The Fed increased its benchmark interest rate Wednesday by a quarter-point, the first rate hike since the summer of 2023. The hike will likely make it even costlier to borrow for homes, autos and other purchases. But if you've been socking money away, you’ll probably earn a bit more interest on your savings.

The increase boosts the Fed's target rate to a range of 3.75% to 4.00%.

Here’s what to know:

Why is the Fed raising rates?

The short answer: inflation.

Inflation has remained above the Fed's 2% target for more than five years. The Labor Department reported Friday that consumer prices rose 3.4% in August compared to a year earlier, while the monthly increase quadrupled from July to hit 0.4%.

The Fed’s goal is to slow consumer and business spending by raising the cost of borrowing, thereby reducing demand for homes, cars and other goods and services, eventually cooling the economy and reducing upward pressure on prices.

Kevin Warsh, Fed chair since May, has assured Congress that central bank policymakers “have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation.”

Which consumers are most affected?

Anyone borrowing money to make a sizable purchase, such as a home, car or large appliance, will likely take a hit eventually. The new rate will also increase monthly payments and costs for any consumer who is already paying interest on credit card debt.

Then again, said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at the online loan marketplace LendingTree, “the reality is that a single quarter-point rate increase isn't really going to have a huge impact.'' But it would be different if Wednesday's hike marks the first in a series of rate increases. ”When this all becomes impactful to people is when you stack a few these on top of each other over time, and it adds up to something bigger," Schulz said.

For now, U.S. household debt payments are relatively low overall as a percentage of after-tax income. So even if borrowing rates rise, many households might not feel a heavier debt burden immediately.

Do savers get a break?

Most likely. Wednesday’s move probably means interest rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposit are headed higher. The Fed doesn’t set rates on savings accounts and CDs but it “sets the tone″ for them, the credit reporting agency Experian says. When the central bank started raising rates to combat an outbreak of inflation in March 2022, the average rate on a 1-year CD was stuck at a miserly 0.15%, according to FDIC data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The rate shot up to 1.88% by September 2024 and has remained above 1.5% ever since. It was 1.71% last month.

Online banks and others that offer high-yield savings accounts typically compete aggressively for depositors. (The catch: They sometimes require significantly larger deposits.)

What does this mean for mortgage rates?

Mortgage rates don’t necessarily follow what the Fed does. At least not directly. They tend to track the yield on 10-year Treasury notes instead. Unfortunately for home shoppers, 10-year yields have been surging. On Monday they topped 5% for the first time since 2023 due to unease over surging energy prices and massive government debt that continues to grow. Treasury yields have continued to rise despite an intervention from the Treasury after Secretary Scott Bessent ordered the U.S. to buy back government bonds in a bid to push yields down.

The rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 6.76% last week, the highest in more than 14 months, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said.

The high cost of home loans is already taking a toll on the housing market. The Realtors association reported last week that sales of previously occupied U.S. homes dropped for the third straight month in August, growing at the slowest pace in more than a year.

Adjustable-rate mortgages could rise in order to price in a Fed hike. But many homeowners locked in low mortgage rates when COVID-19 slammed the economy and sent borrowing costs tumbling; so they are protected if mortgage rates rise in the wake of a Fed raTte hike. The National Association of Realtors reports that nearly half of mortgages outstanding are locked in at 4% or lower and almost a fifth were at 3% or lower in the first three months of 2026.

And credit-card rates?

Most credit cards have variable interest rates that track the prime rate banks charge their best customers. And the prime rate responds quickly — within a month — when the Fed raises or lowers its benchmark “fed funds" rate, ”meaning that the Fed’s policy changes flow through to credit card rates rapidly,'' researchers at the Boston Fed wrote in March.

Schulz at LendingTree reckons that most credit cardholders will see their rates rise by a quarter-point over the next couple of months.

Many Americans, coping with the high cost of living, are increasingly relying on credit cards to help maintain their spending. Total credit card balances hit $1.26 trillion in the second quarter — near the record $1.28 trillion set at the end of 2025 (though the numbers are not adjusted for inflation), according to the New York Fed.

Car loans, too?

The Fed indirectly influences auto loan rates by influencing the prime rate. Cars, especially new ones, are already prohibitively expensive. The average cost of a new car rose to $50,089 last month, according to Kelley Blue Book. The average loan rate last month was 7% for a new car and 10.6% for a used car, according to Edmunds. And the average monthly payment, Experian reported, was $765 in the second quarter of 2026.

“Most Americans are generally doing OK,'' Schulz said. ”But it wouldn’t take a whole lot for them to not be doing OK. People’s financial margin for error is generally pretty small, and just the rising cost of most everything just squeezes them more and more.''

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The steep-sided hole — about 728 feet (222 meters) across and up to 141 feet (43 meters) deep — is the solar system’s biggest known impact crater carved out in recent times.

Such a large-scale event is estimated to occur only once every 132 years, researchers said, making this a treasure trove of information as NASA prepares to build a base for astronauts on the moon.

“This event constitutes a statistically rare, effectively once-in-a-lifetime observation,” the scientists wrote in one of two studies appearing on the subject Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the crater on the moon’s near side in May 2024 soon after it was formed by an incoming fragment of an asteroid or comet. The moon strike escaped real-time detection by telescopes on Earth and in space.

LRO's wide-angle images were not identified in the crush of data until August 2025. The spacecraft gathered more detailed pictures last fall, followed by confirmation of the discovery early this year.

The crater — named for the late Thomas McGetchin, a former director of Houston’s Lunar and Planetary Institute — is three times bigger than the previous record-holder found by the LRO a decade ago. Pockmarked since ancient times, the moon bears some of the solar system's largest impact craters, including one that stretches more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) across.

This latest impact churned the lunar surface for more than 66 miles (100 kilometers). Dust and rocky soil were hurled away at a higher angle than expected, according to Mark Robinson, chief scientist for the LRO’s cameras who works at Intuitive Machines. Robinson was the lead author for one of the studies.

A separate study identified a 4-mile-wide (7-kilometer-wide) cold spot around the new crater, consistent with a loosening of the moon’s top soil. Co-author David Paige of the University of California, Los Angeles, likens it to gardening.

“We’re now thinking of impacts as a way to garden the regolith — churning the sediments and putting stuff above that’s usually below the surface,” Paige said in a statement.

The LRO’s numerous crater discoveries since its launch in 2009 show that the moon’s top inch (2 centimeters) of soil is being overturned by ejected material every 80,000 years, faster than previously thought, according to Robinson.

Contrary to the popular belief that the Apollo moonwalkers’ dusty lunar footprints will last forever, they will “definitely be long gone in that time frame,” Robinson said in an email.

The next step is to calculate the risk of ejected crater material striking NASA's planned moon base, he added. “That information will help engineers harden structures so one won’t have to worry about damage, or maybe worry less.”

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Researchers once thought that dinosaurs were sluggish, cold-blooded creatures. Later findings challenged that, suggesting that older dinosaurs were warm-blooded and could control their body temperature.

Most scientists agree that Tyrannosaurus rex was warm-blooded, but pinning down the exact core temperature of an extinct creature is difficult.

“We can't just use a thermometer to do that,” said Jasmina Wiemann, a paleobiologist at Johns Hopkins University who had no role in the latest work.

Scientists tried other methods like studying how T. rex grew or searching for clues in its bones, but a firm number eluded them.

In a new study, researchers hunted for chemical clues in the fearsome predator's teeth. It turns out that atoms within the enamel clump together in different patterns based on an animal's body temperature.

“We figured out how warm the most famous animal of all, a T. rex, was,” said co-author Aradhna Tripati, a geochemist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Readings from three teeth revealed an average body temperature of about 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius). That's similar to modern elephants and not too far from the average body temperature of humans, which ranges from 97 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit (36 to 37 degrees Celsius).

The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

“I almost would have expected a higher body temperature,” Wiemann said. Based on her prior work, she thought the predator could have run a few degrees hotter — similar to modern birds, dinosaurs' warm-blooded descendants.

Knowing how hot or cold the T. rex was can help scientists piece together how the dinosaur might have lived.

At 97 degrees (36 degrees Celsius), T. rex could have lived across most of prehistoric North America, Tripati said, maintaining a stable internal thermometer across both cooler and hotter regions. The findings could also shed light on the kinds of prey the dinosaur had to hunt in order to keep its energy up.

Scientists say it'll be important to test these methods on other dinosaurs to see how warm or cold they ran. It's possible T. rex's temperature could have been one of the keys to its dominance as one of the dinosaur age's top predators.

“There's lots of interesting, charismatic species that could be explored using this,” said study co-author Robert Eagle, a geobiologist at UCLA.

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The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and 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.

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Pioneer Middle School, located at 5350 SW 90th Ave. in Cooper City, and Larkdale Elementary School, located at 3250 NW 12th Place in Lauderhill, were notified by law enforcement about threats toward their schools, Broward County School Board officials said.

According to Lauderhill police, the suspect, who they identified as Christopher Matthews Wilkens told investigators that he called 911 to make a fake bomb threat to both schools.

School board officials said all students and staff are safe, and both schools are following their normal schedules.

They said the threats were immediately investigated by BSO deputies and the Lauderhill Police Department.

Investigators have not said whether Wilkens is connected to Pioneer Middle School.

Police said Christopher Matthew Wilkens is facing a charge of threatening to throw, project, place or discharge a destructive device.

Her literary agent, Rob McQuilkin, said Dillard died Tuesday of natural causes at her home in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

Starting in the mid-1970s, Dillard completed a wide range of books, from the poetry collection “Tickets for a Prayer Wheel” to what she would call the “jolly journalism” of “Encounters with Chinese Writers” to the novel of marriage, “The Maytrees,” a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award in 2008. Seven years later, President Barack Obama presented her with a National Humanities Medal for her “profound reflections on human life and nature.”

Born Meta Ann Doak, she was a Pittsburgh native who in the 1987 memoir “An American Childhood” looked back at her early years and on her uniquely curious mind. She was raised by nonconformists who gave her a wide range to learn and to discover, and she remembered with awe her growing sense of knowledge and self-knowledge. Resistant for much of her life to organized religion, she would find the eternal in animals, mountains, her mother’s skin and in everyday objects. At age 13, she wrote, she was reading “books on drawing, painting, rocks, criminology, birds, moths, beetles, stamps, ponds and streams, medicine.”

Dillard had yet to turn 30 when “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” established her as a major, new literary voice and heir to Henry David Thoreau as a sensitive and idiosyncratic observer of the natural world. Published in 1974 and winner of the Pulitzer for nonfiction, “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” drew upon Dillard's private writings about the surroundings of her home in Roanoke, Virginia. Invoking Thoreau, about whom she wrote her master's thesis at Hollins College, she called her book “a meteorological journal of the mind,” in which she would explore “some of the sights of this rather tamed valley.”

“I am no scientist,” she wrote, likening herself to “an infant who has just learned to hold his head up” and gaze about “in bewilderment.”

“He hasn't the faintest clue where he is, and he aims to learn. In a couple of years, what he will have learned instead is how to fake it: he'll have the cocksure air of a squatter who has come to feel he owns the place,” she wrote.

Dillard taught for more than 20 years at Wesleyan University before retiring in 2002. She was married three times, most recently to the late literary biographer Robert Richardson, whom she met after sending him a fan letter admiring his biography of Thoreau. She had one child, Cody, with second husband Gary Clevidence. Her first husband was creative writing teacher Richard Dillard, whom she divorced in 1975 after 10 years of marriage.

Two of the women were employees of the family-owned chain, and the other was the driver who crashed at about 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday at Southwest 152nd Avenue and 56th Street.

Witnesses reported that the driver of the Honda RAV4 plowed into the building’s Cuban restaurant area. The SUV’s impact caused a gas leak, according to Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies.

The three women required hospitalization, and one of them was at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel.

Morning report

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The directive, in a Sept. 10 memo reviewed by The Associated Press, could mean that some victims would be denied services and face tougher odds of obtaining asylum and visas allowing them to stay in the United States.

“This is going to harm children,” said Jean Bruggeman, co-executive director of Freedom Network USA, a coalition that advocates for human trafficking survivors. “This makes it more likely they will be deported before they get the services they need and put back into harm’s way.”

The order added another plank to the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration agenda that has forged the most restrictive policies toward immigrants in more than a generation. Some of those efforts have been stopped by courts but many others have taken root.

The memo said the change would “streamline the reporting, tracking and referral of trafficking-related concerns.” An administration statement said the change was an effort to reduce the high number of claims that did not rise to the level of criminal human trafficking but nonetheless triggered the award of benefits and relief.

But Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said the change requires children and their advocates to report human trafficking to the same agency that is holding them in custody. “This move to sideline human trafficking experts is more evidence that the Trump administration will deport kids to score political points rather than actually protect them,” he said.

Office has helped thousands of trafficking victims

The change applies to 1,800 children who are in federal custody after arriving in the United States without parents or being arrested with parents who were not legally present, and others who have been released but remain under supervision.

Under longstanding policy, caregivers are required to conduct an initial screening of unaccompanied children for potential labor or sex trafficking within five days of admission to a facility or shelter. If they suspect the child is a victim, they have been required within 24 hours to notify the Office of Trafficking in Persons, which was created in 2015 to prevent human trafficking and protect victims.

If the office certifies the claim, the minors become eligible for a program that gives them greater freedom by allowing them to move out of short-term housing, placing them in foster care and allowing them to attend public school. It does not protect them from deportation immediately, but they can use the determination to pursue visas for victims of trafficking or asylum claims. It also grants eligibility for nutrition, housing and other public benefits once they are released from federal custody.

Thousands of unaccompanied minors have benefited from the office’s determinations. They are particularly susceptible to labor and sex trafficking, including in their home countries, on their way to the U.S. and after they arrive, and that’s why Congress has given them protections, Bruggeman said.

Administration says change will target improper claims

Under the change ordered last week by the administration, federal employees and care providers were told to no longer report labor and sex trafficking claims involving the minors to the Office on Trafficking in Persons.

Instead, the memo said those claims should be submitted only to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the housing of unaccompanied minors. That office will now investigate the claims and decide which ones should be forwarded to the Office on Trafficking in Persons for further review, the memo said, warning that providers “must respond promptly to requests for information.”

In a statement, the Office of Refugee Resettlement said the change was driven by a review last year that found 95% of more than 9,000 reports “were determined not to be viable trafficking leads” for criminal investigators.

“The vast majority of the reports detailed instances of alleged abuse or neglect, not forced labor or commercial sex as defined in human trafficking statutes,” the statement said.

Even so, 58% of reports from shelter employees and case managers qualified for trafficking-related benefits. The change in reporting will “strengthen integrity, reduce improper referrals, reduce fraud, and ensure that children who may have experienced trafficking receive immediate support,” the statement said.

Former official questions rationale

Jen Smyers, who served as deputy director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement during the Biden administration, said the claim that the change will streamline reporting is questionable. She said ORR already gets the human trafficking reports but has no special expertise in evaluating them, unlike the office created for that purpose.

The fear is that legitimate claims will get delayed or missed during the new layer of review, and career employees will face political pressure to refer fewer cases, she said.

“It’s the opposite of streamlining,” Smyers said.

Smyers noted the change comes after what she called an “ onslaught ” of Trump administration policies that have undermined the ability of unaccompanied minors to gain legal status, including making it harder to leave federal custody, arresting sponsors in the middle of the release process, and cutting their legal representation.

“What they are trying to do is deport as many as possible. What interferes with deporting children is if they are eligible for protections Congress has given them,” she said.

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Troopers said the crash happened at about 4:50 a.m. near Southwest 216th Street.

They said the driver of a Honda Civic was traveling south on the Turnpike when the driver struck a man who was standing outside a vehicle stopped on the right emergency shoulder.

The man, who has not been identified at this time, died at the scene from his injuries, according to investigators.

Authorities said the southbound lanes of the Turnpike were closed at Southwest 216th Street while authorities investigated the crash.

The crash happened around 9:45 a.m. near 3900 Northeast Fifth Avenue, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said the driver lost control of the car, which then crashed into the pole.

Sky 10 flew over the scene around 10:35 a.m. as deputies and fire rescue crews examined the car involved in the rollover crash.

Authorities have not released the children’s ages, genders or identities.

Deputies confirmed that the driver is being cited for driving without a license.

Authorities said the crash also caused a power line to fall onto several cars in the area and a Florida Power & Light worker responded to the downed power line.

No other details about the crash were immediately released.

The bill is named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who spent more than a year working on it. If the House passes the bill, it would go to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

The legislation represents the most ambitious effort to support Ukraine since President Donald Trump's return to the White House and would break nearly two years of relative gridlock on the issue following a 2024 emergency aid package. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pushing for the bill's passage and made a direct appeal to senators shortly before they passed it last month.

The measure sanctions Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy moving. It also directs Trump to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.

“These countries have a choice to make about whether they will continue to sustain Putin's aggression,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

Democrats are divided on the legislation

Supporters said the provision is aimed at deterring China and India from purchasing Russian energy, but critics of the bill said they fear Trump will use it to target allies in the European Union and elsewhere. Americans, they warned, would pay the price for such tariffs through higher prices at the cash register.

“This president has always said he loves tariffs,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. “And we know the history of what he's done with reference to tariffs to our European allies, and our allies everywhere.”

Democrats are divided on the bill, despite overwhelming support in the caucus for aiding Ukraine. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told colleagues they can't control what the president does, but they can stand up and declare where they are on the war.

“If we fail to pass this bill, there will be cheers in the Kremlin and tears in Kyiv,” Hoyer said.

But Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., predicted Ukraine supporters would come to regret voting for the bill

“Yes they will be able to say ‘we stood with Ukraine,’ in the immediate aftermath,” Beyer said. “But when Donald Trump hits our allies with new tariffs and waives sanctions on Russia, the propaganda victory for Putin will be lasting, and the damage will be embedded in U.S. law.”

Getting Trump onboard has been a long process

Congress has struggled to ensure the flow of U.S. funding and munitions to Ukraine as Republican support for spending billions of dollars more on the effort has waned. Trump routinely derided the Ukraine aid while campaigning for the White House and insisted that, if elected, he would quickly end the war launched by Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.

It took Graham essentially a full year to bring Trump on board with the Russia sanctions package. Eventually, Trump gave a nod to the bill after it included his push for an extension of sanctions on Iran. Republicans speaking on the House floor in advance of Wednesday's vote were overwhelmingly supportive of the package.

Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., acknowledged Democratic criticism that tariffs could be used aggressively on smaller U.S. allies, but it was time to deliver a resounding message to the Kremlin: “End this war, get out of Ukraine, focus on rebuilding your shattered international reputation and your destroyed economy," he said.

From legacy brands to emerging talents, designers including Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren and Eckhaus Latta brought joy back to dressing with sartorial twists on color, movement and contrasts that could easily transition off the Spring/Summer 2027 catwalks and into New York’s busy streets.

While New York Fashion Week is only the first stop for celebrities and fashion editors before seeing what London, Milan and Paris have in store, the celebratory tone is bound to be contagious.

The joy of dressing

Designers had a lot to celebrate, with many marking career milestones: Rachel Comey notched 25 years, Michael Kors and Carolina Herrera reveled in 45-year anniversaries for their brands, and Coach hit a storied 85 years.

Coach sent models down the runway in party hats, glittering gowns with colorful large bow trains, and gift-wrapped present accessories for its anniversary.

InStyle Fashion director Kevin Huynh said designers are waving goodbye to the quiet luxury era and leaning into vibrancy.

“We’re really stepping into like, more is more,” he told The Associated Press, “but not in that dopamine dressing where everything feels haphazardly put on, but like a real sense of vibrancy and excitement.”

At Eckhaus Latta, designers Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta feted their J.Crew collaboration with confetti. Guests were told to open envelopes on their seats at the sound of laughter during the second half of their show and toss rainbow confetti onto the runway.

“Designers are really trying to kind of have fun and show the power that fashion can have in uplifting and inspiring people,” Matthew Velasco, ELLE’s fashion news editor, said.

Tory Burch embraced joyful dressing as a sense of escape, with models in color-blocked embellished looks strutting around a circular indoor catwalk that surrounded an outdoor garden with fountains. Burch said she wanted to contrast opulent femininity with utilitarian sportswear. Her collection featured embroidered cardigans with brightly colored skirts, boa-like thin scarves and a turquoise coat with a matching bag.

“I think when things are a bit more rough in the world you need to dream,” Burch said.

Ralph Lauren opened New York Fashion Week by bringing romance and a celebration of style to the runway.

“It’s about ways of dressing that celebrate ingenuity, originality, and character — the freedom and fun of creating a style that is truly personal,” he said in his show notes.

Michael Kors had the optimism to stage his show outside in the garden at the Museum of Modern Art, where a bright orange trench coat and sunny yellow shoes popped against his black and white looks.

Thom Browne, who often leans into whimsy, created a show inspired by “A Bug's Life,” with a giant indoor garden and models dripping in green crystals that hung from layered suiting. Some channeled actual ladybugs and butterflies with giant colorful hoop skirts, and jackets that looked like cocoons, eliciting smiles from the crowd.

Collections filled with shades of blue

Designers may not be feeling blue this season, but the color was certainly interwoven throughout their collections.

Ralph Lauren played with a palette of blues — from his classic denim to satin and lace gowns, to suiting and blue fur and feather collars. Tommy Hilfiger said he often takes his inspiration from nautical flags, so primary colors — including navy — were prevalent on classic and oversized blazers and rugby shirt stripes on his runway at The Plaza Hotel. Tory Burch styled turquoise and navy, and Henry Zankov delivered teal on the runway this season for Diane von Furstenberg.

After a decade-long gap, the Diane von Furstenberg line returned to New York Fashion Week with Zankov unveiling his first collection as artistic director for the brand. Known for his namesake knitwear brand, Zankov highlighted animal prints on von Furstenberg’s signature wrap designs, while incorporating sheer blouses and dresses along with fluid suiting.

“You want to feel alive,” Huynh said, “like we’re coming out of the cold of winter, and color is such an easy way to accomplish that.”

“Chartreuse had its moment, but teal is something that feels really refined,” he added.

Cobalt blue or Klein Blue — made famous by artist Yves Klein — also took over the runways with Proenza Schouler and Sergio Hudson including the color in their collections.

Accentuating the waist

All eyes were on waistlines this season as designers sent models down runways in cummerbunds, scarves and chunky belts.

For Daniella Kallmeyer of Kallmeyer, the designer added a cummerbund to a buttoned-down blue top over trousers, as well as a white cummerbund embellished with white beading over an all-black suited look.

“It’s that injection of androgyny with a cummerbund in womenswear that feels exciting and edgy,” Huynh said.

At Ralph Lauren, the designer wrapped fringed scarves around the models to break up an all-white look or add a pop of color to the waistline.

Fringing out

After shedding the constraints of winter coats and layers, designers introduced a freedom of movement and fluidity to their collections with fringe.

Asymmetrical dresses swayed with fringe at Jonathan Simkhai while shimmering fringe peeked out from an all-black look at Rachel Comey.

In a twist on tailoring, jackets dripping with fringe made their way down the runway at Monse.

“I always am a firm believer that with the Spring/Summer shows, designers really flex their prowess a little bit more than fall,” Huynh said. “You’re really getting the full spectrum of a woman and a man’s wardrobe.”

That vote came after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building.

The Republican president had said in a social media post that the closure was needed for safety repairs. But he said the repairs, which Congress has allocated $257 million to cover, would only happen if the board was permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.

Activists who have opposed the closure said there has been no vehicle or pedestrian access to the building. An Associated Press reporter who approached the main building was told by a security guard that it was closed.

Laura Bligh, who has attended protests with the advocacy group “Hands Off the Arts,” said she feared some or all of the building may be torn down before a legal case is concluded.

"The worst case scenario is a wrecking ball,” she said, adding that the Trump administration can’t be trusted because “look what they did to the East Wing.”

The administration demolished the East Wing of the White House and is replacing it with a massive ballroom. Trump also plans to build a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery and is eyeing a golf course renovation along the Potomac River.

The Kennedy Center board voted in August to inscribe his name on the Kennedy Center’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also be renamed in Trump’s honor.

All of those proposals were shot down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled that nothing could happen “without Congress's blessing.”

Spokespeople for the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Maria Shriver, John F. Kennedy's niece and former first lady of California, called the standoff over the name “a sad state of affairs” and a “tragedy.”

She said in a post on X that it appears Trump “will not rest until his name is permanently connected to the name of a great president, whose memory this building was dedicated to.”

“Imagine spending your days focused on this, while a war rages under your leadership,” she added.

Police said the shooting happened just after midnight Aug. 21 in the 700 block Northwest 53rd Street. Police said they found six shell casings on the ground and discovered a bullet had struck a nearby home, going through the garage door. They said no one inside the home was hurt.

According to police, the shooting followed a planned fight between two groups of young women. People began arriving by car, and the confrontation grew into a larger fight involving several people, police said.

According to an arrest report, one woman who was at the scene told police she saw Charles Denis Jr., 22, holding a small black handgun during the fight.

She said Denis also hit another woman in the head and arm with a golf club, the report states.

The woman told investigators that the co-defendant, identified as 37-year-old Taji Cozart Thrasher, then told Denis, “Give me the gun. I’m going to shoot that s--t,” according to Denis’ arrest report.

The report states that Denis removed the gun from his pocket and handed it to Cozart Thrasher.

Cozart Thrasher then shot the gun once toward the ground in the direction of the woman before she fled on foot, according to the report.

About four seconds later, the woman told police that she saw Cozart Thrasher chasing after her as he fired about four more shots.

Denis and Cozart Thrasher then fled the scene on foot, heading northbound on Northwest Seventh Court, according to the arrest report.

A second woman told police she arrived at the scene after her daughter called saying she was going to fight. She said she witnessed the shooting before leaving the area, police said.

Authorities said a witness at the scene identified both Denis and Cozart Thrasher from a photo shown to her by police. She told investigators she had known Denis for most of her life.

The report states that Denis was brought in for questioning after his arrest Tuesday. Police said he denied having a gun or giving one to Cozart Thrasher.

Jail records show he is facing one count each of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm in public, improperly exhibiting a weapon, shooting or throwing a deadly missile and being an accessory after the fact.

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

Cozart Thrasher had not yet been listed on the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation website as of Wednesday afternoon, and his charges had not yet been released.

A federal jury in Virginia had convicted Mohammad Sharifullah in April of providing material support to the IS affiliate known as ISIS-K. But jurors could not agree whether he bore some responsibility for the airport bombing on Aug. 26, 2021.

U.S. troops were conducting an evacuation operation at the airport when a lone suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device near an entry point known as Abbey Gate. Sharifullah’s role in the attack was scouting a route to Hamid Karzai International Airport, prosecutors said.

Sharifullah received the maximum sentence for his one-count conviction in an international terrorism case that President Donald Trump heralded last year during a speech to a joint session of Congress.

Sharifullah did not testify at his trial and declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga imposed the sentence. The judge said the defendant was a “dedicated terrorist” who expressed no remorse for the “unfathomable” grief and suffering that he had caused.

Trenga heard victim impact statements from several parents of U.S. service members. From a podium only a few feet from where Sharifullah sat, they took turns paying tribute to their children's sacrifices and describing how the attack has shattered their families.

Mark Schmitz of Missouri asked Sharifullah to turn and look at him as he spoke about the life and death of his 20-year-old son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz.

“They may have taken his life, but they'll never take his legacy," Schmitz said. “A bomb killed my son. It did not kill what he stood for.”

Sharifullah requested a 17-year prison sentence, while prosecutors sought 20 years. His lawyers say he was never an ISIS-K leader and has not been convicted of any conduct related to the airport suicide bombing.

"He was brought here because the government believed he participated in the Abbey Gate attack, a theory which it was unable to prove at trial,” defense attorneys wrote.

Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo that “from his teenage years, when he pledged an oath of allegiance to ISIS-K, Sharifullah’s carnage was driven by hate. Hate towards Americans.”

Jurors convicted Sharifullah of providing material support to ISIS-K. They deadlocked on whether any deaths at the airport “resulted from” that conspiracy. Sharifullah could have faced a possible life sentence if the jury had unanimously decided that question.

According to prosecutors, Sharifullah told a journalist that he wanted to “catch and kill the crusaders” from the United States for invading his country after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. They said Sharifullah was involved in dozens of other attacks, including a March 2024 assault on a Moscow concert hall that killed roughly 140 people.

Defense lawyers argued that prosecutors failed to present any evidence tying Sharifullah to the Kabul bombing besides his own words during hours of FBI questioning. His team said Sharifullah told FBI agents what he thought they wanted to hear, possibly because he was afraid of being tortured in Pakistani custody before he was brought to the U.S.

A review by U.S. Central Command found that the Abbey Gate bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an IS member who had been released from an Afghan prison by the Taliban. According to an FBI affidavit. Sharifullah recognized the alleged bomber as an operative he had known while incarcerated.

Several roads leading to the intersection are closed due to the sinkhole.

Video taken when crews first arrived shows a large tractor-trailer sunken into the roadway. A hole with water underneath the trailer can also be seen.

Sky 10 video also shows the front tire of a white sedan sunken into the road near the tractor-trailer.

The sinkhole has also stopped Green Line trains in both directions at the Earlington Heights Station.

County workers and deputies have not yet provided additional information about what caused the roadway to collapse.

This is the second such arrest of people on federal fraud charges in Southern California this week, as President Donald Trump's administration tries to emphasize a crackdown on fraud and waste in government and aid programs. On Tuesday, 12 people were charged with stealing more than $10 million in federal childcare aid.

The three defendants each worked for or ran Southern California-based nonprofit organizations, which often contracted with city, county, state or federal agencies to provide aid or money to find housing and social services for homeless people. Prosecutors allege that the defendants used funds from those contracts to pay personal expenses, accepted bribes, and billed for services that were never provided.

“Make no mistake, HUD and the Trump administration will not tolerate the theft and abuse of taxpayers in this country,” Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner said at a news conference.

Turner used the indictments to accuse the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which was the public entity that approved grants to these defendants, of being negligent with taxpayer dollars.

Two defendants, Lakiya Malone, 48, and Michael Young, 46, were arrested early Wednesday in Los Angeles. A third defendant charged with wire fraud, Donye Mitchell, 55, is considered a fugitive.

Young is the founder of Home At Last, a nonprofit that took in more than $118 million in public funds since 2019 for its stated mission of providing housing and aid to the homeless.

Instead, federal prosecutors say Young created shell companies that he claimed were independent contractors but were, in fact, controlled by him. This alleged self-dealing allowed Young to be paid both at Home At Last and overbill federal and local authorities, prosecutors said. They say Young misused an estimated $7.5 million in taxpayer funds through fake contractors and vendors.

Young used the proceeds to take luxury trips to Tahiti, and used funds to open a nightclub in Inglewood called the Six Seven Five Lounge and other commercial real estate projects, prosecutors allege.

Mitchell is the CEO of Big Blue Umbrella, which was awarded more than $1.2 million from a federally supported nonprofit for housing and mental healthcare aid. Prosecutors say Mitchell not only misstated his organization’s ability to provide such services, but also used money from the award to pay off his credit card debts, give funds to family members, buy video games and pay legal expenses for an unrelated case.

Malone was charged with accepting more than $180,000 in bribes from another homelessness-aid nonprofit. Malone allegedly not only accepted bribes but also placed people in homeless aid programs who weren’t homeless.

Separately, federal prosecutors announced that a fourth person pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges for stealing at least $2 million in homeless aid. Alexander Soofer, the executive director of Abundant Blessings, admitted to working with Malone to bill federal and state authorities for homelessness aid services when there were no participants in his programs.

Some of the Trump administration's efforts to go after fraud and abuse of government benefit programs have faced criticism and legal challenges. In December, Vice President JD Vance, who chairs the administration’s task force on the subject, amplified a YouTube video of a popular right-wing influencer accusing childcare providers in Minnesota, many of them immigrants from Somalia, of running scams. State authorities visited the centers and found nearly all of them operating normally.

Nonetheless, the administration launched a massive immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Officials later attempted to freeze federal funds for childcare in five Democratic-led states, but were halted by a lawsuit.

The moves, announced Wednesday as players report to training camp, are the latest additions to the front office by new GM Sunny Mehta.

Campbell joins the Devils after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the Seattle Kraken. Campbell was the first woman to serve as an on-bench full-time assistant coach in the NHL.

She and McCabe are set to report to assistant GM Braden Birch, who joined Mehta from the Florida Panthers. McCabe also comes from Florida, where he was director of player personnel.

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Los modelos de pronóstico siguen divididos sobre si el sistema llegará a convertirse en depresión tropical o tormenta con nombre en los próximos días, mientras permanece estancado sobre aguas abiertas del Atlántico hasta principios de la próxima semana. El próximo nombre de la lista es Fay.

Nuestros modelos tradicionales, basados en la física, no le ven ningún futuro. Los modelos de inteligencia artificial se muestran más optimistas, aunque también más inestables: cambian de una corrida a otra las probabilidades de que se desarrolle.

Tanto el conjunto de modelos de IA del Euro como el sistema de 1,000 miembros de DeepMind, de Google, sugieren una probabilidad media de que el sistema supere los obstáculos necesarios entre este fin de semana y principios de la próxima. Sin embargo, los conjuntos tradicionales del Euro y del GFS estadounidense, basados en la física, insisten en que no pasará de nada.

Las trayectorias de baja presión del sistema de conjuntos tradicional, basado en la física (panel superior), frente a las del conjunto del Euro basado en IA (panel inferior), muestran las visiones opuestas de ambos grupos de modelos sobre el desarrollo. Los modelos de IA han sido más optimistas sobre un posible desarrollo en el Atlántico central que sus equivalentes basados en la física. (Weathermodels.com)

La franja tropical del Atlántico entre el Caribe y África ha sido castigada por fuertes vientos cortantes a raíz de un El Niño de intensidad récord. Además, la cuenca en general se ha visto dominada por aire seco y descendente, con presiones en superficie excepcionalmente altas que dificultan la formación de tormentas.

Esa ha sido la tónica de la temporada: ondas tropicales débiles y sin fuerza, y sistemas como el que se encontraba el miércoles en el Atlántico central, que no logran reunir un área coherente de tormentas organizadas.

Lo que no ha sido un factor limitante esta temporada es el polvo del Sahara. Las nubes de polvo se han mantenido muy por debajo del promedio, y la cobertura total sobre el Atlántico Norte tropical es la quinta más baja en los 25 años de registros satelitales.

Habrá que ver si el sistema de baja presión al este de Bermuda logra organizar más tormentas para el fin de semana, cuando los vientos cortantes empiecen a debilitarse. Por ahora, es solo algo a vigilar para Bermuda la próxima semana. Se desarrolle o no, no representará una amenaza para Estados Unidos.

Atentos al Golfo a finales de septiembre

Nuestros modelos de largo plazo muestran algunas señales tempranas de que el Giro Centroamericano (CAG, por sus siglas en inglés) podría formarse hacia finales de mes. Se trata de una amplia zona de rotación y tormentas que se extiende desde el Pacífico oriental, atraviesa Centroamérica y llega a partes del Caribe occidental y del Golfo.

Lo más probable es que esto provoque la formación de un sistema tropical cerca de México, del lado del Pacífico. Sin embargo, en ocasiones algunas porciones de esa rotación y actividad tormentosa se desprenden y dan origen a sistemas tropicales en el Golfo y el Caribe. Unos pocos escenarios de nuestros conjuntos de largo plazo apuntan a esa posibilidad, pero falta demasiado tiempo (más de 10 días) para darle mucho peso.

Por ahora, las probabilidades son bajas, pero volveremos a revisarlo en los próximos días.

The six-time Pro Bowler was formally charged Tuesday with operating a vehicle with alcohol concentration equivalent to 0.15 or more and operating a vehicle while intoxicated. He posted $500 cash bond, and his attorneys waived an initial hearing that had been scheduled for Wednesday. An attorney conference is set for Oct. 26.

Colts coach Shane Steichen declined to address the latest twist before Wednesday's practice, at which Allen is expected to be a participant. Allen has not addressed the incident publicly.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers conducted a traffic investigation on Aug. 30 shortly after 1 a.m. after observing a vehicle park in a no-parking zone. Officers “noticed signs of intoxication” when they spoke with Allen. He was arrested after further investigation.

The 34-year-old Allen is in his 14th NFL season, his first with Indy after spending 12 of his previous 13 years with the San Diego-Los Angeles Chargers. He signed with the Colts on Aug. 19, reuniting him with Steichen, who was a Chargers assistant for the first seven years of Allen's career.

Allen had 81 receptions for 777 yards and four touchdowns in 17 games with the Chargers last season when he broke the franchise's career receptions record. He finished his Chargers career with 985 catches, 11,307 yards and 63 TDs.

In Sunday's season-opening 41-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Allen led the Colts with six receptions but had only 32 yards. Allen needs two receptions to pass Andre Johnson (1,062) for 12th and 64 yards to pass Charlie Joiner for 30th on the NFL's career lists. His 70 TD catches are tied for 52nd all-time.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, el accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 9:45 a.m. cerca del 3900 de la avenida 5 del noreste. Los agentes indicaron que el conductor perdió el control del vehículo, que terminó impactando el poste.

Sky 10 sobrevoló la escena cerca de las 10:35 a.m., mientras agentes del sheriff y equipos de bomberos y rescate examinaban el auto volcado.

Las autoridades no han revelado la edad, el sexo ni la identidad de los menores.

Los agentes confirmaron que el conductor recibirá una multa por manejar sin licencia.

De acuerdo con las autoridades, el choque también provocó que un cable eléctrico cayera sobre varios autos de la zona, y un empleado de Florida Power & Light acudió a atender la situación.

Por el momento no se han dado a conocer más detalles sobre el accidente.

The 24-year-old Lasko was released Wednesday exactly two months after arriving at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in his home state of New Jersey, about 35 miles from where he attended college at Rutgers and became a second-round draft pick by the A's in 2023. Staff members at the facility celebrated his departure with a “clap out” farewell ceremony as he exited the building's main entrance.

Lasko suffered the spinal cord injury in a collision with a teammate June 30 that left him paralyzed from the chest down, with both arms affected, too. His dominant right arm — the one he uses to throw and hit — is weaker and will take more time to strengthen. His legs and feet have begun to regain some feeling and tingling sensations.

He told The Associated Press this week he can't predict how the next year will go. For now, he is focusing on the present and “reworking my brain to just wait, there's nothing else I can do now, I have to wait.”

Going home is a major milestone. He said he's excited for a home-cooked meal and to follow through on offseason travel plans with girlfriend Alli Graff despite the additional challenges.

“I've kind of stopped trying to look that far ahead because they keep telling me it's two months, this is only the beginning still, but it feels like it's been forever,” Lasko told the AP. “It's gone by quick, but it's also been the longest two months of my life. They keep telling me that it's only the beginning so that's where I'm trying to learn to have patience, because I expected it would happen overnight and that's really not how it works whatsoever. But I'm learning, slowly, it's a very slow process with everything.”

Lasko fractured the C6 and C7 vertebrae in his neck during a frightening moment as he and Double-A Midland teammate Devin Taylor ran into each other in a game at Frisco, Texas, both attempting to make a play on a ball to the gap.

Lasko was carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital for immediate spinal decompression and stabilization surgery.

His doctors and physical and occupational therapists are encouraged by his progress and optimistic he could make a full recovery and walk again in time.

“It’s been a long road,” Lasko’s mother, Patti, said while moving some of his belongings into her car with Graff outside the facility. She was in the stands for the game when he was hurt.

“The two of them work as a team. I feel like it’s a new beginning.”

He will initially return to his hometown of Jackson, New Jersey, and then live in a hotel near the Kessler facility for approximately two months as he continues to make strides.

Lasko counts each of the “big wins” along the way, like being able just to go outside again.

“I don't know what the next step is, so that's kind of scary. There's a lot more unknown,” he said. “The first day I got here they asked me what my goal was and I said to be as independent as possible. I've gotten to that point, I've checked a lot of boxes. Everything that I said I couldn't do, I can do now — simple stuff like opening my water bottle that you take for granted. ... There's a lot of small things that I took for granted that I couldn't do that I can do somewhat now again.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Records filed in Lafayette County Civil Court in Mississippi indicate that papers were served on Tuesday, just five days before No. 7 LSU was slated to visit No. 8 Ole Miss in a game immersed in hype stemming from coach Lane Kiffin's decision to leave Mississippi in favor of LSU last Nov. 30.

A person familiar with the situation said Umanmielen was served outside LSU's football operations complex. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because university officials have not commented publicly on the lawsuit between Ole Miss and two former players who are now at LSU, and who allegedly failed to compensate Ole Miss for their departure as required by revenue-sharing agreements they signed in early January.

The other is offensive lineman Devin Harper, who allegedly owes Ole Miss $400,000.

While legal issues between Ole Miss and Umanmielen have gone unresolved for months now, the timing of papers being served, first reported by ESPN, will only further pump up the intrigue surrounding Saturday night's game in Oxford, Mississippi.

It will mark the first time Kiffin has returned to Oxford since being showered with insults by angry Rebels fans as he arrived at a small airport to catch a private plane to Baton Rouge.

Kiffin persuaded four players and host of assistant coaches and other staff to follow him to LSU, including linebacker TJ Dottery and Winston Watkins Jr., Dottery is LSU’s leading tackler through two games and Watkins Jr. leads LSU in yards receiving so far this season.

College athletes have been able to transfer far more freely in recent years without having to sit out a year, as was once required by the NCAA. There have been scattered disputes between players and their former schools over compensation agreements. Earlier this year, Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said he would return to the Huskies after his school was reportedly prepared to pursue legal options to enforce his lucrative name, image and likeness contract.

Ole Miss has said revenue-sharing agreements signed by both players included a provision requiring them to compensate the university with a predetermined amount if they departed before fulfilling their commitment.

“The University of Mississippi has a responsibility to enforce its contractual terms, and this position is consistent with the actions of other institutions in the current landscape of college athletics,” the Ole Miss statement said. “The university attempted to amicably resolve this matter prior to filing.”

Kiffin left Ole Miss following its regular-season finale against Mississippi State in late November. Kiffin initially asked to continue coaching the Rebels in the College Football Playoff after he’d accepted the position at LSU, but Ole Miss declined and appointed then-defensive coordinator Pete Golding as Kiffin’s replacement. Golding coached Ole Miss to the national semifinals.

Umanmielen had nine sacks and 13 tackles for loss as a junior last season for the Rebels. Harper was a freshman reserve in 2025, appearing in six games.

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

Forecast models remain split on whether the system will eventually make a run at becoming a tropical depression or named storm in the coming days as it loiters over open Atlantic waters into early next week. The next name on the list is Fay.

Our traditional physics-based models remain wholly unimpressed with its prospects while AI models have been more bullish but also jumpier, waffling back and forth on development odds from run-to-run.

Both the Euro AI model ensemble and Google’s DeepMind 1,000-member ensemble system suggest a medium chance it clears the necessary hurdles this weekend into early next week, but the traditional physics-based Euro and American GFS ensembles continue to insist it’s a nothingburger.

While the deep tropical belt of the Atlantic basin between the Caribbean and Africa has been pummeled by hostile wind shear courtesy of the record-setting El Niño, the basin writ large has also been overcome with dry, sinking air, with exceptionally high surface pressures making storm development hard to come by.

This has been the trend with weak and anemic tropical waves this season and systems like the one over the central Atlantic Wednesday struggling to pull together a coherent area of organized thunderstorms.

One thing that hasn’t been a limiting factor this season are plumes of Saharan dust, which have been running well below average this season, with overall tropical North Atlantic dust cover the fifth lowest of the 25-year satellite record.

We’ll see if the low-pressure system east of Bermuda can muster up more organized storminess by the weekend as wind shear begins to relax, but for now it’s only something to monitor for interests in Bermuda next week. Regardless of development, it won’t pose a threat to the U.S.

Keeping an eye to the Gulf to end September

There are some early signs in our long-range models that the Central American Gyre or CAG – a broad area of spin and storminess that stretches from the eastern Pacific across Central America and into parts of the western Caribbean and Gulf – could take shape by the end of the month.

This will likely cause a tropical system to form closer to Mexico on the Pacific side but occasionally lobes of spin and storminess can break off and spawn tropical systems over the Gulf and Caribbean. A smattering of scenarios in our long-range ensembles suggests that’s a possibility but it’s too far out (more than 10 days) to put much stock in it.

For now, chances are low but it’s something we’ll check back on in the coming days.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said signs of gaining ground against the Bundibugyo virus, the rare species behind the outbreak, have emerged in Ituri province, but added that the situation is one of “many outbreaks in many places.”

“We are now starting to see encouraging signs that we are gaining ground in the most affected parts of Ituri province. Transmission is going down," the WHO chief told reporters at the agency's headquarters in Geneva.

South Kivu, he said, has reported no new cases since May.

“But make no mistake, the epidemic continues to grow and continues to kill,” Tedros said. He said more than 7,200 cases and more than 3,500 deaths have been reported across seven provinces.

In North Kivu, “cases are rising fast,” Tedros said: The number of weekly cases has nearly doubled over the past two weeks, from about 100 to more than 200. “The area is so vast that it’s hard to speak of a single epidemic. It’s many outbreaks in many places.”

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director for epidemic and pandemic management, said: “We can be cautiously optimistic about what is happening, but I think we need to be realistic about the road that’s ahead of us. Looking at trends takes time.”

Last week, officials in Congo said the world’s fastest-growing outbreak of the disease on record had now spread to seven provinces in the African country, and was showing no signs of slowing down.

Fort Lauderdale police responded at about 9:45 p.m. to the 2900 block of NW 18th Street, where officers found two adult victims.

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

Preliminary information indicates the victims were involved in a dispute with a known suspect, police said.

The incident remains under investigation. No one is in custody.

A storm system will move in Friday and stall out through the weekend. This will give us an enhanced chance of scattered thunderstorms each day. It will also bring us cold air above us by the clouds. This will create a big temperature difference between the ground near 90 degrees and the much colder atmosphere aloft. That feature causes the atmosphere to be more unstable and could lead to a few storms becoming severe with damaging wind gusts, hail, frequent lightning, and very heavy rain.

The shift reflects the political pressure on Republicans before midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. The war remains unpopular and has led to soaring fuel prices.

Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks voted for the resolution on Tuesday after previously voting against it.

“With the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization,” Nunn, an Air Force veteran, posted on social media. “I will not support another open-ended war.”

Nunn campaigned with Hegseth last month in Iowa, and the Pentagon chief had lauded Nunn as an ally who didn’t need any last-minute, late-night phone calls from Trump to persuade him to support the president’s agenda.

“Zach Nunn is not a 3 a.m. congressman,” Hegseth said at a fundraiser for Nunn during the Iowa State Fair. “He’s willing to take the tough votes to do the right thing on behalf of our war fighters.”

Nunn is up against Sarah Trone Garriott in November's election.

Miller-Meeks, an Army veteran, said in a statement the president needs to present a plan to Congress and the public showing how the war ends so “we can focus on bringing our soldiers home and lowering prices.”

“Americans do not want another forever war," she said. “I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump.”

She faces a reelection rematch against Christina Bohannan, whom she has defeated twice before.

Voting shift reflects a growing weariness on the war

Both Republicans have advocated for Trump's actions in Iran as a deterrent against that country's nuclear capabilities. But their hesitation to see the prolonged conflict continue suggests the impacts are increasingly wearing on Americans, and particularly on Iowans. Eighteen U.S. service members have died in the war with Iran. Two are from Iowa, and one used to live in Iowa.

In addition to rising prices for gasoline, the price of diesel is reaching new highs just as U.S. farmers are ready to take their diesel-fueled equipment to the fields for harvest.

National polling indicates that the Iran war remains unpopular with Americans overall. Only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of Iran in a July AP-NORC poll, and a September New York Times/Siena poll found that most likely voters, about 6 in 10, think Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong one.

Tuesday's House vote was the third time lawmakers voted to end the war in Iran. The margin was similar to earlier efforts, with a few more Republicans joining all Democrats in voting to bring an end to the conflict.

In addition to Nunn and Miller-Meeks, retiring Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina also shifted her position on the resolution. They joined Republican Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who had already been voting in favor.

Barrett and Fitzpatrick are seeking reelection in battleground districts, while Davidson represents a seat Trump won handily in 2024.

Rep. Ashley Hinson, who represents northeast Iowa but is running to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst, voted against the resolution. Endorsed by Trump, Hinson faces Democrat Josh Turek for the seat, which Republicans are spending millions of dollars to defend.

Hinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republicans are optimistic but watching Iowa closely

Republicans have been optimistic that Iowa will remain a red state, but the competitive races have gotten attention even from the White House. Trump visited suburbs of Des Moines for a rally in January and dispatched Vice President JD Vance in May to campaign for Nunn.

Republicans continue to outnumber Democrats in both Nunn's and Miller-Meeks' districts, but they are among the most competitive districts in the country.

Miller-Meeks of southeastern Iowa was reelected in 2024 with less than a percentage point advantage, fewer than 1,000 votes, over Bohannan.

Nunn, who represents Des Moines and its surrounding suburban and rural counties, won in 2022 by unseating a Democrat who was elected during Trump’s first midterms.

After Hegseth campaigned with Nunn, a group of over 400 former national security officials filed a complaint asking for an investigation into whether the secretary violated the Hatch Act, which restricts political activities by federal officials.

Hegseth's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Catalini reported from Morrisville, Pennsylvania.

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Officials said at about 6:03 a.m., Boca Raton Fire Rescue crews responded to a vehicle crash in the southbound express lanes of I-95.

Authorities said while crews were clearing the scene, a fire truck was involved in a “serious collision.”

They said three Boca Raton firefighters were inside the truck. One was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, while two others were transported for evaluation as a precaution. The driver of the other vehicle was transported as a trauma alert to a nearby hospital, according to officials.

Authorities said the Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

Job Listing: PHOTOGRAPHER/EDITOR

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In addition to excellent videography and editing skills, applicant should have experience with live ENG live truck and the operation of LiveU live device, field lighting, audio equipment as well as a working knowledge of state‑of‑the‑art editing and camera equipment. Must possess good judgment to work in the field covering news stories. Prefer at least 3 years’ experience in the above-mentioned areas.

A Photographer II is an hourly, non-exempt experienced level position. Must be able to work well under pressure, lift up to 50 lbs, and be able to meet newsroom deadlines as well as be able to work flexible hours including nights, overnights, weekends and holidays and should be capable of traveling out of town on assignment. Must possess and maintain a valid driver’s license.

***All of the essential functions of this position are not necessarily described in this posting.

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The tournament will be played at the Spectrum Center, home of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, the WTA and the Charlotte Sports Foundation announced Wednesday.

The year’s top eight singles players and doubles teams qualify for the event, which is usually held in November.

“Our ambition is for the WTA Finals to be not only the premier championship in women’s tennis, but one of the defining global events in women sports,” WTA chair Valerie Camillo said. “We want to create the Super Bowl for women’s sports. And not just the competition, but an event that is the annual gathering for women’s tennis, women’s sports, and women’s sport business.

“Audiences are growing, investment is growing, female athletes are increasingly at the center of sports and culture around the world. And women’s tennis has helped lead and define that progress for more than 50 years. And we believe our biggest championship should reflect the scale of this moment,” Camillo added.

Camillo called it a “minimum three-year deal. She added, “We’ll see what goes on beyond that.”

Leaving Saudi Arabia

The announcement comes at a time of financial difficulty for the WTA after it announced in July that it was opting out of the final year of a three-year hosting arrangement with Saudi Arabia to move this year’s Finals to Indian Wells, California.

There were concerns about going back to Saudi Arabia due to military conflicts in the Middle East.

Camillo noted that “2026 is a year of transition for the WTA” and that “we are doing the normal belt tightening you would expect in any business while also absorbing the unexpected cost of relocating the WTA finals to Indian Wells.

“What’s most important to know is that we have a clear path to deliver consistent, sustainable financial performance in 2027 and beyond,” she added.

With Indian Wells now set to host only once, Charlotte will become the eighth different venue for the Finals since 2018.

The WTA did not announce any prize money figures for the upcoming tournaments, and could struggle to match the record-setting amounts that were on offer in Saudi Arabia.

Elena Rybakina collected $5.23 million for winning the 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh after going 5-0 at the event. The WTA said that was the largest payout in the history of women’s sports. Aryna Sabalenka earned $2.7 million as runner-up.

Rybakina also beat Sabalenka in Saturday’s U.S. Open final and claimed the No. 1 ranking.

Coco Gauff won the 2024 finals in Riyadh.

Operating control

The partnership will extend beyond the Finals. The WTA will also relocate its global headquarters from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Charlotte, as part of the deal.

And there's a plan to bring a WTA 500 tournament to Charlotte after 2029.

“The WTA has always owned the WTA finals, but now going forward, we’re going to operate it too,” Camillo said. “We’re taking control of the creation of the revenues and the controlling of the expenses and the delivery of the entire thing.

“And that allows us to control our own destiny,” Camillo added. “Whether it’s around what we’re doing with our media rights and our production, whether it's related to the WTA finals, whether we’re approaching our calendar, we’re going to be making bold and aggressive moves for women’s tennis that shapes the future that we want rather than reacting.”

Camillo replaced retiring chair Steve Simon at the end of last year.

She previously oversaw business operations for the Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo Center as the president and CEO of the sports and entertainment division of Comcast Spectacor, and has held senior roles with the Washington Nationals and the NBA.

Asked if there was a desire to eventually merge with the ATP Finals — the men’s season-ending event — Camillo said “there hasn’t been an in-depth conversation about merging” the two tournaments.

“I think that when we create our ambition, people are going to want to merge with us on this event and many more,” she added.

Condensed schedule to fit between NBA games

The move to the Hornets arena during the NBA season means that the Finals will be condensed from eight to five days.

That means the traditional schedule of two singles and two doubles matches per day could become four singles and four doubles matches per day.

“We are exploring a series of alternate formats,” Camillo said.

The Spectrum Center has already hosted high-profile tennis exhibition events in recent years.

“As an organization, our mission is quite simple,” Will Pitts, CEO of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, said of the Finals. “It’s drive economic impact and add to the quality of life through high-profile sporting events and unique partnerships. And this certainly does that.”

The move comes as Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper is investing an additional $500 million into ongoing stadium renovations with an eye toward potentially bringing the Super Bowl, NFL draft, 2031 Women’s World Cup and other major sporting events to Charlotte.

___

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Las autoridades policiales notificaron a Pioneer Middle School, ubicada en el 5350 SW 90th Ave. en Cooper City, y a Larkdale Elementary School, en el 3250 NW 12th Place en Lauderhill, sobre las amenazas contra sus planteles, indicaron los funcionarios.

La Junta Escolar aseguró que todos los estudiantes y el personal están a salvo, y que ambas escuelas mantienen su horario habitual.

Según la Junta, la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward y el Departamento de Policía de Lauderhill investigaron las amenazas de inmediato.

Por el momento no se han dado a conocer más detalles sobre las amenazas ni sobre la persona detenida.

Los funcionarios indicaron que alrededor de las 6:03 a.m. los equipos de Boca Raton Fire Rescue acudieron a un accidente vehicular en los carriles exprés en dirección sur de la I-95.

De acuerdo con las autoridades, mientras los rescatistas despejaban la escena, un camión de bomberos sufrió un “choque grave”.

Dentro del camión iban tres bomberos de Boca Raton. Uno fue llevado a un hospital con heridas leves, y los otros dos fueron trasladados para ser evaluados como medida de precaución. El conductor del otro vehículo fue trasladado como alerta de trauma a un hospital cercano, informaron los funcionarios.

Las autoridades señalaron que la Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida investiga el accidente.

Los agentes indicaron que el accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 4:50 a.m. cerca de la calle 216 del suroeste.

De acuerdo con la FHP, el conductor de un Honda Civic viajaba hacia el sur por el Turnpike cuando golpeó a un hombre que estaba de pie fuera de un vehículo detenido en el paseo de emergencia derecho.

El hombre, cuya identidad aún no se ha dado a conocer, murió en el lugar a causa de sus heridas, informaron los investigadores.

Las autoridades cerraron los carriles en dirección sur del Turnpike a la altura de la calle 216 del suroeste mientras investigaban el accidente.

The comments Zuckerberg posted on social media followed a proposal from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that quickly found support from tech leaders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk at SpaceXAI.

Warnings from researchers about the technology's potential threats to humanity have sparked a debate among industry leaders over how best to rein in the technology before it could escape human control.

AI companies are already motivated to develop their models in a safe way and face “significant liability” to prevent them from causing harm, Zuckerberg said.

“Every lab has the responsibility and incentive to move at the pace required to train its models safely, and the ability to take its own actions to ensure that happens," he wrote on X.

Zuckerberg, who didn't name Anthropic or any other companies, posted days after Amodei outlined a three-step plan to ensure AI safety, including a proposal for companies and countries to coordinate a slowdown in its development.

Zuckerberg said Meta delayed releasing its Muse AI agent for several months to ensure its safety and security.

“We didn’t call for everyone else to do this before we would,” he said.

Companies should prioritize building safe AI models instead of systems that can automatically improve themselves, a function known as recursive self-improvement, Zuckerberg wrote.

“Committing the significant majority of compute towards serving people rather than racing towards recursive self-improvement is one of the best ways to ensure we develop this technology safely.”

The 2.04-meter (6-foot-8) heavyweight will be 39 years old then and, if he qualifies, it would be his sixth and final Olympics.

“Of course that's an objective,” Riner said Wednesday. “I think up until now I've proved that every time I take part in an event it's for the top step of the podium (for) the most beautiful of medals. If I commit to something, it's to win.”

The 11-time world champion was ruled out of next month's worlds in Baku, however, due to a lingering right shoulder injury.

“I am doing my maximum to come back from this injury. Of course you must be patient, that's part of being a top-level athlete,” Riner said at the Parc des Princes stadium after re-joining Paris Saint-Germain's judo club on a contract until 2028.

Although he feels his shoulder is “creaking a bit at the moment" he is confident he will recover properly. Riner says he is not a “very patient” person but is trying to become one.

“We have a new (recovery) protocol in place, I hope this one works. If it doesn’t work there’s still a third protocol left. For the time being it's on the right track," he said. “As I said, I'm positive, because I had an operation on this shoulder in 2013 and up until now it has held firm; up until now it enabled me to win the best medals and what we experienced at Paris 2024.”

After taking bronze at the Tokyo Games, Riner reclaimed the Olympic title in Paris in 2024 to become the second three-time individual gold medalist in judo history.

Riner won another bronze at the 2008 Games in Beijing — his first — and also counts five European titles in individual competition. He amassed a staggering 154 straight victories from 2010-20 before losing to Japan’s Kokoro Kageura.

“I still have the desire to do great things in this sport,” he said. “I'm super happy to get out of bed in the morning and improve my judo.”

He still has to qualify for the next Olympics, though.

“I think there will be a maximum of five or six tournaments to get in the top 10 (places),” he said.

Back to PSG

Riner previously competed for PSG's judo club from 1994-2007 and came back again in 2017. He then helped PSG win the 2024 edition of the Judo Champions League, following his Olympic success, and plans to help it win another in 2027.

“I’m delighted and honoured to write another chapter in my adventure here,” Riner said.

Djamel Bouras, president of PSG Judo, said Riner's role goes beyond his huge achievements on the tatami mat.

“He’ll transmit his experience and his winning culture to the youngsters who train alongside him,” Bouras said. “It’s a real boon for Paris Saint-Germain Judo and a tremendous driver of our section’s ambitions.” ___

See AP’s full sports coverage here

The Hall announced its 12 finalists for the Class of 2026 on Wednesday and opened voting to the public and a panel of judges who will choose which will be honored in November. The public can weigh in between Sept. 16-23.

Joining the nominees are the handheld electronic game Bop It!, Monster High dolls, the portable, miniature worlds of Polly Pocket, and the board games Mouse Trap and Sorry!

“It’s debating season, and this year’s finalists give everyone plenty to talk about — from classic games to plush icons and other toys that have shaped generations of play. The debate is part of the fun because every toy sparks different memories and makes its own case for why it matters,” Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, senior curator at the museum, said in a statement.

While anyone can nominate a toy, the ones that make it into the Hall must be considered icons, have engaged multiple generations, fostered creativity, or profoundly changed play or toy design.

The three winners will join the 90 toys enshrined in the National Toy Hall of Fame, a list that includes Cabbage Patch Kids, Dungeons & Dragons, Hot Wheels, Frisbee, G.I. Joe and Mr. Potato Head.

Some of the entries this year have been knocking on the Hall door for years, including Tickle Me Elmo, the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Mahjong.

The four acts have seven mentions each and compete in the categories of album, song and record of the year. They have very varied styles, ranging from reggaeton to alternative music inspired by folklore and a little bit of rock. Most of them are in their thirties while the revered Drexler is days away from his 62nd birthday.

They are closely followed by Silvana Estrada and Mon Laferte with six nominations each, including their own for record of the year, album of the year, and song of the year. Argentine rapper Milo J with five, and the nominee for best new artist Arath Herce, with four, are the other top nominees.

Looking at them all from above is once again Edgar Barrera with 10 nominations, including producer and composer of the year, in addition to two nods for song of the year.

The Latin Grammy ceremony will be broadcast live on Nov. 12 from the MGM Grand Las Vegas and promises to be a night of high stakes as those tied for the most nominations have previously been awarded by the Latin Recording Academy.

Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso are the most recent winners to join the group of Latin Grammy holders since last year. Drexler is the group’s top winner with 16, followed by Rosalía with 11.

Here's what to know about this very competitive group, their nominated albums and their musical projects.

Rosalía, “LUX (Complete Works)”

Since it was announced that Catalan star Rosalía would be releasing a multilingual album inspired by the lives of female saints, the bells of a probable Latin Grammy nomination began ringing and suspicions were confirmed on Wednesday when “LUX (Complete Works)” was nominated for album of the year. Rosalía won best new artist in 2017 for her debut “Los Angeles” and has since been an academy favorite with releases such as “El mal querer” and “Motomami.” For the 27th edition of the Latin Grammys, her anthem of spite “La Perla” with Yahritza y Su Esencia, which she has said is inspired by Paquita la del Barrio’s “Rata de dos patas,” is nominated for record and song of the year. Rosalía is also competing in the categories of pop song, alternative music album, Portuguese language song and short form music video.

Jorge Drexler, “Taracá”

Every time Jorge Drexler wins a Latin Grammy, the Uruguayan-born musician seems dumbfounded by the academy’s recognition, although he should already be used to it with three Latin Grammys for song of the year under his belt. Once again, he competes in his strong category with “¿Como se ama?,” thanks to his album “Taracá.” He will also compete for alternative song, singer-songwriter album, singer-songwriter song and roots song. We hope that this time he will go with a prepared speech.

CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, “FREE SPIRITS”

Argentinian duo CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso made waves with their 2024 debut “BAÑO MARÍA,” which led to a celebrated Tiny Desk concert, international tours and over-the-top fame that they later criticized on their subsequent album “PAPOTA." That second disc saw them enter the Latin Grammys in a big way as nominees for album of the year and winners of five gramophones, including best alternative music album. After this, they tried to return to their origins with a spiritual introspection helped by Sting. The result is the nominated album “FREE SPIRITS” and the candidate for song of the year “Hasta Jesús Tuvo Un Mal Día." They will also seek awards for pop/rock song, alternative music album and long form music video for “FREE SPIRITS (The Film)."

Karol G, “Tropicoqueta”

Colombian star Karol G gave her all for Afro-Caribbean genres in “Tropicoqueta,” her fusion album of Latin urban music with merengue, salsa, bachata, and even a little technocumbia, and even embodied a mambo diva for the cover. But she didn’t just stay in tropical music, she included regional Mexican songs and was rewarded. Her duet with Marco Antonio Solis, “Coleccionando heridas,” is nominated for record and song of the year, while “Ese Hombre es Malo” will compete for best regional Mexican song. The first female artist to win the urban music album, Karol G will again compete in this category as well as urban performance and reggaeton performance.

Other notable nominees

In addition to Laferte, nominated for her album “FEMME FATALE” and Estrada, for “Vendrán suaves lluvias,” the nominees for album of the year are Anitta for “EQUILIBRIVM,” Carín León for “MUDA,” Milo J for “La vida era más corta,” and Rawayana for ”¿Dónde Es El After?”

The coveted best new artist category, which this year was changed to limit participation to artists with fewer than three albums or 25 singles released, grew this year to include 11 contenders. The nominees are Delilah, FABIAN, Loulu Gilberto, Arath Herce, Macario Martinez, maye, Sofia Monroy, Kendall Peña, Dora Sanches, ARIA VEGA, and Zeca Veloso.

The song of the year will also be decided between “Dime” by Estrada, “Femme Fatale” by Laferte, “Humano” by Juanes and Vivir Quintana, “Mi gran amor” by Santana with Becky G, “Nilo” by Zanna and “Solifican12″ by Milo J.

Daddy Yankee will be hailed as the Person of the Year, the first Latin urban artist to receive this accolade.

America's 250th birthday has been a banner year for the actors of Historic Philadelphia, Inc. who immerse visitors in Colonial history via first-person interpretations and true stories. In the last few months, Betsy, played by Carol Spacht, has waved the checkered flag at a NASCAR race, met Punxsutawney Phil the weather-predicting groundhog, and competed against the Eagles' Jordan Mailata in a karaoke contest— all to the absolute delight of crowds and social media commenters.

While the quirky requests for appearances have been fun, many of the actors also feel an almost patriotic duty to tell the story of America's founding from the place where it actually happened and from the perspective of everyday people often left out of history books.

“I got chills,” says Johanna Dunphy, artistic director for Historic Philadelphia. “I was tearing up listening to John Adams ask if anyone heard him or cared... in the place where these conversations happened. It was so moving to hear people in the audience say they still believed in this idea, and in what America could be.”

You can't have a short George Washington

Anticipating the influx of tourists, Historic Philadelphia expanded its programming — adding characters and storytellers, and increasing opportunities for visitors to interact with history in Philadelphia's Old City from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Overall, the troupe nearly doubled its cast to about 60 at the start of the season, but directors held rolling auditions throughout the year.

There are some physical requirements— you can't have a thin-faced Ben Franklin, or a short Thomas Jefferson — but engaging with the stories and audiences is the most important quality.

“Even if their face doesn’t match anyone we need, we can find someone from history they gel with," Dunphy says. “Part of our mission is to tell the stories of the underrepresented Philadelphians who played such a huge role in building our city and country. And for people of color and women, there aren’t a lot of portraits to work from, so you can be more forgiving on appearance.”

For example, the troupe added a portrayal of Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to join the Revolutionary Army, and was the first woman to receive a pension for her service. There’s one portrait in existence, but most historians agree it is likely not an accurate portrayal— so the group has some leeway on the physical appearance of the actress playing her.

Even Betsy Ross's sewing techniques are authentic

Many of the actors started as storytellers dressed in green polo shirts and stationed at benches throughout Old City and armed with a cadre of real historical anecdotes tied to their locations.

Once they graduate to being a first-person interpreter, many play a cast of different characters depending on the need. Spacht plays the founder of the Girl Scouts, a suffragette, socialite women and Quakers in addition to Betsy Ross.

There are roughly a dozen Betsies. The group staffs the Betsy Ross House, providing actresses every day it's open to raise the flag in the morning and do actual sewing work in Ross's upholstery workshop.

Spacht trained most of the other Betsies, teaching them authentic Colonial sewing methods. When she's in costume, she keeps a period-accurate pair of sewing scissors tied to her waist by a ribbon and a stack of paper squares in her pocket. She pulls them out to tell the story of how Ross claimed to have persuaded Washington to change his design from a six-point star to a five-point star. A few folds, two quick snips, and out comes identical stars to represent the colonies.

It's that experience, the ability to stay in character without seeming hokey, that delighted spectators and made her a perfect choice to partner with Visit PA- Pennsylvania's official tourism arm — to appear at all of those quirky events throughout the year.

“The thing I take away from Betsy is her resilience,” Spacht says. “She lost two husbands by the time she was 29 and she didn't shrink back into her shell. She continues to run a business, to raise her children, to live."

Young Ben Franklin has an album dropping this fall

Many of the actors have other jobs throughout the year. Some come from several states away to participate during the prime season or on just weekends.

But even the actors who are full-time have side projects— one actor was cast in a play recently and another was hired to teach at a children's theater camp. Jackson Pavlik, who started playing Ben Franklin last year, has an album coming out this fall.

Pavlik says this has been a wild year full of unexpected bookings and experiences — mingling with baseball royalty like Derek Jeter at the MLB All Star game, for example.

“Being Ben Franklin... It's like you're Santa Claus,” Pavlik says. “Everybody treats you like they know you. They know the myth. But even in his time, Franklin was the most famous American. And you can use that when you're in character.”

It can take 500 freeze pops to get the Revolutionary Army through a summer

Thanks to Thomas Jefferson's diary, we know it was a cool 76 degrees on July 4, 1776. On the semiquincentennial, it was a less moderate 101 degrees, presenting a challenge for the actors as parades and celebrations across the country were shortened, canceled or moved inside for safety.

Dunphy says all the costumes at Historic Philadelphia are authentic down to their shoes— meaning the clothes are made from natural fibers that breathe. There's no polyester in their wardrobe.

“You'd be surprised how much that can help when it's hot,” she says. “I mean, corsets are still miserable if you're a woman.”

“But my secret weapon is to go to Costco before the season starts and buy those freezie-pops that come like 250 to a box,” she says. “I buy at least two.”

And when your cast is so dedicated that the regiment of soldiers refuse to remove their jackets even when given permission, those little tubes of flavored ice can be a lifesaver.

The group has spent decades focusing on underrepresented stories

From quirky stories about colonial-era prisoners being fed the overabundant lobsters of the time (and hating it) to accounts of a female Quaker spy hiding notes in her hair, their tales are meticulously researched and designed to pique people’s interest in history.

But as disputes about what parts of history are represented prominently at federal sites continue to roil in the courts, the group has maintained its mission of portraying diverse real characters that help people see themselves in history and in the nation’s founding. Philadelphia is appealing a federal court decision that allows the Trump Administration to remove an exhibit on slavery at the President's House in Philadelphia and replace it with an exhibit that opponents say has been whitewashed.

“There is that sort of added responsibility to tell the whole story. But in the same way … it wasn’t something that caused us to scramble because we have been doing this for 20 years,” says Jason Greenplate, the Once Upon a Nation Program Manager at Historic Philadelphia.

Greenplate says the group adds stories regularly about women, immigrants, both free and enslaved Black residents and poor people who joined the cause that became America.

Keith Henley has been portraying abolitionist and entrepreneur James Forten for more than a decade. The free Black man heard the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence when he was a boy and apprenticed as a sailmaker before serving in the Revolutionary Army.

“As historians and Americans, we know our situation seems somewhat bleak,” Henley says. “What the current administration is trying to do with American history as a whole, if we the people allow them to do that, then we have failed. So I make sure children and adults who walk away from James Forten — they will know the real story.”

The Penguin Random House imprint Crown announced Wednesday that “The Call of Freedom: Portraits of Political Prisoners and Dissidents” will be released March 9 and coincide with an exhibition of Bush's art at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. The new book will include Bush's portraits of such symbols of oppression as the late Mahsa Amini, whose death in 2022 while in the custody of Iranian authorities led to nationwide protests, and the imprisoned Nicaraguan bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos.

“The Call of Freedom,” the third collection of Bush's art, will include 44 paintings and biographical sketches of each subject. Former Soviet Union dissident Natan Sharansky is contributing a foreword.

“This book, coupled with our work at the Bush Institute, is a chance for me to send a message that the United States cares deeply about people seeking freedom,” Bush writes in the book. “And hopefully these stories will remind us that we who live in liberty have a duty to stand with those who do not.”

The book champions human rights even as Bush's own record as president has led to frequent criticism, whether the CIA’s use of waterboarding or the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Bush took up painting after leaving office in 2009. His previous books include “Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors” and “Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants.”

Temperatures at Levi’s Stadium are expected to be in the 70s, with low humidity and plenty of California sunshine. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET.

The Dolphins (0-1) are looking for their first win of the season against the 49ers (1-0), who are coming off a win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Local 10 viewers can also get the latest local forecast from our Weather Authority Team by clicking here and by downloading the free Local 10+ Platinum app.

Sunny, a 13-year-old Portuguese water dog the Obamas got in 2013 while living in the White House, died Tuesday.

“We got Sunny at the start of our second term in the White House, and all of us – including our first dog, Bo – immediately fell in love,” he said on social media.

He remembered Sunny as athletic, full of energy and protective of Bo. Despite Sunny's breed, she hated getting wet.

“We will miss her terribly, and imagine she’s with her big brother now, making sure he’s okay,” Obama said.

Bo died in 2021.

While many presidents have kept dogs as companions, President Donald Trump does not have any pets at the White House.

George H.W. Bush’s English springer spaniel, Millie, “wrote” the bestseller “Millie’s Book.” Bill Clinton’s chocolate Labrador retriever, Buddy, was in the family as Clinton weathered the scandal over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

George W. Bush’s Scottish terrier, Barney, had an official web page and starred in “Barneycam” videos that were filmed by a camera around his neck. Lyndon B. Johnson angered animal lovers by lifting his beagle, Him, by the ears in front of news photographers.

Harry S. Truman famously advised: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

Retail sales rebounded at a better-than-expected 1.2% increase last month after recording a revised 0.5% dip in July, according to Commerce Department data released Wednesday. Economists were anticipating a 0.7% gain for the month, according to FactSet.

The decline in July was notable because there had been few signs of fatigue from U.S. consumers. Americans spent heavily during the World Cup and Amazon Prime Day sales this summer. That followed solid retail sales in April and May as Americans dipped into their government tax refunds.

Even excluding business at gas stations, retail sales rose 1.1% in August, underscoring the resilience of the American consumer. The government figures aren’t adjusted for inflation. The roar back in spending is happening even as consumer confidence took another hit in July, according to the latest reading by the Conference Board.

The strong spending report comes as the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lift its short-term interest rate Wednesday for the first time in three years to fight stubbornly high inflation.

Much of the strength in retail last month reflected a bounce back in nonstore sales, which declined sharply in July, according to economists. That was “seasonal noise” driven by shifts in the timing of Amazon’s Prime Day shopping event, which also coincides with heavy promotions from other major online retailers, according to Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Rising gas prices also propped up gasoline station sales, he said.

But even accounting for these factors, gains in most spending categories were “decent,” led by discretionary sectors such as food services, electronics, and sports and recreation, Pearce wrote.

“American consumers are still opening their wallets and buying,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a report published Wednesday. ”August retail sales showed a big bounce back after a weak July."

The so-called control group — which excludes food services, autos, building materials and gas station sales and is used to calculate economic growth — rose a strong 1.4% last month from the prior month.

Many Americans continue to spend despite skyrocketing gas prices that have accompanied renewed fighting in the Middle East. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose overnight to $4.37 on Wednesday, according to motor club AAA. That is about 47% more than a gallon cost before the war began, when it cost less than $3.

Diesel, which has an outsized impact because it’s used for shipping, transportation and manufacturing, has risen even faster, up 68%.

The Labor Department reported Friday that consumer prices rose 3.4% last month from a year earlier, and they’re up 0.4% from July, quadrupling the 0.1% registered in the previous month.

Still, Americans have grown more selective about what they buy, according to retailers who reported their quarterly financial results in the past few weeks, but some, like Walmart and Macy’s, are using a portion of their tariff refunds from the government to lower prices.

Macy’s received $116 million in tariff refunds from the government, Macy’s CEO Tony Spring said, and some of those proceeds are being used to lower prices on certain big-ticket items like furniture and fine jewelry.

Executives at the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, said that retail sales have been better than expected this year.

Mark Mathews, chief economist at the NRF, also noted he’s seeing in recent months a softening of the K-shaped spending trends — the upper part of the K refers to higher-income Americans seeing their incomes and wealth rise while the bottom part points to lower-income households struggling with weaker income gains and steep prices.

Underscoring consumers’ resilience, September is expected to be the busiest month of the year for import volume at the nation’s major container ports, according to the retail group’s Global Port Tracker. The tracker is produced for the NRF by a consultancy firm called Hackett Associates.

Typically, the peak month is either July or August, NRF executives said.

But economists still worry about how rising gas prices will impact future spending.

“We have a consumer that’s willing to spend, and up until this point, we have had a consumer who’s been able to spend,” Mathews said. “Now looking forward that looks a little bit more challenged because if gas prices remain high, then you know you have to start questioning where the consumer is going to fund that spending growth from."

Pearce echoed those worries, noting that while the solid labor market has helped prop up spending among lower-to middle-income shoppers this year, he sees a “deeper bifurcation of the consumer returning in the coming months.”

“Higher gasoline prices will deliver a renewed squeeze on real incomes, holding back spending on other goods and services by those households,” he wrote.

The reason is their decision to cover up part of the message on a T-shirt in support for Ceuta — a small Spanish city located on the north African coast — that players for both Madrid and Elche were supposed to wear before their league game on Tuesday. Ceuta was overwhelmed by a mass crossing of some 80,000 people, mostly from neighboring Morocco, in late July.

While Mbappé and Vinícius and teammate Ibrahima Konaté put on the shirts, they wore them rolled up to their chests so that some of the words were obscured. They then removed their shirts before they shook hands with the Elche players and referees ahead of kickoff.

The players did not speak about it after the match, which Madrid won 3-2.

But their gesture has generated an outpouring of comments in Spanish media and social media, with some arguing that the players were showing solidarity with the plight of the migrants while others criticized them for not fully supporting the Spanish citizens of Ceuta. Others blamed the business group which organized the shirt initiative for putting the players on the spot.

Jorge Calabrés, a journalist with the online newspaper El Español, wrote that “I am outraged by Mbappé, Vinícius and Konaté. You are in Real Madrid, not just any club. Support for Ceuta is not a political or religious issue.”

Sports commentator Santiago Segurola backed the players.

“The businessmen behind this are idiots,” Segurola said on Onda Cero radio. “They are completely out of bounds and put the players in an awkward situation, making them position themselves. Now people are holding the players accountable.”

The shirts were made and distributed by a business association representing companies the eastern region of Valencia. La Liga said it approved the gesture in accordance with the standard procedure applicable to any ceremonial gesture before a match. Elche and Madrid also gave their approval.

Madrid said the shirts were to “show support for Ceuta,” which is still struggling to provide for several thousand migrants who remain the city.

The shirts read “Todos somos caballas,” which means in local Ceuta slang “We are all from Ceuta."

Caballa, “mackerel” in Spanish, is used locally to also mean a resident of the Spanish exclave.

Vinícius is used to being at the center of social debates. The Brazilian has been at the heart of fierce debate in Spain about racism in soccer after he was repeatedly targeted with racist slurs by opposing fans.

Mbappé's mother is of Algerian descent, while his father immigrated from Cameroon to France, where the striker was born in Paris.

Abde criticized by fellow Moroccans

The night before Madrid visited Elche, the players taking the field for Real Betis’ game at Villarreal also all wore the shirts.

Real Betis forward Abde Ezzalzouli, who plays for Morocco, was harshly criticized by some Moroccan fans on social media when images of him wearing the shirt in support of Ceuta began to circulate.

Abde, who moved with his family to Spain when he was a child, said on social media that he wouldn’t apologize for wearing a shirt that he said had no political aim nor intended to show “disdain for the Moroccan people.”

“It was a shirt with a social message of support for a city and its inhabitants, who, regardless of their nationality, are going through a complicated situation,” he wrote. “I will continue to hold my head high and represent my roots with pride and a sense of sacrifice.”

Ceuta has become a political flashpoint

The Ceuta crisis, during which some 140 people died crossing the frontier via the sea, has become the dominant political talking point in Spain. The far-right and conservative opposition parties are hoping they can leverage it in national elections next year and oust the left-wing, pro-legal migration government.

It has also led many in Spain to question the government’s policy of moving closer to Rabat in recent years, all with the backdrop of the two countries preparing to host the 2030 World Cup along with Portugal.

Ceuta is one of two Spanish territories on the north African coast along with Melilla. Ceuta has been in Spanish possession since 1580. Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers all live there in relative harmony behind a border fence that many migrants from across Africa attempt to cross or swim around for a better life in Europe.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to close most of the iconic performing arts venue just hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Trump’s name to the building.

And Trump will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to rally with Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley as the former national party chairman tries to shore up his campaign against Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper.

Here's the Latest:

House nears vote on Russia sanctions bill named after late Sen. Lindsey Graham

The House will soon vote on a broad package of sanctions targeting Russian officials and key pillars of its economy as lawmakers look to deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of the financial resources needed to wage the war against Ukraine.

The bill is named after Graham, the late South Carolina senator who spent more than a year working on it.

If the House passes it on Wednesday, it would then go to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

The bill represents the most ambitious effort to support Ukraine since Trump returned to the White House.

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Fencing goes up around the main Kennedy Center building

The fencing went up Wednesday, a day after the Trump-aligned board voted to close most of the performing arts center for repairs.

That vote came after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Trump’s name to the building.

The Republican president had said in a social media post that the closure was necessary for safety repairs. But he said the repairs, which Congress has allocated $257 million to cover, would proceed only if the board was permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.

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Saphier hearing has ended

The Senate health committee hearing adjourned after Saphier was questioned about vaccine safety and whether she would follow the law or potentially unlawful orders from administration officials.

Saphier said she would follow the law.

Carney received a standing ovation at the European Parliament

Canada has retaliated against U.S. tariffs and rejected trade terms that Carney says would weaken its sovereignty. The EU has taken a different course, reaching a trade agreement with the Trump administration that set a 15% U.S. tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU exports even as Europe eliminated tariffs on U.S. industrial goods.

That contrast has loomed over Carney’s push for closer European ties. In a closely watched speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he urged middle powers to work together to increase their leverage in an era of great-power rivalry.

“When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered,” Carney said. “It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”

Carney’s Davos speech drew a personal rebuke from Trump, and von der Leyen’s overture to America’s neighbor could raise the temperature again.

European Commission president wants Canada to become the EU’s 1st associate member

Ursula von der Leyen made the striking overture as Trump’s threats drive Ottawa closer to Europe.

Trump’s tariffs and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have soured the relationship between the North American neighbors. Canada is seeking to reduce its dependence on the United States, the destination for roughly 70% of its exports, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a “unique alliance” with the EU.

In her annual State of the European Union address on Wednesday, von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would build on their existing free trade agreement, known as CETA, with a broader “Alliance for the Future” aimed at creating “a common prosperity and economic security space,” rooted in shared democratic values.

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Mamdani says he won’t protest Netanyahu at UN

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he’ll skip any possible protests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the U.N. General Assembly next week.

The Democrat told reporters “I do not have any plans to attend any protests at the U.N. General Assembly” when asked about Netanyahu’s incoming visit, instead saying he is focused on security and getting the city ready to host world leaders.

Mamdani has been a fierce critic of Netanyahu and Israel’s military actions in Gaza, saying during his campaign that he would direct the city’s police to arrest the prime minister under the International Criminal Court’s warrant over his role in the war in Gaza. Mamdani later acknowledged that the city lacks such authority.

Netanyahu is expected to arrive late on Sept. 23, address the General Assembly the next day and fly back to Israel that night, according to Israel’s U.N. envoy.

Trump administration still plans signs outside of Smithsonian museum

Trump signed an executive order in July calling for signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History warning of what it argues are exhibits that present history inaccurately.

Though none have appeared, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently told Sen. Jeff Merkley they’re still happening.

“The purpose of these signs is straightforward: Americans should enter the NMAH with relevant information about curators’ interpretation of history and their stated goal of changing the viewpoints of visitors to the museum,” Burgum wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to Merkley. The Atlantic first reported Burgum’s letter.

The Smithsonian is in the midst of a leadership change after Lonnie Bunch announced plans this month to step down as secretary. In an interview with the AP last week, Anthea Hartig, the American history museum’s director, expressed faith in the institution’s ability to do its work.

“I wake up every day confident in Americans’ ability to embrace the complexities of their past,” she said.

House Democrats vow to ‘end this national nightmare’ in midterm pitch to voters

Standing on the Capitol steps before lawmakers head home to campaign, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries assailed the “do nothing” Republican majority and promised Democrats will do better.

“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans promised to bring down grocery prices on Day One. They promised to stop endless wars in the Middle East,” Jeffries said. “But Republicans have done nothing to make life more affordable for the American people.”

He said the Democrats’ message is simple: “We hear you… And we are committed to making life better for you.”

Jeffries also warned that it’s time for the corruption to end: “House Democrats are going to hold the crooks accountable.”

Saphier is confronted about her stance on vaccines

Sen. Cassidy asked Saphier what her message would be to parents on vaccines, in light of Trump’s comments on the causes of autism. Trump and Secretary Kennedy have repeatedly suggested a link between childhood vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine, and the development of autism, even tough studies by the CDC and others have ruled that out.

“I don’t know what causes autism, but I have not seen reputable evidence that would suggest that vaccines cause autism.” Saphier told Cassidy, “I can tell you that I do not believe the MMR vaccine to be lethal. I believe the MMR vaccine is our greatest tool for combatting measles.”

If confirmed, Saphier will be in the difficult position of navigating Kennedy’s efforts to scale back vaccine guidance at a time when the U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles in decades.

White House readies for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit next week

The military honor guard and members of “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine band have been practicing on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House for Xi’s Sept. 24th state visit.

Trump also has said the helipad he had built on the South Lawn is ready. The black and white granite landing pad mimics the official seal of the President of the United States. Trump had wanted it finished in time for Xi’s visit.

Work on columns and the doors of the North Portico was completed recently.

Xi will also be the guest of honor at a White House state dinner that evening.

Saphier focuses on illness prevention in her opening statement

“We spend too much time and resources treating chronic disease after it takes hold, and not enough time helping Americans reduce their risk before illness begins,” Saphier said. “We should treat illness when it occurs, but we also need to do a far better job of helping people stay healthy in the first place.”

Saphier gets bipartisan warnings as her confirmation hearing begins

At the start of the Senate health committee hearing, chair Sen. Bill Cassidy noted the “serious health issues” facing the country, highlighting the measles deaths.

“That is going to be a terrible legacy for this administration,” said Cassidy, R-LA, telling Saphier and other nominees that he hoped they would restore the public’s confidence in public health.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “career spreading vaccine conspiracy theories” has contributed to the outbreak.

“We need leaders who will stand up for science,” Baldwin said.

Dr. Nicole Saphier, Trump’s 3rd surgeon general pick, faces Senate grilling

A radiologist and former Fox News contributor is facing lawmakers as Trump’s third nominee for surgeon general.

The position known as the nation’s doctor has been vacant throughout Trump’s second term. The confirmation of entrepreneur and wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means stalled over her background and vaccine views. Trump withdrew the nomination of Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat after her academic credentials were questioned.

Dr. Nicole Saphier is director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to her profile on the New York-based institution’s website, which says she earned her medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados.

Senators are likely to question her views on vaccines and her ownership of DropRx, which produces controversial, unregulated tinctures — concentrated liquid extracts promoting focus and calm — that contain ingredients, including kava kava root, described by the FDA as potentially causing severe liver injury.

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Wall Street is edging higher as it waits to hear from the Federal Reserve

The market’s main event is coming later in the day, when traders expect the Fed will announce the first hike to interest rates in three years. They’re counting on the central bank to try to cool the inflationary pressures caused by the global energy crisis driven by Trump’s war on Iran.

U.S. data released last week shows inflation remains stubbornly high, and a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. rose again overnight, hitting $4.37 on average, according to motor club AAA. A week ago, gasoline averaged $4.22 a gallon. Diesel, which topped $6 a gallon on Friday, is now $6.31 a gallon on average, up from $5.94 a week earlier.

The stock market also is under pressure from higher U.S. Treasury yields, which have risen as the government finances the growing U.S. national debt.

Tune in: House approves bill requiring AM radios in cars

The House overwhelmingly passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would require the Transportation Secretary to issue a rule require the devices as standard equipment in new vehicles sold in the U.S.

Similar bipartisan legislation has been considered by Congress before, but stalled out. Lawmakers say there’s a need for emergency broadcasts and other local programming to be available on the dial.

Under the bill, the secretary would have a year to come up with the rule, and it would take effect two years later. It passed unanimously late Tuesday. The Senate is considering a similar measure.

US general says Ukrainian drones are killing Russian troops as soon as they reach the front

The U.S. military’s highest ranking officer says modern warfare is changing so quickly that Russian troops are killed by Ukrainian drones within minutes of reaching the front lines.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference outside Washington, where he talked about the rapid evolution of military technology.

Caine described Ukrainian drones that use “AI-enabled computer vision” to strike targets “even when there’s no GPS.”

“It shows how quickly software and autonomy are changing what is possible at the tactical edge, and the results are stark,” Caine said. “In certain locations on the front line of troops right now, the life expectancy of a new Russian recruit arriving on the front lines is as little as 20 to 30 minutes.”

Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice in climate change’s big melt

A major scientific report has found that 12.5 trillion tons of ice from Greenland and Antarctica has melted since 1979. That’s enough to cover the continental United States in ice five feet high. The study published in Wednesday’s Scientific Data journal says satellite data shows the melting is accelerating, and abrupt changes are happening more often as the Earth grows warmer.

Trump has called climate change a “con job” and erased the very basis for federal climate regulations. He’s said that rising sea levels would only create more beachfront property.

In reality, study author Ines Otosaka says another 2 to 3 million more people get flooded at least once a year for every third of an inch of sea level rise, and the melting of the planet’s major ice sheets has tripled that. It’s already making the flooding worse in Miami, said Mark Serreze, director of the national snow and ice data center.

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Warsh is likely to side with markets over Trump as Fed rate hike expected

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is barely four months into the job and stuck between two opposing forces: Financial markets that anticipate the central bank will raise interest rates, and Trump, who wants the Fed to cut them or leave them unchanged.

Economists expect Warsh and his fellow policymakers will side with the markets on Wednesday.

They say Warsh has largely boxed himself into a rate hike after delivering a high-profile speech last month warning that inflation remains too far above the Fed’s 2% target and might require higher borrowing costs to bring it down. A report last week showing inflation is still stubbornly high largely sealed investors’ expectations.

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Charlie Kirk’s family files wrongful death notice against Utah officials

Their lawyers blamed the activist’s assassination on a string of “reckless decisions” at Utah Valley University that exposed him to a rooftop sniper more than 400 feet away.

Kirk was shot while debating students in an outdoor courtyard surrounded by tall buildings with about 3,000 people in attendance. An Associated Press review showed the campus did not apply some standard safety measures. Campus police staffing was far below recommended levels for a school of that size. No drone was flown to monitor rooftops, and local law enforcement wasn’t brought in to secure the event. There were no bag checks or metal detectors.

“The risk of a rooftop shooter should have been especially top-of-mind given the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Kirk family attorney D. Loren Washburn wrote.

A spokesperson said the university’s “focus remains on supporting the campus community.”

Poll: Most Americans support limits on new data centers

About 6 in 10 Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can be built, according to the new AP-NORC/EPIC poll. That includes majorities of Democrats and Republicans.

Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults support requiring data centers to use clean energy sources, the poll found, and about 7 in 10 support requiring companies that build data centers to pay for the electric grid upgrades needed to support them.

Most Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the impact of data centers on electricity prices or the water supply in the communities where they are built, the poll found. Data centers are powered by tremendous amounts of electricity, raising concerns about where that energy will come from.

Nancy Antunes, a 60-year-old Democrat from Waltham, Mass., told AP that she believes “decisions are being made for the company, not for the community that they’re being built in.”

$177B in grants cut or frozen by Trump admin, new analysis shows

President Donald Trump’s administration has cut or frozen roughly $177 billion in federal grants since his return to the White House in 2025, according to a new tracking tool released Wednesday by a pro-democracy nonprofit and a group of researchers and scientists.

The cuts affected all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with health, nutrition, the environment and disaster relief making up the largest share of cuts, the States United Democracy Center and Grant Witness organization found.

A message seeking comment was sent to the White House.

Two GOP lawmakers from battleground Iowa join in vote to halt Iran war

Four Republicans had previously voted in the House to halt the Iran war, but that number rose to seven during the latest war powers resolution vote.

GOP lawmakers from battleground Iowa, Rep. Zachary Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and retiring Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, joined GOP Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky in voting for the war powers resolution.

All Democrats also voted for the resolution to bring an end to the Iran war.

The roll call late Tuesday, 220-204, was similar to earlier efforts this summer, with a few more Republicans joining all Democrats voting to bring an end to the conflict. None of the resolutions have made it to the president’s desk, where Trump would almost certainly veto the measure.

“Remember when Donald Trump said that this war would last just a few weeks?” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who served as a Marine during the Iraq War and pushed the resolution forward.

He said it’s time for Congress to “actually ask tough questions, as the Constitution directs us to do, rather than be subservient to another warmongering administration.”

Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned which military resources Democrats would want to remove from the region where he said Iran remains a threat.

Mast said Trump is against “forever wars, and that is what he is ending” — the decades of hostilities from Iran.

“They are a continuous ongoing threat to the United States,” Mast said. “Enough is enough.”

Last war powers vote before the midterms

The action is likely the last House vote on the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections, where the conflict overseas is playing a substantial role in the political campaigns. The war that Trump launched Feb. 28 has dragged, with on-again, off-again deadly missile strikes being exchanged and causing havoc in the region for nearly seven months.

Lawmakers are heading home at the end of the week to campaign nearly full-time, with less than 50 days to go before the elections that will determine control of Congress as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans.

Voters are confronting high prices, particularly for gas at the pumps, as the conflict disrupts the flow of oil resources through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the war has cost more than $38 billion, as of Aug. 1, and is projected to be costing between $2 billion and $3 billion monthly, depending on the intensity of the fighting. The budget office projected inflation will be 0.5 percentage points higher than expected heading into 2027 due to the war.

Trump himself had promised not to involve the U.S. in foreign wars when he won a second term in the White House, and his actions against Iran are weighing on the Republican Party that controls the House and Senate. Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to an AP-NORC poll in July.

In the previous House actions, four Republicans voted to halt the war in Iran, but that number rose to seven in Tuesday’s war powers vote, including GOP lawmakers from battleground Iowa, Rep. Zachary Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and retiring Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

They joined GOP Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky voting in favor of the war powers resolution, with all Democrats.

War powers being put to the test

Congress has tried repeatedly to alter the trajectory of the war against Iran, but efforts to limit the Trump administration’s military action remain a longshot so long as the president is able to fend off or veto the measures.

The House first approved a war powers resolution in June, and followed up with another one in July, all seeking to halt U.S. action in Iran. The Senate on its 10th try also approved a war powers resolution to end the conflict, but GOP senators quickly reversed course the next day after Trump berated them during a closed-door lunch.

While the Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, it also gives the president authority as the commander in chief to engage in some military actions. The War Powers Act, created in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, sought to put a more specific time limit on the president’s power, requiring congressional approval for sustained military actions after 60 or 90 days.

House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday the need to bring gas prices down.

But the Republican speaker said he believes the Iran conflict is entering a “new phase” as allies step up to help stabilize the region. When that happens, he said, “you’re going to see, as the president said, anytime gas prices will go down again, the cost of groceries will as well.”

Johnson said Trump expects the shift after the election, and the speaker added, “I’d love it to happen today.”

Esta inestabilidad, señaló, la llevó a proponer un nuevo Plan Europeo contra las Olas de Calor, así como una futura flota europea de aviones para combatir incendios. Actualmente, la UE opera una pequeña flota propia, pero coordina una red de aeronaves, camiones cisterna y voluntarios que se desplazan por el bloque de 27 países a medida que se producen los incendios.

“Este verano fue el verano de la verdad. Casi ninguna parte de nuestro continente se salvó”, afirmó Von der Leyen durante su discurso anual sobre el Estado de la Unión Europea en Estrasburgo.

“Ríos clave como el Danubio, el Rin o el Garona están desapareciendo ante nuestros ojos. Más de 35.000 muertes adicionales durante las olas de calor. Residencias de ancianos y hospitales peligrosamente sobrecalentados”, añadió.

El calor extremo, que golpeó a Europa de forma excepcionalmente dura y temprana este año, parece haber provocado un aumento de muertes mucho mayor de lo esperado. No está claro de dónde proviene la cifra de 35.000 de Von der Leyen, pero triplica las estimaciones de “muertes en exceso” de grupos de monitoreo en julio.

Los incendios obligaron a cientos de miles de personas a huir de sus hogares en Francia y España, paralizaron reactores nucleares en Hungría y Francia, hicieron estallar municiones centenarias en la frontera de Bélgica con Alemania y revelaron barcos previamente perdidos hundidos en lechos de ríos, como un remolcador en Serbia.

El calor y la humedad que batieron muchos récords durante el verano no habrían sido posibles sin el cambio climático, según un estudio del grupo World Weather Attribution.

“Todo esto es apenas un anticipo. Estos fueron los meses de verano más calurosos jamás registrados, pero probablemente los más frescos de los años venideros”, advirtió Von der Leyen. “La ciencia es clara: Europa se está calentando al doble del ritmo global”.

Mientras elogiaba a quienes combatieron los incendios este verano, Von der Leyen señaló que ha pedido a los equipos de respuesta a emergencias y a altos mandos de bomberos que “piensen en grande y aprendan más rápido” para diseñar “nuevas capacidades” con las que la UE pueda afrontar la inestabilidad climática.

Cuando rindió homenaje a un piloto danés de helicóptero llamado Rune Kyndal, que murió en agosto mientras combatía incendios en Grecia, la asamblea estalló en aplausos.

"Rune dio su vida para salvar a otros y hoy toda Europa está en deuda con él”, dijo Von der Leyen.

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

Residents of Piddington, which has a population of about 350, voted overwhelmingly for secession in the non-binding referendum. The results announced on Wednesday showed 285 votes in favor of breaking away, with 26 villagers voting against.

“We have given an absolute message, not just to the region, not just to the country, but to the world,” said the parish chairman, Tim McNally. He said the district will henceforth be known as “the Principality of Piddington.”

The attention-grabbing vote was called to oppose plans to turn the former Ministry of Defense Bicester base — which is about half a mile (0.8 kilometers) from the village — into housing for male migrants. The government says the site is “designed to be largely self‑sufficient to minimize any impact on the local community.”

Residents in the Oxfordshire village have raised fears about safety, crime and the effect on house prices in the affluent area, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of London.

Supporters called the declaration of independence a victory for people power and local democracy. Some media coverage compared the gesture to the classic 1949 Ealing comedy film “Passport to Pimlico,” in which a London neighborhood breaks away from Britain.

Others said the campaign had a darker side and stirred up fear of newcomers. Some backers of the Piddington referendum compared their fight against the asylum accommodation to the 1940 Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany.

Villager Herbert Owen, 76, said after voting on Tuesday that the independence referendum “isn’t just about Piddington,” adding: “It means everything our grandparents, our parents fought for. Today is the Battle of Britain.”

Comparing unauthorized immigration to an invasion has become increasingly common among politicians including Nigel Farage of Reform UK, and far-right groups that have been active in organizing and attending anti-immigrant protests.

The U.K. has seen a wave of anti-immigrant demonstrations since riots erupted two years ago after a teenager killed three young girls during a dance class near Liverpool. The U.K.-born attacker had been wrongly identified on social media as a Muslim asylum seeker.

Protesters clashed with police last year outside hotels housing asylum seekers in London and several other cities.

In June, masked men in Northern Ireland set fire to several homes in Belfast they believed to house immigrants after a Sudanese man was arrested over a stabbing.

Earlier this month, masked demonstrators blocked the port of Dover, in southeast England, and tried to stop a boatload of migrants being taken ashore in Portsmouth on the country’s south coast.

The center-left Labour Party government of Prime Minister Andy Burnham says it is making progress in processing asylum claims more quickly, so that migrants spend less time in state-sponsored accommodation, and stopping people crossing the English Channel in inflatable dinghies.

More than 41,000 people made the hazardous journey in 2025, but the number so far this year is down by more than 40% from the same period last year.

The government has also pledged to move migrants from hotels and rooming houses — often in poorer neighborhoods — into more suitable accommodation.

“I understand the strength of feeling,” Burnham said on Wednesday. “I will look at the issues being raised by the community and in the referendum, but we have to ensure that we have a fair plan” that spreads the burden of accommodating new arrivals across the country.

Refugee groups said military barracks aren’t the right place to house asylum seekers, but cautioned that migrants should not be made scapegoats.

“For people who have fled war and violence and come to the U.K. to be safe, being accommodated in such remote and unsettling environments only exacerbates their sense of insecurity,” said Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council.

“And as we’ve seen from other sites, they’ve undermined social cohesion.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently sent more humanitarian aid to Cuba, and it is being distributed by the non-governmental organization (NGO) associated with the Catholic Church, Caritas of Cuba.

At the same time, Rubio warned international banks and businesses not to collaborate with any Cuban business entities that have been sanctioned by the U.S.

Secretary Rubio also called for the Cuban government to change and become a democracy.

By now, we should understand that changing governments like Cuba, which have been under totalitarian control, is not easy and will take time. Especially countries like Cuba that, in their political history, have had unsustainable democratic governments.

Sept. 15: Cuba becomes a betting market for U.S. prediction markets

Cuba has become a betting market in the USA.

The betting site Polymarket shows how people in the U.S. are betting on everything from the removal of Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel from power to when and if the U.S. will invade Cuba or make an economic agreement with Cuba.

The last prediction is whether the U.S. will go and get indicted Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

Sept. 10: Russia denies Cuba full membership in BRICS

BRICS is an organization of 11 emerging economies around the world. The organization works to influence their global importance and reshape economic governance.

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The membership includes Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Partner nations include Belarus, Cuba, Nigeria and Thailand.

The Russians turned down Cuba for full membership into the organization because of Cuba’s poor economic conditions and poor predictions by economists moving forward.

Sept. 9: Cuba and the U.S. stuck in diplomatic rhetoric

Cuba’s Brigadier General Emir Mesa Corona, who is in charge of personal security at the Ministry of Interior, sent a strong message to the U.S. not to even think of trying to kidnap Raul Castro or anyone in Cuba’s government or they will face serious consequences.

At the same time, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla admitted that backroom negotiations with the U.S. continue but the U.S. will not soften their positions. Cuba wants the economic embargo lifted while the U.S. wants regime change.

Sept. 8: Blind passion for Cuban politics leads to a political circus between Miami, Havana and DC

As a little boy growing up in Miami, I remember when every presidential candidate from both political parties would come to campaign in Miami and promised that if elected, they would work to see a “Free Cuba.” They would end their speeches with “Viva Cuba Libre.” Local politicians representing different municipalities in Miami-Dade would talk about U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba like they controlled it, and yet, they had nothing to do with it within their scope of responsibilities. But it got them the votes they needed to be elected and remain in power, while political leaders in Cuba continued to blame everything wrong on the island on the U.S. economic embargo, or as they call it, “the blockade.”

On Jan. 3, the U.S. military captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela with the assistance of their current Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and brought him to the U.S. to face justice. Shortly thereafter, President Donald Trump announced that Cuba would be next.

The Trump administration began to sanction Cuban organizations and individuals of the government in an attempt to squeeze them out of power. So far, they are still in power. The Cuban government began to prepare for a U.S. invasion. To this date, it has not happened and probably never will.

On May 20, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Raul Castro for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 in a theater-like political rally at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. So far nothing has happened and nothing is going to happen. There is no Delcy Rodriguez in Cuba. A week ago, many media outlets across Miami reported, based on sources from inside the island, that Raul Castro was gravely ill. This past weekend, Raul reappeared surrounded by Cuba’s military elite.

Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the three Cuban-American members of Congress from South Florida had announced that by the end of 2026, Cuba would fall. Now it has been pushed back to 2029. Furthermore, Rubio recently said that the problem in dealing with Cuba is the Helms-Burton Law (Senator Jesse Helms and Richard Burton, both Republicans) that was enacted by Congress in 1996, also with the hard work of the late Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

The three Cuban-American members of Congress made it clear that the goal was to return Cuba to democracy. What democracy? Cuba did not have a democratic government before Fidel Castro took power. How much do they really know about Cuban history? Or is it just a play on words and empty promises?

So as time passes each day, the Cuban-American community is beginning to ask itself, what is really going on in D.C.?

It would not surprise me that in the near future the Trump organizations would negotiate to buy the empty Melia Hotels in Cuba and put the Trump name on them. After all, we now own a big chunk of Venezuelan oil and there was no regime change as promised.

Will we ever learn? How much longer are we going to be blind by our passion?

Sept 6: Raul Castro makes public appearance

After much speculation about Cuba’s Raul Castro being close to death, the Cuban leader showed up at a military event yesterday accompanied by his grandson, Raulito, and Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Sept 3: Raul Castro stable, according to sources

Sources in Cuba say Raul Castro, 95, is stable despite reports about his declining health. According to sources, retired General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, known as “ El Fury,” is currently in worse condition. Colome Ibarra was head of the Ministry of the Interior and highly respected by the Castro brothers and the Cuban military.

Sept 3: President Trump’s hands are tied with regard to Cuba, Rubio says

After months of saying Cuba would be next, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that the president’s hands are tied because of the Helms Burton Law which requires no normalization between the U.S. and Cuba unless there is regime change and a move towards a democratic government.

Even if Raul Castro was to die in the near future, I do not expect regime change.

Only the U.S. can change the Helms-Burton Law and I don’t expect that to happen anytime in the near future or after the mid-term elections.

Sept. 2: Children in Cuba start new school year amid more challenges than any other year before

Children in Cuba started the new school year Tuesday facing a lack of supplies, books, uniforms and teachers, and buildings that are falling apart, along with a lack of food to feed the children.

According to the Cuban minister of education, this will be a very challenging year unlike any others.

Cuban education was once one of the big accomplishments of the revolution. However, it was also used to indoctrinate the students in an ideology that no one on the island nation believes anymore.

Sept. 1: Raul Castro hospitalized, sources say

Reliable sources inside Cuba have informed me this afternoon that Raul Castro has been hospitalized. We need to be careful and not to over speculate what might happen until further notice.

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

Authorities said Matt Pawlowski, 48, was last seen at about 9 a.m. while paddling east.

They said Pawlowski was wearing a white hat, an orange shirt and gray shorts. He was on a 14-foot lime green and yellow paddleboard.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is urged to contact the United States Coast Guard Miami Sector at 305-535-4472.

#Breaking @USCG crews are searching for a missing paddleboarder, 48 YOM, last seen @ 9 am approx 4 mi off Jupiter Beach, paddling east. He was wearing a white hat, orange shirt & gray shorts on a 14 ft lime green & yellow paddleboard. Call Sector Miami w/ info: 305-535-4472 pic.twitter.com/4bMatRPmD2

— U.S. Coast Guard Southeast (@USCGSoutheast) September 14, 2026

Vitale, a veteran fashion insider who spent some 15 years at Miu Miu, joins Armani after exiting Versace after just one season.

In a statement, Armani said Vitale’s appointment marked the “beginning of a new chapter” for the brand and “opens a dialogue between innovation and identity.”

Giorgio Armani, a defining figure of Italian luxury ready-to-wear, died in September 2025 at age 91.

The designer’s niece and head of womenswear design, Silvana Armani, and longtime menswear designer Leo Dell’Orco are carrying on his creative legacy at Armani's principal collections. Emporio Armani is the line for more youthful dressers.

Vitale’s debut collection at Versace in September 2025 was a colorful, full-throttle return to the overtly sexualized Versace of the 1980s and 1990s. Vitale left the house after just one season though. Prada, parent company of Miu Miu, acquired Versace in December.

Armani’s will instructed his heirs to sell a 15% stake in the company, which includes the Emporio Armani label as well as Armani/Casa and Armani Hotels, within 18 months of his death.

“We weren’t internet kids,” King said.

Instead, nature pulled him in

“My love just grew from there and continued over the years,” he said.

That curiosity eventually led King to South Florida, where the Everglades has become both his laboratory and his classroom.

At Everglades National Park, King studies the vast ecosystem and pays close attention to even its smallest creatures.

King holds a master’s degree in environmental biology from Florida International University and has conducted extensive research on soil across the Everglades.

The ecosystem he studies is critical to South Florida. The Everglades helps provide drinking water and serves as a natural buffer that helps protect communities from flooding, he said.

But before King can explain the science, he sometimes finds himself having to break down stereotypes.

“A lot of people see me at first, and they think I’m a rapper,” King said. “When I tell them I’m a scientist, they don’t believe me because of my appearance.”

And just like his work, King’s style stands out. He often wears grills in his mouth.

“I wanted it to symbolize my research journey in marine biology and also the Everglades,” King said while pointing to the different colors and shapes on the grills in his mouth.

His scientific journey extends well beyond the park.

On social media, King goes by “Kidflamess,” where he combines education and entertainment to teach hundreds of thousands of followers about the natural world.

During a recent trip to the Everglades, a park ranger stopped to congratulate King on earning his master’s degree and thank him for his work educating the public.

“Thank you for putting people on,” the ranger told him. “You’re doing a lot to help people in the community connect with the ecosystem.”

John Kominoski, one of King’s professors at Florida International University, has watched that passion firsthand.

“He genuinely cares that people understand and get excited about what he’s excited about,” Kominoski said.

Kominoski said King is also unafraid to approach his work with curiosity and enthusiasm.

“He’s unafraid. Nothing scares him. He approaches things with his whole heart,” Kominoski said.

For King, that passion comes back to the Everglades itself.

“I love how peaceful it is, how much diversity there is in nature,” he said. “There’s so much to see and learn about the system.”

Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor, faced tough questioning about her views on the safety of childhood vaccines by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who pressed her to declare whether she believed there was a link between vaccines and autism — which widespread scientific consensus has concluded doesn’t exist, yet which the Trump administration has repeatedly pushed to revisit.

“I do not believe childhood vaccines cause autism,” Saphier said. She also said “the MMR vaccine is our greatest tool for combating measles,” in response to a question by Cassidy over whether parents should give children that shot, which stands for measles, mumps and rubella, and which the president recently ordered be spaced out.

She suggested support for vaccines as a critical tool to fight infection and said she appreciated the administration's attempts to address questions and concerns among “the vaccine hesitant people,” which Cassidy countered was only creating more confusion. Cassidy pushed her to speak with clarity on some of her answers on vaccines, which she repeatedly presented as a belief rather than a known scientific fact.

Saphier is nominated for a position that carries limited policymaking power but serves as a loud megaphone as the nation’s top communicator to Americans on public health issues.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Trump have both suggested that childhood vaccines, such as MMR, may play a role in causing autism. Evidence from decades of studies and real-world use of vaccines have proven there is no link between vaccines and autism.

The administration has taken steps to upend the nation's vaccine guidance — many of them since halted by a judge — including downsizing the childhood immunization schedule. Medical groups and doctors have warned that the changes could stoke vaccine hesitancy.

Saphier is Trump's third pick for surgeon general

Saphier is Trump’s newest pick after entrepreneur and wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means saw her path forward stall in the Senate over her background and vaccine views. Trump withdrew his first nominee, Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, after questions arose about her academic credentials. The position has been vacant throughout Trump’s second term.

Like Means, who is a close Kennedy ally, Saphier has questioned whether every child needs to get the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a longtime recommendation that the Trump administration has been trying to weaken. On Wednesday, she said the universal birth dose of hepatitis B was safe and effective.

An author and podcaster who previously hosted her own show, “Wellness Unmasked with Dr. Nicole Saphier,” Saphier frequently commented on the Trump administration’s approach to health, often positively. She also used the phrase “Make America Healthy Again” years before Kennedy popularized it. It was the title of a 2020 book she wrote that criticized the government’s handling of healthcare and the Affordable Care Act.

While being supportive of the Trump administration at large, Saphier has, however, disagreed with Trump and Kennedy on some issues, telling The Associated Press last fall that Trump’s cautions to pregnant women who take Tylenol were oversimplistic and “patronizing.”

Last year, she decried the administration's long-anticipated first attempt at a MAHA report, which cited some studies that didn’t exist, calling it "pretty embarrassing.” She said Kennedy’s firing of his first CDC director, Susan Monarez, after less than a month on the job was “a mess.”

“When we keep hearing radical transparency and we’re going to regain trust, I can tell you these shenanigans are taking us farther away from that mission,” Saphier said on her podcast. On Wednesday, she said she promised to restore public trust if confirmed.

At the start of the Senate health committee hearing, Cassidy noted the “serious health issues” facing the country, highlighting Kennedy's efforts to scale back vaccine guidance at a time when the U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles in decades.

“That is going to be a terrible legacy for this administration,” Cassidy said, telling Saphier and other nominees appearing alongside her at the hearing that he hoped they would restore confidence in public health.

Cassidy, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in his Republican primary earlier this year, then criticized what he called “irresponsible” health policy leadership.

During lawmakers' questioning, Saphier was also asked whether she would follow unlawful orders by the president or Kennedy — she said she would follow the law — and was tested on her knowledge of the medication mifepristone, which is used to manage miscarriages and abortions.

It was not immediately clear when the committee planned to vote on whether to advance Saphier, who would still need a vote by the full Senate to be confirmed.

Also facing lawmakers’ questions Wednesday was Chris Klomp, chief counselor of the Health and Human Services Department, who has been nominated to serve as Kennedy’s second-in-command. Timothy Westlake, chief of staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration who is seeking confirmation to be assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, was also questioned.

Saphier says she would divest from some holdings

Saphier is director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to her profile on the New York-based institution’s website. She has a doctor of medicine degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados along with fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, the profile said.

Her latest ethics filing, dated Sept. 7, shows holdings with various healthcare and insurance firms, as well as processed food companies, like Coca-Cola, Yum Brands, the Hershey Co. and cigarette maker Philip Morris.

Before entering politics and throughout his tenure at the health department, Kennedy has criticized big pharmaceutical companies and insurance firms for alleged corruption and decried ultraprocessed foods as contributing to a nationwide chronic disease crisis.

Additionally, Saphier owns DropRx, a firm that produces controversial, unregulated tinctures — concentrated liquid extracts promoting focus and calm — that contain ingredients, including kava kava root, described by the FDA as potentially causing severe liver injury.

Her filing says she will resign from her position with DropRx and Empower MD LLC, which owns DropRx, if she is confirmed.

She states in the document that she would partially or fully divest from holdings that would present a conflict to serving as surgeon general.

The cuts affected all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with health, nutrition, the environment and disaster relief making up the largest share of cuts, the States United Democracy Center and Grant Witness organization found.

Among the grants that were eliminated, frozen or delayed were ones related to maternal health in Michigan, education research in Mississippi and assistance to minority farmers in Iowa, the researchers found. California, Texas, New York, Illinois and North Carolina saw the highest amounts of interrupted grant money. The tracking tool is called Lost Funds.

“By bringing thousands of funding disruptions from the Trump administration together in a publicly accessible, verified database, Lost Funds puts the magnitude of their impact on full display,” Scott Delaney, co-founder of Grant Witness, said in a statement.

The $177 billion finding represents nearly 10% of federal discretionary spending, the groups said.

The tracker’s organizers said the disrupted grants were beyond the kind of cuts that typically happen when administrations change.

“Lost Funds shows the extraordinary scale and real human impact of these disruptions, and how states are once again on the front lines protecting their residents,” said Kelly Rader, States United Democracy Center’s research director.

In some cases, courts have ruled against the administration’s grant funding cuts.

The new tool, which is being made available for public use, relies on data from USASpending.gov, an open data source of federal spending information, according to the groups’ methodology. They said the tracker would be updated regularly as the administration takes new action and lawsuits move through the courts.

States United bills itself as a nonpartisan group dedicated to the rule of law and free, fair, secure elections. It was cofounded by Norm Eisen, an attorney who has been involved in prominent lawsuits against the Trump administration, including over the Kennedy Center. Eisen left the States United center in 2024.

Grant Witness is a group of scientists, researchers and attorneys who document how funding is changing under President Donald Trump's administration.

A message seeking comment on the analysis was sent to the White House.

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This story has been updated to correct when Eisen left States United. It was in 2024, not 2021.

It is the latest tragedy in a nation mired in a devastating war.

Survivors said the collapse happened at the al-Zara gold mine, in Nuhud, a town in West Kordofan province, which is controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that have been fighting against the Sudanese military for over three years.

Suleiman Abu Hmeida, a member of the Emergency Response Rooms, said rescuers pulled out 82 bodies by Wednesday afternoon. “But dozens remain unaccounted for,” Abu Hmeida told The Associated Press.

The Emergency Response Rooms is a grassroots network that monitors the conflict and provides support for communities across war-torn Sudan.

A local administration official also said 82 bodies were recovered.

The official said the collapse began on Sunday in one of the mine shafts and spread to the other interconnected shafts. He said only one privately owned forklift is available for the rescue efforts, complicating the search for survivors.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“The collapse is massive and the situation is very dire,” Khairal-Sayed Gabara, one of the survivors, told AP when reached by phone. He said the machinery meeded to remove the collapsed soil and rubble was not available.

“We do not have the machinery to lift dirt and stones and search for survivors at depths of more than 30 meters (98 feet),” he said. “There were dozens of people working in the mine.”

The al-Zara gold mine is one of thousands of small-scale and informal mines scattered across Sudan, which has been engulfed in a war that has at times pushed parts of the country into famine.

Despite being a major gold producer, deadly mine collapses in Sudan are not uncommon in a country where safety standards are not widely applied. A 2023 collapse killed 14 miners and one in 2021 claimed 38 lives.

Al-Amin Suliman, another survivor, said 60 bodies had been recovered as of Wednesday morning. “There are still people stuck inside,” he said.

The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group tracking the war in Sudan, reported earlier that 67 bodies were pulled out from under the rubble, predicting the death toll could increase as rescuers continued to search for people trapped under the rubble. The group said the mine — an informal site that employs unregulated workers — lacked basic safety and protective measures.

Earlier, survivors reached by phone and the physicians network said the tragedy took place on Tuesday evening.

The Kordofan Observatory monitoring group said at least 70 miners were killed or missing at the site, which stretches over 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) across a wide swath of fragile, sandy soil. It described the miners as unregulated and informal workers.

Large quantities of gold have been smuggled out of the country to finance the paramilitary RSF, which controls gold-producing areas in Darfur and Kordofan regions, according to experts commissioned by the United Nations.

Sudan plunged into an all-out war in April 2023 as fighting erupted between the RSF and the Sudanese military.

The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a monitoring group. Aid organizations say the figure is an undercount, and the true number could be many times higher.

The strike occurred in the Nikopol district of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, near the war's southern front line. Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration, said that all five were killed at the scene while the seven wounded were receiving medical care.

Zelenskyy described the vehicle as a minibus and said in an X post that the strike had “no military rationale" and that it was "just another atrocity." He said the strike was connected to Russia's targeting of logistics and critical infrastructure that has continued “unabated.”

Zelenskyy said that a passenger train was also struck in the Mykolaiv region on Wednesday, damaging a railway station and a diesel locomotive. Nearly 170 passengers on board the train were evacuated before the strike. An electric locomotive in the northwestern city of Kovel was also struck, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine requests locomotives from partners

Russian strikes on Ukraine's rail network have resulted in more than 500 locomotives being damaged or completely destroyed since the beginning of the all-out war on Feb. 24, 2022, with more than half those strikes occurring this year, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Tuesday.

Sybiha described such attacks as “systematic” and aimed at disrupting logistics across Ukraine. He said that Ukraine urgently needs replacements for damaged locomotives, and called on the country's partners to assist in finding locomotives compatible with its 1,520-millimeter rail gauge and to assist in financing.

In another post on X on Wednesday, Sybiha said that Russian forces were striking passenger trains, locomotives, stations and railway routes “knowing exactly how essential they are for civilians, evacuations and Ukraine’s economy.”

“This is not collateral damage. It is a systematic hunt for people and an attempt to (paralyze) civilian life,” he wrote.

Zelenskyy says there is no truce on halting energy strikes

In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Zelenskyy pushed back against an earlier claim by U.S. President Donald Trump that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to mutually cease attacks on each other's energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was ready to enter such an agreement, if Russia stops striking Ukrainian energy facilities.

Trump said in a social media post Monday that such a truce had been reached, but didn’t offer details on the purported agreement. Previous efforts to broker even a partial ceasefire have repeatedly fallen apart within hours, with both sides accusing the other of violations.

In the CBS interview, Zelenskyy said that the possibility of an energy truce was discussed during a recent meeting in Kyiv with Trump’s representatives, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, but that he had told them: “If the Russians are ready for an energy truce, that means there will be no attacks on energy facilities at all.”

Russia decorates ship captain who fired flares at Danish helicopter

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the captain of a Russian warship that fired two signal flares toward a Danish military helicopter on Monday, drawing ire from Denmark, has been awarded a medal for his “competent and resolute action.”

The ministry said in a statement that the Soobrazitelny corvette was on a mission in neutral waters in the Baltic Sea when its crew spotted the approaching helicopter, which failed to respond to calls made via the international communication channel.

“To prevent a provocation by the Danish helicopter, the corvette commander decided to fire two red signal flares, after which the helicopter left the area where the Russian warship was located,” the ministry said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow has no aggressive intentions toward Europe, but that if countries on the continent were to launch an attack on Russia, “it would be a completely different kind of war, and a very short one.”

Russia confirms the death of a general in Donetsk

The deputy head of the Russian armed forces’ military-political department, Lt. Gen. Apti Alaudinov, confirmed Wednesday that a decorated Russian general had been killed in the occupied Donetsk region.

Alaudinov, who didn't provide details on the circumstances of Maj. Gen. Anton Grunis' death, hailed the officer as “a hero” and “one of the most respected generals … a real man and officer and a great patriot.”

The confirmation of Grunis' death came after Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, alleged on Wednesday that Grunis had been killed in occupied Donetsk by a Ukrainian drone while at a command post in the village of Kindrativka.

In July, Grunis reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his troops had captured the town of Kostiantynivka and he was later awarded the Hero of Russia medal. Ukraine has disputed that Kostiantynivka was fully taken by Russian forces.

Grunis had previously fought in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic whose bid for independence after the Soviet Union’s collapse led to years of war with Russian government forces. He also took part in Russia’s campaign in Syria.

In Ukraine, he commanded the 4th Guards Motorized Infantry Brigade.

Meanwhile, 17 other sites were damaged in Ukraine’s Kyiv region between Tuesday and Wednesday morning, according to the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, Tymur Tkachenko. Eight private homes, five vehicles, a municipal building, a hangar and a production facility were among the sites damaged, Tkachenko said on Telegram.

Zelenskyy said on X that the Kherson, Donetsk and Poltava regions had also come under attack.

In the northern city of Sumy, six people were injured in a Russian guided aerial bomb attack, including a 14-year-old girl, according to the head of the Sumy regional military administration Oleh Hryhorov. Two homes were destroyed and 10 others damaged in the strikes, along with damage to an educational facility, Hryhorov said, adding that two other men were hospitalized after a separate strike hit an industrial zone.

In the port city of Odesa, one person was killed in a Russian attack that sparked a fire at garages and damaged vehicles and private homes, Serhii Lysak, head of the city's military administration, wrote on Telegram Wednesday.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight. In the Belgorod region, one person was killed and four others were wounded by Ukrainian strikes over the last 24 hours, according to acting governor Alexander Shuvayev.

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

Honda’s HR-V is the little sibling to the larger CR-V and sets a benchmark for what to expect from an extra-small SUV. Kia’s Seltos is less well known but enters 2027 with a full redesign that brings more space, revamped styling and a newly available hybrid powertrain. Both are compelling options, but which one is the better buy? Edmunds put these two SUVs head-to-head to find out.

Comfort and convenience

Both the Kia Seltos and Honda HR-V make good use of their compact dimensions, offering roomy cabins with generous space in both rows. The Seltos has an especially accommodating rear seat, even for taller passengers. Easy-access child seat anchors add to its family-friendly appeal. For a small SUV like this, the Seltos also boasts a reasonably smooth ride over bumps.

The HR-V is similarly roomy, with large door openings and a comfortable seat height that make entry and exit a breeze. It also has a pretty smooth ride. But Edmunds noticed a difference in seat comfort between these two SUVs. The HR-V’s overly firm front seat cushions and lack of lumbar adjustment take a toll on long-distance comfort. If you frequently have rear passengers, the Seltos has another advantage by way of its rear air vents. You don’t get them in the HR-V.

Winner: Kia Seltos

Power and fuel economy

Neither the 158-horsepower Honda HR-V nor the 147-horsepower Kia Seltos is quick off the line. In Edmunds’ testing, the HR-V needed 10.2 seconds to get from zero to 60 mph, while the Seltos posted a 10.6-second run to 60 mph. Thankfully, you can get a Seltos with a more powerful 190-horsepower turbocharged engine that livens up the car’s acceleration. The HR-V is only available with its base engine.

Both SUVs can deliver impressive fuel economy. The EPA estimates that the HR-V will get up to 28 mpg in combined city/highway driving. The Seltos gets up to an estimated 30 mpg combined, though the available turbocharged engine drops to 26 mpg combined.

There’s not much of a difference here, but the upcoming hybrid-powered version of the Seltos could tip the scales later this year.

Winner: tie

Cargo and utility

The Seltos offers 27.8 cubic feet of cargo capacity behind the second row and up to 64.2 cubic feet with the rear seats folded, putting it among the roomiest vehicles in its class. Front storage is less impressive since the narrow center console is deep but not particularly spacious, but there are plenty of additional compartments for smaller items.

The HR-V offers less capacity behind the rear seats at 24.4 cubic feet, but the cargo area is well thought out and makes good use of the space. The rear seatbacks fold nearly flat with the cargo floor, making it easier to haul longer items while expanding total cargo room to 55.1 cubic feet. Cabin storage is adequate, with a rubberized bridge compartment behind the shifter for wireless charging and a deep center-armrest bin, though the door pockets and glovebox are smaller than we’d prefer.

Winner: Seltos

Value

The HR-V makes a strong impression with a well-built, thoughtfully designed interior that features soft-touch surfaces and high-quality-feeling controls. It’s also reasonably priced, with the HR-V LX trim starting at $28,150 including destination fees. The HR-V EX-L tops the lineup at $32,000.

The Seltos has a lower starting price of $26,485, and while fully loaded trims can approach $40,000, you’re generally getting more for your money here. The Seltos has a bigger standard touchscreen, more available driver aids, and more convenience features — such as a power-adjustable driver’s seat or leather upholstery — at a lower price. Kia also has a significant advantage in warranty coverage, with five years/60,000 miles of basic coverage and 10 years/100,000 miles on the powertrain.

Winner: Kia Seltos

Edmunds says

The Honda HR-V covers the bases for what’s expected from an extra-small SUV. But the redesigned Kia Seltos has raised the bar to an all-new level with its generous passenger and cargo space, range of powertrain options, and appealing value. If you want top versatility and style from a small SUV, the Seltos is the way to go.

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This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Bradley Iger is a contributor at Edmunds.

The high school was among 20 schools to receive facility upgrades as part of FPL’s effort to expand access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

The renovated aeronautical STEM lab includes flight simulators, updated computers and other technology designed to give students greater exposure to aviation-related careers.

Jay Schwartz, an adjunct professor involved with the program, said the cost of pursuing aviation careers can be a significant obstacle for young people.

“The biggest challenge to get young people into aviation is the financial barrier,” Schwartz said. “FPL has allowed us to break through that barrier, to allow these young minds to pursue great things in the future.”

FPL said the upgrades are intended to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields by providing modern facilities and hands-on learning opportunities.

The company said its investment is aimed at helping prepare and inspire the next generation of students interested in aviation, technology and other STEM careers.

The Office for National Statistics said rising prices at the pump and airfares were largely behind the increase in the U.K.’s consumer prices index to 3.1% in August from 2.9% the month before. The increase moved inflation further away from the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target.

However, rate-setters are widely expected to keep the bank’s main interest rate at 3.75% when they conclude their meeting on Thursday as a majority of the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee appear to want to see whether higher prices are feeding into higher wages that could further stoke inflationary pressures. A soft labor market is currently keeping wage demands in check.

“August’s inflation increase is unlikely to trigger a rate hike tomorrow, as policymakers will take some comfort from a cooling jobs market,” said Suren Thiru, chief economist at ICAEW. “However, it will probably harden the Bank’s hawkish tone and leave the door open to higher rates later this year.”

Interest rates in the U.K. had been trending downward from a 15-year high of 5.25% until the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February. The Iran war led to sharp increases in oil and gas prices, partly because the crucial Strait of Hormuz has been largely closed to traffic ever since.

As well as impacting the cost of personal loans and mortgages, the uptick in interest rate expectations is a growing problem for the British government as the servicing of its debt accounts for a higher proportion of its spending.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham insisted the British economy is still showing “resilience across the board” and that next month’s annual budget statement would take a prudence-first approach.

“We won’t take risks with people’s living standards or with the economy as a whole," he said.

Attorneys for the family said Kirk's death resulted from a string of “reckless decisions” by officials at Utah Valley University that left him exposed to a rooftop sniper, who fired a fatal shot from more than 400 feet (122 meters) away on Sept. 10, 2025. The university has faced harsh criticism for a lack of key safety measures on the day of the shooting.

Kirk, 31, had been debating students in an outdoor courtyard surrounded by tall buildings and with several thousand people in attendance. An Associated Press review following the shooting showed the campus in Orem did not use several public safety practices that have become standard safeguards at events around the country.

Campus police staffing was far below recommended levels for a school of that size. They also did not fly a drone to monitor rooftops or coordinate with local law enforcement to secure the event attended by about 3,000 people. There were no bag checks or metal detectors.

“The risk of a rooftop shooter should have been especially top-of-mind given the attempted assassination of President Trump, Charlie Kirk’s close friend and political ally, by a rooftop shooter the previous year,” Kirk family attorney D. Loren Washburn wrote in the notice to state and university officials.

The document, dated Sept. 9, a day before the one-year anniversary of Kirk’s death, is a required step under state law before his family can file a formal claim or lawsuit. It names the university and its then-president, Astrid Tuminez; the campus police department and its chief, Jeffrey Long; and the state of Utah.

A spokesperson for Utah Valley University said the school was aware of the notice and would address it “consistent with our established processes.”

“Our focus remains on supporting our campus community,” spokesperson Sharon Turner said in a statement.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office said it does not comment on potential litigation.

Attorneys for Kirk's family alleged additional lapses by officials, including not conducting an adequate risk assessment before approving the event, failing to establish a secure perimeter and having no first responders immediately available, resulting in Kirk being taken to a nearby hospital in a private vehicle rather than an ambulance after he was shot.

“Tragically, the UVU Parties took none of these safety measures — steps only they had the authority to take — resulting in a situation that rendered Mr. Kirk helpless before his assassin,” Washburn wrote.

Long said after the shooting that six of his officers staffed the event and coordinated with Kirk’s eight-person private security team. The school said it was expanding its police force following the shooting.

Utah resident Tyler Robinson turned himself in a day after Kirk's killing. Prosecutors say he told his romantic partner that he “had enough of his (Kirk's) hatred.”

Robinson is charged with aggravated murder, making him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. A judge on Sept. 1 ordered the case to proceed toward trial. A date has not yet been set.

Prosecutors during a preliminary hearing in July presented what they characterized as overwhelming evidence against Robinson. That includes surveillance video of Robinson on the campus, DNA tests linking him to a rifle found near the assassination site and a handwritten note he allegedly left for his romantic partner that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.”

Kirk's parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, and widow, Erika Kirk, attended the hearings.

State law allows heirs or personal representatives of people who die to file lawsuits seeking damages if the death was caused by a wrongful act or negligence. The notice from Kirk’s family did not specify what damages they may seek.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Un estudio publicado el miércoles en la revista Scientific Data señala que el calentamiento de la Tierra está acelerando el derretimiento de las dos principales capas de hielo del planeta. Según el estudio, cinco sextas partes del deshielo no provienen de un aire más caliente, sino de aguas más cálidas que van erosionando las capas de hielo por debajo y por los costados, mientras los glaciares fluyen hacia los océanos. Los autores del estudio afirmaron que eso son malas noticias para el futuro aumento del nivel del mar.

“Las capas de hielo se están derritiendo rápidamente. Estamos derritiendo las regiones polares, el nivel del mar está subiendo en todo el mundo y eso agravará la vulnerabilidad de las regiones costeras” indicó Eric Rignot, científico del hielo de la Universidad de California en Irvine y coautor del estudio.

Grandes cifras de deshielo, inundaciones en zonas habitadas

Las cifras detrás del deshielo son a la vez descomunalmente grandes y engañosamente pequeñas.

El informe indica que todo ese hielo derretido se convirtió en casi 11,3 cuatrillones de litros (3 cuatrillones de galones) de agua, lo que elevó el nivel del mar global alrededor de 3,1 centímetros (una pulgada) desde 1979, además de otros factores climáticos que están aumentando la altura de los océanos.

Puede no parecer mucho, pero por cada centímetro (o tercio de pulgada) de aumento del nivel del mar, entre 2 y 3 millones de personas más se inundan al menos una vez al año, explicó la autora principal del estudio, Ines Otosaka, científica del hielo de la Universidad de Northumbria, en Inglaterra.

Otosaka añadió que el glaciar Jakobshavn, en Groenlandia, ahora retrocede hasta 50 metros (164 pies) por día.

La colaboración internacional de científicos polares, encabezada por la Agencia Espacial Europea, antes solo había analizado el deshielo de las capas de hielo desde la década de 1990 con base en datos de satélites europeos. Pero al incorporar satélites de la NASA, los científicos pudieron trazar los volúmenes de hielo en la Antártida hasta 1979 y en Groenlandia hasta 1972.

El deshielo se está acelerando

“Hay una tendencia clara a que las capas de hielo están perdiendo más masa y eso ha ido aumentando de década en década, especialmente si se observa el hielo que se descarga al océano. Y es bastante evidente que hay un vínculo con el cambio climático”, afirmó Otosaka.

Otosaka indicó que el análisis mostró que en las décadas de 1970 y 1980, y hasta bien entrada la de 1990, las capas de hielo fueron relativamente estables, pero luego comenzó el deshielo y se intensificó de verdad durante la década de 2010.

El coautor del estudio Andrew Shepherd, también de Northumbria, advirtió: “Esto es algo que debe preocupar porque muestra que los cambios van con décadas de retraso respecto del calentamiento global, lo que significa que podemos esperar que continúen durante décadas más —incluso si logramos dejar de calentar el planeta”.

Los autores del estudio señalaron que las cifras aceleradas parecieron hacer una pausa de 2020 a 2023, pero que eso refleja más variaciones meteorológicas de corto plazo que tendencias de largo plazo. Otosaka precisó que el estudio se detuvo con datos de 2023, pero que ella ha revisado mediciones posteriores y encontró que la tendencia de aceleración se ha reanudado.

Los autores explicaron que gran parte de la estabilidad en la Antártida se debió a que la Antártida Oriental registró nevadas récord, lo que compensó el rápido derretimiento en la menos estable Capa de Hielo de la Antártida Occidental.

Rignot comentó que la pausa de tres años fue “solo un bache en el registro”. Añadió: “El aumento prolongado es climático y la amenaza es absolutamente clara”.

Preocupación por un escenario de colapso

Otosaka señaló que los mayores cambios que observaron los científicos están en lo que llaman procesos dinámicos, que son más abruptos y activos que el derretimiento lento y constante provocado por el aire, y que eso es algo propenso a detonar “puntos de inflexión” descontrolados.

El científico del hielo de la Universidad de Nueva York David Holland afirmó que eso es lo que le preocupa “porque la mayor parte de la pérdida de hielo es dinámica y eso es exactamente lo que cabría esperar en un escenario de colapso por inestabilidad de una capa de hielo”.

El equipo internacional utilizó 45 estudios independientes y 27 satélites diferentes. “El uso de métodos relativamente independientes me da mayor confianza en el resultado. La tendencia al alza es real”, señaló Holland, que no participó en el estudio.

El científico del hielo de la Universidad de Colorado Ted Scambos, que tampoco participó en el estudio, señaló que “los ‘comodines’ de la pérdida de masa en la Antártida siguen planteando un desafío para la gestión humana del planeta: un peligro claro y presente, pero a muchas décadas en el futuro. Ahora, como sociedad, somos lo bastante inteligentes para conocer el futuro, pero no lo bastante prudentes para actuar en función de ese conocimiento”.

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

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday he would revoke U.S. visas or reject visa applications from foreign nationals found to be responsible for, or complicit in, enacting or enforcing laws and policies that allow for uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination and the incitement of violence against minority ethnic and racial groups in South Africa.

“The United States will not allow such behavior to go unchecked,” Rubio said in a statement. “These actions directly undermine peace, economic stability, and the rule of law, and they are incompatible with the pillars of America’s foreign policy.”

The South African government has strongly rejected U.S. allegations of discrimination against whites, calling the claims made by the administration since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office last year baseless and a result of misinformation.

It's the latest U.S. move to sanction South Africa

Rubio did not identify any officials who would be targeted with the travel restrictions, though a lobby group for minority whites in South Africa has previously called for the U.S. to sanction officials of the African National Congress party, the party of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the largest in South Africa's Parliament.

It's the latest move by the Trump administration to sanction South Africa over its claims that whites, and especially the Afrikaner group, are being discriminated against by their Black-led government. Afrikaners are descended from mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers who first came to South Africa in the 17th century. They were at the heart of South Africa's previous apartheid system of racial segregation.

There are approximately 4.5 million white people in South Africa's population of 62 million, which also includes whites with British or other heritage.

The Trump administration casts South Africa as anti-white

The U.S. has cited a contentious South African law that allows for the expropriation of unused private land without compensation in some circumstances, affirmative action policies that advance opportunities for Blacks and others, and a small number of violent crimes against white farmers as evidence of a larger anti-white stance in South Africa.

The Trump administration has also strongly criticized South Africa’s move to accuse U.S. ally Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a highly emotive case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel vehemently denies that allegation.

South Africa asks the U.S. to respect its sovereignty

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Wednesday that some of the domestic policies that the U.S. had branded as discriminatory were designed to address the injustices of apartheid and hundreds of years of colonial rule before that, when Black people were stripped of their rights.

“South Africa respects that the United States may hold differing views on certain policy measures and their implementation. ... The people of South Africa likewise respect the right of the American people to develop legislation that addresses their own circumstances,” Lamola said in a statement. “We expect that the same respect will be accorded to the people of South Africa, as the principle of sovereignty requires.”

The U.S. says more sanctions will follow

The U.S. has enforced a series of other sanctions against South Africa during Trump's second term for purported anti-white and anti-American policies. They include barring South African officials from meetings of the Group of 20 economic bloc this year in the U.S., and phasing out aid for South Africa's HIV treatment program.

The U.S. has also launched a refugee program for Afrikaners and other whites, claiming baselessly that they are victims of a humanitarian emergency in South Africa.

The U.S. says the sanctions are because South Africa has not changed its policies, and warned of more to follow.

“This visa restriction policy is only the first step in a series of escalatory measures that will show America’s firm resolve in this matter,” the official U.S. Ambassador to South Africa account posted on X, referring to Rubio's visa announcement.

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AP writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

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More AP news on the Trump administration: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump

“It was interesting to see how many were going up,” said Tapia, a 30-year-old Republican from Arlington, Virginia, who works in higher education advocacy and policy. He said the data centers lend valuable computing power that can help keep the U.S. competitive with other nations, but he also worries about how much electricity they use.

Like Tapia, Americans have grown more concerned about the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence over the last year, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

The survey data say about half, 53%, of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about artificial intelligence's environmental impacts. That is up from 41% last year. Democrats are driving much of the increase in environmental concern, but the poll also reveals broader worries about the local impact of data centers, which power AI and cloud computing.

“We're undertaking a massive experiment in real time, and I don't think there'll be any putting the milk back in the bottle. Change is scary, and I think some of that is being reflected here,” said Michael Greenstone, who directs the University of Chicago institute that collaborated on the survey.

Rising concern among Democrats about AI's environmental impact

There are thousands of data centers in the U.S. with construction planned for more. Those include smaller, conventional centers that have been around for decades, as well as larger hyperscale ones that are being built to serve artificial intelligence’s added processing needs. Virginia and Texas have the most facilities currently in operation, and other top contenders include California, Ohio and New York.

While 87% of existing data centers are in urban areas, most new data centers are planned for rural areas, according to a Pew Research Center analysis from earlier this year.

“I think that decisions are being made for the company, not for the community that they're being built in,” said Nancy Antunes, a 60-year-old retired Democrat from Waltham, Massachusetts.

A recent United Nations University report predicted that data centers' environmental footprint, which already rivals some of the world's largest countries, will grow rapidly as AI is more widely adopted.

Democrats are increasingly worried about AI's environmental consequences. About two-thirds of Democrats say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about how AI will affect the environment, the poll found, up from about half in 2025. By contrast, about half of independents and about 4 in 10 Republicans are highly concerned about the environmental impact of AI.

Overall, Americans are more worried about the environmental impact of AI than other industries with a substantial environmental footprint. Only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults are highly concerned about the impact of meat production or air travel.

Most Americans support limits on new data centers

While concerns about environmental impacts are higher among Democrats, there is a broad sense of wariness about a rapid data center boom.

About 6 in 10 Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can be built, including most Democrats and Republicans.

“There’s a lot of water usage by AI data centers that’s taking away from other things like agriculture and farmers and places that really need it, and people who really need it,” said 21-year-old computer science student Gedeon Kebede, a Democrat from Cincinnati, Ohio.

A majority of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the impact of data centers on electricity prices or the water supply in the communities where they are built.

Data centers' use of water to cool AI chips and computers is “nationally modest but potentially locally decisive,” energy systems engineer Fengqi You with Cornell University said in an email. While data centers aren't the largest water gobblers in the country, a single large campus can still place stress on a smaller municipal area.

The centers are also powered by tremendous amounts of electricity, particularly larger ones, raising concerns about where that energy will come from. Data centers could account for 11.8% of the U.S.' electricity consumption by 2030, according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Report.

“We’re talking about building electric infrastructure on a scale of entire cities, or in some cases, entire states just to serve one data center,” said Erik Nordman, director of Michigan State University's Institute of Public Utilities.

About two-thirds of U.S. adults support requiring data centers to use clean energy sources, such as wind or solar, to supply their electricity needs. About 8 in 10 Democrats support this, along with 56% of Republicans.

Still, some Americans say data center worries feel distant. Mary Fisher, 68, hasn't seen any come up in her Jacksonville, Florida, neighborhood.

“You know, it hasn’t come across my desk as something I should be concerned about,” said Fisher, who is retired and identifies as a Republican.

Republicans see more benefits to data centers than Democrats

About one-quarter of U.S. adults say data centers are “extremely” or “very” beneficial when it comes to technological advancement, and about 2 in 10 say the same about job creation. Many U.S. adults say data centers are “somewhat” beneficial or aren't sure, while about one-quarter say they're “not very” or “not at all” beneficial for technological advancement, and about a third don't see a benefit for job creation.

“I see a huge increase in the number of temporary construction workers that are coming to areas, which is vitally important to the U.S. economy,” said Tapia, the higher education advocate.

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to see data centers' benefits. But about 3 in 10 Republicans still think the centers are “not very” or “not at all” beneficial for improved infrastructure and job creation.

Kebede, the computer science student, said he feels pressured to use artificial intelligence. Despite his concerns surrounding the technology, he still wants to be a competitive applicant for the jobs of the future.

“I think a lot of people just feel that it's very much a bubble,” he said. “Ultimately, when it pops, it's going to be very detrimental to everyone, whether you bought into the AI hype or not.”

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The AP-NORC poll of 3,424 adults was conducted July 6-24, 2026, using a combined sample of interviews from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population, and interviews from opt-in online panels. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. The AmeriSpeak panel is recruited randomly using address-based sampling methods, and respondents later were interviewed online or by phone. To incorporate the nonprobability sample, NORC used TrueNorth calibration, an innovative hybrid calibration approach developed at NORC to explicitly account for potential bias associated with the nonprobability sample.

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The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and 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.

F1 released a 24-race schedule for 2027 on Wednesday starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14 and then Saudi Arabia a week later, with events also scheduled for Qatar and Abu Dhabi at the end of the year. All have long-term contracts to host F1 and Bahrain also hosts preseason testing in February.

Races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were called off this year due to the Iran war. An extra race in Malaysia next month will have Bahrain Grand Prix branding.

The Qatar Grand Prix on Nov. 29 and the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Dec. 6 remain on the schedule. F1 has considered a change to Europe if they can't go ahead but tickets remain on sale for both races.

Bahrain has opened most F1 seasons in recent years and was only moved from that position in 2025 and 2026 because of a clash with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Next year’s schedule avoids clashes with two other auto racing highlights, the Indianapolis 500 on May 30 and the Le Mans 24-hour race on June 12-13. F1 scheduled races on the same days as both this year. Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has said he wants to race at Le Mans in future.

More sprint races, including in Monaco

F1 is also expanding from six to 10 sprint races in 2027, including a first at the Monaco Grand Prix, where overtaking is almost impossible.

A sprint is also scheduled for the season-opening race in Bahrain. That would mark the first time an F1 season has begun with a short-format race before the first Grand Prix of the year.

F1 said race weekends that featured sprint races attracted an average viewership that was 12% higher than those without sprints. By increasing their number, F1 is “giving our fans even more intensity, drama, and the wheel-to-wheel action that make our sport so special,” chief executive Stefano Domenicali said.

F1 returns to Portugal in June for the first time since 2021 as the Portimao circuit replaces the Dutch Grand Prix, while the Turkish Grand Prix is also back in October 2027 after signing a five-year contract in April.

There will be no race at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona for the first time since 1990. It lost the title of Spanish Grand Prix to Madrid this year but stayed on under Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix branding. It will now alternate with the Belgian Grand Prix and next returns in 2028.

Racing in the Middle East is lucrative but comes with security concerns

There was no indication Wednesday that F1 is any closer to calling off or moving the Qatar or Abu Dhabi races.

Among potential alternatives in Europe, a season-ending race at Italy’s Imola circuit is widely considered the likeliest option. Domenicali indicated in July that a decision could come in mid-September.

The races in the Middle East are especially valuable for F1 and its teams. They contribute large hosting fees to F1, while Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil giant Aramco and Qatar Airways are major sponsors for the series.

Next week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be the closest F1 has been to Iran since the outbreak of the war earlier this year. Azerbaijan shares a land border with Iran.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem defended the wait for confirmation on this year’s races in an interview this month with The Associated Press, arguing F1 was right not to “jump the gun” on deciding.

“Are we going to allow our people, our staff, the drivers or the teams to go at risk? No, of course not. We will not,” he added.

Speculation over possible changes to this year’s Qatar and Abu Dhabi races heightened this week as Formula 2, which is due to support F1 in both venues, added an extra race to its schedule next week in Azerbaijan. F2 said it would still race in Qatar and Abu Dhabi with a “usual weekend format.”

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

A warming Earth is accelerating the melting of the planet's two major ice sheets, with five-sixths of the melt not coming from hotter air, but from warmer waters eating away at the ice sheets from below and the sides, with glaciers flowing into the oceans, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Scientific Data. That's bad news for future sea level rise, the study's authors said.

“The ice sheets are melting away fast,” said study co-author Eric Rignot, an ice scientist at University of California, Irvine. “We are melting the polar regions, sea level is rising worldwide and will exacerbate the vulnerability of coastal regions.”

Huge numbers for ice melt, people flooded

The numbers behind the melt are both mind-bogglingly huge and deceptively small.

All that melted ice turned into nearly 3 quadrillion gallons of water (11.3 quadrillion liters), which pushed global sea levels up about an inch (3.1 centimeters) since 1979, on top of other climate factors raising ocean heights, the report said.

An inch may not sound like much, but for every third of an inch (or centimeter) of sea level rise, another 2 to 3 million people get flooded at least once a year, said lead study author Ines Otosaka, an ice scientist at Northumbria University in England.

The Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland is now retreating up to 164 feet (50 meters) a day, Otosaka said.

The international collaboration of polar scientists, headed by the European Space Agency, had in the past only looked at ice sheet melt since the 1990s based on European satellite data. But by incorporating NASA satellites, the scientists were able to chart ice sheet volumes in Antarctica back to 1979 and in Greenland back to 1972.

The melting is accelerating

“There is a clear trend that the ice sheets are losing more mass and it has been increasing from decade to decade, especially if you look at the ice being discharged to the ocean,” Otosaka said. “And that’s quite clear that there’s a link to climate change.”

It showed that in the 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s, the ice sheets were relatively stable, but then melt started happening and it really kicked in during the 2010s, Otosaka said.

“That’s something to be concerned about as it shows that the changes are tracking decades behind global warming, which means we can expect them to continue for decades more — even if we are able to stop heating the planet,” said study co-author Andrew Shepherd, also of Northumbria.

The accelerating numbers seemed to pause from 2020 to 2023, but the study's authors said it more reflected short-term weather variations not long-term trends. Otosaka said the study stopped with 2023 data, but she's looked at measurements since and found the accelerating trend has picked back up.

A lot of the stability in Antarctica was because East Antarctica had record snowfall, which compensated for the rapid melting in the less stable West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the authors said.

The three-year hiatus was “just a bump in the record,” Rignot said. “The long rise is climate and the threat is crystal clear.”

Worrying about a collapse scenario

The biggest changes scientists saw are in what they call dynamic processes, which are more abrupt and active than the slow steady melting from the air, and that's something prone to trigger runaway “tipping points,” Otosaka said.

New York University ice scientist David Holland said that's what concerns him “because most of the ice loss is dynamical and that is exactly what you would expect in an ice sheet instability collapse scenario.”

The international team used 45 independent surveys and 27 different satellites. “The use of relatively independent methods gives me greater confidence in the result,” said Holland, who wasn't part of the study. “The upward trend is real.”

“The ‘wild cards’ of Antarctic mass loss continue to pose a challenge for human management of the planet — a clear and present danger, but many decades in the future,” said University of Colorado ice scientist Ted Scambos, who wasn't part of the study. “We are now as a society smart enough to know the future, but not prudent enough to act upon the knowledge.”

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

The collapse of the building, which was known to be unstable from strikes earlier in the war, underscored how perilous living conditions have become for most of the Palestinian enclave’s population as a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas stalls.

No reconstruction work has happened since the ceasefire was agreed to almost a year ago. Israel has said that it will not permit any rebuilding until Hamas disarms, and only a handful of excavators have been allowed into Gaza.

Asked if it would allow in machinery to help with the collapse, COGAT, the Israeli military body charged with coordinating aid to the Gaza Strip, said the Israeli government's policy is that heavy machinery is allowed into Gaza.

Six Palestinian families lived in the building

As of Wednesday afternoon, the death toll included 11 children and five women, according to Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry. He said at least 14 people were injured, and rescuers had finished digging.

Around six displaced Palestinian families had sheltered there, despite knowing the structure was on the brink of collapse, according to Gaza’s civil defense.

“The lack of options and alternatives left them with no other choice,” said Aboud Majdalawi, a civil defense rescuer.

Gaza’s roughly 2 million people now live in a stretch of land that makes up less than half the territory. They are dependent on aid and are surrounded by Israeli troops who carry out strikes or attacks on a near-daily basis.

Rescuers mount a bare-hands search for bodies

In the aftermath of the collapse, people searched desperately for loved ones.

A group of men were seen carrying the headless body of a child. Others sat atop a pile of rubble, pulling desperately at flashes of color they believed could be clothing worn by a survivor. All they found were dust-caked blankets wedged in the debris.

The collapse comes as rescuers in the Gaza Strip are trying to unearth hundreds of bodies from buildings that collapsed in Israeli strikes earlier in the war. They have just a few working excavators, and their fuel supply is dwindling.

On Wednesday, the U.N. human rights chief said he worried that the bodies recovered so far are just the “tip of the iceberg.”

“It is heartbreaking that the loved ones of those missing for so long are only now having their worst fears confirmed,” he said. “Much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives.”

Many Palestinians live in buildings that are not structurally sound

Over one-fifth of buildings in Gaza City assessed by the Norwegian Refugee Council in March were not structurally sound, but residents inhabiting them said they had nowhere else to go.

The council leads a coalition of shelter providers in Gaza. In August, the coalition released an assessment of shelter conditions in the strip that said two-thirds of Palestinian households were living in tent camps.

Among those living in buildings, 72% of the households were in structures with minor or moderate damage.

The war was sparked after the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants stormed into southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people and took 251 people hostage. Many hostages recounted long-term starvation, physical and psychological abuse and, in some cases, sexual abuse.

Despite an October ceasefire that has reduced fighting in Gaza, Israel has continued to carry out strikes, killing at least 1,375 people since the agreement went into effect, according to local health officials.

The nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 73,789 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half the toll.

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Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporter Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo contributed to this report.

She said that this instability led her to propose a new European Heatwave Plan as well as a future European firefighting fleet of airplanes. Currently, the EU operates a small fleet itself but coordinates a network of aircraft, water trucks and volunteers that move across the 27-nation bloc as fires ignite.

“This summer was the summer of truth. Almost no part of our continent was spared,” said the EU executive during her annual State of the European Union address in Strasbourg.

“Key rivers like the Danube, the Rhine or La Garonne are disappearing before our eyes. More than 35,000 additional deaths during the heat waves. Care homes and hospitals dangerously overheated.”

The extreme heat, which hit Europe exceptionally hard and early this year appears to have led to a much higher spike in deaths than expected. Where Von der Leyen's figure of 35,000 comes from is unclear, but it is triple the estimates of “excessive deaths” by monitoring groups in July.

Fires in France and Spain drove hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, shut down nuclear reactors in Hungary and France, ignited century-old munitions on Belgium's border with Germany and revealed previously lost ships sunk on riverbeds like a tugboat in Serbia.

The heat and humidity that broke many records during the summer would not have been possible without climate change, according to a study by the World Weather Attribution group.

“All of this is a mere preview. These were the hottest summer months ever, but probably the coolest of the years to come,” von der Leyen said. “Science is clear: Europe is warming at double the global rate.”

While commending those who battled blazes this summer, von der Leyen said that she's asked emergency responders and senior firefighters to “think bigger and learn faster” to design “new capabilities” for the EU to tackle climate instability.

When she praised a Danish helicopter pilot named Rune Kyndal, who died in August while fighting fires in Greece, the assembly erupted in applause.

“Rune gave his life to save others and today, all of Europe owes him,” von der Leyen said.

With the world’s biggest oil exporter under fire from the rebels backed by the Saudis' regional adversary, the kingdom needs a safe outlet for its crude as well as military assistance. There's no clear path to either.

A crucial Saudi pipeline has been shut down, reportedly for weeks, after an attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. The Houthis have been targeting infrastructure in the kingdom and its shipping on the Red Sea, where they have seized several islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. And Iran is still targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices remain above $100 a barrel.

The Houthis denied firing drones toward Mecca, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from Yemen’s border. The Saudis said they intercepted and destroyed the drone before it entered the airspace over the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad.

Turkey and Pakistan say the Saudis haven't asked for help

The attacks are the first test of a new defense pact among Saudi Arabia, NATO member Turkey and nuclear power Pakistan. But officials from Turkey and Pakistan told The Associated Press they have not received a Saudi request for support in response to the Houthis' escalation.

The Turkish official said efforts to “institutionalize” the alliance need to be completed before the pact becomes operational. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Amid the condemnation of the attempted attack on Mecca, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country and the Saudis stand “unwaveringly, shoulder to shoulder.” Turkey's foreign minister expressed solidarity and said no country can “remain indifferent,” state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Criticism also came from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, representing over 57 Muslim states, which said the attempt violates the “sanctity of holy sites.”

This was the second attempted attack by the Houthis against Mecca after the rebels fired a ballistic missile toward the city in 2017, according to Col. Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the rebels.

Saudi Arabia wants to bolster arsenal

Saudi Arabia has been in talks with allies in hopes of replenishing its stock of interceptors, which has been depleted because of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, according to two regional officials.

The officials said the Saudis have asked allies, including France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt, to deploy air-defense teams to help defend against missiles and drones.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media.

One of the officials said the Saudis turned to European and regional allies because the United States has seen its own stock of interceptors depleted.

A second official said Saudi Arabia is also seeking to rally its regional and international allies to launch a collective response against the Houthis. “But the decision now is to give diplomacy a chance,” he said, noting the roles of Oman and Egypt in the process.

For now, the US is staying out of the fight

The United States has sold billions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia and has committed to other support, but top U.S. officials have indicated a lack of desire to get involved in the conflict.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Monday said Washington had been in “constant contact” with the Saudis and had “engaged in direct conversations with the Houthis.”

When asked whether Saudi Arabia had requested intervention, a U.S. official said the U.S. military’s Central Command has a task force in place for “enhancing intelligence sharing and planning support with Saudi forces.”

CENTCOM last week hosted senior military leaders from eight countries at a conference in Germany to discuss “opportunities for enhancing security cooperation in the Middle East,” the official also said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The official did not confirm which countries attended.

On the ground, forces with Yemen's internationally recognized government have said they are regrouping to combat the Houthis after fleeing the rebels' advance. But those forces are a collection of armed groups with varying aims.

Houthis claim shooting down an F-15 fighter jet

Later Wednesday, the rebels claimed, without offering evidence, that they shot down an F-15 fighter jet operated by the Saudi-led coalition over Yemen’s central province of Marib.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree didn’t say when it occurred, and the AP could not independently verify the claim. The rebels at times take days to claim attacks.

Spokespeople for the Saudi-led coalition and the Saudi government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran's top diplomat is in China

While Saudi Arabia appeared to face the choice of pursuing diplomacy or taking the fight to the Houthis, the top diplomat for rival Iran was in China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the U.S. and Iran to exercise restraint and reopen the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible, and expressed China’s concern about the spread of the fighting to Yemen and the Red Sea, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement after the meeting that Tehran seeks “the restoration of calm to the region and friendly and peaceful relations with our neighbors.”

“In this regard we have begun dialogue with the countries of the region,” he added.

China has avoided direct involvement in the war, but President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in New Delhi over the weekend again offered Beijing's help in ending it.

Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz have recovered somewhat as tankers risk using a route near Oman on the other side of the waterway, with guidance from U.S. forces. Estimates vary because ships can turn off location systems but range from 5 million to 7 million barrels per day on average.

That's less than half the amount before the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

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Sewell reported from Beirut, Fraser from Ankara, Turkey, Ahmed from Islamabad and Anna from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Ken Moritsugu in Beijing, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

The Health and Welfare Ministry statistics released Tuesday show Japan now has 107,677 centenarians, up 7,914 from the previous year and exceeding the 100,000 mark for the first time. Nearly 88% of them are women.

Kyoto resident Fuyo Kishimoto was recently recognized as the oldest Japanese woman at age 114. Japan's oldest male is 112-year-old Hikaru Kato from Kumamoto in southern Japan.

The figures were released to mark this year’s Sept. 15 Respect the Aged day, when healthy and active centenarians are honored by the government with a letter from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and a silver sake cup.

“I'm very pleased that many people are living a long, healthy and active lives,” Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno told reporters Tuesday, citing progress in medical technology, healthy lifestyle and diet as contributing factors.

Ueno noted the importance of maintaining a sustainable social security system as the population continues to age and decline.

Many younger people, however, are not optimistic about their future.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research last week released the results of a survey indicating more than 20% of both men and women who are single and aged between 18 and 34 have no intention of ever marrying, with nearly half saying they see no benefit in marriage.

Ueno acknowledged the reasons for marriage reluctance among young people include the high costs of raising and educating children and the mental and physical burden on working parents. He said the government will continue addressing their concerns and attempt to turn around problems related to Japan's aging population and dwindling births.

Japan’s drastic population decline is inevitable, experts say, noting the country's total fertility rate dropped to a record low 1.14 in 2025, far below the 2.1 children needed to be born to each Japanese woman to maintain the current population.

Japan’s total population during the 2020 census stood at 126 million, almost 30% of which were 65 or older. Experts estimate there will be a decline to 87 million by 2070 with nearly 40% aged 65 or older, according to the national institute.

There were 153 people aged 100 or older in Japan when centenarian surveys began in 1963. They exceeded 1,000 in 1981 and surpassed 10,000 in 1998, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry.

The plan outlined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen adds to global efforts to stop protect young people from online harm.

“I am aware that many perceive the power of Big Tech as overwhelming and impossible to roll back. I disagree,” von der Leyen said in her annual State of the European Union speech in Strasbourg.

“We do not have to accept addictive features. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content. We do not have to accept that girls have their photos used for AI-generated sexualized images,” she said.

Von der Leyen said that under her proposal “mini accounts” chaperoned by guardians would be granted to kids aged 13-15, with limits on features and the amount of time they can be accessed.

For 15-to-18-year-olds, platforms will need to provide a “safe design," she said. Further details of the plan are expected Thursday.

The EU’s 27 member nations still need to debate and vote on the proposal, which could take years and spark tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has long criticized Europe’s tech regulations.

Von der Leyen used her speech to advance a plan that she foreshadowed earlier this year, when she said kids should be exposed to social media in a “phased and gradual” way.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok already prohibit anyone under 13 from opening an account, but authorities have accused the companies of failing to keep them off.

But some experts said the commission was failing to tackle a more fundamental issue with the social media industry’s core business practices based on getting users hooked on scrolling through addictive content while showing them ads.

The plan “merely delays young people’s exposure to the risks of online harm instead of addressing the business model and extractive practices which fuel it,” said Simeon de Brouwer, a policy advisor at digital rights group EDRi. The platforms will “unavoidably target them as soon as they’re a day older than the threshold.”

The commission’s proposal is part of a wider global push to protect young people online and represents the first move to introduce a bloc-wide age limit for social media.

Individual European countries such as Spain and Portugal have taken their own steps to ban teens from social media platforms, mirroring regulatory actions in other places like Australia and New Zealand

Some efforts have run into roadblocks. France’s top court last month struck down a law banning children under 15 from social media, saying it infringed on fundamental freedoms. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rework the proposal.

In the United States, social media company Meta Platforms last month agreed to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms to resolve a trial over teen social media addiction and settle claims filed by nearly every state.

Manfred Weber, the head of the largest group in the European Parliament, spoke after von der Leyen to propose that the EU follow Australia's lead in allowing citizens to switch off social media algorithms.

“Elon Musk will not like it, but probably that is a reason for doing it,” he said.

Von der Leyen also weighed in on the intensifying debate about artificial intelligence and the potential risks it poses to humanity, saying the commission would discuss efforts to slow down advanced AI development with leading AI companies.

She said the EU would work with “like-minded partners” like Canada and Britain.

“We want to team up on model evaluation, verification, early warning, AI security and much more,” she said.

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Chan reported from London.

It's exactly what Miami wanted — and exactly what Miami doesn't want as well.

To explain: The fifth-ranked Hurricanes (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) don't want to overly rely upon their dart-throwing quarterback and explosive wide receiver. That's why Miami has spent the first two games of the season trying to develop depth, and a pair of blowout wins have afforded the Hurricanes that luxury.

“We don’t want to be a throw-the-ball-to-Mali offense,” Hurricanes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “I mean, he’s going to get his. We understand that. But we want the ball to be spread around. And a lot of times that is dictated by the defense, the enemy that does have a choice in the matter. Are there specific things that we do to get him involved? Yeah, there is, but the ball is going to go to him. I don’t have to worry about that.”

Miami goes to Wake Forest on Friday night, a game that should be considerably tougher than the Hurricanes' first two this season — a 45-6 win at Stanford and a 77-7 victory over Florida A&M. Toney barely played in the second halves of those games, yet Miami still leads the nation in yards per game, yards per play, completion percentage and first downs per game.

And this stat might be the most absurd: Miami has four more touchdown passes (11) than incompletions (seven). Since at least 2000, no FBS team has had anything close to such a ratio over the first two games of a season.

Only three other teams had more TD throws than incompletions through two games — Temple (10 TDs, nine incompletions) in 2025, Army (three TDs, two incompletions) in 2021 and Georgia Tech (four TDs, three incompletions) in 2015.

“To be honest, my coach calls the play and I try to go out and execute it as best as possible,” said Mensah, who has completed 41 of his 45 passes for a 91% completion rate. “We’re in a progression-based offense and I really just go to where the defense is telling me to go.”

The system Dawson uses with the Hurricanes is not simple. The philosophy is.

In a nutshell, Dawson’s approach goes like this: Build instant rapport with Miami’s starting quarterback, let trust create itself naturally from there, then believe that guy — Cam Ward in 2024, Carson Beck in 2025 and Mensah this year — will make the right choice when plays get sent into the huddle.

So far, so good. And this year, the numbers are better than ever. Miami has spent its first two outings rewriting the school record book, putting up numbers the likes of which are typically reserved for video games.

“The mother of all learning (is) the repetition,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “The repetitions have really taken their course where guys have really built a lot of confidence in each other. The relationships off the field have carried on onto the field and therefore more time is being invested around each other, with each other. And that in turn turns into more of the extra work and all that stuff adds up. And as more and more confidence is built, I think the appetite grows to be better.”

Miami has had 18 different players catch a pass already this season, had six different running backs — led by Mark Fletcher Jr. — involved and has three different quarterbacks with at least five completions.

There will inevitably be weeks when the rotation tightens considerably. But for now, Miami is showing off its depth.

“When you see people play a lot, what that means is we trust them,” Dawson said. “Typically, coaches don’t play people they don’t trust. ... There's a lot of people that we trust to be in the game. And I think part of that is we’ve recruited at a high level and there’s competition at those positions and we want to keep that competition going.”

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“Europe needs its own counter-hybrid playbook. We urgently need a consensus on how to respond to certain incidents,” von der Leyen said, particularly for acts that “fall below armed aggression but clearly threaten our national security.”

Officials in Germany, Denmark, Poland have in recent weeks accused Russia of involvement in drone incursions, sabotage, arson, surveillance of defense facilities and planning to use a drone carrying explosives to attack an airport.

Italian fighter jets working with NATO shot down a drone over EU member Lithuania earlier this week, the first time one has been downed in its airspace. It was believed to have entered from Russia’s ally, Belarus.

But Europe and NATO are struggling to know how best to respond to acts that fall short of outright aggression.

Von der Leyen said that the system should be similar to Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which allows countries believing that their territory is under threat to convene emergency meetings.

“When triggered by one member state, all member states would convene, to coordinate a European response, to deter further escalation, and to mitigate the impact,” she said.

NATO’s Article 4 is separate from Article 5, the collective security guarantee that obliges all member countries to come to the aid of an ally under attack.

Von der Leyen also said that the EU commission will also “set out our ideas to make a European Security Council a reality.” It would involve other international partners like Britain, Canada, Norway and Ukraine, she said. No details were provided.

Trump’s tariffs and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have soured the relationship between the North American neighbors. Canada is seeking to reduce its dependence on the United States, the destination for roughly 70% of its exports, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a “unique alliance” with the EU.

In her annual State of the European Union address, von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would build on their existing free trade agreement, known as CETA, with a broader “Alliance for the Future” aimed at creating “a common prosperity and economic security space.”

She cast that closer relationship as rooted not just in trade but in shared democratic values.

“Above all, dear Mark, Europe and Canada believe in democracy,” von der Leyen said to Carney, who received a standing ovation at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He is due to address the Parliament on Thursday.

Canada seeks a relationship just short of EU membership

A Canadian official familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press last week that Ottawa was exploring ties with the EU that could stop just short of membership. The official said Canada would seek an arrangement allowing its citizens to live and work in Europe without visas as part of a broader strategic partnership.

Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s ambassador-designate to the EU, said Wednesday that Ottawa had discussed associate membership with European officials before von der Leyen’s speech and “knew that that was something that was on the table.” He said Canada had talked to the EU about an “Alliance for the Future,” while European officials had raised associate membership.

Wilkinson said Canada is not seeking full EU membership because it would require surrendering some sovereignty. Instead, Ottawa wants “to get as close as we possibly can” to the bloc in a way that strengthens Canadian sovereignty rather than diminishes it, he said.

Carney’s office welcomed von der Leyen’s proposal, saying Canada was deepening ties with the EU “to strengthen our sovereignty” and supported a move beyond CETA.

Canada has already joined the EU's defense procurement program

Von der Leyen said the expanded partnership would cover advanced manufacturing, technology, defense production, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and economic security.

“This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” she said. “In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible.”

Because Canada joining the EU as an associate member would be a first, there is no rulebook on how that would work or what it would mean in practice. It is unclear who would need to approve membership, and how long that could take.

Wilkinson said Ottawa and Brussels are deliberately focusing first on the substance of the relationship rather than what to call it. “Before you actually get to the point where you decide what you’re going to call something, you should actually know the shape,” he said.

He said the shape is likely to become clearer at the Canada-EU summit in October, when the two sides expect to make an announcement and may settle on how to describe it.

Currently, all steps toward EU membership must be approved unanimously by the 27 member countries.

The idea of associate membership has been floated in the past for Ukraine, or for post-Brexit Britain, but no concrete steps have been taken.

Beyond trade: Canada and EU explore a broader alliance

The relationship between Canada and the European Union has reached a point where the two sides need to move beyond rhetoric and start building something more substantive, said Tobias Cremer, a German member of the European Parliament.

“Now is the time to stop sending each other love letters and put meat on the bone,” said Cremer, from the center-left Social Democrats.

He argued that any new arrangement should be more ambitious than another trade or defense agreement, describing the goal as a more holistic strategic alliance between Canada and the EU.

Existing frameworks such as CETA could provide a foundation, Cremer said, but should be used more fully and expanded. The case for closer ties, he said, is increasingly being driven by geopolitics as much as economics.

The aim, he said, should ultimately be bigger than a bilateral arrangement — potentially positioning the EU as a convener of middle powers, an idea Carney has also raised.

Canada this year became the first non-European country to join the EU’s 150-billion-euro ($173-billion) SAFE defense program, giving Canadian companies access to joint procurement as Europe seeks to increase its defense readiness.

Iratxe García Pérez, president of the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament, praised Carney for showing “great courage confronting Donald Trump” and said allies were needed to defend “sovereignty, solidarity and international law.”

Carney said Tuesday that economic integration, once viewed largely as an asset, is increasingly “being used as a weapon by certain countries.” Discussions will ramp up at the Canada-EU summit in late October, he said.

Trump rupture accelerates Canada’s turn toward Europe

Canada has retaliated against U.S. tariffs and rejected trade terms Carney says would weaken its sovereignty.

The EU has taken a different course with Washington, reaching a trade agreement that set a 15% U.S. tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU exports while Europe eliminated tariffs on U.S. industrial goods.

That contrast has loomed over Carney’s push for closer European ties. In a closely watched speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he urged middle powers to work together to increase their leverage in an era of great-power rivalry.

“When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered,” Carney said.

“This is not sovereignty,” he said. “It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”

Carney’s Davos speech drew a personal rebuke from Trump, and von der Leyen's overture to America’s neighbor could raise the temperature again.

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Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

Merz’s authority was damaged by his party’s stinging defeat Sept. 6 at the hands of the anti-migration, Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany in Saxony-Anhalt, a small eastern state. Alternative for Germany, or AfD, finished just short of a majority there and has its best chance yet of forming the country’s first far-right regional government since World War II.

Merz, 70, became Germany's leader 16 months ago with promises to turn around an economy that has barely grown in years, but has failed to lift a sullen national mood and has himself become deeply unpopular.

On Sunday, two more states hold elections: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, another largely rural region in the formerly communist and less prosperous east; and the capital, Berlin.

Both elections are difficult for Merz's party

AfD is expected to make significant gains, but has no realistic path to power in Berlin and faces a much stronger challenge from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's center-left governor than it did from Merz's party in Saxony-Anhalt.

Prospects for Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union are bleaker. It could lose the mayor’s office in Berlin. If things go very badly, it could fail for the first time to win seats in a state legislature anywhere by falling below 5% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where it was already weak.

Merz said last week that “giving up is not an option for me.” But the CDU’s deputy local leader in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania called for him to go, and speculation has mounted that he might soon be replaced — although no top-level allies have called publicly for his departure, and many have warned against “personnel debates.”

Apparently anticipating a tough post-election period, Merz abandoned a planned trip to New York next week to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

“Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will bring a disastrous result for the CDU,” said Wolfgang Muno, a political science professor at the University of Rostock, the state’s biggest city. “And if the CDU also does badly in Berlin and loses the mayor, then a great deal of pressure will be exerted on Friedrich Merz.”

Two conservative governors, Hendrik Wüst of North Rhine-Westphalia and Markus Söder of Bavaria, have frequently been named as possible successors. It’s unclear whether they or anyone else might step up to take over, but the national governing coalition of Merz’s center-right Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats could try to change faces and some policies, Muno said.

Still, the CDU's eight state governors on Wednesday publicly backed Merz, saying in a statement they're determined to tackle people's problems “together with the chancellor,” German news agency dpa reported.

Critics say Merz doesn't understand people's problems

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s governor, Social Democrat Manuela Schwesig, pointed to a central problem for Merz. “The chancellor doesn’t give people the feeling that he sees and understands their problems,” she said this week.

The government has struggled to persuade voters that it can get the chronically sluggish economy moving through potentially painful reforms, including to the pension system. And there are conflicts among the governing parties about their details.

Merz’s sharp-tongued style also grates on many voters. A comment last year that “the prosperity our country today has can’t be preserved in the future with a work-life balance and a four-day week, so we must work more” drew criticism. He also has complained that Germans take too many days off sick.

Merz's party risks being squeezed in one election

The national government’s unpopularity is working against the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, but it also risks being squeezed in a head-to-head race between AfD and Schwesig.

Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have many similarities, Muno said. But “a significant difference is that, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the current governor is by a long distance the most popular and well-known politician in the state.”

Billboards advertise Schwesig as “the woman against blue,” the far-right party’s color, and she appears to be drawing voters away from other mainstream parties.

Her AfD opponent is Leif-Erik Holm, a federal lawmaker with a relatively moderate image in a party that has moved steadily further right over recent years. He's hoping for momentum from Saxony-Anhalt.

AfD lawmaker Beatrix von Storch said at a campaign event that “people are fed up and they want something different.” She argued that Merz “is carrying out the wrong reforms” and that cuts should be made to spending, including on Ukraine and development aid.

Holm lacks potential allies as mainstream parties refuse to deal with AfD. That’s even more of an issue for the far-right party in Berlin, where its support is considerably lower. The capital has tended to lean left in recent years.

Merz's party faces home-made problems in Berlin

Merz’s CDU has led Berlin since it rode a wave of discontent with local politics to take the mayor’s office in 2023. It faces a leftist challenge this time, along with home-made problems.

Mayor Kai Wegner abandoned his re-election bid in July after it emerged that he hadn’t told the truth about aspects of his crisis management when sabotage caused a large-scale power cut last winter. His deputy, Stefan Evers, is running instead. Berlin’s election is dominated by local issues, primarily rising rental costs.

Merz, meanwhile, has signaled that he's determined to stay on and doubled down rhetorically on his reform plans.

“We were elected for four years. I was elected for four years,” Merz said at a meeting of Germany's exporters association on Tuesday. “And I want us to use these four years to lead our country out of this difficult phase.”

Merz also dismissed suggestions that he could try to run a minority government without his center-left partners, saying that it's an “illusion” to believe his conservatives could push policies through parliament alone.

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Geir Moulson reported from Berlin. Pietro De Cristofaro contributed to this report from Rostock, Germany.

A United Nations health official warned about disease as thousands of Yemenis are displaced because of armed conflict there.

Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage can be found here.

Rescuers search through rubble for survivors

The Gaza City building that collapsed had been partially destroyed in an Israeli strike earlier in the war. At least 21 people, including 11 children, died Wednesday, said Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse. At least 14 were injured, al-Wahidi said.

Such incidents have become a major hazard in Gaza, where the majority of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. There’s been no reconstruction work since the ceasefire from nearly a year ago. Israel has said that it won’t allow any rebuilding until Hamas disarms.

Saudi Arabia says drone shot down near Mecca

Saudi Arabia said the kingdom's defenses intercepted and destroyed a drone Tuesday evening before it entered the airspace over Mecca, Islam’s holiest city and a focal point for followers of the faith.

Mecca's security is “a red line,” military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said, adding that Saudi forces will not hesitate to act against “hostile and terrorist behavior.”

Saudi Arabia blamed the Iran-backed Houthis in neighboring Yemen for the drone. The Houthis denied it. But the allegation drew condemnations of the armed group from throughout the Islamic world.

Mecca is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the location of the Kaaba, the black cube-shaped structure that Muslims around the world turn to five times a day when praying.

UN official warns of a health crisis in Yemen

The head of the World Health Organization is warning about the risks of malnutrition and infectious disease outbreaks as more than 100,000 Yemenis relocate to crowded areas.

The displacement, especially on the west coast, is a result of fighting between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthis. Saudi Arabia is also entangled in the conflict, on the side of the government.

“Humanitarian access remains severely constrained, and funding shortfalls threaten our ability to sustain and scale up the response,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva.

More oil tankers appear to transit critical waterway

Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz have recovered somewhat as tankers risk using a southern route near the coast of Oman with guidance from U.S. forces.

Estimates vary because the ships turn off their location systems, but range from 5 million to 7 million barrels per day on average, compared with 15 million barrels per day before the U.S.-Iran war began on Feb. 28.

Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline — another key oil route — was hit by a drone attack last week. The damage is expected to take weeks to repair, potentially cutting Saudi exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu by 2.5 million to 2.7 million barrels per day.

Protests in Syria halt oil trucks

Hundreds of oil trucks were stranded in northeastern Syria after demonstrators blocked a major highway near Tal Tamr to protest recent fuel price increases of 30% or more.

The government announced increases for gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products Sunday, citing rising global fuel prices as a result of the U.S.-Iran war as well as repairs being done at the Baniyas refinery on Syria's coast.

Syria produces around 100,000 barrels of oil per day, while it needs about 325,000 barrels per day for domestic consumption and relies on imports to make up the difference.

Mourners attend funeral of Hamas figure

Dozens of people turned out for the funeral of a Hamas military chief in the southern Gaza Strip. Nael Abu Obeid was killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike on Rafah near the border with Egypt.

Obeid was commander of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam brigades, in the southern city of Rafah.

Separately, Israel’s military said it killed a Hamas military official in a Gaza airstrike last week. The military said Jihad Sameeh Mahmoud Ismail took part in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

This one came at their expense — and still earned him a curtain call in Queens.

Alonso launched his 300th career homer Tuesday night, a tying shot in the ninth inning against his former team, and Coby Mayo’s inside-the-park homer in the 11th sent the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-5 victory at Citi Field.

“There’s a lot of history here with me,” Alonso said after receiving a beer shower from his Baltimore teammates. “It doesn’t matter where and when, I just want to help the team win. I’m just really, really happy for us to come back the way we did.”

The Orioles were two outs from a defeat that would have dropped them four games behind Cleveland for the last American League playoff spot when Alonso hit a 414-foot solo drive off Kodai Senga to tie the score 3-all.

A pumped-up Alonso, who hit a club-record 264 homers for the Mets before signing with the Orioles last December, fired his bat toward the Baltimore dugout and shouted in excitement. He rounded the bases as the Citi Field crowd of 28,097 — down from 35,800 for the slugger's return Monday night — roared.

Fans chanted his name until Alonso emerged from the dugout for a curtain call. Then chants of “Fire Stearns” began, aimed at Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.

“Everyone in the dugout was saying go out there,” Alonso said. “And they were right.”

Said Orioles manager Craig Albernaz: “The dugout was fired up for Pete for a lot of different reasons. It was cool to get an acknowledgment from the crowd.”

The rare curtain call on the road continued an outpouring of support from Mets fans for Alonso over the past two nights — and apparently annoyed at least one of his former teammates.

“As the 2026 Mets, I know we have definitely underperformed. But we are — the guys in here work their (tails) off every single day and to have that kind of reaction to an opposing player — could be anybody — is crazy to me," said New York pitcher Sean Manaea, who started Tuesday night. "Again, I’ve got nothing but respect for Pete. But yeah, just never seen anything like that before.

“Pete’s not here," the veteran left-hander added. “He’s just not here. So, I know everybody loves him. He’s the man. But, yeah, he’s not here. So, to see the reaction from the fans like that, I don’t know, it’s just different.”

Alonso became the third player to hit his 300th home run against a team for whom he played in 1,000 or more games. Willie Horton hit No. 300 with Seattle against the Detroit Tigers in 1979, and Torii Hunter did so for the Tigers against the Minnesota Twins in 2013.

Alonso received a two-minute tribute video before the Orioles’ 2-1 win Monday night at Citi Field. He was showered with a thunderous ovation before his first at-bat minutes later, when he was accompanied to the plate by “Layla,” one of his walk-up songs, as “Welcome Back, Pete!” flashed next to his picture on the scoreboard.

He got standing ovations before each of his final three plate appearances as well on Monday, when rookie pitcher Jonah Tong was booed after walking Alonso in the third, and warm receptions prior to his first three at-bats Tuesday.

“I appreciate all the support for all the years I’ve been here, all the life I’ve lived here,” Alonso said Tuesday night. “Obviously, they’re recognizing that and they appreciate that. It’s a two-way street. Really appreciate it.”

Alonso was given his home run ball by the trio of Long Islanders — Michael Shaw, Nick Maldarella and Chris Makarius — who teamed up to catch the milestone drive, which caromed off the second deck of stands in left field and fell into the first deck.

“On the way here, we were saying we’re going to catch his 300th home run,” Maldarella said. “And sure enough, man. It’s crazy.”

Maldarella and Makarius said they each got a hand on it before sharing it with Shaw.

“Never leave a man behind,” Shaw said.

Alonso signed a bat and a ball for each fan in return. He also signed the shirts they were wearing — an Alonso Mets jersey for Shaw and Makarius and a Carlos Delgado shirt for Maldarella — and offered them tickets and batting-practice access at Camden Yards in Baltimore next season.

“Thank you, guys,” Alonso said to the trio outside the visitors' clubhouse. “You guys are so kind. Thank you so much.”

Alonso also posed for a group picture and for photos with each person individually.

“I mean, who doesn’t love Pete?” Shaw said.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The country signed a deal with China’s SANY Renewable Energy to develop a 2,000-megawatt wind project in the Gulf of Suez alongside Egypt’s first wind turbine manufacturing plant. The project is expected to connect to the national grid within 23 months of final agreements, while the factory is intended to supply Egypt and potentially export equipment across Africa and the Middle East.

Even though Egypt’s project is still in its early stages, energy experts say its emphasis on scale, local manufacturing and technology transfer could offer lessons for other African countries struggling to turn renewable-energy ambitions into functioning infrastructure.

That includes a project in Nigeria, where a 10-megawatt wind farm took nearly two decades to begin producing electricity. The difference highlights a broader challenge for Africa’s renewable-energy push: how to move beyond importing equipment and announcing projects to building the financing, industrial capacity and policy stability needed to deliver them at scale.

“The contrasts are stark,” said Fadhel Kaboub, an associate professor of economics at Ohio's Denison University. “We have a project in Nigeria that took two decades to come online, whereas we have this one project in Egypt that looks like it’s going to really take off.”

Egypt's deal has advantages and risks

Kaboub cautioned that Egypt’s deal is not yet proof of success. But its combination of scale, manufacturing and a Chinese technology partner could give it a better chance of attracting investment and coming to fruition quickly, he said.

“For manufacturing anything to be profitable, efficient and successful, you need economies of scale,” he said. “The problem with every African country is that our internal markets are too small. We don’t have the economies of scale to industrialize one country at a time.”

Egypt’s plan is part of a broader effort to localize renewable energy technology, increase local content, and leverage the country’s trade links to export equipment. The government has said the factory will help reduce reliance on imported equipment while building an industrial base around renewable energy.

That ambition comes with risks.

Kaboub said Egypt needs to ensure that cooperation with SANY results in meaningful technology transfer rather than simply creating another form of dependence on foreign manufacturers.

“If the Chinese partner fully retains control over the technology and there’s really no transfer of technology, then we’re looking at another cycle of dependence,” he said.

Design is one reason why Nigeria's earlier project stalled

Nigeria’s experience illustrates how project design can be as important as the technology itself.

The 10-megawatt Lambar Rimi wind farm in Katsina state was contracted to the French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet in 2010, with completion scheduled for 2012. The project was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and was designed to use 37 turbines rated at 275 kilowatts each.

The project stalled for years before being taken over by the Katsina state government. It was eventually commissioned in September 2025 after the state added 10 megawatts of solar capacity.

Dr Dola Oluteye, founder of the PATNA Initiative and a senior fellow in energy and transport policy at University College London’s Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources, said the comparison should not be framed simply as Nigeria’s failure versus Egypt’s success.

“The useful question is what Egypt has built into its project structure that Nigeria left unresolved for years,” Oluteye said. “The cost of capital is the binding constraint, not the resource.”

The International Energy Agency says the cost of capital for utility-scale clean-energy projects in Africa is at least two to three times higher than in advanced economies and China. Africa attracts around 2% of global clean-energy spending despite accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s population.

Oluteye said Egypt’s decision to structure the new wind project in local currency is particularly significant because it reduces the currency mismatch that can undermine African power projects that are financed in dollars but earn revenue in local currencies.

African countries could leverage their market to win better terms

The industrial component could also change the economics and politics of future projects.

“While Nigeria purchased 37 turbines, Egypt is attempting to buy the capability to make them,” Oluteye said.

African countries could use their collective market to negotiate better terms from technology providers, including requirements for local manufacturing and technology transfer.

“If we form a negotiating bloc with a joint industrial policy, we can probably get better terms for technology transfer and joint ventures that could transform the continent at scale,” Kaboub said.

For Nigeria, the challenge is therefore not simply finding more wind.

“If something is new, especially in Africa, you want to pilot it first,” Kaboub said, adding that stronger feasibility studies, affordable financing, clearer project ownership and policy continuity are critical.

“The implementation of policy is what is critical, not the fact that you have 50 policies on your website or in your government documents,” he said.

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

Thaci resigned from office nearly six years ago to face the charges at the European Union-backed Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. He was convicted of four counts of war crimes including murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention.

Both he and the prosecutors, who had asked for a stricter sentence, can appeal.

The judgment sparked anger among Thaci’s supporters and was a crushing blow for a man who was once embraced by the West, invited to the 1999 peace talks in France and seen as the leader who could guide Kosovo to independence.

Presiding Judge Charles Smith said Thaci actively participated in and encouraged crimes, including by promoting individuals involved in crimes, and “showed a ruthless ability to remove and eliminate political impediments” to his and other commanders' leadership.

Wearing a suit and tie, Thaci stood in silence as Smith read out the sentence.

Supporters criticize verdict

Kosovo Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca condemned the verdicts as “a terrible judgment for Kosovo, for our people and for our liberation war.”

Hundreds of supporters waited at a park near the courthouse in The Hague, and some clashed briefly with Dutch riot police, who said on X that they detained two people.

In Kosovo's capital, Pristina, thousands of people watched the hearing live on a huge screen and were stunned by the sentence. Some shouted “UCK,” the Albanian-language acronym for the Kosovo Liberation Army that Thaci once led before entering politics.

One supporter, Bekim Fetahu, said the verdict was “a catastrophic decision.”

“They (judges) have put the victims together with the aggressors,” Fetahu added.

Later, masked protesters threw stones at the wall surrounding the compound of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, known as EULEX, on the outskirts of Pristina, smashing several windows.

Judge says trial was about personal responsibility, not KLA's legitimacy

Smith, the presiding judge, said Thaci “used his position, leadership, authority and standing” to encourage crimes and failed to investigate or punish abuse by KLA fighters.

However, the American judge also stressed that the trial was “not about the legitimacy of the Kosovo Liberation Army” or its ultimate goal of securing independence for Kosovo, which at the time was a province in Serbia.

Specialist Prosecutor Kimberly West applauded the judgment. “Certain individuals exploited those war circumstances to commit grave crimes, and it is to the credit of Kosovo that those individuals are now being held accountable," she said in a statement.

In Belgrade, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said “we have no reason to rejoice” and expressed concern that the verdict will not hold after appeals. Vucic was critical that multiple other alleged crimes against ethnic Serb civilians have not been taken into account, claiming anti-Serb bias.

“No responsibility has been established for the toughest crimes,” he said. “Serbs are always (war) criminals and others are liberators and heroes.”

Thaci was on trial with three other former KLA leaders who fought Serb forces in the 1998-99 war and are widely regarded as national heroes in Kosovo. They pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.

The four were acquitted on six charges of crimes against humanity because the judges said the prosecutors failed to prove that crimes were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians.

They were found guilty of the war crimes of the arbitrary detention of 385 people, cruel treatment of 49, torture of 303 detainees and the murder of 96 people.

Thaci and the other defendants, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, all maintained their innocence. Veseli was sentenced to 18 years, Selimi to 13 years and Krasniqi to 25 years in prison.

Veseli's lawyer, Rodney Dixon, described the judgment as “not a good day for Kosovo. It’s not a good day for the rule of law or international law” and said he would “mount a robust appeal to continue the fight to show Mr. Veseli’s innocence and to bring him home to Kosovo.”

Thaci was defiant to the end of his trial

As his trial ended in February, Thaci told judges: “Throughout my life, I stood with the people of Kosovo, defending freedom, life and dignity. I was always guided by the Western ideals of democracy, equality and justice.”

But the court ruled that Thaci and his co-defendants targeted political opponents and civilians perceived as collaborators and traitors during their time in the KLA.

“In reality, there is no indication that the victims in this case were spies or collaborators,” Smith said. Just having “Serbian friends or jobs in Serbian companies was enough to treat them as collaborators” of the enemy.

When fighting broke out, Thaci was a student who returned from what he described as political exile in Switzerland to join Kosovo’s struggle for independence. He earned the nickname “the Snake” for his ability to evade Serb forces during the conflict.

Thaci rose to political power after the war but resigned as president to defend himself before the court in The Hague.

Esther Major, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for Europe, said the convictions “show that senior officials are not above the law.”

Most of the 13,000 people who died in the war in Kosovo were ethnic Albanians. A 78-day campaign of NATO airstrikes against Serbian forces ended the fighting. About 1 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars were driven from their homes.

In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, a move that Belgrade refuses to recognize. Ties between Kosovo and Serbia remain tense, despite years of EU-mediated negotiations supported by the United States.

___

Associated Press reporters Zana Cimili in Pristina, Kosovo, Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Molly Quell in The Hague contributed to this report.

Dressed a black suit and a crisp white shirt, the 81-year-old smiled and waved at supporters, following a pretrial hearing that focused largely on scheduling concerns ahead of the trial’s official start, expected in November.

The ex-leader is accused of murder and attempted murder for his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs during his time in office. He denies the charges against him.

Duterte was arrested in the Philippines in March 2025 and sent to The Hague in the Netherlands. He made his initial appearance via video link from the court's detention center and had not attended another session until Wednesday.

His legal team had attempted to get the case thrown out on medical grounds, but judges denied a request for him to be released from custody and ultimately ruled earlier this year that he was healthy enough to stand trial.

The ICC has been looking into mass killings in crackdowns overseen by Duterte, first when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 reported by the national police to up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

According to the prosecutors, police and government hit squads carried out dozens of killings at Duterte’s orders, motivated by the promise of money or to avoid becoming targets themselves.

In June, the presiding judge in his case told Duterte’s lawyers that she wanted the ex-leader to turn up. “We would expect Mr. Duterte to be here unless there’s some medical issue,” Judge Joanna Korner said.

Earlier this week, his counsel requested additional medical evaluations. Following the hearing, the three-judge panel rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to release him during the trial, citing concerns about his ability to interfere with witnesses.

Relatives of those killed in the drug crackdowns held a group watch in Manila, chanting “Justice for all victims of the killings!”

A small group of protesters also gathered outside the ICC ahead of the hearing to voice their support for the proceedings.

A month after the court in February 2018 announced a preliminary investigation into the violent drug crackdowns, Duterte said the Philippines would withdraw from the ICC.

Last year, judges rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to throw out the case because of the Philippine withdrawal. They said that countries cannot “abuse” their right to withdraw from the court’s foundational Rome Statute “by shielding persons from justice in relation to alleged crimes that are already under consideration.”

Earlier this year, an attempt by authorities to arrest another man wanted by the ICC in connection with the drug killings dissolved into gunfire in the Philippine Senate in May. No one was hurt. The court had unsealed an arrest warrant for Ronald Marapon dela Rosa, who served as national police chief under Duterte. Dela Rosa went into hiding following the Senate standoff and remains on the run.

In July, the Philippine Senate, acting as an impeachment court, opened a trial of Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. If convicted of her charges, which include amassing unexplained wealth and publicly threatening the family of the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., she may be permanently disqualified from holding public office. She denies the charges.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% was on track for just its second gain in the last eight days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 11 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 1:28 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.

Stocks got help from some easing for oil prices and pressure from the bond market. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2.6% to $105.91. Oil had gotten to nearly $110 early this week on worries that the war with Iran will continue to clog the global flow of oil.

That helped send the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is the centerpiece of the bond market and dictates where rates for mortgages and other loans go, down to 4.95% from 5.00% late Tuesday. Earlier this week was the first time since 2023 that the 10-year yield topped 5%.

Even with Wednesday’s easing, the pressure remains high. Brent oil is still well above its $72 price from before the war with Iran, when the 10-year yield was at just 3.97%. Worries are so strong about inflation staying high that Wall Street sees it as a near certainty that Fed officials will announce their first hike to interest rates since 2023 later in the day.

That’s the typical move for the Fed to combat inflation, and it works by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, which slows the overall economy and hopefully removes fuel for prices to rise further. It also tends to undercut prices for stocks and other investments, though President Donald Trump has been lobbying for lower interest rates instead of higher.

Inflation is a worldwide problem, and the European Central Bank hiked rates across the Atlantic last week to help diminish it.

Traders are still betting on a slight chance the Fed may hold off on raising rates. If it does, the market could swing because investors may see it as a sign that the Fed is less committed to getting inflation lower.

Fed officials will also release forecasts for where they see interest rates heading in upcoming years, providing another opportunity to inject uncertainty into the market.

A report on Wednesday morning showing that shoppers spent much more at U.S. retailers last month than economists expected could embolden the Fed. It could offer a signal that the economy remains strong enough to withstand higher rates.

On Wall Street, stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry held steadier following their worldwide slide earlier in the week, after leaders of the AI industry called for a slowdown in development to address safety issues for humanity.

Nvidia rose 1.5%, and Advanced Micro Devices climbed 3.5%.

They helped offset a drop of 13% for J.B. Hunt Transport Services. Its chief financial officer told a conference of analysts late Tuesday that it’s facing higher costs and expects its earnings to drop 5% to 10% from the second quarter to the third.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.4% for one of the world’s biggest gains.

___

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

Asked how a team that works on the fringe of baseball's middle class has turned Champagne celebrations into a September ritual, Jacob Misiorowski shrugged.

“I couldn’t tell you,” the 24-year-old ace said. “You know, I’ve been trying to figure it out all year.”

The search will continue into October. The Brewers (94-57) won their fourth straight NL Central title on Tuesday night, when they rode their flame-throwing star and a couple of timely hits from role players Luis Lara and Joey Ortiz for a 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh.

When Atlanta rallied past the Chicago Cubs about 30 minutes later, there was a roar that seeped through the cinderblock walls outside the visitors' clubhouse at PNC Park. Bottles were popped. Cigars were lit. Beers — Miller Lites, of course — were chugged.

This part of the journey never gets old, not even for Christian Yelich, who has been a fixture during Milwaukee's run of eight playoff appearances in nine years.

“We're a good team,” the three-time All-Star and 2018 NL MVP said. “This is what we set out to do every season at the beginning of spring training. We just keep playing our game.”

Brewers win with a smart, unselfish style

Milwaukee doesn't overwhelm opponents with power or gaudy stats — outside of Misiorowski's stream of 100 mph-plus fastballs — and instead relies on singles, smart baseball and a selfless approach.

The Brewers gave Pittsburgh a glimpse in the second inning. Jake Bauers led off with a single to right field, advanced to second on a groundout and sprinted to third on a wild pitch. Luis Lara followed with a fly ball to center field deep enough to allow Bauers to dash home.

Just like that, Milwaukee was up 1-0 with the NL Cy Young favorite on the mound. While Misiorowski didn't think he had his best stuff on a night he tossed five scoreless innings to drop his ERA to an MLB-best 1.89, it hardly mattered.

“It’s just the boys grinding, them doing their jobs and putting a run across the board,” Misiorowski said. “So that’s all I can ask for.”

A lot of times, it's all he needs. The Brewers don't just, as Ortiz put it, “single you to death.” They largely avoid the mental mistakes that can make all the difference during the 162-game regular season.

The proof came in the fourth when the Pirates put together their only significant rally. Pittsburgh had runners on first and second with one out when Rafael Flores hit a sharp grounder that glanced off Milwaukee third baseman David Hamilton's glove and rolled into the outfield. Pittsburgh's Nick Gonzales stayed at third rather than race home after a mix-up with third base coach Tony Beasley.

In the chaos, the Brewers caught Pirates designated hitter Ryan O'Hearn in a rundown between second and third for the second out. Misiorowski got Spencer Horwitz to fly out and end the threat.

It's been like that all year. It's been like that most of the last decade.

“I think we do a really good job of knowing how to win, creating a winning culture and everybody knows, like, every night it's time to win,” Yelich said.

Yelich believes that culture starts with the ownership group headed by Mark Attanasio and trickles down to general manager Matt Arnold to manager Pat Murphy to a roster whose payroll of around $140 million is 19th highest in the majors.

The other National League teams that began Tuesday in playoff position — the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Diego and the Chicago Cubs — are all inside the top 10.

Brewers are no longer overlooked around the majors

Given the Brewers' success since their renaissance began in 2018, it's hard to paint them as underdogs.

“I wouldn’t say they underestimate us anymore,” Misiorowski said. “I think we’ve gotten to a spot where they kind of see it.”

The Pirates, who are on the cusp of having their playoff drought hit 11 years, certainly have.

“Other teams are definitely looking at what (the Brewers are) doing ... because they haven’t spent the money that the Dodgers have,” Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly said. “Money doesn’t always buy wins or championships. It’s a game that we’re playing. You have to go out there and play good baseball, and the Brewers have done that consistently over the last few years.”

When Ortiz was a rookie in Baltimore in 2023, he remembers sitting around with teammates wondering “how was Milwaukee winning these games?”

Now he knows. And no, there is no secret sauce. Just good baseball.

“It’s just competing, focusing on the stuff we can control, worrying about today and nothing else,” he said. “I feel like we just have a bunch of competitors on the team who want to do what we can to win. I don’t really think we think too much.”

While the Brewers have locked up the division, they're hardly finished. The next step is trying to hold off the Dodgers for the No. 1 seed in the National League and the home-field advantage that comes with it.

For all of Milwaukee's success, one thing the club hasn't done is translate it into an extended October stay. The Brewers are still searching for their first World Series appearance since 1982. Yet they keep giving themselves a chance. They'll take it.

“I think we stick to our plan and stick to who we are,” Ortiz said, “and try and be the best at what we can do.”

___

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

Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SpaceXAI's Elon Musk and other prominent industry leaders have said in recent days that AI’s development needs to slow down. The consensus came after an Anthropic researcher resigned with a dire warning about the threats the technology poses to humanity.

But obstacles including domestic and global competition, profit motivations and pushback from President Donald Trump all stand in the way of a coordinated effort to pace AI’s development.

Still, this moment could force the industry to wrestle with a “reframing of what we consider successful," said Nick Reese, former director of emerging technology policy at the Department of Homeland Security and an adjunct professor at New York University.

“What if we considered success in AI the same way that we consider success for airlines? On time and haven’t had a crash in who knows how long,” Reese said. “We don’t tolerate commercial airline crashes, but we do tolerate significant AI failures.”

Here's what tech leaders want an AI slowdown to entail

In theory, the leading AI startups could slow the progress of their models at any time. But leaps in the technology have partly sprung from competition to build even more powerful models, all with the blessing of a White House that doesn't want the U.S. to lose its edge over China. Anthropic and OpenAI also are racing toward potentially record-breaking public offerings on Wall Street, although the latter said it's holding off on going public this year while it continues its safety efforts.

That's why the proposals floated by industry depend upon mutual collaboration and, to an extent, government regulation.

Amodei recently published a lengthy essay in which he outlined a plan for slowing advanced AI development.

One proposal calls for companies at the forefront of AI, often called frontier labs, to commit to giving “ongoing, employee-like access” to independent outside evaluators. Evaluator teams would have offices, access badges and company laptops so they can monitor safety practices.

Anthropic is “unilaterally committing” to this step now, Amodei wrote. Altman called it a “great idea” on social media and said OpenAI will follow suit.

Altman said he welcomed a “federal framework” setting out safety standards for advanced AI, but said the company didn’t need to wait for legislation or an antitrust exemption before addressing AI safety.

Amodei's essay also called for government regulation and intervention, including coordination between frontier AI companies with the help of the U.S. government and the governments of other democratic countries. He said he hopes the leading labs could establish “common safety standards as well as limits on the rate of unchecked AI progress.”

Amodei's plan also includes the U.S. and other countries working to coordinate with “authoritarian governments.” He acknowledged the difficulty, specifically citing challenges in getting cooperation from China.

The Anthropic head outlined several levels of agreement that global leaders could sign off on. The most feasible, he said, would be an agreement banning “certain narrow and obviously dangerous uses of AI" like producing biological weapons or allowing users to do so. More difficult would be getting the U.S. and its adversaries to agree to test models before release, possibly through a global standards body, for risks in areas like cybersecurity or biological threats.

Still harder would be to set a “speed limit” on AI models that can develop improved versions of themselves on their own, known as recursive self-improvement.

“Slowing the rate from ‘extremely fast’ to ‘only somewhat fast’ gives up relatively little strategic advantage, while potentially greatly improving safety,” Amodei wrote.

He drew an analogy to Cold War-era treaties in which “capping the number of missiles limited the potential for destruction while preserving each country’s deterrent.”

Amodei said the most difficult proposal to implement would be a “full pacing, or even ‘pause,’" whereby participating governments agree to substantially limit the overall rate of AI development.

Writing on social media, Altman said the “pacing” of AI development does not mean stopping. AI progress will continue to be rapid, Altman said on X. “But it should be slower than it otherwise could be; interventions like safety cases and monitoring have significant costs.”

“Pacing will be well worth this cost,” he said, adding that “no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness.”

Questions swirl about AI slowdown's feasibility

While experts said the sense of agreement across the industry is promising, there are many unanswered questions.

A slowdown is possible “in theory,” said Sandra Wachter, professor of technology and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute.

But in practice, “it would require substantial coordination and cooperation between companies and governments across countries,” something she deems “highly unrealistic” due to “the current state of the world.”

Options for promoting a slowdown, she said, include governments doing more to hold AI companies responsible for the risks posed by their technology and pursuing regulation that limits their access to electricity, water and other resources that power data centers.

The idea of embedding external evaluators inside companies has been mostly well-received by the industry, but some critics questioned how independent the assessors could be and how the evaluation standards would be drawn up. The result could be even more concentration of power, Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of the Canadian AI lab Cohere, wrote in response to Amodei's essay.

“A handful of the most powerful labs based in one country would agree on shared standards and the limits to how fast the technology should advance,” Gomez said.

He also pushed back against Amodei’s idea to have the U.S. government give frontier labs waivers to bypass antitrust restrictions.

“If this is the most consequential technology in human history, then the rules for it cannot be written by a small group of commercially aligned companies behind an antitrust waiver," Gomez said.

Elham Tabassi, the director of the AI and Emerging Technology Initiative and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said until the measures companies are committing to are solidified and made public, having independent auditors would be a “voluntarily-provided, company-controlled” move.

Tabassi said it's crucial AI companies continue to invest in developing “scientifically valid” ways of testing and measuring their models as they aim for increased safety. Without this, regulation won't hold as much power, she said.

Trump resistance, pressure to beat China stand in the way

The Trump administration has long favored a light-touch approach to the AI industry in hopes that innovation would flourish and that AI development in the U.S. would surpass China.

The competition between American and Chinese AI companies has been likened to an arms race, which experts said is not conducive to collaboration. That creates “conditions where now we have this existential adversary,” Reese said.

Still, some industry leaders remain “cautiously hopeful" about AI development moving in a more safety-minded direction, said Zahra Timsah, the co-founder and CEO of governance platform i-GENTIC AI.

“Within days, you have CEOs that are competing — all of them, all of a sudden, found common ground. You have senators from both parties that started to advance different forms of oversight," Timsah said.

“It’s receiving attention, but attention is not the same as implementation. Will it really work? I don’t know.”

Election officials say nearly 200 candidates have served in Ukraine, and the Kremlin touts them as part of Russia’s “true elite” — its effort to show that veterans of the 4 1/2-year-old war will have an honored place in civilian life.

But few analysts believe that most of them will ever hold any real power among the country’s ruling class, dismissing the effort as a way to lure more volunteers to fight.

Independent Russian media regularly report about returning veterans involved in assaults, drunken brawls and even killings. Some of those crimes were committed by men who were recruited into the military from prison.

The vote that begins Friday for the State Duma — the lower house of parliament — is the first since the war began, and also will take place in areas of Ukraine that Russia captured and illegally annexed. The Kremlin is tightly managing the election, seeking to reinforce its narrative of widespread support for the war and provide a veneer of legitimacy for its actions.

Most of the Kremlin-aligned parties allowed on the ballot have candidates identified as participants in the SVO — the Russian acronym for its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

One prominent candidate is Vladislav Golovin, 29, of the ruling United Russia party, who fought in the battle for the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and lost part of his leg. He has appeared at events with President Vladimir Putin, who made him a Hero of Russia, the country's highest honor.

In 2024, Golovin took part in Putin's “Time of Heroes” program that prepares veterans for government careers. He now heads a military and patriotic youth organization, the Young Army — but also has been put on Western sanctions lists.

United Russia has several dozen candidates with a Ukraine war background. Another of its leading candidates is Yevgeny Poddubny, a well-connected state TV war correspondent who was wounded by a Ukrainian drone.

The ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party has a top candidate in Alexei Vereshchagin, who is described as having joined the Moscow-backed separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and leading a brigade of volunteers.

“We are the ones our homeland has called upon to fight for the ‘Russian World,’ and we will fight,” Vereshchagin, who was born in Kyiv, said in a campaign video, using a term popularized by Putin, especially after Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

Ukrainian police in March posted a photo of what appeared to be Vereshchagin and said they were investigating him for his role in home invasions and threatening civilians in the Kyiv region in 2022 before Ukrainian forces retook the area. They said he fought against Ukraine for over a decade. He hasn’t publicly commented on the allegations. The party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kremlin seeks to entice men to fight in Ukraine

By promoting veterans in the State Duma campaign, the Kremlin wants to show potential recruits that they would be fighting “for some higher cause, and that they have bright prospects ahead of them in the form of a career lift,” said Nikolay Petrov, senior research fellow at the NEST Centre, founded by exiled Russian tycoon and opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

But Russia also “doesn’t know what to do” with those returning from the battlefield, Petrov told The Associated Press, and so it offers them largely insignificant positions with little real power, while focusing on promoting those who already held public office.

Former Putin speechwriter-turned-political analyst Abbas Gallyamov was more blunt, calling it “empty talk.”

To lure more men into enlisting, “you need to promise them everything they want to hear, from promises of payments to flattery and stories of their special greatness, their contribution to the cause of building a new Russia,” Gallyamov told AP.

Most veterans have a difficult postwar path

The postwar path is not simple for many veterans. Most of those who signed military contracts cannot terminate them under Putin’s 2022 “partial mobilization” decree, and those who were drafted that year have not yet been demobilized, either.

Those who are severely injured or have reached a certain age can be discharged, and some special units reportedly offer limited tours of duty.

About 167,000 servicemen have returned from Ukraine, presidential administration official Sergei Novikov said in December, although Russian media reports and experts say the number is probably higher.

The competition for the Time of Heroes program is fierce and requires higher education and management experience. Out of over 65,000 applicants in 2024-25, only 168 were accepted, according to its website. Of them, some 80 were appointed to various positions on national, regional or municipal levels.

The independent Russian news outlet Meduza reported in June that at least 1,300 veterans have been appointed to government posts, were elected to local legislatures and councils, or got jobs in state-backed companies or institutions. About 850 of those had some kind of government or related experience before serving, Meduza said, concluding that most beneficiaries were already part of the ruling class.

AP was unable to independently verify those findings, but reports about government officials or lawmakers serving in Ukraine and then returning to their civilian careers are common.

Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlyov, head of the Rodina, or “Homeland” party, has reported serving at the front while keeping his seat as a lawmaker, like some of his colleagues. He recently lashed out at a YouTube blogger who wondered why he's not fighting full-time in Ukraine. Zhuravlyov said later that he spends “more time on the front line than in the Duma.”

Tambov regional Gov. Yevgeny Pervyshov, a United Russia candidate who also was the former mayor of his native Krasnodar and did a stint as a Duma lawmaker, served in Ukraine as part of a special military unit in 2022.

The U.K. government described his unit in 2024 as having “an unusually high number of United Russia party members and sons of Kremlin VIPs.” In a post on X, the British Defense Ministry said the unit is predominantly involved in drone operations far from the front, allowing elite political figures “to sidestep usual Russian military service requirements with guaranteed safety.”

After a tour of under a year, Pervyshov was accepted into the Time of Heroes program and later was appointed Tambov's acting governor before being elected in September 2025.

Enthusiasm sours for Putin's promises

Ivan Filippov, who studies propaganda and analyzes military and pro-war bloggers, says such examples fuel disappointment in the pro-war community, which initially was enthusiastic about Putin’s promise of a new “elite.”

“They were very happy when he said those words, but it turned out rather quickly that it’s not about (genuine) veterans,” he told AP. Rather, he added, it's about some who went to the battlefield once, “fired a howitzer, got their veteran credentials” and returned to office.

Now, war hawks understand that returning troops will face “a difficult life” when returning home, he said.

“They understand clearly that no one will let them into power,” Filippov said.

Novikov, the Kremlin official, said in December that “tens of thousands” of veterans remain jobless, and it “forms a dangerous risk zone.”

As for putting veterans in positions of power, the Kremlin naturally prefers “rational bureaucrats” who served in the military, said Petrov, the analyst.

“The authorities don’t at all need bandits that come back from there,” he added.

——

Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.

“They’ve never had a person take his space for this region and yeah, we haven’t heard from them since,” said family friend Kayla Jackson.

The bureau's Missing and Murdered Unit was created in 2021 to address the crisis of violence against Native Americans and put new resources toward solving cold cases. But a recent federal audit by the Interior Department's internal watchdog found staffing issues have plagued the unit since its formation during President Joe Biden's administration, creating a backlog of cases and leaving families without required victim services.

Federal spending on the initiative grew from $12 million to $17 million between 2021 and 2024. During the same period, the audit found that 39% of money for the Missing and Murdered Unit was redirected toward other Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement costs, including upgrading vehicles. Nearly half the unit's posts remained unfilled as of last year, even as the bureau overall has lost a third of its workforce due to staffing cuts under President Donald Trump.

The bureau says it has adopted many of the report's recommendations, from streamlining its case referral pipeline to training staff on victim services requirements. But federal auditors say weaknesses in its hiring process remain. And some families are still in the dark about their loved ones' cases.

“It is nothing but heartbreaking just to see how inadequate the response has already been for so many of these situations,” said David Adams, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based attorney, former federal prosecutor and member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

Hundreds of cases languished for years

The Missing and Murdered Unit had 83 open cases and nearly 400 pending referrals as of November 2024, according to the audit released Sept. 9 by Interior's Office of Inspector General. The unit did not have a time frame for assessing referrals.

The audit also found agents had unmanageable caseloads, with some assigned administrative duties, like conducting research on referrals, on top of their active investigations.

Relatives of Kaysera Stops Pretty Places were hopeful when, in 2022, a Bureau of Indian Affairs agent was assigned to her still-unsolved case. Stops Pretty Places had just turned 18 when her body was found in a town bordering the Crow Reservation in 2019.

Her aunt, Grace Bulltail, said the agent was difficult to reach and provided few updates. Last year, Bulltail learned the agent never had full access to the files of local investigators before the agent was reassigned to other duties.

The Associated Press emailed bureau officials Monday seeking comment about the case.

Sarah Deer, a professor at the University of Kansas School of Law, said delays and dysfunction among federal investigators are compounding families' grief.

“These are families who have often experienced institutional failure already,” she said. “A system designed as a response to that history cannot ask families to keep waiting.”

Victims' families fell through the cracks

In 8 of 13 cases reviewed by the Inspector General's Office, the assigned agent did not contact bureau staff who specialize in helping victims' families. One staff member said they referred families to outside programs because the unit had only two victim specialists nationwide.

Martin was 31 years old when he was reported missing after a welfare check on the Fond du Lac reservation in 2024. Relatives described him as an outgoing man who played sports with kids and took his nieces and nephews out trick-or-treating. Family members said they get periodic updates from the Fond du Lac Police Department, but were never connected to BIA victim specialists.

The BIA website does not list a case agent in Martin’s case. The Associated Press emailed bureau officials Monday seeking comment about the case.

Federal efforts on missing and murdered cases

The Trump administration says it has been ramping up efforts to address high rates of violence against Native people. Last month, the FBI announced it would set a minimum reward of $25,000 for public information in dozens of cold cases on tribal land.

Bureau of Indian Affairs officials said in a statement they have taken steps under Trump to improve case processing and make sure families get support. They said most of the recommendations from the audit had been acted upon.

“The deficiencies identified in the OIG audit reflect operations under the previous administration that were inconsistent with the objectives outlined in Operation Lady Justice,” the statement said, referring to a presidential task force established by the first Trump administration in 2019 to address the crisis of missing and killed Indigenous persons.

In February, the Missing and Murdered Unit assisted in recovering and identifying two sets of remains on the Chickasaw Nation, closing a missing persons case that had run cold more than a decade before.

Deer said new federal and state task forces and specialized law enforcement initiatives have increased public awareness of the crisis.

“The government has stepped up in some ways to appropriate resources, but implementation matters,” she said.

Meanwhile, tribal police departments, which are often the first to respond to cases involving Native people, remain underresourced with limited capacity to investigate complex crimes, she said.

“What I always come back to is whether or not this money could be better utilized by tribes themselves,” Deer said.

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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

The trip marks Trump’s first campaign rally since his unusual midterm convention in Dallas. The president, despite voter frustrations over the Iran war and his economic leadership, has promised dozens more trips ahead of Election Day. Trump's involvement creates a balancing act for Republicans like Whatley, who will depend on the president’s core supporters to turn out while also trying to appeal to moderates and disaffected conservatives unhappy with the direction of the country.

Whatley was the president’s pick for the Senate race and Trump’s pick to lead the Republican National Committee before that. Republicans viewed him as a strong recruit to hold the seat being left open by Sen. Thom Tillis, who decided to retire after clashing with the president last year. But Whatley, who is making his first bid for public office, has trailed Cooper in fundraising in recent months and polling from over the summer showed Cooper with at least a slight lead.

Trump has acknowledged the challenging landscape but believes his presence will be a clear boost.

“In North Carolina, you have a little more difficult case, because people don’t quite get it, but they’re going to find out,” Trump said during his keynote speech in Dallas.

Democrats have not won a Senate contest in the state since 2008, and Trump has carried North Carolina three times since. The seat is critical to Democrats' effort to flip control of the Senate. Cooper was perhaps Democrats’ best recruit this cycle, having never lost a statewide race in North Carolina through four terms as attorney general and two terms as governor.

Republican pollster Paul Shumaker, who worked for Tillis’s and North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd’s campaigns, said Trump will energize Republicans who may not be as excited about the campaign as Democrats. But he noted that registered Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina are split about evenly, while independent voters outnumber both. That cohort of more than 3.5 million voters, he said, are more concerned about the economy, an issue where Trump is weaker than he was in 2024, than with crime or immigration, issues where North Carolina Republicans might still have an advantage over Democrats.

“They see the White House more focused on everything but the economy,” Shumaker said. “So that narrative has to change to give them a path here in North Carolina.”

Whatley, for his part, has not distanced himself from Trump. During a brief speech in Dallas, he praised Trump’s agenda, especially the tax cuts included in his “big beautiful bill” last year. But instead of lavishing praise on the president himself, he spent most of his time unloading on Cooper as soft on crime and bad for North Carolinians’ wallets.

“Under Roy Cooper’s reign, North Carolina became the most expensive state in the nation for health care costs,” he said, countering the former governor’s emphasis on the economy under Trump, especially gas and grocery prices.

Cooper’s campaign pushed back against Whatley’s criticisms and noted that the Republican has faced scrutiny for recently having a convicted sex offender offer the opening prayer at one of his campaign events.

Whatley, meanwhile, is leaning heavily on Trump and national Republican donors to reach voters on TV and online. According to data from AdImpact, which tracks campaign advertising, total Republican spending on the contest has topped $50 million, while Democrats have spent almost $35.2 million, with Trump's MAGA Inc. and other conservative PACs accounting for the overall Republican advantage.

Cooper has no public events Wednesday but the state Democratic Party plans a news conference aimed at keeping attention on inflation under Trump.

This would be the fifth execution in Texas, while Georgia has yet to put anyone to death this year. The nation's busiest death chamber is in Florida, which accounted for more than half the 25 executions already carried out in the U.S. this year.

Stacey Humphreys, 53, was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown in an Atlanta suburb. He had been scheduled to die by injection of the sedative pentobarbital at 7 p.m. EDT at the state prison near Jackson.

LeJames Norman, 40, was sentenced to death in the 2005 fatal shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, while looking for cocaine inside their home in Texas. He too is scheduled to die by injection of the same chemical at 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

A judge halted Humphreys’ execution late Tuesday after his lawyers filed a petition seeking a resentencing under a new state law that allows victims of abuse to have their sentences reconsidered and reduced, if they can tie their crimes to abuse they suffered.

The state is appealing that ruling, which could keep the execution on track for Wednesday evening. If an appeals court rules before the scheduled execution time that Humphreys is not entitled to a hearing on his petition for a reduced sentence, the judge said he will consider lifting the stay so the execution can proceed.

An attempted robbery turned deadly

Norman believed there was cocaine in the house in Edna, a small, rural city about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston, and hoped to steal it alongside Ker’Sean Ramey, according to court records. But they never found any drugs and fatally shot three people in the home. Lopez was shot four times, including three in the back of his head. Peacock was shot twice in the head. Roberts was shot five times to the chest, neck and head.

Norman was arrested about five months after the killings while trying to cross back into the U.S. from Mexico. He pleaded guilty to capital murder, leaving a jury to decide his punishment.

Ramey was also convicted in the shootings and sentenced to death. His execution is set for next week.

A final request for a stay for Norman was before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Killings at a model home and allegations of a biased juror

The two women who Humphreys killed were working as real estate agents for a new subdivision in the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs. He entered the sales office in a model home around midday on Nov. 3, 2003, and forced them to strip naked and give him their bank PINs before fatally shooting them, according to evidence presented at trial.

Humphreys withdrew more than $3,000 from the women's bank accounts, according to court filings. He told police after his arrest that he had recently taken out some high-interest payday loans and needed money for a payment on his truck.

Witnesses told police they saw a man fitting Humphreys’ description at the sales office and a vehicle in the parking lot that matched his black Dodge Durango. Police zeroed in on Humphreys and tried to question him at his Dunwoody home days later. He fled and was arrested in Wisconsin after leading police on a high-speed chase.

Humphreys weighs about 370 pounds (170 kilograms) and his lawyers say he has several health issues that make him feel like he’s suffocating and choking when lying on his back. To keep him from suffering “an excruciating death,” his lawyers sought modifications to the lethal injection process, and prison authorities agreed to elevate the gurney as much as possible and place blankets behind him to further elevate his upper body if his breathing becomes restricted.

In addition to the petition for a reduced sentence, Humphreys’ lawyers have argued that he should be resentenced because his death sentence was tainted by a biased juror who lied during jury selection and bullied other jurors into voting for a death sentence. Courts have repeatedly rejected those arguments for procedural reasons, though U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the other two liberal justices, argued last year that the issue should be further explored rather than leaving it “caught in a web of procedural barriers.”

Additionally, Humphreys' lawyers have argued that it was not fair that his clemency application was heard by only four members of the five-person State Board of Pardons and Paroles. A judge had ordered one member of the board to recuse herself, agreeing with Humphreys’ legal team that there was a conflict of interest because she previously worked as a victim advocate with the Cobb County district attorney’s office and had worked with the victims in his case. The parole board on Tuesday denied clemency for Humphreys.

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Brumback reported from Atlanta and Stengle reported from Dallas.

The quarter-point increase lifts the Fed’s key rate to about 3.9% and, over time, could result in higher borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards. In a set of quarterly projections, the Fed also signaled that its rate-setting committee expects to hike rates a second time later this year to 4.1%.

“Today’s policy action will support a timelier return” to the central bank’s 2% inflation goal, the Fed said in a statement.

The move comes as Americans are already struggling with high costs for groceries, gas, and housing. Affordability has taken on a leading role in the upcoming midterm elections, just seven weeks away.

The rate hike is a surprising turnaround for Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and took over the top job in May. Warsh often suggested last year when under consideration by Trump that the Fed could reduce its key rate, echoing the president’s call for lower borrowing costs.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barely four months into the job, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is stuck between two strong and opposing forces: Financial markets that anticipate the central bank will raise interest rates, and President Donald Trump, who wants the Fed to cut them or leave them unchanged.

Economists expect that on Wednesday, Warsh and his fellow policymakers will side with the markets.

Warsh, economists say, has largely boxed himself into a rate hike after delivering a high-profile speech last month warning that inflation remains too far above the Fed's 2% target and might require higher borrowing costs to bring it down. A report last week showing inflation is still stubbornly high largely sealed investors' expectations.

Warsh has faced this dilemma before. Soon after becoming chair May 22, he delivered tough rhetoric on inflation, but in late July the central bank left its key rate unchanged. After he provided little explanation for his decision at a press conference, investors pushed up longer-term interest rates, accelerating a process that is still ongoing. This week, the rate on the 10-year Treasury bond reached 5% for the first time in three years. Mortgage rates, which closely follow the 10-year Treasury, have also risen.

If the Fed doesn't hike its key rate Wednesday, it risks a replay of what happened in late July, economists say. When investors expect inflation to stay high, they demand higher interest rates on government and corporate bonds to compensate.

“That is the paradox: A hike now could lower long-term rates later,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, wrote in an email. “Restore faith in the 2% target, then the inflation premium can fall. Fail, and markets will tighten instead through higher mortgage rates, business borrowing costs and interest on the debt.”

A quarter-point rate increase would be the first in three years and push the Fed's benchmark rate to about 3.9%.

While campaigning for the top job last year, Warsh said the Fed could lower interest rates. But since getting the nod, the Iran war has sharply raised gas prices, lifting inflation to 3.7% in July, according to the Fed's preferred measure. In April 2025, before Trump's tariffs, it had fallen to 2.3%.

Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, was 3.3% in July, up from 3% just before the Iran war.

If the Fed forgoes a rate hike, it would risk being seen as giving in to pressure from the White House, which could undercut its credibility with financial markets.

“Kevin cares about his legacy," said Kristin Forbes, an economics professor at MIT's Sloan School and former policymaker at the Bank of England. "And he knows that Fed chairs who follow political pressure instead of the economy do not go down well in the annals of history.”

Trump harshly criticized Warsh's predecessor, Jerome Powell, for not cutting rates quickly enough. His Justice Department even launched a criminal investigation into Powell over brief testimony he delivered to Congress last year, though that probe was eventually dropped.

Kevin Hassett, Trump's top economic adviser, was asked in an interview with Fox News on Sunday how Trump might react to a rate hike.

“I’m sure he’s not going to be super happy about it, but he will defend the independence of Kevin Warsh above all,” Hassett said.

Warsh might also have a measure of protection from the fact that his father-in-law is Ronald Lauder, a friend of Trump's and a billionaire donor to his campaigns.

Even if Warsh decides to support a rate hike, it's not clear how many more will follow. It's unusual for the Fed to change rates just once. Typically the central bank embarks on a series of hikes or rate cuts to push the economy in the direction it seeks.

There is one precedent for a single hike: In 1997, former chair Alan Greenspan lifted rates by a quarter-point in March of that year. Yet a financial crisis ignited in Asia that July, prompting the Fed to remain on hold. When the crisis worsened in 1998, the Fed ultimately cut rates three times that fall.

For now, Wall Street investors anticipate the Fed will hike three times, with additional increases in December and March.

But Jonathan Pingle, an economist at UBS, said it is possible that if future inflation data showed price increases cooling, the Fed could forgo more hikes.

“They don't have to follow through on that if the data goes their way,” Pingle said.

On Wednesday, the Fed will provide some hints about its next moves when it releases its quarterly economic projections, which will include a forecast of where its benchmark rate will be at the end of this year and next.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Jeremiah Jackson also went deep for the Orioles (74-78), who stayed three games behind Cleveland for the last American League playoff spot.

Mayo snapped a 4-all tie with a three-run homer in the 11th. He connected on an 0-2 pitch from Jonathan Pintaro with two outs and sent a long drive to center field that glanced off rookie A.J. Ewing's glove as he crashed into the fence.

The ball rolled away from Ewing as he fell to the ground, allowing Mayo to circle the bases and score standing up.

Alonso, who hit a club-record 264 homers for the Mets before signing with the Orioles last December, was hitless in his first seven plate appearances of the series before launching a 414-foot solo drive off Kodai Senga to tie the score at 3 with one out in the ninth.

A pumped-up Alonso spiked his bat toward the Orioles dugout and rounded the bases as the Citi Field crowd of 28,097 — down from 35,800 for the slugger's return Monday night — roared.

Fans chanted his name until Alonso emerged from the dugout for a curtain call, after which chants of “Fire Stearns” aimed at Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns began.

It was Senga’s first blown save in eight chances this season.

The teams traded runs in the 10th, when Encarnacion-Strand raced home on a wild pitch and Marcus Semien laced a one-out RBI double for the Mets. Alonso struck out against Pintaro (2-2) in the 11th before Mayo’s inside-the-park homer made a winner of Alex Hoppe (1-1).

Andrew Kittredge earned his 10th save after allowing Bo Bichette’s two-out RBI single.

New York (69-82) lost its third straight and was assured of a losing season.

Carson Benge homered for the Mets, eliminated from playoff contention with Monday’s 2-1 loss to Baltimore. Jared Young had a sacrifice fly and Juan Soto delivered an RBI single.

Up next

Orioles RHP Chris Bassitt (7-5, 4.88 ERA) starts Wednesday’s series finale against Mets RHP Robert Stock (1-3, 5.93).

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Throughout that nearly half century, one man was the undisputed king of the puzzle board.

Pat Sajak took a simple game of hangman and transformed it into a nightly American institution, steering the ship through changing eras before finally passing the torch to Ryan Seacrest.

“This is a franchise that I grew up watching and loving as a kid,” said Seacrest. “My family, we get together. My dad would be home from work right at the time it started. We’d all hang out, then we’d have chicken salad for dinner afterwards.”

At the very heart of the show’s letter-spinning magic, co-host Vanna White was always by Sajak’s side.

Through it all, she’s been the epitome of grace, revealing every puzzle with that trademark smile.

“We’ve known each other for over twenty years,” she said of her new co-host. “So yeah, we’ve been friends, so it’s kind of easy. He’s so easy to work with, and he’s professional and he’s good at what he does. And he just, he just fit right in.”

Seacrest knows the history he is holding. Even as a broadcasting titan, he respects the monumental legacy Sajak built, fully recognizing the pressure of being the new guy in America’s living room.

“I’m filling the shoes of a legend, and I was, of course, nervous,” said Seacrest. “And I wanted people to still be comfortable watching the show and enjoy the show. And being the new guy can be nerve-wracking.”

It was the third most-watched women's World Cup game and it peaked at 1.5 million viewers. The top two also came from this year's tournament, which ended Sunday. The title game went up against the opening weekend of the NFL season and the U.S. Open men's final.

“It’s a little bit of the planets aligning,” said Craig Barry, executive vice president and chief content officer for TNT Sports. “It's not just this great FIBA World Cup tournament, but women's sports coming into the spotlight the last three or four years.”

The WNBA — which paused its season so players could participate in the World Cup — has drawn huge ratings this season, thanks in no small part to Caitlin Clark's star power and devoted fan base.

The U.S. had a roster of WNBA stars including Clark, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart and Angel Reese.

The Americans' three-point win over Italy drew the highest rating of the tournament, with 1.3 million average viewers and a peak of 1.7 million. The games were also shown on HBO Max, and the streaming service had its four most-watched women’s basketball games.

Ratings for the Americans' quarterfinal win over Hungary that started at 5:30 a.m. EDT weren't available, according to the network, because of the early start time.

Before this World Cup, the best ratings for a tournament game came in the 2022 gold medal contest between the U.S. and China that drew 446,000 viewers on ESPN.

TNT announcers called the games remotely from the U.S., with sideline reporter Allie LaForce providing reports from Berlin. The network also had a studio show. This was the first time that TNT had the rights to the women's World Cup; the network also has the men's tournament next year.

“We take a lot of pride in putting resources, assets, personnel around things,” Barry said. “The story isn’t just Team USA. It's who are the teams you love, who are the teams you love to beat. How does that come together? For two weeks, getting up really early in the morning, putting this together, the reward is the five highest-rated World Cup games ever.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, was arrested Monday night and is being held at a Los Angeles jail with bail set at $4 million, police said. Information on a lawyer who could speak on her behalf wasn’t immediately available.

NBC4 Los Angeles reported that two people aboard the helicopter — reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw — were killed when the chopper went down Tuesday in the Chatsworth neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley north of downtown. A person on the ground, identified as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, died in a parking lot, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

The crash happened as news crews were reporting on the collision involving an SUV that slammed into the bus.

There were no immediate details on what caused the helicopter crash, but an alarm could be heard sounding inside the helicopter's cockpit as it lost altitude in the final seconds of video the crew broadcast before the crash.

Just after the beeping noise starts, a woman’s voice says “uh oh.” The helicopter moves quickly away from the bus crash site and starts losing altitude. The woman says “You can’t pull up?” before the video stops as the chopper nears the ground.

The helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350, went down near a large storage facility. At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the helicopter caught fire. NBC4 reporter Robert Kovacik was at the bus scene and saw black smoke and rushed to the helicopter crash site.

News station identifies those on the helicopter

The station identified the helicopter crash victims as Moreno, a familiar voice for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 during the station’s aerial coverage, and Marciniw. Both were employees of Angel City Air, which operated the chopper for the station.

Moreno, born in Orange County, joined Angel City Air in 2010, the same year she earned a broadcast journalism and political science degree from Chapman University. She reported for several news outlets and began flying with Marciniw in 2023, the NBC4 website said.

Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974.

“I think a lot of us are still trying to process what happened, this terrible loss,” NBC4 reporter Lauren Coronado told viewers early Wednesday as she stood near the crash site. A hazmat crew was cleaning up jet fuel, she said.

In a tribute to Moreno and Marciniw, the newscast referred to them as “the team in the sky,” saying Moreno would often post videos from her job and was in awe of the view. Anchor Lynette Romero held a colleague’s hand and wiped away tears after hearing Moreno’s voice when one of her posts was played.

In an interview with the station, Esteban Jimenez, a pilot, said he had known Marciniw since the 1990s. He said Marciniw had been his instructor.

“I just talked to him on Sunday. We were talking about the aviation business and retiring,” he said.

Expert talks about what may have caused the crash

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the alarm sounding in the helicopter’s final video sounds like the low rotor RPM warning horn that signals the main rotor is no longer spinning enough to keep the helicopter in the air.

“It just has all the earmarks of a potential loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed,” said Guzzetti who used to investigate crashes for both the NTSB and FAA.

Guzzetti said the pilot appeared to be trying to perform an emergency maneuver to use the wind to force the rotor to spin again much like a breeze turns a windmill. Doing that can create a bit of lift that could help cushion the impact, but Guzzetti said there would have been little opportunity to do that because the helicopter had been hovering at a low altitude beforehand.

There are risks to news helicopters particularly in a major city like Los Angeles where multiple helicopters respond to an incident, but the pilots all coordinate closely over the radio to ensure they maintain a safe distance from each other. The industry also shares best practices to help keep these news flights safe.

“It’s a very unique form of flying. And the community is very good about lessons learned," Guzzetti said. “And so because of that, you don’t hear about too many of those accidents. So they’re rare, but they do occur, just because the mission is a risky one.”

Condolences for the victims and their families

NBC4 and Telemundo 52 Los Angeles said in a statement they “are deeply saddened” and extended “heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives.”

“Losing five Angelenos is very painful,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. “And I know this community of Chatsworth, hit hard, will be grieving for some time.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom thanked the emergency crews responding to both crashes and said in a post on X that “our hearts are with the victims and families.”

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said personnel will arrive Wednesday to begin an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash.

Other crashes involving news helicopters

The station said this is the second aviation tragedy in its history.

In 1977, a KNBC news helicopter crashed when it ran out of fuel while returning to the station after covering a wildfire in Santa Barbara, killing the pilot and camera operator. The pilot, former U.S. Air Force officer Francis Gary Powers, had been in the news years earlier when he was shot down and captured while flying a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union for the CIA, an ordeal portrayed in the movie “Bridge of Spies.”

There have been at least eight fatal crashes involving news helicopters in the U.S. since 2000, killing 16 people, according to a review of federal accident records and news accounts. They include a 2023 crash in a New Jersey forest that killed the pilot and a photographer aboard a helicopter used by Philadelphia station WPVI and a 2022 crash beside a Charlotte, North Carolina, interstate that killed a pilot and meteorologist during a training flight for WBTV.

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This story has been updated to correct that Marciniw, not Moreno, graduated from Burbank High School and to correct the spelling of Jeff Guzzetti's last name.

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Golden reported from Seattle. AP Transportation Writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

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It happened around 3:45 p.m. at the chain’s location at 15110 SW 56th St.

According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, crews arrived to the scene and discovered the damage to the building, as well as a gas leak.

Officials quickly notified the gas company, authorities said.

One woman was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital as a trauma patient, according to MDFR, while two other women taken to area hospitals.

Authorities said one of the injured women was the driver of the vehicle, which appeared to be a dark-colored SUV.

There was no word from authorities on the circumstances that led up to the vehicle crashing into the building.

Canada imposed reciprocal tariffs on about $20 billion (CA$27.6 billion) worth of U.S. goods last week after President Donald Trump placed import taxes on Canadian goods worth the same amount. In response to Canada's action, Trump said the U.S. also would ban imports of wine, whiskey, selected motorcycles and the dairy ingredient whey from Canada.

The tariffs so far involve about 5.5% of the neighboring nations' bilateral trade in goods. Analysts say the overall economic impact therefore will be muted. But small business owners who depend on cross-border sales say a tax of up to 50% on their products and ill will created by the conflict have an outsize effect on them, especially when higher energy costs stemming from the Iran war are eroding their balance sheets.

The owners of four small businesses, two in the U.S. and two in Canada, spoke with The Associated Press about the ways the trade war is affecting their companies.

A Vermont cheesemaker sees a trade war with a close ally hurting business

At Jasper Hill Farm, an artisan cheesemaker in Greensboro, Vermont, co-founder Mateo Kehler said Trump's opening salvo produced an immediate effect: canceled holiday orders from wholesale customers in Canada, whose border is only about 40 miles away.

Cheese wasn't among the products made subject to new U.S. tariffs last month. Kehler suspects his hopes for expanding business in Canada are stalling because residents there resent the way the president and members of his Cabinet treat their country, a longtime ally.

“The backlash on the market side is actually what’s affecting us the most,” Kehler said. “It’s the rhetoric that has inspired a boycott.”

Trump has needled America’s northern neighbor repeatedly since he returned to the White House. First, it was comments last year about wanting to absorb Canada as the 51st state. After trade negotiations broke down in August, he taunted Prime Minister Mark Carney and signed an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

The lost sales and higher prices for materials and equipment that Kehler buys from Canada are tough to swallow when the war with Iran has made fuel for Jasper Hill Farm's trucks and machinery more expensive too, he said. Some of his suppliers and distributors are adding surcharges to cover their costs, he said.

“It’s like death by a thousand cuts, because between the rising cost of energy and the tariffs, the inflationary pressure on the inputs across almost every aspect of our business — from the farming side all the way through to finished goods — is just being ratcheted up,” Kehler said.

A Vancouver Island company that serves craft distillers expects cost-prohibitive duties to put off U.S. clients

Revival Stillworks makes equipment for distilling liquor like vodka, agave and whisky and helps design spaces for producing craft spirits from the company's base on Vancouver Island, less than 20 miles from Washington state's San Juan Island.

Until last month, the equipment could enter the U.S. tariff-free under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade pact Trump negotiated during his first presidency. Now, the company's stills, fermenters and other products incur a 50% tax for crossing the border, co-founder Darcy Lane said. The customs charges are considerable because the equipment costs $250,000 to $2 million, Lane said.

“We’ve got millions of dollars worth of orders that are supposed to be happening over the next four to six months, and then all of a sudden this happens again,” he said, recalling how a U.S. customer called off a project last year when Trump threatened to put tariffs on some Canadian products.

Clients in the U.S. make up about half of Revival Stillworks' business. With rising oil prices during the war driving up shipping costs, many already were evaluating whether they should move forward with projects that involve imported equipment, Lane said.

He and his partner are looking into other kinds of work. Since they employ engineers, welders and fabricators, their business could service the local marine industry, Lane said.

“Hopefully, cooler heads prevail and everything works out, and we can continue along as business as normal," he said. “But if not, we have to put a contingency plan in place anyway."

A Nashville producer of guitar amplifier devices detects a chilling effect on sales to Canadian musicians

Cassandra Sotos is co-owner and CEO of AmpRx, a company in Nashville, Tennessee, that manufactures devices for musicians and recording studios to measure and adjust the voltage moving from a power outlet into a guitar amplifier.

Like Kehler, Sotos thinks the U.S.-Canada trade war is having a chilling effect.

Although the majority of her company's sales are within the U.S., Sotos counts musicians around the world as customers. The new U.S. tariffs do not apply to her bestselling product, a power adapter priced from $400 to $1,400, but demand from Canadian customers has fallen off anyway, she said.

Sotos said she isn't sure if customers are worried about unexpected import charges or if the stumbling block is “just optics with the United States” and how the country is perceived in Canada at the moment.

As a small business, "any piece of the puzzle that gets taken away from us is significant,” Sotos said. “There’s just as many guitar players in Canada as there are in the United States. And I’m currently only able to get to a tiny percentage of them because of all of this.”

She feels like trade policies are hampering AmpRx's growth at a time when fighting in the Middle East has brought unexpected expenses. Shipping costs for imported components are two to three times what they were before the war, Sotos said.

“At times, this aspect of the global situation acts as a silent killer for small to medium businesses,” she said. “Just as you figure out how to manage the increase from tariffs, you get the second punch to the gut with the shipping estimate.”

A British Columbia beekeeper fears for the future of Canada's honey industry

A new tariff on Canadian honey that the U.S. started charging in August came as a blow to beekeepers like Peter Awram, CEO of the family-owned Worker Bee Honey Co. in Rosedale, British Columbia. The U.S. was the market for about 60% of Canadian honey export volume, he said.

The reciprocal 50% tariff that Carney's government slapped on American-made honey does nothing to help because an influx from India and China of fake honey diluted with rice syrup has created pricing pressure on both sides of the border, said Awram, who began beekeeping more than 50 years ago.

“Most of what Canada is now tariffing is not American honey,” he said. “It is other countries’ honey carrying American paperwork."

Most Canadian beekeepers will likely try to increase their domestic sales, which could flood the market with honey and further depress prices, Awram said.

“The industry was in a precarious state before the tariff,” Awram said. “If this tariff stays in place for long, it will put a large number of commercial beekeepers out of business.”

Unos 80 intérpretes cubanos, incluyendo a Insua, se presentaron al concurso convocado por la embajada de México en La Habana para conmemorar el Día de la Independencia mexicana, conocido como el Grito de Dolores.

El principal diplomático mexicano en la nación caribeña indicó que esta gala cultural era, además, una demostración de apoyo a la isla ante las presiones impuestas por Estados Unidos.

Entre banderas mexicanas y cubanas, la gala de cierre de la competencia en uno de los principales teatros de la capital –el Karl Marx-- rindió homenaje especial al cantante Juan Gabriel y a las radios cubanas, claves para entender la enorme popularidad de los géneros del vecino país en la isla.

Unas 70 emisoras cubanas –-de las casi 100 existentes—- tienen programas especializados en música mexicana.

“México con Cuba tiene un compromiso histórico”, dijo antes de tocar solemnemente las tradicionales campanadas del Grito y dar paso al concurso, el embajador mexicano en la isla, Miguel Ignacio Díaz Reynoso.

“Cuba solo quiere vivir en paz, Cuba quiere trabajar en paz y en esa lucha Cuba sabe que no está sola, que cuenta con México”, agregó el diplomático, quien consideró que el cerco petrolero impuesto por Estados Unidos contra la isla es “brutal, inhumano, ilegal” y constituye un “castigo colectivo”.

El presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, impuso a la nación caribeña un bloqueo petrolero y financiero desde enero -–que se ajusta cada vez más--, y México fue uno de los aliados en el continente que hizo patente su rechazo a las presiones del titular de la Casa Blanca.

México envió miles de toneladas de alimentos, medicinas, insumos de aseo y paneles solares en una media docena de barcos desde febrero como ayuda humanitaria, y la mandataria Claudia Sheinbaum reiteró su rechazo a las medidas unilaterales estadounidenses.

La gala cultural y el concurso fue a teatro lleno y puso de manifiesto la cercanía de las relaciones de ambas naciones a todos los niveles.

“No hay quien quiera más a México que los cubanos”, aseguró emocionada a The Associated Press, Insua, conocida en el ambiente como Mari “la mexicana”, una de las participantes de mayor edad en la competencia. Ella no ganó ningún galardón, aunque dijo que ya era un premio interpretar la música del vecino país.

Moira Colley, senior director of media relations for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in New York, said Tuesday that the group has plans to meet with Steven Kolb, longtime chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, to discuss ending the use of wool and animal skins in clothing.

Kolb has apologized for his actions, which included forcefully restraining two PETA employees and putting his hand over their mouths, and is taking a leave from his job pending an investigation.

Colley said PETA's initial plan was to file a police report against Kolb. The group changed course after a visit to police and then consulting with attorneys, she said, and decided to seek the meeting with Kolb. He has agreed to meet, Colley said, adding that a time had not yet been set.

The group intends to show Kolb videos of how sheep are mistreated for the use of their wool.

“We are willing to drop everything if we reach an understanding that benefits the animals,” Colley said in a phone interview. She also said the group recognized Kolb’s previous involvement in getting fur banned from runway shows on the CFDA schedule — and hoped he would again “do the right thing.”

There was no immediate response Tuesday to a message sent to Kolb’s CFDA email address. The council is the fashion industry's main trade organization, and Kolb has worked there for two decades, becoming CEO in 2011.

Video of the incident from the Sunday runway show for Cos, a brand owned by H&M, quickly drew widespread attention.

It showed Kolb, who is well known and respected in the New York fashion world, forcibly restraining Andrija Barak and Mason Melito, identified by PETA as employees.

Barak was aiming to disrupt the runway show, calling out slogans about the use of wool. Kolb is seen in the video covering her mouth with his hands and restraining her with both his arms and a leg over her body as he seeks to let the show continue.

Separately he is seen pushing Melito and also putting his hands over his mouth.

Colley said the two were among six employees at the show. Three aimed to disrupt the runway, including Barak, and three were filming, including Melito.

It is up to voters in both districts whether to renew a tax that gives hundreds of millions to schools and staff.

In Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, the Broward County Public Schools superintendent, the teachers union president and other leaders came together.

It is not a new tax. This would renew the one already passed by voters.

The district is already closing schools and losing thousands of students every year.

“We’ve had to make a lot of tough decisions, especially the past two years with declining enrollment, which has also reduced our revenue source,” BCPS Superintendent Howard Hepburn said.

Hepburn said if the district lost the tax, more cuts would be inevitable.

“We would lose approximately $358 million. We would have to make some tough decisions that would definitely have an impact on our district,” Hepburn said.

The tax supports school safety workers and hundreds of mental health professionals.

But mostly, it supports teachers and staff, with $173 million a year.

Without it, the teachers union president said there is no question staff will leave after they lose a big chunk of their paycheck.

“More than teachers will leave,” Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said. “Again, it helps every rank-and-file worker paycheck. Everybody.”

Down in Miami-Dade County, district leaders also stood side by side Tuesday.

Their own tax, giving schools roughly $570 million, is also up for renewal.

“Today’s a proud day because here we are again standing for what we believe in: A better community,” Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Rafael Villalobos said.

Most of the money is dedicated to teacher salaries, with some going to school safety and security.

“I know this community understands the importance and the viability of education, and they will do the same in 2026,” Villalobos said.

Jones, the president of the nonprofit advocacy organization, said she and other members had been requesting that the city hire a full-time library specialist.

“We have so many teens coming into the library every day that we really need a person just to handle the load of students,” Jones told council members.

The council of Miami-Dade County’s sixth-largest city voted unanimously to approve the proposed $238.9 million budget — without addressing Jones’s request.

“I do see the need for additional help,” Kassandra Timothe, the vice mayor, said about the job opening at the library.

The city council’s vote to keep the 7.4 millage rate, which has remained flat since 2022, was also unanimous during the final budget meeting.

Councilman Kevin A. Burns, a former mayor who represents the city’s District 1, said he disapproved of the long list of “overpriced” special events included in the budget.

“We have such other crucial needs out there,” Burns said.

The budget authorized 18 new full-time and 22 new part-time positions, but not the library job Jones asked for.

“We are going to look mid-year to see if we can add someone part-time,” Theresa Therilus, the city manager, told the council about the compromise on a job opening at the library.

Councilman Pierre Frantz Charles thanked Therilus and her team for the “balanced” budget, which included a combined 5% merit and cost-of-living adjustment for PBA employees and 3% for general employees.

Deborah Davis, a resident, said she was grateful for the city’s support of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

“I think it’s a real star that puts North Miami on the map,” Davis said.

The budget’s major investments included $5.96 million for water and sewer improvements; $2.65 million for the Building Inspections facility; $1.52 million for sidewalks and roadway resurfacing; $1.27 million for parks and recreation improvements; $1.14 million for priority stormwater projects; and $591,000 for general government facility improvements.

Alix Desulme, the city’s mayor; Councilwoman Mary Estimé-Irvin; and Timothe have been campaigning for re-election on Nov. 3.

Desulme is running against George Morgan. Timothe is running against Brian Jinks. Estimé-Irvin, who represents District 3, is running against Joban Jules and Carolina Matamoros.

Related document: Here is the 369-page proposed budget

Watch the meeting

Related reports

• Judge rules North Miami council members violated city charter, not Sunshine Law
• Fort Lauderdale commissioners adopt $1.28 billion budget, keep same millage rate for 19th year

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Miami Fire Rescue officials said the two victims, an 18-year-old man and a 23-year-old man, were rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in stable condition after suffering gunshot wounds outside Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen, located at 316 NW 24th St.

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

Authorities said Miami police received multiple emergency calls and found a man with a gunshot wound outside Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen.

Witnesses said officers later found a second victim outside Skinny Louie’s, the restaurant next door.

A Local 10 News crew was outside of the restaurant as police remained at the scene for hours, with officers monitoring the area behind police tape. A K-9 unit was also seen searching around the property.

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,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t hear the shots myself because I was further in the back. As I’m coming out, a lot of people are running inside.”

The employee said people inside the restaurant were told there was gunfire outside.

“So I got everybody inside and then I locked the doors. I thought it was like an open shooter, but the shots had already happened by the time everybody was running inside,” he added.

He said he later found a wounded man outside and helped provide first aid.

“I came outside and I seen a gentleman on the floor. He had a bullet wound to his right buttocks and he was kind of bleeding out. People were applying pressure to him,” he said. “I had a belt. I don’t have it no more now. But I took my belt off and I kind of wrapped it around him and I told him like, don’t move because we don’t know if the bullet’s still in you. It would be dangerous for him to move.”

Miami police have not released additional details about what led to the shooting or identified a suspect or possible motive.

Anyone with information on the shooting is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Local 10 reporter Saira Anwer contributed to this story.

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It happened just before 7 a.m. on July 24 at 785 81st St. in the Biscayne Point section of North Beach.

Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz released footage from two of the cameras deputies were wearing.

The video shows what is called a Special Response Team busting down the door. Once inside, they start shouting at a woman to raise her hands.

A moment later, 17-year-old Durrell Young swings his door open with a gun in his right hand and moves toward the room deputies are in.

The entire interaction happens very quickly.

The Sheriff’s Office says the deputy told Young to put up his hands, but he did not comply, so the deputy shot him.

Authorities released a photo of the gun they said Young was armed with.

The Sheriff’s Office says Young and another man named on the warrant, 18-year-old Valentino Berry, were known to deputies due to previous gun-related offenses.

Berry was taken into custody. Young was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still investigating this shooting.

Los maestros fueron escoltados por la policía mientras se desplazaban por el centro de La Paz exigiendo al gobierno medidas para afrontar la crisis económica y el alza del costo de vida en el país andino.

Mostrando una olla vacía, la maestra Miriam Ayala, representante de los educadores urbanos, dijo a la prensa que las medidas que impuso el gobierno, como la subida del precio del diésel y el tipo de cambio del dólar flotante que ha aumentado el valor de la moneda estadounidense frente al boliviano, han generado una subida de precios. “Todo ha subido y el gobierno no hace nada”, se quejó Ayala.

El sindicato de maestros convocó a una protesta a nivel nacional pero las más representativas se desarrollaron en la región oriental de Santa Cruz y la amazónica de Beni. Los maestros dijeron que salieron a las calles en defensa de la educación pública y la protección de la carrera docente ante una posible reforma educativa.

"No es momento de protesta, es momento de propuesta”, dijo el ministro de Educación, Erick Sanjinés, en sus redes sociales, e invitó a la dirigencia a un diálogo. A su vez, negó que se vaya a realizar una reforma educativa sin un consenso.

El sector magisterial público está compuesto por unos 178.000 maestros, según el censo de población de 2024.

Este gremio protagonizó entre mayo y junio junto a otros sindicatos obreros, campesinos y afines al expresidente Evo Morales protestas con bloqueos que afectaron principalmente a las ciudades de La Paz y su vecina El Alto, dejándolas con pocos alimentos, oxígeno medicinal y combustible, lo que llevó al gobierno a decretar el estado de excepción para contenerlas.