration goal is having state and local governments "invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged.”

While Mullin assured fellow senators during his confirmation hearing that he believed in FEMA's mission, the agency's future is uncertain. Trump has expressed a desire to push more responsibility for disasters down to states. The FEMA Review Council he appointed last year has not released a recommendation report expected to include sweeping changes to how the federal government supports disaster resilience, response and recovery.

It was not immediately clear whether other states or tribes had also been told of approvals or denials that were not yet announced publicly. Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a Democrat, said Wednesday said his state had received a disaster declaration for devastating March flooding.

Trump also amended past disaster declarations for Tennessee and Mississippi, adding more counties for individual assistance after a severe winter storm in January.

Some communities have experienced unprecedented long waits for answers on their disaster requests during Trump's second term. An analysis by The Associated Press in September found approvals were taking more than a month on average.

It took less than two weeks on average for a governor’s disaster declaration request to be granted by presidents in the 1990s and early 2000s. That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties.

Arizona has been waiting nearly three months for an answer to its appeal after being denied support for severe storms and flooding that occurred in September.

Some Democrat-led states have complained about being denied disaster declarations despite proving need. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore called Trump's decision “deeply frustrating” after the president twice denied the state's request for support for May 2025 flooding despite a FEMA assessment showing over $33 million in damages.

While FEMA assesses damage and uses a specific formula to analyze the possible impact on states and local jurisdictions, disaster declarations are ultimately at the president’s discretion.

None of the approvals made this week includes hazard mitigation funding, a once-typical add on to disaster declaration support that helped communities build back with more resilience. Trump has not approved a hazard mitigation request for more than a year.

The uneasiness begins to peel away during initial conversations, then dissipates more during the 1-mile walk to the start of the race.

By the time the Tillman Scholars reach the Pat's Run start line, there's an ease, a comfortable feeling that they're among peers, like-minded people who uphold the values of the race's namesake, NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

“I had major imposter syndrome after getting selected to this program,” said Jason Williams, a Tillman Scholar and doctorate candidate at UCLA working on reimagining raw materials for the health and wellness industry. “I looked at a lot of their profiles and it just seemed like every person was like a superhero, but when you actually get there, not only are they amazing on paper, they’re amazing people. I don’t know what they do in their selection process to find these people.”

Pat's Run began in 2004 as a way to honor the legacy of Tillman, who walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL career to serve his country in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The run, which started as a gathering of friends following his death in Afghanistan by friendly fire, has blossomed into 4.2-mile run/walk — Tillman's number was 42 — that draws 30,000 people to the desert every year.

The Tillman Scholars program was created in 2009 to support active-duty service members, veterans and military spouses in their academic pursuits. The race serves as a fundraiser for the scholars, a 1,000-member tribe of uber-achievers who embody the leadership and selflessness Tillman exhibited.

The two connected worlds mesh in person every year at Arizona State University, where 50 Tillman Scholars serve as corral leaders and help urge runners across the final 50 yards of turf to the finish line inside the football stadium where Tillman once played.

“It’s this almost kind of a coming home right to where it all started,” said Katherine Steele, Pat Tillman Foundation CEO and a Tillman Scholar. “We’re here as Tillman Scholars because Pat lived, so to be able to be a part of it and be embedded with 30,000 people, in those corrals is special.”

Tillman had a passion for excellence, leadership, humility, belief that everyone should strive for something bigger than themselves.

The Tillman Scholars reflect those values with their achievements and connections to their communities — 23% have master's degrees, 21% medical degrees, 19% Masters of Business Administration and 15% doctorates.

They are doctors, CEOs, lawyers, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs. Some dedicate their lives to helping veterans, tackling public health issues at home and abroad, and affecting policy change.

All give back in some aspect: serving on national or local boards, volunteer work, providing support for issues like homelessness and hunger. Tillman Scholar Jhay Edwards even served as a volunteer firefighter in Maryland.

“Every time I go there, it's just so energizing,” said Amanda Manke, Tillman Scholar and chief of staff to the CEO of Care Delivery Markets (NY/NJ) at Optum. “That organization gave me something 11 years ago and it wasn’t just the scholarship. It was the community and the people that I’ve met along the way, the lives that have changed.”

Serving as Pat's Run corral leaders provides the Tillman Scholars a tangible proof of the impact Tillman had on people's lives — even those born after he died.

Every year, the run draws from all walks of life; people who have never run a race in their lives, parents pushing their children in strollers, firefighters completing the course in full gear, disabled veterans willing themselves across the finish line.

The interactions at the corrals is a chance for the Tillman Scholars to hear their stories, understand why they're running, how the run fits into the bigger picture of worlds beyond their own.

“You meet service members and veterans, but other than just saying thank you for your support, you get to learn about the stories of some of the members that have served and their family have served,” said Edwards, who works at pharmaceutical company GSK to provide spaces for veteran and disabled small business owners to be a part of the supply chain. “You see how important it is for you to be there and just to represent them and their family, and the work that Pat did. It really connects.”

Tillman connected through the life he lived. He continues to even after death, through the race and the scholars who bear his name.

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

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According to the Hollywood Police Department, officers responded around 2 a.m. to the 2400 block of Sheridan Street following reports of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle.

Police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the victim was hit by an unknown vehicle, which fled the scene in an unknown direction.

They said Hollywood Fire Rescue transported the victim to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

The crash occurred along Sheridan Street near the Interstate 95 southbound off-ramp. By early morning, the scene had cleared, but witnesses described a chaotic and disturbing scene in the immediate aftermath.

Several bystanders called 911 and rushed to help after spotting the man lying in the roadway. Witnesses said they had to swerve to avoid hitting him.

Two men told Local 10 that they pulled the victim out of the street and onto the sidewalk, fearing he would be struck again. Video from the scene shows multiple people surrounding the victim and trying to assist him while waiting for emergency responders to arrive.

A trail of blood and crime scene markers remained in the area where the man was found. Personal items, including black sneakers and a hat, were also seen scattered in the roadway.

“At first, we thought it was a dead body,” one witness said. “He tried to drag him out of the road so nobody else would hit him, and we got him to the sidewalk.”

Another witness said the victim was conscious and speaking.

“I didn’t want anyone else to run him over more than he already had been,” he said. “He told me he was still alive, so that was a good sign, and I hope he survives.”

Police temporarily shut down eastbound lanes of Sheridan Street for several blocks as they investigated.

Authorities said the case is being handled by HPD’s traffic homicide detectives.

No other details were immediately released.

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

El vuelo DL555 aterrizó sin incidentes, y un video obtenido por Local 10 News captó la llegada del avión de vuelta a FLL.

“El avión aún está dando vueltas y descargando combustible. El incidente involucró un problema mecánico en el tren de aterrizaje de la aeronave. No hay más información disponible en este momento”, escribió la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward en un comunicado enviado a Local 10 News.

FlightAware reportó que el avión estuvo en el aire durante 1 hora y 13 minutos antes de aterrizar nuevamente en FLL.

Según datos de seguimiento de vuelos, la aeronave estaba programada para despegar a las 7:05 a.m. con destino a Boston, pero sufrió un retraso hasta las 11:58 a.m. antes de despegar, cuando presentó un problema mecánico.

Las autoridades aeroportuarias no han dicho cuándo será reprogramado el vuelo.

Se espera que los pasajeros permanezcan en la zona segura del aeropuerto, ya que el vuelo figura como retrasado y no cancelado hasta la tarde del sábado.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Hollywood, los agentes respondieron alrededor de las 2 a.m. a la cuadra 2400 de Sheridan Street tras reportes de un peatón atropellado por un vehículo.

La Policía indicó que una investigación preliminar reveló que la víctima fue impactada por un vehículo desconocido, que huyó de la escena en dirección no determinada.

Señalaron que Hollywood Fire Rescue trasladó a la víctima al Memorial Regional Hospital, donde permanece en condición crítica.

El accidente ocurrió en Sheridan Street, cerca de la salida hacia el sur de la Interestatal 95. Para la mañana temprano, la escena había sido despejada, pero testigos describieron una situación caótica y perturbadora tras el impacto.

Varios transeúntes llamaron al 911 y se apresuraron a ayudar al ver al hombre tendido en la vía. Testigos dijeron que tuvieron que esquivarlo para no atropellarlo.

Dos hombres dijeron a Local 10 que sacaron a la víctima de la calle hacia la acera, por temor a que fuera golpeado nuevamente. Un video de la escena muestra a varias personas rodeando al hombre e intentando ayudarlo mientras esperaban la llegada de los equipos de emergencia.

Un rastro de sangre y marcadores de la escena del crimen permanecían en el área donde fue encontrado el hombre. Objetos personales, incluidos unos tenis negros y una gorra, también estaban esparcidos en la vía.

“Al principio pensamos que era un cuerpo sin vida”, dijo un testigo. “Intentó sacarlo de la carretera para que nadie más lo golpeara y lo llevamos a la acera”.

Otro testigo dijo que la víctima estaba consciente y hablando.

“No quería que nadie más lo atropellara más de lo que ya había sido”, dijo. “Me dijo que seguía vivo, así que eso fue una buena señal, y espero que sobreviva”.

La Policía cerró los carriles hacia el este de Sheridan Street por varias cuadras mientras realizaban la investigación.

Las autoridades indicaron que el caso está siendo manejado por detectives de homicidios de tránsito de la Policía de Hollywood.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles.

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

— None.

There are 10 teams that are locked into specific seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences, there are 10 other teams that know their seasons will end on Sunday and 10 more still have some level of uncertainty going into the final day of the six-month grind that precedes the NBA postseason.

By the end of Sunday, four first-round series matchups — those starting next weekend — will be known, as will the first four play-in tournament matchups that will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We're just excited to be in this situation,” said Atlanta coach Quin Snyder, whose Hawks are playoff-bound — but don't know if they'll be the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the East, so they obviously don't know their first-round matchup either.

“Whoever we play is going to be really good," Snyder said. “It's hard to even try to figure that out. It's possible that certain teams want to play us. ... We don't know what's going to happen. It's hard to predict all these games that are going on. Wherever it falls is how it falls.”

No team needs to win on Sunday to extend its season. There are 10 teams eliminated from postseason contention who all know Game 82 is the end of the road. But for the other 20 teams, there will be an 83rd game, either in the play-in this coming week or in the playoffs that start next weekend.

That doesn't mean those 20 teams all have nothing to play for Sunday. There are seeds to grab, and in some cases, a team could essentially manipulate how their side of the bracket sorts itself out. If San Antonio beats Denver, for example, the Spurs would assure themselves of not having to face Oklahoma City or the Nuggets until the Western Conference finals.

A Nuggets loss would mean LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers — provided they beat Utah on Sunday — would finish as the West's No. 3 seed.

“I’m sure everybody wants to play us," Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "Let’s get that out there — everybody wants to play us. There are probably teams that are in a position where they can start looking forward to potential second-round matchups as well.”

The breakdown

— Seeds clinched: Detroit (East 1), Oklahoma City (West 1), Boston (East 2), San Antonio (West 2), New York (East 3), Cleveland (East 4), Houston (West 5), Minnesota (West 6), Phoenix (West 7 for play-in), Golden State (West 10 for play-in).

— Playoff-bound, seed still TBA: Denver (3 or 4 in West), Los Angeles Lakers (3 or 4 in West), Atlanta (5 or 6 in East).

— Playoff or play-in bound: Toronto, Orlando, Philadelphia.

— Play-in bound, seed still TBA: Los Angeles Clippers, Portland, Charlotte, Miami.

— Season ends Sunday: Milwaukee, Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, Sacramento, Utah, Brooklyn, Indiana, Washington.

Stat races

All the major statistical titles have been decided, barring the most mathematically improbable events of all-time happening on Sunday.

— Scoring: Luka Doncic of the Lakers (33.5 per game) will win, unless something happens like Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 194 points on Sunday. Gilgeous-Alexander isn't playing.

— Rebounding: Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets (12.9 per game) will win, unless something happens like New York's Karl-Anthony Towns grabbing at least 95 rebounds on Sunday.

— Assists: Jokic (10.9 per game) will win, unless something happens like Detroit's Cade Cunningham getting at least 77 assists on Sunday.

— Blocked shots: Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs (3.1 per game) will win, unless something happens like Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren blocking at least 85 shots on Sunday.

(So, yes, it's safe to assume those races have been decided.)

Doncic won't play Sunday for the Lakers, meaning he'll fall short of the 65-game rule for award eligibility, and Jokic needs to play Sunday to hit that number. That means it's actually possible the NBA scoring, rebound and assist champions will all be ineligible to appear on the ballots that will decide the All-NBA teams, MVP and other major awards.

For the record, Jokic is officially 50-50 to play. The Nuggets listed him as questionable on the injury report that was released Saturday, while announcing that many of their other top players — like Jamal Murray — are being held out for various reasons.

Lots of players out

There were no fewer than 168 players officially ruled out of Friday's games, and it'll likely be a similar number ruled out of Sunday's games.

Among the highlights (or lowlights, depending on perspective):

— Oklahoma City, with nothing to play for, is sitting its starters for a second straight game.

— New York is sitting Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and more, and probably won't play Mikal Bridges for too long after he extends his every-game-of-his-career playing streak.

— Giannis Antetokounmpo has been ruled out by Milwaukee for its finale, and an eventful offseason awaits for the Bucks.

— Boston, with No. 2 in the East secured, is resting most of its regular rotation. Same goes for Cleveland, which has No. 4 secured.

— Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson are among the players who Houston will rest Sunday. The Rockets are locked into No. 5 in the West. Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle are out for No. 6 Minnesota, and Devin Booker is among those ruled out by West No. 7 Phoenix.

Draft odds update

The teams with the three worst records are set: Washington will be worst, with Indiana and Brooklyn second- and third-worst in some order. That means those three teams will have the best odds — 14% each — of winning the No. 1 pick in next month's draft lottery.

And Washington can't finish lower than fifth in the lottery.

Utah and Sacramento would both see draft-lottery benefits from losses on Sunday — especially the Jazz, who could assure themselves of keeping a pick that would be guaranteed to be in the top eight.

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

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The officers, who are part of the department’s homeless outreach team, was responding to a situation at a shopping center when one of them noticed a man recording.

“Hi … you good?” an officer is heard saying on the video.

Moments later, the tone escalates.

“You want to get arrested,” the officer says.

“Why am I being arrested?” the bystander responds.

“You’re interfering with my investigation,” the officer says.

“No, I’m not,” the bystander replied.

Video shows the man standing more than 25 feet away as officers ordered a woman, who officers described as someone frequently seen at the shopping center, to leave the property.

The situation intensifies when a bystander asks, “What did she do?”

“You don’t know the law,” the officer is heard saying repeatedly.“You’re gonna be trespassed from this property. If you return, you’re gonna be placed under arrest.”

Plantation Mayor Nick Sortal and the city’s police chief said from the outset that recording from that distance is within a person’s rights.

“You can’t come up to people and put your finger in their face and say stop videoing,” Sortal said. “I wish that whole part hadn’t happened.”

Officials noted that the officer had a point after referencing that the bystander was obstructing traffic, but that observation came after the initial confrontation.

Police supervisors have since counseled the officer involved, and city leaders say they are taking accountability.

“If we messed up, we’re going to tell you to your face, we messed up,” Sortal said. “We’re going to try to do better.”

Los agentes, que forman parte del equipo de alcance para personas sin hogar, respondían a una situación en un centro comercial cuando uno de ellos notó a un hombre grabando.

“Hola… ¿todo bien?”, se escucha decir a un agente en el video.

Momentos después, el tono se intensifica.

“¿Quieres que te arresten?”, dice el agente.

“¿Por qué me van a arrestar?”, responde el testigo.

“Estás interfiriendo con mi investigación”, dice el agente.

“No, no lo estoy”, replica el hombre.

El video muestra al hombre a más de 25 pies de distancia mientras los agentes ordenaban a una mujer —a quien describieron como alguien vista con frecuencia en el lugar— que abandonara la propiedad.

La situación se intensifica cuando un testigo pregunta: “¿Qué hizo ella?”.

“No conoces la ley”, se escucha decir repetidamente al agente. “Vas a ser expulsado de esta propiedad. Si regresas, serás arrestado”.

El alcalde de Plantation, Nick Sortal, y el jefe de Policía de la ciudad señalaron desde el inicio que grabar desde esa distancia está dentro de los derechos de una persona.

“No puedes acercarte a alguien y ponerle el dedo en la cara para decirle que deje de grabar”, dijo Sortal. “Ojalá esa parte no hubiera ocurrido”.

Funcionarios indicaron que el agente tenía un punto al mencionar que el testigo estaba obstruyendo el tráfico, aunque esa observación surgió después del enfrentamiento inicial.

Supervisores policiales ya han orientado al agente involucrado, y líderes de la ciudad dicen que están asumiendo responsabilidad.

“Si nos equivocamos, se lo vamos a decir de frente: nos equivocamos”, dijo Sortal. “Vamos a tratar de hacerlo mejor”.

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Plantation police said officers responded around 7:05 a.m. to a report of a carjacking at a home near the 1100 block of North University Drive.

They said Anthony Torres Torrero allegedly battered his girlfriend and took her vehicle shortly after.

Fort Lauderdale police later located the car and attempted a traffic stop, but said Torres Torrero sped away.

The pursuit ended when he crashed into a fence and struck a parked car in the 600 block of Long Island Avenue, according to Casey Liening, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Investigators said Torres Torrero tried to run again after the crash but was quickly found with the help of a police K-9.

Jail records show he is facing charges of carjacking without a weapon, assault, fleeing and eluding, and driving without a valid license. Records show he also had outstanding warrants out of Osceola County for false imprisonment and dating violence.

As of Saturday, he was being held without bond at the Broward County Main Jail.

La Policía de Plantation informó que agentes respondieron alrededor de las 7:05 a.m. a un reporte de robo de auto en una vivienda cerca de la cuadra 1100 de North University Drive.

Indicaron que Anthony Torres Torrero presuntamente agredió a su novia y luego le quitó el vehículo.

Posteriormente, la Policía de Fort Lauderdale localizó el auto e intentó detenerlo, pero señaló que Torres Torrero huyó a alta velocidad.

La persecución terminó cuando chocó contra una cerca e impactó un vehículo estacionado en la cuadra 600 de Long Island Avenue, según Casey Liening, portavoz del Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale.

Investigadores dijeron que Torres Torrero intentó huir nuevamente tras el choque, pero fue localizado rápidamente con ayuda de un perro K-9.

Registros carcelarios muestran que enfrenta cargos por robo de auto sin arma, agresión, huir y evadir a la Policía y conducir sin una licencia válida. También tenía órdenes de arresto pendientes en el condado Osceola por encarcelamiento falso y violencia en una relación.

Hasta el sábado, permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza en la cárcel principal del condado Broward.

Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan and as a fragile ceasefire held.

History’s first U.S.-born pope didn’t mention the United States or President Donald Trump in his prayer, which was planned before the talks were announced. But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and U.S. officials, who have boasted of U.S. military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

“Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo said. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

In the basilica pews was the archbishop of Tehran, Belgian Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu. The U.S. was represented in the diplomatic corps by its deputy chief of mission, Laura Hochla, the U.S. Embassy said.

In the first weeks of the war, the Chicago-born Leo was initially reluctant to publicly condemn the violence and limited his comments to muted appeals for peace and dialogue. But Leo stepped up his criticism starting on Palm Sunday. And this week, he said Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization was “truly unacceptable” and called for dialogue to prevail.

On Saturday, Leo called for all people of good will to pray for peace and demand an end to war from their political leaders. The evening vigil in Rome, which featured Scripture readings and meditative recitation of the Rosary prayers, was taking place as simultaneous local prayer services were being held in the U.S. and beyond.

Praying for peace, Leo said, was a way to “break the demonic cycle of evil” to build instead the Kingdom of God where there are no swords, drones or “unjust profit.”

“It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive,” he said. “Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”

Leaders have used religion to justify their actions in the war. U.S. officials and especially Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have invoked their Christian faith to cast the U.S. as a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes.

Leo has said God doesn’t bless any war, and certainly not those who drop bombs.

Leo presided over the service sitting off to the side of the altar on a white throne, wearing his formal red cape and liturgical stole and praying with a Rosary in his hands. Many of the priests and nuns in the pews fingered Rosary beads as the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” prayers were recited.

The Vatican is particularly concerned about the spillover of Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, given the plight of Christian communities in the south.

___

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.

Los agentes indicaron que ocurrió poco antes de las 4:40 p.m. cerca de la cuadra 16500 de Golf Club Road, en las inmediaciones del Bonaventure Golf Club.

Las autoridades dijeron que el video muestra “a un hombre de tez clara, vestido con una sudadera con capucha color caqui y pantalones distintivos rojos y negros, exponiéndose y tocándose en un estacionamiento cercano”, y luego “acercándose lentamente a la víctima, observando a su alrededor y quitándose los zapatos antes de sujetarla por detrás”.

“Ella forcejeó con el atacante antes de que él se levantara, se pusiera los zapatos y corriera hacia un scooter cercano, que utilizó para huir de la escena”, señala un comunicado de BSO.

Cualquier persona con información sobre el sospechoso debe llamar al detective de BSO Michael Kravecz al 954-626-4006 o a Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

Según BSO, las pistas que conduzcan a un arresto “pueden ser elegibles para una recompensa de hasta $5,000 USD”.

That’s up from the $4.2 million he won last year.

The Masters on Saturday announced its prize purse for this year’s championship at $22.5 million overall — the highest payout of golf’s four majors. The Masters’ prize payout was $21 million last year.

The other three major tournaments have not announced prize funds for this year. In 2025, the PGA Championship's was $19 million, the British Open's was $17 million and the U.S. Open's was $21.5 million.

Last month Cameron Young won $4.5 for capturing the Players Championship, which featured a $25 million overall prize purse.

McIlroy entered the third round of the Masters on Saturday with a six-stroke lead over Patrick Reed and Sam Burns. He is seeking to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back championships at Augusta National and the first since Tiger Woods nearly 25 years ago (2001-02).

The top four finishers at the Masters will each make at least $1 million.

The runner-up is set to take home $2.43 million, while the third-place finisher will receive $1.53 million and fourth place gets $1.08 million.

All professionals who did not make the cut at the Masters will get $25,000.

___

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

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Surveillance video shows Carey, 22, was driving a black 2016 Nissan Maxima northbound on Northwest Ninth Avenue early Wednesday morning with a broken light and damage, according to deputies.

Crime scene technicians found Carey’s Nissan Maxima’s headlight assembly, a driver’s side view mirror, and exterior black trim pieces where the woman died, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies.

“Carey stated he was driving home last night and as he passed under the bridge, something hit his vehicle ... he looked around and did not see anyone or anything, so he continued driving home ... he saw the damage to his vehicle and covered it with a tarp to hide it from his parents,” a deputy wrote, according to an arrest report.

At about 12:20 a.m. on Wednesday, the woman was crossing Ninth Avenue’s northbound lanes at the 4400 block, and after the Nissan struck her, she “came to a final rest in the southbound lanes,” according to deputies.

BSO deputies pronounced the woman dead at 12:24 a.m. and found Carey and his damaged Nissan Maxima hours later in North Lauderdale, according to deputies.

Deputies arrested Carey at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, and corrections booked him at the Broward County Main Jail.

Carey faced charges of failure to stop and remain at the scene of an accident, a first-degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

During a hearing, a bond court judge ordered Carey to avoid driving, surrender his passport, stay in Broward, and remain on house arrest with a GPS.

According to court records, Broward County Circuit Judge Peter Holden was set to preside over the case.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Un video de vigilancia muestra que Carey, de 22 años, conducía un Nissan Maxima negro 2016 hacia el norte por Northwest Ninth Avenue la madrugada del miércoles con una luz rota y daños visibles, según los agentes.

Técnicos de la escena encontraron el ensamblaje del faro del Nissan Maxima de Carey, un espejo lateral del conductor y piezas de moldura exterior negra en el lugar donde murió la mujer, según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward.

“Carey declaró que conducía a su casa la noche anterior y que al pasar por debajo del puente algo golpeó su vehículo, miró alrededor y no vio a nadie ni nada, por lo que continuó conduciendo hasta su casa, vio los daños en su vehículo y los cubrió con una lona para ocultarlos de sus padres”, escribió un agente, según el informe de arresto.

Alrededor de las 12:20 a.m. del miércoles, la mujer cruzaba los carriles hacia el norte de la Novena Avenida en la cuadra 4400, y tras ser impactada por el Nissan, “quedó en reposo final en los carriles hacia el sur”, según los agentes.

Agentes de la BSO declararon a la mujer muerta a las 12:24 a.m. y encontraron a Carey y su Nissan Maxima dañado horas después en North Lauderdale, según las autoridades.

Los agentes arrestaron a Carey a las 7 p.m. del miércoles y fue ingresado en la cárcel principal del condado Broward.

Carey enfrenta cargos por no detenerse y permanecer en la escena de un accidente, un delito grave de primer grado, y manipulación de evidencia, un delito grave de tercer grado.

Durante una audiencia, un juez de fianzas ordenó que Carey no conduzca, entregue su pasaporte, permanezca en Broward y continúe bajo arresto domiciliario con GPS.

Según registros judiciales, el juez de circuito del condado Broward, Peter Holden, presidiría el caso.

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Frejya, who weighs just over 40 pounds, is described as playful and lively, making her a good fit for a family that can keep her entertained with exercise and proper chew toys. Shelter staff say she may be a mix of several breeds, possibly including husky, Shiba Inu and shepherd.

Because of her energetic personality, Frejya would likely benefit from an active household and could do well with another dog following a meet-and-greet. However, staff note she may be inclined to chase smaller animals like cats.

The shelter encourages prospective adopters to complete a pre-adoption application online before visiting. Adoption kennels are open daily at 11 a.m.

According to HSBC’s Cherie Wachter, Frejya’s spirited nature makes her an ideal companion for someone looking for a fun and active pet.

Click here for more information on how you can adopt a pet.

Frejya, que pesa poco más de 40 libras, es descrita como juguetona y vivaz, lo que la hace ideal para una familia que pueda mantenerla activa con ejercicio y juguetes adecuados para morder. El personal del refugio señala que podría ser una mezcla de varias razas, posiblemente incluyendo husky, Shiba Inu y pastor.

Debido a su personalidad enérgica, Frejya probablemente se beneficiaría de un hogar activo y podría llevarse bien con otro perro tras un encuentro previo. Sin embargo, el personal indica que podría tender a perseguir animales más pequeños como gatos.

El refugio recomienda a los interesados completar una solicitud de preadopción en línea antes de visitar. Las perreras de adopción abren todos los días a las 11 a.m.

Según Cherie Wachter, de la organización, la naturaleza enérgica de Frejya la convierte en una compañera ideal para alguien que busca una mascota divertida y activa.

Haga clic aquí para más información sobre cómo adoptar una mascota.

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Fornash, a 28-year veteran of Oakland Park Fire Rescue, was known for his dedication and service to the community.

City officials confirmed that Fornash, 59, died Thursday after a “courageous” battle with cancer.

Details about his memorial service will be announced once arrangements are finalized.

Fornash, con 28 años de servicio en Oakland Park Fire Rescue, era conocido por su dedicación y servicio a la comunidad.

Funcionarios de la ciudad confirmaron que Fornash, de 59 años, falleció el jueves tras una “valiente” batalla contra el cáncer.

Los detalles sobre su servicio conmemorativo serán anunciados una vez se finalicen los arreglos.

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Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the Department of Environmental Resources Management said the event is expected to mobilize about 5,000 volunteers at 33 locations across all 13 County Commission districts.

“From Miami Gardens to Homestead, and from Miami Beach to Hialeah, we all depend on Biscayne Bay,” DERM Director Loren Parra wrote in a news release. “This makes Baynanza the perfect opportunity to show our love for our Bay by protecting its beauty and helping restore it.”

County officials said Baynanza is Miami-Dade’s largest community cleanup and has grown into a monthslong series of more than 60 events aimed at restoring Biscayne Bay, which officials describe as central to the region’s environment and economy.

Last year, event organizers said volunteers collected 35,000 pounds of trash, and this year they expect to collect even more.

“In Miami-Dade County, our environment is our economy, our well-being and our future,” Levine Cava wrote. “Our Bay is not only the Blue Heart of our community. It’s also vital to our economy, generating $64 billion locally each year.”

The cleanup day, which ran from 9 a.m. to noon, capped this year’s Baynanza programming, which has been held annually for more than four decades.

“We of course are protecting all of our marine life but more than that we are protecting our economy that really relies on a safe bay,” said Loren Parra, director of environmental resources management. “We really want to make sure that we have a safe bay to protect fishing industry the cruising industry and anyone who relies on a safe and healthy bay.”

Event organizers said participants received cleanup supplies, water and commemorative T-shirts, and students could earn community service hours.

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Tsvia Kol, 37, of Hallandale Beach, and Jimmy Sanchez, 38, of Spring Valley, California, both pleaded guilty to using a firearm to cause death and conspiring to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine.

Investigators said the two were among those responsible for shooting and killing Julio Gonzalez, 46, of Hialeah Gardens, at the Aladdin Hotel, located at 901 S. Royal Poinciana Blvd. in Miami Springs — about a block away from the airport — on Nov. 29, 2022.

Investigators said the killing was linked to a “missing package containing about 11 pounds of methamphetamine, the street value of which totaled approximately $90,000,” which the duo mistakenly believed that Gonzalez stole. Instead, law enforcement officials had seized the meth.

They said Kol and Sanchez, the latter of whom had flown in from San Diego to MIA the night of the killing, arranged a 12-hour room rental to confront, and later kill, Gonzalez.

Kol had been described in a Miami-Dade arrest warrant as “a known high-ranking Sinaloa cartel member with a history of international organized crime syndicate that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering” and the ex-wife of Wilfredo Nunes Gallardo, another high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel.

The criminal organization was once run by the infamous Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

The case was originally investigated by what was then the Miami-Dade Police Department before turning federal.

“This started as a drug deal gone wrong and ended in an execution,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said in a statement. “The defendants armed themselves, set up the victim, and carried out a killing over a missing drug package that had already been seized by law enforcement.”

Prosecutors said Kol received a nearly 20-year sentence while Sanchez received a sentence totaling more than 27 years.

Reding Quiñones said that the sentences “reflect the seriousness of that violence.”

Tsvia Kol, de 37 años y residente de Hallandale Beach, y Jimmy Sanchez, de 38 años y de Spring Valley, California, se declararon culpables de usar un arma de fuego para causar una muerte y de conspirar para distribuir al menos 500 gramos de metanfetamina.

Investigadores dijeron que ambos estuvieron entre los responsables de disparar y matar a Julio Gonzalez, de 46 años y residente de Hialeah Gardens, en el hotel Aladdin, ubicado en 901 S. Royal Poinciana Blvd., en Miami Springs — a aproximadamente una cuadra del aeropuerto — el 29 de noviembre de 2022.

Según los investigadores, el asesinato estuvo vinculado a un “paquete desaparecido que contenía alrededor de 11 libras de metanfetamina, con un valor en la calle de aproximadamente $90,000 USD”, que el dúo creía erróneamente que Gonzalez había robado. En realidad, las autoridades ya habían confiscado la droga.

Indicaron que Kol y Sanchez —este último viajó desde San Diego al Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami la noche del crimen— coordinaron el alquiler de una habitación por 12 horas para confrontar y posteriormente matar a Gonzalez.

Kol fue descrita en una orden de arresto de Miami-Dade como “una conocida miembro de alto rango del cartel de Sinaloa, con historial en una organización criminal internacional dedicada al narcotráfico y lavado de dinero”, y ex esposa de Wilfredo Nunes Gallardo, otro alto miembro del cartel.

La organización criminal fue liderada en su momento por el infame Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

El caso fue investigado inicialmente por lo que entonces era el Departamento de Policía de Miami-Dade antes de pasar a jurisdicción federal.

“Esto comenzó como un negocio de drogas que salió mal y terminó en una ejecución”, dijo el fiscal federal Jason A. Reding Quiñones en un comunicado. “Los acusados se armaron, tendieron una trampa a la víctima y llevaron a cabo el asesinato por un paquete de droga desaparecido que ya había sido confiscado por las autoridades”.

Los fiscales indicaron que Kol recibió una condena de casi 20 años, mientras que Sanchez fue sentenciado a más de 27 años de prisión.

Reding Quiñones señaló que las sentencias “reflejan la gravedad de esa violencia”.

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The heated infighting has been deepening over the Iran war and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump referred to his conservative opponents as “low IQ,” “NUT JOBS,” and “losers.”

The list of defections includes Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Stewart Rhodes, Joe Rogan, Joe Kent, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones.

The Trumpian coalition also has divides over the nature of U.S.-Israel relations, immigration law enforcement, healthcare subsidies, and affordability.

Overseas, Europe’s right wing seems to be shifting too. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and France’s National Rally leader Marine Le Pen are among the leaders who oppose the war in Iran.

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CALL TO ACTION:

Tell President Trump, your Congressional Rep, & your Senators that you don't support American boots on the ground in Iran.

White House Comment Line:
(202) 456-1111

Congress Switchboard:
(202) 224-3121

This is how We the People make our voices heard. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PO2nIxKRQt

— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 30, 2026

Desecrating Easter was the first step toward nuclear war. Christians need to understand where Trump is taking us.

0:00 Monologue
43:23 Paula White’s Strange Easter Sunday Service
51:17 Who Really Is Paula White?
57:24 How Did Paula Become Trump’s Spiritual Advisor?
1:00:03 The… pic.twitter.com/LurDKGg8WS

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 6, 2026

Everyone can thank Netanyahu, Lindsey Graham, Mark Levin, and Larry Loomer.
And Donald Trump for listening to these war obsessed maniacal murderers.
Also, special mention goes to weak Republicans in Congress.
Biggest opportunity in American history thrown away or bombed away. https://t.co/olhtLzg5b5

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) April 7, 2026

Las disputas internas se han intensificado por la guerra con Irán y el escándalo de Jeffrey Epstein.

En una publicación en Truth Social el jueves, Trump calificó a sus opositores conservadores como “bajo coeficiente intelectual”, “NUT JOBS” y “perdedores”.

La lista de deserciones incluye a Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, la ex representante Marjorie Taylor Greene, Stewart Rhodes, Joe Rogan, Joe Kent, Candace Owens y Alex Jones.

La coalición afín a Trump también presenta divisiones sobre la naturaleza de la relación entre Estados Unidos e Israel, la aplicación de las leyes migratorias, los subsidios de salud y el costo de vida.

En el extranjero, la derecha europea también parece estar cambiando. La primera ministra de Italia, Giorgia Meloni, y la líder de la Agrupación Nacional de Francia, Marine Le Pen, están entre los líderes que se oponen a la guerra con Irán.

Redes sociales relacionadas

CALL TO ACTION:

Tell President Trump, your Congressional Rep, & your Senators that you don't support American boots on the ground in Iran.

White House Comment Line:
(202) 456-1111

Congress Switchboard:
(202) 224-3121

This is how We the People make our voices heard. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PO2nIxKRQt

— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 30, 2026

Desecrating Easter was the first step toward nuclear war. Christians need to understand where Trump is taking us.

0:00 Monologue
43:23 Paula White’s Strange Easter Sunday Service
51:17 Who Really Is Paula White?
57:24 How Did Paula Become Trump’s Spiritual Advisor?
1:00:03 The… pic.twitter.com/LurDKGg8WS

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 6, 2026

Everyone can thank Netanyahu, Lindsey Graham, Mark Levin, and Larry Loomer.
And Donald Trump for listening to these war obsessed maniacal murderers.
Also, special mention goes to weak Republicans in Congress.
Biggest opportunity in American history thrown away or bombed away. https://t.co/olhtLzg5b5

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) April 7, 2026

Officers responding to a 9:40 a.m. report of stabbings at the 42nd Street-Grand Central station encountered the man. He was behaving erratically, claiming he was “Lucifer,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at an afternoon news conference. Tisch said he was ordered to drop his weapon at least 20 times but refused to comply.

She said ultimately an officer shot him twice when he advanced toward the officers with the knife extended.

“Our officers were confronted with an armed individual who had already injured multiple people and was continuing to pose a threat,” Tisch said. “They gave clear commands. They attempted to de-escalate. And when that threat did not stop, they took decisive action to stop it and to protect New Yorkers on one of the busiest train platforms in the city.”

Tisch identified the suspect as Anthony Griffin, 44, and said he had three prior unsealed arrests. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.

The three stabbing victims — an 84 year-old male, 65-year-old male and 70-year-old female — sustained injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening, Tisch said. One man sustained “significant lacerations to the head and face,” the other man had similar injuries and an open skull fracture and the third victim had a laceration to the shoulder.

Tisch said the suspect slashed one person on a platform at the Grand Central station before going upstairs and slashing the other victims on another platform.

Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said the attacks appear to be random acts.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on social media that she was “grateful to our brave officers who acted quickly to stop the suspect. We’re working closely with the NYPD as the investigation unfolds.”

The police department, posting on the social platform X, advised travelers in the morning to avoid the area due to a police investigation and to expect delays and heavy traffic. Subway trains resumed stopping at the station in the afternoon after bypassing it for hours, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority's website.

Beau Lardner said he was just swiping in at Grand Central when bangs rang out “loud enough to hear through headphones,” he told the AP in a message. The 34-year-old moved from Manhattan to Long Island a few weeks ago, but he’s been taking the same train from Grand Central for years.

“I know that platform like the back of my hand,” he said.

Lardner described a “wall of people” rushing toward him to get through the turnstiles, and he sprinted back up the stairs. He said he had “never seen a crowd move like that.”

___

Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.

La alcaldesa del condado Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, y el Departamento de Manejo de Recursos Ambientales (DERM) informaron que se esperaba movilizar a unos 5,000 voluntarios en 33 ubicaciones a lo largo de los 13 distritos de la Comisión del condado.

“Desde Miami Gardens hasta Homestead, y desde Miami Beach hasta Hialeah, todos dependemos de la Bahía de Biscayne”, escribió el director de DERM, Loren Parra, en un comunicado. “Esto convierte a Baynanza en la oportunidad perfecta para demostrar nuestro amor por la bahía protegiendo su belleza y ayudando a restaurarla”.

Funcionarios del condado dijeron que Baynanza es la mayor limpieza comunitaria de Miami-Dade y que ha crecido hasta convertirse en una serie de más de 60 eventos a lo largo de un mes, enfocados en restaurar la Bahía de Biscayne, que describen como clave para el medio ambiente y la economía de la región.

El año pasado, los organizadores indicaron que los voluntarios recolectaron 35,000 libras de basura, y este año esperan recoger aún más.

“En el condado Miami-Dade, nuestro medio ambiente es nuestra economía, nuestro bienestar y nuestro futuro”, escribió Levine Cava. “Nuestra bahía no solo es el corazón azul de nuestra comunidad, también es vital para nuestra economía, generando 64 billones de dólares anuales a nivel local”.

La jornada de limpieza, que se llevó a cabo de 9 a.m. a mediodía, marcó el cierre de la programación de Baynanza de este año, que se realiza anualmente desde hace más de cuatro décadas.

Los organizadores informaron que los participantes recibieron suministros de limpieza, agua y camisetas conmemorativas, y que los estudiantes podían obtener horas de servicio comunitario.

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Rainy weather often quiets outdoor activity, replacing traffic noise and lawn equipment with steady rainfall.

For some, it creates a calm, cozy atmosphere ideal for reading or resting. For others, overcast skies and disrupted plans can bring frustration and a dip in productivity.

The discussion centers on a simple question: are you a “pluviophile,” someone who enjoys rainy weather, or do you prefer the sunshine?

Let us know in the poll or comment section below.

El clima lluvioso suele reducir la actividad al aire libre, reemplazando el ruido del tráfico y de equipos de jardinería por una lluvia constante.

Para algunos, crea un ambiente tranquilo y acogedor, ideal para leer o descansar. Para otros, los cielos nublados y los planes interrumpidos generan frustración y una baja en la productividad.

La discusión se centra en una pregunta sencilla: ¿eres un “pluviófilo”, alguien que disfruta la lluvia, o prefieres el sol?

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

The unveiling of Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki’s statue had an unforced error on Friday — a broken bat.

As broadcaster Rick Rizzs declared “we’re going to count down from 51!” — a nod to Suzuki’s jersey number, which was retired by the Seattle Mariners — the curtain covering the bronze statue was pulled down, and so, too, went the bat.

A snapping noise could be heard as the bronze bat flopped down and confetti sprouted up.

“Here it is! The statue of one of the greatest players in the history of the game!” Rizzs declared as the curtain was pulled and a celebratory tune played outside of T-Mobile Park.

The statue depicts Suzuki in his batting stance. He appeared to find the mishap to be hilarious, and joked through an interpreter that New York Yankees Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera got the best of him again.

“I didn’t think Mariano would come out here,” Suzuki said with a smile, “and break the bat.”

It did not take long for the Mariners to fix the statue; Suzuki’s bat was soon turned upright and reconnected at the handle. The statue was sculpted by Chicago-based Lou Cella, who also produced statues of Mariners greats Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez, University of Washington football coach Don James, Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird, and former Seattle SuperSonics player and coach Lenny Wilkens.

Suzuki said he wore a jersey from the 2001 season, when he won both AL MVP and Rookie of the Year, for a photo shoot with Cella.

“I can say I was happy that I was still able to fit into that uniform, and probably could say Junior and Edgar probably couldn’t do that,” Suzuki said. “So, I was happy about that.”

Suzuki was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer and last year became only the third Mariners player to have his jersey retired by the franchise, joining Griffey (No. 24) and Martinez (No. 11).

Griffey and Martinez joined Suzuki for the ceremony and helped him pull the curtain off the statue.

“To have this moment with them, I look back at how it all started,” Suzuki said. “And it’s just been an unbelievable experience.”

Suzuki made history as the first Japanese-born player inducted into the Hall of Fame, earning a near-unanimous 99.7% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

The way the jovial Suzuki saw it, his statue having an imperfection was only fitting.

“In the Hall of Fame, I was short one vote,” Suzuki said. “Today, the bat was broke. It kind of lets me know that I’m still not there, that I still need to keep going. So, this is a good example of that.”

___

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

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The incident occurred around 11 a.m. near Northwest Sixth Street and Northwest Seventh Avenue, when authorities say the victim drove to the police station with a gunshot wound to the arm.

Investigators said preliminary information indicates the victim was not the intended target.

They said the suspect was firing at a house when the victim, who was driving in the area, was struck.

The victim suffered a graze wound to the arm and was transported to a hospital in stable condition, according to police.

No information about a possible suspect or suspects has been released at this time.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call Florida City police at 305-247-8223 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

El incidente ocurrió alrededor de las 11 a.m. cerca de Northwest Sixth Street y Northwest Seventh Avenue, cuando, según las autoridades, la víctima condujo hasta una estación de Policía con una herida de bala en el brazo.

Investigadores dijeron que información preliminar indica que la víctima no era el objetivo previsto.

Indicaron que el sospechoso disparaba contra una casa cuando la víctima, que conducía por el área, fue alcanzada.

La víctima sufrió una herida superficial en el brazo y fue trasladada a un hospital en condición estable, según la Policía.

No se ha divulgado información sobre un posible sospechoso o sospechosos.

Cualquier persona con información sobre el caso debe llamar a la Policía de Florida City al 305-247-8223 o a Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

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Joachin, 40, who was born in Haiti, was behind bars on Friday after killing Nilufa Easmin, who was born in Bangladesh, on April 3 in Florida’s Lee County, according to the Fort Myers Police Department.

Easmin, 51, a mother of two, was working as a clerk at a gas station’s convenience store. Fort Myers detectives arrested Joachin hours later, and Lee County correctional deputies booked him.

“Surveillance footage showed that Joachin smashed the victim’s car windshield, approached her, and repeatedly hit her in the head with a hammer—violently killing her in broad daylight," a spokesperson from Homeland Security wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

Joachin had received a final order of removal in 2022, but former President Joe Biden’s administration allowed him to stay, according to DHS.

“This animal was allowed to stay here because the Biden Administration granted him, and all Haitians, Temporary Protective Status, a massively abused and fraudulent program which my Administration is working to terminate,” President Donald Trump wrote Thursday night on Truth Social.

The Trump administration announced on Friday that Joachin’s TPS was no longer valid, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had issued a detainer on Thursday.

“Deranged Liberal District Court Judges are standing in our way. This one killing should be enough for these Radical Judges to STOP impeding my Administration’s Immigration Policies, and allow us to END THIS SCAM ONCE AND FOR ALL,” Trump wrote Thursday night.

Attorney Fritznie Jarbath, whose parents were born in Haiti, is based in Miami-Dade County. She said the association is unfair.

“It’s not uncommon for this particular administration to identify one particular person from one group and try and push a narrative,” Jarbath said, adding that this reminded her of Trump’s assertion that Haitian migrants were eating dogs.

“While that was particularly debunked,” Jarbath said. “People kept looking at Haitians, thinking, ‘Is this true? Could this be true?’”

Joachin, de 40 años y nacido en Haití, permanecía detenido el viernes tras matar a Nilufa Easmin el 3 de abril en el condado Lee, Florida, según el Departamento de Policía de Fort Myers.

Easmin, de 51 años y madre de dos hijos, trabajaba como empleada en la tienda de conveniencia de una gasolinera. Detectives de Fort Myers arrestaron a Joachin horas después, y agentes correccionales del condado Lee lo ingresaron en la cárcel.

“Las cámaras de vigilancia mostraron que Joachin rompió el parabrisas del vehículo de la víctima, se le acercó y la golpeó repetidamente en la cabeza con un martillo, causándole la muerte a plena luz del día”, escribió un portavoz del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) en un comunicado el martes.

Joachin había recibido una orden final de deportación en 2022, pero la administración del ex presidente Joe Biden le permitió permanecer en el país, según el DHS.

“Este individuo fue autorizado a quedarse aquí porque la administración Biden le otorgó, a él y a todos los haitianos, el Estatus de Protección Temporal, un programa ampliamente cuestionado que mi administración busca terminar”, escribió el presidente Donald Trump el jueves por la noche en Truth Social.

La administración Trump anunció el viernes que el TPS de Joachin ya no era válido y que el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) emitió una orden de detención el jueves.

“Jueces liberales de tribunales de distrito están obstaculizando nuestro trabajo. Este caso debería ser suficiente para que dejen de interferir con nuestras políticas migratorias y nos permitan terminar con este programa de una vez por todas”, escribió Trump el jueves por la noche.

La abogada Fritznie Jarbath, con sede en el condado Miami-Dade y de padres nacidos en Haití, dijo que esa asociación es injusta.

“No es raro que esta administración identifique a una persona de un grupo y trate de impulsar una narrativa”, dijo Jarbath, agregando que esto le recordó a afirmaciones previas de Trump sobre migrantes haitianos.

“Aunque eso fue desmentido, muchas personas seguían mirando a los haitianos preguntándose si era cierto”, dijo.

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Miami Beach police arrested Corey Hutterli, 37, of Parkland, on a second-degree murder charge on Wednesday.

He’s accused of killing Zelin, 35, by throwing him off the balcony of his own 25th-floor unit at the Akoya Condominium, located at 6365 Collins Ave. on Mid-Beach.

Police said Zelin could be heard in a struggle with Hutterli in a 911 call moments before his death. The connection between the two remains a mystery.

“It’s one of those things where the more answers you get, the more questions you have,” Zelin’s friend Amit Jolly said.

Jolly, speaking to Local 10 News in Hollywood on Friday, said he wants Zelin to “be memorialized for so much more than just the final moments of his life.”

“He was yet a big presence in the Jewish community, a big presence in the biotech community,” Jolly said. “What he has done in terms of his line of work has saved many lives.”

Jolly said the killing left Zelin’s family heartbroken.

“On the night of the funeral the rabbi asked the father to write some words about his son and he said, ‘I don’t have the words for my son, because I don’t believe my son is dead,’” Jolly said.

Jolly shared photos of Zelin with Local 10 News.

“These final moments were very painful,” Jolly said. “I think it’s very important to have Justin be remembered for something so much more than just those final moments, just as (with) anyone when they pass away.”

Hutterli, meanwhile, remained held without bond at Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Friday.

His attorney argued during a court appearance Thursday morning that the case against Hutterli is purely circumstantial.

La Policía de Miami Beach arrestó a Corey Hutterli, de 37 años y residente de Parkland, el miércoles, acusado de asesinato en segundo grado.

Se le acusa de matar a Zelin, de 35 años, al arrojarlo desde el balcón de su propio apartamento en el piso 25 del condominio Akoya, ubicado en 6365 Collins Ave., en Mid-Beach.

La Policía indicó que Zelin podía ser escuchado forcejeando con Hutterli en una llamada al 911 momentos antes de su muerte. La conexión entre ambos sigue siendo un misterio.

“Es una de esas cosas en las que mientras más respuestas obtienes, más preguntas tienes”, dijo Amit Jolly, amigo de Zelin.

Jolly, quien habló con Local 10 News en Hollywood el viernes, dijo que quiere que Zelin “sea recordado por mucho más que solo los momentos finales de su vida”.

“Era una gran presencia en la comunidad judía, una gran presencia en la comunidad biotecnológica”, dijo Jolly. “Lo que ha hecho en su línea de trabajo ha salvado muchas vidas”.

Jolly dijo que el asesinato dejó a la familia de Zelin devastada.

“La noche del funeral, el rabino le pidió al padre que escribiera algunas palabras sobre su hijo y él dijo: ‘No tengo palabras para mi hijo, porque no creo que mi hijo esté muerto’”, relató Jolly.

Jolly compartió fotos de Zelin con Local 10 News.

“Estos momentos finales fueron muy dolorosos”, dijo Jolly. “Creo que es muy importante que Justin sea recordado por algo mucho más que esos momentos finales, como ocurre con cualquier persona cuando fallece”.

Mientras tanto, Hutterli permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza el viernes en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight del condado Miami-Dade.

Su abogado argumentó durante una audiencia el jueves por la mañana que el caso en su contra es puramente circunstancial.

Detectives de homicidios de Hollywood creen que Garcia, ahora de 21 años, intentó encubrir su muerte con la ayuda del padre del bebé, Anfernee Watts, según la policía.

La madre de Watts contactó a la policía para reportar que Garcia le dijo que el bebé murió mientras estaba atrapado entre la estructura de la cama y el colchón, según la orden de arresto.

“Sabes, cuando ves a alguien, cuando ha fallecido? Como, era así”, dijo Garcia a los oficiales el miércoles al confesar que asfixió accidentalmente al bebé, según un informe policial.

La pareja, que también tiene un hijo de 2 años, compareció ante la corte el jueves en el condado Broward. Un juez les negó la fianza.

Watts, de 25 años, y Garcia “admitieron haber fabricado una historia para presentarla a las autoridades, colocando al bebé fallecido nuevamente en el corralito en un intento de hacer parecer que murió mientras dormía”, escribió un oficial, según la orden de arresto.

Su hijo nació el 11 de julio en el Hospital Memorial Regional, según la policía.

Un pediatra reportó que el niño estaba en buen estado de salud el 28 de julio, según la orden de arresto. La tragedia se desarrolló unos días después.

Watts dijo a los oficiales que había asistido a una entrevista de trabajo, pero el supuesto entrevistador indicó que eso era falso, según la orden de arresto.

“Ella sujetó intencionalmente al bebé envolviéndolo firmemente en una manta, asegurando un chupete en su boca y sujetándolo a un asiento de auto antes de colocarlo dentro de una bañera y aislarlo detrás de una puerta cerrada mientras sonaba música alta”, y “ignoró deliberadamente su angustia y no lo revisó durante varias horas”, escribió un detective, según la orden.

La pareja presuntamente intentó “colocar al bebé fallecido nuevamente en el corralito en un intento de hacer parecer que murió mientras dormía”, escribió un detective, según una orden de arresto.

El personal de Hollywood Fire Rescue lo declaró muerto a la 1:50 p.m. del 1 de agosto, en una casa ubicada en el 6660 de Thomas St., según los registros.

Los oficiales notaron una “almohadilla desechable para cambiar pañales que parecía tener manchas de sangre”, y el bebé “tenía espuma visible en la boca y labios agrietados que parecían tener sangre seca”, según la orden de arresto.

La Oficina del Médico Forense de Broward determinó que la causa de muerte del bebé fue asfixia y que la manera de muerte fue homicidio. La evidencia también incluye un video grabado por una cámara de vigilancia Ring que muestra a Garcia con una bolsa de basura antes de llamar al 911.

Garcia dejó mensajes de voz a la policía desde el 4 de agosto hasta el miércoles y admitió haber mentido y reportó que había “asfixiado” al bebé, según la orden de arresto.

“Crystal admitió que mintió a la policía por miedo a ser arrestada”, escribió un oficial, según la orden de arresto.

El Grupo de Trabajo de Fugitivos de los U.S. Marshals arrestó a la pareja el miércoles.

El Departamento de Correcciones mantenía a Garcia sin derecho a fianza el jueves por la noche en el North Broward Bureau, un centro de detención en Pompano Beach, y a Watts en la cárcel principal del condado Broward en Fort Lauderdale, según los registros de reclusos.

Garcia y Watts enfrentan cada uno cinco cargos: obstrucción de una investigación criminal, homicidio agravado de un menor, negligencia infantil con gran daño corporal, manipulación de evidencia y tocar, remover o alterar intencionalmente un cadáver, su ropa o los objetos circundantes sin autorización.

La madre de Watts ha tenido la custodia de su hija de 2 años desde que tenía aproximadamente 5 meses después de que ella y la bebé dieron positivo a THC al nacer, según la orden de arresto.

Lea parte de la orden de arresto

Informe relacionado de la tarde

Scottie Scheffler, 2022

In his debut as the No. 1 player in the world, Scheffler looked the part with rounds of 69-67 in a roaring wind to build a five-shot lead over defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, Charl Schwartzel, Shane Lowry and Sungjae Im.

Scheffler had to salvage bogey from the trees on the 18th on Saturday for a 71 as Cameron Smith cut his lead to three shots. Scheffler walked up to the final hole with a five-shot lead and four-putted for double bogey, about the only thing that went wrong for him. He won by three shots over McIlroy, who holed a bunker shot on the last hole for his best finish at the time.

Jordan Spieth, 2015

Coming off a runner-up finish in his Masters debut the year before, Spieth opened with rounds of 64-66 to break a 36-hole scoring record that had stood for 39 years. He was at 14-under 130 and led by five shots over Charley Hoffman.

Spieth set the 54-hole scoring record (200) and led by four shots, and went on to win by four over Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose. So dominant was this performance that no one got closer than three shots of Spieth over the final 54 holes.

Raymond Floyd, 1976

Floyd opened with rounds of 65-66 to build a five-shot lead over defending champion Jack Nicklaus in what became the most impressive scoring week at the time. Floyd set records for low start by a champion (65), the 36-hole record (131) and the 54-hole record (201), all of which stood until Spieth's win in 2015.

Floyd shot 70 in the third round to expand his lead to eight shots over Nicklaus, and a closing 70 matched the 72-hole record (271) set by Nicklaus in 1965.

Jack Nicklaus, 1975

Already a four-time Masters champion, Nicklaus opened 68-67 to build a five-shot lead over Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Tom Watson. The Golden Bear was prescient when he said he hoped for a 10-shot lead after the third round: “I've been coming to Augusta for many years. I've seen many strange things happen.”

Indeed, Big Jack shot 73 in the third round and was overtaken by Tom Weiskopf, who shot 66. That set up as thrilling a back nine as the Masters has ever seen, marked by Nicklaus making a 40-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to outlast Weiskopf and Johnny Miller.

Herman Keiser, 1946

Keiser had served three years in the Navy when he returned to the first Masters since the end of World War II. In a field of top stars, Keiser shot 69-68 to build a five-shot lead over Jimmy Thomson, a big hitter from Los Angeles. All the headlines were whether Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead could track down a player who had only one PGA Tour title.

Keiser finished strong Saturday for a 71 to keep his five-shot lead, this time over Hogan. He shot 74 on the last day and held on to beat Hogan when both three-putted the 18th hole.

Harry ‘Lighthorse’ Cooper, 1936

The third Masters had so much rain that the first round didn't start until Friday, and when Sunday was washed out, the final two rounds were played on Monday. Cooper shot 70-69 to lead by five shots over Bobby Cruickshank.

In the third round Monday morning, Cooper shot 71 as Horton Smith, the first Masters champion, shot 68 to cut the lead to three shots. Smith rallied on the back nine with a 50-foot chip he sank for birdie on the 14th and a birdie on the par-5 15th. He shot 72 to win by one over Cooper, who faded with a 76. Cooper ended his career without a major.

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

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, Maria Del Carmen Alvarez-Concepcion, de 57 años, fue arrestada el jueves por la tarde por cargos de solicitar y aceptar sobornos, fraude organizado y hurto mayor en segundo grado.

Un informe de arresto indica que un miembro actual de la junta y propietario en la asociación Greynolds Park Club Condominium, ubicada en el 17890 W. Dixie Highway, contactó a la MDSO por preocupaciones sobre el manejo indebido de los fondos de la asociación por parte de ciertos miembros de la junta directiva y la administradora del edificio, identificada como Alvarez-Concepcion.

Los detectives dijeron que el miembro de la junta les informó que el 23 de enero fue contactado por un proveedor contratado, quien reportó que Alvarez-Concepcion había estado solicitando y aceptando sobornos “en forma de efectivo y transferencias por Zelle”.

El informe señala que el miembro de la junta “también reportó preocupaciones de larga data sobre el control exclusivo de la acusada sobre contratos multimillonarios, falta de transparencia financiera, cargos cuestionables, registros faltantes y la exclusión de ciertos miembros de la junta de decisiones importantes de la asociación”.

Según el informe, el proveedor que habló con el miembro de la junta se reunió con detectives el 13 de febrero y corroboró la información inicial.

Los detectives indicaron que el proveedor afirmó que entre el 7 de marzo de 2025 y el 5 de diciembre de 2025, Alvarez-Concepcion solicitó y aceptó repetidamente sobornos, señalando que le pagó alrededor de $19,910 USD en efectivo y transferencias por Zelle durante ese período.

Las autoridades dijeron que los pagos no estaban autorizados por la asociación y fueron “intencionalmente ocultados a la junta directiva”.

Según el informe, entre el 18 de febrero y el 19 de marzo de este año, Alvarez-Concepcion aceptó $1,000 USD adicionales en sobornos.

En total, se cree que aceptó $20,910 USD en “pagos de sobornos no revelados”, indicaron las autoridades.

Según el informe de arresto, Alvarez-Concepcion fue localizada el jueves por la tarde en el estacionamiento de la comunidad del condominio y fue detenida.

Los detectives dijeron que ella les proporcionó una declaración “en beneficio propio”, en la que “admitió haber aceptado sobornos mientras actuaba en su cargo como administradora en el lugar”.

“Este arresto refleja nuestro compromiso de proteger a los residentes y responsabilizar a quienes abusan de posiciones de confianza, y continuaremos combatiendo agresivamente el fraude en asociaciones en nuestra comunidad”, dijo la sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz en un comunicado.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Alvarez-Concepcion permanecía detenida en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Los registros en línea indicaban que su fianza estaba “por establecer”.

El certificado llega antes del juego del sábado entre Inter Miami CF y New York Red Bulls.

El estadio operó previamente bajo un “permiso de evento limitado” durante su partido inaugural, una medida que permitió que el evento se llevara a cabo con restricciones específicas y precauciones adicionales de seguridad.

Funcionarios de la ciudad dijeron la semana pasada que trabajaban para emitir el certificado temporal a tiempo para el debut del estadio, señalando que el permiso de evento limitado serviría como respaldo si no se finalizaban las aprobaciones. Agregaron que el procedimiento es “un recurso que a menudo se utiliza en estas situaciones”.

Nu Stadium abrió oficialmente tras años de anticipación cuando Inter Miami recibió a Austin FC, atrayendo a más de 20,000 aficionados. A pesar del hito, la construcción continúa en los alrededores del sitio.

El copropietario de Inter Miami, Jorge Mas, reconoció antes de la inauguración que las obras fuera del estadio aún estaban en progreso.

“Fuera del estadio es una zona en construcción mientras avanzamos con las obras, pero creo que será un acceso muy atractivo”, dijo.

Agregó que se espera que la experiencia general de los aficionados mejore en las próximas semanas a medida que continúe la construcción y se optimicen las operaciones.

Inter Miami busca su primera victoria en el Nu Stadium tras un empate 2-2 contra Austin FC. El partido contra New York Red Bulls está programado para las 7:30 p.m.

The league leader blew the chance to move 12 points clear of second-placed Manchester City after losing for the third time in four games in all competitions.

“It's a big punch to the face,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “Now it’s about how we react to that, because it’s game on, it’s going to require now a big spirit, a lot of fight.”

Liverpool got a glimpse of the future as 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha scored a brilliant solo goal in a 2-0 win against Fulham.

The forward curled in the opening goal at Anfield. Mohamed Salah added the second in his first game in front his home fans since announcing he was leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.

Arsenal feeling the pressure

Alex Scott struck a 74th-minute winner to pile pressure on Arsenal ahead of next week's top-of-the-table clash at Manchester City.

Arsenal has played two more games than City, which travels to Chelsea on Sunday and could close the gap to six points.

“There are no gray areas now,” Arteta said.

Arsenal has not won the title since 2004 and is slumping at the worst time. Defeats to City in the English League Cup final and to second-division Southampton in the FA Cup ended its pursuit of a quadruple of trophies.

It beat Sporting Lisbon 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday but the latest loss will only heighten tension in the race for the English title after three straight years of finishing runner-up.

“The fact that as a club we haven’t done it for so long, there's a reason for that, it talks about the difficulty,” Arteta said.

Arsenal faces a huge week against Sporting in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday and then at City on Sunday.

Bournemouth went ahead inside 17 minutes through Junior Kroupi’s close-range goal. Viktor Gyokeres leveled from the penalty spot in the 35th but Arsenal struggled to create openings and Scott sealed the victory that potentially blew the title race open.

Bournemouth has won in back-to-back seasons at Arsenal and set a new club record of 12 straight games unbeaten in the Premier League.

While Arsenal remains in the driver's seat at the top of the standings, the form guide does not make good reading from Arteta’s perspective.

League stats provider Opta said before kickoff that the Arsenal manager’s Premier League win percentage in April was 44%, compared to 79% for City's Pep Guardiola.

“So today we have to suffer, it’s painful, it’s a terrible feeling, but tomorrow is a different day, and if somebody had said to me in August we are in this position right now in April, I’m sure we would all take it,” Arteta said.

Old and new combine for Liverpool

As one great prepares to say goodbye to Liverpool, a new star is emerging.

Salah will bring the curtain down on an outstanding Anfield career at the end of the season — and even in a campaign in which his form has dipped he is still capable of getting fans out of their seats.

He did that with his goal late in the first half to double Liverpool's lead, firing low past Bernd Leno.

But thoughts will naturally turn to the future and, in teenager Ngumoha, Liverpool has a talent to get excited about.

He announced himself early in the season with his dramatic late winner against Newcastle and he produced another special moment with his first Anfield goal.

“Liverpool for me are the biggest club in the world. To start so young, and the manager having belief in me, and all the players ... I’ve just got to keep working hard and keep pushing on and just go again,” Ngumoha said.

Liverpool tightened its grip on fifth place and Champions League qualification, moving four points clear of Chelsea in sixth.

Brentford frustrated by Everton

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall struck in stoppage time as Everton twice fought back from a goal down to draw at Brentford 2-2.

Igor Thiago twice gave Brentford the lead at Gtech Community Stadium from a third-minute penalty and a goal in the 76th.

Beto leveled for Everton in the first half and Dewsbury-Hall produced his dramatic equalizer in the first minute of added time.

Brentford missed the chance to move up to sixth.

Brazil striker Thiago has 24 goals in all competitions this season and 21 in the league. Only Erling Haaland with 22 has more.

Mats Wieffer scored in both halves as Brighton beat Burnley 2-0.

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

___

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

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Authorities said deputies responded around 9:15 p.m. to reports of a shooting at CW Thomas Park, located near the 800 block of Northwest Second Street.

When they arrived, deputies said they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound.

They said Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue transported the victim to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Detectives with BSO’s Homicide and Crime Scene units remained at the scene late into the night as they continued to investigate.

No additional details about the shooting or the victim involved were immediately released.

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

Las autoridades indicaron que los agentes respondieron alrededor de las 9:15 p.m. a reportes de una balacera en el parque CW Thomas, ubicado cerca de la cuadra 800 de Northwest Second Street.

Al llegar, los agentes dijeron que encontraron a un hombre con una herida de bala.

Señalaron que Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue trasladó a la víctima a un hospital cercano, donde posteriormente fue declarada muerta.

Detectives de las unidades de Homicidios y Escena del Crimen de la BSO permanecieron en el lugar hasta altas horas de la noche mientras continuaban con la investigación.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre la balacera ni sobre la víctima.

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

It was not the homecoming they had anticipated when they fled to Lebanon six years ago.

The bodies, along with that of his six-month pregnant daughter-in-law, arrived in wooden coffins on a bus from Lebanon, their names scribbled on the sides. Men stood beside the bus crying before the burial procession in al-Sour town, as mourners gathered to offer condolences.

The remains of one of his two daughters were still missing, believed to be trapped under rubble, as search operations concluded Saturday, three days after the attacks.

The strike was one of roughly 100 carried out by Israel on Wednesday without warning, targeting what the Israeli military said were Hezbollah-linked sites across Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. More than 350 people were killed that day, a third being women and children, making it the deadliest day in nearly six weeks of war.

Many of the strikes hit commercial streets and densely populated neighborhoods in central Beirut, far from conflict zones, where repeated Israeli evacuation warnings have been issued since March 2, when the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

A father's grief

The father, Hamad al-Jalib, survived because he was away fetching a gas canister while working as the building’s concierge. When he heard that a strike had hit the Ain Mreisseh neighborhood, where he lives, he rushed back, only to see a plume of smoke rising from a building behind a mosque across from Beirut’s famous seaside promenade — usually crowded with people walking and exercising.

“The Israeli attack killed my girls, they are innocent, just sitting at home,” al-Jalib said. “They were having lunch.”

He said it took rescue teams three days to extract the bodies of his family from under the rubble. “And I still have a daughter missing, her name is Fatima Hamad al-Jalib.” She is 10 years old. His other daughter was 12 while his sons were 17, 14 and 13 years old.

Three other Syrian relatives were also killed in the Ain Mreisseh strike and were buried on Saturday in the town of al-Shuhail in Deir el-Zour, after the family split upon returning to Syria.

Al-Jalib said his family had been displaced from their area and moved to Lebanon in 2020, as local tensions grew involving tribal groups and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Syrian refugees among the dead and wounded

The casualties from Wednesday’s strikes and others across the country have pushed the death toll in more than a month of Israel’s war with Hezbollah to over 1,950 killed and more than 6,300 wounded, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The toll includes at least 315 Syrians killed and wounded.

It remains unclear how many of those killed on Wednesday were non-Lebanese, as the Health Ministry did not provide a breakdown by nationality. Officials have reported that at least 39 Syrians were among the dead.

Dalal Harb, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency, said the family killed in Ain Mreisseh was not registered with the UNHCR. There are about 530,000 Syrians refugees registered with UNHCR in Lebanon, with hundreds of thousands more believed to be unregistered.

While hundreds of thousands of Syrians have returned from Lebanon since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, many others remain reluctant to go back because of the lack of jobs and ongoing violence.

Al-Jalib’s brother, Jomaa, who also lived in Lebanon, said he was about 150 meters (500 feet) away at work when the first blast hit. “We ran and we ran, then the second strike happened.” He said he was arriving at the building as it began to collapse. “It was too late to get anyone out. We yelled for them, but no one answered.”

He said ambulances later recovered the bodies, which he identified at a hospital.

Following the burial on Saturday, men stood shoulder to shoulder in prayer over the fresh graves.

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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

It was a dramatic grand finale to a mission that revealed not only swaths of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably our own shimmering Earth against the endless black void of space.

With their flight now complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a moon landing by another crew in just two years and a full-blown moon base within the decade.

The triumphant moon-farers — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight off the coast of San Diego.

In a scene reminiscent of NASA’s Apollo moonshots of yesteryear, military helicopters hoisted the astronauts one by one from an inflatable raft docked to the capsule, hauling them aboard for the short trip to the Navy’s awaiting recovery ship, the USS John P. Murtha.

“These were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out there right now, and I can’t imagine a better crew,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said from the recovery ship.

NASA’s Mission Control erupted in celebration, with hundreds pouring in from the back support rooms. “We did it,” NASA’s Lori Glaze rejoiced at a news conference. “Welcome to our moonshot.”

Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the entire plunge on automatic pilot. The lunar cruiser hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since the 1960s and 1970s Apollo.

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout. All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry.

Watching the drama unfold nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away, the astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control’s viewing room, cheering when the capsule emerged from its six-minute blackout and again at splashdown.

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew’s reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II came screaming back at 36,174 feet (11,026 meters) per second — or 24,664 mph (39,693 kph) — just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.

Until Artemis II, NASA’s fresh-from-the-moon homecomings starred only white male pilots. Intent on reflecting changes in society, NASA chose a diverse, multinational crew for its lunar comeback.

Koch became the first woman to fly to the moon, Glover the first Black astronaut and Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen, bursting Canada with pride. They laughed, cried and hugged all the way there and back, striving to take the entire world along with them.

Artemis II’s record flyby and views of the moon

Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn’t land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13’s distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission’s most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll.

During Monday’s record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon’s far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said.

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8’s first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.

Born a decade after Apollo, Isaacman greeted the astronauts with hugs as they headed from the helicopters to the ship’s medical bay for routine checks. They walked by themselves, refusing the wheelchairs offered them.

“We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more,” Isaacman said. “This is just the beginning.”

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain’s King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.”

Artemis II was a test flight for future moon missions

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.

As for the heat shield, military aircraft crews photographed it from afar during reentry, and divers checked it from underneath as the capsule floated in the Pacific. More detailed examinations are planned.

“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”

Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it’s a doozy.”

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II astronauts’ allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.

“But we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he 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.

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Wilton Manors police say Katherine Luciano left the kittens at Donn Eisele Park around 10 a.m. on Sunday. Surveillance video from a nearby home shows a red sedan pulling up, with a taped cardboard box inside.

Moments later, the five baby kittens spill out onto the ground as the woman walks away.

“While walking back to the car, the defendant is heard asking the male she is with, ”There were five total correct," her arrest report states.

The two then got back into the vehicle and left the park, abandoning the five kittens with no access to food, water, or shelter.

Peter Carey, who was walking his dog at the time, told Local 10 that he witnessed the kittens being abandoned.

“I was really focused on the cats, but it kept my anger from being focused on her,” he said. “Because I really wish that I could just put her in a box and dump her in a field so she could see how it felt. That’s how I feel.”

Carey rescued four of the kittens, while the fifth was found later.

All five have since been adopted.

“Happy to say that they’ve all been adopted,” Carey said. “I dropped off the last kitty last night to a nurse that lives in Aventura.”

After seeing her mugshot, Carey said, “It looks like her. And I hope I never see her again.”

Zachary Rinkins at Broward County Animal Care says they have resources to help shelter or house animals — even strays.

Luciano appeared to smirk when a judge on Friday morning told her that she is not allowed to have an animal while on pre-trial release.

Luciano bonded out of jail Friday night.

She faces five counts of animal abandonment and five counts of conservation of animals: torment, deprive, mutilate or kill. Her total bond was set at $5,000.

It’s not clear if the passenger in the car will face any charges.

Trucks and tractors continued to block access to vital fuel depots and a major port, and vehicles clogging traffic led to closures of part of the main highway around Dublin, the capital, as well as sections of other major roadways.

Irish police Commissioner Justin Kelly said enforcement would be ramped up because protesters were illegally blockading critical infrastructure and endangering public safety because of the impact gas shortages could have on emergency response from paramedics and firefighters.

“These are blockades. They are not a legitimate form of protest,” Kelly said. “We gave the blockaders fair warning that we were moving to enforcement and they choose to ignore it and continue to hold the country to ransom.”

Protests call for caps on fuel prices

Government officials and a negotiator said progress was made on talks Saturday to resolve the dispute.

Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, who is acting on behalf of some protesters, said he empathizes with their plight.

“They’re hard-working business people, and they’re just trying to survive and keep their business afloat, the same as any of the rest of us here at these negotiations,” he said.

The protests began on Tuesday and have grown as word spread on social media, leading truckers, farmers, and taxi and bus operators to stage blockades and call for caps on fuel prices or tax cuts.

Government officials, who had already introduced measures to ease the burden of price rises, have been baffled over the rationale behind the protests because the global price spike is due to the conflict in the Middle East that has restricted oil exports.

Prime Minister Micheál Martin said on Friday that the country was on the brink of turning tankers away at ports during a global shortage and was in jeopardy of losing its oil supply.

“It is unconscionable, it’s illogical, it is difficult to comprehend,” Martin told national broadcaster RTE.

Plumber Paddy Murray said he joined the protest outside the port in Rosslare because he’d paid taxes all his life and was looking for the government to help him with the cost of living.

“We can’t continue to do business with the cost of fuel, cost of wages, everything,” Murray told RTE. “We need somebody to help. It’s the government’s here like, to, represent us. You know, do your job. We’re the working lads that keep everything going. We’re the working lads that pay taxes.”

No gas at the pumps

More than a third of the 1,500 service stations had run out of fuel on Saturday and that number was expected to grow dramatically if the roadblocks remain, Fuels for Ireland chief executive Kevin McPartlan said.

Reopening the Whitegate refinery in County Cork will help restore some service.

At midday, police vans from the public order unit rolled into the refinery to clear the protesters as the military stood by to assist. Officers used pepper spray, and video on RTE showed several officers dragging a protester from a tractor.

Police said arrests were made but did not provide a number for those detained.

A convoy of seven fuel delivery trucks from different companies was escorted to the refinery to load up and was later seen leaving. Another police video showed tanker trucks pulling out of the Foynes Port fuel hub in Limerick after protesters let them through.

Two weeks ago, the government approved a range of measures to cut fuel prices, including a temporary reduction in excise taxes on motor fuels, expansion of a rebate for truckers and bus operators that use diesel fuel, and extension of a program that helps low-income people with their heating costs.

But those reductions were quickly overtaken as international prices continued to rise.

Protests began with slow-moving convoys that restricted access to some of the busiest streets in Dublin and blocked fuel depots that supply half the country. Some protesters slept in their vehicles overnight, demanding that government representatives speak with them.

People took to the streets of Dublin in support of the protest Saturday and tractors slowly rolled through the streets of Cork.

Protesters also shut down the road leading to Rosslare Europort, a major entry point for freight and passenger ferries in Wexford, and stranding cargo there. The port will reach capacity Sunday, Harbormaster Tom Curran told RTE.

Police were alerted by a neighbor to the “sounds of a child'' coming from a van on Monday in the village of Hagenbach, near the borders with Switzerland and Germany, according to a statement on Saturday from prosecutor Nicolas Heitz.

After forcing the van open, officers found the child “lying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement,″ Heitz said. The boy was clearly malnourished and could no longer walk after being in a seated position for so long, according to the statement.

The boy’s father told investigators that he put the child in the truck in November 2024 “to protect him” because his partner wanted to send the then 7-year-old to a psychiatric hospital, the prosecutor said.

Heitz said there was no medical record that the boy had any psychiatric problems before he disappeared and that he had had good grades in school.

The boy told investigators that he had “big difficulties'' with his father's partner and thought his father “had no choice” but to lock him up, according to the prosecutor. He said he hadn’t showered since 2024.

The father was handed preliminary kidnapping and other charges and kept in custody. His partner denied knowledge that the boy was in the van, according to the prosecutor. She was handed preliminary charges, including for failure to help a minor in danger, and released under judicial supervision.

The boy’s 12-year-old sister and the 10-year-old daughter of his father’s partner were placed in the care of social services.

The prosecutor’s office is investigating whether others were aware of the boy's detention.

Friends and family told investigators they thought the boy was in a psychiatric institution. His teachers were told he had transferred to a different school, according to the prosecutor's office.

The authorities have not released the names of the victim or his relatives.

Hagenbach residents contacted by The Associated Press expressed shock on Saturday over the cases and said they were unaware of the boy's whereabouts, but didn't want to discuss details.

The prosecutor declined to comment further to AP pending further investigation.

The British government acknowledged Saturday that legislation to ratify the agreement for the islands in the Indian Ocean has run out of time in Parliament.

It’s the latest fallout from souring relations between Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government and the Trump administration.

Trump initially backed the deal, but changed his mind in January, calling a deal to transfer sovereignty of the islands, home to the joint military base on Diego Garcia, “an act of GREAT STUPIDITY” in a social media post.

The U.K. put the bill’s progress on hold, and the government now concedes it will run out of time to become law before the current session of Parliament ends in the next few weeks. It is not expected to be included in the list of bills announced by King Charles III for the next session of Parliament, which begins May 13.

Despite British frustration with the U.S. change of stance, officials still hope the deal can be revived.

“Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the U.K. and the U.S.,” the British government said in a statement. “Ensuring its long-term operational security is and will continue to be our priority — it is the entire reason for the deal.

“We continue to believe the agreement is the best way to protect the long-term future of the base, but we have always said we would only proceed with the deal if it has U.S. support. We are continuing to engage with the U.S. and Mauritius.”

Simon McDonald, who was head of Britain's Foreign Office until 2020, said the government “had no other choice" except to put the deal on ice.

“When the president of the United States is openly hostile, the government has to rethink. So this agreement, this treaty will go into the deep freeze for the time being," he told the BBC.

The strategic military base in focus

The remote chain of more than 60 islands off the tip of India, south of the Maldives, has been under British control since 1814.

A military base on Diego Garcia, one of the islands, has supported U.S. military operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan and as a base for American bombers in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Starmer initially blocked American planes from using British air bases for attacks on Iran. He later agreed to let the United States use bases in England and on Diego Garcia to strike Iran's missile sites, but not other targets.

Trump has disparaged the United States' NATO allies for their reluctance to join the war. He derided Starmer last month as “not Winston Churchill” and mocked the Royal Navy.

Under the agreement struck between the U.K. and Mauritius after years of negotiation, Britain would lease back the Diego Garcia base for at least 99 years.

Starmer's government says the deal protects the base from international legal challenge. In recent years, the United Nations and its top court have urged Britain to return the islands to Mauritius.

Britain's opposition Conservative Party and Reform U.K. opposed the agreement, saying giving up the islands puts them at risk of interference by China and Russia. They have pushed the Trump administration to rescind its support.

Islanders who were displaced from Diego Garcia in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the base say they weren’t consulted and worry the deal will make it harder for them to go home.

An estimated 10,000 displaced Chagossians and their descendants now live primarily in Britain, Mauritius and the Seychelles. Some have fought unsuccessfully in U.K. courts for many years for the right to go home.

“The ceasefire is not being observed by the Russian side,” said Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade.

He said that while artillery fire had paused in the sector where his brigade was working, at the junction of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian forces continued to use drones to strike Ukrainian positions.

Ukrainian forces were responding with “silence to silence and fire to fire,” Kolesnychenko said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. on Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to abide by the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.

“Easter should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire (at) Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace,” Zelenskyy wrote in an online post on Saturday.

But he added: “We all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.”

Ukraine earlier proposed to Russia a pause in attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday.

Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described Putin’s move as a “humanitarian” gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands — a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.

Deaths in Odesa and Kherson ahead of ceasefire

Hours before the ceasefire was due to begin, Russian drone strikes overnight killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, local authorities reported.

A further two people were wounded in the attack on the Black Sea port city, when drones hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.

The driver of a public trolley bus was killed after the vehicle was struck by a drone in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, less than an hour before the start of the ceasefire, Kherson regional head Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, hours before a proposed Easter ceasefire was due to come into force.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

Prisoners exchanged

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that a prisoner swap Saturday brought home 175 of its soldiers. Zelenskyy confirmed Saturday’s exchange, saying that 175 service members and seven civilians were returned. “Most had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,” he wrote on X.

Hundreds of relatives, clutching photos of missing soldiers, crowded around ambulances and buses carrying returned prisoners of war in northern Ukraine. Many called out names and brigade numbers in hopes of finding loved ones faster.

The crowd, many draped in blue and yellow flags, chanted “We welcome you!” as the weary returnees in blue jackets reached through windows to shake hands and embrace well-wishers. Family also members held up portraits of others still-missing, asking the freed prisoners whether they recognized anyone.

Svitlana Pohosyan was waiting for her son’s return. Asked about the ceasefire, she said: “I want to believe it. God willing, may it be so. We will believe and hope that everything will be fine, that a ceasefire will come on such a holy day, and that there will be peace — peace in Ukraine and peace in the whole world.”

“My celebration will come when my son returns,” she added. “I will hold him in my arms — and that will be the greatest celebration for me. And for every mother, every family.”

Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.

Separately, seven residents of Russia's Kursk region returned from Ukraine on Saturday after they were captured by the Ukrainian army, Russian state media reported. They were greeted at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russia's human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova.

According to Moskalkova, the returnees were the last of those who were taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian army took control of parts of the region in 2024.

Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.

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Zhyhinas reported from northern Ukraine. Morton reported from London.

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

Guelleh, 78, has ruled the small Horn of Africa nation of about 1 million for more than two decades. Last year, the country’s lawmakers scrapped presidential age limits.

Election officials said the vote was peaceful. At the presidential palace, supporters on Saturday celebrated and offered congratulations.

Guelleh faced a single challenger, Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former ruling party member, in a race analysts say offered little genuine competition. Opposition groups frequently boycott elections, citing restrictions on political freedoms.

Guelleh succeeded his uncle, former President Hassan Gouled Aptidon, in 1999, extending a family-led system that has shaped the country’s politics for decades.

Djibouti hosts multiple foreign military bases, including those of the U.S., China, France and Japan, underscoring its strategic importance along a key global shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Revenues from these arrangements, along with port services for neighboring Ethiopia, underpin the economy.

“These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They're absolutely false. They did not happen, they have never happened, and I will fight them with everything that I have,” the congressman said Friday.

Swalwell was among the leading Democrats in the race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom. But in just hours, he saw his most prominent supporters — including U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and powerful labor unions — drop their endorsements and call for his exit from the race.

Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate who has avoided engaging in the contest to replace him, said in a statement: “As we continue to learn more, these allegations from multiple sources are deeply troubling and must be taken seriously.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who hasn’t endorsed in the race, said the “serious allegations” must be investigated and that she spoke to Swalwell and suggested that be done “outside of a gubernatorial campaign.”

The allegations surfaced at a critical stage of the wide-open campaign to lead the nation’s most populous state. Voters will receive mail ballots next month in advance of the June 2 election.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that a woman said Swalwell sexually assaulted her in 2019 and 2024. The newspaper reviewed text messages about the alleged 2024 assault and spoke to people whom she had told about it. She told the newspaper she did not go to police because she was afraid she would not be believed.

The woman worked for Swalwell in 2019, when the first alleged assault occurred, and the 2024 assault allegedly occurred after a charity gala, the newspaper reported. She said in both cases she was too intoxicated to consent to sex.

The paper didn’t name the woman, and The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify her account and identity. Her lawyer declined to comment.

The alleged 2024 incident occurred in New York, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Saturday that it was investigating. The DA's office urged anyone with knowledge to contact its special victims division.

Swift backlash from prominent Democrats

Schiff said in a social media post he's “deeply distressed” by the allegations, calling for Swalwell to end his gubernatorial bid.

Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez, who helped run Swalwell’s campaign, said he’s immediately ending his role.

“The congressman should leave the race now so there can be full accountability without doubt, distraction, or delay,” Gomez said on social media.

The powerful California Service Employees International Union said Saturday it was formally rescinding its endorsement and urged Swalwell to withdraw from the race immediately. The California Teachers Association said it was suspending its support. And the California Federation of Labor Unions said it was “acting urgently” on next steps.

A spokesperson for House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the allegations require a “serious and thorough investigation.”

Growing calls for Swalwell to drop out

Swalwell is among a handful of prominent candidates in the crowded race to succeed Newsom, and he immediately came under pressure from all other Democratic rivals to withdraw from the race. The party has been mired in a messy primary season with some leaders fearing the crowded field could cost them spot in the November general election. The state's top-two primary system sends the two highest vote-getters on to the general election regardless of party.

Swalwell on Tuesday kicked off a planned series of campaign events in Sacramento, where he told reporters he’s never had a sexual relationship with a staff member or intern. He canceled the next scheduled event in Palm Springs on Thursday.

Uncorroborated and nonspecific rumors that Swalwell behaved inappropriately with female staffers have circulated on social media for weeks, but the Chronicle's story is the first reported account of someone making a direct accusation. CNN also published a story that appeared to feature the same woman’s allegations, though she was not named, as well as allegations from several women that Swalwell sent them inappropriate sexual messages.

He's suggested the allegations were part of an attack due to his campaign’s momentum.

Swalwell was elected in 2012 and represents a House district east of San Francisco. He launched a presidential run in April 2019 but shuttered it a few months later after failing to catch on with voters. Swalwell, who is married and has three children, is perhaps best known nationally as a House manager in President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial during his first term in early 2021.

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Blood reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.

The six-shot lead was gone in 11 holes. Instead of only two players within six shots of him, there were nine players within six shots of McIlroy and co-leader Cameron Young by the of the day.

“There’s a lot of guys in with a chance tomorrow. I’m still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can’t forget that,” McIlroy said. “But I do know I’m going to have to be better if I want to have a chance to win.”

It felt like the coronation had started when McIlroy put himself in the Masters record book with the largest 36-hole lead in history, even though the defending champion had cautioned, “I know what can happen around here, good and bad.”

The good belonged to Young, that mixture of power and calm carrying him to a 7-under 65, and to Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 player and two-time Masters champion whose 65 took him from 12 shots behind to suddenly in the mix just four back

The bad?

McIlroy was in the trees, in the water, in all sorts of places he would rather not be, including sharing space atop the leaderboard. He finished with a 73, surprising only because it was the lowest scoring average (70,63) ever for a third round at Augusta National.

“Didn’t quite have it today,” McIlroy said before going off to the range to figure out what went wrong. He is last in the field in driving accuracy among the 54 players who made the cut.

Young set his own Masters record, the first player to have at least a share of the 54-hole lead when starting eight shots behind.

But he was steady and brilliant, chipping in for birdie on the par-3 fourth, converting a huge break when his tee shot on the par-5 13th crashed out of the tree and into the fairway, even salvaging a bogey with a bold wedge from the same spot where he had just come up short and into the water on the par-5 15th. He briefly took the lead with a 20-foot birdie on the 16th.

“You just are constantly aware of the fact that this place can bite you,” Young said. “So to me, it’s just a really, really clear mandate that an easy par is never bad. And if you’re playing that well, you’re going to back your way into some birdies at some point.”

They were at 11-under 205, one ahead of Sam Burns who played bogey-free for a 68. Shane Lowry, who made a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole to become the first player to have a pair of aces in the Masters, had a 69 and was two shots behind.

And suddenly very much in the picture was Scheffler, who had his lowest round ever at the Masters with a 65 despite not making birdie on the par 5s on the back nine for the third straight day.

“We'll see what happens this afternoon. I don't feel like I'm out of the tournament,” Scheffler said.

What happened? Just about everything.

McIlroy was plodding along with pars when he stuffed his shot on the 10th for a birdie. But then his journey through Amen Corner might have left him wanting to say a few choice words.

His shot into the 11th went left and rolled into the water, he missed a 5-foot putt and made his first double bogey of the tournament. He pulled his wedge on the par-3 12th over the green and chipped poorly, missing a 15-foot par attempt. His drive on the par-5 13th sailed into the trees to the right for the third straight day, his wedge went long and he had to scramble for par.

“There's certainly no lead that's safe out there,” Young said. “But at the same time, Rory loves it here. I don't think anyone would have been surprised if he went out and shot 65. But if he does open the door, you have to take advantage.”

McIlroy at least steadied himself after losing the lead. He holed a 20-foot birdie putt across the 14th green to tie Young, and then hit a beauty into the 15th to set up a two-putt birdie. But he was in the trees again on the 17th left of the fairway, punched out with a shot that ran over the green and fell back into a tie.

The top eight on the leaderboard, separated by four shots, include five major champions and four players who have been No. 1 in the world.

Among those with in five shots of the lead are former Masters champion Patrick Reed, despite having to settle for a 72, and Patrick Cantlay, who opened the Masters with a 77 and became the first player in seven years to play bogey-free two straight days with rounds of 67-66.

McIlroy still has a good chance to join Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as back-to-back winners at Augusta National. Young is trying to make it three straight years the winner of The Players Championship went on to win the Masters.

“I'm owed nothing. My past results don't dictate what I do tomorrow,” Young said. “I've got to go earn whatever I get out of tomorrow, and the best way that I know to do that is kind of try to attack the day like I have the last three.”

It was the second time a career Grand Slam champion lost a big lead on Saturday at the Masters. Jack Nicklaus led by five shots in 1975 when he shot 73 and fell one shot behind, only to win in what is regarded as one of the most exciting Sundays in Augusta National lore.

Perhaps another chapter is in store Sunday. There’s no shortage of contenders.

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

The high-stakes talks in Pakistan ended after 21 hours, Vance said, with the vice president in constant communication with U.S. President Donald Trump and others in the administration.

“But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance told reporters.

The war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets entered its seventh week.

The U.S. delegation led by Vance and the Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf had discussed how to advance a ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Here is the latest:

Vance leaves Pakistan after impasse in negotiations with Iran

Vice President JD Vance boarded his government plane at 7:08 a.m. local time in Islamabad, planning to depart Pakistan after he said that Iran declined to back down on developing a nuclear weapon.

That’s according to a reporter traveling with Vance.

The war with Iran started at the end of February and the extensive talks ended after 21 hours. The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7 for negotiations.

Vance spoke for about 3 minutes, took 3 questions

U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke at a podium in front of a pair of American flags, with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to his side. He spoke for one minute before taking three questions from reporters.

His entire remarks lasted just more than three minutes. He offered thanks and walked away without taking additional questions.

Vance says talks with Iran ended without agreement

Vice President JD Vance said negotiations between the U.S. and the Iranians have ended without a peace deal after the Iranians refused to accept American terms to not develop a nuclear weapon.

The high-states talks ended after 21 hours, Vance said, with the vice president in constant communication with President Donald Trump and others in the administration.

“But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance told reporters. “That is the core goal of the president of the United States. And that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.”

US and Iran delegations will continue talks in Pakistan after break

A third round of ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan concluded before dawn Sunday local time, and discussions between the heads of the delegations will resume after a break, two Pakistani officials said.

Some technical personnel from both teams are still meeting, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press.

The U.S. delegation is led by Vice President JD Vance and the Iranian delegation by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

— Munir Ahmed

Trump downplays Iran negotiations, says deal ‘makes no difference’

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, Trump claimed military victory against Iran and downplayed the importance of ongoing ceasefire negotiations involving Vice President JD Vance because “regardless what happens we win.”

“Let’s see what happens – maybe they make a deal maybe they don’t,” the president said. “It doesn’t matter. From the standpoint of America, we win.”

Trump acknowledged “very deep negotiations” with Iran. But he also said the U.S. military was searching for mines in the Strait of Hormuz, which still remained effectively closed to most freighters carrying oil and natural gas out of the Persian Gulf.

Qatar to fully resume maritime navigation activities

The country’s Ministry of Transport announced Saturday the full resumption of maritime navigation activities effective Sunday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., extending the decision to “all categories of marine vessels and transport modes.”

The ministry urged operators in a statement to comply with safety protocols.

It was not immediately clear whether the decision meant that Qatari vessels would be allowed to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which remained effectively closed as of Saturday.

Iran denies claims that US vessels entered the Strait of Hormuz, state media say

A spokesperson for Iran’s joint military command denied an earlier claim by the U.S. that two Navy destroyers transited the waterway, adding that “initiative over the passage of any vessel rests with the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, according to Iran’s state media.

The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded once passed, is expected to be one of the most challenging points of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, currently taking place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Thousands attend anti-war demonstration in Tel Aviv after wartime restrictions eased

The protesters filled Tel Aviv’s Habima Square on Saturday evening, holding up signs calling for an end to Israel’s “eternal war” and chanting “more suffering in Lebanon will not bring us security.”

At a smaller protest held there the previous weekend, amid missile attacks from Iran and Yemen, police dispersed the protesters using force and arrested at least 17, citing security restrictions.

Ifat Kalderon, whose cousin Ofer Kalderon was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza and released last year, told the Associated Press she came to the protest to call for Israel to put an end to its wars “in Iran, in Lebanon and in Gaza.”

She said the war with Iran had achieved no positive results. “The reality is the same as before, perhaps even worse. We need to translate everything into agreements, we can’t keep living constantly in war.”

US says talks with Iran and Pakistan continuing

As of 10:21 p.m. local time in Islamabad, the trilateral in-person talks were ongoing, a senior White House official told reporters traveling with Vice President JD Vance.

More than 2,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war, according to health officials

The death toll in Lebanon from Israeli strikes in the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah has risen to 2,020, the Lebanese health ministry said Saturday.

The death toll from nearly six weeks of war includes 248 women,165 children and 85 health workers, the ministry said. Another 6,436 people have been wounded. Nearly 100 people were killed in the past 24 hours.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group fired missiles into Israel on March 2 in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. A tentative truce is now in place in Iran, but the U.S. and Israel say the agreement does not apply to Lebanon, while Tehran says it does. The question is likely to be one of the thornier points in the U.S.-Iran ceasefire negotiations now underway in Pakistan.

2 destroyers transit Strait of Hormuz ahead of mine-clearing operation, US military says

The U.S. military on Saturday prepared for mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz as two Navy destroyers transited the waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows, U.S. Central Command said in a news release.

The destroyers are part of a broader mission to ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines previously laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, CENTCOM stated.

Iran’s state media said earlier on Saturday that it had forced a U.S. military ship that was attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz to turn around.

The strait has been effectively closed to most oil and gas freighters since the U.S. and Israel began to strike Israel on Feb. 28. ceasefire talks are now underway in Pakistan.

Pope Leo XIV blasts ‘delusion of omnipotence’ fueling the US-Israeli war in Iran

In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan and as a fragile ceasefire held.

History’s first U.S.-born pope didn’t mention the United States or President Donald Trump in his prayer, which was planned before the talks were announced. But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and U.S. officials, who have boasted of U.S. military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

“Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo demanded. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

Talks between US and Iran officials resume after a break

U.S. and Iranian officials resumed a second round of talks Saturday night in Islamabad after a break, with both sides backed by technical experts, two Pakistani officials said.

They added that Pakistan’s top political and military leadership is encouraging both sides to resolve their differences to ensure durable peace in the region, and the talks were progressing.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The officials declined to share further details, saying they hoped for a win-win solution.

-By Munir Ahmed

Trump says he has ‘no idea’ how talks will go with Iran

Trump confirmed in a phone interview with NewsNation that talks among the U.S., Iran and Pakistan had begun, though he does not know how successful they could be.

When asked how negotiations would go, Trump said: “I have no idea.”

The U.S. president said he would know shortly if he felt Iran was acting in good faith about resolving the war.

Trump added that the U.S. knew where mines had been placed in the Strait of Hormuz and that the military was bringing equipment to remove them.

Saturday’s negotiations mark rare face-to-face meeting between US and Iranian leaders

Saturday’s face-to-face talks in Pakistan that are being led by Vance and Qalibaf mark a rare instance of high-level engagement between American leadership and the Iranian government.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the highest-level direct contact had been when President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in September 2013 called newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

It’s a high-stakes political task for Vance, who has been a reluctant defender of the U.S. war with Iran, and has little previous diplomatic experience. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are joining Vance at the table, also are relatively new players in international diplomacy.

The White House said it sent “a full suite of U.S. experts on relevant subject areas” to join the negotiators in Islamabad, and said other experts were supporting the team from Washington.

In Jerusalem, thousands of Orthodox Christians gather in Church of Holy Sepulchre after restrictions lifted

Thousands of worshippers took part in the annual “Holy Fire” ceremony on Saturday in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, an Orthodox Christian ritual that dates back more than 1,200 years.

The ceremony, held the day before Orthodox Easter, symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus, where the Greek Orthodox Patriarch brings out candles reportedly lit by a miraculous, non-burning flame from the tomb, which is then passed to thousands of worshippers.

Holy sites across Jerusalem’s Old City, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Western Wall, remained closed for 40 days under Israeli security restrictions following the war on Iran, but reopened on Thursday as a fragile, two-week ceasefire between Iran, Israel, and the U.S. appeared to hold.

“Just two days ago there was absolutely no one in the Old City, it felt like an orphaned town,” said Fr. Antonious Al-Orshalemy. “But now we see wedding-like celebrations on every level. Everyone is happy, and everyone is joyful.”

Thousands protest Lebanese planned negotiations with Israel

Amid the protests, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Saturday he had postponed a planned trip to Washington “in light of the current internal circumstances.”

Ahead of his announcement, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on international affairs warned against sidelining Hezbollah, saying in a social media post: “Mr. Nawaf Salam must know that ignoring the unparalleled role of the Resistance and the heroic Hezbollah will expose Lebanon to irreparable security risks.”

President Joseph Aoun said Friday a first meeting will be held Tuesday at the U.S. State Department to discuss a ceasefire and launch U.S.-mediated Lebanon-Israel negotiations, following a call between the two countries’ ambassadors in Washington with the participation of the U.S. ambassador to Beirut.

Protesters burned portraits of Salam in downtown Beirut near the Grand Serail, calling him a “Zionist” as they carried Hezbollah flags.

It was not immediately clear whether Salam was joining the delegation on Tuesday or what his decision meant for the talks.

Qatari official says Iranian attacks have decreased but ’not stopped’

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that attacks against any Gulf state constitute an attack on all of them, denying that Qatar pays Iran to stop attacks against its territory.

“Qatar does not pay in exchange for stopping attacks on it,” said Majed al-Ansari in a televised interview with Al Jazeera, adding that Qatar intercepts the Iranian attacks.

Al-Ansari added Iran had also attacked civilian and industrial targets, despite Iran’s claim that it was only targeting military sites.

Pakistani official says talks ‘progressing well’

“I cannot say whether they are sitting in the same room or in separate rooms, but talks have started and are progressing well,” the official with knowledge of the peace efforts said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

-By Munir Ahmed

Face-to-face negotiations have begun between the United States and Iran in Pakistan

The White House said that delegations from the United States, Iran and Pakistan are holding face-to-face meetings on Saturday.

The start of the meeting represents a significant test as to whether the ceasefire, which has already shown strains, is durable enough to resolve the Iran war.

President Donald Trump ahead of the meeting has engaged in provocative social media posts, suggesting that the U.S. energy sector will benefit from Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers.

Energy prices have risen sharply since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February, with the stated goals of stopping its development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

Vice President JD Vance is leading the U.S. delegation, along with Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, and Jared Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

US releases names of delegation in talks with Iran and Pakistan

The White House provided a list of the U.S. officials involved in negotiations for ending the Iran war, including Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Also participating are Andrew Baker, the national security adviser to the vice president, and Michael Vance, the special adviser to the vice president for Asian affairs.

Difficult issues for the talks

Foremost is Iran’s nuclear program, especially the status of its enriched uranium after last year’s U.S. and Israeli strikes on nuclear sites. Tehran has not allowed the U.N. nuclear watchdog to inspect since then.

Before the war, Iran’s ballistic missile program was another main issue, especially for Israel, along with Iran’s support for armed proxies in the Middle East including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hamas in Gaza.

Now other issues have emerged, notably Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway for Middle East oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer.

Iran now wants an end to attacks, compensation for earlier ones and a guarantee that no more will occur. It wants U.S. military forces to leave the region.

Tehran also wants longtime sanctions lifted.

Israel says it struck over 200 Hezbollah targets in the last 24 hours

The Israeli military said its air force hit infrastructure of the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon and was continuing to support its ground forces operating in southern Lebanon.

The statement came as Teheran was pressing for a halt to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in three-party talks that began Saturday afternoon between Iran and the US in Pakistan.

Earlier Saturday, the Lebanese state-run news agency reported at least three people killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. There were no reported strikes in the afternoon hours.

In Israeli communities along the border with Lebanon sirens continued to warn of drone and rocket attacks from Lebanon throughout the day Saturday. There were no reports of injuries.

Trump says he opposes higher fertilizer costs for US farmers

The U.S. president posted on social media that he is monitoring fertilizer price and “will not accept” any increase in costs for farmers.

Fertilizer costs have increased globally because of natural gas supplies being stranded due Iran’s control of the Strait of the Hormuz. Iran has used the strait as strategic leverage in its ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel.

But Trump’s post was targeted at a domestic audience.

“I am watching fertilizer prices CLOSELY during our FIGHT FOR FREEDOM in Iran,” he posted. “The United States will not accept PRICE GOUGING from the fertilizer monopoly! American Farmers, we have your back!”

US revokes green cards of more Iranian born relatives of current and former Iran officials

The Trump administration has revoked the green cards of more long-term Iranian residents of the United States who are related to current or former senior Iranian officials.

The State Department said Saturday it had taken action against Seyed Eissa Hashemi, a Los Angeles-area psychology teacher, his wife and son, all of whom were Iranian born lawful permanent residents of the US.

The department said in a statement released as talks to end the war with Iran were getting underway in Pakistan that they had been taken into custody by immigration authorities and are slated for deportation.

Hashemi, it said, is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar who served as a spokeswoman for the attackers who took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and was later promoted to be Iran’s first female vice president.

Just last week, the State Department revoked the green cards of the niece and grand-niece of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad in early 2020.

Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation during the 21 hours of talks in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, said negotiations finished without a deal after the Iranians refused to accept American terms to refrain from developing a nuclear weapon.

There was no immediate comment from the Iranian delegation, but Pakistani mediators called on both countries to maintain the ceasefire.

“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said, adding that his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue between Iran and the U.S. in the coming days.

The discussions in Islamabad began Saturday, a few days after a fragile ceasefire was announced as the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets entered its seventh week.

Vance said he remained in constant communication with U.S. President Donald Trump and others in the administration during the negotiations.

“But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance told reporters. “That is the core goal of the president of the United States. And that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.”

The vice president said he spoke with Trump “a half dozen times, a dozen times, over the past 21 hours” and also spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the United States Central Command.

“We were constantly in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith,” Vance said, speaking at a podium in front of a pair of American flags with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to his side. “And we leave here, and we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”

Two Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press, said a third round of discussions between the delegation heads had finished and the talks would resume after a break.

Then the U.S. vice president addressed the press, announced there was no agreement and went to the airport to leave Pakistan.

Trump had said he would suspend attacks against Iran for two weeks. Vance’s comments did not indicate what will happen after that time period expires or if the ceasefire will remain in place.

US says its destroyers moved through the Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. military said two destroyers transited the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran’s state media, however, said the joint military command denied that.

“We’re sweeping the strait. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” Trump told journalists as talks continued and the time approached 2 a.m. in Islamabad. He called negotiations “very deep.” Iranian state TV noted what it called “serious” differences.

The U.S. delegation led by Vance and the Iranian one led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf discussed with Pakistan how to advance the ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel's continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose health ministry said the death toll has surpassed 2,000.

Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the most direct U.S. contact had been in 2013 when President Barack Obama called newly elected President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. Obama's secretary of state, John Kerry, and counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif later met during negotiations toward the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — a process that lasted well over a year.

Now the far broader talks featured Vance, a reluctant defender of the war who has little diplomatic experience and warned Iran not to “try and play us,” and Qalibaf, a former commander with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard who has issued some of Iran's most fiery statements since fighting began.

Iran sets ‘red lines’ including compensation for strikes

Iran’s state-run news agency said the three-party talks began after Iranian preconditions, including a reduction in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, were met.

Iran's delegation told state television it had presented “red lines” in meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including compensation for damage caused by U.S.-Israeli strikes that launched the war on Feb. 28 and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.

The war has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring.

US sending forces to help mine-clearing on the strait

Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war. Around a fifth of the world’s traded oil had typically passed through on over 100 ships a day. Only 12 have been recorded transiting since the ceasefire.

On Saturday, Trump said on social media that the U.S. had begun “clearing out” the strait.

“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon,” U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper later said. The U.S. statement about the destroyers added: "Additional U.S. forces, including underwater drones, will join the clearance effort in the coming days.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said Tehran was entering negotiations with “deep distrust” after strikes on Iran during previous talks. Araghchi, part of Iran’s delegation in Pakistan, said Saturday that his country was prepared to retaliate if attacked again.

Iran’s 10-point proposal ahead of the talks called for a guaranteed end to the war and sought control over the Strait of Hormuz. It included ending fighting against Iran’s “regional allies," explicitly calling for a halt to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.

The United States’ 15-point proposal includes restricting Iran’s nuclear program and reopening the strait.

Israel and Lebanon will have direct negotiations

Israel pressed ahead with strikes in Lebanon after saying there is no ceasefire there. Iran and Pakistan have disagreed.

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office has said, after Israel's surprise announcement authorizing talks despite the countries lack of official relations.

But as thousands in Lebanon protested the planned negotiations on Saturday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he had postponed a planned trip to Washington “in light of the current internal circumstances.” His absence should not affect talks as the first round is expected to be at the ambassadorial level.

Israel wants Lebanon's government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. But the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.

Hezbollah joined the war in support of Iran in the opening days. Israel followed with airstrikes and a ground invasion.

The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, according to the country's Health Ministry.

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Castillo reported from Beijing, and Finley and Binkley from Washington. Josh Boak in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.

She didn’t hesitate.

“I purposely drove here just for the gas,” Lewis said while filling up her Chevrolet Suburban at the Tulalip Market this week for $4.84 a gallon (3.8 liters) — about 75 cents less than prices near home. “Gas is ridiculous. But I have found, honestly, over the years, this gas station specifically is cheaper than a lot around here. Probably the cheapest.”

Lewis isn't the only driver who has discovered that some of cheapest fuel can be found on Native American reservations.

Especially in California, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma and Washington state — places with dozens of tribally owned stations, including some in busy travel corridors — tribes exempt from state fuel taxes can sell for much less than competing stations nearby.

Gas prices push the drive to find bargains

Apps such as Gas Buddy make finding the cheapest gas easier than ever.

Nationwide, gasoline prices have risen by well over $1 since the Iran war began Feb. 28, reaching an average of $4.15 a gallon, according to AAA.

Prices have been higher, topping $5 during the summer of 2022, but economists believe they will continue heading up and contribute to inflation in the weeks of ahead as geopolitical tension persists.

Deals are to be found, though, at many of the almost 500 tribally owned convenience stores with gas stations across the U.S.

Fifty-five are in California. At the Chukchansi Crossing Fuel Station & Travel Center between Fresno and Yosemite National Park, the $5.09 gas was 60 cents less than nearby stations.

New Mexico resident Jamie Cross usually finds savings on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where gas was as low as $3.79 this week.

“I hope we don’t go any higher,” Cross said Thursday.

In eastern New York state, on Cattauragus Indian Territory between Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania, the cheapest gas was about $3.65 at more than half a dozen stations — 50 cents less than in towns nearby.

Tribal lands find a fuel tax escape

So how do tribes do it? Two words: Tax exemptions.

Generally tribes must pay the federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.3 cents per gallon for diesel, and pass that cost along to drivers. State fuel taxes are a different matter.

For well over a century, U.S. courts have found that states don't have authority to collect taxes from Native Americans on their land, said Dan Lewerenz, a University of North Dakota assistant law professor who specializes in Native American law.

“The Supreme Court consistently held to this view and it’s one of the most enduring principles in federal Indian law,” Lewerenz said.

Federally recognized Native American tribes are in 35 states with state gasoline taxes ranging from 9 cents per gallon in Alaska to 71 cents in California.

From there, things get complicated based on where the fuel is taxed — at fuel terminals, say, or when distributors buy or sell fuel — and depending on various agreements between states and tribes.

Court rulings come into play. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that off-reservation distributors in Kansas may charge state tax on sales to tribes for on-reservation fuel sales. But in 2019, the Supreme Court held that an 1855 treaty between the U.S. and the Yakama Nation that ensured the free travel of tribal members on roads with their goods prohibited state fuel taxes on tribal lands in Washington state.

“This is a little bit different than the principle that Indians aren’t taxed within Indian Country because this particular treaty reserved certain off-reservation rights for the Indians as well,” Lewerenz said.

Gas is just one way stores make money

Convenience store gas sales are not as profitable as bringing people inside from the pumps.

Selling snacks adds profit. But tribal businesses are increasingly offering groceries in what otherwise would be “food deserts” far from grocery stores.

“Sometimes these gas stations and convenience stores are the nearest, best place to purchase affordable food or household supplies,” said Matthew Klas, with the Minneapolis-based consultant Klas Robinson Q.E.D.

Klas does market research and consults for tribal businesses and tracks the 245 tribes nationwide that, as of 2025, operated 496 convenience stores with gas stations.

Oklahoma, California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York have the most. Some tribes, including the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and Oneida Indian Nation in New York, have their own store chains.

Drive-through smoke shops, car washes and truck stop amenities also bring in revenue. Then there are the casinos: 205 tribally owned gas stations are located at or near casinos.

Some tribal casinos are resorts with gas stations. Some tribal gas stations are casinos of a sort called “gasinos,” which only have a small number of gambling machines.

Tribally owned businesses are a major revenue generator for Native American reservations. On the Seattle area’s Tulalip Reservation, rising gas sales were being reinvested in the community, helping to cover the cost of roads, police, health care, education, housing and other needs, Tulalip Tribes Federal Corporation CEO Tanya Burns said in a statement.

“Like any government, we provide critical services to our people,” Burns said.

It's not just about savings

“It’s terrible,” Todd Hall of Paden, Oklahoma, said of diesel prices as he spent about $90 to fill up his tow truck at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation gas station about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City.

But, he added: "They’re cheaper here than anywhere else.”

Hall paid $4.57 per gallon for diesel, and said the price is over $5 at many locations in the area.

Mark Foster said he saves about $5 a week buying fuel at the tribally owned gas station. But he’s a faithful customer because the tribe is a good community partner, he said.

“I like the way the tribe operates,” he said. “And the price is good too.”

At the Tulalip Market north of Seattle, Jared Blankenship was griping not about prices but that he was having to pay for gas at all.

“Yeah, well, my electric car just got totaled,” Blankenship said. “So this sucks. This is new. It’s either Costco or looking wherever’s cheap, like the rez. So here we are.”

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Lindsey Wasson in Seattle; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Savannah Peters in Edgewood, New Mexico, contributed.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star singled in the fifth inning against Kumar Rocker of the Texas Rangers, extending his streak to 44 games. It was his 13th game reaching base in as many tries this season. His streak began on Aug. 24, and lasted the final 31 games of last season.

“He’s taking walks, he’s getting hits, and he really hasn’t got going yet,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Ohtani struck out once and was intentionally walked in the eighth with runners on first and second.

“Players like to hit, they like to swing the bat, but he's smart enough to know that if they're not going to pitch to him, they're going to pitch around him, then it's a better plan to take the walk,” Roberts said.

Ohtani is tied with Len Koenecke (1934) and Zack Wheat (1919-1920) for the fifth-longest on-base streak in Dodger franchise history. He has reached base safely in each of his seven bobblehead nights as a Dodger.

“I thought he was going to hit a home run tonight,” Roberts said, "and I think he wanted a home run tonight on his bobblehead night, but it just wasn’t to be.”

Suzuki reached base in 43 consecutive games in 2009 with the Seattle Mariners. Ohtani has said he admired Suzuki while growing up.

Ohtani had already passed the Hall of Famer in another category. In 2024, Ohtani's 59 stolen bases broke Suzuki's record for steals by a Japanese-born player in a season. Suzuki had 56 in 2001.

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

“I just keep seeing a lot of different aspects of life getting more expensive, and it’s harder,” said Eble, an account manager for a public relations agency.

Car ownership has long been integral to the American dream. But as automakers slash the production of inexpensive models to cater to customers who can afford oversized pickups and sport utility vehicles, buyers find themselves facing sticker shock at the same time they are already frustrated by the lingering effects of high inflation.

Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March, the biggest yearly increase since May 2024, while new car prices were up 12.6% from a year ago, the Labor Department reported Friday.

New vehicles now sell for an average of nearly $50,000, up 30% in six years, and average monthly payments — based on 10% down and a 6-year note — recently hit $775. Looking for something on the cheap end? The share of vehicles listing for less than $30,000 is about 13% — down from 40% five years ago, per the car review site CarGurus.

To cope, buyers are spreading their payments out longer. Consumers choosing 7-year loans make up more than 12% of all sales, up from nearly 8% a year ago, according to auto buying resource J.D. Power. Such contracts wind up costing more in the long run because of interest payments.

“The ability to buy transportation is still out there. The question is just, what do you get for your money?” Charlie Chesbrough, a senior economist at Cox Automotive, said.

The rising cost of cars is contributing to increased concerns about affordability throughout American life. Consumers, especially young people, say they feel like everyday needs like housing, food, utilities and child care are getting costlier and wages aren't keeping up.

It is a vulnerable position for Republicans ahead of this year’s midterm elections, especially as the Iran war has pumped up gas prices that makes getting behind the wheel even more expensive.

Size, technology and ‘must-have’ features add to costs

Sticker prices have been rising since automakers discovered Americans are willing to pay more for bigger, more expensive SUVs and pickup trucks that bring the companies more profit from each sale. They have largely phased out smaller, cheaper sedans.

That is especially true for domestic carmakers; the average selling prices for many vehicles from Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Jeep-maker Stellantis have generally trended higher than those for Asian companies Honda, Hyundai, Mazda and Subaru.

Car companies are also savvy about placing desired options in more expensive trim levels that can lure consumers into a vehicle that costs more than they planned, said David Undercoffler, the head of consumer insights at CarGurus.

Advanced safety technology — lane-keep assist, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, collision warnings and more — all add to the cost of a vehicle. Automakers are required by federal industry rules to add some features, such as rear-view cameras.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed up auto prices because production fell, affecting both the new and used markets. Though production recovered, other supply chain disruptions and tariffs have affected prices. Meanwhile, government data shows that car insurance prices have soared 55% compared with six years ago, or just before the pandemic, driving up the number of Americans going without. Car repairs, on average, are 48% more expensive.

The share of new car buyers earning below $100,000 fell to 37% last year, down from 50% in 2020, according to Cox Automotive.

Some carmakers have acknowledged affordability concerns. In February, Ford said it would have several vehicles prices under $40,000 by the end of the decade. GM has pointed to vehicles from Buick and Chevrolet, including the Trax, as cheaper options.

Looking to used market for relief

Chesbrough thinks consumers are sometimes unrealistic in their wants.

“There are vehicles out there for less than $30,000. What everybody wants is the mid-sized SUV with leather seats and the sunroof for $25,000, and that’s not available,” Chesbrough said.

Those buyers, he said, are being pushed into the used market.

But as those buyers shift to used, they are finding fewer affordable options there, too. The share of used vehicles priced less than $30,000 fell from 78% in 2021 to 69% in February, according to CarGurus. The average used vehicle sold for about $25,000 in February, and the average used monthly payments hit $560.

The inventory of used cars is being hit by a couple of trends. One is that consumers keen to avoid a big expense are hanging on to their cars longer — nearly 13 years on average now, 18 months longer than a decade ago, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. And a downturn in the popularity of leasing means fewer two- and three-year-old cars hitting the market after leases expire.

J.D. Power estimates that consumers might spend up to $140 less on a lease payment than the average finance commitment, a good option especially for drivers whose annual mileage is predictable. But experts say there is still an affordability challenge.

What buyers can do

Sam Dykhuis, 27, of Chicago, needed to buy her first car recently when she started a new job as a scheduler for United Airlines. She searched for something used under $20,000, and eventually paid a little more than that for a 2021 Mazda CX-5. To hold down the cost, she tapped savings to buy the car outright. She pays insurance six months at a time to save a few bucks, too.

Still, “My paycheck went down and my expenses went up,” Dykhuis said. “Certainly, I have to be more just on top of it than I was previously."

Eble, 30, and Marcus, 31, say they appreciate cool vehicles but don't consider themselves “car people" and are hoping their search is easier as a result. Still, finding something in their $20,000 to $30,000 budget might not be as easy as it once was.

They are considering cars such as a newer Trax, a Mazda or maybe an electric vehicle. New EVs generally cost more upfront, but consumers can save in the long run. The used EV market will also soon be flooded with two- or three-year-old EVs that were leased at the time federal credits were generous.

Like Dykhuis, they say they also might buy their new ride outright to avoid a new monthly payment.

“It feels like if anything happens out of our control … it just seems so much more difficult to figure out how to orient our finances," Eble said.

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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

In Argentina, the U.S. administration worked to prop up the country’s financial markets to the tune of $20 billion -- then Trump threatened to pull the assistance if its elections didn’t go his preferred way.

And in Honduras, he backed a conservative former mayor for president — and pardoned a predecessor from the same political party as Hondurans were preparing to vote.

In his second term, Trump has made a public flex of his political influence abroad on a scale that few if any U.S. presidents have exerted, trying to marshal power that he’s used domestically to sway races in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe.

Using endorsements to reward loyal and like-minded leaders, he has shattered a U.S. tradition of avoiding overt involvement in the internal politics of other countries, and made the use of some foreign policy tools more about politics than about advancing U.S. interests, according to his critics.

“The impact of that is to really cheapen a relationship,” said David Pressman, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary during the Biden administration. Pressman, who was on the ground in Budapest as Orban publicly backed Trump in 2024, said Hungarian positions on key issues such as Ukraine felt “infused through a political U.S. rubric,” rather than articulated as sovereign foreign policy.

The most significant test yet of Trump’s political power abroad may come Sunday, when voters in Hungary render a verdict on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's bid for a fifth term. Orbán was the first European leader to back Trump during his 2016 run and remained a close ally even during Trump’s period of political exile, making sojourns to see him in south Florida and again endorsing the Republican in his 2024 comeback race.

“I love Hungary and I love that Viktor,” Trump said this week as Vice President JD Vance, visiting Budapest, put him on speakerphone at a rally with more than 1,000 Orbán supporters.

Trump says he loves to pick winners

Trump has long reveled in his status as kingmaker in the Republican Party. Now, he boasts that foreign leaders come to him seeking his approval.

“I love it when I give endorsements and people win,” Trump said last month at a summit with several Latin American leaders whom he had backed.

Often, his picks share his policy views, like fellow immigration hard-liners Orbán and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, or the chainsaw-wielding Argentine President Javier Milei, who used the tool to illustrate his zeal to slash spending.

Trump and his officials have often used the Conservative Political Action Conference as a stage for promoting their foreign political friends.

At a CPAC gathering in Warsaw last year, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urged Poles to vote for conservative Karol Nawrocki, and implied that the future of the U.S. military presence in Poland could hinge on the election’s outcome. Nawrocki would go on to win.

In Hungary last month, Trump greeted CPAC attendees with a video message from behind the Resolute Desk, urging support for Orbán.

“The prime minister has been a strong leader who’s shown the entire world what’s possible when you defend your borders, your culture, your heritage, your sovereignty and your values,” Trump said. He later added, “I hope he wins, and I hope he wins big.”

The White House defended Trump’s approach as a sign of transparency.

“President Trump is a great American statesman who will speak or work with anyone, and he makes no secret about those he likes or supports,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. “Many individuals who align with President Trump’s ideology are getting elected to top offices around the world because everyone wants to replicate his immeasurable success on behalf of the American people,” she said.

Sunday's election is a big test of Trump's foreign political clout

Few foreign leaders have amassed as much political support from the Trump administration as Orbán. The U.S. president has fired off multiple Truth Social posts promoting the prime minister, whose hard-right authoritarian approach to governance has endeared him to Trump, as did his fealty to the U.S. president even when Trump was out of power.

“Hungary: GET OUT AND VOTE FOR VIKTOR ORBÁN,” Trump posted Thursday night. On Friday, he said his administration “stands ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States” to help Hungary's economy, if Orbán and Hungarians need it.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as a senator, once aired concerns about “democratic erosion” under Orbán. Nonetheless, Rubio endorsed him in February and promoted the “very, very close personal relationship and working relationship” between Trump and the prime minister.

During Vance’s two-day swing to Budapest this week, he made the administration’s endorsement of Orbán explicit even as he decried foreign election interference from the European Union.

“Of course we’re going to work with whoever wins the Hungarian election because we love the people of Hungary and it’s an important relationship,” Vance told reporters. “But Viktor Orbán is going to win the next election in Hungary, so I feel very confident about that and about our continued positive relationship.”

But Orbán had been trailing in independent polls ahead of the April 12 election and Trump — whose push to acquire Greenland and war in Iran have made him unpopular throughout Europe — may have less sway than he once had.

Past presidents have been more subtle

Past administrations have used different methods to influence power abroad. For instance, the Central Intelligence Agency under President Dwight D. Eisenhower helped engineer a 1954 coup that forced out Guatemala's president, Jacobo Arbenz.

There have been rare cases when past presidents made their support explicit, such as when former President Bill Clinton backed Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s 1993 move to dissolve parliament and set up new legislative and presidential elections.

But Trump’s political engagement abroad is without precedent, said James Lindsay, a distinguished senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Trump is just different than other presidents, and he’s viewed differently than other presidents, and that is a strength you can take advantage of,” Lindsay said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Trump's blatant involvement in elections abroad should be viewed as part of the what the administration called the “‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine” in its national security strategy released in December. The 1823 Monroe Doctrine, named for President James Monroe, has been used to justify U.S. military interventions in Latin America.

Kaine, who was a missionary in Honduras at a time of deep covert U.S. involvement in Latin America, called the doctrine “poison language” for the region. “It's violating best practice,” he said. “America has been deeply involved in regime support, opposition and regime change in the Americas for centuries, and it is not a legacy that we should be proud of.”

Trump has offered carrots — and sticks — during foreign races

Sometimes Trump's support for foreign candidates has come with more than an endorsement.

In October, Trump was particularly blunt about his intent to withhold assistance for Argentina if Milei's political coalition didn’t prevail in legislative elections that month. Shortly before Milei's visit, the administration had finalized a $20 billion currency swap line, aid that had drawn fierce criticism from U.S. farmers and Democratic lawmakers.

“If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina. OK?” Trump told a reporter as he hosted Milei at a White House lunch.

In the final days of last year's Honduran elections, Trump not only made his preference for Nasry Asfura clear, but also emphasized that “the United States will not be throwing good money after bad” if Asfura lost. Both Milei and Asfura were successful in their respective elections.

Trump also announced a pardon for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez for U.S. drug trafficking and weapons convictions. “This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success,” Trump wrote on social media.

Trump has repeatedly floated a pardon for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including in a formal letter and during a speech to the country’s parliament. Netanyahu is enmeshed in a far-reaching corruption case that includes allegations of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He faces what could be a tough reelection campaign this year.

A fiery Vance speech in the early weeks of the Trump administration strained ties with Germany when, at the Munich Security Conference, he criticized mainstream German parties for refusing to work with a far-right party.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz later said it was not the place for a U.S. leader to “say something like that to us in Germany.”

“I wouldn’t do it in America, either,” Merz said.

But that wasn't the case for the past few days at the annual National Action Network conference in New York, where Democratic politicians and potential presidential candidates repeatedly made the case for diversity, equity and inclusion policies that seemed to have fallen out of favor.

“We have the high ground on this issue,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared to a packed audience of Black activists. He criticized Republicans as “extremists” who “are trying to do an all-out assault on civil rights, on voting rights, certainly on diversity, equity and inclusion.”

“They’re not trying to celebrate merit, they’re trying to elevate mediocrity,” Jeffries contended. “They want to suggest that diversity, equity and inclusion are foreign values. They’re not foreign values, they’re American values.”

DEI initiatives became widespread in workplaces, colleges and government agencies after Black Lives Matter protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

But Republican leaders, including Trump, have argued that DEI programs are divisive and discriminate against white people.

On his first day in office, Trump signed executive orders banning “illegal DEI” throughout the federal government. A March order went further by mandating that any companies that work with the federal government must also comply with the administration’s anti-DEI platform.

“We ended DEI in America,” Trump said in his State of the Union address in February.

Democrats had mixed and at times muted responses to the administration’s anti-DEI crusade over the last year, with some in the party blaming a focus on diversity and identity as a reason why the party alienated many voters across racial and socioeconomic lines.

But some Democrats discussed as potential White House contenders are promoting DEI policies.

The rhetorical shift also reflects the party’s efforts to court and energize Black voters, who often view attacks on DEI as linked to broader opposition to civil rights and economic justice.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro leaned in during his appearance on the first day of the National Action Network.

“We believe diversity is our strength in the Commonwealth,” Shapiro said. “We continue to have an Office of Diversity and Equity and Inclusion when other states have shuttered them.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the nation's only sitting Black governor, touted that his state had “unapologetically” responded to the rollback of DEI policies in Washington by creating state offices focused on supporting minority businesses and social mobility while combating racial inequality. He offered his state as a model for equitable policymaking.

“We are seeing what the policies and the position are when it comes to belief in diversity from this federal administration,” Moore later told The Associated Press. “I actually think the future of how we should think about it should be seen in the present, of how places like Maryland are actually moving in this moment.”

During his remarks, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker highlighted that he’d directed his state to “set aside a whole bunch of that money to address inequities that have plagued the Black community over so many years” and defended Illinois’ policies meant to reduce socioeconomic and racial inequality.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who will address the conference Saturday, is expected to highlight his commitment to diversity despite political backlash, according to political adviser Eric Hyers.

Beshear, who leads a state Trump last carried by more than 30 points, vetoed what he described as a hateful bill from his Republican-controlled legislature last year that would have banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs from public universities. The legislature overrode the veto days later.

“He never wavered even when there was a post-2024 backlash,” Hyers said of Beshear. “He believes in his core that diversity is a strength, not a weakness.”

Rev. Al Sharpton, who founded and hosts the conference, told The Associated Press he was looking for 2028 contenders to show “that what they’re campaigning on is something that addresses the race gap in the country, specifically, not just generalizations.”

Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat and influential former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, warned that leaders in either party who do not support DEI may oppose core American values.

“DEI stands for ‘diversity, equity and inclusion.’ Who, in search for a more perfect union, would shy away from diversity equity and inclusion? If you’re against those things, you are against democracy,” he told the AP.