His estranged wife, Keeta Vaccaro, was back on the witness stand, where she made allegations of domestic violence against Hill.

Much of the day was spent on Vaccaro’s recollection of specific moments where she said she was abused by Hill.

The case centers on Vaccaro’s allegations that Hill physically and emotionally abused her when they were dating, and during their marriage.

She is seeking damages for injuries she says were caused by Hill.

However, Hill has adamantly denied those allegations.

So far, one of the most shocking moments in court was a baby monitor video that Vaccaro said captured the turbulent nature of her relationship with Hill.

In the video, you can hear both of them screaming, loud banging and yelling profanities while their newborn baby was sleeping.

At one point, Hill appeared to take the baby with him.

Vaccaro described the video during Wednesday’s hearing.

“Mr. Hill was angry that day, put his hands on me that day,” she said.

She went on to say that Hill attempted to take the ring off her finger, shouted he wanted a divorce and that he wanted her to move out while also pushing her on a bed and throwing items around the room before charging at her and wrestling with her.

Jurors were also shown new photos taken in a hotel room following a fight which Vaccaro said involved Hill.

A therapist who treated Vaccaro later testified remotely, and Vaccaro’s brother also testified.

He said he noticed changes in his sister and described a phone call where he says Vaccaro claimed Hill threw ash or part of a blunt into her eye.

At some point, Hill is expected to take the stand to recall what he believes happened.

This case is expected to go on for another nine days.

Since his seminal 2008 abortion drama “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days,” the Romanian filmmaker has loosely based his rigorously realistic films on real events, using them to explore the larger social forces shaping our world. It is not, anyone would grant, the easiest way to go about making movies.

“R.M.N.,” for instance, was based on a 2020 incident when Sri Lankan immigrant bakery workers were harassed in a rural Romanian village. It captured a familiar global clash involving tradition, migrants and xenophobia. The film even recreated, in one unbroken 17-minute take, a town hall meeting you can find on YouTube.

“I don’t like writing screenplays in which I try to invent a story starting from ideas,” Mungiu says. “My effort is to understand the things happening next to me.”

Mungiu’s latest, “Fjord,” draws from a real 2015 episode in Norway. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve star as a Christian couple with five children who have immigrated from Romania to Norway. They are warmly welcomed by a progressive rural community, but their traditional and religious ways are increasingly scrutinized until their children are seized by the state.

The film, which Neon opens in theaters Friday, has been widely celebrated. In May, it won the Palme d’Or, Mungiu’s second time winning the Cannes Film Festival’s top honor. Romania has since selected “Fjord” as its Oscar entry for best international feature.

But “Fjord” is also something unusual. It’s the rare art house movie to pose uncomfortable questions for largely left-leaning audiences. Mungiu is himself politically liberal, but “Fjord” dramatizes a progressive brand of closed-mindedness and sanctimony that, he feels, rivals traits of the far right.

“The extreme left behaves the same,” Mungiu said over coffee in a recent interview. “They are certain that they hold the truth. The only thing you do is divide the society to the level of division that exists today. We don’t live in society. We live in bubbles, on different shores of the same river.”

“This is what this film does, boldly,” he adds. “It speaks out and says things that we all feel but don’t dare say aloud.”

Making a social drama that doesn't preach to the choir

“Fjord,” as in previous Mungiu films, is shot with an objective, seemingly neutral perspective. But as the family’s case proceeds through the Norwegian legal system, Mungiu seems to question whether the liberal Scandinavian society is punishing the Gheorghiu family for the alleged slap of a child or scrutinizing their fundamentalist Christian practices.

Mungiu hoped his film, his first set outside of Romania, would touch a nerve.

“Absolutely. This is what we aimed for,” he says. “But it’s better than we expected.”

Still, the attention for “Fjord” has also brought what Mungiu calls some misinterpretation of his intensions. Some have even labeled it “a MAGA movie,” a description that Mungiu and his stars have pushed back on. For Mungiu, there has to be room in cinema that goes beyond preaching to the choir.

“It doesn’t mean, not even for a second, that I encourage the conservative view of the world,” Mungiu says. “But nowadays it’s considered that if you don’t use your energy as a filmmaker to make a film directly against that, it’s a big sin. Most of the films that people produce today are for or against something. These films don’t create a dialogue. Nobody else will watch them but people in this bubble. The film confirms to them they are already on the good side of things. The others are guilty.”

A polarization that goes much further than Norway

While playing “Fjord” at film festivals, Mungiu has stressed that this story could been set in any liberal society. He believes the same evolution of leftist ideals throughout Europe and in the United States is part of what’s fueling political polarization.

“Show a little bit more understanding,” says Mungiu, addressing progressives. “Try to be less dogmatic. The general habit is to label people. But you pretend to be smarter. I have more expectations from you.”

“This is a bit dangerous,” he adds, alluding to Romania's 20th century history. “I come from a Communist past where somebody else knew better than you what is good for you.”

The heightened attention around “Fjord” makes the 58-year-old filmmaker a little uneasy. He knows it's partly because of the fans of his stars and the Palme award — neither of which, he notes, signifies much about a movie's worth. The criminally underseen “R.M.N.,” he acknowledges, was more deserving of awards than “Fjord.”

But Mungiu also feels the movie carries with it a vital, even urgent message. When “Fjord” won the Palme, Mungiu said in his acceptance speech that society had become “radicalized” — split down the middle, with one side judging other and neither communicating any longer. He called his film “a pledge against any type of fundamentalism.”

“It’s very dangerous if we continue like this,” he says. “We have seen in the U.S. that we are seconds away from having this huge clash, like a physical clash between these two groups. We need to do something while we still have time.”

Leer en español

According to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, it happened at around 11 a.m. in the 1700 block of Northwest 13th Court, in the city’s Lauderdale Manors neighborhood.

Police said that medics took the victim to Broward Health Medical Center with “life-threatening” injuries.

Police said they identified a possible suspect vehicle, found it in North Lauderdale and tried to pull the driver over.

“The vehicle fled and ultimately the driver bailed out of the vehicle and ran into a nearby residence. The driver was taken into custody a short time later without issue,” police said. “At this time, the driver is detained pending further investigation. We are not able to confirm a connection to the shooting at this time as this will become a part of the ongoing investigation.”

One of those was at Miami Beach Fire Station No. 2, where mourners reflected and remembered the 1,200 people killed and 251 hostages abducted during a music festival on that fateful day.

A story of perseverance unfolded as Ben Ladany stood before an audience, three years after the Hamas terrorist attack.

Ladany, a former Israel Defense Forces soldier, was shot seven times while serving in Gaza.

“And after being in a wheelchair for two years, I stand in front of you guys today and I love to share with you the seven lessons I learned from the seven bullets that I received,” Ladany said. “If you look at me today, my body’s not 100%, but my mind and soul is at one and sadly, you guys will only recognize this when something terrible happens to you. And you will remember that it’s 50-50.”

Shaina Verbitzky, a student at Hebrew Academy High School, recalled her family’s experience in Israel.

“A few years ago, my family made the decision to move to Israel, and we built our lives here,” Verbitzky said. “On Oct. 7, we woke up. From our balcony, we watched as missiles were being intercepted right above our heads, not fully understanding what was happening.”

Despite a ceasefire deal reached almost a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner spoke with a heavy heart, sharing words of resilience and strength.

“I pray to God that the world gets the clarity, the moral clarity, and the courage to stand up for what’s moral and right,” Meiner said.

Meanwhile, another event took place at the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial.

Oct. 7 survivor Maya Izoutcheev spoke to Local 10 News.

“It takes everything out of me because to wake up in the morning, to go to sleep, to be like happy with friends, it’s not something that I will go back to the way I was,” Izoutcheev said. “We realized how many friends were taken hostage, how many people are missing.”

Yair Yifrah, another survivor, spoke to Local 10 News at an event in Surfside hosted by U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee for governor.

“People died next to me. I had to run to the road that was being shot and cross it and a police officer got shot next to me as well,” Yifrah said. “We ran. We got into a forest. I lost everyone in the forest; I was alone; I hid in an avocado plantation.”

He then walked 16 kilometers to safety. He said getting away from the attack couldn’t get him to escape the trauma, so he turned to drugs.

“It would be disrespectful to God if I killed myself from drugs after he saved me from what happened,” He said. “Now, in November, I’m going to be two years clean.”

The survivors all had one message: Remembering is part of moving forward.

And for many survivors, that means holding on to the words: “We will dance again.”

The 94-page report was compiled from October 2025 to July 2026 by experts appointed by the U.N. Secretary General. They traveled to Haiti, meeting with dozens of people including confidential sources whose information they say was corroborated by independent sources.

The experts noted there are now “violent fractures” within a powerful gang alliance known as Viv Ansanm. The alliance, formed in 2023, launched attacks in 2024 on key state infrastructure.

The fragmentation of the gang alliance “exposes civilians to renewed violence, displacement and sexual violence in areas that were … stabilized,” said Romain Le Cour, head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Le Cour said that in the lead-up to elections, relationships between criminal leaders, brokers, and political and economic figures are re-activating.

“Each leader will seek political and electoral arrangements on its own terms, not Viv Ansanm anymore, based on what it can offer: territory, access to voters, security of the process, protection of economic assets, and rewards once the vote is over," he said.

The report noted that gangs remain resilient despite two U.N.-backed missions aimed at quelling violence, warning that “targeting gang leaders without addressing the networks that sustain them will inevitably fall short.”

The report asserted that gangs remain strong thanks to “political, economic and security actors who back gangs when it serves their interests.” It warned that ties between some local authorities and gangs are aimed “at consolidating territorial control and influencing upcoming elections.”

It noted that in late May, a new municipal commission was established in the Port-au-Prince community of Cite Soleil, and that at least one commissioner is an active gang member.

Report singles out well-known politicians

The report accused Alfrédo Junior Antoine, a former legislator representing Kenscoff, of arming and supporting youth groups “as a political tool for his agenda.” It also held him responsible for kidnappings and for sponsoring an attack in Kenscoff in 2025 that led to more than 100 deaths and multiple rapes. Kenscoff is a once peaceful farming community near Haiti's capital.

The report accused Antoine of providing weapons, ammunition and financial resources to Viv Ansanm.

Experts said Antoine denied the allegations in an email.

The report also singled out former Haitian Senator Nenel Cassy, accusing him of controlling a criminal group in Miragoane and supporting armed people “to advance his political agenda and interests.”

In 2025, Haitian National Police issued a warrant for Cassy, describing him as “armed and dangerous.”

“I am a pacifist,” he told The Associated Press by phone on Wednesday.

He called on the experts to retract his name and allegations from the report, saying it was “incorrect and unfounded.”

Cassy said Haiti’s judicial system has not found him guilty of anything.

“I am accused of having relations with armed groups,” he said. “Nothing has been established.”

He dismissed alleged ties to gangs, saying he has never bought or sold arms and that he doesn’t have the funds for such activities. He asserted that the accusations are political persecution.

Cassy said he wants to see free, honest, democratic and inclusive elections in Haiti, adding that “for the instant,” he is not considering a run for president or Parliament.

Concerns grow as elections near

The report noted that the lower region of the Artibonite Department — Haiti’s second-largest electoral district — has been hit with an “unprecedented level of coordinated gang violence” since March.

Experts said that the “historic use of gangs” by former Senator Youri Latortue and ex-lawmaker Prophane Victor has fueled the violence.

“Sources warned that, ahead of elections, these individuals may exploit ties to gangs to mobilize support, intimidate rivals and undermine stability. They also cautioned that self-defense groups linked to local political dynamics could be used as tools of intimidation,” the report stated.

It also called out delayed implementation of U.N. sanctions, noting that one of Victor’s frozen bank accounts only has $421: “The meagre amounts of money frozen by banks do not correlate with the wealth accumulated by those individuals.”

The report found $0 frozen in Haiti’s central bank accounts for multiple gang leaders, and only $2.63 frozen in the account of Dimitri Hérard, ex-head of security at Haiti’s National Palace who is accused in the July 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moïse.

A handful of wins as election looms

The report called out corrupt police officers — including one nicknamed “My Man” — accused of supplying gangs with weapons, ammunition and intelligence.

One policeman was responsible for picking up a gang leader’s girlfriend at the airport and for verifying the financial status of people before they were kidnapped.

Help from some officers aside, the report noted that traffickers find it so easy to smuggle weapons into Haiti that most use their own names from federal firearms licensees.

Women and children are vulnerable as elections approach

As Haiti pushes to hold elections soon, the experts warned about an increase in sexual violence and in gangs recruiting children.

Children earn about $1,000 and a motorcycle for enrollment, and they receive $114 to $190 every two weeks. They also get food, alcohol and drugs and an extra $500 for participating in “important combat operations,” the report revealed.

In addition, two gangs now have cells that are exclusively female, experts said.

The report noted that Haitians are increasingly relying on vigilantes for protection, and that while authorities have regained control of some areas, “gains remain fragile" and main roads remain under gang control.

Officials with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced that DNA research led them to identify “Cinnamon” as Cumie Doylene McCutcheon.

Investigators found the 56-year-old’s body on a boat moored off Key West in September 1999, but ran out of leads before they could identify her.

According to MCSO, this year, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told Keys detectives that DNA research tied the remains to McCutcheon.

Deputies said a DNA test from her son confirmed the finding.

An MCSO news release states that the agency worked with the FDLE, along with the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office, to solve the mystery.

“I want to thank the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office and the FDLE for their hard work on this case and for providing closure to this family,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a news release.

The forecast is for Isaias to quickly strengthen into the season’s first hurricane – the latest first-forming Atlantic hurricane of the reliable record by a wide margin – by late today or early Thursday, and conditions ahead look ripe for Isaias to peak as a major (Category 3 or stronger) or near-major hurricane on approach to the northern Gulf Coast early Friday.

While Isaias is forecast to weaken as it’s moving ashore late Friday or during the early morning hours Saturday – most likely somewhere between coastal Mississippi and the western Florida panhandle – it’s expected to remain a hurricane through landfall, with a growing wind field that will mean wide-reaching impacts, including damaging winds and significant, life-threatening storm surge and coastal flooding well east of where the center crosses the coast.

In addition to damaging winds and coastal storm surge, Isaias will bring a multi-day heavy rain and flash flood threat across the southeastern U.S. from North Florida northward to the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians this weekend.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center upped its flash flood risk to moderate (threat level 3 of 4) for Friday through early Saturday for South Alabama and the western Florida panhandle – including the cities of Mobile and Pensacola – for the risk of numerous and significant flash flooding.

We’ll also need to monitor for the risk of tornadoes in outer bands along the north-central Gulf as Isaias nears the coast on Friday into Saturday.

Rapid strengthening forecast today into Thursday

The first low-altitude Hurricane Hunter mission into Isaias Wednesday morning found it still organizing, with pressures down slightly and a still-broad circulation accompanied by low-end tropical storm winds.

Despite its humble beginnings, the environment over the next day or two will support strengthening, especially by later today and on Thursday as Isaias establishes a compact core and begins to tap the rich reservoir of exceptionally warm waters of the southwestern Gulf.

The National Hurricane Center is explicitly forecasting Isaias to rapid strengthen from a tropical storm today to a near-major or major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane by late Thursday or early Friday as it finds a lane of conducive upper-level outflow ahead of a jet stream dip that’ll whisk it toward the northern Gulf on Friday.

Some of our better-performing, high resolution hurricane models like the HAFS model and its configurations suggest Isaias should peak in intensity Friday around Category 3 strength (winds of 111 to 129 mph) before weakening as it nears landfall late Friday or early Saturday morning. It’s also worth noting that over 60% of Google’s DeepMind ensembles – one of our best-performing intensity models so far this season – bring Isaias to major hurricane strength.

The weakening could come quickly as wind shear ramps up late Friday, but timing the point of weakening is an extremely difficult and risky exercise. It’s worth reiterating that despite some forecast weakening, NHC expects Isaias to be a significant and dangerous hurricane when it hits the U.S. Gulf Coast.

AI models lean east

As we discussed in Tuesday morning’s newsletter, an earlier strengthening trend would favor a stronger, faster-moving, and eastward-leaning storm in the long run, which is precisely what forecast models have seized on over the past 24 hours.

The AI camp of models – including Google’s DeepMind and the Euro AI – have been consistently advertising a track toward South Alabama or the western Florida panhandle, which NHC is siding with in its forecast for Isaias.

The latest 1,000-member Google DeepMind run Wednesday morning brought the center of Isaias inland between Mobile and Panama City Beach, with the highest strike odds from Pensacola to Navarre Beach in the western Florida panhandle.

Meanwhile, the conventional physics-based European model and its ensembles continue to show a weaker storm, with highest strike odds closer to southeastern Louisiana and coastal Mississippi.

It’s important not to focus on the exact landfall point with a large hurricane that’ll be growing in size as it approaches the coast. Areas well east and north of the track will be at highest risk for impacts, as tropical storm conditions extend over 150 miles from the center and outside the forecast cone.

Once watches are issued later today, we’ll have more information on the storm surge threat but expect a significant and life-threatening coastal flood threat in areas of onshore flow near and to the east of where Isaias makes landfall.

A handwritten sign reading “Justice for Jane Doe ” — the name under which the accuser is suing — was propped on an empty table in the dining hall in the afternoon. Some students sat around the room without eating, while others lunched. Another small group sat outside holding signs with messages such as “we are Jane Doe.”

Groups organizing the demonstration intended to keep the sit-in going for seven hours.

The demonstrations were meant to spotlight complaints that the university is slow to respond to reports of sexual assault while quick to protect its reputation. Among other demands, the groups want the university to retool disciplinary procedures for addressing complaints and expel or revoke the degrees of anyone involved in the alleged October 2024 sexual assault.

Jane Doe, who was a student then, alleges that Chi Phi members plied her with alcohol and drugs and several sexually assaulted her. One man sent others a message inviting them to participate, according to a lawsuit she filed last month against Cornell, the fraternity, seven men who were Chi Phi brothers and others.

Lawyers for two of the men have denied they participated in a sexual assault. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the others or their representatives have been unsuccessful. Some of the men who underwent a university disciplinary hearing in 2024 told investigators that the sexual activity was consensual or said they were not involved.

The woman went to Cornell police in November 2024, though no criminal charges resulted. In the wake of her lawsuit, the state attorney general is conducting a renewed criminal investigation.

Cornell closed down the Chi Phi campus chapter in 2024 and says it expelled some students and suspended others after an investigation under the federal Title IX law.

This week Cornell trustees brought in former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to review how the school investigates sexual assault and sexual harassment, how the disciplinary process works, campus police response and more.

Manager Dave Roberts said Rojas is “not great” and would not be available off the bench. That leaves Rojas' status uncertain if the Dodgers advance to the National League Championship Series. Rojas appeared to hurt his back on a swing in the eighth inning.

“Back’s sore. Laying low,” Roberts said of Rojas. “Won’t be available today. I think for us it’s, like, we have an extended bench anyway. So to try to make any decisions that would compromise his status for a potential next series doesn’t make sense. So we’re going to kick this one to another day.”

Kiké Hernández, who hit a homer in Tuesday night's win, is starting at second base. Roberts said he also hoped to use Tommy Edman, who replaced Rojas on Tuesday.

Roberts said he liked the matchup of Hernández against Braves right-hander Tyler Mahle.

“I like where he’s swinging,” Roberts said. “But we’ll see what happens today. But having him as an option, I think we’ve got some very good options, obviously. I also want to get Tommy involved at some point, too. So we’ll see where we go.”

Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who was moved down to fifth in the batting order on Tuesday night, is hitting fourth.

Meanwhile, Ronald Acuña Jr. is starting in right field for Atlanta after being moved to designated hitter in a late lineup change due to right knee soreness on Tuesday night.

Braves manager Walt Weiss waited to finalize Wednesday night's lineup until having an opportunity for Acuña to test the knee in pregame warmups.

Weiss said Acuña was “Just a little sore. If he is limited, I think it’s minimally.”

The Dodgers lead the best-of-five series 2-1 and can win the series Wednesday night. If necessary, Game 5 would be played Friday night in Los Angeles.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

A sea of red-clad demonstrators made their way between two historical squares in Rio’s center, chanting and holding signs referencing Brazil’s sovereignty and democracy in the South American country, which they said were under threat.

“We’re fighting for Brazil, not for Lula,” said Talita Amaral, a 19-year-old environmental science student at a nearby university. She was wearing Brazil’s yellow and green soccer jersey, often worn by supporters of Bolsonaro, which she said was a gesture aimed at reclaiming the national colors.

“We don’t have time to be sad, we need to be doing this, occupying the streets, sending messages in WhatsApp groups, trying to convince people,” Amaral said, as the chant “Olé olé olé ola, Lula Lula” rang out across Cinelandia square.

Neither Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro who is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup, nor Lula received more than the required 50% of the vote needed to become Brazil’s leader on Sunday. Therefore, they will face each other in an unpredictable runoff on Oct. 25.

But Flávio Bolsonaro has at least two advantages: He received 2 million more votes than Lula on Sunday and the candidates who placed third, fourth and fifth are all on the right of the political spectrum. They gathered more than 8 million votes between them.

Bolsonaro is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion because of his ties to the failed Banco Master — a case that many protesters in Rio made reference to on Wednesday.

Some pointed to Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, during which 700,000 people were reported to have died from the disease, while others held signs emblazoned with messages such as “Brazil isn't anyone's backyard” and “I don't vote for someone who sells Brazil.”

Many on the left fear a Flávio Bolsonaro presidency would fully align the Brazilian government with the United States because of the proximity in ideologies between U.S. President Donald Trump and the Bolsonaro family. Last year, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods and imposed sanctions on a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, citing Jair Bolsonaro’s trial, which he called a “witch hunt.”

“If Bolsonaro wins, Brazil will become a colony of the United States,” said João Victor Vieira, 20, who studies literature. He said that Bolsonaro represented a threat to minorities such as people of color, women and the LGBTQ+ community. Bolsonaro's father was notorious for homophobic remarks.

Vieira said that while he was initially dispirited following the results on Sunday, he has since regained hope.

“This protest shows that social movements are still very much alive,” he said. “We will resist.”

___

This story corrects a previous version that stated the candidates who placed third, fourth and fifth gathered 6 million votes. The correct number of votes is more than 8 million.

___

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

Authorities took Jimmy Alexis, 43, of northwest Miami-Dade, into custody on Tuesday in connection with a June 30, 2023 incident at Gentle Love and Care Group Home in Fort Lauderdale. Its location was redacted from official documents.

Officers said they responded to the facility to conduct a death investigation after rescue crews initially were called in regard to a patient who was unresponsive.

According to Fort Lauderdale police, investigators spoke with Alexis, who told them he had to “restrain him, not choke him” in regard to the patient, who was not publicly identified by police.

Officers later spoke with the owners of the facility, who said the patient was prone to self-harming himself by banging his head on “pretty much anything he could.”

During their investigation, officers also spoke with a staff member who was on duty when the patient was injured and noted that she “was visibly shaken and appeared concerned talking to us.”

Officers said they found that same employee waiting outside when they left, and she indicated she wanted to speak with them away from the facility.

According to official documents, that employee then told the officers that Alexis choked the patient to the point where he became unconscious, and that he did that two times during the night.

After the employee told Alexis not to choke the patient during the first incident, she told officers that she made an audio recording the second time, which she played for them, police said.

In the recording, officers said the victim could be heard moaning.

Additionally, officers asked the employee to make a controlled phone call to Alexis, and during the call, police said Alexis told her “what he is going to tell the police and advises her to say the same thing in her own words” while also cautioning her “not to say things about the logbook because police will want to get a copy” and “not to say anything about the mat that (the victim) was laying on,” ultimately telling her “not to say too many things that would prompt more questions from the police,” according to his arrest form.

In November 2023, a medical examiner ruled the victim’s death as a homicide, though the specific cause of death was redacted from Alexis’ arrest form.

He is facing a charge of aggravated manslaughter for neglect of an elderly disabled adult and as of Wednesday morning was being held at the Broward Main Jail on a $25,000 bond.

Legislation to create Chiricahua National Park is expected to be transmitted to the White House in coming days for President Donald Trump’s signature. It passed Congress with bipartisan backing and would be the 64th national park.

The 19-square-mile (49-square kilometer) site is within the historical territory of the Chiricahua Apache tribes. It was designated a national monument in the 1920s to preserve hundreds of pinnacle-shaped rocks formed from an ancient volcanic eruption.

“We’re the Grand Canyon state, so we know about this kind of landscape,” Rep. Juan Ciscomani, House sponsor of the Chiricahua National Park Act, said Wednesday. “It's hard to compare anything to the Grand Canyon, but Chiricahua holds its own. This is something that really hasn’t been discovered.”

National Park Service officials declined to say if new staff would be hired to address an expected increase in visitors as the new designation elevates the site's profile.

The park service has undergone deep cuts to its workforce under Trump. Maintenance projects at many sites — including Chiricahua — were ranked a “low priority” by officials who have instead focused on projects wanted by the White House including repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

For centuries the site of the proposed park was home to the Apache, nomadic tribes who often resisted European newcomers to North America. They continued clashing with settlers until surrendering to U.S. troops in 1886 and being forcibly removed to the San Carlos Apache reservation.

The bill creating Chiricahua National Park preserves tribal access for traditional ceremonies. It allows temporary public closures within the park to protect those cultural uses, although Ciscomani said specifics have not been decided.

San Carlos Apache tribal leaders did not take a formal position on the national park designation, a spokesperson said Wednesday. In response to questions from The Associated Press, the tribe provided its 2024 testimony before Congress, where San Carlos Apache Deputy Attorney General Justine Jimmie asked for uninterrupted access to the site.

“National parks have become so packed with tourists," Jimmie said. "In contrast, we go to our cultural areas in what are now parks to seek sanctuary, pray, and perform ceremonies.”

Early settlers called the site Wonderland of Rocks. The name Chiricahua comes from the surrounding mountains.

The area has evidence of thousands of years of human use, according to the park service. That spans from prehistoric people to the famed Buffalo Soldiers. The U.S. troops who were Black were stationed there after the Civil War during a government campaign against Apache leaders Geronimo and Cochise.

Former President Calvin Coolidge named the site as a national monument in 1924 under a federal law known as the Antiquities Act. Former President Franklin Roosevelt expanded it in 1938.

About 85% of the park is designated as wilderness. It gets roughly 60,000 visitors annually.

National monuments are designed to protect specific locations and objects, such as archaeological or historical sites, whereas national parks have a broader purpose including recreation and the preservation of vast expanses of wilderness. Parks and monuments alike are managed by the park service.

Chiricahua would be the first new national park since New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia in 2021.

The mayor of nearby Willcox, Arizona, Greg Hancock, said the change could bring in more customers for its hotels, restaurants and small businesses.

The monument has a visitor center, campground and hiking trails. Park service officials declined to say if any immediate changes were planned.

The park service will "evaluate those matters consistent with the law, available funding and applicable planning requirements,” officials said in a statement. The Congressional Budget Office said it would cost less than $500,000 to establish the park, but did not specify how that might be spent.

House lawmakers approved the park's creation in a voice vote in March, and the Senate passed it Sept. 30 by unanimous consent.

Leer en español

According to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, the crash happened near mile marker 41.

A BSFR spokesperson said medics took a man and a woman to Broward Health Medical Center for treatment as trauma patients.

Officials haven’t provided further details about the extent of their injuries.

First responders temporarily shut down the highway in response to the crash.

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

Leer en español

Federal authorities said they seized 90 shipments of biodiesel: 71 at Port Everglades, totaling about a half-million gallons, and another 19 at the Port of Houston, totaling about 119,000 gallons.

The seizure was a coordinated enforcement operation between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

The shipments were valued at nearly $3 million.

Paperwork showed the oil was bound for Enitec, which is a Havana-based oil wholesaler sanctioned by the U.S. government.

While oil shipments to private companies are legal, DHS officials said that was not the case with these specific shipments.

“Today’s actions underscore our commitment to safeguarding the integrity of our ports and trade systems and ensuring that they are not exploited to advance the interests of regime-connected insiders at the expense of the Cuban people,” DHS Special Agent in Charge Jose Figueroa said.

Officials went on to clarify that the seizure was not an attempt to block legitimate humanitarian aid to the Cuban people.

Leer en español

Miami Police Department investigators said the wife of Leonel Orozco, 26, of Allapattah, found the illicit content in a hidden folder while looking through his cellphone and called them.

They said she also found pictures of underage relatives edited to depict them nude.

Police said after responding to Orozco’s home in the 2400 block of Northwest 34th Street, he consented to a search of his phone.

They said investigators found five videos showing boys and girls as young as 5 to 7 years old being raped and sexually abused.

They said they also found the edited pictures.

A statement made by Orozco was redacted from an MPD arrest report.

A judge found probable cause Wednesday to charge Orozco with five counts related to the possession of child sexual abuse material and two counts of promoting an altered sexual depiction without consent, ordering he be held on a $10,000.

But the Colombian national is also facing potential immigration consequences. Besides his bond, records show he’s being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

Leer en español

According to Fort Lauderdale police, officers responded to the 700 block of Northeast 17th Court after getting calls about the driver, later identified as Eliezer Valcourt, 32, of northwest Miami-Dade.

A responding officer said Valcourt nearly hit her as she turned a corner in his United States Postal Service mail truck. Another officer was able to pull over Valcourt, police said, and “observed possible signs of impairment,” leading to a DUI investigation.

According to an arrest report, Valcourt, who failed field sobriety tests, told officers that he was working and that he had not had anything to drink that day.

Valcourt told officers that he was “almost done” working and that he “only had three more streets,” per the arrest form.

He is facing charges of DUI and DUI with a blood alcohol content level .15% or higher.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Valcourt remained behind bars at the Broward Main Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Leer en español

Even after being slapped with charges in May after being accused of stealing pricey jewelry and valuables from two victims, police said the Wisconsin woman, once described as an “escort,” went back to the same thievery after leaving jail.

Police said Hood, 21, of Madison, Wisconsin, has a known modus operandi: “Meeting victims at nightlife establishments, accompanying them to their residences or hotels and leaving with valuables after they fell asleep.”

She’s now accused of targeting men she met at the Booby Trap on the River strip club in August and September.

Authorities said both incidents happened at locations in Miami after the men took her home from the strip club, located near the airport at 3615 NW South River Drive.

Miami police said on Aug. 9, a man celebrating his birthday at the Booby Trap took an “unknown” woman “wearing a burgundy dress,” later identified as Hood, back to his Airbnb and the pair “continued drinking in an upstairs bedroom.”

The victim then “placed two gold chains on the bathroom counter, took a shower and went to sleep,” according to an arrest report

Authorities said the victim’s brother saw Hood “rushing out the front door while speaking on the phone.”

According to police, after the victim’s brother woke him, he discovered that the two gold chains, valued at about $110,000, were gone.

Police said fingerprints at the home came back to Hood and a detective recognized Hood from her prior arrest on Booby Trap surveillance footage.

Meanwhile, on the morning of Sept. 11, police said another man met two women, one of whom was later identified as Hood, at the Booby Trap and brought them back home.

The women, according to a separate arrest report, “brought a bottle of Don Julio tequila, and one poured a shot into the victim’s mouth, which he later spit out. One of his friends also consumed several shots.”

Police said the victim couldn’t remember the rest of the morning and, after waking up, found that the women were gone ― and so too were the valuables in his SUV.

“His roommate reported hearing what sounded like vehicle doors slamming at approximately (7 a.m.),” police wrote in the report. “The victim provided an Instagram handle associated with one of the (women) and reported observing an unknown substance in the remaining liquor. The empty tequila bottle remained at the scene with apparent lipstick stains.”

Once again, a detective recognized Hood on surveillance footage, police said, and the victim later picked her out of a photo lineup.

The man said his stolen jewelry, apparel and cash were worth more than $25,000.

Hood surrendered at the Miami Police Department with her attorney on Tuesday.

She’s now back in jail on two more grand theft charges, on top of the three other felonies she was out on bond for at the time, according to jail records.

As of Wednesday, she was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Según los investigadores del Departamento de Policía de Miami, la esposa de Leonel Orozco, de 26 años y residente de Allapattah, revisaba el celular de su esposo. Encontró el contenido ilícito en una carpeta oculta y llamó a la policía.

Los investigadores dijeron que también encontró fotos de familiares menores de edad editadas para que aparecieran desnudos.

Según la policía, los agentes acudieron a la casa de Orozco, en la cuadra 2400 de Northwest 34th Street. Allí, él accedió a que revisaran su celular.

Los investigadores dijeron que encontraron cinco videos de abuso sexual contra niños y niñas, algunos de apenas 5 a 7 años.

También encontraron las fotos editadas, según la policía.

Una declaración de Orozco fue tachada del informe de arresto de la policía de Miami.

El miércoles, un juez encontró causa probable para acusar a Orozco de cinco cargos relacionados con la posesión de material de abuso sexual infantil. También enfrenta dos cargos por difundir una representación sexual alterada sin consentimiento. El juez fijó su fianza en $10,000.

Sin embargo, el ciudadano colombiano también podría enfrentar consecuencias migratorias. Además de la fianza, los registros muestran que permanece en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una retención del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE).

The Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive that is typically reserved for significant achievement in combat, was bestowed upon the Lincoln and accompanying ships for “40 days of combat operations and an ironclad maritime blockade against Iran in support of Operation Epic Fury,” Hegseth said, referring to the Trump administration’s code name for the Iran war.

The carrier endured a record 265 uninterrupted days at sea, and its extended deployment drew national attention following reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products. After more than 10 months deployed, the Lincoln's crew got a stop in Thailand early last month on the way back from the Middle East.

Pentagon chief visits the crew and acknowledges long time at sea

Hegseth, who flew out to the ship before its arrival Thursday in San Diego, acknowledged to the crew that “I’m the only thing standing between you and home” and that his intention was “once they pull up to the dock, we’re getting out of the way.”

Long deployments can tax service members who are away from their families for extended periods while facing threats, and can add wear to the aircraft carriers, which have been used for President Donald Trump's military operations in the Middle East and South America.

The Lincoln is the second carrier that has endured an unusually long and arduous deployment to support the war against Iran and the second to receive the top unit award afterward.

Hegseth in May met the crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford during its return from a 326-day deployment — the longest for an aircraft carrier in the past 50 years and a record in the post-Vietnam War era.

As for the Lincoln, it departed San Diego in late November, arrived in the Middle East in January and now will be back in its home port.

Hegseth said Wednesday that Trump “tracked your activities from day one and couldn’t be more proud of what you executed.”

Issues had been reported aboard the USS Lincoln

The Navy initially played down early reports of supply problems on Lincoln and Trump said its lengthy deployment was “not nearly long enough,” Navy leaders, however, eventually acknowledged there were some issues aboard.

In August, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the Lincoln maintained adequate food supplies, but because combat operations limited resupply opportunities, meal options were reduced from two to one for a short time. He said in a letter to a Democratic lawmaker seeking information that four nutritionally balanced meals were served daily.

Navy officials also said that while combat operations led to delays in scheduled resupply shipments, they prioritized the delivery of hygiene products and established a rotation to streamline distribution to different squadrons.

More recently, the service told lawmakers that eight sailors attempted suicide while on the long deployment. Experts say that number is low in a strike group of 6,000 sailors over 10 months.

Hegseth pushed back against what he said were efforts to turn the “Lincoln into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.”

He said that “what makes the U.S. military and the U.S. Navy and all these sailors different is that you adapt and that you’re resilient and you overcome — you finish the mission nonetheless.”

Aircraft carriers have been key to Iran war operations

According to the award that Hegseth read to the crew, the Lincoln and the strike group executed 3,693 combat missions, delivered 1.37 million pounds of ordnance, launched 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles, shot down 77 one-way attack drones, sank 64 Iranian warships, destroyed 21 anti-ship cruise missiles and defended against four fast attack craft and explosive-carrying ships.

There are now two aircraft carriers assigned to the Middle East. The USS George Washington, though usually based in Asia, relieved the Lincoln in August.

The other aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, has been deployed for about six months, but it pulled into Phuket, Thailand, for a port visit several days ago.

U.S. officials have said a third aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and thousands of troops aboard it and accompanying ships could join the Washington and the Bush as early as the end of October.

The latest example came Wednesday, when Trump voiced support for Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin’s governor race while pledging millions to help with recent storms.

In addition, the president recently joked that he would cut off money to North Carolina, which is still healing from Hurricane Helene two years ago, if Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley lost. And the day before an Ohio campaign rally with Sen. Jon Husted last Saturday, Trump approved a disaster declaration for the state while leaving 15 other requests pending.

Disaster survivor advocates say they want elected officials to prioritize their recovery — not wield it as a political tool.

“Recovery isn’t partisan,” said Sierra Lindsey-Kos, co-founder and co-executive director of Extreme Weather Survivors, an advocacy nonprofit.

“Neighbors help each other without asking who anyone voted for, and that’s exactly the way it should be," she said.

The White House rejected accusations that it's injecting politics into disaster recovery. “There is no politicization to the president’s decisions on disaster relief,” spokesperson Lauren Bis said Tuesday.

Trump’s Truth Social posts intertwine endorsements with disaster funding

Trump has frequently mentioned disaster support in social media posts about the midterms, sometimes announcing new funding in conjunction with reminders of endorsements for Republican candidates like Ashley Hinson in Iowa and Andy Barr in Kentucky.

On Wednesday, Trump posted that he’d spoken to Tiffany, “who has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of the Great State of Wisconsin,” and told him about $17.9 million in disaster funds were coming to the state. “18 Million Dollars should help, A LOT,” Trump wrote.

A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said their office had not been informed about the money, and Evers responded to the announcement on social media.

"Clearly, President Trump and Congressman Tiffany are continuing to play politics with emergency aid that’s meant to help communities recover in the wake of disasters like tornadoes and floods."

Tiffany is up against Democratic nominee David Crowley in Wisconsin's governor's race.

Even creating the perception that disaster relief and votes are connected has traditionally been “out of bounds,” said Rafael LeMaitre, FEMA spokesperson under former President Barack Obama.

“It diminishes the integrity of the disaster management system and it erodes trust in the way the government addresses disasters generally,” he said.

Disaster relief seeps into campaign speeches

When Trump held a rally in North Carolina for Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, the president acknowledged the state was still waiting for billions of dollars in federal recovery funds for Hurricane Helene.

“Now if Michael loses, I’m not sending it,” he said. “No, I’m only kidding, you’re getting it,” he added.

Republican Jennifer Balkcom, a congressional candidate in a western North Carolina district, later defended Trump's comments.

"I don’t know if he was being funny,” Balkcom told WLOS ABC News 13. “I think he was trying to persuade voters to vote for Michael Whatley.”

While the joke might not faze Trump’s most dedicated supporters, others found it off putting, said Jon Council, who works for the organizing group Down Home North Carolina.

“That just doesn’t strike me as a person or administration that’s taking the conditions on the ground here seriously, and taking the responsibility to the American taxpayer seriously,” Council said.

Trump also brought up disaster relief funds at a campaign rally in Ohio last Saturday, telling supporters in a high school gymnasium in Vandalia that he had signed a “special” disaster declaration for the state after August severe weather.

“You had some bad storms, and Jon and everybody wanted me to help, and I took care of it,” Trump said, referring to Republican Senator Jon Husted, who is running a tight reelection race against Democrat Sherrod Brown.

The major disaster declaration for Ohio authorizes direct assistance to residents of seven of the 23 counties requested by Republican Governor Mike DeWine. It came while 15 other requests from states, tribes and territories remain pending, including two from Hawaii, which experienced back-to-back hurricanes in August and September.

Trump did not answer pending disaster requests before rallying in two other Republican states last week with less consequential races, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Concerns over politicization predate the midterm elections

Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who tracks presidential disaster declarations, said politicians “have always tried to use disasters to their advantage." However, he said this White House's behavior has been “unusual and frankly concerning."

An Associated Press analysis in July found that Trump has approved more than three-quarters of the requests from states that voted for him in the 2024 election but less than half the requests from states that did not.

A FEMA spokesperson said Tuesday that “any suggestion that disaster decisions are politically motivated does not reflect how this process works or how FEMA carries out its mission.”

Politics has permeated recent communications from FEMA itself.

A September news release about preparations for a nor'easter storm listed 18 Republican members of Congress with whom it said agency leadership was “working closely” during the weather event, omitting mention of any Democrats despite the states mentioned being Democrat-led.

A FEMA spokesperson did not address questions about why only Republican representatives were named.

Según Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, el accidente ocurrió cerca de la milla 41.

Un portavoz de BSFR dijo que los paramédicos llevaron a un hombre y a una mujer al Broward Health Medical Center, donde fueron atendidos como pacientes de trauma.

Las autoridades no han dado más detalles sobre la gravedad de sus heridas.

Los equipos de emergencia cerraron temporalmente la carretera para atender el accidente.

La Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida investiga el choque.

En mayo, Hood fue acusada de robarles joyas costosas y objetos de valor a dos víctimas. Aun así, según la policía, la mujer de Wisconsin, a quien en su momento se describió como “acompañante”, volvió a las andadas al salir de la cárcel.

La policía dijo que Hood, de 21 años y residente de Madison, Wisconsin, tiene un modus operandi conocido. Según los agentes, “conocía a las víctimas en lugares de vida nocturna, las acompañaba a sus casas o a sus hoteles y se iba con objetos de valor cuando se quedaban dormidas”.

Ahora la acusan de robarles en agosto y septiembre a hombres que conoció en el club de striptease Booby Trap on the River.

Según las autoridades, ambos casos ocurrieron en Miami, después de que los hombres se la llevaran a su casa desde el club. El local queda cerca del aeropuerto, en el 3615 NW South River Drive.

La policía de Miami dijo que el 9 de agosto un hombre celebraba su cumpleaños en el Booby Trap. Esa noche se llevó a su Airbnb a una mujer “desconocida” que “llevaba un vestido color vino”, luego identificada como Hood. Según la policía, los dos “siguieron tomando en una habitación del piso de arriba”.

La víctima luego “dejó dos cadenas de oro sobre el lavamanos del baño, se dio una ducha y se fue a dormir”, según un informe de arresto.

Según las autoridades, el hermano de la víctima vio a Hood “salir apurada por la puerta principal mientras hablaba por teléfono”.

Según la policía, el hermano lo despertó y la víctima descubrió que las dos cadenas de oro habían desaparecido. Estaban valoradas en unos $110,000.

La policía dijo que las huellas dactilares halladas en la casa eran de Hood. Además, un detective la reconoció en los videos de vigilancia del Booby Trap por su arresto anterior.

Por otra parte, la policía dijo que la mañana del 11 de septiembre otro hombre conoció a dos mujeres en el Booby Trap y se las llevó a su casa. Una de ellas fue identificada después como Hood.

Según otro informe de arresto, las mujeres “trajeron una botella de tequila Don Julio y una le sirvió un trago directamente en la boca a la víctima, que él luego escupió. Uno de sus amigos también se tomó varios tragos”.

La policía dijo que la víctima no recordaba el resto de la mañana. Al despertar, descubrió que las mujeres ya no estaban, y tampoco los objetos de valor que tenía en su SUV.

“Su compañero de casa dijo que escuchó lo que parecían puertas de un vehículo cerrándose de golpe alrededor de las (7 a.m.)”, escribió la policía en el informe. “La víctima dio un usuario de Instagram asociado con una de las (mujeres) y dijo que vio una sustancia desconocida en el licor que quedaba. La botella de tequila vacía quedó en el lugar con aparentes manchas de pintalabios”.

Una vez más, un detective reconoció a Hood en los videos de vigilancia, según la policía. Más tarde, la víctima la identificó en una rueda de reconocimiento fotográfico.

El hombre dijo que las joyas, la ropa y el dinero en efectivo que le robaron valían más de $25,000.

Hood se entregó el martes en el Departamento de Policía de Miami, acompañada de su abogado.

Según los registros de la cárcel, ahora está de vuelta tras las rejas con dos nuevos cargos de hurto mayor. A eso se suman otros tres delitos graves por los que estaba en libertad bajo fianza.

Hasta el miércoles, permanecía detenida en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that the ads are illegal government-sponsored propaganda and accuses Trump of personally directing them. It asks the court to declare the ads illegal and stop the use of federal funds to pay for them.

Trump has faced bipartisan backlash for the ads, which glorify him and echo his campaign pitch as voters cast early ballots with the midterm elections less than a month away.

The spots, which began airing in September, already have cost more than $12 million to run, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact, and a total of $20 million in Homeland Security Department funding has been tapped to pay for them.

Responding Monday to the criticism, Trump defended the ads as “positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.” but said he’d pay for them using his MAGA Inc. super PAC going forward.

But on Tuesday, the fifth ad in the campaign began airing with the notice “paid for by the U.S. Government,” promoting Trump’s military actions in Venezuela earlier this year. The same day, Trump made it clear he hasn’t committed to reimbursing any money that has already been spent, telling reporters “we’ll decide.”

DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement that Trump is misusing taxpayer dollars in “a last-ditch attempt to save Republicans in November.”

“Americans deserve better than to have their hard-earned tax dollars used for Trump’s illegal schemes," he added.

Legal experts have suggested the ads run afoul of a federal statute against congressionally appropriated money being used for “publicity or propaganda,” and potentially other federal laws. The Homeland Security money tapped for the ads comes from a $175 million package Congress gave to the department as part of Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda.

The White House has defended the ads as public service announcements akin to what past administrations have done to promote various policies. Legal experts have said the recent ads differ from many past public service announcements because they aren’t aimed at helping members of the public benefit from specific government programs.

The defendants in the lawsuit — Trump, the White House, DHS and the Office of Management and Budget — didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sierra, 42, could get the death penalty for killing his 29-year-old estranged wife, Gladys Machado and her daughters, 6-year-old Julia Padrino and 3-year-old Daniela Padrino,

The defense started its case with expert witness testimony from Dr. Leonardo Thaler, an endocrinologist who reviewed Sierra’s medical records.

Discussing a 2018 document, Thaler said, “He was noted as having witnessed seizure from jail.”

Referring to a 2018 emergency room document, Thaler said, “There was a note that the seizure might have been related to use of synthetic marijuana or K2.”

Thaler shared with the jury what caught his eye: Sierra’s struggles with managing Type 1 diabetes. Testimony showed he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2005, when he was 21.

“It says here that the findings are consistent with diabetes ketoacidosis, so it is a very serious medical condition,” Thaler said.

The medical record was from July 23, 2012, a few months before Sierra confessed on Nov. 10, 2012, to killing his estranged wife and her two little girls.

“They managed him with intravenous insulin, straight into the veins,” Thaler said.

The jury also saw Sierra’s hospital bill from childhood.

“This is May 13, 1996, through May 20, 1996,” Thaler said.

The billing codes documented what Sierra was treated for after being hit by a car when he was 12 years old.

The defense said he suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“Skull fracture, facial bone fracture, skull-based fracture,” Thaler said. “This indicates a traffic accident involving a pedestrian.”

Seeking a jury recommendation of a life sentence, the defense wants jurors to consider the impact attorneys say the car crash and Sierra’s chronic diabetes have had on his cognitive functioning.

Prosecutors, seeking the death penalty, punctuated the testimony with legal objections.

On cross-examination, lead prosecutor Abbe Rifkin pointed out the number of times the records showed that Sierra refused treatment.

Rifkin questioned whether Sierra received attention from guards and was taken to the hospital or to see a doctor each time he was noncompliant and his blood sugar spiked.

Testimony also showed Sierra was not compliant with his diet, ate a large amount of carbohydrates and had a sedentary lifestyle.

The state also asked whether a medication he was taking at a very high dose could be used by some people to get “high.” Thaler said it could.

Según la policía de Fort Lauderdale, los agentes acudieron a la cuadra 700 de Northeast 17th Court tras recibir llamadas sobre el conductor. Más tarde fue identificado como Eliezer Valcourt, de 32 años y residente del noroeste de Miami-Dade.

Una de las agentes que respondió al llamado dijo que Valcourt estuvo a punto de chocarla al doblar una esquina con su camión del Servicio Postal de EE.UU. Otro agente logró detenerlo y “observó posibles señales de que estaba bajo los efectos del alcohol”, según la policía. Por eso, comenzó una investigación por manejar bajo la influencia (DUI).

Según un informe de arresto, Valcourt falló las pruebas de sobriedad en el lugar. Les dijo a los agentes que estaba trabajando y que ese día no había tomado nada.

También les dijo que “ya casi terminaba” y que “solo le faltaban tres calles”, según el formulario de arresto.

Enfrenta cargos de DUI y de DUI con un nivel de alcohol en la sangre de 0.15% o más.

Hasta la tarde del miércoles, Valcourt seguía detenido en la cárcel principal de Broward con una fianza de $1,000.

Flight Attendants Association-CWA President Sara Nelson said the 250-foot (76 meter) arch compounds multiple safety concerns that she said have gone unaddressed from a deadly January 2025 crash over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. Nelson also criticized Trump's plan to turn the arch into "a top grade military complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.

“DCA is already stretched to its limit, we do not need an obstacle taking up space in our flight path,” said Nelson. “Nor should commercial aviation have to dodge military drones, missiles or snipers while attempting to take off or land at Washington National Airport. Safety first always.”

Nelson’s statement on behalf of the union, which represents 55,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines, joins the voices of an assemblage of veterans’ groups, Congress members and others with safety concerns and complaints about the memorial's threat to historic and symbolic sightlines between different landmarks in Washington, D.C.

Though the arch has received early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all tapped by Trump, a group of three veterans and an architectural historian sued, saying the project needs to be approved by Congress.

Last month, the Republican president said in a social media post that he had agreed, at the “strong request” of the military, to convert the planned 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch “into a top grade Military Complex.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said last month before Trump's announcement on it becoming a military complex that the arch would not pose a hazard to aircraft, but it should be “appropriately marked with a non-standard eternal flame on top of the structure and floodlight projectors pointed towards the arch to make it noticeable for pilots.

An assessment by the National Park Service said the memorial arch could disrupt the historical significance of dozens of nearby sites. The Park Service approved the project despite its assessment.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced early last month that excavation work on the site in Memorial Circle would begin within weeks. The Interior Department did not respond immediately to questions on the status of that work.

The arch is one of several projects around Washington that Trump has undertaken as he remakes the city from renovating one of its storied public golf courses to threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Industry groups said they appreciate President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding the use of a diesel now reserved for off-road work, but farmers already have access to the fuel and many have already wrapped up harvest. Truckers will struggle to navigate differing state rules.

“In the context of diesel prices that are over two dollars more than they were last year, it just doesn’t come close to closing that wound,” said Matt Perdue, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union.

With less than a month to go before the November election, diesel prices continue to hit record highs as some farmers transport their crops for processing and others rush to complete their fall harvest. Many have been feeling the squeeze as costs for inputs like diesel, fertilizer and seed have soared thanks to refinery constraints and supply disruptions amid the Iran war.

Diesel averaged $6.30 per gallon across the country on Wednesday, more than 70% higher than one year ago, according to motor club AAA. The executive order defers the $0.24 federal tax per gallon of regular diesel, used for road projects, until the end of the year. Most states also levy their own tax on diesel.

“Dyed” diesel is the same as regular diesel, except for its red dye to help law enforcement enforce penalties for on-road use. It's already allowed for off-road purposes like farming equipment, such as tractors and combines, as well as construction and heating uses.

Who will see benefits

Savings can compound if states take similar actions; many have eased restrictions or waived taxes on dyed diesel, including South Dakota and Iowa. Perdue said North Dakota has waived the tax on regular diesel. But where the state decision is focused on farmers, he believes the federal decision would largely benefit those on other levels of the supply chain.

Farmers who will see the most benefit are those who haul their own product, like livestock or fresh produce, on public roads. Those who have already wrapped up harvesting won't see savings.

“Most of our diesel use is behind us,” said Perdue, who grows spring wheat, durum and canola on his family farm.

Both trucking companies and independent truckers may not see much relief either. The effect is likely to be negligible for big trucking companies because the order is on a federal level and states make their own rules, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, wrote in a social media post.

“The largest diesel users are the least likely to use dyed diesel,” he wrote. “A national carrier crossing five or six states in a day faces enormous risk with a patchwork of rules, legal in one state, and subject to fines in the next.”

Many states exempt road diesel from sales tax but apply sales tax to dyed diesel instead, he said.

Easing limits on red-dyed diesel will likely have a minimal effect for small truckers, who pay for fuel up front, said Todd Spencer, president and CEO of trade group the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. He estimates every $1 increase per gallon in fuel costs independent truckers about $400 more per week.

Increased demand for dyed diesel

The savings will be small, but it could still increase competition for dyed diesel, said David Ortega, food economics and policy professor at Michigan State University.

“I think there's a real chance this could backfire and make the situation worse for farmers," he said. “Basically anybody that’s running a truck on the highway on regular diesel can now be using this off-highway diesel. Even someone that owns a diesel pickup truck potentially has access to this other type of diesel.”

Perdue in North Dakota said he expects a “rush for dyed diesel, and we’ll see how the supply responds.”

But not all dyed diesel pump stations are set up for larger trucks like semis, said Paul Mitchell, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“It’s going to come down to infrastructure ability to get your vehicles to a place that you can use and fill them up with,” he said.

Supply shortages persist

Henry Hanscom, American Trucking Associations chief advocacy and public affairs officer, pointed out that the executive order directs temporary penalty relief and potential tax deferral for using red-dyed diesel, not outright tax forgiveness. He said the ATA would review the Internal Revenue Service’s implementing guidance of the policy when it is available.

Last month, Trump had threatened a diesel export ban, though he later said it is off the table. On Friday, G7 countries agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products.

“One of the problems we have right now in the world is there’s not enough diesel fuel,” said Gregg Ibendahl, farm management specialist at Kansas State University.

But underlying causes like geopolitical issues won't be solved overnight.

“The problem we’ve accumulated right now with the Strait of Hormuz and the Russia-Ukraine war, those are going to be longer term things to get fixed,” he said. “Getting that world supply back up again is going to be, I think, at least a year, even in the best cases.”

___

Anderson reported from New York.

The judges revealed through their questions that there are still many legal issues to be decided in the lawsuit even though it has dragged on for almost a quarter-century.

They didn't say when they might rule on whether claims can proceed to trial alleging that Saudi Arabia provided aid to at least two of the 19 men who hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field that day.

Still, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada was killed in the attacks, said she was encouraged that more than 100 family members of 9/11 victims turned out and by the judges' questions.

“It really was a good day for us,” she said afterward. “The judges asked really meaningful questions and hammered the Saudi attorneys and didn’t let up. They weren’t buying what the Saudis were selling.”

In lawsuits, hundreds of victims’ relatives and injured survivors, along with insurance companies and businesses, claim that employees of the Saudi government directly and knowingly assisted the hijackers and other plotters and fueled al-Qaida’s development into a terrorist organization by funding charities that supported them.

Some defendants, including Iran, the Taliban and al-Qaida, already have been found in default.

On Wednesday, lawyers from both sides were questioned repeatedly by the appeals judges who seemed unsure exactly how they would respond to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's claims that it should be dismissed as a defendant on sovereign immunity grounds.

Lawyers for Saudi Arabia say the nation and the U.S. were partners in the 1990s against terrorism, al-Qaida and its founder, Osama bin Laden.

Although 15 of the 19 attackers on 9/11 were Saudis, the Saudi government has long denied any involvement in the attacks.

Lawyers for victims' relatives claim that a group of extremist religious leaders in Saudi Arabia aided the hijackers.

The appeal by Saudi Arabia stemmed from an August 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels, who decided that the case could proceed in federal court, though he did not rule on the merits of the claims.

The Brewers announced Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) as their starter a day after the Padres announced right-hander Walker Buehler (9-6, 4.63) as theirs. San Diego won 4-3 on Tuesday night to avoid elimination and trim Milwaukee’s lead in the best-of-five series to 2-1.

This will be the first appearance for both pitchers in the Division Series. Buehler had opened the series on the paternity list before getting reinstated on Monday.

Gasser had two relief outings during Milwaukee’s playoff run last year and allowed two runs over 2 2/3 innings. He pitched extremely well late in the regular season, as he allowed six runs — five earned — over 27 innings in September for a 1.67 ERA.

Gasser was drafted by the Padres and pitching in their farm system before going to the Brewers in the 2022 trade that brought reliever Josh Hader to San Diego.

Buehler has much more postseason experience after pitching on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2020 and 2024 World Series championship teams. He is 4-4 with a 3.04 ERA in 19 career playoff appearances, including 18 starts. He earned the save in the Dodgers' title-clinching Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series.

Buehler was the starting pitcher and took the loss when the Brewers earned their last road playoff win, in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series with the Dodgers. The Brewers have lost 12 straight road playoff games since.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez led the way on social media offering his condolences after housing activists and Abascal's lawyer announced her death. Known widely as “Maricarmen,” she had become a symbol for renters struggling with Spain's housing affordability crisis.

“All my love to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones,” Sánchez said in a post on X. “A hug as well to all of us who feel this loss as our own today. Rest in peace.”

Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez also expressed condolences, writing on X: “I deeply lament the death of Maricarmen. My condolences for those who accompanied her and fought by her side until the end.”

The emotions ran into anger on the street among the protesters gathered near Spain's Parliament who chanted “Maricarmen lives, the fight goes on!”

Maricarmen's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, did not disclose the cause of death when she confirmed it to Cadena Ser radio. Duro said that she and the activists were all devastated.

“Maricarmen's case, which captured media attention and traveled around the world, leaves us the image of the shameful violence of these types of evictions and the impact they can have on people’s health,” Duro said.

Spaniards increasingly frustrated by housing costs periodically march in major cities demanding action from lawmakers. But a new wave of indignation has swept Spain since Sept. 23 when Maricarmen, who used a wheelchair, was carried on a stretcher from her apartment after police cordoned off the street and removed protesters. She was taken to a hospital because of her fragile health.

Televised images of the eviction prompted thousands of people to protest in Madrid and other cities across the country.

Maricarmen had been expected to return home after leaving the hospital. The real estate company that evicted her in order to rent the property at a much higher price eventually caved in under immense public pressure and agreed to let her return to the apartment.

“Although a historic agreement was reached that would have allowed her to return home, this solution came too late,” the Madrid Tenant’s Union said in a statement Wednesday. “It was an entirely avoidable situation following a harrowing ordeal.”

Protesters camped in Madrid’s iconic Puerta del Sol square held a minute of silence after learning of her death.

Maricarmen’s plight galvanized a social movement, prompted Spain’s unions to announce a general strike next month and intensified pressure on political leaders. Sánchez called an early election Monday after his government failed last week to push emergency housing measures through Parliament. He now hopes the issue will reinvigorate his Socialist Party and help him form a new government after the Nov. 29 election.

___

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

John Beck, the attorney Rahm hired for LIV's bankruptcy proceedings, said during a Wednesday hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey that Rahm reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0 and decided he would not be participating in 2027.

Rahm, a Masters and U.S. Open champion and the last player to be No. 1 in the world before Scottie Scheffler, was among the biggest and most stunning acquisitions by LIV Golf at the end of 2023 when he was the reigning Masters champion.

Rahm had said in May he has several years left on his contract. His signing bonus, never confirmed, was reported to be in the $300 million range.

While the hearing was confirmation he wants out of LIV — he had not answered questions directly most of the summer — the decision was not surprising.

The court earlier this week allowed Sergio Garcia to end his contract when the 46-year-old Spaniard and former Masters champion asked for clarification on his status. Garcia was among the first to defect to LIV in 2022.

Still to come was formal separation from LIV Golf and word on where Rahm would play next. The PGA Tour has said it would not hold conversations with any LIV player still legally under contract. Beck declined to comment when reached by phone.

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp brought back five-time major champion Brooks Koepka with heavy financial stipulations at the start of this year, after Koepka negotiated an end to his LIV contract. Rolapp offered the deal to three other major champions, including Rahm, giving them a two-week deadline to decide. None took the offer.

Two months later, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia said it would no longer bankroll the rival league after the 2026 season.

The PGA Tour did not immediately comment on Rahm’s decision.

Rahm's plans were revealed two days after BC Partners Credit announced an initial investment payment to LIV Golf 2.0, which still requires approval, that would allow the league to move forward with a team-focused theme in which players would be equity owners.

Part of LIV's amended restructuring support agreement extended the deadline for players who decide whether they want to stick around for LIV 2.0.

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil had said Monday: "We believe deeply in the future of this league and in the opportunity to build something distinctive alongside our players. We’re delivering on our major milestones, and while there is still work ahead, today marks meaningful progress toward a player-owned, team-focused, truly global league that complements the wider game and creates new opportunities for players, fans, partners and the next generation of golfers.”

Rahm was the individual points champion each of the last three years, when the prize money was $20 million for individual competition and bonuses were awarded for the points race. His total earnings from LIV over the last three years topped $100 million.

Rahm withdrew this week from the Spanish Open because his wife, Kelley, is home in Arizona expecting their fourth child. He remains a European tour member and plans to play in Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the end of the year.

The PGA Tour typically bans players for one year after their last LIV event, though it made an exception for Koepka. Bryson DeChambeau, among those who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tour when LIV began, has not indicated any desire to return.

Rolapp has consistently said he wants what's best for the PGA Tour, and Rahm is LIV's best player as a former No. 1. He is still at No. 15 despite limited access to world ranking points.

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here

More than 60 laborers, mostly from India, signed the deals Wednesday to receive their share of a 31-million-euro (nearly $35 million) settlement agreed last month with Alabama-based Caddell Construction. The signings began Tuesday.

Prosecutors say it is the largest settlement ever for labor exploitation in Europe.

Each worker signed a document seen by The Associated Press agreeing not to disparage Caddell and not to disclose the individual payments. Caddell said in the document that the settlement was not an admission of liability. Individual payments are to be made within 30 days of the signing.

The workers saw the potentially life-changing sum in black-and-white for the first time at the signings — with the highest reaching nearly 90,000 euros (nearly $101,000), said Francesco Brigatti, the court-appointed administrator working to return the consulate construction site to legality.

The payouts combine unpaid overtime, reimbursement for housing illegally deducted from their pay and hefty damages personally sought by investigating Prosecutor Paolo Storari, Brigatti said.

“The damages component alone amounts to 60–70% of the overtime total,” Brigatti said, well above the 10% to 30% that he said is more customary in such cases.

Dilip Ram, a 43-year-old mason from India, has worked at the Milan consulate site for more than two years. He said the money would go a long way to helping his family of five back home in the Indian state of Bihar.

“Things are better now than before … we get more rest now,” Ram said, after signing the deal. “This has led to a lot of change. This settlement will be good. Because the workers had troubles, that’s why this settlement has been applied.”

Over two days, 115 workers signed the deals, with the procedure continuing next week.

Prosecutors say workers were paid less than $2 an hour, were illegally docked money for housing and denied overtime for working up to 10 hours a day, six days a week. They also were allegedly subjected to threats and not given proper medical care when they were injured on the job. Most of the workers were from India, but also Nigeria, Kenya and Bangladesh.

Workers from India reported having to pay 5,000 euros ($5,600) to recruiters to get the jobs, but the settlement did not directly address abuses in India, where prosecutors could not investigate, officials said.

The investigation against Caddell remains open, pending the payouts, which are expected to be completed by February. Two managers under investigation for extortion and facilitating illegal immigration remain under house arrest.

Caddell’s settlement includes about 11.2 million euros ($12.5 million) for Italy’s social security coffers and workplace injury insurance. Under the deal, the workers are also getting permits to work in Italy even off the Caddell site.

Caddell, a major contractor for U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, said in June that it was cooperating fully with Italian authorities, reviewing its global subcontractors and consultancies for compliance with labor laws, and working with authorities to protect workers on the project.

“Caddell continues to cooperate in good faith with the appropriate authorities throughout this process, and we remain focused on the care and well-being of the people working on an important project,” the company said Wednesday.

The U.S. State Department has said it is investigating the allegations made by prosecutors and that U.S. law enforcement is working with Italian authorities. Last week, it added that it is following the case closely.

“The U.S. government has zero tolerance for illegal activity,” it said.

In all, nearly 480 workers can expect payouts — some 300 still working on the site, another 100 elsewhere in Italy and the rest in their home countries.

“We have asked the Indian consulate to help,” said Adelio Riva, a labor lawyer working as a consultant for the prosecutor’s office. “We are relying heavily on word-of-mouth because, as they say, ‘follow the money.’”

The signings are being followed also by three construction worker trade unions that are assisting the workers. It is a bittersweet coda to a saga that started when unions were denied access to workers at the consulate job site, erroneously citing diplomatic status, said Trifone Radogna, an organizer for the Feneal Uil construction workers union. He said the union had never been barred from informing workers of their rights on job sites in Milan, which has been undergoing a construction boom over the last two decades.

“We have never encountered a labor-exploitation system on this scale,” Radogna said.

“Here workers’ dignity was lost: they found themselves without accommodation, without meals, and they were already starting at a disadvantage because they had to pay 5,000 euros before leaving.”

____

AP social media producer Nandini Gupta contributed from New York.

On Wednesday, the 1-year-old is celebrating his birthday — clapping, dancing, digging into his birthday cake and playing with his favorite pal, Woody from the movie “Toy Story.”

But getting to this moment was anything but easy.

Jayce is a survivor of an EXIT procedure — short for Ex-Utero Intrapartum Treatment — a rare procedure performed during delivery that allowed doctors to secure his airway before he was fully separated from his mother.

Before he was born, doctors discovered a rare tumor called a teratoma growing on Jayce’s neck. The mass was stopping him from breathing and was also attached to his swallowing tube.

“His tumor, by the time he was born, was about seven centimeters in size. It spanned all the way from the jaw to the root of his upper chest,” said Dr. Leonardo Torres, a pediatric otolaryngologist at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital

On Oct. 7, 2025, more than 30 doctors took part in the procedure.

Doctors performed a partial C-section while Jayce remained connected to his mother through the umbilical cord and placenta.

For his family, the diagnosis was terrifying.

“That’s all I would hear is, ‘get prepared for the worst,”' Jayce’s grandmother, Silvia Soriano, said.

His mother, Juliana Soriano, said she turned to her faith.

“It was a tough battle from the moment I was first told that my baby wasn’t going to make it. Being 18 and going through my first pregnancy, it hit me harder than I could have imagine,” she said. “But I left everything in God’s hands, and he took over. I talked to God and left it all to him,” she said.

During the procedure, doctors had only minutes to establish an airway and give Jayce a chance to survive.

“(He) only had a few minutes,” said Torres. “Thankfully, through God’s grace, he guided me.”

One year later, the fear has given way to celebration.

Jayce spent his first birthday surrounded by family, smiling, making sounds, clapping and enjoying his cake.

And when it came time to show just how far he has come, Jayce had a message of his own — breathing into the microphone, all on his own.

His mother says seeing her son healthy and strong is a blessing.

“I’m just so blessed to be able to look at my baby. He’s here, he’s strong, he fought everything,” Soriano said.

The boy’s father and other family members were sentenced to life in prison in 2024 after jurors convicted them in what prosecutors described as a “sick end-of-times scheme.”

A panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a decision issued Tuesday that there was no evidence of a federal kidnapping crime when the family took the boy, noting that no court order or state law made it illegal for Siraj Ibn Wahhaj to take his son.

The group already was living in New Mexico when a Georgia juvenile court issued a pickup order for the boy after his mother petitioned for emergency custody. The appellate panel took issue with jury instructions that implied the mother's lack of consent could satisfy the unlawfulness element under the federal kidnapping statute.

“This instructional error was not harmless,” the panel wrote. “Had the court correctly instructed on the law, the jury couldn’t have found unlawfulness based on the government’s evidence.”

The family members can't be retried on the kidnapping charges, the panel ruled.

The appeals panel also vacated convictions stemming from accusations that Wahhaj and his brother-in-law were preparing for attacks against the government. It said the two men, who had represented themselves during the trial, had been excluded from bench conferences with the judge about notes jurors had sent during deliberations.

The court remanded that part of the case back to the district court, clearing the way for new trials for the men if prosecutors opt to pursue the case.

“What happened at the Taos compound was horrific. We are reviewing the case and assessing what further action may be appropriate,” the U.S. attorney's office for the district of New Mexico wrote in an email Wednesday.

During the three-week trial in 2023, the defendants suggested that the case was the product of “government overreach” and that they were targeted because they are Muslim.

A fifth defendant — Jany Leveille, a Haitian national — avoided the trial by pleading guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and being in possession of a firearm while unlawfully in the United States. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors alleged that it was under Leveille’s instruction that the family fled Georgia with the boy, ending up in a remote stretch of the high desert where they conducted firearms and tactical training to prepare for attacks against the government. Prosecutors said it was tied to a belief that the boy would be resurrected and then instruct the family which corrupt government and private institutions needed to be eliminated.

In a complex case that took years to get to trial, jurors heard weeks of testimony from children who had lived with their parents at the compound, other family members, firearms experts, doctors and forensic technicians.

Authorities raided the compound in 2018, finding 11 children and dismal living conditions. They also found 11 firearms and ammunition that were used at a makeshift shooting range on the property near the Colorado state line.

The remains of Wahhaj’s son, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, were found in an underground tunnel at the compound. Testimony indicated that the boy died just weeks after arriving in New Mexico and that his body was kept for months with Leveille promising the others he would be resurrected.

An exact cause of death was never determined amid accusations that the boy, who had frequent seizures, had been deprived of crucial medication.

Lee was on hand for construction crews to break ground in Fort Worth on a museum dedicated to telling the history of Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. The planned 50,000-square-foot (4,600-square-meter) National Juneteenth Museum, located in a historically Black neighborhood, is projected to open in 2029.

Wearing a flower lei and surrounded by family and friends, Lee expressed her happiness and gratitude after the announcement of a $3 million donation by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I’m so happy I could do a holy dance, and these old legs won’t respond, but let me tell you how thankful I am and that this deed won’t go unnoticed,” Lee said.

Later Wednesday, Obama was expected to join museum leaders for an event honoring Lee, who is widely known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth.”

When then-President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a bill into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday, Lee was by his side.

The holiday marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston at the end of the Civil War with an order declaring the freedom of the enslaved people in Texas. It was about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed the enslaved people in the still rebellious states of the Confederacy. Six months later, the ratification of the 13th Amendment permanently ended slavery in the United States.

Lee has been a force in Fort Worth, where she worked for decades as a teacher, counselor and community activist.

She has said she has cherished childhood memories of celebrating Juneteenth with food, music and games, and as an adult, she was involved in planning the celebration in Fort Worth.

“Long before there were historic walks, cameras, books and well-deserved national acclaim, my childhood memories are filled with you making sure that Fort Worth remembered,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee H. Toliver said at the event.

She told Lee that she remembered her planning community events, parades and festivals.

“You always reminded us that history is not something you leave behind, it’s something you actively protect,” Toliver said.

The future site of the museum is not far from the home that was built for Lee a couple of years ago on the same tree-lined corner lot that her family had been driven from by a racist mob when she was a young girl.

Lee was 12 when, on Juneteenth in 1939, a white mob of hundreds descended on her Black family’s home, days after they moved into a white neighborhood. The mob smashed windows and furniture, according to newspaper reports from the time.

Jarred Howard, the museum’s CEO, was among those who honored Lee on Wednesday.

“It was important for us to do this on this date because everything we’ve done for the last several years, everything we continue to do, is built around the spirit of the venerable Miss Opal Lee,” he said.

Forecasters say Isaias could become a hurricane by Thursday and make landfall late Friday or early Saturday somewhere along the Alabama-Mississippi-Florida coastlines before moving north. The storm could prompt schools to cancel games, change kickoff times or even move games to other locations. The Southwestern Athletic Conference moved Florida A&M’s game at Alabama State from Saturday to Friday morning.

Trump, who attended Texas' win over Tennessee in another Southeastern Conference game on Sept. 26, was asked Wednesday about the storm.

“I love Alabama. I’ve got to go to the game,” Trump responded.

Trump said he didn’t want to do “anything to take the focus” away from “all of the great people that work on those things,” including first responders and police, adding “We’ll have to see” about his travel plans.

Georgia and Alabama have not disclosed backup plans for the game scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in Tuscaloosa, 200 miles inland from the coast. Alabama issued a statement saying “at this time there are no plans to alter the contest” but officials at the school and the SEC will continue to monitor conditions. The SEC ultimately makes the decision.

“It’s uncertainty beyond my control,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “I’m focused on trying to prepare our team and game plan and scheme.”

Smart said Georgia went through similar preparations last week with the threat of severe weather surrounding its game against Vanderbilt. The weather turned into a non-event in the Bulldogs’ 38-14 win.

“We had that same prep last week with the threat of those things,” he said. “You can’t really practice conditions. You can’t simulate them, so you’re much better off to educate, learn from the past of other people that have played in them, and prepare your team to play and not make it about that.”

The storm could trigger flash floods with dangerous winds, heavy rain and tornadoes. Events in Alabama have already been canceled. Alabama meteorologist James Spann told AL.com that moving the game to Sunday night would be the best choice.

Smart and Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said they were being updated but didn't outline contingency plans.

“I’m not really involved in too much, just updated on kind of where things stand," DeBoer said. "If there’s anything that would need to be adjusted, but you know, I haven’t heard anything recently.”

In 1988, Alabama postponed a Sept. 17 game at Texas A&M to December because of Hurricane Gilbert. Georgia's 2016 game at South Carolina was pushed to Sunday due to Hurricane Matthew while the LSU-Florida game that same Saturday was postponed to November.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

The officials unanimously agreed that inflation was still elevated and had not made much progress toward their 2% target in recent months, the minutes said. The Fed increased its key interest rate at the Sept. 15-16 meeting by a quarter-point to about 3.9%, its first increase in three years.

The increase defied President Donald Trump's repeated calls for the Fed to cut rates and prompted the president to criticize the Fed's rate-setting committee, though he still expressed support for Chairman Kevin Warsh, whom he appointed earlier this year. The rate increase comes as Americans are already struggling with high costs for groceries, gas and housing, and as affordability has taken on a leading role in the upcoming midterm elections, just seven weeks away.

Longer-term interest rates for mortgages and other borrowing have also jumped in the past few months for a range of reasons, including rising government debt, heavy borrowing by tech firms to finance data center construction, climbing oil and gas prices, and signs that growth and inflation remain elevated. The Fed's rate hike has likely played only a limited role in the increase.

Still, key policymakers have said since the meeting that the Fed can take some time to monitor the economy and the impact of last month's rate hike before making another move. Wall Street investors now forecast the Fed will keep its rate unchanged at its next meeting Oct. 28-29, according to futures pricing, and raise it when they meet in December.

Philip Jefferson, vice chair of the Fed’s board of governors, said last week that policymakers “will need to come to our own judgement, which may take more time.”

Inflation, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, came in lower than many economists expected in August but remained elevated. Overall prices rose 3.4% compared with a year earlier, while core prices — which exclude volatile food and energy categories — increased 3%. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% from July to August, and core prices just 0.2%.

According to the minutes, even with the rise in longer-term rates, many officials said that financial conditions—which includes rising stock prices — “appeared to be supportive of economic growth,” a sign that more rate hikes may be needed to cool the economy.

Several policymakers said that they saw the Fed’s rate as too low to restrain the economy, or only acting as a mild restraint. That suggests they would support multiple rate hikes to rein in inflation.

Higher oil and gas prices stemming from the Iran war and the lingering effects of tariffs have lifted costs in recent months. But even excluding those trends, many Fed officials believe inflation is stuck between 2.5% and 3%, above its target. Spiking prices for semiconductors, computer equipment, and electrical components due to the rapid surge in data center construction have also played a big role in accelerating inflation.

The Fed lifted its key interest rate to about 3.9% at its Sept. 15-16 meeting, its first increase in three years. Higher rates are intended to slow borrowing and spending, cool the economy and bring down inflation.

Warsh emphasized after the announcement that the economy has shown signs of gathering speed since the central bank decided to keep rates unchanged in late July.

“The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” Warsh said at a news conference after last month’s meeting. “We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective clearly and at sufficient speed. Today the FOMC decided that this standard has not been satisfied,” he added, referring to the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, an arm of the Fed.

Trump criticized the committee for voting to raise rates, calling them “very political,” but he did not single out Warsh.

“They’re raising rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly do,” the president said.

Less than one-third of all Medicare recipients are eligible for the payments, which are expected to be sent out this week. Not eligible are roughly 35 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, millions of other people with disabilities and low-income Medicare recipients.

The election-year promise that the Republican president made over the weekend comes as the Nov. 3 midterms are fast approaching, with the cost of living and healthcare expenses among the top issues for voters.

Some questions and answers about the payouts:

Who will benefit?

Some 20.8 million people in the original Medicare Part B who are living in the United States, not receiving premium assistance from Medicaid or not paying an income-related monthly adjusted amount.

Medicare Advantage enrollees, who make up more than half of the eligible 64.2 million Medicare beneficiaries, will not receive a payment, according to KFF, a healthcare research nonprofit. Nor will 12 million low-income older adults and people with disabilities who get premium assistance.

The Part B program covers expenses such as doctor’s visits, ambulance services and lab tests. Total monthly costs generally start at about $200 and vary with income.

Allison Schuster, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement that the administration “is enabling Americans to take control of their health by putting money directly back in the hands of Medicare patients.”

When will the payments go out and how will they be disbursed?

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website, eligible beneficiaries will receive one $90 rebate this month, with most getting a direct deposit on or around Friday. Others will receive a paper check from the Treasury Department later in October.

Juliette Cubanski, director of KFF’s program on Medicare policy, said the payment will be automatic.

“As far as a benefit goes, people don't have to call or sign up — it's just money they receive directly, but not everybody on Medicare will receive this money.”

A White House fact sheet says people can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to check on their eligibility for the premium rebate. To check on payment status, people should call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.

What is the source of the money?

Payments will come out of the Medicare Improvement Fund created by Congress in 2008 and intended to make improvements to the Medicare fee-for-service program.

The fund was created to improve program management and conduct oversight of contracts and contractors, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but its purpose has expanded after various legislative changes.

This is not the first time the fund has been used.

Democratic President Barack Obama's administration, along with Congress, redirected $20 billion to expand healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

But under Trump, it is the first time that the fund has been used to directly pay recipients.

What are critics of the plan saying?

Critics of Trump's promise characterize the $90 payments as a preelection stunt designed to sway voters rather than address structural problems in healthcare costs and administration.

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, said in a statement that "this is another desperate attempt by a failed president to escape Americans’ revulsion with his failed agenda, amounting to one tank of Trump-inflated gas.”

Trump recently promised $500 rebate checks to an estimated 1 million Obamacare enrollees across 30 states whom the White House alleged were overcharged by the Biden administration for some fees.

Cubanski said the Medicare rebate payments were being doled out when Americans were feeling the bite of higher food, energy and gas prices. Surging healthcare costs are only compounding those pressure, she said.

“This might be helpful for people but it might not go very far.”

Las disculpas fueron dirigidas a Luis Pacheco y Héctor Chaclán, quienes estuvieron presos más de un año acusados de terrorismo, así como a Basilio Puac y María Juana Elías, dirigentes de la organización 48 Cantones de Totonicapán, la organización indígena más grande del país. También fueron extendidas a Esteban Toc, de la alcaldía indígena del departamento de Sololá, así como a las juntas directivas de ambas organizaciones en 2023.

“El proceso penal en su contra fue arbitrario e ilegal, una persecución sesgada y espuria”, dijo Arévalo en su discurso de disculpas, y agregó que se estigmatizó la lucha de las comunidades.

El mandatario destacó que los líderes indígenas ejercieron su derecho a defender la democracia de forma pacífica, con la legitimidad que les otorgan sus comunidades “y con la vocación de servicio que distingue a la autoridad ancestral”.

"Pero el Estado, en lugar de reconocerlos y protegerlos, los criminalizó utilizando maliciosamente el derecho penal a través del Ministerio Público y el sistema de justicia”, reprochó el presidente.

Liberados por falta de pruebas

La disculpa fue ordenada por un juzgado que a principios de agosto dejó en libertad a los dirigentes, estableciendo que estuvieron presos sin pruebas ni sustento. Los detenidos siempre defendieron su inocencia.

“Fue una agresión, un ataque contra instituciones legítimas, contra autoridades territoriales y ancestrales que existen desde mucho antes que el propio Estado y que generación tras generación han sostenido la vida comunitaria de sus pueblos”, dijo Arévalo.

Pacheco, que en 2023 era el presidente de la Junta Directiva de los 48 Cantones y lideró las protestas, agradeció el gesto del gobierno. “No tengamos miedo, manifestar nuestros derechos, apegados al derecho, no es delito”, afirmó el líder indígena.

Julio Saavedra, procurador general, destacó que "el Estado persiguió penalmente a los 48 Cantones de Totonicapán y a su junta directiva como si se tratara de una organización criminal, la prueba determinó lo contrario”.

Los 48 Cantones de Totonicapán es una organización comunitaria indígena maya y ancestral del pueblo K'iche'. Su origen es colonial y su lucha se fundamenta en la defensa de su cultura y cosmovisión.

En 2023 organizaciones indígenas, estudiantiles, profesionales y de la sociedad civil paralizaron el país por 20 días para exigir que la fiscalía a cargo de Porras respetara la voluntad popular en los comicios en los que Arévalo fue elegido presidente. Porras y sus fiscales buscaban que las elecciones se declararan fraudulentas y fueran anuladas para impedir la llegada del dirigente político al poder.

La fiscalía acusó y persiguió a los líderes de las protestas por delitos que iban desde la asociación ilícita, la sedición, el terrorismo, la obstaculización de la acción penal y la obstrucción a la justicia.

Eduardo Tax, actual presidente de la junta directiva de los 48 Cantones de Totonicapán, dijo que “los pueblos comunitarios no somos enemigos de la democracia" sino parte de ella, y que el acto de disculpa debe servir para “reivindicar su nombre y su dignidad”.

Miguel Ángel Vicente, alcalde indígena de la Municipalidad de Sololá, afirmó por su lado que las disculpas deberían ir acompañadas de acciones, como mejoras en la economía comunitaria y en la salud, y servir para “contribuir a restablecer la dignidad de las autoridades indígenas”.

Porras fue sancionada en 2024 junto a empleados y funcionarios cercanos por la Unión Europea por socavar la democracia y el Estado de derecho. Años antes fue sancionada por Estados Unidos por obstaculizar la lucha anticorrupción. Son sanciones que se mantienen hasta hoy.

“The right mixes religion and faith, whereas I think those things should be separate, while (Lula’s) Workers’ Party has robbed the country,” said Bon Raggio, a 19-year-old studying theater in Rio de Janeiro, while walking around a shopping mall in downtown Rio. “I’m very undecided.”

Her distrust is rooted in history: Bolsonaro is under investigation for corruption and Lula was jailed for 19 months on corruption and money laundering charges that were later annulled. Bolsonaro’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is currently serving a 27-year sentence for planning a coup after his 2022 defeat to Lula.

As the second round nears, both Lula and Bolsonaro are hyperfocused on winning over undecided voters such as Bon Raggio, as well as those who voted for one of the eliminated candidates in the first round. More than 33 million, or 21% of the electorate, did not go to the polls on Sunday.

A tight second round is expected

The abstention percentage is the highest since 1998 for a first round. First-round non-voting has been slowly increasing since 2006, according to data from Brazil’s electoral court. Not voting in Brazil incurs a small fine as participation is mandatory for literate citizens aged 18 to 70.

“Abstention of 20% isn’t ideal,” said the president of Brazil’s electoral court, Kassio Nunes Marques, after Sunday’s vote. “The idea is to intensify and perfect all the available mechanisms to diminish this percentage in the second round.”

Neither Lula nor Bolsonaro received more than 50% during the first round on Sunday, and will now face each other in the runoff scheduled for Oct. 25.

Bolsonaro has at least two advantages: He received 2 million more votes than Lula on Sunday and the candidates who placed third, fourth and fifth — Augusto Cury, Renan Santos and Ronaldo Caiado — are all on the right of the political spectrum. Caiado, who garnered around 2.6 million votes, endorsed Bolsonaro on Tuesday. Cury and Santos have said they will not support either candidate.

Economic woes and election polarization grip Brazil

Nearly six million people cast a blank or spoiled vote — including Alexandre Moreira, a 21-year-old university student. Ahead of the second round, he is also undecided, though he's leaning toward Lula because he believes the incumbent is open-minded.

“But things are more expensive, and I’m feeling it,” said Moreira, who works three part-time jobs to earn a living while studying.

He pointed to the rising price of gasoline, which has increased from 5 reais ($1) a liter in January 2023 to 6.54 reais ($1.31) in September 2026, according to Brazil’s National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels.

On Sunday, many lined up to cast their vote wearing either red hats and T-shirts — signaling support for Lula’s party — or the yellow and green of the Brazilian flag traditionally used by Bolsonaro's movement, reflecting the polarization gripping the country.

But others feel alienated, misrepresented and worn out by the opposing political forces, said Carolina Almeida de Paula, a political scientist from Rio de Janeiro State University.

“We talk a lot about polarization in Brazil, but we forget the higher percentage of people who don’t like this fight,” she said.

Brazil’s polling agency Datafolha predicted around 11% of people were undecided ahead of the first round. Around the same time in 2022, the Datafolha poll found just 2% were undecided.

The final result may be a surprise

Meri Oliveira, 62, is among those who won’t vote for either candidate in three weeks’ time. “Flávio Bolsonaro is as corrupt as Lula,” said Oliveira.

Oliveira called the current president “the biggest thief in Brazil” and referred to his stint in prison. She also decried Jair Bolsonaro’s misogynist comments and his handling of the pandemic, during which more than 700,000 people died in Brazil — the second-highest toll after the U.S.

Getting people to participate in the second round is difficult, Almeida de Paula said, adding that this year’s election campaigns have been atypically subdued after several scandals.

“We could see more mobilization ahead of the second round, which could bring many more votes. That could mean increasing votes for Bolsonaro or allowing Lula to turn the election around,” she said.

Bon Raggio, the theater student, said that if the vote were tomorrow, she would probably cast a blank ballot.

“Brazil’s situation is complicated; I don’t think it’s a good idea for either of them to govern,” she said. “But I could still change my mind.”

___

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

Leer en español

The disagreement is affecting more than politics, they say — reaching into businesses, social life and the daily routines of residents in a city with one of the largest Venezuelan populations outside Venezuela.

Ahead of Wednesday’s Doral city council meeting, community members and activists gathered with a petition bearing about 200 signatures calling on city leaders to end the agreement.

One activist said elected officials are facing pressure over the issue.

“So many elected officials are operating from a place of fear, fear of retaliation from the governor and the attorney general, including the threat of removal from office,” the activist said.

Critics say the agreement has created fear and anxiety among residents, particularly immigrants who worry that interactions with local law enforcement could lead to immigration consequences.

Liz Alarcón, a Doral resident and founder of Pulso, said she has seen what she describes as a noticeable change in the community.

“I have never seen the city so desolate, so empty, and residents so scared,” she said.

The 287(g) program allows participating local law enforcement agencies to enter agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, giving designated officers certain immigration-enforcement responsibilities.

Jeanette Ynfante of the Southern Poverty Law Center said Doral was not required to enter into such an agreement.

“Only certain entities or officials are required to enter a 287(g) agreement, and the city of Doral unequivocally is not one of them,” she said.

Doral was among the first cities in South Florida to enter into the agreement.

Some community members have sharply criticized Mayor Christi Fraga over the decision, while others have raised concerns about political pressure surrounding the issue.

One resident accused Fraga of supporting the governor’s immigration policies for political reasons, saying, “Christi Fraga was on the short list to be lieutenant governor, precisely because she licked the boots of the governor and did what he asked. It’s humiliating, embarrassing.”

Fraga has defended the city’s decision.

She says that since Doral entered the agreement, no Doral police officer has participated in an ICE-related detention.

Community members who gathered Wednesday said their goal is to capture the attention of city leaders and get discussions moving.

One activist pointed to other cities that have sent letters seeking clarification about how 287(g) agreements are being implemented.

The activists say they plan to collect 25 affidavits and use them to request time during a future city council meeting to discuss their concerns.

Leer en español

According to an arrest report from the Hialeah Police Department, the boyfriend of Officer Marcia Sangronis flagged officers down Tuesday morning to report that he had been physically abused.

The HPD report states that the victim told officers that Sangronis, 38, becomes “angry and violent” whenever discussing “his lack of motivation to pursue a career in law enforcement.”

According to the report, he had stayed the night at her home and she brought up the topic the night before the incident and she brought it up again when she woke up the next day.

The report states that he decided to leave at around 11 a.m. and told her he wanted to break up with her, after which she “became upset and stood in front of the doorway to prevent him from exiting the residence” and told him “you are not allowed to leave” as he tried reaching for the doorknob.

“The victim attempted again to reach for the doorknob to leave when (Sangronis) started to attack him. The victim said she scratched him multiple times on his arms, face and back with her nails,” the report states. “The victim said she bit him multiple times as well on his left forearm. The victim said he was able to get away from (Sangronis) and leave her residence. The victim said (she) has been physically and emotionally abusive in the two years that they have been together.”

Police said they documented several injuries on the man’s “body, arms and face.”

A statement Sangronis made to police was redacted from the report.

She was initially arrested on a charge of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, a second-degree felony, but in court on Wednesday, a judge found probable cause for misdemeanor battery, giving her a $1,000 bond.

She was ordered to stay away from the victim.

Records show she was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Social media posts indicate that she has been with the North Bay Village Police Department for about a year.

The agency released a statement about Sangronis’ arrest on Wednesday afternoon, saying in part that she “has been relieved of duty with pay per our agency’s protocols.”

The statement went on to say that NBVPD “holds all its personnel to the highest standards of conduct and fully accountable for their actions on and off duty.”

Local 10 News also contacted her attorney seeking comment.

The 18-year-old had been on the FBI's radar since December 2024, when he began trading messages with a confidential informant. A criminal complaint says he initially expressed an interest in traveling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab militants. As his plans to instead attack the mall solidified, the complaint says, agents sold him the gun and ammunition on Tuesday and arrested him on the spot.

“This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,” U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said. Agents “were able to detect a threat, and disrupt it, before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people.”

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud was arrested Tuesday in a public park in Richfield, several miles northwest of the Mall of America, after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of the Islamic State group for the rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition, the agency said.

Mohamud appeared in a yellow jail uniform for his initial appearance Wednesday in federal court in St. Paul. He told the judge he did not have a job, own a house or a car, or have any money in the bank. He was represented by Siri Carlson McDowell, a federal public defender. Carlson McDowell and relatives of Mohamud declined to comment after the hearing.

Rosen said Mohamud is an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent.

According to an FBI agent's sworn complaint, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed in chat messages to the informant that he intended to attack and kill non-Muslims at the mall on Oct. 24, the date of a scheduled arts celebration by the Hmong community, Minnesota’s largest Asian ethnic group.

When the informant asked if he was serious about committing the attack, Mohamud replied, “yes i am 100% sure,” the complaint said, and added: “I would have backed out by now if I wasn't sure.”

The agent wrote that Mohamud's messages expressed admiration for recent terror attacks as well as an interest in traveling to fight in Somalia, ultimately for the Islamic State group. He later decided he couldn’t afford to travel there and would attack the mall instead, the complaint said.

The teen first came to the FBI’s attention in December 2024, the same month the source began exchanging messages with him, the complaint said. By May 2025, agents were concerned enough that they went to his home. His mother told them he wasn’t home from school yet and called the boy’s father, who declined to speak with them and said he would give their contact information to his lawyer, the complaint said.

“What I would say to parents all over Minnesota, and all over America: If you get any indication — especially if you hear from federal law enforcement — that your son or daughter is being radicalized, to the point where federal law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded,” Rosen said.

Tens of thousands of people of Somali descent live in Minnesota, dating back to when refugees began arriving in the 1990s. Over the years several have been charged with attempting to join militant groups.

___

Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporter Philip Marcelo in New York contributed.

Según ellos, el desacuerdo va más allá de la política. Afecta a los negocios, la vida social y la rutina diaria de los residentes en una ciudad que tiene una de las mayores poblaciones venezolanas fuera de Venezuela.

Antes de la reunión del concejo municipal de Doral del miércoles, miembros de la comunidad y activistas se reunieron con una petición de unas 200 firmas. En ella piden a los líderes de la ciudad que pongan fin al acuerdo.

Un activista dijo que los funcionarios electos están bajo presión por este tema.

“Muchos funcionarios electos están actuando por miedo, miedo a las represalias del gobernador y del fiscal general, incluida la amenaza de ser destituidos”, dijo el activista.

Los críticos afirman que el acuerdo ha generado miedo y ansiedad entre los residentes. Les preocupa sobre todo a los inmigrantes, que temen que cualquier contacto con la policía local tenga consecuencias migratorias.

Liz Alarcón, residente de Doral y fundadora de Pulso, dijo que ha notado un cambio evidente en la comunidad.

“Nunca había visto la ciudad tan desolada, tan vacía, ni a los residentes con tanto miedo”, dijo.

El programa 287(g) permite a las agencias policiales locales que participan firmar acuerdos con el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de EE.UU. (ICE). Así, ciertos agentes designados asumen algunas funciones de control migratorio.

Jeanette Ynfante, del Southern Poverty Law Center, dijo que Doral no estaba obligada a firmar ese acuerdo.

“Solo ciertas entidades o funcionarios están obligados a firmar un acuerdo 287(g), y la ciudad de Doral, sin lugar a dudas, no es una de ellas”, afirmó.

Doral fue una de las primeras ciudades del sur de Florida en firmar el acuerdo.

Algunos miembros de la comunidad han criticado duramente a la alcaldesa Christi Fraga por la decisión. Otros han expresado su preocupación por la presión política que rodea el tema.

Un residente acusó a Fraga de apoyar las políticas migratorias del gobernador por razones políticas. “Christi Fraga estuvo en la lista corta para ser vicegobernadora precisamente porque le lamió las botas al gobernador e hizo lo que él le pidió. Es humillante, vergonzoso”, dijo.

Fraga ha defendido la decisión de la ciudad.

Según la alcaldesa, desde que Doral firmó el acuerdo, ningún policía de la ciudad ha participado en una detención relacionada con ICE.

Los miembros de la comunidad que se reunieron el miércoles dijeron que su objetivo es llamar la atención de los líderes de la ciudad y lograr que avance el diálogo.

Un activista mencionó a otras ciudades que han enviado cartas para pedir aclaraciones sobre cómo se están aplicando los acuerdos 287(g).

Los activistas dicen que planean reunir 25 declaraciones juradas. Con ellas pedirán un espacio en una próxima reunión del concejo municipal para exponer sus preocupaciones.

Miguel Salguero Olivares is charged with first-degree murder, rape and burglary in the death of Faith Hedgepeth. She was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012.

In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca said the defendant left his DNA on the murder weapon – a bottle of rum found covered in blood – inside Hedgepeth’s body and on a note written on a fast-food bag found at the scene.

“The evidence in this case is louder than the noise around it,” she said.

She described Hedgepeth as a caring friend who was beloved by everyone who knew her and was on track to become the first person in her family to graduate from college.

“You will see from the evidence in this case that the defendant committed these acts against Faith in a fit of rage, not because he knew her,” she said. “He didn’t do this to her because of who she was, he did it because of who he is.”

Garcia-Lamarca said Hedgepeth and her roommate had been at a popular club that night, and that Hedgepeth, the designated driver, drove them home around 2 a.m. The roommate was drunk and sick, she said, but later called a friend to come pick her up around 4 a.m. She returned hours later and found Hedgepeth dead.

“This case is not complicated. It’s devastating, it’s horrifying, it’s a family’s worst nightmare. ... but it’s also simple,” the prosecutor said. “The evidence is loud and clear.”

In his opening statement, defense attorney James Rainsford said prosecutors left out key details and urged jurors to ask themselves, “Where’s the rest of the evidence?”

The friend who picked up Hedgepeth’s roommate told police he saw what looked like blood on her hands. A downstairs neighbor reported hearing loud thumps between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. And police later lost evidence related to what appeared to be blood in the apartment’s bathroom.

“Is this just noise or are you starting to hear things that don’t add up?” he said. “Maybe that’s noise to some people; that sounds like forensic evidence to others.”

Salguero Olivares was arrested in 2021, more than nine years after the killing. His arrest came after a DNA sample submitted to the state crime lab by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Chapel Hill Police Department matched a profile found at the original crime scene, authorities said.

“Finding something doesn’t mean a crime occurred. You have to connect them,” Rainsford said of the DNA evidence. “It doesn’t mean what you think.”

The prosecutor said the message on the fast-food bag -- “I’m Not Stupid (expletive) Jealous” -- called to mind an old adage.

“Men, some men, are terrified women will laugh at them," she said. "Women are terrified of being killed or raped.”

___

Ramer reported from Concord, N.H.

Según las autoridades federales, se incautaron 90 cargamentos de biodiésel. De ellos, 71 estaban en Port Everglades, con un total de alrededor de medio millón de galones. Los otros 19 estaban en el Puerto de Houston y sumaban unos 119,000 galones.

En el operativo trabajaron de forma coordinada el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional de EE.UU., la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza y la Oficina de Industria y Seguridad del Departamento de Comercio.

Los cargamentos estaban valorados en casi $3 millones.

Según la documentación, el combustible tenía como destino Enitec, una mayorista de petróleo con sede en La Habana y sancionada por el gobierno de EE.UU.

Los envíos de combustible a empresas privadas son legales. Sin embargo, funcionarios del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional dijeron que no era el caso de estos cargamentos.

“Las acciones de hoy reflejan nuestro compromiso de proteger la integridad de nuestros puertos y de nuestro sistema comercial”, dijo Jose Figueroa, agente especial a cargo del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional. “Queremos garantizar que no se usen para favorecer los intereses de personas vinculadas al régimen a costa del pueblo cubano”.

Las autoridades aclararon además que la incautación no busca bloquear la ayuda humanitaria legítima al pueblo cubano.

Tres años después del ataque terrorista de Hamás, Ben Ladany compartió ante el público una historia de perseverancia.

Ladany, exsoldado de las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel, recibió siete disparos mientras servía en Gaza.

“Después de pasar dos años en silla de ruedas, hoy estoy de pie frente a ustedes y me encanta compartirles las siete lecciones que aprendí de las siete balas que recibí”, dijo Ladany. “Si me miran hoy, mi cuerpo no está al 100%, pero mi mente y mi alma están en armonía. Lamentablemente, solo van a entender esto cuando les pase algo terrible. Y van a recordar que es 50-50”.

La Estación de Bomberos No. 2 de Miami Beach fue la sede de la ceremonia. El acto sirvió para reflexionar y recordar a las 1,200 personas que murieron y a los 251 rehenes secuestrados aquel fatídico día.

Shaina Verbitzky, estudiante de Hebrew Academy High School, recordó lo que vivió su familia en Israel.

“Hace unos años, mi familia decidió mudarse a Israel y construimos nuestra vida aquí”, dijo Verbitzky. “El 7 de octubre nos despertamos y, desde el balcón, vimos cómo interceptaban misiles justo encima de nuestras cabezas, sin entender bien lo que estaba pasando”.

Pese al acuerdo de alto el fuego alcanzado hace casi un año, los ataques israelíes continúan casi a diario.

El alcalde de Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, habló con el corazón apesadumbrado y dejó un mensaje de resiliencia y fortaleza.

“Le pido a Dios que el mundo tenga la claridad, la claridad moral, y el valor de defender lo que es moral y correcto”, dijo Meiner.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale, los hechos ocurrieron alrededor de las 11 a.m. en la cuadra 1700 de Northwest 13th Court, en el barrio Lauderdale Manors.

La policía dijo que los paramédicos llevaron a la víctima al Broward Health Medical Center con heridas que ponen en riesgo su vida.

La policía describió el caso como una “investigación en curso”. No indicó de inmediato si ha identificado a algún sospechoso ni el posible motivo.

Según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Hialeah, el novio de la agente Marcia Sangronis les hizo señas a unos policías el martes por la mañana. Quería denunciar que había sido agredido físicamente.

El informe de la policía de Hialeah indica que la víctima contó que Sangronis, de 38 años, se pone “furiosa y violenta” cada vez que hablan de “su falta de motivación para hacer carrera en la policía”.

Según el informe, él había pasado la noche en casa de ella. Sangronis sacó el tema la noche anterior al incidente y volvió a sacarlo al despertarse al día siguiente.

El informe señala que alrededor de las 11 a.m. él decidió irse y le dijo que quería terminar la relación. Entonces ella “se molestó y se paró frente a la puerta para impedirle salir de la casa”. Cuando él intentó alcanzar la manija, ella le dijo: “No puedes irte”.

“La víctima intentó otra vez alcanzar la manija para salir y (Sangronis) empezó a atacarlo. La víctima dijo que ella lo arañó varias veces en los brazos, la cara y la espalda”, señala el informe. “La víctima dijo que también lo mordió varias veces en el antebrazo izquierdo. Dijo que logró zafarse de (Sangronis) y salir de la casa. También dijo que (ella) lo ha maltratado física y emocionalmente durante los dos años que llevan juntos”.

La policía dijo que documentó varias lesiones en “el cuerpo, los brazos y la cara” del hombre.

La declaración que Sangronis dio a la policía fue tachada del informe.

Inicialmente fue arrestada por agresión agravada con lesiones corporales graves, un delito grave de segundo grado. Pero el miércoles, en el tribunal, un juez encontró causa probable solo para agresión simple, un delito menor, y le fijó una fianza de $1,000.

También se le ordenó mantenerse alejada de la víctima.

Según los registros, permanecía detenida en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Según publicaciones en redes sociales, lleva alrededor de un año en el Departamento de Policía de North Bay Village.

El departamento emitió un comunicado sobre el arresto el miércoles por la tarde. En parte, dice que Sangronis “fue relevada de sus funciones con goce de sueldo, según los protocolos de nuestra agencia”.

El comunicado añade que el departamento “exige a todo su personal los más altos estándares de conducta y lo hace plenamente responsable de sus actos, dentro y fuera de servicio”.

Local 10 News también contactó a su abogado para pedirle comentarios.

Leer en español

Jail records show Devany Primero is facing one count each of second-degree attempted arson and criminal mischief.

According to an arrest report, officers working an off-duty detail at the stadium were alerted by security personnel that a group of men had been seen lighting what appeared to be a flare in the bleachers while spectators were nearby.

Officers said they detained three men while they investigated.

They said surveillance video showed Primero holding and appearing to ignite “an object consistent with a flare” inside the stadium.

The video review also showed that the other two men detained were not seen handling, possessing or igniting the flare, police said. One of the men told officers he had been recording Primero during the incident but denied taking part in lighting the device.

Police said Primero had brought the flare into the stadium after passing through security screening. They said flares and other incendiary devices are prohibited inside the stadium because of the potential safety risks to spectators and personnel.

The report states that event staff told police that the flare caused damage to a chair and the floor where it was ignited.

Primero, a Colombian national, was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $3,000 bond as of Wednesday morning. An immigration hold was also listed.

President Iliana Yotova spoke to reporters after an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council following drone attacks on ships off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. While she didn't directly blame Russia for those strikes because there's an ongoing investigation by Bulgarian authorities, Yotova said that the war in Ukraine was undermining security for commercial vessels.

“Russia’s war against Ukraine has led to a significant deterioration of the security environment in the Black Sea region,” she said. “There is a growing trend of attacks by maritime and aerial drones against commercial vessels, leading to damage and the sinking of ships, as well as loss of life.”

Senior government and security officials discussed the Balkan country’s maritime security and critical infrastructure in the context of the war in Ukraine.

“The Security Council categorically condemns the attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea as a gross violation of international law and demands a fast check to identify the perpetrators,” Yotova said.

On Tuesday, two commercial vessels were struck by drones in the first attack on shipping in the NATO member’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.

Sea and aerial drones attacked the two ships about 80 miles (128 kilometers) off Bulgaria’s coast.

The Togo-flagged ship Alfa Watan suffered critical structural damage and sank at the scene. The second vessel, the Palau-flagged Able, caught fire after the attack. A Bulgarian ferry evacuated all 18 crew members.

Bulgarian maritime authorities said on Wednesday that the search efforts for the crew of Alfa Watan had been suspended and wouldn't resume.

Vice Admiral Rumen Nikolov, who led the rescue operation, said that no survivors or bodies had been found. He said that the drone strike had sparked an extremely powerful explosion, and the ship had sunk almost instantly.

Bulgarian authorities said that the origin of the drones was under investigation, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russia for the drone strikes.

In a statement sent to local media on Wednesday, the Russian Embassy in Sofia rejected Russian involvement in the drone attacks on the two ships, saying “they were not among the targets hit by Russian armed forces.”

It quoted the Defense Ministry in Moscow as saying that “to determine the ‘nationality’ of the drones used to strike the ships, it is necessary to wait for the results of the investigation.”

Tuesday’s attacks came a day after a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying corn caught fire following a drone attack and later sank in the Black Sea. Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued.

While Bulgaria and Romania are still narrowing down the list of suspects, the European Commission confirmed on Wednesday that they had asked for satellite imagery following the attacks, and that the European Union, which has a center that analyzes data from space, is providing them.

Should the allegations made by Zelenskyy prove true, the attacks conducted on a NATO member’s territory would mark a new escalation in what European leaders and intelligence officials have said is a growing hybrid campaign by Russia aimed at testing the military alliance and the 27-nation EU.

Hybrid attacks can aim to destabilize a country, probe its defenses, strain resources, or influence public opinion — often in a way that makes it hard to identify those responsible.

An Associated Press interactive map tracking the incidents of hybrid attacks shows an escalation, from 59 in March 2025 to more than 200 at this point.

___

Lorne Cook contributed to this report from Brussels.

Según los registros de la cárcel, Devany Primero enfrenta un cargo de intento de incendio provocado en segundo grado y otro de daños a la propiedad.

Según un informe de arresto, unos agentes hacían un servicio extra en el estadio cuando el personal de seguridad les avisó de lo ocurrido. Habían visto a un grupo de hombres encender en las gradas lo que parecía una bengala, con espectadores cerca.

Los agentes dijeron que detuvieron a tres hombres mientras investigaban.

Según los agentes, el video de vigilancia muestra a Primero dentro del estadio sosteniendo y aparentemente encendiendo “un objeto compatible con una bengala”.

La revisión del video también mostró que los otros dos detenidos no tocaron, tuvieron ni encendieron la bengala, dijo la policía. Uno de ellos contó a los agentes que estaba grabando a Primero durante el incidente, pero negó haber participado en encender el artefacto.

La policía dijo que Primero metió la bengala al estadio después de pasar por los controles de seguridad. Las bengalas y otros artefactos incendiarios están prohibidos dentro del estadio por el riesgo que representan para los espectadores y el personal.

Según el informe, el personal del evento le dijo a la policía que la bengala dañó una silla y el piso donde fue encendida.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Primero, ciudadano colombiano, permanecía en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una fianza de $3,000. Los registros también indicaban una retención migratoria.

Leer en español

The Davie Police Department, with assistance from Fort Lauderdale police, Sunrise police, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Plantation Police Department’s SWAT team, served the warrant around 6 p.m. Oct. 6 at the home near the 5000 block of Southwest 136th Ave., according to Miami police.

Police said the warrant was for Braveone Jones, who was located at Redd’s home and taken into custody. Jail records show Jones is facing two counts of second-degree attempted murder in connection with the Sept. 15 shooting at Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen, located at 316 NW 24th St. in Miami.

The investigation remains ongoing, police said.

A Local 10 News crew went to the property, but there was no police activity at Redd’s home Wednesday morning.

What happened in the September shooting?

Two men were wounded in the shooting outside Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen shortly after midnight Sept. 15, authorities confirmed.

Miami Fire Rescue officials said the victims, an 18 and 23-year-old man, were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in stable condition after suffering gunshot wounds.

The restaurant is across from the Wynwood 25 apartment building in an area known for its restaurants, shops and nightlife.

Miami police said they received multiple emergency calls and found one man suffering from a gunshot wound outside Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen. Officers said they later found a second victim outside Skinny Louie’s, the restaurant next door.

An employee at a nearby business described the chaos after the gunfire and said he helped a wounded man.

“I seen a crowd of people just running straight towards us,” the employee said at the time. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

The employee said people inside the business were told there had been gunfire outside. He later found a wounded man and helped provide first aid.

“I came outside and I seen a gentleman on the floor,” he said, describing a gunshot wound to the man’s right buttocks. He said he used his belt to help apply pressure and told the injured man not to move.

As of Wednesday morning, Jones was being held at the Broward County Main Jail, where his bond was not immediately set.

Police have not said whether the suspect and Redd are connected, and the motive for the shooting remains unclear.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators said the most urgent priority for the U.S. must be to tackle the “shadow fleet” of tankers that Moscow is using to transport oil and bypass America’s sanctions. They also pushed for a halt of Russia's emerging satellite system that Ukraine has warned could prove devastating with real-time bombing attacks this winter.

"Every day that passes without maximum economic pressure allows Moscow to sustain this military escalation," wrote Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The senators note that the bulk of the law's provisions go into effect Oct. 18, the end of the administration's 30-day review period. The Trump administration has remained mostly quiet since the passage of the bill with large bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate after Graham’s sudden death, with lawmakers urged ahead by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump has been expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose birthday is Wednesday, to discuss a possible case of plague at a Siberian research institute.

Congress backed Ukraine with the Russian sanctions package

The sanctions package had been a year in the making but was suddenly rushed to passage after Graham, the long-serving South Carolina senator, died in July of a likely torn aorta after a whirlwind trip to a NATO summit in Turkey and a stopover in Kyiv.

Senators had been negotiating a bipartisan bill that could win robust support but it was only when Graham received the nod of approval from Trump in the days around the senator's overseas trip that it gained momentum.

Zelenskyy had also been pushing the U.S. to act, and he arrived in the Senate after a visit at the White House late in the evening before a key vote that advanced the package. The House gave final approval to the bill, sending it to Trump's desk, but Democrats in both chambers warned that they doubted the president would use the vast tools available to slap back at Russia.

In the month since, momentum appears to have stalled without public steps from the administration toward the law's implementation.

Trump's next moves against Russia are uncertain

With the bipartisan push, Shaheen and Wicker in their letter sent late Tuesday are urging the administration to take several specific steps to impose the sanctions regime. Many of the steps are aligned with goals pushed by the Ukrainians.

The senators, who were both key to the bill's passage, said it's most crucial for the U.S. to focus on the several hundred rogue tankers that are able to “transport Russian oil with impunity and thereby provide the Kremlin a financial lifeline.”

It’s also, imperative, they wrote, “that the administration paralyze the global financial networks that allow Russia to evade our sanctions.”

They said the Kremlin continues to “move billions of dollars through networks that shield it from scrutiny." They urged the administration to focus specifically on overseas bank branches, including in Shanghai, and "a growing network of Kyrgyz financial institutions” they said serve as clearinghouses for sanctioned capital.

“Foreign banks must be forced to make a choice." the senators wrote. “They can either do business with the United States or finance Russia’s war. They cannot do both.”

They said the Trump administration should work to undermine Russia's “weaponization of space” with its emerging low Earth orbit system. Ukraine has warned that such a satellite system would prove deadly in the coming winter as Russia prepares its attacks.

The senators also noted that the sanctions law bans all new U.S. investment in Russia and handling of sovereign debt. They said it's imperative that the Treasury Department “issue clear regulatory guidance ahead of the October deadline to ensure American financial institutions completely sever these capital pipelines.”

Additionally, the senators said the U.S. must stop the flow of dual-use technologies and electronics for Russia’s frontline operations, and use the sanctions tools available to “penalize entities feeding Russia’s military-industrial complex.”

Attorneys for Pike, 50, called her recovery “medically unprecedented” after she was placed on a ventilator following the bungled Sept. 30 attempt to make her the first woman put to death in Tennessee in 200 years. On Wednesday, they told a judge that Pike was “speaking limitedly” and that they expect a long recovery.

Pike is the only person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Many details of the execution process remain secretive, and Tennessee officials say they are investigating what went wrong.

Still, medical experts raised a few possibilities that could explain how Pike was able to survive the injections, including the potential drug quality and the placement of IV lines. Tennessee's executioners had difficulties earlier this year with IV lines for another execution, leading to it being called off.

Only a small amount of the drug may have entered her bloodstream

The 5-gram dose of pentobarbital used in executions is many more times the amount than what should put someone in a medical coma, said Dr. Jonathan I. Groner, a retired pediatric general surgeon at Ohio State University College of Medicine who has studied lethal injections.

“The fact that she woke, on one hand, says she got really little of it into her system. So that’s kind of shocking,” Groner said. “It says how badly they botched the execution.”

At high doses the potent barbiturate should make a person lose consciousness and stop breathing.

Groner said the IV might have been placed improperly, or Pike's veins could have been fragile and ruptured, causing the drug to seep into the surrounding tissue instead of flowing through the bloodstream. Pike's attorneys have said she was poked with needles at least seven times in the state’s death chamber and that she has a blood disorder that makes it tough to get needles into her veins.

Sourcing of drugs for executions is shrouded in secrecy

Another possible problem could be the drug quality, said Michaela Almgren, a South Carolina pharmacist and educator who has consulted on several lethal injection cases.

Many major pharmaceutical companies refuse to supply drugs for lethal injections, which has raised questions about how states get them. Court orders have revealed that some states have turned to compounding pharmacies, which create custom drugs from raw ingredients and operate with less regulatory oversight.

Tennessee does not disclose its drug supplier and has not said where Pike’s supply came from. Almgren said that makes it difficult to track if a drug was prepared, tested, handled and administered properly.

That also means the public may never know exactly what happened in Pike’s case.

Pike’s attorneys asked a court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, records and other information from the attempted execution. A judge said Wednesday that she would issue an order to preserve “anything that was in the actual room.”

Outgoing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has paused executions and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” with Pike.

Hospital treatment likely involved flushing the drug from her body

Before the execution attempt, Pike’s attorneys told courts and prison officials that she had medical conditions that could complicate a lethal injection and make it agonizing.

Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike’s legal team, said Pike has a blood-clotting disorder that causes her body to produce an excess of platelets. Her lawyers had argued that the condition could cause clotting at injection sites or bleeding that could affect her lungs.

State protocol calls for a second dose of pentobarbital if the first doesn’t result in death, but it doesn't spell out what to do if an inmate survives the second injection.

The attempted execution got underway around 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 30 when Pike was given a chance to make a final statement. About five minutes later, Pike raised her head and said her arm was hurting. At some point she appeared to lose consciousness, but she could be heard audibly breathing until media were escorted from the witness room at 8:53 p.m. An ambulance arrived at the prison at 9:14 p.m. to take Pike to a hospital.

When Pike arrived at the hospital, doctors likely tried to stabilize her breathing, checked how much pentobarbital was in her system and worked to quickly flush it out, said Dr. Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner of New York City. Doctors may have also been dealing with muscle damage, both from the effects of the pentobarbital and because some may have entered muscle tissue near the injection site, he said.

Pike’s lawyers said her arms were left burned and blistered from the failed attempt. She was unconscious and on a ventilator for several days.

“She was very fortunate that there was enough (pentobarbital) to put her into a deep sleep, but they were able to keep her breathing going and they were able to start flushing it out,” Baden said.

___

Associated Press writer Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.

“24 pages of notes,” he muttered. “That’s a new record!”

By the end of the night, commissioners voted unanimously to allow the Daily Wire-affiliated movie about an ICE agent doing battle with Antifa protesters and MS-13 gang members to continue. The decision came two days after the commission temporarily paused operations on set, and served as an added plot point in a weeks-long drama over the film’s production in the southwest Montana town since filming began in late September.

The commission’s decision means that filming — on a set featuring a fictional Minneapolis pawn shop and Korean grocery store — can recommence. Filming is slated to end on Saturday. Producers pledged to abide by permit regulations, including keeping a local food pantry open and accessible, reining in private security activity, and continuing signage and notifications to impacted neighbors.

“I’m sad that we’re all gathered here under these circumstances,” local producer Ari Novak testified. “In five days from now, much of this film crew will leave. I will still be your neighbor. And I want to be a good neighbor to people I have like-minded ideas with and disagree with.”

More than 120 people crammed into the Livingston City Commission meeting, sitting cross-legged on the floor and spilling over into the hallway and adjacent rooms. Roughly 150 more tuned in online. Over about two weeks, news stories and social media accounts had spiraled over the drama: This tension over a movie in a small Montana town appeared to be a microcosm of immigration and culture-war drama seizing communities all over the nation.

At first, opponents of the film took issue with its content: A leaked copy of the script — working title “Pawn Shop” — features thinly veiled allusions to both the murder of Renee Good and the saga of Kilmar Albrego Garcia, both depicted through a conservative, tough-on-immigration lens. In the script, a copy of which was reviewed by Montana Free Press, the film’s protagonist shoots a protester as she drives maniacally into his car, killing his law enforcement partner. A detained immigrant claims to be innocent, but later turns out to be a key player in MS-13.

While the film contains echoes of real-life incidents, the bulk of the movie is an over-the-top action flick starring Danny Trejo and Harvey Keitel, according to a leaked call sheet — a movie opponents criticized as rife with guns, gore, explosions and conservative tropes.

“It’s 87 pages of bullshit,” protester Brooklyn Wilde said in a late September interview.

But soon after filming began, detractors of the production took issue with the process, too. Producers hadn’t adequately notified the public of the shoot, they said, and especially not of the violence involved. The shoot involved firing blanks and igniting explosions, theatrics that shocked the film’s residential neighbors and spurred concerns over public safety. Many members of the public also described to reporters and on social media feeling intimidated, scared and harassed by heavily armed security guards hired by the film company to keep the public off streets closed for the movie set.

The closures particularly impacted the Livingston Food Resource Center. “We were not notified of the plans to film,” the organization said in an early October press release. They said the film’s security forces stopped cars and bikes trying to access the center, driving attendance at their food pantry to an 18-week low.

Fielding community concerns, the Livingston City Commission held an emergency meeting on Saturday morning, while the movie filmed about a quarter mile away. No supporters of the film attended. Ultimately, the commission voted to temporarily pause the movie’s permit.

“I think this has been a runaway train,” Commissioner Cindy Daniels said at the time. “I think that they’ve taken advantage of the situation to make their movie that they’re going to profit off of.”

At Monday’s meeting, producers of the film showed up to voice their side of the story. Lead producer Dallas Sonnier described dealing with genuine security concerns as furor over the film escalated: A truck drove through the barricades marking the street closure on the first day of filming, he said, the driver screaming obscenities at cast and crew. Amanda Presmyk, another producer, said protesters also yelled “cut” and “action” during stunt sequences, creating potentially dangerous distractions. “It was only then that I decided to hire professional security to protect the crew and maintain the permitted road closures,” Sonnier said.

Several commenters who spoke in favor of the movie production argued the commission’s decision to pause the permit was based on politics, not law. “Government cannot suppress lawful expression simply because an audience objects to its message,” Sonnier said. “A film permit should depend on lawful compliance, not approval of the story being told.”

City attorney Jon Hesse said the question before the commission was narrow, and unrelated to the content of the production: Had the film production violated the conditions of its permit? The answer to that would decide whether, and how, commissioners would allow the operation to continue.

“Please honor the permit the city issued to us and reinstate it tonight,” Presmyk urged, doubling down on the producers’ commitment to seeing the project through. “We will finish the movie either way.”

Livingston resident Katy Canetta, who lives near the filming location, said the pushback to the production at Saturday’s meeting had nothing to do with the subject matter of the film. “It was about the terrorism 2nd Street has been experiencing at the hands of armed guards in paramilitary gear with guns who have been harassing vulnerable people and using violence and intimidation to enforce the closure of public property for private gain.”

Taylor Wallace, owner of The Gem, a coffee shop adjacent to the film set, said he was never notified about the shoot. He said staff couldn’t perform basic duties like taking out the trash without being harassed by security guards. Ultimately, he closed his shop, fearing for workers’ safety. “This film’s inability to effectively notify neighboring businesses and residents led to fear, chaos, and ultimately risk,” he said. “Nobody should feel unsafe in their workplace or at their home.”

The city of Livingston has a minimal framework for issuing film permits. The binding document has only a few boxes to check and blanks to fill in. Officials said over two weeks of filming, the production will bring in only a little more than $5,000 in permit revenue to the city. The city does reserve the right to revoke the permit due to public safety concerns.

“Food security is a public safety concern,” Livingston local Bex Frucht said. “Misinformation is a public safety concern. Mental health is a safety concern. We are enduring all of this because this production came into our town, literally guns blazing, without comprehensive, proper notice. And they were able to take advantage of our lax regulations.”

Both sides of the movie debate expressed fear and insecurity, but opponents and proponents of the film directed the blame at one another. Film crew and even security told commissioners their personal information had been doxxed, and that they’d received death threats and harassment due to their involvement with the production.

The movie’s proponents also stressed that the film industry was an economic engine for the city. Richard Gray, co-founder of the old-Western-style Yellowstone Film Ranch roughly 30 minutes south of Livingston, said movie productions had injected tens of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs into the region in the last decade alone. “If you boot a film out of town because of things that could be fixed, it’s just a really bad look,” he said. “And it will severely impact our film industry.”

Yetta Stein, a poet and executive director of Elk River Arts and Lectures, took issue with that idea. “A brief economic boon is not worth the safety of my neighbors,” she said. “I also find this whole conversation to be a bit of a distraction from the important work of running our town.”

As attendees trickled out of the meeting as the hours wore on, commissioners debated the future of the city’s film regulations.

“We don’t have the ordinances and codes in place to meet the wants of our community,” Commission chair Melissa Nootz said. “The things people are asking for, we haven’t written those laws and policies yet.”

Approached for comment as attendees left the meeting, Sonnier declined an interview until after the film wraps. But the producer gave a tired yet vigorous thumbs up after the commission’s vote. He said in testimony he would be on set to resume the film at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.

___

This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Las autoridades detuvieron el martes a Jimmy Alexis, de 43 años y residente del noroeste de Miami-Dade. El arresto está relacionado con un incidente del 30 de junio de 2023 en Gentle Love and Care Group Home, en Fort Lauderdale. La dirección del centro fue tachada en los documentos oficiales.

Los agentes dijeron que fueron al centro para investigar una muerte. Antes habían llamado a los rescatistas porque un paciente no respondía.

Según la policía de Fort Lauderdale, los investigadores hablaron con Alexis. Él les dijo que tuvo que “sujetarlo, no ahorcarlo”, en referencia al paciente, cuya identidad la policía no dio a conocer.

Más tarde, los agentes hablaron con los dueños del centro. Según ellos, el paciente solía hacerse daño golpeándose la cabeza contra “prácticamente cualquier cosa que pudiera”.

Durante la investigación, los agentes también hablaron con una empleada que estaba de turno cuando el paciente resultó herido. Según los agentes, la mujer “estaba visiblemente afectada y se veía preocupada al hablar con nosotros”.

Los agentes dijeron que, al salir, encontraron a esa misma empleada esperando afuera. Les dio a entender que quería hablar con ellos lejos del centro.

Según los documentos oficiales, la empleada les contó que Alexis ahorcó al paciente hasta dejarlo inconsciente, y que lo hizo dos veces durante la noche.

La primera vez, ella le dijo a Alexis que no ahorcara al paciente. Según la policía, la segunda vez hizo una grabación de audio y se la reprodujo a los agentes.

Los agentes dijeron que en la grabación se oía a la víctima gemir.

Además, los agentes le pidieron a la empleada que hiciera una llamada controlada a Alexis. Según el formulario de arresto, durante la llamada Alexis le dijo “lo que va a decirle a la policía” y le aconsejó “decir lo mismo con sus propias palabras”.

También le advirtió que “no dijera nada del libro de registro, porque la policía va a querer una copia” ni “nada sobre la colchoneta en la que (la víctima) estaba acostada”. Al final le pidió que “no dijera demasiadas cosas que hicieran que la policía preguntara más”.

En noviembre de 2023, un médico forense determinó que la muerte de la víctima fue un homicidio. La causa específica de la muerte aparece tachada en el formulario de arresto de Alexis.

Alexis enfrenta un cargo de homicidio involuntario agravado por negligencia hacia un adulto mayor o discapacitado. Hasta la mañana del miércoles, seguía detenido en la cárcel principal de Broward con una fianza de $25,000.

The patient, a Kenyan man, had been living in Congo for seven years and started feeling ill a month ago. He had traveled by road to Uganda, before boarding a flight to the Kenyan capital on Saturday. There, he tested positive for the Ebola virus in a hospital and died Monday.

The Africa CDC Director-General, Jean Kaseya, told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday that all stakeholders need to ask themselves how one case could have driven and flown to so many places without anyone noticing.

“We need to ensure that at point of entry, we have a strong surveillance system in place,” he said.

Ebola is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing.

Officials are trying to trace all who came into contact with the patient

The Kenyan man drove for hours by road within Congo and across the border into Uganda. He boarded a local flight while in Congo, and it is unclear if he used any other forms of public transport.

Authorities have looked at the flight manifest of the other flight he took from Kampala, Uganda, to Nairobi, and passengers and crew onboard have been added to the contact list.

They're also looking to trace workers who cleaned the plane after it landed, as well as passengers who traveled on the same plane subsequently.

Health Minister Aden Duale told journalists on Wednesday that contact tracing was ongoing and that the number of contacts had risen to 57, with 10 already quarantined.

“Even the people who cleaned that aircraft after it landed on Saturday, they are part of the people we are tracing. The immigration and the customs officials who served that patient will also be part of the contact tracing,” he said.

Africa CDC’s Kaseya acknowledged it is a challenge. He said that the Kenyan man had not come up in existing contact lists in Congo.

“Before saying that the outbreak is under control, you need to ensure that you have a contact list where all cases are coming from,” he said.

Questions raised about how the patient traveled through Uganda

It's also unclear how the patient was able to cross into Uganda, which has closed its border with Congo because of the Ebola outbreak.

Alan Kasujja, executive director of the Ugandan government's media center, dismissed the question, saying only that journalists should instead ask Kenya how the man was able to bypass surveillance at its airport.

“Leave Uganda out of this conversation. We don’t have Ebola here,” he wrote on X.

Two of the man's journeys were by air, while the rest were by road, covering long distances and passing through various towns and cities. On arrival in Nairobi, the patient underwent port health screening but his symptoms were not detected. He then boarded a private vehicle to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated and later tested positive for Ebola.

When asked how the patient was able to travel through three countries undetected, Kenya’s Director-General for Health, Patrick Amoth, said on Wednesday that a meeting was scheduled with officials from Congo and Uganda and the Africa CDC to investigate what transpired during the patient’s journey.

Kenya has been boosting its border controls

Kenya’s Health Ministry has heightened surveillance at border entry points and created an Ebola hotline for citizens to report symptoms related to Ebola.

The country has also designated five health facilities with a total of 241 isolation beds to manage patients, and is working to increase this capacity.

The ministry said the country has enough supplies, including personal protective equipment, and has mobilized resources since the outbreak started in May in Congo.

The ministry added that it had designated a specific gate at the country’s main airport for passengers travelling from 10 countries located within the outbreak’s epicenter.

Leo opened a weeklong, closed-door conference assessing the implementation of Francis' 2016 document “The Joy of Love.” Leo called the text an “important” step in the church's long tradition of ministering to Catholic families for the sake of passing the faith on to future generations.

The document covers a host of issues relating to how the Catholic Church can better minister to families today as they cope with issues such as poverty, war, LGBTQ+ children and divorce. But when it was released after a yearslong consultation, “The Joy of Love” immediately sparked controversy, because it opened the door to allowing civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics obtain an annulment — a church decree that their first marriage was invalid — they can't receive the sacraments, since they are seen as living in sin and committing adultery.

Francis didn’t create a church-wide pass for these Catholics, but suggested that bishops and priests could do so on a case-by-case basis after accompanying them on a spiritual journey of discernment.

Leo urges church to accompany people in fragility

In his opening remarks, which reporters were invited to watch, Leo didn’t refer specifically to Francis’ opening to civilly remarried Catholics. Speaking in English, he seemed keen to redirect the conversation to the broader issues facing young people and families today, including how to incorporate sex and intimacy within the Christian “vision” of marriage.

He urged the bishops to pay specific attention to families in their weakest moments, to listen to them, and to look at whether the church is able to respond to them.

“The experience of fragility raises the question of whether we are able to remain close to one another when life no longer corresponds to what had been hoped for, and whether we can recognize the work of grace even in situations marked by limits, wounds and apparent failure,” Leo said.

The pontiff challenged the bishops to consider what kind of church people encounter when they are most fragile.

“Do our communities help them discover that they still have a place, a responsibility and gifts to offer? Can the truth we proclaim be encountered through the patience, closeness and mercy of our pastoral presence?” he asked.

A text prompts claims of heresy

Francis’ 2016 document became one of the most divisive of his pontificate and in many ways became the focal point of conservative opposition to his papacy. Mostly conservative Catholics said that it had sown confusion among the faithful about the church’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.

Some even accused Francis of heresy.

Within the first year of publication, four conservative cardinals formally asked Francis to clarify certain questions, or “dubia,” raised by the text. They argued that church doctrine held that Catholics who remarried without a church annulment were living in sin and couldn’t receive the sacraments.

He never replied.

For a variety of reasons, such annulments often can't be obtained, though Francis issued a separate reform to simplify, facilitate and accelerate the process. The aim was to respond to cases where a spouse wasn't at fault for the failure of a marriage, such as a woman who experienced abuse at the hands of her first husband and merely wanted to remarry in the church and raise her children in the faith.

Sister Helen Alford, president of the Vatican’s social sciences academy, urged the bishops attending this week's conference to consider the concept of the “law of gradualness” in applying church law to such difficult family situations. The gradualness concept calls for nuance rather than black-and-white application of rules and norms.

“When social situations are turbulent and changing quickly, it can be necessary to find new ways of putting together both the objective demands of the law and the law of gradualness that many experience,” she said.

Top Francis cardinals, including Americans, among participants

Organizers of the conference insisted that the meeting wasn't convened to debate or rewrite Francis' original text, but rather to understand how it had been implemented around the world and what lies ahead. No new document was expected, but a summary text was expected to be released next week wrapping up the points of discussion.

The main participants of the conference were the presidents of 115 national bishops' conferences from around the world and the heads of eastern rite churches. Joining them were 11 couples, who were to offer their experiences for reflection, as well as theological experts.

Leo also extended 22 personal invitations, including to four of his fellow Americans who were also close advisers to Francis: Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich; Brownsville, Texas Bishop Daniel Flores; Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy and Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin.

Two of Francis' top Vatican aides, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, also were on Leo's guest list. Two other close Francis allies, Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich and Spain Cardinal José Cobo Cano, as well as two bishops from China were on his list.

___

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.

A proposed rule would require schools to pay the fee for every student who participates in the optional practice training program, known as OPT, which allows students to work in jobs related to their major during or after their time in school. Students are generally eligible for one year of work post-graduation, though certain science, technology, engineering and math majors are eligible for an additional two years.

Schools would be required to pay the $70,000 for each new student's initial application to the program, and a $30,000 fee for each renewal.

Change would be a blow to higher education and some businesses

American colleges and universities heavily recruit students from overseas as a source of tuition revenue. Tech companies and other industries also hire many international students for technical roles.

The OPT program allows international students to gain hands-on experience and fill labor shortages in high-demand STEM fields, said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an association that represents international education.

“Driving away the talents, perspectives, and aspirations of international students will only hurt American innovation, economic growth, workforce development, and global leadership,” Aw said in a written statement.

In a statement, DHS described the fee as a response to fraud and abuse of the visa program, which it called a “pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal before DHS can finalize it and put it into effect. The proposal also could face legal challenges from higher education groups or business associations that could delay it.

Trump administration puts pressure on international students

The proposed rule is part of its wider efforts to crack down on immigration and reshape higher education. Last year, the Republican administration began suddenly terminating the legal status of thousands of international students, detaining and deporting many of them.

This summer, the administration finalized a rule that sought to prevent international students from staying in the U.S. for more than four years without approval from the federal government. The move drew swift backlash from higher education leaders who said it would increase the burden on schools and noted that many programs are longer than four years by design. A federal court prevented the rule from taking effect in September.

Doug Rand, a former senior adviser at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, predicted that the fee would be struck down in the courts, as was a $100,000 fee for the H-1B work visas that many tech companies and universities rely on to fill openings for skilled jobs.

The Trump administration is now trying a different way to raise the fee for the visas to more than $100,000.

Rand said fees are not the answer.

“When we educate international students at our universities, and they want to work and apply their talents here after graduating, of course we should embrace them -- not use an exorbitant fee as a pretext to send them packing,” Rand said in an email.

Enrollment concerns mount among education groups

Sarah Spreitzer, vice president at the American Council on Education, which represents college and university presidents, said international enrollment has suffered.

Last fall, the number of new students entering the United States for the first time fell by 17%, the sharpest decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall numbers for this fall are not yet available, but Spreitzer said some individual colleges are reporting drops of 30% to 40%.

She said the new Trump plan will not help.

“We know that OPT is one of the reasons that international students choose to study in the United States because they’re able to have that post-graduation work experience,” she added.

A similar program that allowed international students to participate in internships and practicums also has faced scrutiny from the Trump administration. New guidance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the program, Curricular Practical Training, should only be authorized when the work experience is a degree requirement led to a lawsuit Monday.

Education groups, including the Association of American Universities and NAFSA, said that in the past that program was allowed if it was “directly related to the student’s major area of study.” The groups also said ICE was threatening college university officials with criminal prosecution if they did not comply.

“We know the administration has been trying to hinder legal employment-based immigration through numerous means,” said Steven Brown, a Houston-based immigration lawyer. “I think this is the next level of attack, and I think it’s a design to kill the program without killing the program. I don’t see too many schools wanting to pay $70,000 for a student to get OPT."

___

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kan.

___

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

Juszczyk was initially fined $29,852 for two infractions of the league’s sportsmanship rules after celebrating two catches in the third quarter of a Week 2 win over the Miami Dolphins by doing what he has done for years: imitating drinking a beverage while the fans at Levi’s Stadium cheered “Juice!” for his nickname.

The NFL has vowed to crack down on celebrations this season and initially ruled that the “imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste.”

Juszczyk won his appeal, and the league clarified the celebration penalties in a joint statement with the NFLPA on Wednesday.

The statement said gestures that depict violence, including the use of guns or other weapons or gang-related signs, that depict smoking or drug use, or are sexual in nature are banned and could result in fines and/or a penalty.

But Juszczyk's celebration is allowed.

“Conversely, recent celebrations imitating drinking a beverage will not be considered violations or result in discipline,” the statement said. “The league-wide guidance provides players with greater clarity on how they can celebrate while remaining within the rules.”

The statement also said that any conduct that falls “into a gray area” will lead to a warning before any discipline is administered.

The NFL has issued 21 fines in the first three weeks for illegal celebrations or obscene gestures totaling more than $300,000.

JC Tretter, the president of the NFLPA, said all of those fines have been appealed.

“We raised this issue and pushed for greater clarity around what will and won’t result in discipline,” he said on social media. “When something falls into a gray area, communication and education should come before punishment. We’re glad the league will seek to educate players before immediately defaulting to a fine.”

Juszczyk has been doing a version of that drinking celebration throughout his career in San Francisco in response to 49ers fans chanting his nickname after catches or other big plays. He argued in the appeal that he was imitating drinking juice.

“I don’t know how else to say it. I wasn’t drinking beer in my celebration,” Juszczyk said on Sept. 24. “I think you guys all know my nickname is Juice. I have Juice on my pads. The stadium yells ‘Juice!’ when I catch the ball. When I celebrate, I celebrate by drinking juice, and it’s been that way for years. So I was surprised as anybody when I got a fine this week.”

Juszczyk has been the 49ers’ nominee for the Art Rooney Award for sportsmanship for the past six seasons. The only fines he previously has had were for illegal use of the helmet and low blocks.

Juszczyk is in his 14th season in the NFL and 10th with San Francisco. He has made the Pro Bowl 10 times and was an All-Pro in 2023 and ’25.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller gets consent beforehand. The petition calls for a waiver that would allow political groups to use artificial or prerecorded voices in unsolicited wireless calls.

The Republican-led FCC advanced the request for public comment and could rule on it as soon as late October.

Consumer advocacy groups warn the proposed change could trigger a surge of unwanted, partisan and potentially misleading automated calls in the critical final days of the election, which will determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.

The potential perils became evident two years ago during the presidential primary season when thousands of voters in New Hampshire received a robocall with an AI-generated voice of then-President Joe Biden. The call suggested voters should forgo casting a ballot in the primary and “save” their votes for the general election.

Under the waiver request before the FCC, some state and federal laws protecting against deception and voter intimidation would continue to prohibit certain misleading election-related messages. But granting it could weaken a major deterrent for bad actors, said Tim Harper, who leads the elections team at the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology.

Such a ruling close to Election Day would open “a huge opportunity for abuse during a period where harm has outsized impact,” he said. “Campaigns will use this technology to target voters in deceptive ways.”

A tool for better communication or misleading messages?

The Club for Growth, a right-leaning economic policy group seeking the change, said it could help political organizations better communicate with potential voters, including in more languages, and improve polling accuracy by helping groups reach more voters. It calls current federal rules outdated and argues they dampen freedom of speech.

The nation’s communications regulatory body would have to act within a compressed schedule to grant the waiver in time to affect the midterm elections. Critics said it wouldn’t be the first time the FCC, which has become closely aligned with the president during his second term, has bypassed procedural norms to serve its political agenda.

Its Republican chairman, Brendan Carr, launched an unusual early review of broadcast licenses for several ABC-owned local broadcast stations, prompting the company to sue. It said the review years ahead of schedule was unconstitutional, a violation of free speech and a retaliation for content Trump dislikes.

The FCC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the petition.

Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat among the FCC’s three active commissioners, told The Associated Press she opposes the move and thinks it would create “a tsunami of robocalls and misinformation.”

“We’ve already seen dark money groups use AI to put candidates’ likeness behind inflammatory comments ahead of this election,” Gomez said. “Exempting political calls from the need for consumer consent would supercharge that strategy, and misleading messages could land directly on the handheld phone of nearly every voter in our country.”

Political robocalls have caused controversies before

In past elections, deceptive political robocalls have resulted in significant fines associated with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law at the center of the petition.

In 2020, tens of thousands of prospective voters in majority-Black areas of the U.S. received robocalls falsely warning that if they voted by mail, they could face arrest and debt collection.

The two conservative hoaxers behind the calls, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, were criminally charged for the calls and fined some $5.1 million for violating the act.

The political consultant behind the 2024 New Hampshire robocalls mimicking Biden's voice said he did it to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI. He was acquitted of criminal voter suppression charges but faced fines and civil damages associated with federal law.

Shortly after the New Hampshire robocall caught authorities' attention, the FCC ruled that robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools were outlawed under the consumer protection act.

The change could boost various types of AI calling

If the commission pivots to grant the Club for Growth’s petition, political groups of all stripes could amp up their use of AI to prerecord messages that play when voters pick up the phone. They also could use the technology to engage in live conversations with voters driven by AI large language models.

Mekela Panditharatne, senior counsel in the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned that such conversations hold risks. An AI system could make false promises about a candidate or manipulate voters in conversation by providing inaccurate or incomplete information.

Harper, from the Center for Democracy and Technology, said there also could be a privacy risk for voters who might not know how an AI agent on the line with them is capturing or repurposing their data.

The Club for Growth has argued the waiver would help create a more uniform regulatory landscape, given that unsolicited automated calls to landlines are already allowed. If the waiver is granted, callers would still be limited by certain conditions, including allowing consumers to opt out and making no more than three calls within 30 days to each individual recipient.

A public comment reply period on the petition ends Oct. 19, at which point the FCC could move forward on a decision.

___

This story has been corrected to show the FCC commissioner's name is Anna Gomez, not Ana Gomez.

Según la policía de Miami, el Departamento de Policía de Davie ejecutó la orden alrededor de las 6 p.m. del 6 de octubre, en la casa cercana a la cuadra 5000 de Southwest 136th Ave. Contó con el apoyo de la policía de Fort Lauderdale, la policía de Sunrise y la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward. También participaron la Oficina de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos (ATF) y el equipo SWAT del Departamento de Policía de Plantation.

La policía dijo que la orden era contra Braveone Jones, a quien encontraron en la casa de Redd y detuvieron. Según los registros de la cárcel, Jones enfrenta dos cargos de intento de asesinato en segundo grado. Los cargos están relacionados con el tiroteo del 15 de septiembre en Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen, ubicado en el 316 NW 24th St., en Miami.

La investigación continúa, informó la policía.

Un equipo de Local 10 News fue a la propiedad el miércoles por la mañana, pero no había actividad policial en la casa de Redd.

¿Qué pasó en el tiroteo de septiembre?

Las autoridades confirmaron que dos hombres resultaron heridos en el tiroteo frente a Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen, poco después de la medianoche del 15 de septiembre.

Según Miami Fire Rescue, las víctimas, de 18 y 23 años, sufrieron heridas de bala. Ambos fueron trasladados en condición estable al Ryder Trauma Center del Jackson Memorial Hospital.

El restaurante queda frente al edificio de apartamentos Wynwood 25, en una zona conocida por sus restaurantes, tiendas y vida nocturna.

La policía de Miami dijo que recibió varias llamadas de emergencia. Al llegar, encontró a un hombre con una herida de bala frente a Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen. Más tarde, los agentes hallaron a una segunda víctima frente a Skinny Louie’s, el restaurante de al lado.

Un empleado de un negocio cercano describió el caos tras los disparos y contó que ayudó a uno de los heridos.

“Vi a un montón de gente corriendo directo hacia nosotros”, dijo el empleado en ese momento. “No sabía qué estaba pasando”.

El empleado contó que a las personas que estaban dentro del negocio les avisaron que había habido disparos afuera. Después encontró a un hombre herido y le ayudó con primeros auxilios.

“Salí y vi a un señor en el piso”, dijo. Explicó que el hombre tenía una herida de bala en la nalga derecha. Usó su cinturón para hacer presión sobre la herida y le pidió que no se moviera.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Jones permanecía en la cárcel principal del condado de Broward (Broward County Main Jail). Su fianza no se había fijado de inmediato.

Hasta el momento, se desconoce el motivo del tiroteo.

Two years after the Conservatives' worst-ever election defeat, leader Kemi Badenoch said that she had put an end to the infighting, scandals and splits that threatened to tear the party apart.

“This party is now the no-drama party,” Badenoch told delegates at the Conservatives' annual conference. “We are the no-nonsense party.”

Opinion polls consistently put the Conservatives behind both the center-left governing Labour Party and Reform UK. But Conservative delegates in the central England city of Birmingham expressed optimism that the party is on the rebound — a contrast to last year’s downbeat gathering, when some questioned whether it could even survive.

Britain's 2024 election ousted the Conservative Party from power and reduced it to 121 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons. Several former and serving lawmakers have defected to anti-immigration Reform UK, which has trounced the Conservatives in local elections and is aiming to become the most popular party of the right.

Badenoch, the first Black woman to lead a major U.K. political party, rejected calls for an electoral pact with Reform UK and denounced the race-based nationalism of some of its members. Suella Braverman, a former Conservative government minister who defected to Reform, has suggested that only white people can be English.

Badenoch said that she didn’t want to live in a country run by people who “debate whether my mixed-race children are English.”

“We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are,” she said.

“For people who say ‘Unite the right’ – we are not uniting with that,” she said, getting a standing ovation from the audience of party members.

Last year, both Badenoch and then Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced discontent from their own parties. Starmer was ousted by his own Labour Party in July after a series of missteps, lapses of judgment and policy U-turns frittered away voters’ support.

Meanwhile, Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, is facing parliamentary and police investigations over its finances.

The troubles faced by the Conservative Party's rivals have helped make Badenoch more secure in her position, despite little evidence voters are returning to the Tories.

In her speech, Badenoch largely steered clear of divisive “culture wars” issues such as gender identity that she has sometimes reveled in, and focused on a core message of economic conservatism.

She said that a Conservative government would slash welfare spending, loosen regulation and cut taxes, promising a sharp reduction in the number of people paying inheritance tax. She called Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who succeeded Starmer as Labour leader, a socialist who wants to “turn the clock back to the 1970s.”

Not all the party’s announcements landed well. There has been skepticism over a pledge to build an air-defense system against drone and missile attacks. The party said that the 10 billion pound ($13.2 billion) “Britannia Shield” would be similar to Israel’s Iron Dome, before acknowledging that its scope would be considerably more limited.

But in an optimistic address, Badenoch likened the Conservatives to Marks & Spencer, a venerable retailer whose clothes were long considered dowdy and dull. Now, she said, it's “back in fashion — great looks at affordable prices.”

“Just like M&S, we must learn from our mistakes, win back trust and make people feel good about our party again,” she said.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said the U.N. health agency doesn’t know what the “causative agent” was behind the woman’s Oct. 2 death, which unconfirmed reports in Russia blamed on pneumonic plague — a less common but severe form of plague that can spread from person to person.

In its tersely worded statements, Russia's public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, does not link the case to pneumonic plague, saying only that the lab worker had contracted pneumonia of “unknown” origin and that “extensive” testing found no evidence her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

“We don’t understand how she was infected,” Van Kerkhove said. “We need information in a timely way. We need regular information. We need answers to the follow-up of the questions that we have asked.”

“We have posed these questions to our colleagues in the Russian Federation. In fairness, they have responded. We’ve gone back with more questions,” she said.

The comments suggested the U.N. health agency has more questions than answers about the situation at the lab, which focuses on plague and was founded about a century ago to study the disease in Siberia, where it occurs naturally in wild animals.

Russia has released little information about the case

Russian authorities have kept a tight lid on information about the case, which has been surrounded by secrecy.

While it has raised global concerns, Russian state TV and other national state-controlled media have largely steered clear of the subject. Some news outlets withdrew earlier reports about the case.

Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday the lab worker was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” meaning its origin was not known.

A state TV station in Irkutsk reported she died Oct. 2 in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk. Officials have quarantined that hospital and were monitoring the worker's contacts.

Russia has said the pneumonia initially presented as a “typical” acute respiratory viral infection, the WHO has said, acknowledging that pneumonia is commonplace.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Russian authorities had indicated that no case of plague had recently been reported in the Irkutsk region, and that they had placed about 200 contacts in quarantine.

Russia says preventive measures are underway

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would discuss the issue during a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin because Wednesday is the Kremlin leader's 74th birthday.

“They’re sharing it a little bit with our people. We expect them to share it a lot with our people,” Trump said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Wednesday that a Putin-Trump call hasn’t been set yet but could be organized quickly.

Asked if the incident was a sign that plague might be developed as a bioweapon, Trump said, “We don’t think so. We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so.”

When asked if the situation was similar to dealing with China on COVID-19 in his first term, Trump suggested Russia was staying relatively quiet, just as China did before the virus turned into a pandemic. “China didn’t say much and Russia is not saying much either, but they do say they have it very much under control,” he said.

Dr. Erica Schwartz, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the threat to the U.S. “is extremely low.” She travel from that area of Russia to the U.S. each year is limited — and mostly comes through New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Government agencies are working “to make sure that we know exactly if anyone from that area comes into the United States,” Schwartz said during a Wall Street Journal health forum Wednesday.

Russian health authorities reported a full range of preventive measures had been carried out — including tracing the dead woman’s contacts, medical monitoring and lab tests, the WHO said.

The Geneva-based organization cited media reports that a second employee had pneumonia of undetermined cause.

Health experts urge more Russian openness

Peskov referred all questions to Rospotrebnadzor, which does not mention suspected plague in its reports and has not responded to a request for comment.

In its latest statement Tuesday, the agency said “the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is calm.” Authorities were completing a “complex of prophylactic measures and medical observation over contacts,” it said, adding that so far they have found two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus.

“No other infectious pathogens have been found among contacts,” it said.

Judy Twigg, professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, noted that while the measures taken by Russian health authorities “have been swift and serious,” officials sought to play down the situation and “any statements that strayed from that party line ... were edited or deleted within hours.”

“What we are watching is less a failure to respond than a failure of candor,” Twigg said in written comments.

Vasily Vlassov, professor at the department of healthcare administration and economics at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, said the measures taken appeared “sensible,” focusing on treating the sick, isolating them and their contacts, looking for new cases and carrying out disinfection.

He said it wasn't clear whether more transparency was possible if those dealing with the situation didn’t have enough certainty, and “maybe, they still don’t.” Deceiving the public, however, “always turns out to be harmful,” he said.

Distrust of Russia’s official narrative is “natural” and “almost inevitable,” Vlassov said.

In the Soviet era, dangerous outbreaks of infection had “a thick veil of secrecy — people were told nothing.”

The lab worker who died was described as highly diligent

The news outlet Lyudi Baikala — or “People of Baikal” — identified the dead lab worker as Darya Shipilova, 28, and said she first was hospitalized with cold symptoms Sept. 29 and died three days later.

It quoted colleagues as saying she was a highly qualified and diligent researcher. They also emphasized that security rules at the facility are extremely strict.

The report quoted Shipilova's neighbors as saying disinfection experts did several cleanups of her apartment, leaving a strong antiseptic smell.

Shipilova’s mother, who worked as a doctor in the past, described her daughter as hard-working and dedicated, according to independent Russian news outlet Glubina, adding that she had not gotten official documents describing the cause of death.

Twigg noted that Russia criminalized “false information” about threats to public safety in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, “so silence is the one safe move for everyone below the top.”

“Personalist regimes without electoral accountability tend to treat bad news as a loyalty problem rather than focusing on the actual problem to be addressed,” she said.

She warned that “the public’s understandable reaction to the lack of information carries real dangers.”

“A government that is not believed when it says ‘there is no outbreak’ will not be believed when it must actually say ‘there is one; do the following.’ We saw this with COVID,” she said.

Pneumonic plague and the more well-known bubonic plague — also called the Black Death — are caused by the same bacteria, said Simon Clarke of the University of Reading in the U.K. Pneumonic plague results from breathing in the bacteria, causing an infection in the lungs.

The bacterium, called Yersinia pestis, has not been eliminated, but it is not spread very easily and it is treatable with antibiotics.

__

Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, Collin Binkley in Washington, and Mike Stobbe in New York contributed.

We will have this pattern on repeat with a high chance of storms developing each day. There are some signs some drier air will move in Sunday through next week with an extended stretch of much drier weather. Perhaps a slight drop in humidity too.

Leer en español

Armando Lopez, 53, of Key Largo, failed to show for his trial on several felonies related to the theft and carjacking at the Plantation Key courthouse in Islamorada on Friday; he was convicted on nearly a dozen counts.

In December 2024, deputies said Lopez, then 52, brutally beat a woman in a domestic violence incident, fought with an MCSO sergeant trying to arrest him, then stole his cruiser and drove away.

Deputies said he then stopped a woman and carjacked her SUV, later wrecking it on U.S. 1 after a high-speed chase.

Video obtained by Local 10 News showed the wild chain of events.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office detectives were able to figure out that Lopez rented a car before the final day of his trial and tracked him to Laredo, Texas, where he entered Mexico at the border, officials said.

A day and a half later, U.S. Marshals located him in Mexico, where he was arrested by that country’s police, authorities said.

“Thank you to the hardworking men and women of the Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Service, and all of our law enforcement partners for getting this dangerous criminal off the streets,” Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement.

He now faces extradition back to the Keys.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Lopez would face additional charges for fleeing the country. He is staring down a possible life sentence after his trial conviction.

“He will get the justice he deserves for his actions,” Ramsay told Local 10 News.

Leer en español

Fort Lauderdale police said officers responded at about 5:03 a.m. to a crash involving a pedestrian in the 2100 block of Northwest 21st Avenue.

Officers said they found a man at the scene and began life-saving measures. They said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue personnel later pronounced him dead at the scene.

Authorities said the driver remained at the scene, and FLPD’s Traffic Homicide Unit is investigating the crash.

No other details about the victim were immediately released.

Leer en español

It happened along the 700 block of Northwest 11th Street.

Security video obtained by Local 10 News showed everything unfold, as a truck is parked out front and suddenly lurches forward into the front of the store.

Camera angles from inside the store show how fast it happened.

A group of people were sitting inside when it took place, and a woman wearing a pink shirt was seen trying to flee as the truck entered the business.

That woman was later taken to the hospital for treatment, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Her husband, who asked to only be identified as Joseph, was with her inside the store when it happened. He says the impact left him disoriented.

“Not only was I deaf because of the loud bang, I was confused and I seen a lot of smoke, so I was trying to figure out what was going on,” he said.

Inside the business, a massive mess was left behind.

The driver said he thought the truck was in reverse when it instead went forward.

Mohammad Hassan, the owner of the store, estimates the damage will cost north of $35,000.

“I’m feeling so upset,” he said. “I’m really disappointed. I’m really upset.”

Hassan, who has owned the store for over two years, says he will have to shut down the store until repairs can be made, which will be difficult because it his livelihood.

“This is my main business,” he said. “Everything comes from it, my rent, everything comes from here. I don’t know how long the store will have to be shut down.”

Police have not said whether the driver of the truck, who was allowed to go home, will face any charges or be cited for the crash.

Leer en español

Jail records show Dasheona Ford, 29, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Tuesday.

Records show she is facing multiple felony charges stemming from several cases, including strong-arm robbery, grand theft, organized fraud, fraudulent use of a credit card, unlawful use of a communications device and money laundering.

Ford’s arrest comes after Miami Beach police arrested taxi driver Reynoso Osias last week in connection with the investigation.

Police said the investigation began after a June 14 strong-arm robbery near 11th Street and Washington Avenue. The victim told detectives that after leaving a nightclub, a woman later identified as Ford approached him, took his iPhone and fled to a waiting yellow taxi.

Surveillance video captured Ford entering the taxi, police said. Minutes later, cameras showed Ford getting out of the vehicle and approaching another person who appeared visibly intoxicated before removing a cellphone from the man’s pocket, according to investigators.

Detectives said they later expanded the investigation to another incident on June 28 involving an intoxicated victim whose cellphone was stolen and money was withdrawn from his bank accounts, police said. Investigators said surveillance footage showed the victim entering the same taxi.

The victim told detectives he had no memory of getting into the vehicle and had not hailed or requested a taxi, according to police.

Investigators ultimately identified Osias as the taxi driver and said evidence connected him to the stolen phones and fraudulent financial transactions. When detectives arrested him last week, police said they found eight Apple iPhones inside a plastic bag beneath the driver’s seat.

Jail records show Osias is facing multiple felony charges, including kidnapping, conspiracy to commit strong-arm robbery, organized scheme to defraud, offenses against computer users and unlawful use of a communications device.

Ford’s jail records list additional charges across several cases, including organized scheme to defraud involving $50,000 or more, fraudulent use of personal identification information, theft of a credit card and additional counts of grand theft and credit card fraud.

As of Wednesday morning, Ford remained held at TGK, where her bond was listed as “to be set.” Osias was being held at the MetroWest Detention Center, where his bond was listed at $17,500.

Leer en español

The executive order allows the state to move emergency supplies and personnel into position ahead of the storm, according to the governor’s office.

The emergency declaration covers Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Walton, Wakulla and Washington counties.

Florida’s State Emergency Response Team has begun staging generators, fuel, flood barriers, drinking water, shelf-stable meals, tarps, sandbags and other supplies in Tallahassee and the Santa Rosa County area, a news release from the governor’s office states.

“Floridians should take this time to get disaster plans in place and ensure their hurricane supply kit is stocked,” DeSantis said in a statement.

The latest forecast calls for a tropical storm or hurricane to potentially make landfall along the central Gulf Coast later this week.

Even areas away from the storm’s landfall could see dangerous conditions, including heavy rainfall, strong winds, coastal flooding and isolated tornadoes across North Florida.

Officials are also warning that additional rain could increase the risk of flash flooding because parts of the state have already received significant rainfall, leaving soils saturated.

State officials are urging residents in potentially affected areas to review their emergency plans and make sure hurricane supplies are ready before conditions worsen.

Residents can find preparedness information at FloridaDisaster.org and receive updates from the Florida State Emergency Response Team on X.

Armando Lopez, de 53 años y residente de Key Largo, no se presentó el viernes a su juicio por varios delitos graves relacionados con esos robos. El juicio se celebró en el tribunal de Plantation Key, en Islamorada, y Lopez fue declarado culpable de casi una docena de cargos.

En diciembre de 2024, según los agentes, Lopez, que entonces tenía 52 años, golpeó brutalmente a una mujer en un caso de violencia doméstica. Después forcejeó con un sargento de la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Monroe que intentaba arrestarlo, le robó la patrulla y se fue manejando.

Los agentes dijeron que luego detuvo a una mujer y le quitó su SUV. Más tarde la chocó en la U.S. 1, tras una persecución a alta velocidad.

Un video obtenido por Local 10 News mostró la insólita cadena de hechos.

Según las autoridades, los detectives de la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Monroe descubrieron que Lopez alquiló un carro antes del último día de su juicio. Lo rastrearon hasta Laredo, Texas, donde cruzó la frontera hacia México.

Un día y medio después, los alguaciles federales (U.S. Marshals) lo localizaron en México, y la policía de ese país lo arrestó, informaron las autoridades.

“Gracias a los hombres y mujeres de la Oficina del Sheriff, del Servicio de Alguaciles de EE.UU. y de todas las agencias aliadas por su arduo trabajo para sacar a este peligroso criminal de las calles”, dijo el sheriff del condado de Monroe, Rick Ramsay, en un comunicado.

Ahora Lopez enfrenta un proceso de extradición para ser devuelto a los Cayos.

No quedó claro de inmediato si enfrentará cargos adicionales por huir del país. Tras el veredicto de culpabilidad, podría ser condenado a cadena perpetua.

“Va a recibir la justicia que merece por lo que hizo”, dijo Ramsay a Local 10 News.

Trump’s push to highlight his economic agenda comes as Republicans are increasingly anxious that the $1 billion at their disposal may not be enough to fend off sweeping midterm election losses due to late spending, the president’s unpopularity, persistent cost concerns and the fallout from the war in Iran.

Trump said he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible case of plague at a Siberian research institute. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he would be talking with Putin about the case “very soon.”

The Latest:

Pentagon cites travel policy to deny briefings to Democratic lawmaker

The Pentagon is citing a policy from the early days of the Iran war as the reason for denying a briefing to a Democratic lawmaker who’s visiting the Middle East.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he requested visits to bases and military leaders but was denied.

Murphy on social media called the move “a cover-up” and “was told the policy prohibited military leaders in the region from even talking to me.”

The Pentagon wouldn’t allow Murphy to access Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “directive on travel restrictions in the region,” spokesman Joel Valdez said.

The directive, issued March 3, says “congressional delegation visits will be unavailable” to the Middle East and that no Pentagon “support shall be made available for congressional travel” without Hegseth’s approval.

While the Pentagon has maintained that Operation Epic Fury has concluded, Valdez said that because operations are continuing in the region, the policy was still necessary.

Trump’s arch raises safety issues for flight attendants

Flight Attendants Association-CWA President Sara Nelson said the union has safety concerns about Trump’s proposed triumphal arch that will be on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

She said the 250-foot arch compounds multiple safety issues that have gone unaddressed from a deadly January 2025 crash over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. Nelson also criticized Trump’s plan to turn the arch into “a top grade military complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.

“DCA is already stretched to its limit, we do not need an obstacle taking up space in our flight path,” said Nelson. “Nor should commercial aviation have to dodge military drones, missiles or snipers while attempting to take off or land at Washington National Airport. Safety first always.”

The union has about 55,000 members.

Trump talks to Netanyahu on Oct. 7 anniversary

The U.S. president said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel.

Trump said he wished Netanyahu and the people of Israel well, and added, “the other side is paying a very big price” for the attacks.

Hegseth awards USS Lincoln top unit award

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has awarded the USS Abraham Lincoln the Presidential Unit Citation during a visit to the ship and just a day ahead of the carrier’s return to home port in San Diego.

The award, which is the highest award a unit can receive and one typically reserved for significant achievement in combat, was bestowed upon the Lincoln and accompanying ships for “40 days of combat operations and an iron clad maritime blockade against Iran in support of Operation Epic Fury,” according to Hegseth.

The aircraft carrier’s extended deployment drew national attention following reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products.

In speaking to the crew, Hegseth acknowledged that “I’m the only thing standing between you and home” and that he was the one “who signed that orders book twice” to extend the ship’s deployment.

US treasury secretary says he’s not worried about rising rates on national debt

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note have risen close to 5.3% “because of growth.”

“Growth here is strong,” said Bessent, stressing higher energy costs because of the Iran war were pushing up interest rates rather than concerns about the growing national debt and the administration’s credibility on the issue.

Higher growth can imply an increase in demand that can keep inflation elevated. But Bessent said that rates will drop once the war ends. He did not specify when the war would end.

The increase in rates is a global phenomenon in multiple industrialized nations, as debt loads have climbed without clear plans to reduce annual budget deficits.

Trump says he has a scheduled with Putin on Russian lab worker death

Trump told reporters, “Today is Vladimir Putin’s birthday.”

He said he had “a call set up” with the Russian leader and intended to discuss the death of a Russian lab workers that raised questions about the possibility of a plague outbreak. Trump previously said the Russians claim to have the issue under control.

Trump suggests Rogers was pressuring Canada on trade war, not him

Asked about Republican Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers releasing an ad calling for an end to President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, the president suggested Rogers wasn’t breaking with him on the issue.

“I viewed it as wanting Canada to make a deal,” Trump said of Rogers’ ad.

In the spot, Rogers says, “We know that Canada is not our enemy” and “we need to end this tariff war now.”

The U.S. and Canada have been locked in an escalating trade war since Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods this summer.

Before the ad, Rogers had previously defended some of the tariffs as “necessary.”

In another break with Trump, Rogers has also recently called for the U.S. war with Iran to “end quickly.”

Trump says he expects Russia to share more on possible plague case

“They’re sharing it a little bit with our people. We expect them to share it a lot with our people,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, when asked if Russia has been sharing enough information on the death of a lab employee in Siberia.

The president added that he had “just met with our people” to talk about the situation. “We have brilliant experts,” Trump said. “They know everything about what’s going on.”

Cruz, a possible 2028 presidential contender, talks about Newsom, who could also run for the White House

Appearing with Trump in the Oval Office, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made a point of mentioning Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom when praising Trump accounts.

“To give a sense of the broadness of the impact,” Cruz said before adding, “Gavin Newsom had a press conference celebrating the Trump accounts.”

He said that the governor saluted Trump and proved “miracles could happen.”

Newsom has praised the federal accounts for children as one of the best things Trump has done.

Cruz added Newsom said “nice things about you and nice things about me, and lightning did not strike anything.”

Cruz is widely considered a likely 2028 presidential candidate and so is Newsom.

Trump says he could put a presidential retreat at his West Palm Beach golf club

Trump said he would be willing to put a presidential retreat at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida because “it seems that all presidents play golf.”

“This wouldn’t be for me,” Trump said. “This would be for all future presidents.”

Trump said the location, which is near a public library, would be ideal because it’s close to the airport and there are not houses or “high buildings” surrounding the greens.

Trump suggests a hurricane won’t derail his plans to attend Alabama-Georgia game

“I love Alabama. I’ve got to go to the game,” Trump responded, when asked if Tropical Storm Isaias — which could become the year’s first Atlantic hurricane — might affect his plans to attend the game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Saturday night.

Forecasts have the storm menacing the Gulf Coast. That might affect Alabama in coming days.

Trump said he didn’t want to do “anything to take the focus” away from “all of the great people that work on those things,” including first responders and police, adding “We’ll have to see” about his travel plans.

Trump says it’s a ‘great discredit’ to the Nobel Peace Prize that he has not received the award

Ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize being announced, Trump said he deserved the award from the Norwegian Nobel Committee but, “They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me.”

Trump, who launched a war in Iran this year, went through his accomplishments for which believed qualified him for the Nobel. He also noted that the 2025 winner, Venezuela’s María Corina Machado, gave him her award.

“Whether I get it or not, I have done far more,” Trump said. “And I think it would be a great discredit to them” if he goes unrecognized.

Trump says he has ‘no regrets at all’ about endorsing Paxton in Texas Senate race

The president said Paxton is “a great attorney general” and that he thought he’d be “a great senator.”

In leaked, recent audio, Paxton, the Texas attorney general, was recorded as saying his campaign was being run by Washington, rather than himself.

Trump’s endorsement of Paxton helped him beat incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary. But Paxton is now locked in a close race with Democrat James Talarico — even in America’s largest reliably Republican state.

Asked if he now regretted backing Paxton, Trump said that Paxton was “the best attorney general of the whole country.”

Trump claims Russia says plague risk ‘very much under control’

Asked if the recent death of a Russian lab worker was a sign that a plague might be developed as bioweapon, Trump said, “We don’t think so so. We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so.”

Trump had previously indicated that he would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue. When asked if the situation was similar to dealing with China on the coronavirus during his first term, Trump suggested that Russia was staying relatively quiet on the issue just as China did before the virus turned into a global pandemic.

“China didn’t say much and Russia is not saying much either, but they do say they have it very much under control,” Trump said.

Trump creates stock accounts for every US child, though they’re only funded for newborns

Trump says that 70 million children under the age of 18 will now have automatic “Trump Accounts” set up by the government to invest in stocks.

Parents and legal guardians need formally claim the accounts by using the program’s website or mobile phone app. Trump called the accounts “a passion of love” that promotes capitalism.

The accounts were part of the 2025 tax overhaul and allow after-tax contributions of up to $5,000 a year, with the government seeding accounts with $1,000 for children born between 2025 and 2028.

Trump says he could cut ties with advisers over work in the Balkans during midterms

Trump says he will press two of his top political advisers on their outside consulting work amid scrutiny over their efforts to help a pro-Russian government in the Balkans.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that as Trump was campaigning last week ahead of next month’s midterm elections, advisers James Blair and Chris LaCivita were in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity of Republika Srpska assisting with local elections.

“Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “They are allowed to do work for others, just like all consultants in Washington, D.C.”

“I do not have any idea who else they work for but will, on reflection, ask them and, if there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!” he wrote.

Blair served as White House deputy chief of staff before departing to lead Trump’s outside political operation. LaCivita was co-manager of his winning 2024 campaign.

The two did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rubio says standing of Western civilization is at risk if countries don’t ‘reclaim’ national power

Standing in front of the ruins of the Acropolis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the case for nationalism, while trying to maintain the importance of global alliances.

In a sweeping and dramatic speech about ancient civilization that reflected his political aspirations beyond being America’s top diplomat, Rubio warned European countries that decisions made in the next decade “will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world, or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline.”

“We will either choose to act now, or lose the choice to act at all,” he said. “Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice. We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power.”

Rubio also said despite “passions” that have strained U.S.-Europe relations, allied-countries must work to “rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together.”

Michigan GOP Senate nominee distances himself from Trump’s Canada tariffs

Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for Senate in Michigan, released an ad Wednesday calling for an end to President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, marking the second recent break with the president by the battleground state candidate.

“We know that Canada is not our enemy,” Rogers says in the video. “We need to end this tariff war now.”

The U.S. and Canada have been locked in an escalating trade war since Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods this summer. Rogers previously defended some of the tariffs as “necessary.”

Rogers has also recently called for the U.S. war with Iran to “end quickly.” He had previously backed the war.

Rogers, once a critic of Trump, has aligned himself closely with the president since his first Senate campaign in 2024 and has Trump’s endorsement this year. Rogers faces progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed for the open Senate seat.

The Department of Homeland Security is DHS proposes a $70,000 fee for international students to work in the US

The $70,000 fee proposed Wednesday for international students seeking to work in the United States is just the latest Trump administration effort to reduce foreign enrollment in U.S. higher education. A Department of Homeland Security statement described the fee as a response to visa fraud and abuse that created a “pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

And Trump on Tuesday said he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible case of plague at a Siberian research institute. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he would be talking with Putin about the case “very soon.”

DHS proposes a $70,000 fee for international students to work in the US

The $70,000 fee proposed Wednesday for international students seeking to work in the United States is just the latest Trump administration effort to reduce foreign enrollment in U.S. higher education. A Department of Homeland Security statement described the fee as a response to visa fraud and abuse that created a “pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

It would require schools to pay for each student participating in an optional practice training program, known as OPT, in jobs related to their major during or after their time in school. Students are generally eligible for one year of work post-graduation, though certain science, technology, engineering and math majors are eligible for an additional two years. The initial application would cost $70,000, plus a $30,000 fee for each renewal.

The public has 60 days to commen t on the proposal before DHS can finalize it and put it into effect. The proposal also could face legal challenges from higher education groups or business associations that could delay it.

President hosting event on Trump Accounts automatic enrollment

The White House said the president is announcing that all Americans under age 18 are being automatically enrolled in Trump Accounts.

The Treasury Department described the new initiative last week, saying it’s opening accounts for all children with a valid Social Security Number, which their parents or guardians can claim through the Trump Accounts app.

Children born during Trump’s second term automatically qualify for $1,000 from the government. Other minors can invest their own money into the tax-advantaged accounts, and draw on it when they turn 18 for costs like school or a home.

The White House said automatic enrollment makes it easier for families to participate.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Michael and Susan Dell are expected to be among those attending the 1 p.m. event at the White House.

Rubio says no confusion over US goals with Iran

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there should be no confusion over the Trump administration’s ultimate goal with respect to the Iran war — and that is to prevent the country from ever developing a nuclear weapon.

Rubio made the comments on Wednesday at a news conference in Athens with the Greek foreign minister after Vice President JD Vance told Reuters that the administration might be able to accept an agreement that calls for Iran to make a “meaningful” decrease in its capacity for nuclear enrichment.

President Donald Trump has previously said Iran should not be allowed the capability to enrich.

“I don’t understand where the confusion is about the nuclear program,” Rubio said. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Simple, period, end of story. I’m not going to go into the details about what would be acceptable or not. I can tell you this: that they’re not going to ever have a nuclear program.”

In first Maine Senate debate, Collins seeks to distance herself from Trump

Republican Sen. Susan Collins argued during the first of four debates with Democrat Troy Jackson that she’s the most independent senator in Congress, repeatedly voting against Trump’s agenda. “I’m not exactly his favorite senator,” she said.

Jackson, a former state Senate president and logger, pointed to Collins’ critical vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee who eventually helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion. “Would you trust her to pick the next Supreme Court justice?” he asked.

Collins argued that her seniority and experience in the Senate have resulted in money and resources for Maine. She touted her ability to remove certain items from Trump’s trade war with Canada, including pulp, concrete and road salt.

Jackson’s response: “We can’t eat road salt.”

▶ Read more

GOP fears grow that even $1 billion may not buy midterm victory

Republicans are increasingly anxious that the $1 billion at their disposal may not be enough to fend off sweeping midterm election losses as the party reckons with Trump’s unpopularity, persistent cost concerns and the fallout from the war in Iran.

The cash advantage, spread out across a half-dozen groups, is driven largely by the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc., which had nearly $416 million on hand at the end of August and increased its spending on critical races in September.

But that money may have come too late, forcing the president’s group to pay much higher rates because of the shrinking availability of air time. Four Republican Senate campaign officials said groups that reserved advertising time last spring paid much lower rates than MAGA Inc. and its affiliated groups. Now, the Trump-connected organizations are sometimes paying more than five times what they would have spent if they had acted earlier.

▶ Read more

El gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, declaró el miércoles el estado de emergencia en 25 condados. Se prevé que la tormenta tropical Isaias se fortalezca. A finales de esta semana podría traer lluvias intensas, vientos fuertes e inundaciones a partes del estado.

Según la oficina del gobernador, la orden ejecutiva permite al estado ubicar suministros y personal de emergencia antes de la llegada de la tormenta.

La declaración de emergencia abarca los condados Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Walton, Wakulla y Washington.

El Equipo Estatal de Respuesta a Emergencias de Florida (SERT) comenzó a preparar suministros en Tallahassee y en la zona del condado Santa Rosa, según un comunicado de la oficina del gobernador. Entre ellos hay generadores, combustible, barreras contra inundaciones, agua potable, comidas no perecederas, lonas y sacos de arena.

“Los floridanos deben aprovechar este tiempo para tener listos sus planes ante desastres y asegurarse de que su kit de suministros para huracanes esté completo”, dijo DeSantis en un comunicado.

El pronóstico más reciente indica que una tormenta tropical o un huracán podría tocar tierra en la costa central del Golfo a finales de esta semana.

Incluso las zonas alejadas del lugar donde toque tierra podrían enfrentar condiciones peligrosas. En el norte de Florida se esperan lluvias intensas, vientos fuertes, inundaciones costeras y tornados aislados.

Las autoridades también advierten que más lluvia podría aumentar el riesgo de inundaciones repentinas. Algunas partes del estado ya han recibido lluvias importantes y tienen los suelos saturados.

Los funcionarios estatales piden a los residentes de las zonas que podrían verse afectadas que revisen sus planes de emergencia. También les recomiendan tener listos sus suministros para huracanes antes de que empeoren las condiciones.

Los residentes pueden encontrar información para prepararse en FloridaDisaster.org y recibir actualizaciones del Equipo Estatal de Respuesta a Emergencias de Florida en X.

Según los registros de la cárcel, Dasheona Ford, de 29 años, ingresó el martes en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Los registros muestran que enfrenta varios cargos por delitos graves derivados de distintos casos. Entre ellos están robo por la fuerza, hurto mayor y fraude organizado. También se le acusa de uso fraudulento de una tarjeta de crédito, uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación y lavado de dinero.

El arresto de Ford llega después de que la policía de Miami Beach arrestara la semana pasada al taxista Reynoso Osias en relación con la investigación.

Según la policía, la investigación comenzó tras un robo por la fuerza el 14 de junio, cerca de la calle 11 y Washington Avenue. La víctima les contó a los detectives que había salido de una discoteca cuando se le acercó una mujer, luego identificada como Ford. La mujer le quitó su iPhone y huyó hacia un taxi amarillo que la esperaba.

Las cámaras de vigilancia captaron a Ford subiéndose al taxi, dijo la policía. Minutos después, se le ve bajarse del vehículo y acercarse a otro hombre que parecía visiblemente ebrio. Según los investigadores, le sacó un celular del bolsillo.

Más tarde, los detectives ampliaron la investigación a otro incidente, ocurrido el 28 de junio, según la policía. A una víctima ebria le robaron el celular y le sacaron dinero de sus cuentas bancarias. Los investigadores dijeron que las cámaras de vigilancia mostraban a la víctima subiéndose al mismo taxi.

Según la policía, la víctima les dijo a los detectives que no recordaba haberse subido al vehículo. Tampoco había parado ni pedido un taxi.

Finalmente, los investigadores identificaron a Osias como el taxista. Dijeron que las pruebas lo vinculaban con los celulares robados y con las transacciones financieras fraudulentas. Cuando los detectives lo arrestaron la semana pasada, encontraron ocho iPhones dentro de una bolsa plástica debajo del asiento del conductor, según la policía.

Según los registros de la cárcel, Osias enfrenta varios cargos por delitos graves. Entre ellos están secuestro, conspiración para cometer robo por la fuerza y plan organizado para defraudar. También se le acusa de delitos contra usuarios de computadoras y de uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación.

Los registros de Ford incluyen además otros cargos en varios casos. Se le acusa de un plan organizado para defraudar por $50,000 o más, uso fraudulento de información de identificación personal y robo de una tarjeta de crédito. También tiene cargos adicionales de hurto mayor y fraude con tarjeta de crédito.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Ford seguía detenida en el TGK, con la fianza “por determinar”. Osias permanecía en el MetroWest Detention Center, con una fianza de $17,500.

Paige Hansen leans down, holding between her fingers the plant whose seeds could soon turn into one of her food products.

“That diversity of crop in the field, I think we should be eating the same way with our diets,” Hansen said. “And ultimately that’s how I think we can shift things.”

After dealing with a dairy allergy in her adult life, Hansen traveled back and forth for about two years between her home in California and the Cornell Food Venture Center in Geneva, New York, to develop a buckwheat-based alternative milk. Now, she has partnered with New Barn Organics, launching her buckwheat milk in Whole Foods Markets across the country this month and creating a buckwheat milk powder that could be used as an ingredient in confections, snacks, crackers and other food products.

It's part of an effort Hansen and her partners are undertaking to expand the market for buckwheat and hopefully incentivize more farmers to plant it. In the United States, some farmers already plant buckwheat as a cover crop, but many farmers avoid planting cover crops because of the costs despite the environmental benefits. Hansen and other organic farmers see buckwheat as one way to change the food system and help farmers become more resilient in the face of human-caused climate change.

“If we can grow a valuable crop it’s a lot more likely to become part of the system than if we’re growing it because there’s a subsidy payment,” said Klaas Martens, an organic farmer who has grown buckwheat for about 40 years and has worked with Hansen.

Buckwheat fields ‘feel alive’

A popular food crop in the United States until the mid-20th century, buckwheat fell out of favor as farmers turned to higher-yield crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat. Today, buckwheat is often used as a cover crop, and farmers often use the fast-growing plant to suppress weeds or rebuild depleted soils between the harvesting of other crops like corn and soybeans. As a cover crop, buckwheat can also store carbon in its roots and reduce fertilizer runoff at times when fields would otherwise be bare.

Globally, about 2 million tons of buckwheat were produced in 2024, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, a decrease of about half over the last two decades. Comparatively, about 1.2 billion tons of corn were produced globally in 2024, an increase of about 53% in that same time period.

China, Russia and Ukraine produce the most buckwheat, whose seeds are more akin to a fruit rather than a grain despite its name. It’s the main ingredient in soba, a Japanese noodle, and the Ashkenazi Jewish dish kasha varnishkes uses roasted buckwheat alongside pasta and sautéed onions.

Buckwheat takes between 10 to 12 weeks to produce seed. Its short growing cycle means many farmers who sell the harvested crop can plant it between a winter-planted crop and a spring-planted crop.

The plants’ roots also release an acid that can draw phosphorus out of soil and attract a diversity of microbes, creating a soil environment that is “much more favorable for some of our main food crops,” Martens said.

But little is known about how buckwheat can work best in a farmer's crop rotation. At Cornell University, researchers are working to better understand how the plant suppresses weeds, how it grows and yields under varying conditions and how farmers could potentially add it into their rotations as a cash crop.

Dan Gladstone, who manages 800 acres (324 hectares) of organic crops in Newfield, New York, uses buckwheat as a cover to suppress weeds and rebuild soil but also sells harvested buckwheat. Its roots make the soil loose and easy to plant the following season without tilling, a technique Gladstone implements as much as possible to reduce fuel use and wear on equipment. The crop also supports a diversity of pollinators and Gladstone said he finds buckwheat fields “alive in a way that a lot of other crops don’t feel.”

But harvesting buckwheat can be challenging. It doesn’t all ripen at the same time so farmers need extra equipment to cut the crop so it can dry in fields before getting threshed and hulled.

Despite that, Martens thinks if more farmers added buckwheat into their cropping systems, it would help diversify away from corn and soybeans and could make farms more resilient against losses from extreme weather. Crop insurance, he added, is geared toward high-yield crops like corn and soybeans and adding buckwheat into a crop rotation may help farms stay profitable. Growing buckwheat, which is usually done without fertilizer or pesticides, could also help reduce a farm's costs while providing income, he said.

“There’s a big difference between being highly productive and extremely resilient,” Martens said. “And there’s a risk in our system because it is highly dependent on a few outside inputs and if you take away some of those outside forces or they become damaged in some way, the entire system is at risk.”

Building market needs cooperation

In Penn Yan, a village of about 5,000 on the shores of Keuka Lake, The Birkett Mills have been processing buckwheat into flour and other products since the late 18th century. There, millers work with 200-year-old milling stones that grind buckwheat and a system of pulleys, wheels and belts that move and sift the buckwheat as it is further refined next to modern robots that bag and stack some finished products. To be gluten-free, the mill uses a sorter to separate buckwheat from other debris and grain.

The mill also works directly with local farmers, selling them buckwheat seed and buying back the crop at a fixed price. That financial guarantee is one way more farmers might start planting the crop.

“There’s also a home for it when they’re done with it,” said Kyle Gifford, president of The Birkett Mills. “Some of these cover crops, they just plow them back under the field because there’s nowhere to sell it.”

Gifford said the company is milling more buckwheat than it has before, working around the clock, seven days a week to meet increased demand. His father, Jeff, said he sees more farmers in the area growing the crop than he did a decade ago. They process the grain for use in their own products and for other companies, including Hansen’s.

Gladstone thinks having strong partnerships with processors and product companies will get more farmers on board with planting buckwheat as a cash crop.

“We need somebody who’s going to do the wholesale processing and turn it into an ingredient. And then we also need people who turn those ingredients into food,” Gladstone said.

And getting buckwheat into more food products as an ingredient is Hansen's mission. Partnering with a large brand like New Barn Organics allowed her to triple the amount of buckwheat she was buying from farmers. She hopes that demand could offer farmers an incentive to plant the crop on more acres or undergo an organic certification process, she said.

And starting with the ingredients in our food is how the food system can change.

“I’ve always thought that you can’t really have innovation in food unless you have different types of crops to work with,” Hansen said. “Otherwise, you’re kind of all innovating with the same set of ingredients from the same big ingredient suppliers.”

___

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

___

Follow Joshua A. Bickel on Instagram, Bluesky and X @joshuabickel.

El accidente ocurrió en la cuadra 700 de Northwest 11th Street.

Local 10 News obtuvo un video de seguridad que muestra todo lo ocurrido. Una camioneta está estacionada frente al negocio y, de repente, se lanza hacia adelante contra la fachada.

Las cámaras dentro del local muestran lo rápido que pasó todo.

Un grupo de personas estaba sentado adentro en ese momento. En el video se ve a una mujer con camisa rosada tratando de escapar mientras la camioneta entraba al negocio.

Según Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, la mujer fue llevada después al hospital para recibir atención médica.

Su esposo, que pidió ser identificado solo como Joseph, estaba con ella dentro del local cuando ocurrió el choque. Cuenta que el impacto lo dejó desorientado.

“No solo me quedé sordo por el estruendo. Estaba confundido y vi mucho humo, así que trataba de entender qué estaba pasando”, dijo.

Dentro del negocio quedó un enorme desastre.

El conductor dijo que pensaba que la camioneta estaba en reversa, pero el vehículo avanzó.

Mohammad Hassan, dueño del negocio, calcula que los daños superarán los $35,000.

“Me siento muy mal”, dijo. “Estoy muy decepcionado, de verdad. Muy molesto”.

Hassan tiene el negocio desde hace más de dos años. Dice que tendrá que cerrarlo hasta que terminen las reparaciones, y eso será difícil porque es su sustento.

“Este es mi negocio principal”, dijo. “De aquí sale todo, la renta, todo sale de aquí. No sé cuánto tiempo tendré que tener cerrado”.

El conductor de la camioneta pudo irse a su casa. La policía no ha dicho si enfrentará algún cargo o si recibirá una multa por el choque.

La policía de Fort Lauderdale dijo que los agentes acudieron alrededor de las 5:03 a.m. a un accidente con un peatón en la cuadra 2100 de Northwest 21st Avenue.

Según los agentes, al llegar encontraron a un hombre en el lugar y empezaron a darle maniobras para salvarle la vida. Más tarde, el personal de Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue lo declaró muerto en el lugar.

Las autoridades dijeron que el conductor se quedó en el lugar del accidente. La Unidad de Homicidios de Tránsito de la policía de Fort Lauderdale investiga el caso.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre la víctima.

More than 70% of new cases are still coming from outside of known contacts and at least 60% of deaths are outside of treatment centers, Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya told The Associated Press. “There are so many other people who are becoming sick, who are not tested, treated, or listed,” said Kaseya on Tuesday.

The conflict-battered, remote North Kivu province, which has emerged as the new epicenter, now accounts for around 40% of all newly confirmed cases in Congo, compared with 24% at the end of August. But the response on the ground is “chaotic,” said Stephanie Hoffmann, a project coordinator with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “There is a lack of coordination and organization, but there’s certainly a lack of actors present here,” Hoffmann told the AP.

Congo's deadliest Ebola outbreak — caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment — was declared in May under some of the most challenging conditions imaginable fueled by mass population movements, rebel violence, mistrust and poor welfare of front line workers.

Congo has recorded more than 8,500 cases in the outbreak, according to government data, making it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record and the country’s deadliest. On Tuesday, Kenya reported its first Ebola case, a man who arrived from Congo and died while receiving treatment.

The biggest challenge to date is contact tracing, Dr. Kayesa said. Only 23% of expected contacts of Ebola patients have so far been traced. The disease is spreading in a region of Congo with intense population movements due to economic activities, conflict displacement and mining, and where there’s deep mistrust with the government and misinformation about the virus.

“I’m unable to tell you when we can stop this outbreak unless we implement the village-centered approach,” the Africa CDC chief said, calling for direct involvement of villages and local leaders in contact tracing, burials of deceased patients and isolation of cases.

Treatment centers overwhelmed as other health facilities support

Many Ebola treatment centers in North Kivu are struggling with shortages of health workers and supplies, contributing to more deaths among patients, the World Health Organization has said.

North Kivu’s case fatality rate of 58% is the highest among Congo’s seven affected provinces. The disease has spread to half of its 34 health zones. In nine of those 17 affected zones, more than half of patients with confirmed infections have died, according to Health Ministry data.

Desperate for care, patients in some parts of North Kivu have turned to regular health facilities, MSF said.

“Local healthcare workers are the ones feeling this the most because they have to make the decision between sending their community members home to potentially die by themselves or putting themselves at risk to help treat them in their health center,” said Hoffmann, coordinator of MSF’s Ebola treatment center in Butembo, North Kivu.

Some families are reluctant to report a death

Nearly five months after the outbreak was declared, it has become harder to track in parts of North Kivu, where residents still have “a hard time believing the disease exists,” said Michel Ngimba of the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Butembo.

He described cases in which families were reluctant to report a death or allow a sample to be taken from someone who died with Ebola symptoms. In other cases, families “want to arrange the funeral quickly,” Ngimba said, potentially creating new chains of transmission because the bodies of people who die from Ebola are highly contagious.

“The situation has become more difficult to monitor (and) surveillance has to deal with situations that are highly fluid and sometimes difficult to document,” he said.

——

AP writer Sebastien Kitsa Musayi in Beni, Congo contributed.

——

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

August Hanning, 80, who is “strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage,” led the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005. He was arrested on Tuesday.

A former aide of Hanning, identified only as Manfred D. in line with privacy rules in Germany, was also arrested Tuesday and is already in pretrial detention. He's accused of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.

Prosecutors didn't reveal who exactly the two men were suspected of spying for or which foreign intelligence services they provided with classified information.

Here's what to know about one of the biggest security breaches in German history:

Germany's former top spy allegedly received 2,000 intelligence documents over 12 years

The two men allegedly agreed in 2010 that Manfred D. would continuously provide Hanning — who had left office five years earlier — with valuable foreign intelligence information in exchange for payment. Manfred D. served as chief of staff for several subsequent BND presidents from 2012 until this year.

The federal prosecutor's office says that Hanning allegedly used this information to his financial advantage in his private consulting work.

Based on the current status of the investigation, Manfred D. is said to have provided his former boss with approximately 2,000 documents over a 12-year period through June 2022.

In one instance, Hanning is alleged to have used classified information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service. However, “it has not yet been possible to determine whether the report reached its intended recipient,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.

“In another instance, Hanning is alleged to have passed on information following an extensive exchange — also with an employee of another intelligence service,” a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.

Leon Kruse, a lawyer for the former spy chief, disputed the allegations on Wednesday, German news agency dpa reported.

Kruse was quoted as saying by dpa that while Hanning was indeed in possession of confidential documents, “the allegation that he passed on information contained therein to the detriment of Germany — let alone in exchange for payment — is unfounded.”

“My client is being wrongfully prosecuted,” Kruse said, according to the report.

Stolen documents intended exclusively for spy agency's internal affairs

Hanning may have had access to information intended exclusively for use within the BND, according to prosecutors. Many of the documents contained classified information for executive intelligence briefings.

Beyond that, prosecutors haven't given any further details about the mostly classified material and aren't expected to do so in the near future.

“No further information beyond what is contained in the press statement is currently being provided,” Ines Peterson, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, said Wednesday.

German officials vow a full investigation

“The federal government takes this case extremely seriously and is providing full support to the investigating authorities,” a spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters Wednesday.

“The allegations being made are serious. We need to analyze the situation and get to the bottom of it,” Sebastian Hille said. “We must await the results of the investigation in order to determine whether any changes are needed” to how the intelligence services should work and be controlled in Germany.

The chair of the parliamentary committee that oversees intelligence agencies said that the security breach has shocked both the German and international intelligence community. He said that Germany needs to reach out to allied intelligence agencies who may have lost their trust in the BND after the spying scandal became public.

“Although this has caused quite a stir, I am quite confident that the German services enjoy a very high reputation internationally,” said Marc Henrichmann, who is also a national lawmaker with Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union.

Hille, Merz’s spokesperson, said that he wasn't aware if foreign intelligence services had reached out to Germany about the incident.

Several German politicians have also called for stricter rules banning former officials with security clearances from engaging in private consulting work after leaving office.

Germany has a history of spying scandals

There have been previous spying scandals at Germany's foreign intelligence agency.

In 2022, Carsten L., a former BND employee, allegedly passed internal documents to the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, with the help of an accomplice. The trial for particularly serious treason, which Bruno Kahl, the BND director at the time, said caused “serious damage” to the German service, is still ongoing, dpa reported.

In 2014, BND employee Markus R. was exposed as a spy for the CIA. He had passed on more than 200 documents to the U.S. intelligence agency and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016.

In the 1960s, Heinz Felfe headed the Counterintelligence: Soviet Union division at the BND in West Germany while also working for the KGB. He was arrested in November 1961 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason in 1963 before he was released in a prisoner exchange to communist East Germany in 1969, dpa reported.

Germany works on beefing up intelligence agencies as threats rise

The huge intelligence breach comes at a time when the German government is working on a reform designed to grant its intelligence agencies broader powers to take measures such as countering sabotage and hacking attempts — in response to a growing threat from powers such as Russia and extremists.

In August, the Cabinet approved draft legislation aimed at strengthening the BND and its domestic counterpart, the BfV, and reducing the reliance of Germany, which is the most populous country in the European Union, on intelligence from its allies.

The case is prompting the Florida Department of Health and mosquito control to place traps in areas with a high density of mosquitoes.

Those traps will then allow officials to test the species, and to also test for dengue, west Nile, malaria and other mosquito born viruses.

Mosquito control has also responded to more house calls where residents are asking their areas be sprayed.

Health officials say the symptoms of dengue can present as a flu-like illness, with severe muscle aches, joint pain, fever and sometimes a rash. Medical experts say dengue will appear within 14 days of being bitten.

Local 10 spoke with infectious disease expert Dr. Aileen Marty about what to look for if you feel you have been infected and how some cases can be severe or fatal.

“In addition to the symptoms you had before, you can get damage to vital organs, not just your lungs, but your liver, other organs could be severely affected and it can be fatal,” she said.

Even more concerning is that there is no specific dengue antiviral available at this time, though there are medications to treat the symptoms to get past the infection.

So what can you do to protect yourself? Wear protective clothing, use mosquito repellant and drain any standing water from around your homes.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital as executioners attempted to put her to death last Wednesday for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. The lethal injection drug didn’t kill her, but her lawyers said her arms were left burned and blistered.

Her survival raises further questions about her medical and legal future. Her attorneys said her prognosis remains unclear and that she faces a long recovery.

“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” attorneys for Pike said in a statement. “Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented.”

Her attorneys said they are grateful for the first responders and the medical team at the hospital “who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her.”

It’s the first indication Pike’s health has improved

As recently as Sunday, Pike’s attorneys said she had remained unconscious and on a ventilator.

Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike’s legal team, said the development “bodes well for a good recovery.” But, he added, it could be weeks or months before anyone knows exactly what her recovery might look like, and whether her competency could be restored to a level that might enable the state to try again to execute her.

“She’s still in the ICU,” he said. “She has recovered to a certain degree that she’s able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk. There’s still a lot of bad things that can happen here, even when everyone is doing their job well.”

A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction said she could provide no information other than that Pike remained hospitalized Tuesday.

A court hearing is set for Wednesday

Pike’s attorneys are set to go to court Wednesday as they seek to learn more about what happened in the failed lethal injection.

The attorneys are seeking a court order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, records and other information from the Sept. 30 attempted execution. Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles scheduled a Wednesday morning status conference in the case.

Pike’s attorneys said in their Tuesday statement that they continue to ask outgoing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Christa is a survivor and will take recovery one day at a time,” her attorneys said.

Lee halted further executions following Pike’s hospitalization and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.” U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican candidate to replace him, called on the state to explore other methods of execution to ensure it can continue carrying out capital punishment.

Could the state try again?

In addition to questions about competency — whether Pike can understand why she would be put to death — Pike has strong arguments that it would be cruel and unusual for the state to try again to execute her, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham Law professor who has studied execution methods for 36 years. It could also violate the prohibition on double jeopardy, trying or punishing someone twice for the same offense, Denno said.

In other recent cases, states have been allowed to try again after failing to establish a suitable intravenous line, she said, but Pike is the first person to survive after the lethal drug was actually administered.

“They carried out every aspect of the execution,” Denno said. ”She didn’t die, but every process they intended, they did it.”

Seattle University Law Professor Michael Russo, who handled capital cases as a public defender in Los Angeles, called the failed execution horrible but said he doubted whether the Supreme Court would stop the state from trying again on double-jeopardy grounds, should it decide to do so.

“There’s nobody else in the history of the death penalty in this country who has gone through what she’s been through,” Russo said. But, he added, “I think what this Supreme Court would say is, her sentence was to die — to be executed — not to suffer an attempt at execution.”

___

Associated Press reporter Gene Johnson contributed from Seattle.

“Artists With Autism” turns creative talent into real-world opportunity, and artwork into independence.

Despite some major setbacks in recent months, the group’s vision and its mission hasn’t changed.

“The main focus was helping them become independent as artists,” founder Cynthia Kaegi said. “To learn skills that were marketable — for hoping that they could get a job.”

RELATED STORY: (PART 1) - Colors that connect — inside ‘Vichy’s Art’

Kaegi launched the non-profit, noting her son’s artistic passions and wanting more opportunity for those on the autism spectrum.

The group was born in 2012 and opened a gallery and training space at Festival Marketplace in Pompano Beach, until warehouse redevelopment forced them out, with no home base.

“We need to find a new home right away and a new gallery to show our art —as well as sell them,” said local artist, Joseph Michael Vidal.

The group kept going though — taking its mission to local art markets, events and pop-up galleries across South Florida.

The Plunge Beach Resort’s gallery, which regularly features local artists, invited the group to share and showcase their work in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea — through its Plunge into the Arts program.

“This is a perfect opportunity where people who don’t usually have interaction with people with autism, that they can meet them and talk to them, and they can admire what their talents are, because when you’ve met one person with autism, that’s one person with autism. They are all different and and that’s why it’s called a spectrum,” Kaegi said.

Artists With Autism is looking for businesses or organizations that may be able to sponsor or provide a permanent space. The group is also seeking additional art markets and community events where artists can display their work.

To get involved or find art/events, click here.

The organization is encouraging more artists with autism to get involved as it expands — building bridges with new audiences.

“It’s a good thing to show that everyone has a great talent,” said Vidal.

To submit an idea for What Connects Us, email whatconnectsus@wplg.com.

No direct impacts from Tropical Storm Isaias in the southwestern Gulf are expected, but our friends and neighbors along the northern Gulf Coast are likely to experience the season’s first hurricane by Friday. Hurricane watches for that region could be issued as early as later this afternoon.

The attack took place about 11 a.m. local time at the Vocational School Complex No. 4 in Ostroleka, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Warsaw, police said. Authorities did not provide any information about the suspected motive, or details about the weapon.

Five students, two teachers and two passersby were injured, regional Gov. Mariusz Frankowski said. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but one person was seriously wounded and some victims were evacuated by helicopter to a hospital.

Authorities identified the suspect only as Jakub Z., in line with Polish privacy laws.

He was arrested on a riverbank less than 1 kilometer (a half mile) from the school after fleeing the scene, according to police. He was wounded at the time of his arrest in what prosecutors said was a result of “self-mutilation.” The young man was taken to a hospital.

Police in the Mazovia province, which includes both Ostroleka and Warsaw, posted a photo on X showing a policeman with his hand placed on the back of a person lying down with their hands tied behind their back. The person’s face and hands are pixelated.

Polish media published blurred photos reportedly taken by students that showed bloodstained floors inside the school.

Two hours after the attack, Ostroleka Mayor Paweł Niewiadomski wrote on social media that the “situation has been brought under control” but that the school would remain closed while authorities investigate the circumstances of the attack.

He said kids and others affected would receive psychological support and that he had asked all schools in the region to ban any unknown people from entering their premises.

A spokesman for the local firefighters told Polsat television that a suspicious backpack was found in the school and that authorities were investigating its contents.

Police said the suspect had previously come to their attention over the possession of a small amount of narcotics.

School attacks are not common in Poland. However, a stabbing at a Catholic convent in southeastern Poland last month left one person dead and four others wounded. Police detained a suspect.

——- Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Small SUV: 2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid

Nissan’s best-selling model is getting its first full redesign since 2021, and it’s a significant one. The fourth-generation Rogue small SUV debuts with a new hybrid powertrain called E-Power that works more like an electric vehicle than a traditional hybrid. A small gas engine acts as a generator, recharging a battery that powers the electric motors driving the Rogue. The result is reduced noise and quicker acceleration compared to the regular Rogue, Nissan says. Nissan also estimates that the Rogue Hybrid will get 38 mpg in combined city/highway driving. That’s a bit less than what the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 hybrids can do, but it’s still very good for a small SUV.

Starting price: $37,065, including destination fees

Three-row SUV: 2028 Toyota Highlander

The Highlander undergoes a massive change for 2028, becoming an all-electric three-row SUV with a quoted range of up to 320 miles. Buyers who still want a gas- or hybrid-powered three-row Toyota SUV will need to look at the larger Grand Highlander. But you needn’t step up to the bigger version to get a reasonably comfortable third row, even for adults. Edmunds’ first drive in the new all-electric Highlander showed the new version’s way-back seat to be much more comfortable than the outgoing model’s. Besides the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and Kia EV9, there aren’t many three-row EVs aimed at bigger families, so we’re excited to see Toyota offering an all-new alternative.

Estimated starting price: $60,000

Luxury SUV: 2027 Audi Q9

At the same time Audi is sunsetting the longstanding A8 flagship sedan, it’s adding a new full-size three-row SUV. The 2027 Q9 is the largest vehicle Audi has ever built, and it’s aimed squarely at rival German stalwarts like the BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS. Power comes from a 429-horsepower turbocharged V6. Inside, there’s seating for seven or a more premium six-passenger layout with second-row captain’s chairs. The Q9’s third-row seating area is considerably roomier than the one in the Q7, which also gets a redesign this year. Audi has also fitted the Q9 with all of its latest technology and driver assist features.

Starting price: $89,095, including destination

Compact pickup: 2027 Slate Truck

No 2027 model has generated more buzz among budget-conscious shoppers than the Slate Truck, the debut model from an American startup automotive company. The Truck is a bare-bones two-seat electric pickup that’s smaller than a Ford Maverick. By design, it comes without factory paint or even an infotainment touchscreen. Instead, buyers are encouraged to personalize it to their liking, up to and including the option to turn the cargo bed into a seating area and effectively turn the Truck into a five-seat SUV. The Slate Truck is an intriguing option for affordable vehicle, but go in with your eyes wide open: It lacks many features you might take for granted in other vehicles, and its estimated range of just 205 miles is a concern.

Starting price: $26,400, including destination

Full-size pickup: 2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Chevrolet’s full-size truck is getting its first redesign since 2019, and that should make it a more capable rival to the Ford F-150, Ram 1500 and Toyota Tacoma. The 2027 Silverado 1500 brings a bolder exterior design, a new interior and a standard 16.3-inch touchscreen. Two new V8 engine options join the carryover turbocharged four-cylinder and diesel six-cylinder. The 5.7-liter V8 produces 402 horsepower, while the larger 6.2-liter V8 cranks out 481 horsepower. Both are more powerful than the Silverado’s previous V8s. Expect Super Cruise — GM’s hands-free driving technology — to be available on top trims. And like all full-size trucks, there will be many variants — seven to be exact, topping out at more than $80,000 for the off-road-oriented ZR2 or the luxurious High Country.

Estimated starting price: $40,000

Edmunds says

The new model year is jam-packed with big updates for some of the most popular vehicles on the market. These models we listed above will have some significant advantages over a vehicle in the here and now. Buyers shopping for new wheels will have a lot of exciting options to choose from in the next few months.

____

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Josh Jacquot is a contributor at Edmunds.

Vaccaro is seeking damages she says were caused by Hill, who has denied the allegations.

Jurors were shown video captured by a baby monitor inside the couple’s home that showed an argument between Hill and Vaccaro while their newborn baby was sleeping.

The two could be heard screaming and yelling profanities. At one point, Hill appeared to take the baby with him.

Local 10 News previously obtained video from the former couple’s Sunny Isles Beach home showing Hill holding their daughter during an argument and looking over the edge of a balcony.

The video was recorded during an April 2025 domestic dispute that prompted police to respond to the couple’s condominium. No arrests were made.

Vaccaro has accused Hill of multiple instances of physical and emotional abuse during their marriage.

Taking the stand Tuesday, Vaccaro said she endured abuse during the marriage and had remained silent about it.

“During this whole period of an 18-month marriage, it’s been a consistent two week on, two weeks off situation. Of course, we had our moments where it was beautiful, but the two weeks of when he goes back to this angry man, it’s bad,” she said. “It’s something I can’t live with, today. I can’t allow my daughter to see. I’m a new mom, obviously. I’ve endured a lot of abuse during this marriage, and I’ve been very silent.”

Vaccaro described several incidents of alleged physical abuse, including one in July 2024. She said Hill attempted to strike her in the stomach while she was pregnant and that she blocked the blow with her hands. She also accused Hill of pulling her hair during the same confrontation.

“I was pregnant, and he treated me like I was just a man,” Vaccaro said. “It was so violent. I was hurt so bad.”

Vaccaro’s attorneys also presented jurors with a photograph that she said showed a mark on her neck following an earlier confrontation with Hill.

She testified that Hill had wrestled with her over her ring and other jewelry, tackled her onto a bed and pulled the jewelry from her neck.

“He was wrestling me for my ring and my jewelry on my neck and tackling me to the bed and ripping it off,” Vaccaro said.

The jury also heard testimony concerning an alleged postnuptial agreement. Vaccaro said Hill pressured her to sign the agreement, and her attorneys presented text messages they said were exchanged during the dispute.

Hill has denied the allegations. His attorneys have challenged Vaccaro’s account and argued that her claims have been exaggerated.

Christie Bright, Hill’s attorney, urged jurors to examine the allegations against the evidence presented in court.

“Those are very serious allegations, and they deserve to be treated seriously. But taking an allegation seriously doesn’t mean accepting it because it was made,” she said. “It means examining the evidence. It means comparing what someone said today, this week, in this courtroom, to what they said contemporaneous to when it was happening.”

The trial is expected to last about 10 days.

• South Florida to honor victims today, marking 3 years since Hamas’ attack on Israel
• Woman hospitalized after truck crashes into northwest Miami-Dade business
• ‘Dangerous’ Florida Keys fugitive captured in Mexico after 5 days on run

You can watch a live feed of our news broadcast at Local10.com/Live.

Las comunidades en la posible trayectoria de Isaías se movilizaron rápidamente para prepararse, ya que se prevé un impacto el viernes en la noche. Algunos pozos petroleros del Golfo de México pausaron la producción, y una ciudad costera de Alabama canceló un festival de fin de semana conocido por atraer a miles de turistas. El gobernador de Florida declaró estado de emergencia para más de un tercio de los condados del estado.

A medida que se avance tierra adentro, Isaías también podría interrumpir el duelo de fútbol americano universitario del sábado entre Georgia y Alabama, un partido al que el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump planea asistir.

Isaías podría evolucionar a un huracán de categoría 3, con vientos de 178 km/h (111 mph), o superior antes de tocar tierra, indicó Michael Brennan, director del Centro Nacional de Huracanes de Estados Unidos (NHC, por sus siglas en inglés).

“Estamos esperando múltiples impactos peligrosos y potencialmente mortales a lo largo de partes de la costa norte en el Golfo a partir del viernes, y continuando durante el fin de semana”, apuntó Brennan en una sesión informativa en video el miércoles.

La tormenta podría igualar o romper un récord de 121 años como el primer huracán de la temporada del Atlántico que se desarrolla más tarde. Según el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, el récord data de 1905, cuando el primer huracán del Atlántico de ese año se formó el 8 de octubre.

La temporada de huracanes del Atlántico ha estado inusualmente tranquila este año debido al fenómeno climático de El Niño, que interrumpe la formación de tormentas sobre ese océano. La actividad de tormentas en el Pacífico ha estado por encima del promedio.

Amenaza de marejada ciclónica se extiende de Luisiana a Florida

El NHC emitió el miércoles un aviso de huracán para la costa norte del Golfo de México, desde Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, hasta Indian Pass en Florida. El aviso significa que son posibles condiciones de huracán dentro de las próximas 48 horas.

Brennan dijo que una peligrosa marejada ciclónica podría afectar un área aún más amplia, desde el sureste de Luisiana hasta el Big Bend de Florida. Lluvias intensas de 7 a 18 centímetros (3 a 7 pulgadas) podrían provocar inundaciones repentinas cerca de la costa, con acumulaciones de 3 a 8 centímetros (1 a 3 pulgadas) hasta Tennessee y el oeste de las Carolinas.

Isaías se ubicaba unos 365 kilómetros (225 millas) al oeste-noroeste de Progreso, México, y a unos 805 kilómetros (500 millas) al sur-suroeste de la desembocadura del río Mississippi, según el NHC. Tenía vientos máximos sostenidos de 100 km/h (65 mph) y se desplazaba hacia el este-noreste a 13 km/h (8 mph).

Los meteorólogos pronostican que Isaías se convertirá en huracán para el jueves mientras vira hacia el norte en dirección a la costa estadounidense en el Golfo de México. Aunque su trayectoria y el momento podrían cambiar, la tormenta previsiblemente tocará tierra a última hora del viernes o temprano el sábado.

Se prevé que Isaías golpee a lo largo de una amplia franja de costa que no es ajena a los huracanes. Una de las peores tormentas del siglo XX, el huracán Camille, mató a más de 250 personas después de tocar tierra cerca de Waveland, Mississippi, en 1969. El huracán Katrina en 2005 arrasó vecindarios en Mississippi, inundó Nueva Orleans y mató a casi 1.400 personas. Y el huracán Michael arrasó viviendas y edificios cerca de Panama City, Florida, en 2018.

La producción petrolera y el turismo ya están afectados

Antes de la tormenta, los productores de petróleo y gas cerraron una parte significativa de la producción en alta mar en el Golfo de México, que representa casi el 15% del crudo bombeado anualmente en Estados Unidos.

Hasta el miércoles, los productores habían detenido temporalmente alrededor del 25% del petróleo producido en la región, retirando del mercado unos 511.000 barriles al día, según la Administración de Minerales Marinos. Dijo que ocho de las 371 plataformas petroleras tripuladas en el Golfo de México habían sido evacuadas.

En Gulf Shores, Alabama, la amenaza de la tormenta hizo que los organizadores cancelaran el Festival Nacional del Camarón que estaba programado desde el jueves hasta el fin de semana. El evento atrajo a un estimado de 325.000 personas el año pasado.

El presidente del festival, Rob Barnas, declaró que la seguridad de miles de visitantes previstos, además de cientos de vendedores y voluntarios, “era nuestra máxima prioridad”.

Un refugio de animales en la zona costera de Mobile, Alabama, estaba trabajando para trasladar hasta 70 perros a hogares temporales de acogida que ofrecen mejor protección contra la tormenta. El director Robert Bryant dijo que el refugio recibió docenas de solicitudes en pocas horas después de publicar la petición en redes sociales el miércoles.

Bryant dijo que está agradecido “de que la comunidad todavía se interese”.

El gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, declaró estado de emergencia para 25 condados en las regiones del Panhandle y Big Bend. La declaración activa el plan de manejo de emergencias del estado para huracanes, permitiendo desplegar personal de respuesta a desastres y equipos.

En Pensacola, Florida, las compañías eléctricas estaban preposicionando cuadrillas para reparar rápidamente cualquier corte de energía. Funcionarios de la ciudad proporcionaron arena para que los residentes llenaran sacos para proteger sus hogares contra inundaciones. Y el alcalde de Pensacola, D.C. Reeves, instó a la gente a checar a los vecinos ancianos y a otros que pudieran necesitar ayuda.

“Obviamente no hay necesidad de entrar en pánico en este momento”, apuntó Reeves en una conferencia de prensa el miércoles. “Esto realmente se trata de preparación”.

___

Collins reportó desde Hartford, Connecticut, y Rico reportó desde Atlanta. Los periodistas de The Associated Press Russ Bynum en Savannah, Georgia, y Julie Walker en Nueva York, contribuyeron a este despacho.

Communities in Isaias' potential path moved quickly to prepare with landfall forecast as soon as Friday evening. Some Gulf oil wells paused production and an Alabama beach city canceled a weekend festival known to draw thousands of tourists. Florida's governor declared a state of emergency for more than one-third of the state's counties.

As it moves inland, Isaias might also disrupt Saturday's college football showdown between rivals Georgia and Alabama — a game President Donald Trump has planned to attend.

Isaias could become a major Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 111 mph (178 kph) or stronger, before it strikes land, said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

“We’re expecting multiple dangerous, life-threatening impacts along portions of the northern Gulf Coast beginning Friday and continuing into the weekend," Brennan said in a video briefing Wednesday.

The storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Nino, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean. Storm activity in the Pacific has been above average.

Storm surge threat extends from Louisiana to Florida

The Miami-based hurricane center issued a hurricane watch Wednesday for the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass on the Florida Panhandle. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours.

Brennan said dangerous storm surge could affect an even wider area, from southeast Louisiana to Florida's Big Bend. Heavy rains of 3 to 7 inches (7 to 18 centimeters) could trigger flash flooding near the coast, with accumulations of 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 centimeters) as far inland as Tennessee and the western Carolinas.

Isaias was centered about 225 miles (365 kilometers) west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 500 miles (805 kilometers) south-southwest of the Mississippi River’s mouth, according to the hurricane center. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph).

Forecasters predict Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE’-ahs, according to the hurricane center) will become a hurricane by Thursday as it turns northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. Though its path and timing could shift, the storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday.

Isaias is expected to strike along a wide swath of coastline that's no stranger to major hurricanes. One of the 20th century's worst storms, Hurricane Camille, killed more than 250 people after hitting land near Waveland, Mississippi, in 1969. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 razed neighborhoods in Mississippi, flooded New Orleans and killed nearly 1,400 people. And Hurricane Michael leveled homes and buildings near Panama City, Florida, in 2018.

Gulf oil production and tourism are already affected

Ahead of the storm, oil and gas producers shut down a significant share of offshore production in the Gulf, which accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the U.S.

As of Wednesday, producers had temporarily halted about 25% of the oil produced in the region, taking about 511,000 barrels a day off the market, according to the Marine Minerals Administration. It said eight of the Gulf's 371 manned oil platforms had been evacuated.

In Gulf Shores, Alabama, the storm threat caused organizers to cancel the National Shrimp Festival that had been scheduled for Thursday through the weekend. The event drew an estimated 325,000 people last year.

Festival Chairman Rob Barnas said the safety of thousands of anticipated visitors, plus hundreds of vendors and volunteers, “was our top priority.”

An animal shelter in coastal Mobile, Alabama, was working to move up to 70 dogs into temporary foster homes that offer better protection from the storm. Director Robert Bryant said the shelter received dozens of foster applications within a few hours of posting the request on social media Wednesday.

Bryant said he's grateful “that the community still cares.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 25 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions. The declaration activates the state's emergency management plan for hurricanes, allowing officials to deploy disaster responders and equipment.

In Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle, electric utilities were prepositioning crews to quickly repair any power outages. City officials provided sand for residents to fill sandbags to protect their homes against flooding. And Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves urged people to check on elderly neighbors and others who might need help.

“Obviously no need to panic at this point," Reeves told a news conference Wednesday. "This is really about preparation.”

___

Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Rico reported from Atlanta. Associated Press journalists Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.

Israeli settlers opened fire on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the goal of the Iran war is to prevent Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Read our full coverage here.

Houthis claim more attacks in Saudi Arabia

Attacks on Abha and Riyadh’s King Khalid international airports in Saudia Arabia threatened to pull the kingdom deeper into the latest front in the Iran war.

The attack on Abha airport killed Moroccan and Algerian residents and wounded 28 other people, while the attack on King Khalid airport killed a Sudanese national and wounded eight other people, the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation said.

The Saudis did not blame any party for the attacks but Houthi rebels took credit earlier for the airport strikes.

The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said forces intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh and destroyed a platform in Yemen’s capital that had been used to launch attacks on the Saudi capital. The AP could not independently verify these claims.

The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Yemen’s port city of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government.

1 dead and 16 wounded as Israeli settlers fire on olive harvesters

Israeli settlers opened fire on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing a Palestinian officer who responded to the attack and wounding 16, Palestinian officials said, the latest in a series of violent attacks since the harvest began this month.

Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, was a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces who went to the Palestinian village of Burqa when news of the attack surfaced, said his cousin Abdul Latif al-Bazzari, who was also injured on site.

Sami Daghlas, a member of the Burqa village council, said that after the attack the Israeli military prevented emergency medical responders from reaching the injured for more than an hour.

The military went to the area after getting reports of an Israeli civilian injured by a rock. Several Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks were apprehended for questioning, the military said in a statement.

The Israeli military and police did not respond to questions about whether the person who shot and killed al-Bazzari had been arrested. Arrests following settler violence in the West Bank are rare, and convictions are rarer still.

In a second attack Wednesday, dozens of settlers chased olive harvesters from groves, forcing them to take shelter in a house near the village of Marda in the northern occupied West Bank, said Bassam Abdah, a former head of the village council.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at residents near the house and detained three people, Abdah said.

Five Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured this week in such attacks, according to Palestinian officials. They say Israelis have damaged thousands of trees, costing farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

‘Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,’ says Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there should be no confusion over the Trump administration’s ultimate goal in the Iran war: to prevent the Islamic Republic from ever developing a nuclear weapon.

Rubio made the comments Wednesday after Vice President JD Vance told Reuters that the administration might be able to accept an agreement calling for Iran to make a “meaningful” decrease in its capacity for nuclear enrichment.

“I don’t understand where the confusion is about the nuclear program,” Rubio said. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Simple, period, end of story.”

Strikes in Gaza kill 3 people

Israeli strikes in northern and southern Gaza killed three Palestinians and wounded at least a dozen others, according to health officials at Gaza hospitals.

An Israeli strike in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza overnight killed one civil defense worker, according to health officials at the territory’s Health Ministry and the civil defense. The Israeli military said Wednesday of the strike that a “Hamas military-wing terrorist, who was presented to the world as a ‘civil defense worker,' was eliminated in the strike."

Two other strikes each killed one person and wounded at least a dozen others in southern Gaza, according to officials at Nasser hospital. The Israeli military said one strike targeted a military operative, without elaborating, and said it was not aware of the second strike.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,467 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire was reached with Hamas nearly a year ago, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its figures are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It doesn’t give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

___

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

The Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation did not blame any party for the attacks at Abha and Riyadh’s King Khalid international airports, but Houthi rebels took credit earlier for the airport strikes.

The attack on Abha airport killed Moroccan and Algerian residents and wounded 28 other people, while the attack on King Khalid airport killed a Sudanese national and wounded eight other people, officials said.

As Riyadh has been targeted over the past week, new cage-like fences have been erected around fuel tanks and other equipment of the Saudi state-run Aramco oil company near the capital's airport. The kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter, has seen oil and military assets targeted in recent days, posing a threat to crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has been curtailed due to the Iran war.

The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said forces intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh and destroyed a platform in Yemen’s capital of Sana that had been used to launch attacks on the Saudi capital. The AP could not independently verify these claims.

Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni forces launched a major ground and air offensive aimed at retaking territory that the rebels seized a month ago along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Those positions gave the Houthis better surveillance as they pursue a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. On Monday, officials said forces of the Saudi-led coalition recaptured several key areas around the strait, through which about 12% of global trade transits.

Houthis push for strategic areas in Yemen

“The Houthis believe that they can maximize Saudi economic costs and compel Saudi Arabia to surrender to Houthi demands by striking civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities and airports,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in an analysis.

Inside Yemen, fighting has centered in and around the crucial town of Dhubab, some 54 kilometers (33.5 miles) south of the port city of Mokha that the rebels seized last month, according to both the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognized government.

Two Houthi officials said Wednesday that the rebels had regained control of key areas of Yemen’s southwestern coast, including Dhubab and the nearby village of Al-Jadid, as well as the Bab el-Mandeb strait, after intensified fighting with Saudi-backed coalition forces.

A government official denied the claims, which The Associated Press could not independently verify.

The Houthis also claimed that Saudi forces had targeted “civilian assets” over the past 24 hours in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, as well as Taiz, Jawf and other active fronts, including Saada and Marib.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said, without providing evidence, that fighter jets used in the attacks had taken off from Khamis Mushait and Taif in Saudi Arabia, while missiles had been launched from Najran and Jizan. The rebels have repeatedly claimed attacks on those Saudi cities in recent weeks.

Saudi-led coalition vows full support to Yemen government

Al-Malki has vowed “full operational support” to Yemeni government forces until the Houthis are “eliminated.” The coalition has said 100 fighter jets were providing support. Another aim is to liberate Sanaa, Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi criticized Saudi Arabia over support for Yemen’s government forces in the latest escalation with the Houthis, which has shattered a truce reached four years ago.

Rebels are ready to support Palestinians in every way they can in case of “any new round of escalation” with Israel, al-Houthi said in a speech Wednesday expressing solidarity with Gaza on the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The offensive began after the rebels seized Turbah town on a main road linking the provincial capital of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, with Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government. Officials have said U.S. support has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning.

The escalation has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire. Almost 1,000 people have been killed in the latest fighting, with over 200,000 displaced, according to the United Nations. Cholera and malnutrition cases are increasing, access to trauma care is more difficult and some hospitals have shortages of surgical and other supplies, the World Health Organization said this week.

Houthi missiles target Aden's airport

The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Aden. Explosions were heard by an AP journalist around 2 a.m.

The rebels hit a military camp close to the city's airport with ballistic missiles, Saree said. Security authorities in Aden said the Houthis targeted the airport with two missiles, with no casualties. The airport is close to the seat of government.

One missile hit close to the runway just before the scheduled landing of a flight from Cairo, the Human Rights Ministry said. Flight 603, operated by Yemen’s flagship airline, landed safely in Aden at 3:30 a.m., according to the flight tracking platform FlightAware.

The ministry said the missile hit as other passengers were waiting to board their flight to the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

The office of Prime Minister Balendra Shah decided on Monday that search and rescue operations for victims of the Aug. 26 floods will cease. Instead, authorities will concentrate on rehabilitation and reconstruction including restoring roads and bridges cut off by floods, particularly in remote areas where damaged infrastructure has made aid deliveries difficult.

Rescuers have so far recovered the bodies of at least 1,455 people, but 5,285 others remain missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals.

The government estimates reconstruction and recovery will cost $4.77 billion. Nearly 33,000 people have been affected and about 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Hopes for finding survivors were briefly revived after two Nepalese workers were rescued from an underground tunnel at the Trishuli hydropower project on Sept. 4, and again two days later when rescuers found a Chinese man at the same location.

Families of victims have held protests and vigils in Nepal, calling for search efforts to be improved.

“I am so angry at the government for giving up on search and rescue with thousands of people still missing. I just don’t understand how they can do that when we still have hope left that our loved one can still be found,” said Usha Khatri, who has spent days searching for her husband in multiple towns where the river flows and bodies have been recovered.

During her ongoing search she has checked photos of bodies that were recovered but buried for preservation until identification is made.

“Either they have to give up the body or show some solid proof that my husband is gone and only then can they declare him dead,” Khatri said.

“They have abandoned us and they should not have stopped the search,” said Mahesh Shrestha, whose brother was an engineer at a hydropower plant that was hit. “Our family demand they continue looking for him.”

Others welcomed the decision and said they are seeking government-issued death certificates.

“After so many days and weeks there is little or no hope of finding anyone alive. We are sure that none of our family members survived and we are just looking for a closure,” said Nirajan Poudel, who lost five family members in the flood.

Several people whose relatives remain missing have performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important final rite in the Hindu tradition and performing the ceremony even without a body provides a sense of spiritual release for some families.

Poudel said the government has so far refused to issue death certificates, saying laws need to be amended first. Death certificates are necessary in Nepal for families to receive compensation, insurance and inherit properties.

Nepal's government did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press for more information about the death certificates.

The two-month operation targeted illegal logging, gold mining and wildlife trafficking across nine countries, identifying some 60,000 hectares (148,000 acres) of illegally cleared forest — an area 10 times the size of Manhattan Island.

But investigators increasingly focused beyond the people cutting trees, mining gold or trafficking animals to the companies, financial networks and international buyers suspected of profiting from environmental destruction.

In one investigation originating in Colombia, authorities had identified 11 foreign companies suspected of involvement in clearing more than 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) of protected Amazon forest. Interpol said intelligence gathered during the latest operation uncovered links to another 161 companies and 65 people across several continents.

Investigators found suspected permit fraud and the alleged use of shell companies and foreign investment mechanisms, Interpol said. Colombian authorities arrested 16 people and seized digital evidence, while Interpol issued international notices seeking information or action involving suspects linked to the network.

“Following the money, whether from an illegal gold mine in Panama to a buyer in North America, Europe or Asia, helps a case move beyond the individuals physically harvesting the timber, handling the animal or extracting the gold,” Krandall Gullock, head of Interpol’s Regional Bureau for Central America, said in a statement.

Illegal gold mining fuels deforestation and pollution

Environmental crime has become increasingly intertwined with organized crime across Latin America, particularly in remote forest regions where illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking can exploit the same routes and financial networks used for other illicit commodities. Gold is particularly attractive to criminal groups because of its high value, portability and ease of sale. Illegal mining has expanded across parts of the Amazon as gold prices have risen, driving deforestation and contaminating rivers with mercury and other toxic substances.

In August, The Associated Press accompanied Peruvian security forces raiding illegal gold mines advancing into the Tambopata National Reserve in the Amazon. Authorities there are increasingly trying to target not only mining equipment but the financial networks behind the operations, as miners frequently return after raids.

Earlier this year, nearly 200 people were arrested in the first coordinated cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining involving Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname. Authorities seized gold, cash, mercury, firearms and mining equipment.

The latest Interpol operation underscored the scale of the chemicals feeding the trade. In Costa Rica, authorities seized about 4.6 metric tons of cyanide and 11 containers of mercury, both used in gold extraction. Mercury is highly toxic and can contaminate rivers, wildlife and people, while cyanide can also cause severe environmental damage if improperly handled or released.

Wildlife trafficking another focus of crackdown

The crackdown, known as Operation Madre Tierra VIII, ran from June 1 to July 31 and involved Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. More than 330 cases were reported, with 312 people identified as suspected of involvement in environmental crimes.

It follows a similar Interpol operation last year that resulted in 225 arrests and uncovered more than 400 environmental crimes, including illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, mining and pollution.

Wildlife trafficking was another major focus this year. Authorities recovered more than 1,000 live animals, including endangered Bengal tigers, lions, jaguars, ocelots, parrots and macaws. Some were found along routes also used by criminal networks to move drugs and other illicit goods, Interpol said.

Authorities also seized 165 kilograms (364 pounds) of dried shark fins worth an estimated $280,000.

“These cases demonstrate the transnational nature of environmental crime, with biodiversity-rich countries increasingly targeted as sources of high-value commodities destined for illicit markets around the world,” said Thomas Ungerbuehler, Interpol’s assistant director of environmental security.

___

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

The election late Tuesday was a significant moment in a political crisis in the small Balkan nation that has caused legislative deadlock for over 19 months and two early parliamentary elections.

Just before Shiroka Pula was elected, lawmakers also approved a law limiting the powers of a special court in The Hague, Netherlands, which was set up to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the country's 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia.

During the extraordinary session in Parliament, Shiroka Pula secured 81 votes in the 120-seat parliament. Outside, thousands of protesters had gathered demanding that the legislature pass the law limiting the powers of the war crimes court, known as the Specialist Chambers.

Shiroka Pula recently served as president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. She will become Kosovo’s third female president since the country’s post-war independence. She was a last-minute consensus candidate backed by the ruling Self-Determination movement and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

The role of president in Kosovo is largely ceremonial, though office holders do play an important role in foreign policy and serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. She will have to endorse the law limiting the power of the Hague court for it to become binding.

In her speech after taking the oath late Tuesday, Shiroka Pula said: “Today, I accept with great honor and full responsibility the duty of President of the Republic of Kosovo.”

“This mandate does not belong to one person alone, it belongs to our citizens, our institutions, and the state for which many generations have sacrificed,” she said.

Shiroka Pula’s election came after over two weeks of protests following a verdict by The Hague-based court convicting four of Kosovo's wartime rebel leaders of war crimes, including the country's former president Hashim Thaci. They were sentenced to between 13 and 25 years in prison.

Kosovo has criticized the verdicts as unjust, maintaining that the KLA, which Thaci had led before entering politics, had fought against Serbian oppression. Both residents and politicians feared the court ruling would tarnish Kosovo’s independence struggle.

More than 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, were killed during the conflict in Kosovo, while about 1 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars were driven from their homes during the fighting.

Many molecules come in versions that look alike but are not exactly identical, like right and left hands. Kagan, who is from France, and Soai, from Japan, found ways to make chemistry pick a side, describing and designing reactions to produce the desired mirror image.

“The medicines we have today would not be possible without this chemistry,” said Rigoberto Hernandez, president of the American Chemical Society.

Soai was shopping at a neighborhood supermarket when he heard he had won.

“I’m very excited to receive the very nice news,” Soai told the Nobel committee and journalists by phone. “Of course, this is one of the most exciting days in my life.”

The discovery enabled most modern medicines

Mirror images of the same molecule can have different properties. For example, one version of the chemical carvone smells like mint, while the other has a whiff of caraway, a spice often used in rye bread.

The alternate versions can also behave differently when interacting with other chemicals. When designing drugs to treat diseases, scientists are choosy about which mirror image they use. They want the version of a molecule to treat a cold, not one that will make the sniffles worse.

In the 1980s, Kagan’s work showed there might be a way to design reactions to produce one form of a molecule over the other. Years later, Soai perfected the process. He created the first-ever chemical reaction to efficiently produce only one of a molecule’s mirror images, in what’s now known as the Soai reaction.

“This is probably the coolest experiment in organic chemistry,” said Peter Somfai, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Kagan, 95, is affiliated with the Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France. Soai, 76, is affiliated with the Tokyo University of Science. The Nobel committee described their work as a feat never previously achieved by anyone “other than life itself.”

The French Academy of Sciences, where Kagan is a member, congratulated him, as did French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the prize “an immense source of pride for the country” and “a recognition befitting a lifetime of research.”

“It might be difficult to say that this drug, or that drug, was developed using this,” Somfai said. “I would say all of them, because we use this as a tool, we use this as an understanding, how to develop catalysts, how they function.”

Life, too, prefers one mirror image over the other. DNA twists to the right, and the proteins in human bodies are made of mostly left-handed building blocks.

In addition to developing better medicines or perfumes, deciphering the mirror images of molecules can help scientists understand the chemical architecture of life, said chemist Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the journal Science.

“There are still fascinating aspects that remain unknown and surely more yet to be discovered,” Soai said at a news conference hosted by his university in Tokyo. "I hope to do what I can, however modestly, to contribute to help advance research in this field."

Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri, distributed an extra edition with a headline proclaiming “Nobel Prize Mr. Soai,” with a big photo of the scientist. The papers quickly disappeared as office workers picked them up on their way home.

More Nobel prizes are still to be awarded

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm.

Last year, three scientists won the chemistry Nobel for their development of new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments.

This year's prizes began with the Nobel for medicine, awarded Monday to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award announced Tuesday recognized a scientist's efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos.

The literature prize is set to be awarded Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

___

This story has been corrected to correct that Kagan, not Soai, is 95.

___

Ramakrishnan reported from New York. Dazio reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalists Alexa St. John in Detroit, Catherine Gaschka in Paris and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

___

AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

Martinez spent 2009-11 playing for Fordham, a school just 5 miles from the big ballpark. His last trip to Yankee Stadium as a student was memorable.

“We had practice get canceled and so me and my roommate we went out pretty early. They were playing the Red Sox. Might have had a few too many adult beverages. Got kicked out,” he recalled in May. “It was rowdy. We were kind of rowdy. Next time I was at Yankee Stadium I was pitching."

Hoping for its first World Series title, Tampa Bay has a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five AL Division Series against New York. Martinez is 2-2 with a 2.93 ERA in nine Yankee Stadium appearances.

“As a student at Fordham, whenever we had practice off or a day off and they were playing at home, we’d come over, catch a train and watch a game at Yankee Stadium and we’d be in the bleachers, my roommate or a couple buddies,” the 36-year-old right-hander recalled Tuesday.

“Man, obviously playing here would be pretty badass,” Martinez remembered thinking back then.

He became a first-time All-Star this year, going 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA — including 7-3 with a 2.38 ERA and .232 opponents batting average on the road.

“It’s supercool to see a guy like that who’s been around for a long time, have the success he’s had,” Rays outfielder Jonny DeLuca said. “It’s the vibes. It’s everything that he brings."

Martinez was primarily a middle infielder in college, hitting .295 with four homers and 66 RBIs. He made five relief appearances as a freshman, none as a sophomore and 10 as a junior, totaling 26 1/3 innings.

He drew the attention of Texas Rangers scout Jay Heafner on March 14, 2011, throwing four shutout innings of three-hit ball against Charleston Southern. Heafner was tipped to watch Martinez by Juan Alvarez, a former major leaguer who was a Rangers scout at the time and had given Martinez some pitching lessons during his junior year at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Kendall, Florida.

Martinez was selected by the Rangers in the 18th round of the 2011 amateur draft with the 564th pick and signed for a $60,000 bonus. He made his big league debut in 2014 and went 17-30 with a 4.77 ERA in 68 starts and 20 relief appearances while getting optioned to the minor leagues 13 times.

Not wanting to risk getting designated for assignment, Martinez left and spent four seasons in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters and Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He pitched for the U.S. in the 2021 Olympics, beating South Korea in the group stage and allowing Munetaka Murakami's go-ahead homer in the third inning of a 2-0 loss to Japan in the gold medal game.

“We could talk for an hour about how Japan changed my career,” Martinez said. “I just grew as a pitcher physically and mentally and was able to hone in my craft. Ultimately I was able to shake that label of being a depth guy, being a guy that can be in Triple-A and come up for a spot start and kind of ride that DFA train and bounce around teams and just fill in.”

He has blossomed back in the major leagues and has a 53-65 career record with a 3.99 ERA in nine big league seasons. After pitching for San Diego and Cincinnati. he joined the Rays for 2026 on a $13 million, one-year deal.

“Induces soft contact,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We got a lot of guys and a lot of starters that get a lot of outs via the strikeout. We know and he knows that that’s not his bread and butter. It’s to try to get guys out early in the count, trust the defense. He does that as well as anybody.”

After bouncing between the rotation and the bullpen, Martinez became a full-time starter this season.

“I’ve always believed that I can be a starter,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed being one of the five or six horses on the team that the team relies on for a full season.”

Martinez impressed Cash as much with his demeanor.

“He is so genuine and authentic,” the manager said. “The selfless approach. I’ve heard him no less than 20 times this year look at me as like: 'I don’t care. I’ll do whatever. I’ll pitch out of the pen. I’ll start games. I’ll do whatever you need me to do to help this team win.'”

Martinez returned to Fordham on Sept. 21, throwing long toss at Jack Coffey Field with fellow Rays pitchers Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta on an off day before his last start against the Yankees.

“In his head it logically made sense to come up to campus and throw more than I guess throwing in Central Park,” Fordham baseball coach Kevin Leighton said. “They easily could have taken it easy, but those guys were up early in the morning after a flight to New York and they were getting their work in up at Fordham. To me, that says a lot about those guys and their work ethic and commitment to being the best.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

In Greece to discuss deepening economic, energy and security cooperation, Rubio made the case for nationalism while emphasizing the importance of global alliances during a dramatic speech about ancient civilization that appeared to reflect his political aspirations beyond being America’s top diplomat.

Rubio aimed to remind listeners of qualities he says were born in Greece and later defined the West, such as curiosity, courage, ambition, a restless spirit of exploration and a drive to discover the unknown.

“It has become fashionable today to believe that enlightened foreign policy means prioritizing the ‘global community’ over one’s own people," Rubio said. "And I think here, too, we have much more to learn from the men of ancient Greece. They knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else.”

Rubio touts alliances with Europe but says US pursues 'national power’

In his current role, Rubio is seen by many as the gentle face of the Trump administration and has been frequently dispatched to clarify or otherwise address concerns about the president’s frequently undiplomatic statements.

He is on the second leg of a three-nation tour of NATO allies that has already taken him to Iceland and will end in Portugal on Thursday, aiming to reassure U.S. partners that the Trump administration is committed to their success and security despite what has been an often brusque approach to traditional friends that has stirred unease.

“We must strengthen an alliance capable of confronting threats of our age. And we can,” Rubio said Wednesday, maintaining that the U.S. administration wanted Europe to join its bold vision of the future.

He also was clear, however, about the United States acting in its own interests around the world.

“We will either choose to act now, or lose the choice to act at all,” he said. “Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice. We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power.”

Rubio warned European countries that the decisions made in the next decade “will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world, or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline.”

But he also argued that despite “passions” having strained U.S.-Europe relations, allied countries must work to “rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused countries in Europe of backsliding on their traditional values and democratic principles by stifling the free speech of conservatives and falling short on commitments to international partners like the United States.

Many of those countries have rejected the complaints and accused the U.S. under Trump of being guilty of similar behavior and worse with its staunch anti-immigration stance that some believe is racist.

Rubio's speech offers presidential overtones

The tone and tenor of Rubio’s remarks, the symbolic backdrop and the State Department's hiring of a local television crew to provide different angles of the speech, including a camera-mounted swiveling crane, were more reflective of a stump speech during a presidential campaign than a public address while on a diplomatic trip.

The former Republican senator, who previously ran for the White House in 2016, touched on the history of Western civilization while making mention of his own family’s immigration journey, at one point marveling how a son of Cuban immigrants could become the U.S. secretary of state.

“Two and a half centuries after the founding of the American Republic, halfway across the world from where I stand now, I stand here today as the Secretary of State of that Republic, and as the great-grandson of settlers who arrived in the New World from Spain,” Rubio said. “I stand here to testify to a debt that no lapse of time, no distance of space, can ever extinguish.”

Along with Vice President JD Vance, Rubio is seen as one of the leading contenders to assume Trump’s mantle at the top of the Republican Party, which faces stiff challenges in next month’s congressional midterm elections.

The speech, however, contained several historically dubious points, including that the founders of the United States had embraced the direct democracy that Athens was known for. The founders were suspicious of direct democracy and so created the Electoral College as a check on the popular will.

Rubio also hailed the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés as an heir to the Athenian concept of exploring and pursuing knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Cortes is viewed much differently in Latin America, where his toppling of the Aztec empire and other bloody conquests are remembered for huge numbers of dead and the theft of treasure.

Visit follows allegations of misconduct by US ambassador

Before his speech, Rubio declined to comment when asked about allegations of misconduct leveled at U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.

At a joint news conference with the Greek foreign minister, Rubio said he would not address the matter while visiting a foreign country, but added, “Suffice it to say our embassy here is doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”

The top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Gregory Meeks, have initiated probes into claims reported last month by the Wall Street Journal that Guilfoyle acted improperly while serving as the top U.S. envoy to Greece.

The Journal reported that Guilfoyle told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.

Guilfoyle, a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr., has denied any wrongdoing and Rubio has defended her before.

Ahead of his visit, about 1,500 people gathered to protest Rubio’s presence and the war in Iran, chanting “American killers!”

The demonstration was organized by a communist labor union and other left-wing groups and was held ahead of extensive road closures planned in Athens. Organizers said similar protests were held in at least 12 other Greek cities.

Police banned public demonstrations Wednesday in central Athens.

___

Amiri reported from New York.

The five children were killed when a Russian missile struck an apartment building, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Three were 1 year old and another was 8.

Zelenskyy had warned the previous day that intelligence services had concluded that Russia was building up for a “massive” strike.

Although Ukraine knew about the looming attack, which coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, it couldn’t repel it completely.

“This is the ‘gift’ that Putin gave himself for his birthday: the killing of children, the killing of people,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Wednesday.

The deaths and damage illustrated the difficulty Ukraine has in countering Russia’s ballistic missiles and the new jet-powered drones used in Moscow’s escalating bombardments. Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, Ukraine can’t stop Russian ballistic weapons. It is racing to develop a new generation of interceptors fast enough to catch Moscow's high-flying jet-propelled drones.

Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a long-range aerial war as their armies remain largely deadlocked on the battlefield, more than 4 ½ years after Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. The unrelenting aerial attacks are hurting Russia but could be ruinous for smaller Ukraine.

U.S.-led peace efforts appear unlikely to bring any short-term relief, with the possibility of holding low-level technical talks still under discussion. Putin, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with the invasion in the belief that Ukrainians will buckle under the pressure and Kyiv’s Western supporters won’t stay the course, Western analysts say.

“Russia is pursuing a deliberate strategy of terror,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X. “Trying to make daily life impossible for Ukrainians who want to live in peace.”

Russia wants Ukrainians to be afraid to sleep

, official says

A Russian strike destroyed an apartment block in Pryluky, in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, killing 19 people, including five children, Zelenskyy said. Authorities said around 50 were wounded.

Deaths were also reported in three other Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, according to Zelenskyy.

“The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively,” the Ukrainian leader said on social media.

Ukraine is looking worldwide for available Patriot missiles, which are in short supply due to the Iran war.

“Russian ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge. And air defense packages for us right now are a vital necessity,” Zelenskyy said.

In Kremenchuk, in the Poltava region, two people were killed and seven injured, said Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the regional military administration, and a rescue operation was continuing.

“That is exactly what the enemy is counting on. For us to be afraid to fall asleep. To let our children out of our sight. To plan anything. So that everyone thinks: next time it could be my address,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the military carried out a massive strike overnight targeting industrial facilities involved in the production and storage of missiles and drones across Ukraine. The ministry said that port and ship repair facilities in the southern Odesa region and ships carrying cargo for the Ukrainian military were also hit.

Ukraine hit back against Russian oil facilities, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine has hit back at Russia by launching long-range drones and missiles at oil refineries and storage depots.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukraine targeted two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions of Russia.

Russian officials made no immediate comment.

Zelenskyy also indicated that Ukraine had struck in the Black Sea. He posted images of a fire said to show an oil tanker burning in the water near the Russian city of Sochi.

It was not possible to independently verify the images.

Some Russian online media late Tuesday also posted the images. Unconfirmed reports said the tanker was carrying oil from Novorossiysk to India and was attacked by Ukrainian sea drones.

___

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

“Some very tough political choices stare us in the face,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore ahead of autumn IMF-World Bank meetings to be held in Bangkok next week.

“My message to the world's economic policymakers next week will be this: we cannot keep delaying necessary policy action — you have the tools, now have the wisdom to use them,” she said.

At the meetings in Bangkok, finance ministers and central bank governors of 191 IMF-World Bank member countries will assess the state of the world economy and discuss strategies to support financial stability and sustained growth.

So far, the hardest recent hits to global well-being have come from conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere, Georgieva noted.

But excessive debt is a growing burden for wealthy countries such as the U.S., Japan and Germany, as well as low-income countries that must choose between spending on public welfare or repaying onerous loans at a time of high interest rates, she noted.

Georgieva pointed to risks associated with the rapid buildup of data center capacity to deliver artificial intelligence, which has helped push stock prices in many places to record highs, supporting strong economic growth despite high energy costs due to the Iran war.

Investments in AI are likely to exceed the relative scale of spending on building railroads, electricity grids and telecommunications networks.

“Love it, hate it or fear it, AI is here, rapidly becoming a key driver of countries' relative fortunes in the world economy,” she said.

The AI building boom is underpinning robust corporate earnings as well as higher inflation. But there is a lag between the heavy investments involved and the arrival of AI's benefits, Georgieva said.

“Should earnings fall short,” she said, “hyperscaler leverage and large and growing global holdings of U.S. equities could turn a disappointment into a far-reaching shock.”

Seven of the top 10 countries for AI-related trade are in the Asia-Pacific region, where the share of global economic activity has risen to 43% from 25% in 1991, the last time the meetings were held in Bangkok.

While China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries with strong tech sectors are benefiting from the AI boom, it is bypassing most others, Georgieva said, adding to economic inequality. AI also is raising energy demand, pushing prices for fuel, fertilizer, food and other key commodities still higher.

She urged countries to rein in public spending and to raise the cost of borrowing as needed to control inflation, while protecting the most vulnerable members of their societies.

Policies are needed to ensure AI is well regulated and to train workers, make labor markets more flexible, facilitate entrepreneurship and improve energy security, Georgieva said.