Glidden, de 52 años, y Hochstein, de 43, enfrentan cada uno un cargo por interceptación de comunicaciones por cable, orales o electrónicas, luego de que las autoridades indicaran que ambos colocaron un dispositivo de grabación en un Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 SUV plateado modelo 2023, propiedad del ex esposo de Hochstein, el doctor Leonard “Lenny” Hochstein.

Local 10 estuvo el miércoles en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight de Miami-Dade cuando Lisa Hochstein fue recibida afuera de la cárcel por amigas y compañeras del elenco Alexia Nepola y Adriana de Moura.

Lisa Hochstein se dirigió brevemente a sus seguidores, diciendo “Los quiero mucho a todos. Amo a todos mis fans” y enviándoles buenos deseos, pero no comentó directamente sobre las acusaciones.

Su abogada, Jayne Weintraub, dijo “No estamos hablando de grabaciones”, y agregó que el caso ha “iniciado el proceso” y que espera que “se resuelva muy pronto”.

Según la orden de arresto de Lisa Hochstein, ella y Glidden colocaron un dispositivo de grabación en el piso del asiento del conductor del SUV de Lenny Hochstein en marzo de 2023, luego de que la estrella de reality pidiera prestado el vehículo porque estaba considerando comprar uno propio.

Lenny y Lisa Hochstein aún estaban en proceso de divorcio en ese momento.

Lenny Hochstein, un reconocido cirujano plástico del sur de Florida, dijo a los detectives en mayo de 2023 que informó de inmediato a su abogado tras descubrir el dispositivo y que este contrató a un investigador privado para examinarlo, según la orden.

De acuerdo con la orden, se recuperaron un total de 98 grabaciones del dispositivo, incluyendo una conversación entre Lisa Hochstein y Glidden mientras el dispositivo era “colocado a la fuerza en su lugar”.

Además de conversaciones entre Lenny Hochstein y otras personas con las que hablaba dentro de su vehículo, un detective recuperó grabaciones eliminadas del dispositivo, incluyendo una grabación de Lisa Hochstein y Glidden participando en “actividades íntimas”, según la orden.

Los registros muestran que Glidden fue puesto bajo custodia el sábado. Desde entonces ha sido liberado de la cárcel.

Lisa Hochstein se entregó a las autoridades el miércoles antes de también ser liberada.

El divorcio de Lisa y Lenny Hochstein se finalizó en noviembre de 2024. Comparten dos hijos.

Weintraub, abogada defensora de Lisa Hochstein, y los abogados Howard Srebnick y Frank Gaviria, defensa de Glidden, emitieron un comunicado conjunto a Local 10 News el lunes por la tarde en el que señalaron: “Este asunto forma parte de un proceso de divorcio contencioso y no corresponde a la corte penal”.

La audiencia de lectura de cargos de Lisa Hochstein está programada para el 20 de abril.

Leo traveled to the western Cameroon city of Bamenda, where jubilant crowds clogged the roads, blowing horns and dancing. They were overjoyed that a pope had come so far to see them and put a global spotlight on the violence that has traumatized this region for nearly a decade.

Leo presided over a peace meeting involving a Mankon traditional chief, a Presbyterian moderator, an imam and a Catholic nun. The aim was to highlight the interfaith movement that has been seeking to end the conflict and care for its many victims.

In his remarks in the St. Joseph Cathedral, on land donated by the Mankon, Leo praised the peace movement and warned against allowing religion to enter conflicts. It’s a theme he has been echoing amid the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and the religious justifications for it by U.S. officials.

“Blessed are the peacemakers!” he said. “But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

He called for a “decisive change of course” that leads away from conflict and the exploitation of the land for military or economic gain.

“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters!” he said.

Leo’s comments were directed at Cameroon’s separatist conflict. But Vatican officials have made clear that on this trip, he is preaching the Gospel message of peace that surpasses borders and continents, and is meant for all those responsible for the wars and exploitation ravaging Earth.

Leo said Bamenda was a model for the rest of the world. “Bamenda, today you are the city on the hill, resplendent in the eyes of all!” Leo said in English, using a phrase often understood as referring to American exceptionalism.

It wasn’t immediately clear if any of Cameroon’s separatist fighters, who announced a three-day pause in fighting to allow the pope safe passage to Bamenda, attended.

A conflict rooted in colonial history

The conflict in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions is rooted in Cameroon’s colonial history, when the country was divided between France and Britain after World War I. English-speaking regions later joined French Cameroon in a 1961 U.N.-backed vote, but separatists say they have since been politically and economically marginalized.

In 2017, English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion with the stated goal of breaking away from the French-speaking majority and establishing an independent state. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced over 600,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group.

Leo arrived to a raucous welcome in Bamenda, where blasting music from loudspeakers gave the event a concert-like vibe.

“We are so overjoyed, so overwhelmed,” said Felicity Cali, a Catholic student. “Say thank you, God, for this extraordinary day and for making us be alive to see this day.”

Leo kept up the theme in his homily before an estimated 20,000 people who gathered for his afternoon Mass at Bamenda’s airfield, where they went wild when he looped around the crowd in his covered popemobile. Leo pointed to the “moral, social and political corruption,” that afflicts Cameroon, stifling its development.

Added to these internal problems of conflict and corruption “is the damage caused from outside, by those who, in the name of profit, continue to lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it,” he said.

It was a cry that echoed the words of Pope Francis when he traveled to Congo in 2023. “Hands off Africa!” he exhorted the foreign interests plundering the continent.

Cameroon’s separatist movement is believed to be backed by several actors abroad. In December, a federal jury in U.S. convicted two individuals for conspiracy to provide funds and equipment to the separatist fighters. Belgian authorities in March also announced they had arrested four people as part of investigations into Belgian residents suspected of being among the separatist leaders and raising money for them there.

“Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death,” Leo said. “It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience.”

Cameroon sits atop significant reserves of oil, natural gas, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds, making resource extraction one of the pillars of its economy.

While French and English companies have long dominated the extraction industry in Cameroon, Chinese companies have established a significant presence in recent years, particularly in the gold mining regions of the east.

Though the number of deadly attacks by separatists has decreased in recent years, the conflict shows no sign of resolution. Peace talks with international mediators have stalled, with both sides accusing each other of acting in bad faith.

Morine Ngum, a mother of three whose husband was shot dead in 2022 by Cameroonian soldiers while fighting as a separatist, expressed doubt that the pope’s visit and peace meeting would lead to meaningful change. She said any real progress must begin with those in power.

“Nothing is going to change,” said Ngum, 30. “This conflict has turned my children into orphans and me into a widow. Many families have been rendered homeless.”

Testimony to pope about the toll of the conflict

The archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, told Leo that the people there had suffered from “a situation they did not create,” losing their livelihoods, homes and education: Children were not allowed to go to school for years.

“Most Holy Father, today that your feet are standing on the soil of Bamenda that has drunk the blood of many of our children,” he said.

The Right Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba, emeritus moderator of the Presbyterian church in Cameroon, said the Vatican had joined other faith groups in trying to bring the separatists to the negotiating table with the government, and meeting with their supporters abroad.

Biya’s government has been accused of shunning dialogue with the separatists.

“There is a proverb in Africa that ‘When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers,’” Forba said.

___

Akua reported from Yaounde, Cameroon. Associated Press writer Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, contributed to this report.

___

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.

Glidden, 52, and Hochstein, 43, are each charged with one count of interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications after authorities said they both planted a recording device in a silver 2023 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 SUV, owned by Hochstein’s ex-husband, Dr. Leonard “Lenny” Hochstein.

Local 10 was at Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Wednesday when Lisa Hochstein was greeted outside the jail by friends and castmates Alexia Nepola and Adriana de Moura.

Lisa Hochstein briefly addressed supporters, saying, “I just love them all. I love all my fans” and sending them well wishes, but did not directly comment on the allegations.

Her attorney, Jayne Weintraub, said, “We’re not talking about recordings,” adding that the case has “started the process” and that she hopes it “will be resolved very soon.”

According to Lisa Hochstein’s arrest warrant, she and Glidden planted a recording device in the driver’s seat floorboard of Lenny Hochstein’s SUV in March 2023 after the reality star asked if she could borrow the vehicle because she was thinking of purchasing one of her own.

Lenny and Lisa Hochstein were still going through divorce proceedings at the time.

Lenny Hochstein, a prominent plastic surgeon in South Florida, told detectives in May 2023 that he immediately informed his attorney after discovering the device and the attorney then hired a private investigator to examine it, the warrant states.

According to the warrant, a total of 98 recordings were recovered from the device, including a conversation between Lisa Hochstein and Glidden as the device was being “wrestled into place.”

In addition to conversations between Lenny Hochstein and others he spoke to while in his vehicle, a detective recovered deleted recordings from the device, including a recording of Lisa Hochstein and Glidden engaged in “intimate activities,” the warrant states.

Records show Glidden was taken into custody Saturday. He has since been released from jail.

Lisa Hochstein surrendered to authorities Wednesday before also being released.

Lisa and Lenny Hochstein’s divorce was finalized in November 2024. They share two children.

Weintraub, Lisa Hochstein’s defense counsel, and attorneys Howard Srebnick and Frank Gaviria, Glidden’s defense counsel, released a joint statement to Local 10 News on Monday afternoon saying, “This matter is part of a contentious divorce proceeding and does not belong in criminal court.”

Lisa Hochstein is set to be arraigned on April 20.

Según los agentes, Josiah K. Burrows fue visto por última vez el 8 de abril en la cuadra 19100 de Northeast Second Avenue.

Los agentes indicaron que Burrows fue a la escuela ese día y fue dejado en su parada de autobús habitual después de clases, pero no ha tenido contacto con su familia desde entonces.

Sin embargo, señalaron que sí ha tenido contacto con amigos.

Los agentes describieron a Burrows como un joven afroamericano de 5 pies y 10 pulgadas de estatura y aproximadamente 130 libras de peso. Tiene cabello negro y ojos marrones.

Cualquier persona con información sobre su paradero debe llamar a la MDSO al 305-715-3300, enviar un correo a u309125@mdso.com o comunicarse con Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

Leer en español

Miami is projected to have 11 selections in the 2026 NFL draft, including two first-round picks — Nos. 11 and 30 overall — and four third-round selections.

The Dolphins hold seven picks in the top 100 following a series of moves, including trading wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos.

The roster also has seen major changes, with departures that include wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa defensive end Bradley Chubb and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Sullivan said the lack of established veterans creates opportunity for rookies to contribute immediately.

“We do not have a ton of established players on this team,” he said. “That’s not to say we don’t like our players, but we have very few established players on this roster, so this draft class will have an opportunity to come in here and play soon, play quick.”

He added that playing time will be based strictly on performance.

“We’re going to play the best players,” Sullivan said. “If you give us the best chance to win on Sunday, you’re going to be one of the 11 on the field.”

Sullivan also emphasized that roster uncertainty makes flexibility essential when evaluating draft strategy and trades.

“We’re just not in a situation where we have the flexibility and the luxury to be choosy like that,” he said. “If you’re in the building every day, you can feel it. I’m excited about taking these 11 draft picks and throwing them in the equation with what we already have.”

As of Thursday, the Dolphins’ draft capital includes:

• Round 1: Nos. 11, 30
• Round 2: No. 43
• Round 3: Nos. 75, 87, 90, 94
• Round 4: No. 130
• Round 5: No. 151
• Round 7: Nos. 227, 238

Miami traded its sixth-round pick to the New York Giants in exchange for tight end Darren Waller.

Sullivan said the team remains open to moving around in the draft, though he expects more interest in trading down than up.

“I think it probably is fair to say more likely to move back than move up,” he said. “We need all 11 picks, but you never say never.”

He added that while the front office will listen to trade calls, many discussions in the days leading up to the draft lack substance.

“I don’t love playing on the phone the week of the draft,” he said. “A lot of people just like to call and conversations aren’t really of much substance.”

Sullivan also said the team will not force aggressive roster moves after the draft to chase short-term fixes.

“I don’t think we have any tricks up our sleeve,” he said. “We’re going to stay disciplined and try to get back to a healthy cap situation.”

On player evaluation, Sullivan said film remains the most important factor, but character and background checks are also critical parts of the process.

“The film will talk to you and the film doesn’t lie,” he said. “But then you have to take everything into account and make an educated decision.”

He said the organization relies heavily on scouts and background information from multiple sources.

“You cannot overstate the importance of developing relationships in the school,” Sullivan said. “You’re talking to three, four, five different people who see this player in a different light.”

Sullivan also addressed how coaches factor into evaluations, saying their input is valued but not always final.

“The coaches are incredibly important to what we do,” he said. “But I have a responsibility to do what I feel is best for the Miami Dolphins.”

He added that while coaches can strongly advocate for players, final decisions ultimately rest with him.

“There will be times when maybe we see things differently,” Sullivan said. “Ultimately, the final decision comes down to me.”

At No. 11 overall, Sullivan said the Dolphins will prioritize reliability and fit as much as upside.

“You want guys that are wired right, guys that are chasing it,” he said. “What you can’t do is swing and miss.”

He compared the approach to focusing on steady production over high-risk selections.

“I think you take everything into consideration,” Sullivan said. “But what you can’t do is swing and miss, so the character is a huge piece of the pie.”

The 2026 NFL Draft is scheduled to take place April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Miami proyecta tener 11 selecciones en el Draft de la NFL 2026, incluyendo dos de primera ronda — las número 11 y 30 en general — y cuatro selecciones de tercera ronda.

Los Dolphins cuentan con siete selecciones dentro del top 100 tras una serie de movimientos, incluyendo el intercambio del receptor abierto Jaylen Waddle a los Denver Broncos.

La plantilla también ha sufrido cambios importantes, con salidas que incluyen a los receptores Tyreek Hill y Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, el mariscal de campo Tua Tagovailoa, el ala defensiva Bradley Chubb y el profundo Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Sullivan indicó que la falta de veteranos consolidados crea oportunidades para que los novatos contribuyan de inmediato.

“No tenemos muchos jugadores establecidos en este equipo”, dijo. “Eso no significa que no nos gusten nuestros jugadores, pero hay muy pocos consolidados en esta plantilla, así que esta clase del draft tendrá la oportunidad de llegar aquí y jugar pronto, jugar rápido”.

Agregó que el tiempo de juego se basará estrictamente en el rendimiento.

“Vamos a poner a los mejores jugadores”, dijo Sullivan. “Si nos das la mejor oportunidad de ganar el domingo, vas a ser uno de los 11 en el campo”.

Sullivan también enfatizó que la incertidumbre en la plantilla hace que la flexibilidad sea esencial al evaluar la estrategia del draft y posibles intercambios.

“No estamos en una situación en la que tengamos la flexibilidad y el lujo de ser selectivos de esa manera”, dijo. “Si estás en el edificio todos los días, lo puedes sentir. Estoy entusiasmado con tomar estas 11 selecciones del draft y sumarlas a lo que ya tenemos”.

Hasta el jueves, el capital de draft de los Dolphins incluye:

• Ronda 1: No. 11, 30
• Ronda 2: No. 43
• Ronda 3: No. 75, 87, 90, 94
• Ronda 4: No. 130
• Ronda 5: No. 151
• Ronda 7: No. 227, 238

Miami intercambió su selección de sexta ronda a los New York Giants a cambio del ala cerrada Darren Waller.

Sullivan dijo que el equipo sigue abierto a moverse en el draft, aunque espera más interés en bajar posiciones que en subir.

“Creo que es justo decir que es más probable bajar que subir”, dijo. “Necesitamos las 11 selecciones, pero nunca digas nunca”.

Añadió que, aunque la directiva escuchará ofertas, muchas conversaciones en los días previos al draft carecen de sustancia.

“No me gusta estar al teléfono la semana del draft”, dijo. “Mucha gente llama, pero las conversaciones no tienen mucho contenido real”.

Sullivan también afirmó que el equipo no forzará movimientos agresivos en la plantilla después del draft para buscar soluciones a corto plazo.

“No creo que tengamos trucos bajo la manga”, dijo. “Vamos a mantener la disciplina y tratar de volver a una situación saludable en el tope salarial”.

Sobre la evaluación de jugadores, Sullivan señaló que el video sigue siendo el factor más importante, pero que el carácter y los antecedentes también son clave en el proceso.

“El video te habla y no miente”, dijo. “Pero tienes que tomar todo en cuenta y tomar una decisión informada”.

Indicó que la organización depende en gran medida de los cazatalentos y de información de múltiples fuentes.

“No se puede subestimar la importancia de desarrollar relaciones en las universidades”, dijo Sullivan. “Estás hablando con tres, cuatro, cinco personas que ven a este jugador desde diferentes perspectivas”.

Sullivan también abordó el papel de los entrenadores en la evaluación, señalando que su opinión es importante, pero no definitiva.

“Los entrenadores son increíblemente importantes para lo que hacemos”, dijo. “Pero tengo la responsabilidad de hacer lo que considero mejor para los Miami Dolphins”.

Agregó que, aunque los entrenadores pueden abogar fuertemente por ciertos jugadores, la decisión final recae en él.

“Habrá momentos en los que veamos las cosas de manera diferente”, dijo. “Al final, la decisión final me corresponde a mí”.

Sobre la selección número 11, Sullivan indicó que priorizarán confiabilidad y encaje tanto como potencial.

“Quieres jugadores que estén bien formados, que estén comprometidos”, dijo. “Lo que no puedes hacer es fallar en la selección”.

Comparó el enfoque con priorizar producción constante sobre apuestas de alto riesgo.

“Hay que tomar todo en cuenta”, dijo Sullivan. “Pero no puedes fallar, así que el carácter es una parte clave de la ecuación”.

El Draft de la NFL 2026 está programado para realizarse del 23 al 25 de abril en Pittsburgh, Pensilvania.

Police in Waukesha, west of Milwaukee, said the “area was experiencing heavy rainfall accompanied by significant thunder and lightning” when someone reported seeing the man on the ground Wednesday evening.

“Preliminary information indicates the individual was struck by lightning while walking through the parking lot during the storm,” police said.

A weather pattern combining very moist air with a strong jet stream has been stretching from as far south as central Texas into the Midwest and east across the Great Lakes. From Monday through Wednesday, the National Weather Service has received more than 1,100 reports of large hail, winds above 60 mph (96 kph) and tornadoes as part of the storm system, said Bill Bunting, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center.

Teams were out Thursday surveying damage to determine the exact number of tornadoes, Bunting said.

The storms have rumbled across a number of states for the better part of this week and could continue into the early weekend.

“There's been a tremendous amount of lightning with these storms over the last few days,” said Mark Gehring, a meteorologist with the weather service in Milwaukee.

“We've had the temperature and humidity of summer and it's lasting an entire week — in mid-April,” he added. “In addition to a very stormy pattern, nearly every day we're having heavy rain. We've had tornadoes nearly every day, very large hail.”

Five tornadoes have been confirmed across southern and parts of central Wisconsin, according to Gehring.

“But there are more out there. We are going out to do storm surveys,” he said Thursday, adding that storms expected Friday evening could be severe.

In addition to lightning, hail and tornadoes, the storms have brought rain — lots of it, with scores of flood warnings and flood watches issued by the weather service over multiple states.

Crews were hurriedly pumping water from a dam in Cheboygan, Michigan, this week, even removing floodgates to relieve pressure. Residents and businesses in the city were told Monday to prepare a “go bag” containing medications, documents and other important items, monitor official updates and “be ready to act" because of the threat of flooding.

In northern Michigan, Bellaire, population 1,000, said Thursday that its wastewater treatment system was being overwhelmed, forcing the release of partially treated waste into area swamps. The village urged residents to reduce home water use.

Carl Johnson, 59, has a home on the rapidly rising Muskegon River in western Michigan. He went on Facebook to tell people that his boats are ready if someone needs help.

“It’s out of the banks everywhere. It’s really bad,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s not supposed to crest until Saturday.”

People living in the river’s flood plain below the Croton Dam in Newaygo County were ordered to evacuate. It wasn’t immediately known how many people were affected.

The Wisconsin River is at major flood stage in Portage, Wisconsin, and is forecast to reach or surpass the 20.7-foot (6.3-meter) record sometime Friday morning, meteorologist Gehring said.

“Right now, it's at 19.9 feet (6 meters), not that far off,” he said. “In Portage, there's a large area of low-land flooding. Many roads are flooded. There's a levee there. It's important that the levee holds.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency earlier this week.

Cars were stranded Wednesday night in high floodwater on a highway in Milwaukee and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office posted online to urge people not to drive in southeast Wisconsin.

But at least in Wisconsin, a respite could be near.

“We have one more severe, heavy rain event coming this way before we get a good break,” Gehring said. “That's going to be on Friday evening. That's going to be the last gasp of severe rain.”

Bunting said the storm system will continue to move north and east and likely will take three to four days to finally move off the U.S. east coast.

“Probably, the most concerning day in terms of intense thunderstorm potential and tornadoes is Friday, extending from northern Oklahoma into central Wisconsin and far eastern Illinois,” he said.

___

Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan. White reported from Detroit.

Outlets including the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg report that the recent spike in gas prices caused by the Iran war are putting the carrier, headquartered in Dania Beach, at risk of liquidation ― potentially in the coming days.

The airline’s initial plan was to get out of bankruptcy by early in the summer, backed by agreements with lenders to cut its debt from about $7.4 billion to about $2 billion.

The restructuring plan included shrinking its fleet and reducing routes.

But, in court filings, lenders say they’re deciding whether to move forward with the plan or wind down the business entirely, citing Spirit’s failure to account for the airline’s dramatically higher costs, specifically for fuel.

The airline had reached an agreement with a group of creditors just days before the U.S. and Israel began launching airstrikes against Iran.

Spirit is also trying to split a $275 million loan into two separate pieces. But Citibank, which is representing the lenders, says that would break the original contract and ignore legal protections meant to keep Spirit’s collateral tied together.

It’s already disrupting the major low-cost travel option for South Florida residents, especially those who fly to Latin America and the Caribbean.

The airline, originally founded in the Detroit area before moving to South Florida in 1999, has a major operating base out of its adopted hometown airport: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

The airline also has a crew base in Miami.

A Spirit Airlines spokesperson issued a brief statement to Local 10 News after an inquiry about the reports: “We don’t comment on market rumors and speculation.”

Attorney Doug Duncan said this week in a court filing that Woods has a constitutional right to privacy when it comes to his prescription medications. The attorney asked a judge overseeing the case in Martin County, Florida to hold a hearing to determine if the drug records are necessary for the criminal investigation.

If the judge determines the drug records are necessary, Duncan asked for a protective order limiting their release only to prosecutors, law enforcement officers, state experts and Woods' defense team.

Woods has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence. A sheriff’s office report said deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment after his SUV clipped a truck's trailer and rolled over on its side.

Woods was traveling at high speeds on a beachside, residential road on Jupiter Island with a 30 mph (nearly 50 kph) speed limit when his Land Rover caused $5,000 in damage to the truck, according to an incident report. Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer test that showed no signs of alcohol, but refused a urine test, authorities said.

Prosecutors told the court they would issue a subpoena seeking copies of all prescription medication records for the legendary golfer on file at Lewis Pharmacy in Palm Beach, Florida from the start of the year through the end of last month.

Prosecutors also demanded in court papers on Wednesday that Woods reveal the names and locations of any witnesses he plans to present in his defense.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington issued his latest ruling in a lawsuit over the ballroom project several days after an appeals court instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction.

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.

Leon had barred work from proceeding without congressional approval, but he suspended enforcement of that order for two weeks. The appeals court extended that stay until Friday.

Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, said he is ordering a stop only to above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project. Otherwise, the Trump administration is free to proceed with construction of any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the ballroom.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated," the judge wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”

Leer en español

Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies took Liggia Mancia, 38, into custody on Wednesday at her home in West Miami.

Mancia was hired by Metal Masters Shop, Inc., located at 7484 NW Eighth St. in west Miami-Dade, in August as a bookkeeper, and “was given exclusive access to the company’s financial software,” according to an arrest form.

Deputies said between September and December, Mancia embezzled $22,500 from the business after she “fraudulently misappropriated funds by paying herself additional monies each pay period without consent from the victim.”

Investigators subpoenaed Mancia’s bank records, which they said confirmed the illegal payments and showed that she used the funds for personal gain.

After being taken into custody, deputies said Mancia confessed to the crimes.

As of Thursday morning, she remained behind bars at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a bond of $12,500.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade arrestaron a Liggia Mancia, de 38 años, el miércoles en su vivienda en West Miami.

Mancia fue contratada por Metal Masters Shop, Inc., ubicada en 7484 NW Eighth St. en el oeste de Miami-Dade, en agosto como contable y “se le otorgó acceso exclusivo al software financiero de la empresa”, según el informe de arresto.

Los agentes indicaron que entre septiembre y diciembre, Mancia malversó $22,500 USD del negocio tras “apropiarse fraudulentamente de fondos al pagarse dinero adicional en cada período de pago sin el consentimiento de la víctima”.

Los investigadores citaron los registros bancarios de Mancia, los cuales, según dijeron, confirmaron los pagos ilegales y mostraron que utilizó los fondos para beneficio personal.

Tras ser puesta bajo custodia, los agentes indicaron que Mancia confesó los delitos.

Hasta la mañana del jueves, permanecía detenida en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza de $12,500 USD.

Dončić played in 64 games and Cunningham played in 63. But the league and the union both agreed that each should be on the ballot based on the “extraordinary circumstances provision” in the collective bargaining agreement.

Dončić — who is one of the favorites to contend for MVP honors after winning the league's scoring title — missed two games to attend the birth of his daughter in Slovenia. Cunningham missed 12 games as a result of a collapsed lung that was diagnosed on March 17.

“The NBA and NBPA agreed that, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for Cunningham and Dončić, each player qualified for awards,” the league and the union said in a statement.

Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, who played in 60 qualified games, also tried to get on the awards ballot through the extraordinary circumstances challenge — but sought his approval before an independent arbitrator. His challenge was denied.

The statuses of Dončić and Cunningham were a major topic toward the end of the season. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama — an MVP candidate and the likely defensive player of the year — got to the 65-game mark in the Spurs' next-to-last game, and Denver's three-time MVP Nikola Jokic became qualified for this year's awards on the final day of the regular season. Jokic has been first or second in MVP balloting in each of the last five seasons and won the league's rebounding and assist titles this season.

Nuggets coach David Adelman said last week that he hopes the 65-game rule is changed, somehow, this summer. He said if players like Jokic can play 64 games, never wanting to come out, and not be award-eligible, then something is wrong.

“That’s not the spirit of what that rule is,” Adelman said.

A number of players will be ineligible for most major individual awards this season because of the 65-game rule, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James — whose 21-year streak of making an All-NBA team will end. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Golden State’s Stephen Curry have also missed too many games to be eligible.

With the decisions on Dončić, Cunningham and Edwards now complete, the NBA is expected to send award ballots to the panel of reporters and broadcasters who cover the league in the coming days. It's unclear when the announcement of award winners will begin.

___

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

Leer en español

According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the department’s Major Crimes Unit detectives, along with investigators from Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Monroe County Medical Examiner Office identified the remains of a previously unidentified Black man who was found on May 4, 1988 off County Road 905 in north Key Largo.

Deputies said the remains have been confirmed as Alfonso James Spikes, 61, of Miami.

According to authorities, Spikes is believed to have last been seen in April 1988 in Miami after leaving his home to meet with someone, though deputies said they do not know who that person was nor do they know the circumstances of how Spikes ended up in the Keys.

Deputies said his body was found covered in trash and wrapped in several bedsheets, with his shirt pulled forward over his head.

The Monroe County Medical Examiner said the body was in “advanced decomposition with partial skeletonization” and ruled the cause and manner of death as undetermined, but a “probable homicide.”

According to authorities, DNA samples submitted in 2023 and 2025 led to the March 2026 discovery that the sample confirmed the identity of Spikes.

Anyone with information on this open investigation is urged to contact the MCSO Major Crimes Unit at 305-289-2410.

Already this year, Disney has boosted the box office with its original Pixar hit “Hoppers,” which has made over $355 million globally to date. Disney has a flood of potential blockbusters on the way, including “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first Star Wars movie since 2019, “Toy Story 5,” a live-action “Moana” and, in December, “Avengers: Doomsday.” Kicking off the summer movie season, which begins the first weekend in May, is not a Marvel movie, however. It’s a legacy sequel from their 20th Century Studios: “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Gird your loins.

The studio may also offer a look at the future of some of its biggest franchises, including insight into what’s next for Marvel, Avatar and Star Wars beyond “Star Wars: Starfighter,” which is due in theaters in May 2027.

Disney's impact on the exhibition industry cannot be understated. Last year its releases made up over 27.5% of the annual domestic box office alone. The studio also has a 60-day exclusive theatrical window, the most robust in Hollywood.

The Walt Disney Co. is facing its own challenges too. On Tuesday, the company began mass layoffs in its ranks, expected to total around 1,000 with some of the cuts coming from the movie studio and its marketing department.

Orson Welles once said, “if you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” And, so, for an exhibition industry that operates on small margins, and with the box office still down around 20% from its pre-pandemic norms, Disney is about as close as the conference can get to going out on a high note.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff del condado Monroe, detectives de la Unidad de Crímenes Mayores, junto con investigadores del Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida y la Oficina del Médico Forense del condado Monroe, identificaron los restos de un hombre afroamericano previamente no identificado que fue encontrado el 4 de mayo de 1988 en County Road 905, en el norte de Key Largo.

Los agentes indicaron que los restos fueron confirmados como los de Alfonso James Spikes, de 61 años, de Miami.

Según las autoridades, se cree que Spikes fue visto por última vez en abril de 1988 en Miami, después de salir de su casa para reunirse con alguien, aunque los agentes señalaron que no saben quién era esa persona ni las circunstancias de cómo terminó en los Cayos.

Los agentes dijeron que su cuerpo fue encontrado cubierto de basura y envuelto en varias sábanas, con la camisa jalada hacia adelante sobre su cabeza.

El médico forense del condado Monroe indicó que el cuerpo estaba en “descomposición avanzada con esqueletización parcial” y determinó que la causa y manera de muerte son indeterminadas, pero un “probable homicidio”.

Según las autoridades, muestras de ADN enviadas en 2023 y 2025 llevaron al descubrimiento en marzo de 2026 que confirmó la identidad de Spikes.

Se insta a cualquier persona con información sobre esta investigación abierta a comunicarse con la Unidad de Crímenes Mayores de la MCSO al 305-289-2410.

El mandatario encabezó un mitin de cientos de personas en conmemoración del 65 aniversario de la declaración del carácter socialista de la revolución cubana en momentos de máxima tensión con Washington y luego de que el titular de la Casa Blanca impusiera un cerco energético a la isla.

“El momento es sumamente desafiante y nos convoca otra vez, como en aquel 16 de abril de 1961, a estar listos para enfrentar serias amenazas, entre ellas la agresión militar. No la queremos, pero es nuestro deber prepararnos para evitarla y si fuere inevitable, ganarla”, dijo el gobernante isleño.

Donald Trump insistió con su idea de intervenir en Cuba como lo hizo en enero en Venezuela –hasta entonces un aliado estratégico de la isla—, luego de aplicar en enero un cerco petrolero a la nación caribeña que ha tenido un fuerte impacto en la vida de los ciudadanos y la economía.

A principios de esta semana, Trump afirmó que su administración podría centrarse en Cuba una vez finalizada la guerra en Irán. “Quizás visitemos Cuba después de terminar con esto”, declaró. Describió a la isla como una “nación fallida” y afirmó que “ha sido un país pésimamente gobernado durante mucho tiempo”.

Tanto Trump como su secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio --hijo de padres emigrados de Cuba en los años 50 antes del triunfo de la revolución--, calificaron al gobierno de la isla de inoperante y abusivo.

Díaz-Canel aseguró que se trata de armar una “narrativa” que no tiene justificación.

“Cuba no es un Estado fallido. Cuba es un Estado cercado. Cuba es un Estado enfrentado a una agresión multidimensional. Guerra económica, bloqueo recrudecido y bloqueo energético”, dijo Díaz-Canel, orador principal de la manifestación.

“Cuba es un Estado amenazado que no se rinde. Y a pesar de todo, y gracias al socialismo, Cuba es un Estado que resiste... y no lo duden, un Estado que vencerá”, agregó el mandatario.

Ambos gobiernos reconocieron que han mantenido conversaciones para disipar la tensión, pero no trascendió su alcance.

El cerco petrolero de Trump agudizó la crisis económica que lleva un lustro y que se desató luego de la paralización por la pandemia de COVID-19 y las sanciones impuestas por Estados Unidos a lo largo de seis décadas para presionar un cambio en el modelo político de la isla.

—————-

Siga a Andrea Rodríguez en X: https://x.com/ARodriguezAP

House Republicans approved the resolution last month despite conservationists' warnings that the move would lead to devastating pollution in one of the country's last remaining wild areas. The Senate followed suit Thursday, voting 50-49 to send the measure to Trump for his signature.

Democrats argued on the Senate floor that lifting the ban would set a dangerous precedent that could lead to lifting protections on public lands across the country. Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith warned Republicans were stealing part of their state's identity.

Klobuchar, who has supported iron mining in the past but is now running for Minnesota governor, called the Boundary Waters a place of “mist over meadows” and “sunlight on leaves.” Smith said the GOP was ignoring Minnesotans who don't want to see the wilderness area destroyed.

“You can support mining, but that does not mean you support every mine in every place,” Smith said.

No Republicans spoke on the lifting the ban.

Stars, solitude and silence

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness stretches for about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) in the Superior National Forest along Minnesota's border with Canada.

It's a land of crystalline lakes, vast forests of pine, spruce and birch, striking sunsets and clear, star-dusted nights. For those willing to paddle and portage off the most-traveled routes, the region offers solitude and a silence broken only by the cries of loons and the occasional howl of a wolf.

Logging is prohibited, planes passing over it can dip no lower than 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) except in emergencies and motorized watercraft are limited to only certain areas. Tens of thousands of canoeists, kayakers and campers explore the wilderness each year, according to U.S. Forest Service data.

Company eyes region's metals

Part of the national forest that encompasses the wilderness area sits on what's known as the Duluth Complex, a rock formation that contains copper, nickel, lead, zinc, iron, silver and gold, according to the Forest Service.

Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, a subsidiary of Chile-based Antofagasta Minerals, submitted a plan to the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2019 to mine copper, nickel and other precious metals in the national forest. Company officials said in an operational plan that year that the mine would create hundreds of union jobs, more than a thousand “spinoff jobs" and tax revenue for struggling communities in northeastern Minnesota.

“With this Project, Minnesota can be a model for modern, sustainable and environmentally and socially responsible mining,” the plan said.

The first Trump administration renewed the company's mineral leases on the site in 2019, but Biden interior officials terminated the deals in early 2022. The next year the administration imposed a 20-year moratorium on mining across 400 square miles (103,600 hectares) in the forest. The administration said the ban would protect the watershed and canoe wilderness.

Twin Metals has filed a federal lawsuit seeking a declaration that the leases remain valid. A judge threw the case out in 2023. A company appeal is pending.

Trump looking to jump-start mining projects

The president has called to boost domestic energy and mineral production, declaring an energy emergency days after retaking office in January 2025. His administration last fall reinstated a 2017 legal opinion that allowed Twin Metals to renew its leases in the Superior National Forest. Minnesota regulators approved the company's exploratory plans in December.

U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, a Duluth Republican, introduced the resolution to lift the moratorium in January. He said the ban has cost Minnesota jobs and put the country's mineral security at risk. He remarked on the House floor ahead of the vote in that chamber that it's better to mine in Minnesota than deal with China or Russia for key minerals.

Environmentalists, outdoor enthusiasts push back

Lifting the moratorium would allow mining in the national forest along the edge of the Boundary Waters, not in the wilderness area. But eliminating the ban has hit a sore spot with environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts. They warn that pollution from mining operations will flow through the wilderness area's watershed and contaminate the region with mercury and sulfides, chemical compounds that contain sulfur. They maintain that fish, wildlife and plants will suffer, particularly the wild rice that plays a crucial role in Minnesota's Chippewa tribal culture.

Teddy Roosevelt's great-grandson and other relatives wrote a letter to Republican senators urging them to keep the moratorium in place. The Friends of the Boundary Waters, a group that works to protect the area, has orchestrated a demonstration in front of Stauber's office in Hermantown, Minnesota, and staged a rally at the Capitol building in St. Paul to protest lifting the moratorium. The issue has become another flashpoint of contention between the state and the Trump administration after federal immigration officers shot and killed two Minneapolis residents in January.

Twin Metals promised an environmentally safe project

The company argued in its 2019 plan that mine would carry on a tradition in northeastern Minnesota, noting the area around the site was once home to 11 mines. The company also insisted that new low-carbon technologies designed to combat climate change need precious metals. Wind turbine construction requires copper, lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles need cobalt and nickel is a key part of corrosion-resistant alloys in desalinization plants.

The $1.7 billion mine would operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, according to the proposal. But the plan was laced with pledges to protect the environment. The company said the mine would be underground and that no waste rock would be stored above ground, eliminating a potential source of acid drainage, and the area would be revegetated after the mine closed, among other promises.

Company needs permits and could face court challenges before mining can begin

Trump is expected sign the resolution, but even without a moratorium it could be years before a mine opens. Twin Metals said in its 2019 proposal that construction could take two to three years, but that could be optimistic.

Trump could quickly renew the company's federal leases and push federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue permits. Twin Metals would still need as many as 18 permits from state officials, according to the 2019 proposal, and would face an uphill battle if voters pick Klobuchar as governor in November.

And environmental groups could challenge any of those permits in court, blocking construction for potentially years while the cases are resolved.

Leer en español

Miami-Dade deputies said Travis Tillman Jr. and the victim are in a relationship and had previously lived together. They do not share any children.

Deputies said the incident began just before 1 a.m. after the couple got into an argument over “personal matters” at a home in the 7000 block of Northwest 177th Street in the county’s Palm Springs North area.

They said the argument escalated when Tillman grabbed the woman, placed her inside the trunk of her vehicle, and secured it before driving away with her still inside.

The report states that Tillman later parked the vehicle nearby, opened the trunk, and the victim attempted to escape.

Deputies said he then struck her multiple times in the face and body near the trunk area and the passenger side of the vehicle.

They said the couple later got back into the vehicle and fled eastbound on Northwest 177th Street before MDSO conducted a traffic stop at Northwest 179th Street and Northwest 68th Avenue.

Deputies said they took Tillman into custody at that location.

A security guard who works in the complex where the incident occurred contacted deputies and provided video footage that investigators said showed the victim exiting the trunk and being struck multiple times by Tillman.

After being advised of his Miranda rights, Tillman told investigators that an argument occurred and that the victim struck him first, according to the report.

The report states that Tillman also said the victim claimed that she did not want to be around him and “would rather be inside of the trunk and not in his vicinity.”

Investigators said he then admitted to placing her in the trunk, driving with her inside and striking her.

The victim was not visibly injured and declined medical treatment from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, according to authorities.

Jail records show Tillman is facing charges of kidnapping and battery.

As of Wednesday morning, he was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Records show Tillman was previously arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm, improper exhibition of a firearm or weapon and resisting an officer without violence to his person in an unrelated case.

He was probably joking.

Then again, nothing about Ovechkin's future is all that clear right now after the NHL's career goal-scoring leader finished his 21st season Tuesday. Fans — and even opponents — treated the past few games like they could be his last, but Ovechkin hasn't yet closed the door on returning.

This was the final season of his current contract with the Capitals. When he noted Thursday — in a longer-than-usual session with reporters — that he still needs to speak with coach Spencer Carbery and general manager Chris Patrick, he was asked what he wanted to hear from Patrick about the team's future.

“Two more years," he said, drawing a laugh. "This is the contract. Sign it.”

It would certainly be a surprise if the 40-year-old Ovechkin received that kind of deal. The bigger question is whether he'll keep playing in the NHL at all. He said he'll make that decision based on health, family and the team's outlook for next season.

The Capitals wrapped up their season with a win at Columbus on Tuesday. They had 95 points, which would have tied for the lead in the Pacific Division but left them three points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Young players like Ryan Leonard and Cole Hutson have emerged for Washington, and despite a disappointing season, the team seems decently positioned whether Ovechkin retires or comes back.

If he does return, the price would be intriguing after he carried a cap hit of $9.5 million a year on his previous deal. He scored a team-high 32 goals and played all 82 games this season, remarkable numbers for a player his age. But his famous shot from the left circle wasn't the weapon it used to be — he had only five goals on 86 shots on the power play — and his age shows in his two-way game.

Ovechkin was asked if playing elsewhere in the NHL was a possibility.

“I’m a free agent," he said.

When pressed on whether he could see himself somewhere else in the league after spending his whole career so far with the Capitals, he said: “Probably not, no.”

There's been speculation about Ovechkin going back at some point to play in his native Russia, but he said he needs to decide his NHL future first.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not my last game — I hope it’s not my last game, against Columbus. I have to make a decision to see where we’re at — the team, family," Ovechkin said. “Obviously, family are going to support me, like my wife and kids. Kids are already asking, ‘Dad, are you staying or not?’"

And what's his response?

“I tell them, ‘We’ll see,'” he said. ”They want me to come back because they love the city, they love the team, they love the boys.”

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Leer en español

Deputies said the suspect, Terrell Rashard Robbins, was arrested in connection with the attack, which happened around 11:30 p.m. Monday near the 1900 block of Northwest 77th Street.

They said Robbins, 33, arrived at the victim’s home, got out of his vehicle with a knife in his right hand, and stabbed the victim repeatedly.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue transported the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center with about 11 puncture wounds and an abrasion, according to Robbins’ arrest report.

The report states that the victim suffered lacerations to the left jaw, shoulders, biceps, chest, back and buttocks, requiring stitches and staples.

During the altercation, deputies said the victim bit Robbins on his right hand, injuring his pinky.

They said Robbins was taken to North Shore Medical Center and was expected to be transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital due to the extent of his injury. At one point, investigators said they considered Robbins a victim as well.

In a statement around 2:04 a.m., deputies said Robbins told them that he went to the victim’s home to discuss a prior incident.

They said Robbins claimed that while approaching Northwest 77th Street and Northwest 19th Avenue, two masked men exited a khaki-colored sedan and attacked both him and the victim before fleeing.

However, in a statement given about an hour later, the victim said Robbins arrived unannounced and began arguing over issues involving the victim’s daughter, who shares a child with Robbins, according to the report.

The report states that the victim told investigators Robbins became upset about his involvement in their affairs and began stabbing him. Authorities said the victim claimed he bit Robbins in self-defense.

After initially refusing to speak with detectives following a Miranda warning, deputies said Robbins later requested to speak with investigators and agreed to give a statement.

Robbins said he confronted the victim over an incident from several years ago and “felt threatened” after believing the victim had been watching him and driving past his home on multiple occasions, according to the report.

The report states that Robbins told investigators the confrontation turned physical, and he pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed the victim multiple times. He also said the victim asked him to stay and call police after the attack, according to investigators.

Deputies said shortly after the victim was stabbed, he was then struck by a vehicle whose driver remained at the scene.

MDSO told Local 10 News the victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday.

Jail records show Robbins is facing one count of attempted second-degree murder with a deadly weapon.

As of Thursday, Robbins was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Leer en español

According to deputies, prior to being located, Josiah K. Burrows was last seen April 8 in the 19100 block of Northeast Second Avenue.

Deputies said Burrows went to school that day and was dropped off at his usual bus stop after school, but hadn’t made contact with his family since.

They said he had, however, made contact with friends.

Deputies did not immediately confirm where Burrows was found or why he didn’t go home.

The 6-foot-11 forward arrived in Lawrence before the spring semester in 2025 and redshirted before playing last season, when Tiller was a regular in the starting lineup. He averaged 7.9 points and 6.1 rebounds, and one of his best games for Kansas came against the Tigers, when he had 13 points, five rebounds and five blocks in an 80-60 rout at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Missouri has been active in the transfer portal, landing Tennessee forward Jaylen Carey and Providence forward Jamier Jones.

Tiller visited the Tigers on Sunday and made the decision to join coach Dennis Gates over interest from Michigan, Georgia Tech, NC State, Arizona and others. He visited Miami but canceled a planned visit to Arizona.

Kansas already lost another big man, Flory Bidunga, who decided to transfer to Louisville.

___

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

In late February, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance reached a deal valued at $111 billion to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been at the center of many discussions at the trade show and convention about what the implications might be for the depleted exhibition business.

No one mentioned Paramount at the over two-hour Warner Bros. presentation on Tuesday, but several of the filmmakers who made appearances were among the thousands who signed an open letter opposing the merger, including Denis Villeneuve and J.J. Abrams. In fact, the only studio to reference it at all was Amazon MGM, itself the product of an $8.5 billion merger, and it was in an irreverent promo for the “Spaceballs” sequel.

James Cameron, who co-directed Paramount’s upcoming concert film “Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D),” is one of the few filmmakers who has said he supports the deal and is unbothered by the prospect of a Paramount-owned Warner Bros. In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Cameron praised Ellison as a “natural born storyteller” who “really cares about movies.”

“He’s the right man for the job to run a major studio, and now it looks like he’s going to have two of them, you know, swept under his leadership, which doesn’t bother me at all,” Cameron said.

Paramount, which closed its own $8 billion merger with Skydance just months ago, promised that it would release 15 movies in theaters in 2026, and Ellison has said that goal is 30 theatrical releases a year for a combined Warner Bros. and Paramount. The deal awaits a shareholder vote later this month and government regulatory approval at the state and federal level. The U.S. Justice Department still needs to weigh in on the blockbuster combination that could give Paramount pricing power over movies and other offerings, potentially hurting customers.

In documents filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paramount said, “Our priority is to build a vibrant, healthy business and industry — one that supports Hollywood and creative, benefits consumers, encourages competition, and strengthens the overall job market.”

They’ve also said they would look for ways to save some $6 billion through job cuts in “duplicative operations.”

Executives at Paramount have argued that merging with Warner will allow it to compete with bigger rivals particularly in the streaming space and bring larger content libraries for its customers. The 102-year-old Warner Bros. has a film library that includes “Harry Potter,” “Superman” and “Barbie.”

On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held a spotlight hearing in Washington, D.C., on the potential anticompetitive impact of the consolidation of two of Hollywood’s big five studios into one.

Actor Mark Ruffalo, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the merger said, “tens of thousands of workers will be left poorer, along with the audiences we serve.”

David Borenstein, who just won an Oscar for his documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” noted that it could further erode access to documentary filmmaking, “because a small number of distributors have consolidated power and decided to feed audiences a narrow and politically safe diet of content.” While neither Paramount Studios nor Warner Bros. are particularly well-known for their non-fiction releases, WBD companies CNN and HBO are.

At CinemaCon, however, Paramount may just stick to the upcoming releases. The studio has already had a hit this year in “Scream 7,” which has made over $212 million worldwide.

Celebrity deaths — including Chadwick Boseman in 2020 and James Van Der Beek earlier this year — have highlighted the increase in colorectal cancer deaths among younger adults, but the new paper was called the first to parse which people are most affected by the alarming rise.

The researchers found that over the last 30 years, the rise in colorectal cancer deaths in young adults occurred almost entirely among people without a four-year college degree.

Of course, getting a college degree doesn't protect you from getting colon cancer. Rather, experts say it's a marker for other issues: People without degrees tend to earn less money, have poorer diets, exercise less and get less medical care.

It’s not totally unexpected that the death risk is concentrated in the less advantaged, but the paper published Thursday in JAMA Oncology is the first national study to actually show the connection, said Dr. Paolo Boffetta, a researcher at Stony Brook Cancer Center in New York who wasn’t involved in the work.

American Cancer Society researchers used government data on more than 101,000 younger adults, ages 25 to 49, who died of colorectal cancer from 1994 through 2023.

Overall, the colorectal cancer death rate rose from about 3 per 100,000 in that age group to about 4 per 100,000. But for people who only made it through high school, the rate rose from 4 to 5.2 per 100,000, while the rate for people with at least a bachelor's degrees did not change from 2.7 per 100,000.

Ahmedin Jemal, the study’s first author, said the findings underscore the need for public awareness about colorectal cancer and for younger adults to heed screening recommendations. Symptoms can include blood in stool or rectal bleeding; changes in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of stool that lasts more than a few days; unintended weight loss; and cramps or abdominal pain.

The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 158,000 cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. Overall, it’s the nation’s second leading cancer killer, behind lung cancer, and is expected to claim more than 55,000 in 2026.

The number of deaths for adults younger than 50 is around 7% of the total — about 3,900. Earlier this year, cancer society researchers reported that colorectal cancer mortality in Americans under 50 had increased by 1.1% a year since 2005, making it now the deadliest cancer in that age group.

Scientists don't know what's behind that increase. But they note risk factors include obesity, lack of physical activity, a diet high in red or processed meat and low in fruits and vegetables, and a family history of colorectal cancer. The American Cancer Society changed its screening guidelines in 2021, lowering the age U.S. adults should start getting screened from 50 to 45.

Why did the researchers behind Thursday's study look at education level and not other factors?

Death certificates don’t detail how much money a person had, or most other aspects of their life. But they do note how much schooling someone completed. And other research has found that data often aligns with statistics about income, health insurance, physical activity and chronic disease. So education serves as a proxy, but can't speak to other factors, like whether the person had health insurance.

“The focus on education is really (due to) something which was available in the data,” Boffetta observed.

___

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.

Luna, who weighs about 34 pounds, is described as sweet and affectionate once she warms up to new people. Shelter officials say she can be a bit nervous at first but quickly becomes a cuddly companion who enjoys pets and snuggling.

“She’s a little shy in the beginning, but once she gets to know you, she really loves attention and being close,” said HSBC’s Cherie Wachter.

Wachter said Luna is potty trained and does well with children ages 10 and older. Her compatibility with cats is unknown.

While her exact breed is unclear, staff say she may be a mix and jokingly refer to her as a “petite basset griffon” type, though a DNA test would be needed to confirm.

In addition to adoptions, the shelter is hosting a plant sale fundraiser Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by its Paws Gala event next weekend.

All day long, she'd labored to understand when to speak up or stay silent in meetings. She replayed conversations in her head, worrying she'd misunderstood or said the wrong thing. Noisy environments distressed her. She watched her peers receive promotions when she didn't.

“I would come home burnt-out, anxious," Pilatzke said of her days working as an insurance claim specialist. "That just kept going, week after week, day after day.”

Her communication difficulties, sensitivity to noise and other problems at work began to make sense following her diagnosis, she said.

Pilatzke, 36, now spends her days teaching employers how to make workplaces more accommodating for people on the autism spectrum. She works as an inclusion specialist at Specialisterne Canada, a nonprofit that helps organizations to better support employee neurodiversity.

She also reframed the way she thinks about traits often associated with autism, viewing her ability to focus intensely and provide honest, direct feedback as strengths.

Below are some ways to make meetings and other work rituals more accessible for autistic people, according to several adults with autism and neurodiversity experts.

It begins with understanding

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that affects about 1 in 45 adults in the U.S., according to Autism Speaks, a nonprofit organization that supports autistic people and their families by funding research, providing resources and doing advocacy work.

It presents in a variety of ways but can create challenges with social skills, speech and nonverbal communication. Some common characteristics include repetitive behaviors and sensitivity to noise.

“Start by learning about different communication styles and being open-minded,” Subodh Garg, who appeared in the first season of the Netflix reality TV show “Love on the Spectrum,” said. “Inclusion begins with giving people a chance and making space for diverse ways of thinking and working. Employers can start with small intentional steps.”

Garg works part-time at a Southern California deli, where he handles invoices and restocks pastries. He also is studying to earn a bachelors degree and is a “champion of change” advocate at Autism Speaks.

Employers may have preconceived ideas about what autism means, when “the reality is, it is a massive spectrum,” said Rita Ramakrishnan, who is autistic and founded a consulting company that provides leadership coaching for neurodivergent executives. “There’s a community of people with much higher support needs, and then there are folks who are twice exceptional or otherwise extraordinarily high functioning. Their support needs are not as high, and their production capabilities are different. But they’re all valid autistic experiences.”

Organizations should consult autistic employees when crafting policies that are designed to make workplaces more inclusive, Ramakrishnan said.

“No one’s expecting you to be an expert in this, but we are expecting a level of curiosity, not judgment, and we would love the ability to have a conversation around our needs,” she said. “It doesn’t mean you have to accommodate all of them or redesign for all of them, but at least listening is the first step.”

Making meetings more accessible

Face-to-face communication can be difficult for some people with autism, so having the ability to participate in meetings online or through writing can be helpful, experts said.

“Changing the expectations for social engagement during a meeting is really important,” Ramakrishnan said. “In a neurotypical normative situation, things like eye contact are highly prized. I trust someone who makes eye contact with me. But for an autistic person, that is a scary thing.”

Making camera use optional during virtual meetings is a useful accommodation since said people with autism often feel pressure to “mask” their natural behaviors by mimicking the facial expressions of neurotypical colleagues, Pilatzke said.

“Things like that can actually cause a lot of anxiety for individuals that are neurodivergent,” she said. “So having that pressure removed can be helpful.”

Some people with autism find it’s easier to focus during virtual or in-person meetings when they’re doodling or walking around, said Natalie Longmire, a professor of organizational behavior at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business. Managers can make it explicit that those behaviors are accepted, she said.

Employees also can seek and normalize these types of accommodations by saying something like, “Hey if I get up and walk around, I’m doing that so I can be more engaged in what you’re saying,” Longmire suggested.

Share agendas in advance

Keith Wargo, president & CEO of Autism Speaks, said that before holding meetings, his organization sends out agendas broken into five-minute chunks. “Having that kind of structure, it’s good practice for everyone,” he said.

Allowing written input before and after meetings — and not prioritizing only what is spoken out loud during the allotted time — enables organizations to honor and take advantage of autistic individuals’ contributions, Ramakrishnan said.

“Be explicit about, for each agenda item, is this a discussion? Is this a brainstorm? Are we making a decision here?” Ramakrishnan added. “That gives an autistic person the chance to prepare what they need to."

“These are the folks that are going to come up with the ideas that nobody else thinks about,” she added.

Enable various modes of communication

Have multiple lanes available to participate in meetings, such as chat windows for attendees to type their contributions, said Abigayle Jayroe, senior vice president for strategic operations at NEXT for Autism. “There may be people who just don’t feel comfortable speaking,” Jayroe said. Turning on captions can help people who prefer to process information by reading, she added.

Normalizing the use of noise-canceling headphones and written communication can help, experts say. To reduce feelings of sensory overwhelm, an autistic participant could try saying, “I might ask a question over chat instead of raising my hand because it’s easier for me,” Longmire said.

Garg, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old, said he was non-verbal early on but learned over time how to communicate and connect with other people.

“One of the biggest challenges has been interviews because they focus a lot on social skills instead of the actual work,” he said. “Sometimes people misunderstand my communication style or underestimate what I can do. Even small things like clear instructions or written feedback really help me do my best.”

Encouraging naysayers

An issue some autistic people encounter at work or in social situations is having their tendency to speak in a forthright way misinterpreted as callousness, Ramakrishnan said. Colleagues can be explicit about whether it’s OK to be direct or whether they need to soften the language, she said.

In Pilatzke's view, many autistic people possess a strong sense of right and wrong, and feel a need to speak up when they perceive injustices. “I describe myself as a blunt person. I’m very honest. I’m going to say what I think,” she added.

Organizations can benefit from staffers' frankness by building a culture where everyone isn't expected to agree. Have a designated naysayer or devil’s advocate in brainstorming meetings, Jayroe suggested.

“The best ideas are built off of poking holes in what everyone agrees on. So it lays the groundwork longer term for a company to have their employees feel comfortable raising red flags or building on ideas," she said.

___

Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

In the first three days of the military action, 14 ships have turned around rather than confront the naval blockade, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Iran war.

Some Iran-linked or sanctioned vessels that have left the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for energy shipments, have appeared to halt their movements, turn off their radio transponders or head back toward Iran's coast, shipping data firms say.

Vessels that approach the blockade, which is being enforced in Iran’s territorial seas and international waters and not in the Strait of Hormuz, are given a warning, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.

“Any ship that would cross the blockade would result in our sailors executing pre-planned tactics designed to bring the force to that ship — if need be, board the ship and take her over,” he said.

U.S. Central Command released a recording of a radio broadcast sent to vessels in the region that said the military was ready to use force if needed to compel compliance with the blockade.

“Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure transiting to or from Iranian port,” the message said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that “less than 10% of America’s naval power” is being used to enforce the blockade. The Navy has 16 warships — 11 destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, an aircraft carrier, and a littoral combat ship — in the Middle East out of a battle force of roughly 300 total warships.

Also supporting the blockade is a series of different aircraft as well as surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence operations designed to give the Navy the latest information on the vessels it is encountering.

Restricting Iran's sea access is a global effort, Caine said, and U.S. military assets in other parts of the world, including in the Pacific, would pursue vessels illegally shipping Iranian oil or trying to provide material support to Tehran.

Caine noted the congestion of the area around the blockade, likening it to a crowded parking lot and U.S. destroyers to high-powered sports cars.

“There is a lot out there," Caine said. "It is like driving a sports car through a supermarket parking lot on a payday weekend, with thousands of kids in that parking lot, as you attempt to maneuver through there to get to that ship that would attempt to run that blockade.”

Weighing a mere 673 grams (1.4 pounds), Yuji represents the most recent case of assisted rearing at the Guadalajara Zoo in western Mexico.

The story of Yuji has captured the attention of the Mexican public, drawing parallels to Punch, the Japanese macaque that went viral on social media after growing up clinging to a stuffed orangutan following his mother’s rejection.

Unlike Punch, Yuji has not yet had physical contact with other members of his species; he spends most of his time inside a monkey crate at the Guadalajara Zoo’s Comprehensive Center for Animal Medicine and Welfare, CIMBA, where he is under the care of 12 veterinarians and biologists.

No date has been set for Yuji’s transfer to a habitat shared by 12 other adult patas monkeys and three other infants. That will depend on when he is weaned from a milk-only diet and starts an adult diet complete with fruits and vegetables, said veterinarian Iván Reynoso Ruiz, head of the primate section at the Guadalajara Zoo. That could happen when Yuji is around 6 months old, he said.

Just hours after giving birth on March 3, Kamaria began exhibiting irregular behavior. She struggled to hold her firstborn correctly, leaving the infant unable to secure a grip on its mother.

After noticing a problem, keepers separated the mother from her newborn, who weighed just 443 grams (less than a pound) and required immediate placement in an incubator at CIMBA to stabilize his temperature and safeguard his health, Reynoso Ruiz said.

This was the start of the infant's assisted rearing, a process often used by zoos to protect the health and development of at-risk offspring. A caregiver named him Yuji after a popular Japanese manga character.

During his first few weeks, Yuji was under round-the-clock supervision and was bottle-fed fortified milk.

From the start, Yuji was given a stuffed animal for comfort. Reynoso Ruiz explained that the toy fulfills the role of a mother by serving as his primary source of security. To maintain hygiene, staff rotate the original stuffed dog with two other toys — a bear and a monkey — to ensure he always has a clean companion.

To stimulate his development, caregivers outfitted Yuji’s crate with a small hammock and ropes. As he began gaining weight and sleeping for longer intervals, his team adjusted his feeding schedule. Yuji now receives the first of his four daily bottles at 7:00 a.m.

While the stories of Punch and Yuji have been popular on social media, some animal rights advocates oppose the practice of assisted rearing.

Diana Valencia, an animal rights activist, argues that there is no substitute for a natural habitat, and that animals “have the right to be born, grow, develop, and die where they belong.”

Responding to these criticisms, the Guadalajara Zoo’s primate expert emphasized that modern zoos provide a unique opportunity to protect species from global threats. He said the intervention was a matter of life or death, and that Yuji likely would have perished in the wild without a “second chance” at survival.

___

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

Robert Brito, who works for Hollywood Fire Rescue, was battling the blaze at a beachfront building last October when he realized his captain was running out of oxygen.

With visibility near zero, authorities said Brito used his own breathing apparatus to supply air to his captain, allowing both men to continue breathing and safely evacuate the building.

“At this point with no visibility, just pull it out, kind of reach for his and make the connection, and now at this point, he starts breathing off my bottle,” Brito said.

HFR Chief Jeffrey Levy said Brito’s actions highlight the importance of preparation and teamwork on the fireground.

“If you look at a lot of these tragic events that happen on these fires, it comes from lack of training and lack of communication. Everything worked out on this event,” he said.

Brito was honored Tuesday with the Service Above Self Award from the Rotary Club of Hollywood.

Los investigadores identificaron a los sospechosos en documentos de arresto como Kishawn Zell Walker Perkins, de 29 años, y Armon Christopher Jiles, de 26.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade indicaron que el primer incidente ocurrió el 13 de febrero en una sucursal de Chase ubicada en 18800 NW 56th Ct., cerca del límite con Miami Gardens.

Según los investigadores, video de vigilancia mostró a los sospechosos dentro de un Nissan Sentra color vino en el estacionamiento del banco mientras un cliente salía con una bolsa azul de dinero.

El informe señala que la víctima entró a su vehículo, colocó la bolsa en el asiento del pasajero y se retiró.

Las autoridades dijeron que los sospechosos salieron del estacionamiento segundos antes y siguieron a la víctima hasta una comunidad cerrada, entrando detrás de él sin inconvenientes.

Después de que la víctima entró a su casa, indicaron que el conductor, Walker Perkins, se detuvo frente a la vivienda mientras el pasajero, Jiles, se bajó, corrió hacia el vehículo de la víctima, abrió la puerta del conductor y sustrajo objetos antes de huir.

Los agentes dijeron que el segundo incidente ocurrió el 27 de marzo en otro banco Chase, ubicado en 8784 SW 72nd St., en el área de Dadeland, e involucró a una víctima de edad avanzada.

Las autoridades indicaron que esa víctima acababa de realizar una transacción en el banco y fue seguida hasta su hogar por un Nissan Sentra rojo.

Los investigadores determinaron que los sospechosos vigilaban a la víctima en el banco y lo seleccionaron tras notar que llevaba una riñonera, lo que sugería que había retirado dinero.

Cuando la víctima llegó a su complejo de apartamentos, los agentes dijeron que Jiles se bajó del vehículo y se le acercó en el estacionamiento. Indicaron que le arrebató la riñonera por la fuerza y, durante el forcejeo, la víctima cayó hacia atrás.

Tras tomar la riñonera, dijeron que Jiles golpeó a la víctima en la cabeza con la misma, causándole una laceración, antes de huir en un vehículo conducido por Walker Perkins.

El informe indica que la víctima sufrió una lesión en la cabeza, así como abrasiones en la rodilla y el codo, y fue trasladada a un hospital para recibir tratamiento. Las autoridades señalaron que sus lesiones podrían resultar en “desfiguración permanente”.

Los detectives indicaron que finalmente vincularon a los sospechosos con ambos incidentes mediante videos de vigilancia, las características distintivas del vehículo y su matrícula, así como registros de teléfonos celulares que los ubicaban cerca de las escenas.

Los investigadores también señalaron que observaron a la pareja visitando múltiples bancos en los días posteriores al robo, aparentemente en busca de más víctimas.

Ambos hombres fueron arrestados el martes y llevados a la unidad de robos de la MDSO, donde invocaron su derecho a guardar silencio.

Registros carcelarios muestran que ambos enfrentan un cargo de robo de vehículo desocupado en el caso de febrero y robo a mano armada con arma y agresión agravada contra una persona mayor en el caso de marzo.

Ambos permanecen detenidos en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. Hasta la tarde del miércoles, la fianza de Walker Perkins no había sido fijada, mientras que Jiles permanece sin derecho a fianza.

Los agentes no indicaron qué objetos o cuánto dinero, si alguno, lograron obtener los sospechosos en los incidentes.

Leer en español

Officers responded around 9 p.m. to the 2500 block of Northwest 21st Street after receiving reports of a possible shooting. When they arrived, they found two adults suffering from gunshot wounds.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue transported both victims to Broward Health Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

Officials said crews administered whole blood while on the way to the hospital.

Detectives are on scene, and the investigation remains active.

Los agentes respondieron alrededor de las 9 p.m. a la cuadra 2500 de Northwest 21st Street tras recibir reportes de un posible tiroteo. Al llegar, encontraron a dos adultos con heridas de bala.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue trasladó a ambas víctimas al Broward Health Medical Center con lesiones que ponen en peligro sus vidas.

Las autoridades indicaron que los equipos administraron sangre total mientras eran transportados al hospital.

Detectives permanecen en la escena y la investigación continúa activa.

Leer en español

The video shows the man running along a road, seemingly evading police before officers in Zionsville take him down and cuff him.

Jose Elias Barrozo-Espinosa, 38, also known as Fabian Eliseo Llancavil Nahuel, was arrested late last month.

According to Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies, the Chilean national left blood behind at the Weston scene on Nov. 8, proving crucial to identifying him.

According to an arrest warrant, at the Weston home, “unknown suspects” shattered a master bedroom window and got in, stealing a safe containing roughly $500,000 in gold and jewelry.

DNA evidence taken from blood left on a shade near the shattered window and on the floor came back to Barrozo-Espinosa.

An Indianapolis news outlet reports that Barrozo-Espinosa also has a warrant out of Texas and that the case is linked to “similar cases of South American gangs targeting suburban homes.”

Several other Chilean nationals have been accused of burglarizing homes nationwide, including those belonging to professional athletes.

The BSO arrest warrant doesn’t identify the homeowner, whose address was redacted.

As of Thursday, Barrozo-Espinosa remained in jail on an immigration hold.

El video muestra al hombre corriendo por una carretera, aparentemente evadiendo a la policía, antes de que agentes en Zionsville lo derriben y lo esposen.

Jose Elias Barrozo-Espinosa, de 38 años, también conocido como Fabian Eliseo Llancavil Nahuel, fue arrestado a finales del mes pasado.

Según agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, el ciudadano chileno dejó rastros de sangre en la escena en Weston el 8 de noviembre, lo que resultó clave para identificarlo.

De acuerdo con una orden de arresto, en la vivienda de Weston, “sospechosos desconocidos” rompieron una ventana del dormitorio principal para ingresar y robar una caja fuerte que contenía aproximadamente $500,000 USD en oro y joyas.

Evidencia de ADN obtenida de la sangre dejada en una persiana cerca de la ventana rota y en el suelo coincidió con Barrozo-Espinosa.

Un medio de noticias de Indianápolis informó que Barrozo-Espinosa también tiene una orden de arresto en Texas y que el caso está vinculado a “casos similares de pandillas sudamericanas que atacan viviendas en zonas suburbanas”.

Varios otros ciudadanos chilenos han sido acusados de robar viviendas en todo el país, incluyendo las de atletas profesionales.

La orden de arresto de la BSO no identifica al propietario de la vivienda, cuya dirección fue censurada.

Hasta el jueves, Barrozo-Espinosa permanecía en la cárcel bajo una retención migratoria.

We could see a stray shower or two to cool us down, but the majority of the weekend will be dry. There’s a higher chance of showers on Monday as a weak front moves our way. This front will also bring highs back below average, to around 80° on Tuesday.

It's still jazzing up iceberg and romaine. But ranch now competes with the likes of ketchup and other condiments, a creamy dip for everything from hot wings and fried pickles to — perhaps most controversially — pizza.

It's ubiquitous, a versatile staple of American foodways easily found in grocery stores, recipes and on menus. There are entire cookbooks and a restaurant dedicated to the flavor.

Beloved and maligned, ranch also turns up in the country's cultural intangibles. Writers have labeled it the “Great American Condiment,” and less flatteringly, “extravagant and trashy.” It carries a nostalgia, said Nick Higgins, an executive for Hidden Valley Ranch's parent company, which taps into that sentimentalism and fosters the ranch fandom.

The viral food fights their product inspires? They embrace those, too. “We love it," he said. “It's one of the things we can debate as people and it's OK.”

How ranch got to that mountaintop is an American story, a difficult feat that evokes the country's entrepreneurial spirit.

“What started out almost as a lark became a multimillion-dollar industry,” the late Steve Henson explained in a Los Angeles Times piece about his famous dressing and Hidden Valley Ranch, the mail-order business he launched in the 1950s and sold to The Clorox Company two decades later.

As a plumbing contractor in Alaska, Henson first served it to workers. His herbs, spices, buttermilk and mayo concoction then became such a hit with guests at Hidden Valley, the dude ranch he and his wife opened in California, that he sold it as a DIY dry mix. Eventually, Clorox bottled a shelf-stable version, and competitors like Ken's, Kraft Foods and Wish-Bone joined in.

Debbie Wilson Potts loves ranch. Her family owns Cold Spring Tavern in California, the first to serve Henson's dressing outside of his dude ranch. Her late aunt, who knew Henson, once described her first taste: “It took off in my mouth like a freight train.”

It also took off across America. In his book “American Cuisine and How It Got This Way," Paul Freedman lists ranch dressing alongside sushi, arugula and other food fads and fashions of the 1980s, the same decade that gave the country Cool Ranch Doritos. After 40 years of popularity, ranch, he said, is likely here to stay.

___

As AP’s religion news editor, Holly Meyer has years of experience documenting faith in American life. This story is part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.

The quintessential American toy started in 1902 as just clothing scraps and sawdust stitched together by Morris and Rose Michtom, Jewish candy store owners in Brooklyn.

“Nothing says childhood better than a teddy bear,” says Michael Kimmel, author of “Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America” and Morris Michtom's great-great-nephew. “It’s an utterly genderless toy. It is embraced by both boys and girls.”

The teddy bear's origin story actually starts earlier that year. President Theodore Roosevelt had refused to shoot a tied-up black bear during a hunting trip. Cartoonist Clifford Berryman published a political cartoon depicting Roosevelt's decision that caught the Michtoms' eyes. They were inspired to fashion a toy that went on to be called “Teddy's Bear” as a nod to the president and his nickname.

And a fad was born.

After selling a few, the Michtoms received more orders. Copycats emerged. The teddy bear was widely considered the first stuffed toy that wasn't a rag or porcelain doll, Kimmel said. It was affordable, comforting and kid-size. Some preachers actually worried the playful plushies would somehow corrupt young girls and extinguish their desire to be a mother.

Over the decades, the teddy bear became an icon. Elvis Presley crooned about being someone's “lovin' teddy bear.” An original Michtom-crafted teddy bear retains a place of honor in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. And, of course, being a “teddy bear” has come to mean someone who is, in general, sweet and cuddly.

Says Kimmel: “There are people who, when they finally move out of the house and go to college or get married, that’s the one thing that they just can’t part with because it connects them to that innocent childhood.”

___

Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.

Leer en español

It happened Sunday around 11:30 p.m. near the main stage of the event off Northeast 62nd Street and Second Avenue.

Authorities said three people were shot and rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Two of the victims are recovering, but 23-year-old Kitchner Cyrlle did not survive.

In an online post, family members identified one of the victim as Crylle’s cousin, saying that he underwent surgery on his stomach.

Police are still actively searching for the shooter.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Miami police or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

Loved ones of the victim created a GoFundMe page to help the family with expenses, and it can be found by clicking here.

But it’s also notable because it’s an outlier. It is a tree with a majestic presence that dwarfs the common maples and pines nearby — a living reminder of how much old-growth forest has been lost.

In the eastern United States, that rare sense of awe was once supplied in bulk by the American chestnut.

Its presence stunned: mature trees rose above the hardwood canopy supported by trunks wider than a person is tall. It was a centerpiece of the ecosystem, producing so many chestnuts that it boosted the numbers of turkeys, bears and deer that, in turn, spread the trees’ seeds. American chestnut’s straight grain was useful in furniture and it made fenceposts that encircled farms and shrugged off pests and wear.

There were billions of them at the turn of the 20th century, their abundant fruit moved by railcar to cities for sale on street corners. We still sing about them during the holidays.

And then they started dying.

It was disease that forever changed the American landscape. A deadly airborne fungal blight coupled with a lethal root rot that killed them by the millions. By the 1950s, the tree was functionally extinct.

That was long enough ago that few remember what it was like to live among them. But what they once offered isn’t forgotten. Their size still impresses in old photos. Associations are dedicated to their story. And to bringing them back.

Another type of chestnut, the Chinese chestnut, had been introduced to the United States for its valuable nuts. It doesn’t grow as tall, but it can resist disease.

Arborists have tried to breed the advantageous, disease-resistant attributes into the American chestnut. That has turned out to be tremendously hard. Simple breeding techniques don’t work well, and recent efforts to sequence the DNA of the trees reveals why — their desirable traits are scattered across multiple spots along their genome.

But the DNA sequence also provides a map to breed trees that are more likely to survive.

Researchers hope in the coming decades, there will be enough healthy trees for the species to not need humans, to once again rely on the meanderings of bears and forgetfulness of squirrels.

___

This story is part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more stories on the anniversary, click here. The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit here.

Ocurrió el domingo alrededor de las 11:30 p.m. cerca del escenario principal del evento, en Northeast 62nd Street y Second Avenue.

Las autoridades informaron que tres personas fueron baleadas y trasladadas de urgencia al hospital Jackson Memorial.

Dos de las víctimas se están recuperando, pero Kitchner Cyrlle, de 23 años, no sobrevivió.

En una publicación en línea, familiares identificaron a una de las víctimas como primo de Cyrlle, indicando que fue sometido a una cirugía en el estómago.

La policía continúa buscando activamente al tirador.

Se insta a cualquier persona con información a comunicarse con la policía de Miami o con Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-TIPS.

Los seres queridos de la víctima crearon una página en GoFundMe para ayudar a la familia con los gastos, la cual puede encontrarse haciendo clic aquí.

Local 10 estuvo en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight de Miami-Dade cuando fue recibida afuera de la cárcel por amigas y compañeras del elenco Alexia Nepola y Adriana de Moura.

Hochstein se dirigió brevemente a sus seguidores, diciendo “Los quiero mucho a todos. Amo a todos mis fans” y enviándoles buenos deseos, pero no comentó directamente sobre las acusaciones.

Su abogada, Jayne Weintraub, dijo “No estamos hablando de grabaciones”, y agregó que el caso ha “iniciado el proceso” y que espera que “se resuelva muy pronto”.

Page Six publicó fotos de la estrella de reality sonriendo al llegar al TGK la mañana del miércoles, acompañada por Weintraub.

Los registros de la cárcel en línea muestran que tenía una orden de arresto en su contra y una fianza de $5,000 USD.

Un documento judicial del 19 de marzo obtenido inicialmente por Local 10 News indica que Hochstein y su ex novio, Jody Glidden, de 52 años, enfrentan cada uno un cargo por interceptación de comunicaciones por cable, orales o electrónicas.

Una descripción de los cargos indica que entre el 12 y el 31 de marzo de 2023, ambos “ilegal e intencionalmente” interceptaron, intentaron interceptar o intentaron que otra persona interceptara “declaraciones orales de Leonard Hochstein y de las personas con las que él hablaba”.

Según la orden de arresto de Lisa Hochstein, ella y Glidden colocaron un dispositivo de grabación en el piso del asiento del conductor del Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 SUV plateado modelo 2023 del doctor Leonard “Lenny” Hochstein, luego de que la estrella de reality le pidiera prestado el vehículo porque estaba considerando comprar uno propio.

Lenny Hochstein, un destacado cirujano plástico del sur de Florida, dijo a los detectives en mayo de 2023 que informó de inmediato a su abogado tras descubrir el dispositivo y que el abogado luego contrató a un investigador privado para examinarlo, según la orden.

De acuerdo con la orden, se recuperaron un total de 98 grabaciones del dispositivo, incluyendo una conversación entre Lisa Hochstein y Glidden mientras el dispositivo era “colocado a la fuerza en su lugar”.

Además de conversaciones entre Lenny Hochstein y otras personas con las que hablaba mientras estaba en su vehículo, un detective recuperó grabaciones eliminadas del dispositivo, incluyendo una grabación de Lisa Hochstein y Glidden participando en “actividades íntimas”, según la orden.

Los registros muestran que Glidden fue puesto bajo custodia el sábado. Desde entonces ha sido liberado de la cárcel.

El divorcio de Lisa y Lenny Hochstein se finalizó en noviembre de 2024. Comparten dos hijos.

Weintraub, abogada defensora de Lisa Hochstein, y los abogados Howard Srebnick y Frank Gaviria, defensa de Glidden, emitieron un comunicado conjunto a Local 10 News el lunes por la tarde en el que señalaron: “Este asunto forma parte de un proceso de divorcio contencioso y no corresponde a la corte penal”.

La audiencia de lectura de cargos de Glidden está programada para el jueves, mientras que la de Lisa Hochstein está fijada para el 20 de abril.

Los registros de la cárcel en línea muestran que Jammiah Catera Broomfield, de 28 años, fue ingresada el martes en el Centro de Detención Paul Rein enfrentando múltiples cargos, incluyendo tráfico de metanfetamina, conducir con licencia suspendida o revocada, resistirse a un agente sin violencia y violación de libertad condicional.

Broomfield es cantante y compositora.

Previamente había sido acusada de hurto mayor y se encontraba en libertad bajo fianza, en espera de juicio antes de su arresto el martes.

La Policía de Fort Lauderdale informó que intentaron detener a Broomfield el martes, al reconocer su vehículo como uno que previamente había huido de detectives.

Según el informe de arresto, Broomfield conducía de manera errática mientras intentaba evadir a la policía, y finalmente salió del vehículo y huyó a pie.

Sin embargo, los detectives la alcanzaron en Northwest 25th Way, al otro lado de la calle de la escuela secundaria Dillard, y la pusieron bajo custodia.

Según los registros de la cárcel en línea, Broomfield permanece detenida debido a una orden pendiente del condado Palm Beach.

Los Angeles' 2025 spending included records for payroll at $345.3 million and tax of $169.4 million for a total of $514.6 million. Despite several contracts discounted to reflect deferred payments, the Dodgers' total was seven times the $68.7 million payroll of the Miami Marlins, the lowest-spending team, and more than the payrolls of the bottom six clubs combined.

Spending by the Dodgers last year topped the previous high of $430.4 million by the 2024 New York Mets — and Los Angeles' total didn't include the $6.5 million signing bonus given pitcher Roki Sasaki as part of a minor league contract.

The Mets and Dodgers combined to spend $948.3 million. The ratio of the five highest spenders to the five lowest increased from 3.6 in 2021 to a record-high 4.7 last year.

The Dodgers in 2025 ended the Mets' three-year streak as the top payroll, boosted by $8.5 million in earned bonuses by retiring ace Clayton Kershaw.

Los Angeles' total would have been about $71 million higher but for the use of deferred money for seven players that resulted in discounting for their payroll calculations. Shohei Ohtani counts at $28.2 million because $68 million of his $70 million salary last year isn't due until 2035.

The Mets finished second in payroll at $342.1 million and with tax had a total spend of $433.7 million.

In the first five seasons after owner Steve Cohen bought the team, the Mets spent $1.44 billion without winning a title: $1.11 billion in payroll and $320 million in tax.

Both the Mets and Dodgers exceeded the previous record-high payroll set by the 2024 Mets at $333.3 million.

Lois Angeles is projected as of MLB’s opening-day figures to lead in 2026 spending with a $323.3 million payroll for its 40-man roster and a $163.7 million tax for a $487.1 million total. The Mets began with a record payroll at $358.4 million and have a projected tax of $124.1 million for a $482.5 million spend.

Cleveland has the lowest opening day 40-man payroll this year at $75.5 million.

Total spending, based on regular payrolls, rose 3.1% to $5.32 billion last year from $5.16 billion in 2024 and has increased 31.3% in four seasons under the current labor contract from $4.05 billion in 2021.

Those figures do not include the $50 million annual pre-arbitration bonus pool that began in the 2022 collective bargaining agreement or allocations for benefits, which are included in MLB's luxury tax payrolls.

Among luxury tax payrolls, eight teams began 2026 over the $244 million tax threshold. The Dodgers ($415.2 million), Mets ($379.2 million) and New York Yankees ($339.6 million) were followed by Toronto ($319.5 million), Philadelphia ($315.2 million), Boston ($263.7 million), San Diego ($260.1 million) and Atlanta ($247.9 million).

The Chicago Cubs started $25,000 under and Detroit $2.5 million below. Payrolls increase and decrease during the season due to trades and roster moves.

The Yankees finished 2025 with the third-highest regular payroll at $301.5 million, followed by Philadelphia ($291.9 million), AL champion Toronto ($253.1 million), Houston ($236.4 million) and Texas ($229.9 million).

Four of the top five spenders reached the playoffs, except the Mets, along with teams whose payrolls ranked ninth, 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd and 25th.

The Dodgers boosted payroll the most in 2025 at $74.4 million. Other teams with big 2025 increases were Detroit ($61.9 million), Baltimore ($60.2 million to $165.6 million), San Diego ($45.6 million to $217.6 million), Philadelphia ($42.8 million) and Toronto ($34.7 million).

Fifteen teams cut payroll from 2024 to 2025, led by the Chicago White Sox (by $66.1 million to $87.9 million), St. Louis ($39.3 million to $139.1 million), Miami ($29.4 million to $68.8 million) and San Francisco (by $28 million to $182.9 million). The Cardinals have further slashed payroll to $102.3 million on opening day this year, and that includes about $47.4 million attributable to trades involving three players no longer with the Cardinals: Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras.

The Yankees cut payroll by $9.4 million from 2024 to 2025 and have raised it to $302.8 million this year.

Eleven teams topped $200 million in 2025, matching the record set in 2023. Five teams were below $100 million, one more than the record-low in 2024.

Regular payrolls for last year are based on 2025 salaries, earned bonuses and prorated shares of signing bonuses and non-cash compensation for 40-man rosters. Deferred salaries and bonus payments are discounted to present-day values, and termination pay, option buyouts and cash transactions among clubs are accounted for.

MLB calculated the average salary as of Aug. 31, the last day before active rosters expanded to 26, at $4,611,595. The players' association, using a slightly different methodology, arrived at $4,721,393,

Luxury tax is based on payrolls with average annual values that include benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. The players' association doesn't think tax payments should be used in measuring disparity because half the tax money goes to a commissioner’s discretionary fund distributed among teams eligible to receive revenue-sharing money which have grown their non-media local revenue.

___

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

The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending April 11 fell by 11,000 to 207,000 from the previous week’s 218,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s less than the 217,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting but within the range of the past several years.

Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

The Iran war, now in its seventh week, has injected a large degree of uncertainty about how it will affect the U.S. and global economies even as Iran and the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire last week.

U.S. financial markets have rebounded in recent weeks and oil prices have settled in around $92 per barrel, better than last week’s $112 but still 37% higher than before the war began. Gas prices also remain elevated, saddling businesses and consumers with higher costs.

The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades sent consumer prices up 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday. That’s up sharply from just 2.4% in February and the biggest yearly increase since May 2024. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

This comes at a time when U.S. inflation was already above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, further diminishing the chances of an interest rate cut by central bank officials any time soon.

Fed officials voted to raise the rate three times to close 2025 out of concern for a weakening job market but have held off lowering rates further this year.

The Labor Department reported earlier this month that U.S. employers added an unexpectedly strong 178,000 new jobs in March, nudging the unemployment rate back down to 4.3%. That followed a surprisingly large loss of 92,000 jobs in February. Revisions also have trimmed 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls, a sign that the labor market remains under strain.

A number of high-profile companies have cut jobs recently, including Morgan Stanley,Block, UPSand Amazon.

Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff rollouts, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

Employers added fewer than 200,000 jobs last year, compared with about 1.5 million in 2024, according to the data firm FactSet.

The American labor market appears stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low, but has left those out of work struggling to find a new job.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 500 to 209,750.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 4 rose by 31,000 to 1.82 million, in line with analyst forecasts.

Joseph Isaac McCann, 45, was questioned by police on Monday, four days after his partner, Ashly Robinson, better known online as Ashlee Jenae, was found dead in her room.

The Deputy Director of Investigations in Zanzibar, Zuberi Chembera, refused to comment on Thursday, saying that investigations were ongoing.

Police said witness accounts indicate that the couple arrived at Zuri Hotel in Zanzibar on April 4 and had been quarreling frequently until the night of April 8, when hotel management separated them and asked McCann to move to a separate villa about a 10-minute walk away.

A few hours later, a hotel worker found Robinson, who is based in Miami, unresponsive in a closet, with a belt around her neck, police said. She was taken to a hospital, where she died the following day.

Her family told CBS News that McCann called them and said something had happened, but the hotel management later called to inform them that their daughter had died. The parents said they are seeking transparency.

The France captain and the Champions League's greatest club are still waiting for that win.

Meanwhile, PSG lifted the Champions League trophy right after his departure and is back in the semifinals this season.

Mbappé's latest hopes of breaking through with his first European title ended with Madrid's elimination by Bayern Munich in Wednesday's quarterfinals.

Madrid is on the brink of going a second straight season without a major trophy since adding Mbappé in one of the most high-profile signings ever.

The club's only triumphs with Mbappé came in the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, both in 2024. Madrid hasn't won a title in Spain since the forward arrived.

The only remaining chance for a trophy this season is in La Liga but Madrid trails leader Barcelona by nine points with seven rounds left.

Mbappé has received some criticism from fans despite his goals, and the pressure on him is expected to only increase after yet another failure in the Champions League.

Here's a look at how Madrid and Mbappé have fared during this rare trophyless run:

Champions League

In his first attempt to win the Champions League with Madrid in 2024-25, a Mbappé getting used to his new team scored seven goals, six fewer than the top scorers. The defending champion at the time, Madrid was eliminated by Arsenal in the quarterfinals.

This season, a much more settle Mbappé has left the quarterfinals again but as the leading scorer with 15, two shy of Cristiano's Ronaldo record of 17 in a single season. Mbappé scored on Wednesday in the 4-3 loss at Bayern Munich.

Spanish league

In his debut in the league in 2024-25, Mbappé was the league top scorer with 31, four more than Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, his closest competitor. But Madrid finished four points behind the Catalan club in the standings.

Mbappé is the league leading marksman again this season with 23, two more than Vedad Muriqi of Mallorca. Madrid had been keeping pace with Barcelona but it didn't win its last matches and has lost ground.

Copa del Rey

Last year, Madrid got past Real Sociedad in the semifinals but lost to Barcelona 3-2 in the final, where Mbappé scored. This season, Madrid was shocked by second-division Albacete in the round of 16, with the elimination coming just after the team dumped coach Xabi Alonso for Álvaro Arbeloa.

Spanish Super Cup

Mbappé scored in the 2025 final but Madrid was routed 5-2 by Barcelona. The Catalan rival beat Mbappé's Madrid again (3-2) in the final this season.

___

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

No U.S. personnel were harmed, the U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post.

Several such strikes have been announced in recent days as the Trump administration continues its aggressive anti-cartel actions in international waters. At least 178 people have been killed in the strikes since the effort began in early September, months before the U.S. raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The Southern Command described the attack Wednesday as a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization." It said the vessel was transiting along "known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.

The announcement did not name the organization or the three men killed in the strike or offer a more precise location. Nor did it provide evidence of the men's ties to drug trafficking.

Yutaka Matsushige, the actor who plays main character Goro Inogashira, expected the show to end quietly in a short time. It didn't. “Kodoku no Gurume,” the show's title in Japanese, steadily gained popularity across Japan and beyond and just began its 11th season this month.

Based on a popular comic by writer Masayuki Kusumi and artist Jiro Taniguchi, “The Solitary Gourmet” last year became a film directed and written by Matsushige, who also stars in the big screen version.

“The drama is about a man just eating food," Matsushige said during a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday marking the start of the latest season. "But the simple notion of 'delicious' can go beyond the differences of language or ethnicity, something everyone can easily relate to."

The show has become a phenomenon across Asia and Matsushige has acquired a huge fan base in South Korea, Taiwan and China. After filming the movie in Japan, South Korea and Paris, he hopes to share the drama with people around the world.

Each episode starts with Inogashira visiting a client, such as a downtown mom-and-pop store. When he finishes working, he suddenly feels hungry and looks for a local restaurant. His eating scenes are documentary style, with his inner monologue describing his happiness and sense of freedom in searching out and finding places that appeal to him and serve good food.

“To me, eating is about telling a story,” Matsushige said, adding that his job as an actor is to show the story behind the eatery, highlighting the dishes and how they taste. “What I intend to do in this drama is to show the audience to watch, imagine and enjoy.”

At a time of global friction, the simple act of eating can help understanding between countries, said Matsushige, who is developing ideas for future projects outside Japan.

Asked who would be a good candidate to play his character in a Hollywood remake, Matsushige suggested Nicolas Cage based on his appearance, which he said is closer to the original manga comic than his.

Joking with the audience, he added, "George Clooney could also be a good candidate."

The total amount is up 5.3 million euros from last year. Play begins on Sunday, May 24 at Roland Garros in western Paris.

Men's and women's singles champions each receive 2.8 million euros and the runners-up 1.4 million euros. Semifinalists earn 750,000 euros and first round losers get 87,000 euros.

Men's and women's doubles winners pocket 600,000 euros and the mixed doubles champions get 122,000 euros.

Last year, Carlos Alcaraz staged an epic comeback to beat Jannik Sinner in a five-set final and Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka for the women's title.

There will be an opening ceremony before the men’s and women’s finals, lasting about six minutes, with French choreographer Benjamin Millepied in charge of the program.

Also for the first time, players can wear data-collecting portable devices on court in order to gain information on their physical performances, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said at a news conference on Thursday.

Privacy for players

Mauresmo repeated the importance of privacy for players — an issue raised by Iga Swiatek and Gauff at this year's Australian Open.

Gauff's racket-smashing away from the court went viral. Swiatek said the seemingly limitless access-all-areas cameras that track players made them feel they were being watched like “animals in the zoo.”

Without mentioning the Australian Open itself, Mauresmo said tennis should “maintain respect for privacy” and have a secluded space.

“Players need a private area, something which will not change,” she said. “No cam access (there).”

Upholding traditions

This year, a local amateur beat Sinner and went on to become a millionaire in Australian dollars after winning the newly invented 1 Point Slam at the Australian Open.

Don't expect it at the French Open.

“Our ambition is not to repeat everything that's done elsewhere," Mauresmo said. "This is not something that corresponds to us, to the image of Roland Garros."

The French Open is also unflinching on the electronic line-calling adopted by Wimbledon and most big tennis tournaments; instead remaining committed to human line judges.

“They are not 100% reliable,” Mauresmo said, "but our decision was to stick to our way.”

However, Mauresmo was open to women playing five-set matches like their male counterparts.

“You can't change a format overnight to go from best of three to best of five. But if we think about it, would it be only the semifinal, the final, or for all matches?" the former Wimbledon champion asked. “This could be a win-win situation but we have to talk about this with the women players.”

The former women's No. 1 would have wanted to.

“As a player when I did the Masters final (in 2005) they had just stopped this,” Mauresmo said. "I would have wanted to do the final in best of five. So maybe one day, you never know.”

Mauresmo was also asked about scheduling for evening matches.

“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” she said without going into details. “Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”

Last year there were a lack of women’s matches during the night sessions.

On the final Saturday there has been one change: The men’s doubles final will be played before the women’s singles final and not afterward.

Entertaining fans

There will be a Jardin des Chefs — a chefs' garden — for fans to sample French gastronomy in an area next to Court Simonne-Mathieu. A small army of 13 French chefs will work daily, three on duty each day.

The famed Concorde Square — with its iconic Egyptian Obelisk — will again show matches on a big screen for free during the second week from June 3-7.

The tournament will pay tribute to French veteran Gaël Monfils and 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, who are retiring at the end of the season.

Clay is the way

The French Open is synonymous with clay the way Wimbledon is with grass.

Keen to build on that identity, French Tennis Federation director Gilles Moretton said there will be a strong investment in building more clay courts, real or synthetic.

Clay courts currently make up only 13% of courts in France. ___

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

Leer en español

According to the outlet, the 20-year-old influencer, whose real name is Braden Peters, was taken to an emergency room after his livestream was abruptly cut off.

Local 10 is working to obtain that livestream video, but in it, Peters is apparently seen speaking with a young woman at a bar in Miami while appearing to be under the influence.

It was not immediately clear which substance or substances Peters may have consumed prior to the alleged overdose.

Miami police confirmed to Local 10 that they were called to assist Miami Fire Rescue at 8:46 p.m., however the complainant was already gone when they arrived.

MFR officials said the individual, who they did not name, was “possibly rushed away in a vehicle” before they were able to make contact with him.

Peters appears to have been released from the hospital as he took to X Wednesday morning to talk about the ordeal.

“Just got home, that was brutal,” he wrote. “All of the substances are just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn’t a real solution. The worst part of tonight was my face descending from the life support mask.”

TMZ reports reports that Peters was determined to show up at Miami Beach’s first streaming nightclub, Bacara Club, where tables are reportedly selling for thousands of dollars.

“I hope that that will be a wake up call for him,” said CC Walknine, who is associated with the Bacara Club.

The space encourages influencers to livestream, solving issues where streamers are being banned from conventional venues.

About two weeks ago, Peters was arrested by police in Fort Lauderdale on a warrant out of Osceola County for misdemeanor battery and conspiracy to commit battery.

The arch is one of several projects that the Republican president is pursuing alongside a White House ballroom to leave his lasting imprint on Washington.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted to approve the concept design for the arch. The seven commissioners, all appointed by Trump, will review an updated version of the design before taking a final vote at a future meeting.

Trump said last week on social media that the arch “will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World” and a "wonderful addition to the Washington D.C. area for all Americans to enjoy for many decades to come!”

Also on the agenda for the commission's monthly meeting was his plan to paint the gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is next to the White House, white.

A third White House-related project, construction of an underground center to conduct security screenings of tourists and other guests, was also up for consideration.

Triumphal Arch

The arch would stand 250 feet tall (76 meters) from its base to a torch held aloft by a Lady Liberty-like figure atop the structure. That figure would be flanked up top by two eagles and guarded at the base by four lions — all gilded. The phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All" would be inscribed in gold lettering atop either side of the monument.

The commission's vice chairman, architect James McCrery II, said he preferred the arch without the figure and eagles on top. McCrery also objected to the lions on the base.

The arch would be built on a human-made island managed by the National Park Service on the Virginia side of the Potomac River at the end of Memorial Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The arch would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 meters) tall, and be close to half the height of the Washington Monument, an obelisk that is about 555 feet (169 meters) tall.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the arch's 250-foot height will honor America's 250 years of existence.

A group of veterans and a historian has sued in federal court to block construction on the grounds that the arch would disrupt the sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery, among other reasons.

Underground screening center for White House visitors

The U.S. Secret Service, Interior Department, National Park Service, and the Executive Office of the President want to start construction in August on a 33,000-square-foot (3,066-square-meter) center to screen tourists and other visitors to the White House.

It would be built beneath Sherman Park, federal land southwest of the White House, to provide a more secure place to screen those going on White House tours or attending events. The new facility would have seven lanes to ease processing and reduce wait times.

Officials want it operating by July 2028, six months before Trump’s term ends.

Eisenhower Executive Office Building paint job

Trump said the Executive Office Building is beautiful, but he does not like its gray exterior.

“It’s one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere in Washington," Trump said in August. “I think it’s just incredible, but you have to get past the color because the stone they used was a really bad color.”

Two proposals were given to the commission: Cover the entire building in bright white or paint most of it white while leaving untouched the granite on the exposed basement and subbasement.

In written materials, the White House said the building has been largely neglected since its construction. It said the building's color, design and massing do not “align visually with the surrounding architecture” and lack ”any symbolic cohesion with the White House.”

The paint job is also the subject of litigation in federal court.

The building sits across a driveway from the West Wing. It was completed in 1888 after 17 years of construction, and its granite, slate, and cast iron exterior makes it one of America’s best examples of the French Second Empire style of architecture.

It originally housed the departments of State, War and Navy. It currently houses offices for the vice president and the National Security Council, among others.

The building is a National Historic Landmark and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The bill expected for a vote Thursday would require the Trump administration to extend for three years Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, which would allow hundreds of thousands of qualifying immigrants to remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation. House Democrats forced the bill forward Wednesday, joined by a small number of Republicans, over the objections of House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leadership.

Trump’s attempt to end the status for Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and other nations in crisis "is cruel, unlawful, & life-threatening,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., on social media. She is co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus and represents one of the largest Haitian communities in the country.

The congresswoman said deporting people back to Haiti would be a “death sentence” in a country ravaged by natural disaster and gang violence.

"This is common-sense policy that will save lives," she said during Wednesday's floor debate. "Congress can help. Congress can do the right thing."

Congress races ahead of Supreme Court action

The outcome is the latest effort by House Democrats to maneuver past the Republican majority using a so-called discharge petition — once a rare tool that is being increasingly wielded to form bipartisan coalitions.

The effort to help the immigrants from Haiti comes as President Donald Trump's administration is working to end Temporary Protected Status for several groups of immigrants, exposing them to the possibility of deportation.

In a matter of days, the Supreme Court is prepared to consider a fast-track case that would end the protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants in a challenge that is widely seen as threatening the broader program. The Trump administration filed emergency appeals after lower courts stopped the immediate end of the program for 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,000 people from Syria.

It's part of the administration's efforts to strip certain immigrant groups of legal status as the White House works to fulfill Trump's campaign promise of conducting the largest mass deportation operation in history. Some 1.3 million people fleeing countries around the world have been granted temporary protected status.

Protections for Haitians were first granted in 2010 after a devastating earthquake that has displaced more than 1 million people, according to court documents. The protections have been extended multiple times as the country has experienced violence and upheaval.

The conservative-majority court has sided with the Trump administration on the issue before and allowed the end of temporary legal status for a total of 600,000 people from Venezuela while lawsuits play out, leaving them to face potential deportation.

Trump has described migrants from poorer countries in vulgar terms, and he has falsely accused Haitian migrants in Ohio of eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs.

Rep. Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., whose district includes Long Island's Haitian community, said she promised constituents she would work to protect their status and introduced the legislation as soon as she took office last year.

“It's cruel to expect Haitians to be forced to return to these deadly, dangerous conditions,” she told a press conference. “Human lives are at risk.”

Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said the hundreds of thousands of Haitian status holders in the U.S. have become an inseparable part of the fabric of the nation.

“They have built businesses, built families, built up their communities," she said during debate. She hoped the House action would become a “blaring beacon” against the Trump administration's deportation policies.

Once rare, a discharge petition is becoming a powerful tool to force votes

The discharge petition process forces the bill to the House floor for consideration. It is the same tool bipartisan lawmakers used to pass legislation that required the Justice Department to release the files of the sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.

A discharge resolution needs majority support in the House, where Republicans hold slim control and are typically able to swat back such efforts from Democrats. But increasingly Democrats have pulled a few Republicans to their side.

Pressley's effort won support from four Republicans on the initial petition, and several more on Wednesday's vote to consider the measure.

If the bill is approved in the House, the measure would next go to the Senate, where the outcome is uncertain.

Gallup's latest data shows that 42% of men in the U.S. ages 18-29 said religion is very important to them, a notable increase from 28% in 2022-2023. Over the same time, young women's attachment to religion has stayed low, at about 30%.

This marks the first time young men have overtaken women by a big margin on this measure, which goes back to 2000. Gallup reports aggregate findings every two years to ensure the estimates are stable.

Several decades ago, young women were much more attached to religion than young men, but that's shifted over the years. More recently, young men and women's religiosity was roughly similar. The new increase in young men's religiosity also in contrast to the minimal change seen since 2022-2023 among older men and women.

The gender gap reversal is only happening among adults under 30, according to Gallup's data. Among adults aged 30 and older, women remain more religious than men.

Republican young men grow more religious

Much of the growth in religiosity is happening among young Republicans. The data shows that since 2022-2023, religious attendance has increased among Republican young men and women compared to Democratic men and women. The percentage of young Republican men who attend church, synagogue, mosque or temple at least weekly has been rising since 2019, while young Democratic men's attendance has largely fallen.

There's a similar pattern among women. Now, only about one-quarter of Democratic women under 30 attend church at least monthly, compared to about 6 in 10 young Republican women.

Political scientist Ryan Burge of Washington University in St. Louis, a leading researcher into religious trends and a longtime pastor in the American Baptist Church, said to see the gender gap with religion reversed in Gen Z adults “represents a seismic change in society and the future of the church.”

“It could change the way children are raised,” he said, which could affect the future of the country’s religious landscape if more men are raising religious children.

Burge says young men are more drawn to religion now because it is a space where they feel more accepted in a world where other institutions are “less interested in white men compared to women and people of color.”

“It's the only place where you don't have to apologize for being a white man,” he said. “American religion is very white male dominated and young men are drawn to institutions that elevate them and give them influence and power.”

Young men and women diverge on moral questions

Other surveys suggest that young men also diverge from young women on some important moral questions.

Pew Research Center surveys conducted in March 2025 found about 4 in 10 men under 30 say divorce is morally wrong, compared to only about 2 in 10 young women. Even more men under 30, about half, say abortion is morally wrong, compared to only about one-third of women the same age. Young men are also likelier than young women to say homosexuality is morally wrong, although both groups are substantially less likely than older men and women to hold this view.

While young men stand out on the morality of divorce — only about 2 in 10 men or women under 65 say this is morally wrong — young women are less likely than other men and women to see abortion as morally wrong.

Other Gallup surveys have found that young women are more likely to identify as politically liberal than in the past. This shift is also happening at a time when women are becoming increasingly averse to religion, Burge said.

“Women are viewing religion as patriarchal,” he said. “Abortion is illegal in many states because of Christianity and young women tend to be progressive on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ rights. It feels repressive to them.”

Still, some young women continue to embrace male-led faiths.

Rabbi says people are seeking belonging in dark times

Rabbi Nicole Guzik serves as co-senior rabbi with her husband Erez Sherman at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, which follows the values of Conservative Judaism. She said membership at her 5,000-strong congregation has seen a steady, significant increase since after the pandemic and Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Guzik hasn’t seen a gender gap in her congregation with regard to religiosity or attendance, but said she is happy to hear more people are giving importance to religion because “faith has a role to play in shaping people’s identities, especially in an increasingly dark and polarized world.”

“It’s about being in a place of belonging and inspiration,” she said. “People are seeking something right now. There’s a crisis of loneliness and mental health. Social media and AI are not helping. I’m glad that religious institutions are able to provide some semblance of light in these times.”

Overall decline in religiosity may be slowing

Gallup senior scientist Frank Newport, who has studied the gender gap in religiosity over decades, said another important finding is that church attendance is more or less the same for both genders.

“One of the dominant trends we’ve observed in recent years has been a decline in religiosity among Americans,” he said. “Now, in young people, we’re seeing that decline beginning to stop. That’s pretty significant.”

But while age doesn't have a major impact when it comes to church attendance for men, young women are much less likely than older women to attend church at least once a month, the poll found.

___

The Gallup results are based on two-year averages from their monthly live telephone surveys that are conducted among approximately 1,000 U.S. adults. The 2024 to 2025 results for the question about the importance of religion are based on 4,015 U.S. adults, including 295 men aged 18 to 29 and 145 women aged 18 to 29. The margin of error for young men is ±7 percentage points for young men and ±10 percentage points for young women on that question.

___

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.

___

AP polling editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced,” stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

“In the past there was a group called ‘Dire Straits.’ It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world,” he told The Associated Press.

The impact will be “higher petrol (gasoline) prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices,” said Birol, speaking in his Paris office looking out over the Eiffel Tower.

Economic pain will be felt unevenly and “the countries who will suffer the most will not be those whose voice are heard a lot. It will be mainly the developing countries. Poorer countries in Asia, in Africa and in Latin America,” said the Turkish economist and energy expert who has led the IEA since 2015.

But without a settlement of the Iran war that permanently reopens the Strait of Hormuz, “Everybody is going to suffer,” he added.

“Some countries may be richer than the others. Some countries may have more energy than the others, but no country, no country is immune to this crisis,” he said.

'Slow growth or even recession'

Nearly 20% of the world’s traded oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime. Birol warned that not reopening the waterway within weeks could compound the repercussions for global energy supplies.

“In Europe, we have maybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left,” he said. “If we are not able to open the Strait of Hormuz ... I can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be canceled as a result of lack of jet fuel.”

He added: “Many government leaders tell me that if Hormuz is not open until (the) end of May, many countries — starting from the weaker economies — are going to face huge challenges, and this will go from the high inflation numbers to coming close to slow growth or even to recession in some cases.”

Birol spoke out against the so-called “toll booth” system that Iran has applied to some ships, letting them travel through the strait for a fee. He said allowing that to become more permanent would run the risk of setting a precedent that could then be applied to other waterways, including the vital Malacca Strait in Asia.

“If we change it once, it may be difficult to get it back,” he said. “It will be difficult to have a toll system here, applied here, but not there.”

“I would like to see that the oil flows unconditionally from the point A to point B,” he said.

Damage for Persian Gulf energy facilities

More than 110 oil-laden tankers and over 15 carriers loaded with liquefied natural gas are waiting in the Persian Gulf and could help ease the energy crisis if they could escape through the Strait of Hormuz to world markets, Birol said, adding: “But it is not enough.”

Even with a peace deal, war-damage to energy facilities means it could be many months before pre-conflict levels of production are restored, he said.

“Over 80 key assets in the region have been damaged. And out of these 80, more than one third are severely or very severely damaged,” he said.

“It will be extremely optimistic to believe that it will very quick,” Birol said. “It will take gradually, gradually, up to two years to come back where we were before the war.”

‘Dark shadow’ of geopolitics

Birol said it is incomprehensible that “a couple of hundred men with guns” — apparently referring to Iranian forces — are able to hold hostage the global economy. He said his Paris-based agency, which advises governments on energy policy and helped coordinate a record release of emergency oil reserves earlier in the crisis, has warned for years about the critical importance of the Strait of Hormuz.

The global shock could spur the embrace of other energy technologies, including nuclear power, and “will reshape the global energy map for the next years to come,” he said.

On his office shelves, Birol has a couple of soccer balls — he's a devoted supporter of the Turkish club Galatasaray — and other memorabilia, including a photo of his late father playing soccer, and reams of books. One in particular stood out for its timely title: Oil, Power and War.

“Energy and geopolitics have been always interwoven,” Birol said. “But I have never, ever seen ... such a dark and long shadow of geopolitics."

He added: " Unfortunately, energy is at the heart of many conflicts which, again, makes me, as an energy person, rather sad, to be honest.”

Leer en español

Officers with the Coral Springs Police Department said they took Wesley Henrique Ferreira Ramos Pereira into custody on Thursday outside of Coral Park Elementary School, located at 8401 Westview Drive.

According to police, detectives with CSPD’s Strategic Enforcement Team were helping the Broward Sheriff’s Office in surveilling Ferreira Ramos Pereira, who was wanted by BSO for three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as well as a charge of culpable negligence.

Investigators said they tracked Ferreira Ramos Pereira to the school, where he was subcontracted to work as a painter and help paint the walls of classrooms, inside the school.

Several detectives surrounded Ferreira Ramos Pereira as he walked to his car outside the school, but when police said he refused to get on the ground, a K9 unit was deployed to assist in taking Ferreira Ramos Pereira into custody.

He did not appear in the online Broward jail database on Wednesday.

Revenue jumped 8.5% to $19.44 billion in the January-March period compared to the same period a year ago, the Purchase, New York, company said Thursday. That handily beat Wall Street’s forecast of $18.95 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

“The consumer is coming back multiple times to our brands, responding to our holistic value plus execution, plus advertising, plus innovation strategy,” PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said Thursday during a conference call with investors.

PepsiCo leaned heavily into price increases to combat inflation in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. The company hiked prices by double-digit percentages for eight straight quarters in 2022 and 2023 before settling into more moderate price increases.

That took a toll on sales. Consumers stopped buying Frito-Lay snacks or shifted to cheaper store brands. PepsiCo's market value has fallen by more than $40 billion from 2023.

PepsiCo began cutting prices on value brands like Chester's and Santitas last spring to win back exasperated customers. Then, last September, activist investor Elliott Investment Management took a $4 billion stake in the company and began pressing for further price cuts and other changes. PepsiCo agreed to accelerate its price cuts late last year.

In February, ahead of the Super Bowl, PepsiCo slashed U.S. prices on Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos and Tostitos chips by up to 15%. At a Michigan Walmart on Thursday, a 9.25-ounce bag of Doritos was advertising a price rollback to $3.97, down from $4.48.

PepsiCo said new products like Cheetos NKD and Doritos NKD, which have no artificial ingredients, and snacks with trendy ingredients, like Smartfood FiberPop and Doritos Protein, are also attracting shoppers, both in the U.S. and internationally.

On the beverage side, PepsiCo is seeing new customers thanks to its recent acquisition of Poppi, a gut health soda, and a new lower-sugar version of Gatorade that has no artificial ingredients. On Thursday, PepsiCo announced that it will shift Gatorade's packaging and marketing to focus more on hydration for general consumers and less on athletes.

“So two types of consumers are coming into the category, because both of a stronger core and also innovation,” Laguarta said. “And I think we’re going to continue to play both levers.”

Net income rose 27% to $2.33 billion for the quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $1.61 per share. That also beat Wall Street’s forecast of $1.54 per share.

PepsiCo shares rose 2% in morning trading.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a key supplier for Apple and Nvidia and the largest contract chipmaker in the world, reported a record net quarterly profit of 572.5 billion new Taiwan dollars ($18.1 billion) for the first three months of the year, better than analysts had expected.

Profit for the quarter was 58.3% higher compared to the 361.6 billion new Taiwan dollars ($11.5 billion) booked the same period a year earlier. It was also 13.2% higher compared with the previous quarter in October-December.

Revenue increased 8.4% in the January-March period from the previous three months to $35.9 billion, the company said. For the current April-June quarter, TSMC expected revenue to further grow to between $39 billion and $40.2 billion.

As AI-related demand continues to surge, TSMC has been expanding chip fabrication plants in the U.S., Japan and Taiwan, with a focus on making more advanced 3-nanometer semiconductors that are used in smartphones and AI products.

“AI-related demand continues to be extremely robust,” C.C. Wei, TSMC’s CEO and chairman, told an earnings conference on Thursday. “Our conviction in the multi-year AI megatrend remains high, and we believe the demand for semiconductors will continue to be very fundamental.”

TSMC also warned of potential impacts from the Iran war, which has not only pushed up global supply chain costs but is also disrupting the world’s supply of chemicals and gas such as helium essential for chipmaking.

Wendell Huang, TSMC’s chief financial officer, said while rising costs stemming from the Iran war could weigh on profitability, the company has “prepared safety stock inventory on hand” including for helium and is not expecting “any near-term impact" on operations.

TSMC has pledged huge investments in expanding its manufacturing capacity in Taiwan and abroad, including $165 billion of commitments in building plants in Arizona. The company said Thursday its capital spending for the next three years will be “significantly higher” than the past three years as it ramps up capacity to meet customers’ growing demand.

The chipmaker had earlier announced plans to raise its capital expenditure budget to $52 billion-$56 billion for this year from about $40 billion in 2025. It said Thursday it now expects capital spending in 2026 to be toward the higher end of that.

He was released on appeal, which will be heard at a later date.

If the verdict and sentence are upheld, Malema will be disqualified as a lawmaker. South African law bars anyone from serving in Parliament if they have been convicted of an offense and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine.

Malema was convicted in October on five counts, including unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharge of a firearm in a built-up area and reckless endangerment.

Malema addressed hundreds of his party supporters, popularly known as “fighters," many of whom traveled from various provinces to attend the sentencing. Clad in their red party regalia, they chanted and sang before and after the sentence was delivered.

A defiant Malema criticized the magistrate, claiming she was biased against him throughout the case. “We were tried by a magistrate who doesn't read, who uses emotions, who speaks politics. We are done with her, we are going to a higher court,” he said.

The fiery lawmaker, who leads the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party, was charged alongside his bodyguard Anton Snyman, after the video of the incident went viral. Snyman was found not guilty.

Delivering the sentence, Magistrate Twanet Olivier said she considered the magnitude of the offense when she determined his sentence. “We hear daily, or weekly, of children playing in the front yards, in the street, who are caught in crossfire, random shots fired, killing people. It’s just the first time that we hear, it’s being called celebratory shots,” Olivier said.

During his trial and sentencing, Malema said that the charges against him were politically motivated as they were brought by Afriforum, a lobby group for the white Afrikaner minority group that has been at odds with Malema for years.

Olivier said the sentence and verdict was based solely on his actions on the day.

Malema, whose party is the fourth-biggest in the country, is a divisive figure, mainly because of his party policies, which include the expropriation of white-owned land without compensation and the nationalization of mines and banks.

He appeared in a video shown by U.S. President Donald Trump during a tense meeting with South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa last year, where he was singing a controversial anti-apartheid song that has been interpreted by some as calling for violence against Afrikaners.

The whale, which has been nicknamed Timmy by local media, is lying in shallow waters near the eastern German town of Wismar and has barely moved for days. Many fear it may soon die.

Timmy was first spotted swimming in the region on March 3. It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, which is far from its natural habitat. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.

The animal faces long odds in finding its way back out into the North Sea, a journey of several hundred kilometers (miles), and then to the Atlantic Ocean.

Previous rescue efforts have failed

Attempts to refloat the mammal with the help of police boats, excavators and inflatable boats had temporarily freed it. But the whale, which measures 12 to 15 meters (39 to 49 feet) long, never found its way back to the North Sea and was stranded again while becoming weaker and sicker.

Local media have started days-long livestreams to feed the outsized public atttention on the fate of the whale, which is lying in shallow waters and only breathing slowly and heavily. Online newspapers have pushed alerts with the smallest developments about Timmy's health including updates on its bad skin condition, which is related to the Baltic Sea's low salt content.

Activists have staged protests on the beach in Wismar calling for the animal's liberation, while influencers have debated whether the best way to help the animal was to let it die in peace or keep trying to assist its return to the Atlantic Ocean.

Timmy getting police protection and expert assistance

Interest in the whale has been so strong that police had put up a 500-meter (1,640 foot) protection zone to keep curious bystanders from getting too close and stressing the stranded whale even more.

Despite these efforts, a 67-year-old woman jumped off a boat on the weekend trying to get close to the whale before she was stopped.

Experts have come up with a sophisticated plan to use air cushions to lift the animal onto a tarp, which will be secured to two pontoons and attached to a tugboat.

State officials have approved a private initiative to transport the whale back to the North Sea and possibly further to the Atlantic. If everything goes according to plan, the tugboat carrying Timmy will have left the Baltic Sea by Friday.

“He’s not active, and he’s certainly not agile, but he shows that there’s still life in him,” Till Backhaus, the environment minister of the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, where Wismar is located, said Wednesday as he announced the new rescue plan. “He’s definitely suffered serious damage, that’s for sure.”

The jet power from this relatively close black hole-star system is equivalent to 10,000 suns, an international research team reported Thursday. They also tracked the jet speed: roughly 355 million mph (540 million kph) — half the speed of light.

Located 7,200 light-years away, Cygnus X-1 features not only a black hole — the first one ever identified more than a half-century ago — but a blue supergiant star, its constant companion. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).

The University of Oxford’s Steve Prabu and his team based their findings on 18 years of high-resolution radio imaging obtained by a global telescope network. He conducted the research while still at Australia’s Curtin University, which led the study published in Nature Astronomy.

Prabu and his colleagues were able to measure the swift power of these “dancing jets” as he calls them, as they were pushed in opposite directions by the star’s wind. The group based its calculations on how much the jets were bent by the stellar wind as well as computer modeling.

Until now, a black hole’s jet power had to be averaged over tens of thousands of years, the researchers said.

Prabu said a key finding is that 10% of all the energy released as matter falls toward the black hole is carried away by the jets.

On the skimpy side as black holes go, the one in Cygnus X-1 is continually pulling gases from its stellar playmate as they orbit one another. Discovered in the 1960s, the binary system is located in our Milky Way’s Cygnus, or swan, constellation.

The supergiant star feeds material to the black hole, giving it “something to ‘eat’ and launch as jets,” Prabu said in an email.

These jets can help scientists better understand how black holes help shape galaxies and other cosmic structures through large-scale shocks and turbulence.

Prabu plans to apply similar techniques to other black holes. “It would be exciting to measure jet power in many more systems,” he 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.

The honor was bestowed by the Roosevelt Foundation that was created in 1982 to present awards honoring the Four Freedoms outlined by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union address — freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

“We pay the highest tribute to the unwavering courage and enduring perseverance of the Ukrainian people and to the steadfast and resolute leadership of their president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Hugo de Jonge, chair of the foundation, said Thursday.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten paid tribute to Zelenskyy at the ceremony, saying, “It speaks volumes that you only agreed to accept this award if you could do so on behalf of all the people of Ukraine.”

After receiving a standing ovation, Zelenskyy asked for a moment of silence for the victims of a deadly overnight barrage by Russia that killed at least 16 people and wounded many more.

“Dozens of people have been injured and, sadly, so sadly, there are also lives lost in Odesa, Kyiv, Dnipro. Just ordinary people, children, civilians, killed by Russian madness,” he said, as he called for those responsible for war crimes in Ukraine to be held accountable under international law.

“Do not let Russia go unpunished," he said.

Previous winners of the international award include Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Germany's former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and organizations including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot was receiving the Freedom from Fear Award; the Committee to Protect Journalists received the Freedom of Speech Award; Isidora Uribe Silva from Chile, who has cerebral palsy, earned the Freedom from Want Award for her years of campaigning for inclusion, equal human rights, and gender equality.

The winner of the Freedom of Worship Award was not announced publicly by the foundation, citing security concerns.

After the ceremony, Zelenskyy was meeting with Jetten. The Netherlands has been a strong supporter of Ukraine since the Russian invasion, including providing Patriot missiles and fighter jets. On Wednesday, Defense Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius announced that the Netherlands was spending 248 million euros ($292 million) on drones for the Ukrainian military.

With no plans announced for further U.S.-mediated talks with Russia, Zelenskyy had already visited three European capitals in 48 hours this week to try to secure promises of further military and financial support from Germany and Norway and Italy. Germany and Ukraine agreed a defense package valued at 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion), and Norway has pledged 9 billion euros in assistance, Ukrainian officials said.

The Four Freedoms awards are presented in the New Church in Middelburg, in the province of Zeeland, where Roosevelt's ancestors hail from.

The activists, all of whom were Kazakh nationals, protested near the border with China in November, burning Chinese flags and portraits of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and calling for the release of a Kazakh citizen detained in Xinjiang last year.

Eleven activists were sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting discord,” while the other eight were given restrictions on their movement. Shinquat Baizhan, a lawyer representing the activists, confirmed the sentences, which were also reported in local media.

Though Kazakhs speaking out against China’s policies in Xinjiang have long faced pressure, advocacy groups say this is the first time such a large group of Xinjiang activists has been imprisoned in the country.

“This is unprecedented,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It signals that Kazakhstan is willing to sacrifice freedom of its people to maintain good relations with Beijing.”

The Chinese government launched a brutal crackdown in Xinjiang starting in 2017, sweeping a million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other predominantly Muslim ethnicities into prisons and internment camps. Though many have since been released, the region remains under tight control, with strict limitations on religious and cultural practices.

Xinjiang has long been a touchy issue in neighboring Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country of 20 million people that relies on China as a major trading partner. The Kazakh government opened criminal investigations targeting the protesters after receiving a diplomatic note from the Chinese consulate in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, Uluyol said.

The note, which The Associated Press obtained and reviewed, called the protest “an open provocation against the national dignity of the People’s Republic of China and an insult to the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people.”

In a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the sentencing an “internal affair” and praised Kazakhstan as a “friendly neighbor” that is “familiar with China’s policies on governing Xinjiang."

The Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.

The protesters were members of Atajurt, an organization that advocates for the rights of Chinese-born Kazakhs facing repression in China. Xinjiang is home to over a million ethnic Kazakhs, thousands of whom were detained and many more who face restrictions on their movement to this day.

Atajurt has long faced pressure from the Kazakh government, an authoritarian state with little tolerance for dissent. Authorities arrested Atajurt’s founder Serikzhan Bilash in 2019, releasing him into exile after extracting a promise not to engage in political activities.

But the Kazakh government remained tolerant of the organization’s activities to a certain extent, mindful of widespread sympathy in Kazakhstan toward the Chinese-born Kazakh population,

That appears to have changed, Uluyol said, as Kazakhstan has edged closer to China and authorities in Kazakhstan show less tolerance for groups protesting Beijing's policies.

Bilash, Atajurt’s founder, says the arrests would have widespread ramifications. The group's work included providing financial support for the relatives of people who were detained in Xinjiang, writing letters supporting them to embassies and the United Nations, and taping hundreds of testimonies by people looking for missing loved ones.

“The world will lose more than just a human rights organization; it will lose the biggest window into the humanitarian disaster in neighboring Xinjiang,” said Bilash, who is now living in exile in the United States.

Villa won the opening leg 3-1 in Italy with Ollie Watkins netting twice on the way to its eighth straight victory in the competition.

The English club is in a European quarterfinal for the third straight year and is on course to secure a Champions League spot next season while sitting fourth in the Premier League.

Bologna has won its last five away Europa matches since it lost to Villa in the opening game of the league phase.

The two also met in last years Champions League with Villa winning 2-0.

Villa coach Unai Emery said he respects Bologna.

“We must be focused 100%,” Emery said. He is the most successful coach in the competition after four titles with Sevilla and Villarreal.

Another Premier League club, Nottingham Forest, needs a win against Porto at the City Ground to advance in its return to European competitions after 30 years.

In a tie of two two-time European champions, they settled for a 1-1 draw at Porto.

Also, Freiburg travels to Celta Vigo with a healthy 3-0 advantage and Real Betis hosts Braga after drawing the first leg 1-1.

In the Conference League, Crystal Palace defends a 3-0 lead at two-time runner-up Fiorentina.

___

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

Russia launched nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles, primarily targeting civilians, in its biggest aerial barrage in almost two weeks, authorities said.

Tetiana Sokol, a 54-year-old resident of Kyiv, said two missiles hit near her home and she took cover with her dog in the hallway as flashes lit up the night and windows shattered from the blast wave.

“On the third attack everything broke, everything flew, we were shocked, we didn’t know where to run. I grabbed whatever came to hand and ran away with the dog,” she told The Associated Press. “I still can’t find the cats in the house, they climbed out somewhere, I don’t even know. No windows, nothing, the dog is still walking around in stress.”

Moscow's forces have hit civilian areas almost daily since its all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, with the regular assaults occasionally punctuated by massive attacks. More than 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have died in the strikes, the United Nations says.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation was launched “in retaliation” for Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia, where long-range drones and missiles have hit Russian oil refineries and war-related manufacturing plants. The Russian barrage was aimed at facilities associated with the Ukrainian armed forces, the Defense Ministry claimed.

European Council President António Costa described it as “yet another horrendous attack” while people slept in their homes.

Zelenskyy on a mission to improve air defenses

The latest bombardment came in the wake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 48-hour trip this week to Germany, Norway and Italy in an urgent search for more air defense systems that can stop Russian missiles.

Ukraine has developed a significant domestic arms industry, especially in the production of drones and missiles, but it can’t yet match the sophistication of U.S. Patriot air defense systems. Ukraine’s top diplomatic priority is securing allies’ help to buy and build more and better air defenses, Zelenskyy said this week.

Yuriy Ihnat, the head of communications for the Ukrainian air force, said the Russian attack made extensive use of ballistic missiles, which only Patriot systems can reliably shoot down.

“We desperately need more missiles for the Patriot systems," Ihnat told Ukraine’s private TV channel 1+1.

Cash-strapped Ukraine also needs the speedy disbursement of a promised loan from the European Union of 90 billion euros ($106 billion) that has been blocked by Hungary.

Ukraine fears the Iran war is burning through stockpiles of the advanced American-made air defense systems it needs, and has argued against a U.S. temporary waiver on Russian oil sanctions that Kyiv says is helping finance the Kremlin's war effort.

“Another night has proven that Russia does not deserve any easing of global policy or lifting of sanctions,” Zelenskyy said on X.

He thanked Germany, Norway and Italy for new agreements this week on supporting Ukraine's air defense. Officials are also working with the Netherlands on additional supplies, he said.

At the same time, he noted that some partner countries haven't followed through on pledges of military support.

“I have instructed the Commander of the Air Force to contact those partners who earlier committed to providing missiles for Patriot and other systems,” Zelenskyy said.

Other areas of Ukraine and Russia were also hit

The bombardment was the biggest in weeks. Last month, Russia fired 948 drones and 34 missiles in the space of 24 hours in the largest assault of the war on civilian areas.

At least four people were killed overnight in Kyiv, including a 12-year-old, with more than 50 others injured, according to authorities. Officials said the attack damaged 17 apartment buildings, 10 private homes, as well as a hotel, office center, car dealership, gas station and a shopping mall in the capital.

Nine people were killed and 23 injured in the southern port city of Odesa, three women were killed and around three dozen injured in the central Dnipro region, and one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia in the south.

“Such attacks cannot be normalized. These are war crimes that must be stopped and their perpetrators held to account,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.

Ukraine’s air force said air defenses shot down or disabled 667 out of 703 incoming targets, including 636 Shahed-type drones and other uncrewed aerial vehicles.

It said 20 strike drones and 12 missiles hit 26 locations.

Meanwhile in Russia, Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev reported that a 14-year-old girl and a woman were killed in Ukrainian strikes in the Black Sea port of Tuapse.

He said that attacks damaged six apartment buildings, 24 private houses and three schools. Drone fragments also fell near Tuapse.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its air defenses downed 207 Ukrainian drones overnight.

___

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

If passed, the bill would fast-track a 2023 law mandating 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures. It would be one of the most consequential shifts in political representation since India’s independence and potentially widen female participation in a system where women remain underrepresented.

The quota, however, is linked to a controversial separate bill to change voting boundaries, a process that could increase the number of seats in the lower house from 543 to about 850.

While there appears to be a broad bipartisan support for putting more women into Parliament, opposition parties have raised concerns over changing voting boundaries, warning it could tilt the political balance in favor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

The bills are being taken up during a three-day special session of Parliament and will require a two-thirds majority in both houses to pass. Modi’s ruling National Democratic Alliance holds 293 seats in Parliament, while a two-thirds majority would require 360 seats.

Women’s representation will close gender gap

Several Asian countries, including India’s neighbors like Nepal and Bangladesh, have similar quotas for women in national legislatures. India already mandates that one-third of seats be set aside for women in local governance bodies, but women currently hold only about 14% of seats in the lower house of Parliament.

The quota could bring hundreds more women into legislative politics, which supporters say could redirect policy attention toward women’s health, education and gender-based violence. It is unclear how seats would be allocated to women in an expanded Parliament.

Ranjana Kumari, a women’s rights advocate, said the move would make India’s “democracy truly representative” and force political parties to field more female candidates.

“(The) door is little open. Women will enter and fill the room slowly,” Kumari said.

For many young Indian women, the change also carries symbolic weight.

Pranita Gupta, a 23-year-old law graduate, said it will instill “a sense of confidence that we can participate in politics and we can be part of Parliament not only as an exception but as well as a norm.”

Redrawing of electoral boundaries sparks concerns

The rollout of the quota is tied to a population-based redrawing of voting boundaries using data from the last completed census in 2011. While the timeline for this process remains unclear, the proposal has already triggered political debate.

Opposition parties warn that basing constituencies on population could shift political power toward faster-growing northern states, while diminishing the parliamentary representation, seat share and overall influence of southern regions. They also argue it could benefit Modi’s party, which has strong support in the northern states.

India’s Constitution mandates that parliamentary seats be allocated by population and revised after each census. However, boundaries have not been redrawn since the 1971 census, as successive governments delayed the process over concerns about uneven population growth.

Leaders in southern states, where birthrates have declined more sharply, say a population-based delimitation exercise could increase seats in the north and disadvantage southern regions that have slowed population growth and built stronger economies.

Political backlash mounts as opposition warns of protests

Modi’s party has pushed back on the criticism of the bill and said it would implement a uniform 50% increase in seats across all states, maintaining proportional representation nationwide. However, the draft legislation does not explicitly spell this out.

Speaking in Parliament, Modi said the legislation is “not discriminatory” and “will not do injustice to anyone.”

But early opposition surfaced Thursday, as Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin burned a copy of the bill and raised a black flag in protest. He urged people across the state to do the same.

Some leaders from southern states also turned up in Parliament dressed in black as a mark of protest.

India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi alleged the exercise could be used to “gerrymander” parliamentary constituencies in favor of Modi’s party ahead of the 2029 national elections.

“Delimitation should be based on a transparent policy framework, developed after wide consultations with a consensus,” he wrote Wednesday on X.

In the fourth quarter of an elimination game, Draymond Green bodied up to Kawhi Leonard and utterly shut down one of the greatest scorers of their generation.

Curry and Green have already done it all and won it all during their 14 years and four championships together. The Golden State Warriors ' visit to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night was merely a play-in game for the right to travel to Phoenix after a trying regular season that ended with Golden State sitting eight games below .500 and in 10th place in the Western Conference.

And yet both the style and substance of this 126-121 comeback victory indelibly evoked the brilliance of the Warriors' golden era.

The few remaining men who have been around for the whole ride were thrilled to travel back in time.

“For one night, we’re us. We’re champions again,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And I know that may sound crazy to everybody out there. It’s a play-in game. I don’t care. Just absolutely beautiful to watch.”

Curry put it even more simply: “That’s what you live for right there."

Golden State overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter behind Curry, who scored 27 points in a dominant second half. While he took care of the offense, Green took the defensive lead with a smothering effort against Leonard, who couldn't score in the fourth quarter until the Clippers were cooked.

The Warriors also got stellar contributions from two newcomers. Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists with an exciting series of big plays — and 39-year-old Al Horford shocked the entire arena when he hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of just his third game since missing a month with a strained right calf.

Curry broke a tie with his final 3-pointer, falling into the front row of Clippers fans while the ball pierced the net with 50 seconds left. The superstar was playing just his fifth game since returning from a 27-game absence with a knee injury, and he demonstrated exactly why he rejected any notion that he should shut himself down for the summer.

“This is what you work all year for, all summer, offseason,” Curry said. “We’re not guaranteed a (playoff) series yet, but these nights make everything worth it, because you feel the anxiety of having to perform when the lights are bright, do-or-die game. ... Considering how our season has gone, all the injuries and all that, for us to play the way we did tonight was special.”

Green didn’t score in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors credited their defensive stopper for stifling Leonard, whose play for Toronto in the 2019 NBA Finals is still painful in the minds of Golden State fans.

With Green hounding his every move, Leonard got only two shots in the fourth quarter. Leonard finished with 21 points while having a fraction of his usual impact on Clippers games.

Leonard called Green a “Hall of Fame defender. It was hard to even get shots up.”

Green thought the Warriors could be a title contender going into this season, but it didn't happen. Jimmy Butler went down for the season in January, Moses Moody was sidelined in March, and Golden State finished the regular season on a 5-15 skid to its worst record in a full regular season since 2012.

But after knocking off Los Angeles, Golden State is one win away from making the playoffs anyway. Even for the Warriors who have already won everything, the chance to do the improbable is irresistible.

“I know we’re not satisfied,” Curry said. “We want to go to Phoenix and guarantee a playoff series against OKC. That’s the next goal, but for us to lock in on just 48 minutes, figure out how to get a win, knowing that the game was not going to be perfect, we were all pretty committed to that. The eight guys that got on the floor all had a part in making it happen.”

___

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

Marles released the latest two-year update of Australia’s defense strategy and said an additional 53 billion Australian dollars ($38 billion) in spending on defense was planned over the next decade.

Australia’s defense budget would grow from 2.8% of GDP this year to 3% by 2033 as “Australia faces its most complex and threatening strategic circumstances since the end of World War II,” Marles said.

Asked how much more complex and threatening Australia’s circumstances were since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February, Marles told reporters: “I don’t think anyone could honestly answer that question.”

“It greatly complicates the global strategic landscape,” Marles said. “The world feels less safe.”

“Having said that, we do very much support the strategic objective of denying Iran a deployable nuclear weapon,” Marles added.

The latest strategy expands the military's adoption of autonomous and uncrewed systems on land, sea and air, including the Australian-developed Ghost Bat uncrewed jet aircraft and Ghost Shark underwater drone.

The strategy also expands the military's long-range strike capabilities and accelerates the introduction of intergrated air and missile defense systems.

Marles said his government’s decision to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP was not a response to pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Pentagon released its own National Defense Strategy in January that chastised U.S. allies to take control of their own security.

The Australian government was making its own resourcing decisions, Marles said.

“What that has yielded to date is, under our government, the biggest peacetime increase in defense spending that our nation has seen,” Marles said.

The latest spending strategy would focus on Australian self-reliance, which should not be confused with military self-sufficiency, Marles said.

“This is not about jettisoning alliance relationships. To the contrary, alliances, especially with the United States, will always be fundamental to Australia’s defense,” Marles said.

Australia’s largest-ever defense investment is expected to be a fleet of at least eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology provided through the AUKUS partnership with the United States and Britain.

Australia expects the subs would cost between AU$268 billion ($193 billion) and AU$368 billion ($264 billion) over three decades.

“With Hollywood studios merging willy nilly like middle aged couples at a swingers party, Amazon acquired MGM and opened the vault,” a voiceover said in the “Spaceballs” sizzle reel, with the image on the screen showing Warner Bros. and Paramount, making Amazon MGM the only studio to publicly reference the pending acqusition at the conference so far.

Mel Brooks, in a video message, announced the title, “Spaceballs: The New One."

"It's just like the old one, but it's newer," Brooks said.

He explained that it was not called “Spaceballs: The Search for More Money” because, he said, he found the money. It was in his basement. Also, he said, he couldn't be at Caesar's Palace with everyone because he was seeing Phish at the Sphere.

Moranis's appearance on stage evoked a big reaction from the crowd, but he only got a few words out — part of the bit was that everyone would keep interrupting him, and they stuck to it. The film is expected in theaters next year.

“Spaceballs” was just one part of the big Amazon MGM Studios presentation to theater owners, which also included first looks at Peter Farrelly’s Sylvester Stallone biopic “I Play Rocky” and Michael B. Jordan's “The Thomas Crown Affair."

The newly minted best actor Oscar winner for his dual performance in “Sinners,” Jordan directs and stars in the romantic art heist, alongside Adria Arjona. Jon Batiste also played a bit of the score he’s composing for the film.

“I’ve been daydreaming about making this movie for years,” said Jordan.

He watched the 1999 version when he was 12 and said “It left a very big impression on me.”

For his version, he said, he wanted to bring the style, sophistication and rebellion he loved in both of the previous versions, but also to make his character “someone you can root for.”

Amazon MGM Studios was received warmly by the exhibitors in the audience on the heels of their biggest theatrical release so far, and their promise to release 15 movies a year by 2027. “Project Hail Mary” continues to do big business, with over $515 million in global box office earnings. It was so popular that it will be returning to IMAX theaters for one week starting Friday.

Filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller even made a surprise appearance, with Ryan Gosling, to thank the exhibitors for playing the film in their theaters.

“This movie is now the biggest original movie of the year because you believed in it,” Miller said.

The studio previewed their summer He-Man movie “Masters of the Universe,” starring Nicholas Galitzine, and the family film “The Sheep Detectives,” also with Galitzine, Hugh Jackman and Nicholas Braun. Pete Davidson also showed up with David Leitch for their gonzo action pic “How to Rob a Bank.”

“This movie is totally (expective) insane,” Davidson said.

Later, they showed first looks at Henry Cavill in “Highlander” and Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson in the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover psychological thriller “Verity.”

One franchise that did not have any news to share was James Bond. Amazon paid $8.45 billion for MGM in 2021, at least in part because of the allure of 007. Just last year the joint studio announced it had taken the creative reins of the franchise after decades of family control with longtime Bond custodians Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli agreeing to step back. They also hired Denis Villeneuve to direct the first film of the new era, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing.

But precious little is known about their plans for the next Bond movie beyond that, including who might play the dapper agent.

Courtenay Valenti, Amazon MGM’s head of film, said “we’re taking time to do this with care and deep respect.”

But during Leo’s epic four-nation trip to Africa, being inside the Vatican “bubble” has been an almost surreal experience, as an unprecedented back-and-forth plays out between U.S. President Donald Trump and history’s first American pope.

Every morning this week, waking up to developments in Washington from the evening before, the questions have abounded: Will Leo bite? How will he address the latest criticism, if at all, while focusing on the Africa program he has planned?

That was certainly the case on Wednesday, as Leo, the Vatican delegation and a pool of around 70 accredited reporters boarded the ITA Airways charter for the second leg of Leo’s 11-day odyssey — the flight from Algiers, Algeria to Yaounde, Cameroon.

Much to the reporters’ delight, Leo had responded head-on to Trump at the start of the trip when he gamely came to the back of the plane and greeted journalists traveling April 13 from Rome to Algiers. He responded to those who asked him about Trump’s Truth Social post a day earlier, in which the U.S. president had accused him of being soft on crime, cozy with the left and owed his papacy to Trump.

Trump was responding to Leo’s calls for peace, in reference to the Iran war, and comments that Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization were “truly unacceptable.”

Stopping to chat as he made his way from row to row that first day, Leo had told journalists that he was merely preaching the Gospel when he called for peace and criticized war, and that he didn’t fear the Trump administration.

A comment about peace

On Tuesday, on the short flight from Algiers to Annaba, the ancient city of Hippo, Leo stayed in the front of the plane where the Vatican delegation sits, dashing the Vatican pool's hopes for another Trump vs. Leo news cycle.

On Wednesday, with a five-hour flight ahead of us to Cameroon, excitement grew in economy class when Vatican personnel came to the back of the plane, readied the microphone and did sound checks to make sure the whole cabin could hear.

Emerging from behind the curtain, Leo didn’t take questions from reporters and kept his remarks focused on his just-concluded visit to Algeria, where he honored the legacy of his spiritual inspiration, St. Augustine of Hippo.

In brief remarks standing at the front of the cabin, Leo didn’t refer to war or Trump. But he spoke in terms that could suggest the latest overnight lobs from Washington certainly hadn't gone unnoticed. Perhaps tellingly, he spoke exclusively in English.

Trump had kept up the criticism on Truth Social, while U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, said that Leo should “be careful” when speaking about theology.

For starters, Leo noted the sign of “goodness,” “generosity,” and “respect” that the Algerian government showed him in welcoming him on the first-ever papal visit. He said that the Algerian honors had included a full military aerial escort of the papal plane through Algerian airspace.

He also recalled his visit to the Great Mosque in Algiers, which he said was a significant way to show that “although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshipping, we have different ways of living, we can live together in peace.”

He said that St. Augustine’s message of searching for God, searching for truth, building bridges and seeking unity and community “is something which the world needs to hear today and that together we can continue to offer in our witness as we continue on this apostolic voyage.”

A papal press pool

Like other heads of state, the pope travels internationally with both his own media team as well as a group of external news organizations that pay, oftentimes handsomely, to have their reporters travel aboard the papal plane and have special access to cover his events. The Associated Press is always on the plane, paying for as many as four journalists per trip.

Being inside the Vatican bubble has journalistic advantages and disadvantages. You get the best access and are traveling under the Vatican’s security umbrella, meaning there’s little or no hassle from local security organizers. The Vatican facilitates visas and local SIM cards in advance, and arranges hotels and local transportation, allowing reporters to focus on the news rather than logistics.

Journalists in the bubble get the pope’s speeches ahead of time and have occasional access to delegation members, as well as other information in real time from the Vatican spokesman.

But the real reason news organizations choose to spend thousands of dollars per journalist, per trip, to be on the papal plane is to be on hand for the pope’s news conferences. The only time a pope holds such briefings with journalists is at an altitude of 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters)

Who could forget Pope Francis’ famous line on his maiden trip as pope, in 2013 to Rio de Janeiro, when he uttered the line “Who am I to judge,” when he was asked about a purportedly gay priest.

The downside of being in the Vatican bubble is obvious for many of the same reasons it’s helpful: You are removed from local reality, whether in Algeria or Alaska, and rarely have time to do the type of on-the-ground reporting that makes a news report balanced.

Those news organizations that have the resources have teams on the ground producing such content, or journalists within the bubble break away to do their own reporting, so that the end result is a healthy combination of official Vatican information and local input.

But when the real drama involving the pope is occurring thousands of miles and time zones away, being in the Vatican bubble is a somewhat jarring experience. The news everyone wants to know isn’t necessarily what the pope has on his agenda.

But on this trip, the first by an American pope to Africa, being in the Vatican bubble certainly had its advantages. The next stop is Angola. Who knows what Leo will have to say.

___

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.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 10-day pause in fighting between Israel and Lebanon starting on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET, following “excellent” conversations he had with each nation’s leader. Trump also said he’s inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to the White House for the leaders’ first direct talks in over 30 years. Aoun had refused to speak to Netanyahu hours earlier, as Israel continues its military campaign against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon. Nearly 2,200 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli air strikes.

The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports continued as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new economic sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.

The White House said any further talks with Iran would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations. Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator after it hosted direct talks between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad.

In a development in the war's other front, Trump wrote late Wednesday on Truth Social that leaders from Israel and Lebanon would speak the next day in a renewed effort to broker a ceasefire after the countries’ first direct talks in decades ended the previous day in Washington without a deal.

Here is the latest:

China’s UN envoy calls US blockade of Strait of Hormuz ‘a dangerous and irresponsible move’

Ambassador Fu Cong said the strait “should be safeguarded” for international navigation and called on Iran to take ‘proactive measures’ to open the waterway, used to ship about 20% of the world’s oil.

“The issue of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is a spillover effect of the conflict in Iran,” he said. “Only a complete ceasefire can fundamentally create conditions for easing the situation.”

Fu told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that Beijing is engaged “in intensive mediation with all parties to actively promote talks for peace”’ and an end to the war in Iran.

The 193-member world body was meeting to hear China and Russia explain why they vetoed a Security Council resolution backed by the U.S. and Gulf nations aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Fu claimed the resolution would have given “a carte blanche for the continuation of aggressive actions and further escalation” rather than de-escalate the conflict and promote negotiations.

Lebanese prime minister welcomes Trump announcement of ceasefire

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the ceasefire was Lebanon’s first goal in landmark talks that took place with Israel in Washington on Tuesday between the country’s ambassadors to the U.S.

“While I congratulate all Lebanese on this achievement, I offer my condolences to the families of the martyrs who fell, and I affirm my solidarity with their families, with the wounded, and with the citizens forced to flee their cities and villages,” Salam said.

Trump said he’ll invite Aoun and Netanyahu to continue diplomatic talks at the White House

Trump said it would be “the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983.”

“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement in 1983 saying Lebanon would formally recognize Israel and Israel would withdraw from Lebanon. The deal fell apart during Lebanon’s civil war and was formally rescinded a year later.

Iranian official criticizes US economic threats

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei criticized economic threats by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying they harm “innocent people” and reflect an “inhumane mindset.”

“These are nothing short of economic terrorism and state-sponsored extortion,” he wrote on X, referring to Bessent’s Wednesday remarks about potentially carrying out the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.

US releases list of contraband Iranian goods

The U.S. military has released an expansive lists of goods it considers contraband as part of its blockade of Iran and declares it will seize from merchant vessels “regardless of location.”

In a notice published Thursday, the U.S. military says any “goods that are destined for an enemy and that may be susceptible to use in armed conflict” are “subject to capture at any place beyond neutral territory.”

The list includes items like arms, ammunition and military equipment that are classified as “absolute contraband.” However, it also lists items like oil and iron, steel, and aluminum as well as some civilian goods, as “conditional contraband” and argues these items can be put to military use.

The notice says that otherwise innocuous items like electronics or heavy machinery can be seized if “circumstances indicate intended military end-use.”

14 ships turn around from the Iran blockade, US military says

U.S. Central Command says those vessels have turned around in the first three days of the blockade on Iranian ports at the direction of American forces.

At a Pentagon news briefing earlier Thursday, U.S. defense leaders said more than 10,000 American troops are helping enforce the blockade on Iranian ports and that no ships have yet needed to be boarded.

Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on social media

He said it followed “excellent” conversations he had with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades Tuesday in Washington after more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Trump said he’s directed U.S. Vice President JD Vance others to work with Israel and Lebanon to “achieve a Lasting PEACE.” He added: “so let’s, GET IT DONE.”

Trump calls Lebanese president in ongoing diplomatic scramble over war between Israel and Hezbollah

The office of Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said President Trump was thanked by the Lebanese head of state to reach a ceasefire in the devastating war.

Aoun earlier spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio where he refused to have a direct call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has insisted on achieving a ceasefire ahead of continued direct talks. Israel hasn’t made a decision regarding a ceasefire.

The statement said Trump stressed “his commitment to fulfilling the Lebanese request for a ceasefire as soon as possible.”

Neither the State Department nor the White House immediately issue a statement on the calls with the Lebanese president.

More on why Lebanese President Joseph Aoun declined to talk with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu

A second Lebanese official said Aoun explained to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that direct talks with Netanyahu at this point would be inappropriate given the ongoing airstrikes and destruction in Lebanon and the lack of a ceasefire in place.

The official also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

— Kareem Chehayeb

Fuel costs and labor strife lead Lufthansa to shut down CityLine feeder airline

Lufthansa said Thursday that labor disputes and high fuel prices are forcing it to immediately shut down its feeder airline CityLine earlier than planned and take its 27 older, less fuel efficient planes out of service. The decision accelerates a shutdown that had been expected for next year.

CityLine’s primary role was bringing passengers to Lufthansa’s mid- and long-haul hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, Germany. Fuel prices have soared since the outbreak of the Iran war in February and the blocking by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage way for crude oil and fuel products from Persian Gulf producers.

CityLine will halt operations Saturday.

Houthi leader in Yemen blames the US in Iran talks

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group, said that in negotiations with Iran, the U.S. is making “impossible demands for any independent country to accept.”

During a video speech Thursday, he said the ongoing two-week ceasefire was a result of “failures” by the U.S. and Israel to achieve their goals in the Iran war.

“If negotiations succeed, it will either result in a longer period of stability or an end to the aggression,” he said, adding that the U.S. entered negotiations based on their own terms built on “arrogance and pride.”

Death toll of Lebanese killed in Israeli strikes increases to 2,196

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says that among the killed are 260 women and 172 children since the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began March 2. Another 7,185 have been wounded.

Israel’s latest military escalation started after Hezbollah fired rockets towards northern Israel in solidarity with its key ally and patron Iran.

Lebanon and Israel started direct talks Tuesday, the first of their kind since 1993. Lebanon hopes those talks can end the war.

Pakistan says second round of US-Iran talks not yet scheduled

“There are no dates yet,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters Thursday.

“We will announce the timing of these talks as and when it is decided,” he said, urging the media to avoid speculation.

Andrabi said Pakistan’s role as a mediator and facilitator did not end when the first round of talks concluded over the weekend.

“It continued,” he said.

He said Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is visiting Iran with a delegation, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is also traveling to regional countries to promote peace.

“We will continue to advocate for peace, prosperity and stability,” he said.

Asked about the first round of talks, Andrabi said there was “certainly not a major breakthrough in terms of any concrete document emanating from these talks, but there was no breakdown as well.”

‘Difficult days and weeks’ for sailors trapped on ships unable to travel through Strait of Hormuz

Germany’s largest shipping company Hapag-Lloyd says it’s feeling the impact of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as 150 sailors are trapped there on six of its vessels.

“Five and a half weeks in a war zone — that’s something relatively new. And of course, these are difficult days and weeks for our colleagues,” Hapag Lloyd spokesperson Nils Haupt told The Associated Press.

“We’ve been able to rotate some of them in the meantime, but you can easily imagine that after such a long time, monotony naturally sets in on board and the most important thing now in this situation is to maintain that team spirit,” he added.

Hapag-Lloyd is in contact with the captains and crews at least once a day asking how the crew is doing and what they can do to help.

It’s helpful, Haupt says, that thanks to modern satellite technology, the sailors are able to keep up communication with their families.

Pentagon urges Iran to make a deal

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon that “ultimately, they need to come to the table and make a deal.”

He said the U.S. will ensure Iran never has a nuclear weapon.

“We’d prefer to do it the nice way through a deal led by our great vice president and negotiating team. Or we can do it the hard way,” Hegseth said.

Iran has repeatedly insisted that it doesn’t seek a nuclear weapon and that its program is for peaceful purposes.

Later in the news briefing, Hegseth said to Iran’s government: “I pray you choose a deal, which is within your grasp for the betterment of your people and for the betterment of the world.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has refused to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

That’s according to a government official familiar with the developments.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the remarks were made during a call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and that Washington was “understanding of Lebanon’s position.”

Aoun’s office acknowledged a call with Rubio in a public statement, but did not mention the possibility of talks with Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s office did not do so either.

— Kareem Chehayeb

Israeli defense minister says Iran faces a stark choice

The minister, Israel Katz, warned Tehran it could opt “between a bridge to the future and an abyss of isolation and destruction.”

If Iran chooses the latter, it will “quickly discover that the targets we have not yet struck until now are even more painful than what we have already struck.”

Katz sought to frame Israel’s campaign against the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon as part of a wider confrontation with Iran.

He was speaking at a memorial ceremony at the ministry Thursday.

Europe has ‘maybe six weeks’ of jet fuel left, energy agency head tells the AP

Europe has “maybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left,” the head of the International Energy Agency said Thursday in a wide-ranging Associated Press interview, warning of possible flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced,” stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

“In the past there was a group called ‘Dire Straits.’ It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world,” he said.

The impact will be “higher petrol (gasoline) prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices,” Birol told the AP, speaking in his Paris office looking out over the Eiffel Tower.

▶ Read more

Caine says the US will pursue Iranian ships broadly

Speaking at the Pentagon, he said U.S. forces “will actively pursue any Iranian flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran” — anywhere in the world.

He issued a clear warning to any targeted vessel attempting to circumvent a U.S. blockade: “Turn around or prepare to be boarded. ... We will use force.”

Caine described the effort as a “blockade of Iran’s ports and coastline” with enforcement “inside Iran’s territorial seas and in international waters.” He noted that U.S. forces in other areas of the world, including the Pacific, also would pursue vessels tied to Iran.

The blockade “applies to all ships, regardless of nationality, heading into or from Iranian ports” and includes “dark fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil.” He defined those as “vessels or those illicit or illegal ships evading international regulations, sanctions or insurance requirements.”

Joint Chiefs chairman says no ships boarded yet under blockade of Iranian ports

Gen. Dan Caine says more than 10,000 sailors, marines and airmen using ships, planes and helicopters are working to enforce the blockade.

Any vessel that approaches the blockade is first warned to turn around or be boarded. Warning shots and other escalatory tactics could also be used, Caine said.

Caine says that so far no ships have had to be boarded.

“Thirteen ships have made the wise choice of turning around,” he said.

Joint Chiefs chairman likens Iran blockade to supermarket parking lot

President Trump’s top military advisor described Navy warships maintaining the blockade against Iran “like driving a sports car through a supermarket parking lot on a pay day weekend.”

Gen. Dan Kaine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went on to say these maneuvers are being performed “with thousands of kids in that parking lot” as they position themselves to get to ships that would attempt to run that blockade.

Hegseth says Americans ‘see the success’ in Iran, but polling reflects concern

The defense secretary touted public support for the war during remarks at the Pentagon on Thursday, contrasting that with what he said was an overly critical press.

“They see the success. They see the reality. And they don’t demand perfection,” Hegseth said of the public, after criticizing the press.

“You only seek the negative,” Hegseth said of the press.

Hegseth is overstating public support for the conflict. A recent AP-NORC poll shows nearly 60% of Americans say U.S. military action in Iran has been excessive. Meanwhile, 45% are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months.

US Navy is using a fraction of its total power to enforce Iran blockade, defense secretary says

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. navy is employing “less than 10% of America’s naval power” to enforce the blockade against Iran during a briefing Thursday.

“The math is clear. We’re using 10% of the world’s most powerful navy, and you have 0% of your Navy,” Hegseth said.

The Navy currently has 16 warships, including 11 destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, an aircraft carrier, and a littoral combat ship in the Middle East out of a battle force of roughly 300 total warships.

US defense secretary says Iran is moving military assets but not replenishing

At the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Iran is moving around its assets but is unable to replenish its military power almost seven weeks into the war.

The secretary pressed that idea repeatedly in the opening minutes of his morning briefing.

“You can move things around, but you can’t actually rebuild,” Hegseth said, speaking directly to Tehran’s leaders and telling them they no longer have a viable defense industry.

“As you expose yourself with your movement to our watchful eye, we are locked and loaded on your critical dual use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation and on your energy industry,” Hegseth said, telling Iran the war “is not a fair fight” given U.S. power.

Lebanese president says Rubio affirmed efforts to reach a ceasefire

The office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of anticipated direct talks with Israel.

Lebanon has insisted on a ceasefire to stop the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group before engaging in direct talks. Its top political leaders have vowed to commit to disarming the group.

The president’s office said that during Thursday’s call, Rubio “affirmed his continued efforts to reach a ceasefire as a prelude to establishing peace, security, and stability in Lebanon.”

Washington has not publicly stated its support of a ceasefire in Lebanon as a precondition, and the Israeli government has framed the prospective meeting as peace talks with a focus on disarming Hezbollah.

Aoun’s office made no mention of speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Iranian parliament leader stresses importance of Lebanon ceasefire

Iranian website NourNews has reported that Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the powerful speaker of Iran’s parliament, stressed the importance of a ceasefire in Lebanon when he spoke with his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri by phone.

The report by the site, which has close contacts with Iranian security officials, said Qalibaf emphasized that Iranian authorities were closely monitoring developments in Lebanon and pushing for a permanent ceasefire in the Mideast war.

“A ceasefire in Lebanon is as important to us as a ceasefire in Iran,” he reportedly said.

Israeli forces destroy bridge in southern Lebanon, report says

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency has reported that the Israeli military struck and entirely destroyed the Qasmiyeh Bridge over the Litani River in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it did not strike the bridge but “struck adjacent to it.”

Stocks rise as hopes grow for more US-Iran talks

Shares around the world rose as investors grew optimistic of a ceasefire extension in the Iran war.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100, France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX were all up by around 0.5%.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed 2.4% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.7% to 26,394.26. The Shanghai Composite index ended 0.7% higher.

Dalton Rushing, who replaced Ohtani as designated hitter, hit his first career grand slam off Mets closer Devin Williams in the eighth. Kyle Tucker added a two-out solo shot — his first at home as a Dodger — off Austin Warren, making it 8-1.

Ohtani (2-0) had tossed 33 consecutive innings without an earned run before MJ Melendez's RBI double in the fifth trimmed New York's deficit to 2-1. It was his first earned run allowed since Aug. 27 against Cincinnati.

Ohtani wasn't in the batting lineup during a mound start for the first time since May 28, 2021, with the Los Angeles Angels. Manager Dave Roberts said it was because Ohtani was still sore after getting hit in the back of his right shoulder by Mets pitcher David Peterson on Monday.

Ohtani's strikeouts were a season high by a Dodgers pitcher. He twice fanned Francisco Lindor in a battle of All-Stars. The second time, Lindor laughed as Ohtani blew a 99 mph fastball past him on his 11th and last pitch to end the third. Ohtani smiled wryly.

Ohtani walked two on 95 pitches, 63 for strikes. He struck out the side in the sixth to end his outing. Ohtani had 22 swing and misses, his most with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers (14-4) swept the Mets at home for the first time since June 19-22, 2017. Along with sweeps of Arizona and Washington, the Dodgers are 9-0 against National League opponents this season.

The Dodgers led 2-0 on Hyeseong Kim's two-run homer off Mets starter Clay Holmes (2-2) in the second. Teoscar Hernández added an opposite field solo shot leading off the sixth against reliever Tobias Myers.

The Mets managed five hits playing their 11th game without injured slugger Juan Soto (calf). They were outscored 14-4 in the series.

Melendez was the only Met with any success against Ohtani, going 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles after being called up from Triple-A Wednesday.

The Dodgers improved to 18-4 on Jackie Robinson Day — best mark in the majors — since MLB first declared a special day in 2004 for the player who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 with Brooklyn.

Up next

Mets RHP Kodai Senga (0-2, 7.07 ERA) starts Friday against Chicago Cubs RHP Edward Cabrera (1-0, 1.62). Also Friday, Dodgers RHP Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 4.00) starts at Colorado against Rockies RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (1-0, 2.16).

___

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

Curry's seventh 3-pointer broke a tie with 50.4 seconds to play for the 10th-seeded Warriors, who erased a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Golden State finished on a 16-6 run and held Kawhi Leonard scoreless in the fourth until the final 16 seconds.

After this time-defying rally, Curry, Draymond Green and the postseason-tested Warriors are one game from another playoff berth despite going 37-45 in the regular season and losing Jimmy Butler for the season in January.

The Warriors will travel to face Phoenix on Friday, with the winner moving on to face defending champion Oklahoma City in the first round.

Leonard scored 21 points for the Clippers, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022 and only the third time during their streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons. Bennedict Mathurin led Los Angeles with 23 points and Darius Garland had 21 points and eight assists while battling foul trouble.

The Clippers led 98-85 with 9:53 to play, but the 38-year-old Curry led Golden State's furious comeback alongside Kristaps Porzingis, who scored 20 points, and the 39-year-old Horford.

Golden State got a classic second-half barrage from Curry, who returned only five games ago from a 27-game absence with a knee injury. He scored 16 points in a six-minute span of the third quarter to keep the Warriors in it while the Clippers nearly pulled away.

After Horford hit three 3-pointers down the stretch in the fourth quarter, Gui Santos’ layup with 2:45 to play trimmed the Clips’ lead to 115-114. Horford’s fourth 3-pointer put the Warriors up 117-115 with 2:12 left.

The Clippers rallied from a chaotic 6-21 start to finish 42-40 in this once-woebegone franchise's 15th consecutive winning season — the NBA's longest active streak. But two late-season losses to Portland dropped Los Angeles to the No. 9 seed, requiring the Clips to get two play-in victories instead of one to make the playoffs.

After managing just eight points on 2-for-9 shooting in the first half, Curry scored 16 points and hit three 3-pointers in six electrifying minutes of the third quarter.

Referee Ben Taylor left shortly after halftime with an injury. He was replaced by alternate referee Sean Corbin.

___

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

El enternecedor monito de apenas 673 gramos es el caso más reciente de crianza asistida en el zoológico de Guadalajara, en el occidente de México. Ahora las miradas de miles de mexicanos se centran en Yuji, quien ha desatado las comparaciones con el popular Punch, un macaco japonés que se viralizó en redes sociales después de crecer aferrado a su orangután de peluche ante el rechazo de su madre.

A diferencia de Punch, Yuji aún no ha tenido contacto físico con otros miembros de su especie y pasa la mayor parte del tiempo dentro de una transportadora en el Centro de Integral de Medicina y Bienestar Animal (CIMBA) del zoológico de Guadalajara, donde está bajo el cuidado de 12 veterinarios y biólogos.

Aún no se define la fecha en que Yuji será trasladado al hábitat en donde viven otros 12 monos patas adultos y tres crías. Su llegada dependerá del momento en que deje de alimentarse por completo de leche y cambie su dieta a la de un mono adulto, con todo y frutas y verduras, afirmó el veterinario Iván Reynoso Ruiz, encargado del área de primates del zoológico de Guadalajara, Ese proceso podría darse cuando Yuji tenga unos seis meses de edad, agregó.

El mono patas (erythrocebus patas) es una especie de macaco de tamaño medio y originario de África. Es identificado como el primate más rápido del mundo sobre tierra firme y puede alcanzar velocidades de hasta 55 kilómetros por hora.

Supervivencia temprana

Kamaria comenzó a mostrar un comportamiento irregular apenas horas después de dar a luz el pasado 3 de marzo. Sostenía de forma inadecuada a su primera cría, la cual también tenía dificultades para aferrarse a su madre.

La situación no pasó desapercibida para sus cuidadores, quienes decidieron separar a la madre de su cría. Con apenas 443 gramos de peso al nacer, Yuji fue colocado en una incubadora en el CIMBA para mantenerlo a una temperatura adecuada y garantizar su supervivencia, relató Reynoso Ruiz.

Fue así como el mono bebé, a quien uno de sus cuidadores bautizó como Yuji —el nombre del protagonista de una popular manga y anime japonesa— entró en un proceso de crianza asistida que suele utilizarse en zoológicos y reservas de vida silvestre para garantizar el bienestar y el desarrollo físico y comportamental de crías en riesgo.

¿Cómo es el cuidado de un mono bebé?

Durante sus primeras semanas, Yuji recibía un biberón con leche adicionada con proteínas mientras permanecía en vigilancia las 24 horas del día.

Como parte de los cuidados, al pequeño primate recibió desde un primer momento un peluche que, según explicó Reynoso Ruiz, “sustituyó toda esa función que era de la madre” y “representa su seguridad”. Además del peluche del perro, Yuji tiene otros dos juguetes, uno en forma de oso y otro en forma de mono, que son alternados para permitir su higiene.

Para estimular su desarrollo, sus cuidadores instalaron una pequeña hamaca y unas cuerdas dentro de su transportadora.

Conforme Yuji dormía cada vez más horas seguidas y ganaba algo de peso, también se extendieron sus horarios de alimentación. Ahora yuji recibe el primero de sus cuatro biberones a las 7 de la mañana, y el último a las 7 de la noche, poco antes de dormir abrazado de su peluche.

A media mañana es colocado en su transportadora y se le lleva a un área cercana al hábitat de los primates, para que los monos adultos lo vayan conociendo y el se vaya adaptando a lo que será su futuro hogar.

La crianza asistida y sus detractores

Aunque los casos de Punch y Yuji han generado reacciones favorables en redes sociales, algunos defensores de los derechos de los animales se han manifestado en contra de que se mantenga la práctica de la crianza asistida en los zoológicos.

“No hay como que vivan en su hábitat natural. Ellos tienen derecho a nacer, crecer, desarrollarse y morir en donde les corresponde”, afirmó la activista mexicana Diana Valencia, directora y fundadora de la asociación local Abriendo Jaulas y Abriendo Mentes, al plantear que aunque la crianza asistida garantiza la atención de las crías, “están cuidados por un humano, lo que no tendría que ser así”.

Ante las posiciones en contra, el encargado del área de primates del zoológico de Guadalajara expresó que los santuarios y zoológicos actualmente representan una oportunidad única para salvar a muchas especies que están en riesgo por el cambio climático y la caza furtiva. Admitió, además, que si Yuji hubiera nacido en estado silvestre probablemente “no habría tenido una segunda oportunidad”.

Embiid had been absent since his emergency appendectomy last week and the Sixers thought it would lift his spirits if he was part of their playoff push. Unsure of his answer hours ahead of tipoff Wednesday night against Orlando, Embiid surprised his teammates by walking into the locker room about an hour before the game. He provided an emotional boost to Maxey and the Sixers just by showing up.

“I gave him a big hug,” Maxey said. “I was glad to see him.”

Maxey took over in the fourth quarter, much the way Embiid did in so many crucial games over the years.

Maxey scored 31 points, and V.J. Edgecombe added 19 points and 11 rebounds in the Sixers' 109-97 win over the Magic that gave Philadelphia the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Sixers begin their first-round series Sunday at Boston.

Maxey, named an All-Star starter for the first time in his career, scored seven straight points late in the fourth to help the Sixers put away the Magic.

“It was just me deciding I wanted to be aggressive,” Maxey said. “I had some really good looks that I missed early in the third, that I made in the first half. So I was just really confident I was going to make some shots.”

Maxey — the Sixers' career 3-point leader — hit three 3s and made 11 of 25 shots as the Sixers made the playoffs a year after they went 24-58.

“He's been doing a bit of that lately as far as understanding we need kind of his greatness at the right time,” coach Nick Nurse said.

The Sixers had leaned on Embiid's greatness over the years — but also came to understand that playing without the oft-injured former MVP is part of the deal in Philadelphia.

The team hasn't given a timetable for Embiid's return from his appendectomy. The two-time scoring champion sat in on a video session Wednesday and watched the game from the bench.

Maxey is going to need to excel for the Sixers to have a shot against the Celtics.

Sixers fans chanted “We want Boston!” in the waning moments, but it might be best to pay heed to series history — the 76ers have lost their last six playoff series against the Celtics. Philadelphia last topped Boston in a series in 1982.

That's a worry for the next practice. Maxey walked off the court to a roaring crowd — including Allen Iverson — and teammates swarmed him to show their appreciation.

“I promised some guys we were going to get in the playoffs,” Maxey said.

One bright spot out of last season's dismal finish was getting the No. 3 pick in the draft. The Sixers — who drafted a string of busts during their lengthy rebuild — appear to have made a wise move by selecting Edgecombe out of Baylor.

The 20-year-old opened the season with 34 points against Boston, the third-most points for an NBA player in his first game. He was just as impressive in his first play-in game with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Edgecombe was whistled for taunting after a dunk in the third quarter and officials had to separate the teams.

“I was tweaking a little bit tonight,” Edgecombe said. “I guess it happens when you let a kid play such a high-intensity game. I was out there having fun. If I've got to play wild for us to win, I'll play wild.”

___

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

The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, a day after topping its prior all-time high set in January for its 10th gain in 11 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 12 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.

U.S. stocks have leaped more than 10% since hitting a low in late March, driven by hopes for an end to the war or something that could avert a worst-case scenario for the global economy. Now, the wait is on to see if such hopes were prescient or just wishful thinking.

Pakistan’s powerful army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of efforts to press for an extension to a ceasefire that has paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the U.S. and the Islamic Republic.

Oil prices climbed, showing that caution still remains in financial markets. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 3.3% to $97.98. It’s gone from roughly $70 before the war to as high as $119 at times on uncertainty about how long the war will keep oil stuck in the Persian Gulf area and away from customers.

“The key upside risk for the market is that peace talks between the US and Iran break down,” ING Bank strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote Thursday. “This isn’t an unrealistic scenario, given that US and Iranian demands remain fairly wide apart.”

In the meantime, big U.S. companies are continuing to deliver growth in profits for the start of 2026 that’s even better than analysts expected. Such growth is the lifeblood of the stock market, whose level tends to follow the track of corporate profits over the long term.

PepsiCo rose 2.2% after reporting better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Customers bought more snacks during the quarter, after the company said in February it would cut prices on Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos and Tostitos chips to win back people frustrated by high prices.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services rumbled 7.4% higher, and Marsh & McLennan climbed 4.4% after both likewise delivered stronger results than expected.

Technology stocks also broadly got some support after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., an industry heavyweight, reported stronger revenue and profit for the start of 2026 than analysts expected. TSMC’s Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said the company expects strong demand to continue into the spring.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Abbott, which fell 4.2% even though it reported slightly better results than analysts expected. The health care company cut its forecast for profit over the full year, mostly because of its purchase of cancer-screening company Exact Sciences.

Allbirds slumped 27.8%, but that gave back only a portion of its 582% surge from the day before. The company formerly known for sneakers is pivoting to the artificial-intelligence industry and hopes to rent out the use of high-powered AI chips as a service.

In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed across much of Europe and Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.4%, South Korea’s Kospi rallied 2.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.7% for some of the world’s larger moves.

China on Thursday reported 5% economic growth for the January-March quarter, an acceleration from the previous quarter. While economists say China has largely shrugged off the initial impacts of the Iran war, some are warning its massive export engine could be hit more significantly in the coming months on slower global economic growth.

In the bond market Treasury yields eased a bit after a report showed fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.28% from 4.29% late Wednesday.

___

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The truce that Trump said was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Eastern follows more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Lebanon has insisted on a ceasefire to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah before engaging in more talks, while vowing to commit to disarming the group.

The president also invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House for what he said would be “the first meaningful talks" between the countries since 1983.

“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement in 1983 saying Lebanon would formally recognize Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Lebanon. The deal fell apart during Lebanon’s civil war and was formally rescinded a year later.

Trump said the pause in fighting followed “excellent” conversations with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Pakistan army chief meets with Iranian parliament speaker

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s powerful army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of international efforts to press for an extension to a ceasefire that has paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the U.S. and the Islamic Republic.

It was unclear whether the frantic diplomacy could lead to a lasting deal as the two-week ceasefire passes the halfway mark. The Iran war has killed thousands of people and upended global markets by disrupting the flow of oil.

Iranian state television did not provide details on the meeting between Pakistani Army Gen. Asim Munir and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who has emerged as his country’s chief negotiator.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, which has become a key mediator after hosting direct talks between the U.S. and Iran that authorities said helped narrow differences between the sides. Mediators are seeking a new round before the ceasefire expires next week.

The White House said any further talks regarding Iran would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations. The fragile ceasefire is holding despite a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and Iranian counter-threats to target regional ports across the Red Sea.

The war has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have pounded military and civilian infrastructure. Oil prices have fallen amid hopes for an end to fighting, and U.S. stocks on Wednesday surpassed records set in January.

Lebanese president refuses to speak with Israeli PM

During the fragile ceasefire with Iran, fighting has continued in Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Trump had announced that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon would speak about halting the fighting. If that were to occur, it would be the first direct conversation between the leaders of the two countries in more than 30 years.

But at one point Thursday, Aoun refused to speak to Netanyahu, a government official familiar with the developments told The Associated Press.

The government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the remarks were made during a call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and that Washington “understands Lebanon’s position.”

Washington has not publicly stated its support of a ceasefire as a precondition, and the Israeli government has framed the talks as peace negotiations with a focus on disarming Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire across the border, with Hezbollah targeting towns in northern Israel with rockets and drones. Israeli fire against southern Lebanon intensified, especially around the cities of Tyre, Nabatieh and the strategic town of Bint Jbeil near the border with Israel.

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.

Israeli troops have pushed deeper into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a “security zone,” which Netanyahu has said will extend at least 8 to 10 kilometers (5 to 6 miles) into Lebanon.

Officials say US and Iran are making progress

Even as the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats strained the ceasefire, regional officials reported progress, telling AP that the United States and Iran had an “in-principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

But tensions simmered.

The commander of Iran’s joint military command, Ali Abdollahi, threatened to halt trade in the region if the U.S. does not lift its naval blockade, and a newly appointed military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he does not support extending the ceasefire.

Mediators seek compromise on sticking points

Mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points: Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran is open to discussing the type and level of its uranium enrichment, but his country “based on its needs, must be able to continue enrichment,” Iranian state media reported.

The Pentagon urged Iran to make a deal, with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling reporters at the Pentagon that “ultimately, they need to come to the table.”

He said the U.S. will ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.

“We’d prefer to do it the nice way through a deal led by our great vice president and negotiating team. Or we can do it the hard way,” Hegseth said.

Iran has repeatedly insisted that it does not seek a nuclear weapon and that its nuclear program is for peaceful proposes.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new economic sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, during a visit to Doha, his office said, as part of a regional visit aimed at discussions on the ongoing U.S.-Iran peace process.

China calls for Strait of Hormuz to reopen

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the window of peace was opening during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Wang told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that the situation has reached a critical juncture, and said Iran’s sovereignty, security and legitimate rights should be respected, while freedom of navigation and safety through the Strait of Hormuz should be ensured.

Since the war began, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic through the strait, which a fifth of global oil transited through in peacetime. Tehran’s effective closure of the strait sent oil prices skyrocketing, raising the cost of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East, and the U.S. has responded with a blockade on Iranian shipping.

U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that no ships had made it past the blockade since it was imposed two days earlier, while 13 merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and reenter Iranian waters.

___

Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel and Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece and Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

In the first three months of the year, Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign said he brought in $27 million, while vulnerable incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia said he raised $14 million. Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s campaign said he’ll report $13.8 million and former Sen. Sherrod Brown will report $12.5 million in his comeback bid in Ohio.

The money will help Democrats make their case to voters and counter Republican attacks, but it doesn’t change the fundamental fact that control of the Senate will be decided in territory that favors Republicans. Except for Maine, where Democrats Graham Platner and Janet Mills are still battling for the party's nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, all of the top battleground races are in states President Donald Trump won in 2024.

While Democrats touted their totals, they offer only a snapshot of overall fundraising, as campaigns had until the end of the day Wednesday to file with the Federal Election Commission.

Republicans lagged

In races where Republicans had reported their fundraising by Tuesday evening, Democrats were far outpacing them.

In Texas, incumbent Sen. Jon Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton — who are locked in a bitter runoff for the GOP nomination — raised $2.5 million combined, less than 10% of Talarico's revenue for the quarter. Two of the three main Republicans in Georgia — Derek Dooley and Buddy Carter — combined for about $1.1 million. The third, Mike Collins, had not yet reported his fundraising as of Wednesday evening.

Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley raised $2.1 million in North Carolina and Sen. Jon Husted raised $2.9 million in Ohio.

Collins, a top target for Democrats, raised $3.1 million in Maine. Mills, the governor who is preferred by much of the Democratic establishment, said she’ll report raising $2.6 million, while Platner, an oyster farmer backed by progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders, said he raised $4 million.

In Alaska, Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola said she'll report raising $8.9 million, compared with $1.7 million for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Money isn't everything

Republicans said flush coffers don't guarantee victory.

Retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina pointed out that his opponent in 2020 also celebrated successful fundraising quarters but didn't win.

Democrats Beto O'Rourke in 2018 in Texas and Jaime Harrison in 2020 in South Carolina shattered fundraising records and still lost to their Republican rivals.

"We don’t have to outraise them," Tillis said. "We just got to out run them.”

There's an imbalance in Republicans' favor at the national committee level. The Republican National Committee reported roughly $109 million cash on hand in its most recent FEC filing, compared with roughly $16 million for their Democratic counterpart, plus Democrats are carrying about $17 million in debt.

Waiting in the wings for Republicans is a super political action committee tied to Trump — MAGA Inc. — which has more than $300 million cash on hand, according to the FEC.

The rosy first-quarter contributions carry some advantages for Democrats, namely the ability to buy limited advertising slots ahead of the election to get on the air early and make an impression with voters. Candidates also get favorable rates for television ads so their money goes further than independent expenditures by outside groups, though that advantage is eroding as ad spending increasingly shifts toward digital streaming.

“Winning in Texas will require unprecedented resources,” Talarico campaign manager Seth Krasne said in a statement. “This grassroots fundraising haul puts our movement in a strong position to spread our message in some of the most expensive media markets in the country.”

Talarico will face the winner of the GOP runoff on May 26 between Cornyn and Paxton.

___

Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.

Workers who earn tips and overtime are seeing bigger returns this tax season, but those savings and others resulting from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that Trump signed last year have been eaten away by higher gas pricesdriven by the Iran war.

The president’s rare trip out West comes as Trump faces growing political pressure to wrap up the war and focus on a message that helps his party as they try to defend their congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.

On Friday, Trump will hold an event in Phoenix with conservative political group Turning Point USA. But his first stop is in Las Vegas where he will hold a roundtable with several police officers who have benefited from new tax breaks on overtime, along with a barber and a casino pit supervisor, who got to claim the new tax breaks on tips.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the average tax refund this year has been over $3,400, up about $340 from a year ago.

Vegas, once known for affordable living, feels economic pain

Trump has said he first conceived of his “no tax on tips” in Las Vegas, a city where entertainment is the financial lifeblood and many workers depend on gratuities from visitors.

But it’s also a city of commuters, including the tipped workers who drive to their jobs at glitzy casinos. Gasoline is averaging $5 a gallon in Las Vegas, up 28% from a year ago, according to AAA.

Nicholas Delaney, an airline attendant who lives in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson and said he did not vote for the president in 2024, said he thinks Trump is doing a “terrible” job when it comes to the cost of living. He thought the tax break for tips was a good policy, but is concerned about the cost of groceries and gas.

“I gotta spend over $100 for a full tank of gas, 13 gallons? Crazy,” Delaney said.

Paula Goodman, a bartender in a Henderson casino, said the cost of living is her biggest concern right now, adding that she spends more than $400 a week on groceries for her family.

But Goodman, who voted for the president, said she thought he is “doing a pretty good damn job,” and doesn’t blame him for high gas prices, which she portrayed as just a fluctuation. As a bartender, she said she personally appreciated the tax savings on tips she brings home.

“Every little penny nowadays is, like, huge,” she said. “You’ve seen diesel, right? $6.11.”

Tax refunds are offset by gas prices

The White House said Trump is focused on tax cuts, deregulation and boosting U.S. energy production to drive down prices, and describes high gas prices as a temporary disruption from the war in Iran.

“Tens of millions of Americans are benefiting this tax season from the president’s signature provisions” in the tax law, said White House spokesman Kush Desai, saying that shows “how the administration hasn’t lost focus on delivering on our affordability agenda at home.”

Even so, the conflict has made things less affordable. The Bank of America Institute looked at its deposit and spending data and in a Tuesday analysis concluded that “the average increase in tax refunds could cover the average increase in gasoline spending for at least five months.”

Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, the insurance and financial services company, said last week in an analysis that “the steep rise in gasoline prices looks likely to completely offset the increased tax funds windfall with households,” stressing that the money back would likely prevent a sharper drop in consumer spending.

Trump's economic message focusing on the tax breaks has also been drowned out this week by distractions from the president himself, who angered even some of his own supporters when he got into a public fight with the pope and posted a now-deleted image on social media depicting himself as Jesus.

GOP strategist Ron Bonjean said among Republicans, “the frustration and concern is growing every week about whether or not we will be able to hold onto the House this November.”

It takes a lot of repetition for a message like promoting the tax bill to break through to voters, but Trump’s tendency to drift into other subjects can dilute that, Bonjean said. Trump, who has at times dismissed affordability concerns as “a hoax,” and “con job” from Democrats, has to acknowledge the economic realities people are facing now if he wants to help his party this November, Bonjean said.

“He absolutely has to talk about his plan to bring down high gasoline costs, or else he’s lost his own message. It won’t be credible just to talk about no taxes on tips,” Bonjean said.

When will gas prices come down?

While the president has said he thinks the war with Iran will end soon, a deal to resolve it has not yet emerged, with the U.S. and Iran still proffering stances that are far apart.

Trump on Sunday said in a Fox News Channel interview that gas prices “could be the same or maybe a little bit higher” by the November midterms.

By Wednesday, in another Fox News interview, Trump walked back that comment. “I think they'll be much lower” before the election, on the assumption the war will be long over.

“When that’s settled, gas prices are going to go down tremendously,” Trump said.

Hours later at the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was less rosy, predicting that gas prices will fall sometime this summer, depending on how the negotiations with Iran go.

“I’m optimistic that sometime between June 20th and September 20th, that we can have $3 gas again,” Bessent told reporters.

___

Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

El único hospital de Saipán, una de las islas del archipiélago, sufrió graves inundaciones, además de que se recibieron reportes de grandes complejos turísticos que perdieron sus generadores de respaldo, señaló Ed Propst, un exlegislador que trabaja en la oficina del gobernador.

“Las condiciones son bastante malas en estos momentos”, declaró Propst, añadiendo que los residentes se preparaban para un largo periodo sin luz ni agua.

Las autoridades apenas comenzaban a evaluar los daños que dejó el paso del supertifón Sinlaku. La tormenta golpeó las islas el martes por la noche y mantuvo su azote con fuertes vientos e intensas lluvias por varias horas el miércoles, volcando autos, derribando postes de servicios públicos y desprendiendo techos de lámina. Hasta el momento no se han reportado muertes.

No había servicio de luz y agua y muchos caminos quedaron intransitables en Saipán y Tinian, islas de la Mancomunidad de las Islas Marianas del Norte, un territorio de Estados Unidos donde viven unas 45.000 personas, indicaron funcionarios.

“Todavía tenemos una orden de resguardo, por lo que los equipos de primera respuesta no han podido realizar una evaluación completa de los daños”, señaló Bernard Villagomez, funcionario de información pública de la Oficina de Seguridad Nacional y Gestión de Emergencias del territorio, en un mensaje de texto a The Associated Press.

La Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias de Estados Unidos (FEMA por sus iniciales en inglés) tiene planeado enviar a personal y suministros adicionales a la región.

La tormenta también azotó Guam, otro territorio de Estados Unidos y sede de varias bases militares, con vientos de fuerza tropical.

El tifón —el ciclón tropical de mayor intensidad en lo que va del año— registraba vientos máximos sostenidos de hasta 241 km/h (150 mph) al momento de tocar tierra en las islas, informó el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional.

La enorme tormenta aún tenía vientos de 201 km/h (125 mph) a última hora del miércoles, a medida que desplazaba hacia el norte de las islas de Saipán, Tinian y Rota, indicó el servicio meteorológico. Se tiene previsto que el meteoro se desvíe hacia una serie de islas volcánicas poco pobladas en el extremo norte de las Marianas.

El vórtice de la tormenta se encontraba el jueves a unos 274 kilómetros (170 millas) al noroeste de Saipán. Muchos sensores en la isla estaban fuera de servicio, pero el servicio meteorológico estimó vientos de entre 97 y 113 km/h (60 y 70 mph).

Los vientos crearon condiciones peligrosas en el exterior, pero algunas tiendas de Tinian abrieron el jueves y la población aprovechó para comprar suministros, señaló el residente Mathew Masga.

“Mientras conducía por la zona, vi varias casas de madera y con partes de concreto con los techos dañados debido al paso del tifón", dijo a la AP en un mensaje por Facebook. "Cabe destacar que se cayeron muchos de nuestros postes y líneas eléctricas”.

Imágenes tomadas desde Saipán y Tinian mostraban terrenos residenciales cubiertos de escombros y árboles destrozados. Los vientos aplastaron las gradas metálicas de un campo deportivo.

El residente Dong Min Lee grabó un video de un auto que estaba encima de otros dos en el estacionamiento del edificio residencial donde vive. Los vientos arrancaron parte de la barandilla de su balcón.

La Cruz Roja Estadounidense y sus socios resguardaron a más de 1.000 residentes en Guam y las Marianas del Norte, informó la portavoz de la agencia, Stephanie Fox.

___

Los periodistas de The Associated Press Audrey McAvoy, en Honolulu, y Gabriela Aoun Angueira, en San Diego, contribuyeron con este despacho.

___

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

One can find it in the country’s name — the UNITED States of America — and in the sentiment of the motto written in Latin on its coins and one-dollar bills: E Pluribus Unum, or “out of many, one.”

The effort has been optimistic and unrealistic, successful and a failure, enduring as an American ideal during moments when citizens struggled — and struggle today — to practice it.

How has the notion of unity in American society evolved in 250 years and more? What does it mean — and what doesn't it mean, particularly in fraught and troubled moments? “It's a question,” says one scholar, “that every society has to answer.”

I. The beginnings of these ‘United’ States

From the milestone moment of the nation’s beginning, the founders emphasized that unity would be a vital component of the new country, where government would be based not on a king and monarchy as in Europe but instead, as the Declaration says, “on the consent of the governed.”

“It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it … indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest,” George Washington said as he stepped down from two terms as the first American president.

At the start of the experiment, the fabric of a nation first stitched together from 13 original colonies, defining what unity meant was far from settled.

Even as the founders spoke of high-minded ideals, they put limits on who they allowed to take part, who had rights and freedom and who didn't. All these years later, determining the meaning of unity can still be a challenge. Do we interpret that Latin motto to mean a blending of different perspectives to create a country that is greater than the sum of its parts, or does it mean there can only be one, that unity requires sameness?

Either way, here’s the thing about aspirations, as anyone who’s ever quit on a New Year’s resolution can tell you: They don’t turn into reality without effort and commitment, or come out of just a sole moment, no matter how singular.

Our individual lives are built not just from the milestones but from the everydays in between. How could the life of a nation be any different?

II. Aspiration vs. reality

Even as unity has stood among the ideals, the on-the-ground experience of life in America for the last 2½ centuries has reflected the reality that in this created nation, there’s never been just ONE America, where everyone lived in the same way or had the same access to power and prosperity.

It wasn't there at the country's inception. And in the moment the U.S. is living now, it certainly isn't either.

“I think the United State has had a more volatile history in terms of how it deals with questions of inclusion and exclusion, how it draws the line and polices the line of who’s in and who’s out,” says Daniel Immerwahr, a professor of history at Northwestern University.

“It’s a question that every society has to answer … who’s on the inside, who’s on the outside,” he says. “I would say that what’s interesting about the United States in this regard is how changeable and nonobvious some of the answers to those questions are.”

Sometimes the differences have been straightforward — like geography (rural vs. urban, plains vs. mountains) and climate (heat vs. snow, wildfires vs. flooding). Sometimes they were, and remain, cultural — people from different countries of origin, newcomers vs. generations deep, speaking different languages, following different denominations of Christianity or other religions entirely. And of course, the differences have been economic; rich and poor have always lived differently.

But sometimes, the differences have been travesties — like enslaved Africans and their American-born descendants, forced to live under the lash as they worked in the fields and elsewhere for the benefit of white owners. Even after slavery was outlawed, they were subject to discrimination and worse under racism that was legalized in systemic ways into the 20th century and that echoes still.

The Indigenous tribes whose populations were decimated by death and disease as the American experiment moved westward and newly arrived settlers hankered after their tribal lands, and whose cultures were stripped from generations as the U.S. government tried to force “unity” through brutal efforts at assimilation.

Communities of people barred from possibility because of gender, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

There have also been persistent efforts across eras to create a country where the opportunities available to some — say, voting, economic growth, or access to education — would be made available to all. That came gradually through protest movements, legal action, and callbacks to those same American founding ideals and aspirations of unity and equality.

“It provided a language for the groups that were challenging these exclusions to draw on … invoking the ideals of the Revolution and the Declaration and saying, ‘Look, this is what the nation is supposed to be about,’” says Eileen Cheng, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College. “They could challenge the system and yet claim that they were being the true Americans.”

III. What could ‘unity’ even look like?

One of the things about ideals, though, is that they can be somewhat abstract.

What does it mean for a country to be ‘united'? Does unity mean uniform? Is it, to borrow a reference from one of satirist Terry Pratchett's books, that people are on the same side, or can they be on “different sides that happen to be side by side.” Is unity overall even a good thing in the context of a raucous democracy?

A look around the globe and through the history books shows there's no single answer. There have been countries with a single official language, others that have recognized multiple languages, and some, like the United States, that for generations have never officially designated any. At times, countries have chosen official religions. Nations have different standards and processes for naturalizing new citizens.

“There are always tensions between the unity and the separateness,” said Paul Wachtel, a psychology professor at the City College of New York. “There’s no society that is just one or just the other … what’s really most essential is that we learn how to negotiate those tensions.”

The United States experienced that firsthand in its infancy. The Constitution we live under is the second attempt at a framework for government. The first, the Articles of Confederation, kept the federal government weaker and the individual states stronger. It quickly became clear that having such a weak central government — i.e., less unity — wasn't effective for the new country, leading to the Constitution.

For some countries, like many in Europe, those negotiations have taken place under the weight of centuries of history and geography, and other established backdrops like the existing form of government, which impacted the direction they decided to go. The U.S., from the founders' perspective, was a new entity.

“What it is to be of the United States is to adhere to a set of principles rather than to have a certain kind of lineage,” Immerwahr says. “Sometimes that makes the United States remarkably open, and then sometimes that gets the leaders of the United States in all kinds of weird contradictions as they try to explain why they’re doing some forms of inclusion and not others.”

The United States has a decidedly mixed history when it comes to dealing with those tensions. Things have fluctuated.

Take migration, for example. There have been eras when the influx of people coming to these shores was seemingly a never-ending stream, but also times when much of the world was barred. In politics, the idea that there would be different factions represented by different parties was loathed by some, even as it became embedded in the political culture. Groups that were once looked down on are later brought into the fold, and vice versa.

“What have we learned over the last 250 years is that things change,” says Cindy Kam, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. “We are inclined to be social animals, but what those groups are is culturally constructed. So political elites, social elites, cultural elites, they do that work in identifying what the groups are, who is part of ‘us’ and who is a part of the ‘other.'”

By no means is it settled; if anything, the demographic, technological, economic and other changes of the last several decades are making discussions about unity more relevant than ever. In recent years, Americans have lived in a country where polarization is rampant, and serious — sometimes dire — questions abound over what the future holds. That's probably more in line with the country's beginnings than people realize.

“This polarization, people talk about it like it’s a new thing. But I think it’s really a return back to the way that we were at the beginning of the country,” Cheng says. “It’s not like this kind of linear development where we’re growing more and more accepting of difference. I think it’s up and down.”

___

This story is part of an Associated Press package looking at the United States at age 250. For more stories, click here.

For a host of reasons, Hatzenbuhler and other ranchers across the country are reluctant to grow the national herd — now its smallest in more than 75 years — and until they do so, demand will outweigh supply, and beef prices will likely remain high.

Adding cattle makes sense for some ranchers, but others are struggling to stay afloat with the cattle they have, Hatzenbuhler said.

“They’re good times, and they’re bad times,” she said. “It’s a combination of both.”

Why is the beef herd so small?

Hatzenbuhler will make her choices as cows give birth to about 700 calves this spring on her family's Diamond J Angus ranch on more than 2,000 wind-swept acres (809 hectares) near Mandan, North Dakota. Does she opt to increase her herd, or does she offset the new arrivals by selling an equal number of cattle to be slaughtered?

The national herd size isn't the only factor that determines what beef costs at the grocery store. Still, the dwindling number of cattle is a key reason the average price of all uncooked ground beef in the U.S. was $6.86 per pound in March, 3 cents off the record high set in February, according to federal statistics. That price in March is up nearly 48% from March 2021.

The U.S. cattle herd reached a high of 132 million head in 1975, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and that figure has gradually fallen to 86 million this year.

Thanks to changes in cattle genetics and feeding techniques, ranchers now produce far more meat from each animal, so despite the much smaller herd, the country's beef production hit a record 28.4 billion pounds in 2022, said Tim Petry, a North Dakota State University livestock marketing specialist. About 26 billion pounds of beef are expected in 2026.

About 2.5 billion pounds of beef were exported to other countries in 2025, and the tight remaining supply, along with the high demand, has caused record prices.

Ranchers acknowledge the higher prices, but they face plenty of challenges weighing against growing herds, especially from drought.

Drought limits land for grazing

Dry conditions have persisted across much of cattle country, with about 63% of the U.S. cattle herd in drought areas, according to the USDA. Some areas have also seen giant wildfires that left no grass for grazing.

“You’ve got to have rain. You’ve got to have grass to keep cows on because they’re out on pastures for over half the year, and so that’s been the dilemma, is we had forced liquidation of cows,” Petry said.

This time of year, as calves arrive, ranchers decide whether to retain young cows called heifers and calves for breeding herds, and a big factor is pasture conditions, said Bernt Nelson, an American Farm Bureau Federation economist.

Feed is the highest cost for ranchers, and due to drought in spots like Texas and Oklahoma, they have had to truck in supplies from elsewhere. Those extra costs make it hard to increase a herd.

“When these pasture conditions deteriorate, and water becomes an issue, some of these states have to go as far as to haul hay, haul water from other regions of the country that have grass and easy access to water, and that adds a significant cost to operations,” Nelson said.

Even if ranchers opted to raise more cattle, it takes 15 to 24 months for a calf to mature before it can be slaughtered.

Role of meat processors in beef prices

Ranchers often blame the concentrated meat processing systems — primarily driven by four companies — for high beef prices, but the picture is complicated.

In a statement and market updates, the Meat Institute, a meat processors trade group, noted that retailers and food service companies, not packers, set prices for consumers. And the organization said livestock producers were “earning record profits” while packers were losing money.

The Meat Institute also argued that the concentration ratio hasn’t “changed appreciably” over the past 30 years.

“Rhetoric about beef industry concentration implies that consolidation in the beef packing sector is ongoing and that market power is becoming increasingly concentrated. That is not the case,” the group said.

John Robinson, a spokesman for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said he sees many reasons for high prices, and in some cases, meat processors are responsible, but that “it’s far more complicated than most people will give it credit for.”

A pest forces border closure

Another driver of high prices is the closure of the U.S.-Mexico border to livestock imports to slow the spread of a flesh-eating parasite called the New World screwworm. The closures that began in late 2024 have stopped about 1 million cattle from being hauled from Mexico into the U.S., said Warren Rusche, an extension feedlot specialist at South Dakota State University.

The border closure particularly affects cattle feedlots and ranchers who graze cattle in the southern plains.

President Donald Trump has called for increased beef imports from Argentina, but the country's expanded quota would be only a tiny percentage of U.S. beef production, Rusche said.

Are ranchers getting rich?

Hatzenbuhler, the North Dakota rancher, isn't getting rich, but for ranchers who own their land and equipment, she said it's a good time to raise cattle. It's not as good for people looking to break into the business, given the high cost of everything from equipment to fertilizer and the difficulty of finding workers.

“If you’re a young guy and want to get in, it’s probably not the time to do it, but if you’re kind of established and been doing this for a while, you’re doing good,” she said.

California rancher Mike Williams said he wouldn't discourage someone from getting into ranching but would caution them, “don't get too far upside down.”

“I would say that we're finally maybe getting a fair price,” Williams said. “I think people are starting to realize the value of beef, and they're finding that they're willing to pay maybe a little more than they have in the past for the quality of the product that they're getting.”

The event featured a “ladies vs. gents” matchup, with top-ranked pickleball player Anna Leigh Waters and tennis pro Genie Bouchard teaming up against legends Andre Agassi, who returned to defend his title, and James Blake.

The massive countywide cleanup is now in its 44th year, arriving at a critical time for Biscayne Bay, which is at a dangerous tipping point.

“Don’t forget, water is life. Wooo!” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

Across 33 sites in Miami-Dade County, more than 3,000 volunteers stepped up to do their part to help save the bay.

“It matters a lot. It’s our community, it’s our Earth,” said Laura Gagliardo, a volunteer with Blackstone.

Baynanza 2026 spans shorelines across local waterways and even inland areas, tackling the wave of litter that ultimately ends up in the bay and ocean.

“Beautiful bay. Lot of garbage. I don’t know who can do this to this beautiful place,” said Miami Beach volunteer Marina Spisiak.

At a site along the north shore of the Julia Tuttle Causeway off Miami Beach, organized by VolunteerCleanup.org, volunteers were shocked to find the area covered in trash.

“It’s just very sad that we have become so irresponsible and so unaware, thinking that’s not going to affect us,” said volunteer Maria Rovzar.

Much of the debris comes not only from careless visitors, but from trash carried into the bay itself -- pounds of litter flowing in from across Miami-Dade.

Eighty percent of all marine debris comes from land-based sources. That means every plastic bag, every plastic water bottle, plastic cup, Styrofoam container that gets thrown out a car window or litter on the street -- every time it rains, that gets washed into our storm drain system, into our canals, and into Biscayne Bay.

State Sen. Ileana Garcia was also at the Julia Tuttle cleanup, turning words into action after sponsoring legislation aimed at tackling Florida’s growing marine debris problem.

“I think that the time has come where we’re finally aware that we need to do this,” Garcia said.

Garcia said momentum is building in Tallahassee.

“The tide is changing in Tallahassee. I think they’re very much aware that it’s actually cheaper to take care of the resources versus having to clean up after it’s broken,” she said.

Despite that momentum, the bill died in committee when the legislative session ended. Garcia said she plans to bring it back next year. Advocates remain hopeful.

“I think the appetite is growing. It’s not there yet, but what we’re doing is bringing elected officials out on cleanups so they can see this problem firsthand,” said Dave Doebler, co-founder of VolunteerCleanup.org. “Once they do, they immediately want to be part of the solution.”

Biscayne Bay is a major economic engine for Miami-Dade, supporting industries from fishing to cruising.

“Every year, the bay produces over $64 billion in annual economic revenue, and we really want to make sure that we have a safe bay to protect the fishing industry, the cruising industry and everyone who relies on a healthy bay,” said Loren Parra, director of the county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management.

Right now, the bay faces threats from nutrient pollution caused by sewage breaks, leaking septic tanks, fertilizer runoff and dirty stormwater. Reducing marine debris is key to restoring its health at a time when it is nearing a tipping point.

“In order to solve the problem, it’s going to take actions by individuals, businesses and government,” Doebler said.

“It makes a difference, even if it’s for one hour,” said volunteer Nelly Hernandez.

“We just want to do our part and come out here and clean. Does it make a difference? Hopefully, yeah. Hopefully we can inspire other people to come out here and take care of our Mother Earth,” said volunteer Ryan Oswald.

County officials said volunteers collected more than 20,000 pounds of marine debris and trash, including microplastics. The trashiest sites included the Julia Tuttle Causeway, where about 2,000 pounds were removed, and Biscayne National Park, where volunteers picked up 1,700 pounds.

Kast, del derechista Partido Republicano que llegó a la presidencia apenas en marzo con la promesa de encabezar un gobierno enfocado en la seguridad y la economía, buscará dinamizar la actividad económica mediante un paquete de 40 medidas que enviará al Congreso en los próximos días.

“Queremos más empleo, más progreso económico y social, y más seguridad para que los chilenos puedan recuperar la esperanza”, dijo el mandatario al inicio de su primer discurso en cadena nacional.

“Tenemos un solo objetivo, que Chile sea un país donde el trabajo honesto alcance para vivir bien”, dijo Kast. “Una nación donde quien quiera emprender no encuentre obstáculos sino oportunidades y donde el Estado cumple sus funciones con eficiencia”.

Entre las iniciativas principales, Kast apunta a recuperar la confianza del sector privado con una propuesta para reducir el impuesto corporativo del 27% al 23%, una medida que ya enfrenta el rechazo de la oposición. Además, el gobierno busca implementar un crédito para las empresas que paguen salarios a trabajadores más vulnerables, iniciativa que ayudaría a las compañías de todos los tamaños a reducir costos de contratación.

“Todos necesitan lo mismo: un Estado que no los trabe, una carga tributaria que no los asfixie y un marco legal que les dé certeza para crecer y dar más empleo”, dijo Kast.

Kast, de 60 años, hizo campaña con la promesa de impulsar a la economía mediante el fomento de la inversión privada, la reducción de obstáculos regulatorios y el fortalecimiento de sectores estratégicos como la minería, la energía y la infraestructura.

Sin embargo, el conflicto en Oriente Medio ha complicado sus planes. El gobierno anunció en marzo un fuerte aumento en los precios de los combustibles en un país que depende enormemente de las importaciones de petróleo. El incremento disparó la inflación mensual al 1%, su mayor variación desde enero de 2025.

El mandatario también propuso eliminar el impuesto sobre la compra de viviendas nuevas durante 12 meses para facilitar el acceso a la vivienda propia. El plan contempla eximir a los propietarios mayores de 65 años de la obligación de pagar contribuciones sobre su primera vivienda.

El paquete económico también incluye asistencia para las víctimas de los incendios de enero pasado en las regiones de Ñuble y Biobío, que dejaron 23 muertos, destruyeron más de 1.000 viviendas y obligaron a decenas de miles de personas a evacuar.

“Sé que habrá voces que digan que este proyecto favorece a los que más tienen. Esa objeción no resiste los datos. El empleo lo puede crear cualquier empresa que tenga condiciones para crecer: el almacén de barrio, la empresa familiar, la compañía mediana, la gran industria”, dijo Kast al final de su discurso. “El crecimiento económico no es un beneficio para unos pocos”.

The Sixers moved on to a first-round series that begins Sunday at Boston.

Desmond Bane and the Magic aren't done yet. They will host Charlotte on Friday night, with the winner earning the No. 8 seed in the East and a first-round matchup with Detroit.

The Hornets held on to beat Miami 127-126 when Miles Bridges blocked Davion Mitchell’s attempt at a winning layup at the buzzer. Charlotte’s LeMelo Ball will play, although he was fined $35,000 for what the league said was an uncalled flagrant foul when he tripped Bam Adebayo, causing a back injury that forced the Miami star out of the game.

Embiid had an emergency appendectomy last week in Houston. While the 76ers haven’t given a timetable for his return, the two-time scoring champion returned to the team on Wednesday, surprising teammates in the locker room and watching the game from the bench.

Maxey, named an Eastern Conference All-Star starter for the first time in his career, scored seven straight points late in the fourth to give the Sixers some breathing room against a Magic team that wasted a chance to play this game at home with a late collapse in a loss to the Celtics in the season finale.

Bane, who averaged 20.1 points and played all 82 games, carried Orlando's offense with 34 points. He hit a 3 that moved Orlando within two and Anthony Black hit a 3 that pulled the Magic to 87-86.

Maxey had a bit more help down the stretch.

Andre Drummond filled the void left by Embiid with 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 19 points and Paul George had 16.

George, who served a 25-game suspension this season for flunking a drug test, hit a fadeaway jumper in the third quarter that stretched the lead to seven and prompted an Orlando timeout. He later popped the ball free and dumped it to Edgecombe, who dunked on — and got in the face of — Jalen Suggs for a 73-62 lead.

Edgecombe, the No. 3 overall pick in last year's draft, was whistled for taunting and officials had to separate the teams. Oubre waved his arms toward a roaring crowd and the Sixers seemed primed to build some separation.

Up next

Game 2 is Tuesday in Boston, and the Sixers return home for Game 3 on April 24.

___

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

The change was passed last month by the Legislative Assembly, which is controlled by Bukele's party, and would apply to people convicted of committing or acting as an accomplice to crimes including homicide, femicide, rape and gang membership. The measure was pushed forward by Bukele's cabinet.

Previously, the maximum sentence in El Salvador was 60 years for adults and less for youths. The reforms slated to take effect April 26 would create new criminal courts to try cases. They also stipulate a mandatory review of life terms decades into the sentences, depending on the age of the convict and the gravity of their crimes.

Critics say the reforms are just the latest harsh move by Bukele more than four years into his war on gangs.

Following a burst of gang violence in 2022, Bukele announced a then-temporary state of emergency, which has become the new normal in the Central American nation as it's been extended for years. He suspended constitutional rights and locked up more than 1% of El Salvador's population, often on vague charges with little evidence. Prisoners are often judged in mass trials and lawyers regularly lose track of where their clients are.

In one mass trial last year, alleged gang members were handed sentences of hundreds of years.

Officials in Bukele’s government have previously vowed that gang members detained “will never return” to the streets.

Under the crackdown, Bukele's government has detained around 91,650 people in El Salvador. Bukele has said that less than 10% of those people have been released.

It's fueled accusations of human rights abuses and arbitrary detention, but also sharply dipped homicide rates in a country long terrorized by gangs, handing Bukele soaring popularity levels.

The right-wing ally of U.S. President Donald Trump has been fiercely criticized for weakening checks and balances and undermining El Salvador's fragile democracy.

The sentencing changes are the latest in a slew of constitutional reforms jammed through by Bukele and his allies. Last year, the government pushed through one of its most contentious reforms that would eliminate presidential term limits, paving the way for Bukele to remain in power indefinitely.

Emboldened by Bukele’s alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump, the government has also gone after its enemies, detaining critics and activists, and increasingly forcing journalists and opposition voices to choose between exile or prison.

Human rights organizations have documented cases of arbitrary detentions for years, and one of them even filed a complaint before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, stating that the vast majority of those imprisoned under the state of emergency were detained arbitrarily, something the leader denies.

The league said Ball made “unnecessary and reckless contact” with Adebayo on Tuesday night. Ball was fined $60,000 for the foul and for using profanity in an interview, but he remains eligible to play in the Hornets' elimination game Friday against Orlando.

The flagrant foul from Tuesday’s game, if called in real time, would have resulted in Miami being awarded two free throws and possession of the ball. The Heat wound up losing 127-126 in overtime, ending their season.

The NBA said a flagrant foul, penalty two, was merited. If that had been called, Ball would have been ejected.

Adebayo was hurt early in the second quarter and did not return, leaving Miami without its best player. Ball made the decisive layup for the Hornets in overtime.

While he lauded the way Charlotte played, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said he felt Ball should have been ejected and wondered how officials Zach Zarba, Curtis Blair and Gediminas Petraitis all missed the incident.

“I don’t think that belongs in the game, tripping guys, shenanigans,” Spoelstra said. “Curtis was there. It’s his responsibility to see that. And if it’s not his responsibility, then Zach’s got to see it. Somebody’s got to see that. He should have been thrown out of the game for that. I don’t know him from anyone. There’s no place in the game for that.”

Per NBA rules, the Heat could not challenge the ruling on the play because no foul was called. Play continued, leaving no opportunity for a replay review.

“The play wasn’t whistled in real time,” Zarba told a pool reporter. “Play continued with a fast break. And because play wasn’t stopped immediately, and there was no whistle on the play, the window to review the play was closed.”

Ball was fined $35,000 for the foul on Adebayo. He was fined $25,000 for using profanity in an on-court postgame interview. The league did not publicly address a separate incident where Ball struck Charlotte’s mascot during the postgame celebration.

Tuesday's play was reminiscent of one during a game at Miami in January 2024, when Ball grabbed at Adebayo’s leg as the Heat center was running to the other end of the court. Adebayo stumbled but did not fall.

___

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

The January-March data released by the government, covering a period during which the Iran war began, was better than what economists expected and was up from the 4.5% growth seen in the October-December quarter.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China's economy grew 1.3% in the first three months from the final quarter of last year, the fastest pace in a year.

Economists expect China, the world's second largest economy, to be able to weather short-term impacts from the Iran war, now in its seventh week. The war is pushing energy prices higher, worsening inflation and impacting global economic growth. But longer term, areas including global demand for Chinese exports could take a hit.

The International Monetary Fund this week trimmed its economic growth estimates for China to a 4.4% expansion for 2026 as it lowered its global growth forecasts over Iran war shocks. Chinese leaders last month set an economic growth target of 4.5% to 5% for this year, the slowest since 1991.

“China can likely weather short term disruptions, but a protracted war and higher for longer energy prices would likely start to bite into growth by the second half of the year,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at Dutch bank ING.

Also on Thursday, government data showed industrial output in China rose 5.7% in March year-on-year, better than market expectations, as global demand for Chinese exports of electronic equipments, autos, semiconductors and robotics remained strong.

Retail sales were up 1.7% from a year earlier, worse-than-estimates and slower than the 2.8% growth in January and February, reflecting sluggish domestic demand for consumer goods.

A years-long real estate sector slump in China has dragged consumer and investor confidence, but the country managed to achieve its targeted “around 5%” growth last year, powered by robust exports that drove its trade surplus to a record nearly $1.2 trillion despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs.

China's exports will continue to be key in propelling its economy this year, economists believe, but reliance on export growth could now increasingly become a problem.

"The lack of a speedy resolution to the Iran war is likely to dent global growth, which will negatively impact other economies’ ability to absorb Chinese exports,” said Eswar Prasad, a professor of economics and trade policy at Cornell University.

“At a time when all countries are trying to protect their firms, households and economies from the fallout of the Iran war, the appetite for Chinese imports is clearly shrinking,” he explained.

On Tuesday, China reported its exports grew 2.5% in March from a year ago, significantly slowing from the previous two months although some analysts partly attributed that to seasonal distortions.

China could likely still attain its full year economic growth target of 4.5% to 5% for 2026 through policy stimulus measures, economists say, but there are other concerns.

A boost in public sector investment, Prasad said, would stabilize headline growth but, unless household demand strengthens significantly, could intensify underlying deflationary pressures and increase the economy’s reliance on exports down the line.

He says he lost it hours later, literally.

The 35-year-old from New Zealand defeated Jiri Prochazka in the main event at UFC 327 by knockout this weekend in Miami to become the new champion of the light heavyweight division. He told Fox Sports Australia on Monday that he misplaced his golden title belt while celebrating his victory.

“I’ve lost the belt, bro,” Ulberg told Fox Sports. “Initially after winning, the plan was to not have a drink. But you know how these things go, right? First, someone gives you a champagne to celebrate. Then one thing leads to another and you’re doing shots.”

His knee injury could to keep him sidelined for a year, meaning he will have to give up his champion status anyway, with UCF holding an interim title fight to take his place.

But Ulberg said he's fairly confident his belt will be found before he heads to Las Vegas to get further evaluation from doctors there on his knee. He then plans to spent time at the UFC Performance Institute before returning to New Zealand to be with family.

“I didn’t want to be carrying the belt around so I think it’s still there at the apartment somewhere. One of the boys probably has it in bed with him," Ulberg said.

___

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

The memo, a copy of which was sent to The Associated Press, followed a long day of reports suggesting Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund was on the verge of cutting its financial backing of the upstart league.

The newsletter Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf already had spent $5.3 billion and was projected to surpass $6 billion by the end of the year.

“I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O'Neil said. “While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before.”

Left unclear was how long the funding would last for LIV Golf, which launched in June 2022 by paying roughly $1 billion in signing bonuses to some of the PGA Tour's biggest names, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm.

Prize money for individuals and the 13 teams was raised to $30 million this year.

Koepka since has left LIV and was allowed to rejoin the PGA Tour this year with stipulations. Patrick Reed also left LIV and is playing a European tour schedule this year. He is virtually certain to be eligible to return to the PGA Tour in 2027 through the European tour points race.

Questions about LIV's future funding were raised as the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia revealed a new five-year investment strategy.

“The 2026-30 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation, with a strengthened focus on maximizing impact, raising the efficiency of investments, and applying the highest standards of governance, transparency and institutional excellence,” the PIF said in a release.

The plan was developed before the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor who loves golf and was behind LIV Golf, told the London-based Financial Times, “Of course the war would add more pressure to reposition some priorities.”

LIV players at Chapultepec Golf Club for LIV Golf Mexico that starts Thursday did not have answers as speculation ran rampant throughout the day.

One player said Al-Rumayyan met with players the first week of March in Hong Kong and said funding for LIV was set through 2032. The player spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private. The player also said O’Neil arrived in Mexico City Wednesday and was to meet with the players.

LIV Golf promoted the Mexico event Wednesday evening on social media with the message, “Slow news day? We are ON.”

LIV has played five events this year, in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. It celebrated an inspirational victory at its biggest event in Australia when Anthony Kim won after the American had been away for 12 years while battling drug and alcohol addiction.

DeChambeau won the last two events in playoffs, and this week tries to become the first LIV player to win three in a row. DeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open champion, missed the cut in the Masters last week.

LIV's focus has been on a global reach, with its first U.S. tournament not scheduled until May 7-10 at Trump National in northern Virginia.

“The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure,” O'Neil said. “We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we’ve answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.”

He ended his note to the staff by saying, “We are pioneers, and while the road isn’t always smooth, the destination is worth every mile. Let’s go out and show the world why LIV Golf is the future of the game.”

LIV is in the second year of a Fox Sports television deal, with network putting it on various platforms like FS1. The opening round of the Mexico event has three hours on the Fox Sports app. The previous two years, its U.S. broadcast partner was the CW.

___

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

The detailed report from Human Rights Watch said the heightened pressure was part of a decade-old campaign to ensure that religious denominations and independent churches are loyal to the officially atheist Communist Party, a claim the Chinese government rejected, saying the group is “consistently biased against China.”

China’s Catholics have been divided between an official, state-controlled church that didn’t recognize papal authority and an underground church that remained loyal to Rome through decades of persecution.

Pope Francis, in 2018, sought to ease Vatican-China tensions with a deal giving the state-controlled church a say in naming bishops — a task traditionally exclusive to the pope.

Despite that deal, “Catholics in China face escalating repression that violates their religious freedoms,” said Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Pope Leo XIV should urgently review the agreement and press Beijing to end the persecution and intimidation of underground churches, clergy, and worshippers.”

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, didn’t immediately respond Wednesday when asked to comment on the report.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Office said Human Rights Watch “fabricates all manner of lies and rumors, and lacks any credibility whatsoever.” It added that the government “oversees religious affairs in accordance with the law and protects citizens’ freedom of religious belief and normal religious activities.”

Human Rights Watch said its researchers are not allowed into China. It said its report is based on input from people outside China “who had firsthand knowledge of Catholic life in China,” as well as experts on religious freedom and Catholicism in China.

Under the 2018 agreement, Beijing proposes candidates for bishop that the pope can then veto, though the agreement’s full text has never been made public.

Last June, a month after becoming pope, Leo made his first appointment of a Chinese bishop under the agreement. And in a subsequent interview, Leo specified that he would continue with the agreement “in the short term.”

“I’m also in ongoing dialogue with a number of people, Chinese, on both sides of some of the issues that are there,” Leo said. “ It’s a very difficult situation. In the long term, I don’t pretend to say this is what I will and will not do, but after two months, I’ve already begun having discussions at several levels on that topic.”

Since 2018, according to Human Rights Watch, Chinese authorities have pressured underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association "by arbitrarily detaining, forcibly disappearing ... and subjecting underground Catholic bishops and priests to house arrest.”

The report described some of those actions, attributed to people who had left China and who were not named in the report.

The government has also intensified ideological control, surveillance, restrictions on religious activities, and foreign ties in official churches, according to Human Rights Watch. It said that regulations adopted in December subject foreign travel by Catholic clergy to state approval.

The Chinese government officially recognizes five religions — Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam — and tightly supervises them.

In 2016, President Xi Jinping said he would “Sinicize” the country's religions — increasing oversight and ideological control in a bid to align religious practice with the Communist Party’s ideology and leadership.

Since then, Human Rights Watch asserted, the authorities have demolished hundreds of church buildings or the crosses atop them, prevented adherents from gathering in unofficial churches, restricted access to the Bible, and confiscated religious materials not authorized by the government.

The Sinicization campaign has also meant severe repression of Tibetan Buddhism and Islam , Human Rights Watch said.

In October, a pastor of a prominent underground Christian church was detained, according to his daughter, a church pastor and a group that monitors religion in China.

They said Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri of the Zion Church was detained at his home in Guangxi province, along with dozens of other church leaders across China.

Zion Church is among the largest so-called underground or house churches that are unregistered with the Chinese authorities. They defy government restrictions requiring believers to worship only in registered congregations.

Last month, ChinaAid — a U.S.-based group advocating for religious freedom in China — urged U.S. President Donald Trump to demand Mingri’s release ahead of his planned meeting with Xi in May.

“The Chinese Communist Party has escalated its systematic campaign to eradicate independent religious life,” said Bob Fu, ChinaAid’s president. “The United States must respond with consequences — not just concern.”

___

AP Vatican correspondent Nicole Winfield in Yaounde, Cameroon, and E. Eduardo Castillo, in Beijing, contributed to this report.

___

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.

It was a pretty big deal to Carano, too. The $120,000 she said she got to headline against Cris “Cyborg” Justino in 2009 in her last bout was quite a jump from the $1,000 she said she earned from her first.

The two pioneers will earn significantly more when they end their lengthy layoffs to face each other May 16 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. But Carano said Wednesday the opportunity for her meant far more than a paycheck.

This is the chance for the fighter-turned-actor to write an ending to her MMA journey, and for that she thanked Rousey.

“It's so crazy being here and having Ronda Rousey acknowledge what I did and most people would've written me off,” Carano said, appearing to get choked up. “I would have disappeared in history had she not wanted to fight me. So now people are like, she was a fighter, not just an actress.”

Indeed, and one of the most accomplished ones in her sport at one time. Carano (7-1) was a network draw in MMA's early days and fought in the first Nevada-sanctioned bout between women in 2006. But that wasn't giving her a good living, with Carano saying she also had to appear on “American Gladiators” on the side to help make ends meet.

Pay eventually wasn't a problem for Rousey, who went on to become one of the biggest superstars — male or female — in MMA. Nakisa Bidarian, the former UFC executive who co-founded Most Valuable Promotions with Jake Paul, said Rousey (12-2), who won the UFC’s first-ever women’s bout in 2013, had become the highest-paid female athlete in the world by 2015.

Now she wants other fighters to cash in, in ways that many never could in UFC. Rousey revealed during the press conference Wednesday that every fighter on the card that will stream on Netflix will earn a minimum of $40,000. That could clearly entice other mixed martial artists to Paul’s promotion by paying more than most fighters would ever get from the UFC.

“I want to do everything I can to help everybody else out in every way and that goes for people even at the bottom of the card that have very small records,” Rousey said. “They are important in making MMA more of a viable career path.”

It's unknown how much Carano and Rousey will make next month. But whatever it is will be far more than Carano, who turns 44 on Thursday, thought she'd ever make again in the sport. After leaving MMA after the loss to Justino, she appeared in several films and became a cast member of Disney’s “The Mandalorian.”

She faced mental and physical challenges in the years after fighting, gaining weight that is clearly gone as she prepares for five rounds at the 145-pound limit again. She said now it doesn't even feel like her last fight was so long ago.

It was Rousey who proposed they fight in 2024 and sought to work with MVP, having been impressed with its promotions when Paul fought Mike Tyson, and Amanda Serrano boxed Katie Taylor in some of the biggest women's boxing matches ever.

She noticed during the buildup how much fans had missed Tyson, the dominant heavyweight boxing force in the 1980s and '90s, and figured maybe they would feel the same way about the two MMA trailblazers.

“I knew that me and Gina bring something to the table that people miss,” Rousey said.

Rousey and Carano shared a lengthy embrace after the traditional face-off to end press conferences, in appreciation of what they had done before and what they are now doing together.

While Rousey knew all about her career, Carano said even some of her neighbors didn't.

“I'm like, YouTube me,” Carano said with a laugh. “I swear I'm on there.”

In a month she'll be on Netflix, where more than 300 million viewers can watch with their subscriptions a card that also includes MMA stars such as former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and Nate Diaz.

If MVP's first MMA promotion after four years of boxing is successful, more fighters will have the opportunities to make the kind of money Rousey believes they deserve when they enter her sport.

“It shouldn't be such a gamble,” she said.

___

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

In recent months, 20-somethings around the world have taken over social media with posts enthusing about how they’re embracing Chinese ways of life. Videos proclaiming users are “Chinamaxxing,” or “in a very Chinese time of their lives” — namely by drinking hot water with boiled goji berries, eating dumplings or wearing slippers in the house, or flying to China and gushing about its modern infrastructure — are racking up millions of views.

Along with its economic and geopolitical rise, China’s government has tried for years to push its soft power on the global stage. But those official efforts never came close to the success the “becoming Chinese” meme is enjoying now.

Even senior Chinese diplomats have noted the trend. Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., referenced the internet craze recently as he promoted a new visa-free transit policy and urged more Americans to “experience for yourselves a real, dynamic and panoramic China.”

The TikTok trend is the latest example of how Chinese products and consumables are enjoying a cultural cachet they’ve never had before globally. From movies to music, Labubu toys and even ordinary habits like drinking hot water, Chinese things are now seen by many as cool.

“China is gaining real soft power, and you can see it most clearly in how Chinese culture and ‘Chineseness’ are becoming familiar, repeatable, and globally consumable in everyday life,” said Shaoyu Yuan, a professor at the New York University School of Professional Studies’ Center for Global Affairs.

“That legitimacy,” Yuan said, “is earned through taste, utility, and entertainment.”

That soft power rise is enabled by China's development in many industries: From manufacturing, where it holds a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus with the rest of the world, to social media, where it developed the addictive algorithms that made TikTok, to its own consumer culture, where homegrown names compete head to head with global brands.

Mixed feelings among Chinese Americans

Sherry Zhu, a 23-year-old from New Jersey, posted a couple of videos last year joking about how if you liked noodles and hotpot and wore slippers at home you were Chinese. One of her videos was shared almost a million times in December, and other TikTokers quickly caught on with the “becoming Chinese” meme.

But the trend has also raised thornier questions. For many Chinese people who have long faced discrimination in the West, the internet’s fascination with Chinese culture seems to be the latest form of cultural appropriation.

“Appreciation does not erase the racism that many Chinese people grew up with,” said Elise Zeng, 28, from Brooklyn, New York. A video she posted critiquing the social media phenomenon was liked by more than 36,000 people.

She recalls how during the COVID-19 pandemic she was afraid for her parents stepping out of the house because they heard about people getting attacked just walking down the street. At the time, many Asians reported being assaulted or verbally abused by people who blamed East Asians for the spread of the virus.

“Those experiences don’t just disappear because Chinese culture is suddenly cool and trendy,” she said.

Zhu acknowledged that she, too, has experienced bullying based on her identity, but said she was proud of her Chinese heritage. “I believe that visibility and cultural sharing can reduce misunderstanding over time,” she said.

China’s success in soft power has been building

The meme is riding on a broader embrace of Chinese popular culture that’s been building globally.

The frenzy over Labubus, the fuzzy ugly-cute dolls carried by the likes of Rihanna and other top celebrities, reached a peak last spring and summer, bringing a 300% rise in annual profit for Chinese parent company PopMart.

Several other cultural exports with more distinctly Chinese attributes have also found global success. On TikTok, the Chinese rapper known as Skaii isyourgod or “Lanlao” has gained fans around the world — even though he raps in Cantonese and with a thick regional accent, which many people in China wouldn’t understand either.

But that didn’t matter. Skaii isyourgod’s single “Blueprint Supreme” went viral last summer in China and abroad, amassing billions of views on TikTok globally.

Last year “Ne Zha 2,” the animated blockbuster about a young god from a popular Chinese children’s tale, became the highest grossing animated film of all time even before its release in North America.

Another success, the big budget video game “Black Myth: Wukong,” was similarly based on a story familiar to many Chinese kids about an adventurous monkey hero. The game broke the record for most-played single-player game on Steam when 2.4 million people played it simultaneously after its release.

More recently, Chinese digital maps like Amap have gone viral on social media over standard ones like Apple or Google for their level of detail, such as the ability to inform users if they will be in the shade versus the sun.

Soft power goes beyond official narratives

Xi has long pushed for his government to promote Chinese soft power abroad, calling on officials to “tell China’s story well” since 2013.

They have attempted to do so with ambitious projects like the multibillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative — a plan to build Chinese-funded infrastructure across the world — and investing in hundreds of Confucius Institutes.

But many Confucius Institutes, meant to be Beijing-funded centers teaching Chinese language and culture, have shut down in the West over concerns they were fronts for spying and propaganda, while the Belt and Road Initiative has been criticized as a debt trap by Western countries.

China’s ascending hard power has been well documented. It is the dominant manufacturer in the green energy sector, most visibly with its electric vehicles, but also across solar energy. It has the world’s second-largest military, behind the U.S. It is a manufacturing powerhouse, and its exports have swept the world.

Soft power, in contrast, is harder to quantify — or manufacture. China’s government has been eager to capitalize on the latest social media trend and throw state support behind cultural moments after they’ve broken out.

Global Times, a state-owned tabloid, claimed that the popularity of the “becoming Chinese” meme is linked to the success of “China’s social development.”

But the more officials vocally claim such successes and frame them as part of the “China story,” the more it may be received with skepticism, said Yuan, the professor.

“Cultural influence travels farther when it is chosen rather than announced,” he said.

Several replacement officials have completed hiring steps including background checks and will soon progress to undergoing physical exams, per a memo sent to teams on Wednesday that was obtained by The Associated Press. Training sessions with NFL officiating supervisors would then begin as early as next month.

The league has undertaken these steps because negotiations with the referees’ union have been unsuccessful, two people with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press last month. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversations are private.

The NFL's collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association is set to expire on May 31.

NFL senior vice president of officiating Perry Fewell informed head coaches and general managers in the memo that teams will receive further information in the coming weeks about when replacement refs would be able to work offseason workout programs and minicamps, which begin in June.

The league and the union have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement since the summer of 2024.

“The league remains committed to reaching a fair and reasonable agreement with the NFLRA but will be prepared in the event the NFLRA permits the current agreement to expire,” Fewell said in the memo.

The NFL has increased its offer to a 6.45% annual growth rate in compensation over a six-year labor deal, but the NFLRA wants 10% plus $2.5 million for marketing fees, the two AP sources said last month.

NFLRA executive director Scott Green told the AP “those numbers are not accurate.” He said negotiations with the league are similar to 2012 when a stalemate resulted in a 110-day lockout and replacement referees were used. ___

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

The two resolutions to block U.S. sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel were opposed by all Republicans and rejected 40-59 and 36-63. But Sanders has repeatedly forced votes on the issue to put pressure on his colleagues — both Democrats and Republicans — to oppose Netanyahu’s regime.

Similar resolutions forced by Sanders in 2024 and 2025 were also rejected, but the number of Democrats voting with the Vermont Independent has more than doubled in less than two years amid Israeli campaigns in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon and a stepped-up campaign by party activists who have increasingly seen support for Israel as a litmus test for support.

“It’s clear that Democrats are beginning to listen to the average American who is sick and tired of spending billions of dollars to support Netanyahu’s horrific wars when people in this country can’t afford housing or health care,” Sanders said after the vote.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., voted in support of the two resolutions after opposing some of Sanders’ previous efforts. In a speech just before the vote, Kelly said that “the reckless decisions being made by Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump” led him to his decision, which he said he did not take lightly.

“Under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, we’ve seen an expanded war in Lebanon that is putting innocent Lebanese civilians at risk, and ongoing violence against Palestinians and their homes being demolished in the West Bank,” Kelly said. “All of this has undermined the path forward for peace.”

Among the Democrats voting against the resolutions were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Nearly 100 protesters were arrested during a demonstration on Monday calling on the two New York senators to vote in favor of Sanders' two measures.

Led by the antiwar group Jewish Voice for Peace, the crowd of hundreds initially attempted to stage a sit-in inside the senators' offices as they said they were abetting Israel’s intensifying attacks in Lebanon and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. But they were blocked and many of the protesters were arrested.

“The majority of Americans and New Yorkers want a resolution to what the Israeli government is doing,” said the group’s communications director, Sonya Meyerson-Knox.

Democrats supported a resolution earlier on Wednesday to halt Trump's war in Iran, though that was also rejected, 47-52. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat who voted against Sanders' Israel resolutions, said he voted to end the Iran war but did not want to abandon Israel.

“My votes should be taken neither as an endorsement of the actions of the Netanyahu government nor as an abandonment of the state of Israel, the Jewish people, or the US-Israel relationship,” Coons said in a statement after the vote.

Republicans said the vote could hurt U.S. efforts in the Iran war.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said the resolutions could embolden Iran and “send the message that the U.S. is prepared to leave our ally Israel vulnerable.”

“They will not help the United States of America,” Risch said ahead of the vote.