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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The U.S. State Department has said it is investigating the allegations made by prosecutors and that U.S. law enforcement is working with Italian authorities.

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

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

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

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

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

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AP social media producer Nandini Gupta contributed from New York.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But getting to this moment was anything but easy.

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

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

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

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

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

For his family, the diagnosis was terrifying.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It was important for us to do this on this date because everything we’ve done for the last several years, everything we continue to do, is built around the spirit of the venerable Miss Opal Lee,” said Jarred Howard, CEO of the upcoming National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth.

Lee, founding board member of the museum, became known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth” after spending years rallying to get federal recognition for June 19. When then-President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a bill into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday, Lee was by his side.

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

Lee expressed her happiness and gratefulness at the Wednesday event, where a crew began demolishing a building to clear the way for the construction of the planned 50,000-square-foot (4,600-square-meter) project in a historically Black neighborhood.

The event included an announcement that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be donating $3 million toward the museum's construction and the creation of a genealogy center in it.

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

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

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

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

She told Lee, who was sitting in the crowd, that she remembered her planning community events, parades and festivals.

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

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

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

The celebration of Lee's birthday continues Wednesday evening as the museum hosts a conversation with former first lady Michelle Obama at the city's convention center.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They said they also found the edited pictures.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some questions and answers about the payouts:

Who will benefit?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the source of the money?

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

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

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

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

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

What are critics of the plan saying?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

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

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

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

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

Liberados por falta de pruebas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A tight second round is expected

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

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

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

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

Economic woes and election polarization grip Brazil

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The final result may be a surprise

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fraga has defended the city’s decision.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She was ordered to stay away from the victim.

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

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

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

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

Local 10 News also contacted her attorney seeking comment.

The 18-year-old had been under investigation for nearly two years, trading messages with a confidential informant, before agents sold him the rifle and ammunition and arrested him on the spot, they said.

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

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested Tuesday in a public park in Richfield, several miles northwest of the Mall of America, after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of ISIS for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.

In text messages with the informant, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed his intent to carry out an attack to kill non-Muslims at the mall on Oct. 24, the date of a scheduled Hmong arts celebration, the complaint said.

It was not immediately known if the teen had an attorney who might speak on his behalf. The Associated Press could not immediately identify any of his family members to contact for comment.

Rosen said Mohamud is an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent. According to the complaint, in his text messages he expressed admiration for recent terror attacks as well as an interest in traveling to Somalia to join ISIS. Ultimately he decided he couldn’t afford to travel there and would attack the mall instead, it said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fraga ha defendido la decisión de la ciudad.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

Ramer reported from Concord, N.H.

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

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

Los cargamentos estaban valorados en casi $3 millones.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

También se le ordenó mantenerse alejada de la víctima.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The shipments were valued at nearly $3 million.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police, describing the case as an “ongoing investigation,” didn’t immediately indicate whether they had identified a suspect or a motive.

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

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

Officers said they detained three men while they investigated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

Lorne Cook contributed to this report from Brussels.

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

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

Los agentes dijeron que detuvieron a tres hombres mientras investigaban.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The investigation remains ongoing, police said.

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

What happened in the September shooting?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miami Beach Fire Station No. 2 hosted a ceremony to reflect and remember the 1,200 people killed and 251 hostages abducted on that fateful day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, Hill has adamantly denied those allegations.

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

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

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

Vaccaro described the video during Wednesday’s hearing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congress backed Ukraine with the Russian sanctions package

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

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

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

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

Trump's next moves against Russia are uncertain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sourcing of drugs for executions is shrouded in secrecy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hospital treatment likely involved flushing the drug from her body

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Questions raised about how the patient traveled through Uganda

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

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

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

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

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

Kenya has been boosting its border controls

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leo urges church to accompany people in fragility

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

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

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

The pontiff challenged the bishops to consider what kind of church people encounter when they are most fragile.

“Do our communities help them discover that they still have a place, a responsibility and gifts to offer? Can the truth we proclaim be encountered through the patience, closeness and mercy of our pastoral presence?” he asked.

A text prompts claims of heresy

Francis’ 2016 document became one of the most divisive of his pontificate and in many ways became the focal point of conservative opposition to his papacy. Mostly conservative Catholics said that it had sown confusion among the faithful about the church’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.

Some even accused Francis of heresy.

Within the first year of publication, four conservative cardinals formally asked Francis to clarify certain questions, or “dubia,” raised by the text. They argued that church doctrine held that Catholics who remarried without a church annulment were living in sin and couldn’t receive the sacraments.

He never replied.

For a variety of reasons, such annulments often can't be obtained, though Francis issued a separate reform to simplify, facilitate and accelerate the process. The aim was to respond to cases where a spouse wasn't at fault for the failure of a marriage, such as a woman who experienced abuse at the hands of her first husband and merely wanted to remarry in the church and raise her children in the faith.

Sister Helen Alford, president of the Vatican’s social sciences academy, urged the bishops attending this week's conference to consider the concept of the “law of gradualness” in applying church law to such difficult family situations. The gradualness concept calls for nuance rather than black-and-white application of rules and norms.

“When social situations are turbulent and changing quickly, it can be necessary to find new ways of putting together both the objective demands of the law and the law of gradualness that many experience,” she said.

Top Francis cardinals, including Americans, among participants

Organizers of the conference insisted that the meeting wasn't convened to debate or rewrite Francis' original text, but rather to understand how it had been implemented around the world and what lies ahead. No new document was expected, but a summary text was expected to be released next week wrapping up the points of discussion.

The main participants of the conference were the presidents of 115 national bishops' conferences from around the world and the heads of eastern rite churches. Joining them were 11 couples, who were to offer their experiences for reflection, as well as theological experts.

Leo also extended 22 personal invitations, including to four of his fellow Americans who were also close advisers to Francis: Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich; Brownsville, Texas Bishop Daniel Flores; Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy and Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin.

Two of Francis' top Vatican aides, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, also were on Leo's guest list. Two other close Francis allies, Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich and Spain Cardinal José Cobo Cano, as well as two bishops from China were on his list.

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

A proposed rule would require schools to pay the fee for every student who participates in the optional practice training program, known as OPT, which allows students to work in jobs related to their major during or after their time in school. Students are generally eligible for one year of work post-graduation, though certain science, technology, engineering and math majors are eligible for an additional two years.

Schools would be required to pay the $70,000 for each new student's initial application to the program, and a $30,000 fee for each renewal.

Change would be a blow to higher education and some businesses

American colleges and universities heavily recruit students from overseas as a source of tuition revenue. Tech companies and other industries also hire many international students for technical roles.

The OPT program allows international students to gain hands-on experience and fill labor shortages in high-demand STEM fields, said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an association that represents international education.

“Driving away the talents, perspectives, and aspirations of international students will only hurt American innovation, economic growth, workforce development, and global leadership,” Aw said in a written statement.

In a statement, DHS described the fee as a response to fraud and abuse of the visa program, which it called a “pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal before DHS can finalize it and put it into effect. The proposal also could face legal challenges from higher education groups or business associations that could delay it.

Trump administration puts pressure on international students

The proposed rule is part of its wider efforts to crack down on immigration and reshape higher education. Last year, the Republican administration began suddenly terminating the legal status of thousands of international students, detaining and deporting many of them.

This summer, the administration finalized a rule that sought to prevent international students from staying in the U.S. for more than four years without approval from the federal government. The move drew swift backlash from higher education leaders who said it would increase the burden on schools and noted that many programs are longer than four years by design. A federal court prevented the rule from taking effect in September.

Doug Rand, a former senior adviser at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, predicted that the fee would be struck down in the courts, as was a $100,000 fee for the H-1B work visas that many tech companies and universities rely on to fill openings for skilled jobs.

The Trump administration is now trying a different way to raise the fee for the visas to more than $100,000.

Rand said fees are not the answer.

“When we educate international students at our universities, and they want to work and apply their talents here after graduating, of course we should embrace them -- not use an exorbitant fee as a pretext to send them packing,” Rand said in an email.

Enrollment concerns mount among education groups

Sarah Spreitzer, vice president at the American Council on Education, which represents college and university presidents, said international enrollment has suffered.

Last fall, the number of new students entering the United States for the first time fell by 17%, the sharpest decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall numbers for this fall are not yet available, but Spreitzer said some individual colleges are reporting drops of 30% to 40%.

She said the new Trump plan will not help.

“We know that OPT is one of the reasons that international students choose to study in the United States because they’re able to have that post-graduation work experience,” she added.

A similar program that allowed international students to participate in internships and practicums also has faced scrutiny from the Trump administration. New guidance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the program, Curricular Practical Training, should only be authorized when the work experience is a degree requirement led to a lawsuit Monday.

Education groups, including the Association of American Universities and NAFSA, said that in the past that program was allowed if it was “directly related to the student’s major area of study.” The groups also said ICE was threatening college university officials with criminal prosecution if they did not comply.

“We know the administration has been trying to hinder legal employment-based immigration through numerous means,” said Steven Brown, a Houston-based immigration lawyer. “I think this is the next level of attack, and I think it’s a design to kill the program without killing the program. I don’t see too many schools wanting to pay $70,000 for a student to get OPT."

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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kan.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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

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

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

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

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

Rapid strengthening forecast today into Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

AI models lean east

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

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

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

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

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

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

Juszczyk was initially fined $29,852 for two infractions of the league’s sportsmanship rules after celebrating two catches in the third quarter of a Week 2 win over the Miami Dolphins by doing the celebration he has done for years while the fans at Levi’s Stadium cheered “Juice!” for his nickname.

He appealed the fine and an appeals officer ruled in his favor, the league said Wednesday.

ESPN first reported that the fine had been rescinded on appeal.

The NFL has vowed to crack down on celebrations this season and initially ruled that the “imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste."

The NFL has issued 21 fines in the first three weeks for illegal celebrations or obscene gestures totaling more than $300,000. It's not clear how many others have been rescinded on appeal.

Juszczyk has been doing a version of that celebration throughout his career in San Francisco in response to 49ers fans chanting his nickname after catches or other big plays. He argued in the appeal that he was imitating drinking juice.

“I don’t know how else to say it. I wasn’t drinking beer in my celebration,” Juszczyk said on Sept. 24. “I think you guys all know my nickname is Juice. I have Juice on my pads. The stadium yells ‘Juice!’ when I catch the ball. When I celebrate, I celebrate by drinking juice, and it’s been that way for years. So I was surprised as anybody when I got a fine this week.”

Juszczyk has been the 49ers’ nominee for the Art Rooney Award for sportsmanship for the past six seasons. The only fines he previously has had were for illegal use of the helmet and low blocks.

Juszczyk is in his 14th season in the NFL and 10th with San Francisco. He has made the Pro Bowl 10 times and was an All-Pro in 2023 and ’25.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller gets consent beforehand. The petition calls for a waiver that would allow political groups to use artificial or prerecorded voices in unsolicited wireless calls.

The Republican-led FCC advanced the request for public comment and could rule on it as soon as late October.

Consumer advocacy groups warn the proposed change could trigger a surge of unwanted, partisan and potentially misleading automated calls in the critical final days of the election, which will determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.

The potential perils became evident two years ago during the presidential primary season when thousands of voters in New Hampshire received a robocall with an AI-generated voice of then-President Joe Biden. The call suggested voters should forgo casting a ballot in the primary and “save” their votes for the general election.

Under the waiver request before the FCC, some state and federal laws protecting against deception and voter intimidation would continue to prohibit certain misleading election-related messages. But granting it could weaken a major deterrent for bad actors, said Tim Harper, who leads the elections team at the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology.

Such a ruling close to Election Day would open “a huge opportunity for abuse during a period where harm has outsized impact,” he said. “Campaigns will use this technology to target voters in deceptive ways.”

A tool for better communication or misleading messages?

The Club for Growth, a right-leaning economic policy group seeking the change, said it could help political organizations better communicate with potential voters, including in more languages, and improve polling accuracy by helping groups reach more voters. It calls current federal rules outdated and argues they dampen freedom of speech.

The nation’s communications regulatory body would have to act within a compressed schedule to grant the waiver in time to affect the midterm elections. Critics said it wouldn’t be the first time the FCC, which has become closely aligned with the president during his second term, has bypassed procedural norms to serve its political agenda.

Its Republican chairman, Brendan Carr, launched an unusual early review of broadcast licenses for several ABC-owned local broadcast stations, prompting the company to sue. It said the review years ahead of schedule was unconstitutional, a violation of free speech and a retaliation for content Trump dislikes.

The FCC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the petition.

Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat among the FCC’s three active commissioners, told The Associated Press she opposes the move and thinks it would create “a tsunami of robocalls and misinformation.”

“We’ve already seen dark money groups use AI to put candidates’ likeness behind inflammatory comments ahead of this election,” Gomez said. “Exempting political calls from the need for consumer consent would supercharge that strategy, and misleading messages could land directly on the handheld phone of nearly every voter in our country.”

Political robocalls have caused controversies before

In past elections, deceptive political robocalls have resulted in significant fines associated with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law at the center of the petition.

In 2020, tens of thousands of prospective voters in majority-Black areas of the U.S. received robocalls falsely warning that if they voted by mail, they could face arrest and debt collection.

The two conservative hoaxers behind the calls, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, were criminally charged for the calls and fined some $5.1 million for violating the act.

The political consultant behind the 2024 New Hampshire robocalls mimicking Biden's voice said he did it to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI. He was acquitted of criminal voter suppression charges but faced fines and civil damages associated with federal law.

Shortly after the New Hampshire robocall caught authorities' attention, the FCC ruled that robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools were outlawed under the consumer protection act.

The change could boost various types of AI calling

If the commission pivots to grant the Club for Growth’s petition, political groups of all stripes could amp up their use of AI to prerecord messages that play when voters pick up the phone. They also could use the technology to engage in live conversations with voters driven by AI large language models.

Mekela Panditharatne, senior counsel in the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned that such conversations hold risks. An AI system could make false promises about a candidate or manipulate voters in conversation by providing inaccurate or incomplete information.

Harper, from the Center for Democracy and Technology, said there also could be a privacy risk for voters who might not know how an AI agent on the line with them is capturing or repurposing their data.

The Club for Growth has argued the waiver would help create a more uniform regulatory landscape, given that unsolicited automated calls to landlines are already allowed. If the waiver is granted, callers would still be limited by certain conditions, including allowing consumers to opt out and making no more than three calls within 30 days to each individual recipient.

A public comment reply period on the petition ends Oct. 19, at which point the FCC could move forward on a decision.

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This story has been corrected to show the FCC commissioner's name is Anna Gomez, not Ana Gomez.

Según la policía de Miami, el Departamento de Policía de Davie ejecutó la orden alrededor de las 6 p.m. del 6 de octubre, en la casa cercana a la cuadra 5000 de Southwest 136th Ave. Contó con el apoyo de la policía de Fort Lauderdale, la policía de Sunrise y la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward. También participaron la Oficina de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos (ATF) y el equipo SWAT del Departamento de Policía de Plantation.

La policía dijo que la orden era contra Braveone Jones, a quien encontraron en la casa de Redd y detuvieron. Según los registros de la cárcel, Jones enfrenta dos cargos de intento de asesinato en segundo grado. Los cargos están relacionados con el tiroteo del 15 de septiembre en Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen, ubicado en el 316 NW 24th St., en Miami.

La investigación continúa, informó la policía.

Un equipo de Local 10 News fue a la propiedad el miércoles por la mañana, pero no había actividad policial en la casa de Redd.

¿Qué pasó en el tiroteo de septiembre?

Las autoridades confirmaron que dos hombres resultaron heridos en el tiroteo frente a Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen, poco después de la medianoche del 15 de septiembre.

Según Miami Fire Rescue, las víctimas, de 18 y 23 años, sufrieron heridas de bala. Ambos fueron trasladados en condición estable al Ryder Trauma Center del Jackson Memorial Hospital.

El restaurante queda frente al edificio de apartamentos Wynwood 25, en una zona conocida por sus restaurantes, tiendas y vida nocturna.

La policía de Miami dijo que recibió varias llamadas de emergencia. Al llegar, encontró a un hombre con una herida de bala frente a Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen. Más tarde, los agentes hallaron a una segunda víctima frente a Skinny Louie’s, el restaurante de al lado.

Un empleado de un negocio cercano describió el caos tras los disparos y contó que ayudó a uno de los heridos.

“Vi a un montón de gente corriendo directo hacia nosotros”, dijo el empleado en ese momento. “No sabía qué estaba pasando”.

El empleado contó que a las personas que estaban dentro del negocio les avisaron que había habido disparos afuera. Después encontró a un hombre herido y le ayudó con primeros auxilios.

“Salí y vi a un señor en el piso”, dijo. Explicó que el hombre tenía una herida de bala en la nalga derecha. Usó su cinturón para hacer presión sobre la herida y le pidió que no se moviera.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Jones permanecía en la cárcel principal del condado de Broward (Broward County Main Jail). Su fianza no se había fijado de inmediato.

Hasta el momento, se desconoce el motivo del tiroteo.

Two years after the Conservatives' worst-ever election defeat, leader Kemi Badenoch said that she had put an end to the infighting, scandals and splits that threatened to tear the party apart.

“This party is now the no-drama party,” Badenoch told delegates at the Conservatives' annual conference. “We are the no-nonsense party.”

Opinion polls consistently put the Conservatives behind both the center-left governing Labour Party and Reform UK. But Conservative delegates in the central England city of Birmingham expressed optimism that the party is on the rebound — a contrast to last year’s downbeat gathering, when some questioned whether it could even survive.

Britain's 2024 election ousted the Conservative Party from power and reduced it to 121 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons. Several former and serving lawmakers have defected to anti-immigration Reform UK, which has trounced the Conservatives in local elections and is aiming to become the most popular party of the right.

Badenoch, the first Black woman to lead a major U.K. political party, rejected calls for an electoral pact with Reform UK and denounced the race-based nationalism of some of its members. Suella Braverman, a former Conservative government minister who defected to Reform, has suggested that only white people can be English.

Badenoch said that she didn’t want to live in a country run by people who “debate whether my mixed-race children are English.”

“We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are,” she said.

“For people who say ‘Unite the right’ – we are not uniting with that,” she said, getting a standing ovation from the audience of party members.

Last year, both Badenoch and then Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced discontent from their own parties. Starmer was ousted by his own Labour Party in July after a series of missteps, lapses of judgment and policy U-turns frittered away voters’ support.

Meanwhile, Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, is facing parliamentary and police investigations over its finances.

The troubles faced by the Conservative Party's rivals have helped make Badenoch more secure in her position, despite little evidence voters are returning to the Tories.

In her speech, Badenoch largely steered clear of divisive “culture wars” issues such as gender identity that she has sometimes reveled in, and focused on a core message of economic conservatism.

She said that a Conservative government would slash welfare spending, loosen regulation and cut taxes, promising a sharp reduction in the number of people paying inheritance tax. She called Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who succeeded Starmer as Labour leader, a socialist who wants to “turn the clock back to the 1970s.”

Not all the party’s announcements landed well. There has been skepticism over a pledge to build an air-defense system against drone and missile attacks. The party said that the 10 billion pound ($13.2 billion) “Britannia Shield” would be similar to Israel’s Iron Dome, before acknowledging that its scope would be considerably more limited.

But in an optimistic address, Badenoch likened the Conservatives to Marks & Spencer, a venerable retailer whose clothes were long considered dowdy and dull. Now, she said, it's “back in fashion — great looks at affordable prices.”

“Just like M&S, we must learn from our mistakes, win back trust and make people feel good about our party again,” she said.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said the U.N. health agency doesn’t know what the “causative agent’ was behind the woman’s Oct. 2 death, which unconfirmed reports in Russia blamed on pneumonic plague — a less common but severe form of plague that can spread from person to person.

In its tersely worded statements, Russia's public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, does not link the case to pneumonic plague, saying only that the lab worker had contracted pneumonia of “unknown” origin and that “extensive” testing found no evidence her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

“We don’t understand how she was infected,” Van Kerkhove said. “We need information in a timely way. We need regular information. We need answers to the follow up of the questions that we have asked.”

“We have posed these questions to our colleagues in the Russian Federation. In fairness, they have responded. We’ve gone back with more questions,” she said.

The comments suggested the U.N. health agency has more questions than answers about the situation at the lab, which focuses on plague and was founded about a century ago to study the disease in Siberia, where the plague occurs naturally in wild animals.

Russia has released little information about the case

Russian authorities have kept a tight lid on information about the case, which has been surrounded by secrecy.

While the case has raised global concerns, Russian state TV and other national state-controlled media have largely steered clear of the subject. Some state-backed news outlets withdrew earlier reports about the case.

Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday the lab worker was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” meaning its origin was not known.

A state TV station in Irkutsk reported she died Oct. 2 in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk. Officials have quarantined that hospital and were monitoring the contacts of the worker, authorities said.

Russia has said the pneumonia initially presented as a “typical” acute respiratory viral infection, the WHO has said, acknowledging that pneumonia is commonplace.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Russian authorities had indicated that no case of plague had recently been reported in the Irkutsk region, and that they had placed about 200 contacts in quarantine.

Russia says preventive measures are underway

President Donald Trump said he would discuss the issue during a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin because Wednesday is the Kremlin leader's 74th birthday.

"They’re sharing it a little bit with our people. We expect them to share it a lot with our people,” Trump said, adding that the Russians claimed to have the situation under control.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Wednesday that a Putin-Trump call hasn’t been set yet but could be organized quickly.

Asked Wednesday if the incident was a sign that plague might be developed as a bioweapon, Trump said, “We don’t think so. We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so.”

When asked if the situation was similar to dealing with China on COVID-19 in his first term, Trump suggested Russia was staying relatively quiet, just as China did before the virus turned into a pandemic. “China didn’t say much and Russia is not saying much either, but they do say they have it very much under control,” he said.

Russian health authorities reported a full range of preventive measures had been carried out — including tracing the dead woman’s contacts, medical monitoring and lab tests, the WHO said. The Russian note relayed to The Associated Press by the WHO said the test showed “no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts.”

The Geneva-based organization cited media reports that a second employee had pneumonia of undetermined cause but it did not immediately specify the source.

Health experts urge more Russian openness

Peskov referred all questions to Rospotrebnadzor, which does not mention suspected plague in its reports and has not responded to a request for comment, sent by the AP.

In its latest statement Tuesday, the agency said “the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is calm.” Authorities were completing a “complex of prophylactic measures and medical observation over contacts,” it said, adding that so far they have found two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus.

“No other infectious pathogens have been found among contacts,” it said.

Judy Twigg, professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, noted that while the measures taken by Russian health authorities “have been swift and serious,” officials sought to play down the situation and “any statements that strayed from that party line ... were edited or deleted within hours.”

“What we are watching is less a failure to respond than a failure of candor,” Twigg said in written comments.

Vasily Vlassov, professor at the department of healthcare administration and economics at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, said the measures taken appeared “sensible,” focusing on treating the sick, isolating them and their contacts, looking for new cases and carrying out final disinfection.

But he said it wasn't clear whether more transparency was possible if those dealing with the situation didn’t have enough certainty, and “maybe, they still don’t.” Deceiving the public “always turns out to be harmful,” he added, and distrust of Russia’s official narrative is “natural” and “almost inevitable.”

In the Soviet era, crises with dangerous outbreaks of infection had "a thick veil of secrecy — people were told nothing.”

The lab worker who died was described as highly diligent

The news outlet Lyudi Baikala — or “People of Baikal” — identified the dead lab worker as Darya Shipilova, 28, and said she first was hospitalized with cold symptoms Sept. 29 and died three days later.

It quoted colleagues as saying she was a highly qualified and diligent researcher. They also emphasized that security rules at the facility are extremely strict.

The report quoted Shipilova's neighbors as saying a team of disinfection experts did several cleanups of her apartment, leaving a strong antiseptic smell.

Shipilova’s mother, who worked as a doctor in the past, described her daughter as hard-working and dedicated, according to independent Russian news outlet Glubina, adding that she had not gotten official documents describing the cause of death.

Twigg noted that Russia criminalized “false information” about threats to public safety in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, “so silence is the one safe move for everyone below the top.”

“Personalist regimes without electoral accountability tend to treat bad news as a loyalty problem rather than focusing on the actual problem to be addressed,” she said.

She warned that “the public’s understandable reaction to the lack of information carries real dangers.” “A government that is not believed when it says ‘there is no outbreak’ will not be believed when it must actually say ‘there is one; do the following.’ We saw this with COVID,” she said.

Pneumonic plague and the more well-known bubonic plague — also called the Black Death — are caused by the same bacteria, said Simon Clarke of the University of Reading in the U.K. Pneumonic plague results from breathing in the bacteria, causing an infection in the lungs. Bubonic plague is spread by flea bites from rodents that are carrying the bacteria.

The bacterium, called Yersinia pestis, has not been eliminated, but it is not spread very easily and it is treatable with antibiotics.

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Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.

We will have this pattern on repeat with a high chance of storms developing each day. There are some signs some drier air will move in Sunday through next week with an extended stretch of much drier weather. Perhaps a slight drop in humidity too.

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Armando Lopez, 53, of Key Largo, failed to show for his trial on several felonies related to the theft and carjacking at the Plantation Key courthouse in Islamorada on Friday; he was convicted on nearly a dozen counts.

In December 2024, deputies said Lopez, then 52, brutally beat a woman in a domestic violence incident, fought with an MCSO sergeant trying to arrest him, then stole his cruiser and drove away.

Deputies said he then stopped a woman and carjacked her SUV, later wrecking it on U.S. 1 after a high-speed chase.

Video obtained by Local 10 News showed the wild chain of events.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office detectives were able to figure out that Lopez rented a car before the final day of his trial and tracked him to Laredo, Texas, where he entered Mexico at the border, officials said.

A day and a half later, U.S. Marshals located him in Mexico, where he was arrested by that country’s police, authorities said.

“Thank you to the hardworking men and women of the Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Service, and all of our law enforcement partners for getting this dangerous criminal off the streets,” Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement.

He now faces extradition back to the Keys.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Lopez would face additional charges for fleeing the country. He is staring down a possible life sentence after his trial conviction.

“He will get the justice he deserves for his actions,” Ramsay told Local 10 News.

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Fort Lauderdale police said officers responded at about 5:03 a.m. to a crash involving a pedestrian in the 2100 block of Northwest 21st Avenue.

Officers said they found a man at the scene and began life-saving measures. They said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue personnel later pronounced him dead at the scene.

Authorities said the driver remained at the scene, and FLPD’s Traffic Homicide Unit is investigating the crash.

No other details about the victim were immediately released.

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It happened along the 700 block of Northwest 11th Street.

Security video obtained by Local 10 News showed everything unfold, as a truck is parked out front and suddenly lurches forward into the front of the store.

Camera angles from inside the store show how fast it happened.

A group of people were sitting inside when it took place, and a woman wearing a pink shirt was seen trying to flee as the truck entered the business.

That woman was later taken to the hospital for treatment, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Her husband, who asked to only be identified as Joseph, was with her inside the store when it happened. He says the impact left him disoriented.

“Not only was I deaf because of the loud bang, I was confused and I seen a lot of smoke, so I was trying to figure out what was going on,” he said.

Inside the business, a massive mess was left behind.

The driver said he thought the truck was in reverse when it instead went forward.

Mohammad Hassan, the owner of the store, estimates the damage will cost north of $35,000.

“I’m feeling so upset,” he said. “I’m really disappointed. I’m really upset.”

Hassan, who has owned the store for over two years, says he will have to shut down the store until repairs can be made, which will be difficult because it his livelihood.

“This is my main business,” he said. “Everything comes from it, my rent, everything comes from here. I don’t know how long the store will have to be shut down.”

Police have not said whether the driver of the truck, who was allowed to go home, will face any charges or be cited for the crash.

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Jail records show Dasheona Ford, 29, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Tuesday.

Records show she is facing multiple felony charges stemming from several cases, including strong-arm robbery, grand theft, organized fraud, fraudulent use of a credit card, unlawful use of a communications device and money laundering.

Ford’s arrest comes after Miami Beach police arrested taxi driver Reynoso Osias last week in connection with the investigation.

Police said the investigation began after a June 14 strong-arm robbery near 11th Street and Washington Avenue. The victim told detectives that after leaving a nightclub, a woman later identified as Ford approached him, took his iPhone and fled to a waiting yellow taxi.

Surveillance video captured Ford entering the taxi, police said. Minutes later, cameras showed Ford getting out of the vehicle and approaching another person who appeared visibly intoxicated before removing a cellphone from the man’s pocket, according to investigators.

Detectives said they later expanded the investigation to another incident on June 28 involving an intoxicated victim whose cellphone was stolen and money was withdrawn from his bank accounts, police said. Investigators said surveillance footage showed the victim entering the same taxi.

The victim told detectives he had no memory of getting into the vehicle and had not hailed or requested a taxi, according to police.

Investigators ultimately identified Osias as the taxi driver and said evidence connected him to the stolen phones and fraudulent financial transactions. When detectives arrested him last week, police said they found eight Apple iPhones inside a plastic bag beneath the driver’s seat.

Jail records show Osias is facing multiple felony charges, including kidnapping, conspiracy to commit strong-arm robbery, organized scheme to defraud, offenses against computer users and unlawful use of a communications device.

Ford’s jail records list additional charges across several cases, including organized scheme to defraud involving $50,000 or more, fraudulent use of personal identification information, theft of a credit card and additional counts of grand theft and credit card fraud.

As of Wednesday morning, Ford remained held at TGK, where her bond was listed as “to be set.” Osias was being held at the MetroWest Detention Center, where his bond was listed at $17,500.

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The executive order allows the state to move emergency supplies and personnel into position ahead of the storm, according to the governor’s office.

The emergency declaration covers Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Walton, Wakulla and Washington counties.

Florida’s State Emergency Response Team has begun staging generators, fuel, flood barriers, drinking water, shelf-stable meals, tarps, sandbags and other supplies in Tallahassee and the Santa Rosa County area, a news release from the governor’s office states.

“Floridians should take this time to get disaster plans in place and ensure their hurricane supply kit is stocked,” DeSantis said in a statement.

The latest forecast calls for a tropical storm or hurricane to potentially make landfall along the central Gulf Coast later this week.

Even areas away from the storm’s landfall could see dangerous conditions, including heavy rainfall, strong winds, coastal flooding and isolated tornadoes across North Florida.

Officials are also warning that additional rain could increase the risk of flash flooding because parts of the state have already received significant rainfall, leaving soils saturated.

State officials are urging residents in potentially affected areas to review their emergency plans and make sure hurricane supplies are ready before conditions worsen.

Residents can find preparedness information at FloridaDisaster.org and receive updates from the Florida State Emergency Response Team on X.

Armando Lopez, de 53 años y residente de Key Largo, no se presentó el viernes a su juicio por varios delitos graves relacionados con esos robos. El juicio se celebró en el tribunal de Plantation Key, en Islamorada, y Lopez fue declarado culpable de casi una docena de cargos.

En diciembre de 2024, según los agentes, Lopez, que entonces tenía 52 años, golpeó brutalmente a una mujer en un caso de violencia doméstica. Después forcejeó con un sargento de la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Monroe que intentaba arrestarlo, le robó la patrulla y se fue manejando.

Los agentes dijeron que luego detuvo a una mujer y le quitó su SUV. Más tarde la chocó en la U.S. 1, tras una persecución a alta velocidad.

Un video obtenido por Local 10 News mostró la insólita cadena de hechos.

Según las autoridades, los detectives de la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Monroe descubrieron que Lopez alquiló un carro antes del último día de su juicio. Lo rastrearon hasta Laredo, Texas, donde cruzó la frontera hacia México.

Un día y medio después, los alguaciles federales (U.S. Marshals) lo localizaron en México, y la policía de ese país lo arrestó, informaron las autoridades.

“Gracias a los hombres y mujeres de la Oficina del Sheriff, del Servicio de Alguaciles de EE.UU. y de todas las agencias aliadas por su arduo trabajo para sacar a este peligroso criminal de las calles”, dijo el sheriff del condado de Monroe, Rick Ramsay, en un comunicado.

Ahora Lopez enfrenta un proceso de extradición para ser devuelto a los Cayos.

No quedó claro de inmediato si enfrentará cargos adicionales por huir del país. Tras el veredicto de culpabilidad, podría ser condenado a cadena perpetua.

“Va a recibir la justicia que merece por lo que hizo”, dijo Ramsay a Local 10 News.

Trump’s push to highlight his economic agenda comes as Republicans are increasingly anxious that the $1 billion at their disposal may not be enough to fend off sweeping midterm election losses due to late spending, the president’s unpopularity, persistent cost concerns and the fallout from the war in Iran.

Trump said he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible case of plague at a Siberian research institute. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he would be talking with Putin about the case “very soon.”

The Latest:

Trump talks to Netanyahu on Oct. 7 anniversary

The U.S. president said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel.

Trump said he wished Netanyahu and the people of Israel well, and added, “the other side is paying a very big price” for the attacks.

Hegseth awards USS Lincoln top unit award

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has awarded the USS Abraham Lincoln the Presidential Unit Citation during a visit to the ship and just a day ahead of the carrier’s return to home port in San Diego.

The award, which is the highest award a unit can receive and one typically reserved for significant achievement in combat, was bestowed upon the Lincoln and accompanying ships for “40 days of combat operations and an iron clad maritime blockade against Iran in support of Operation Epic Fury,” according to Hegseth.

The aircraft carrier’s extended deployment drew national attention following reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products.

In speaking to the crew, Hegseth acknowledged that “I’m the only thing standing between you and home” and that he was the one “who signed that orders book twice” to extend the ship’s deployment.

US treasury secretary says he’s not worried about rising rates on national debt

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note have risen close to 5.3% “because of growth.”

“Growth here is strong,” said Bessent, stressing higher energy costs because of the Iran war were pushing up interest rates rather than concerns about the growing national debt and the administration’s credibility on the issue.

Higher growth can imply an increase in demand that can keep inflation elevated. But Bessent said that rates will drop once the war ends. He did not specify when the war would end.

The increase in rates is a global phenomenon in multiple industrialized nations, as debt loads have climbed without clear plans to reduce annual budget deficits.

Trump says he has a scheduled with Putin on Russian lab worker death

Trump told reporters, “Today is Vladimir Putin’s birthday.”

He said he had “a call set up” with the Russian leader and intended to discuss the death of a Russian lab workers that raised questions about the possibility of a plague outbreak. Trump previously said the Russians claim to have the issue under control.

Trump suggests Rogers was pressuring Canada on trade war, not him

Asked about Republican Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers releasing an ad calling for an end to President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, the president suggested Rogers wasn’t breaking with him on the issue.

“I viewed it as wanting Canada to make a deal,” Trump said of Rogers’ ad.

In the spot, Rogers says, “We know that Canada is not our enemy” and “we need to end this tariff war now.”

The U.S. and Canada have been locked in an escalating trade war since Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods this summer.

Before the ad, Rogers had previously defended some of the tariffs as “necessary.”

In another break with Trump, Rogers has also recently called for the U.S. war with Iran to “end quickly.”

Trump says he expects Russia to share more on possible plague case

“They’re sharing it a little bit with our people. We expect them to share it a lot with our people,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, when asked if Russia has been sharing enough information on the death of a lab employee in Siberia.

The president added that he had “just met with our people” to talk about the situation. “We have brilliant experts,” Trump said. “They know everything about what’s going on.”

Cruz, a possible 2028 presidential contender, talks about Newsom, who could also run for the White House

Appearing with Trump in the Oval Office, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made a point of mentioning Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom when praising Trump accounts.

“To give a sense of the broadness of the impact,” Cruz said before adding, “Gavin Newsom had a press conference celebrating the Trump accounts.”

He said that the governor saluted Trump and proved “miracles could happen.”

Newsom has praised the federal accounts for children as one of the best things Trump has done.

Cruz added Newsom said “nice things about you and nice things about me, and lightning did not strike anything.”

Cruz is widely considered a likely 2028 presidential candidate and so is Newsom.

Trump says he could put a presidential retreat at his West Palm Beach golf club

Trump said he would be willing to put a presidential retreat at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida because “it seems that all presidents play golf.”

“This wouldn’t be for me,” Trump said. “This would be for all future presidents.”

Trump said the location, which is near a public library, would be ideal because it’s close to the airport and there are not houses or “high buildings” surrounding the greens.

Trump suggests a hurricane won’t derail his plans to attend Alabama-Georgia game

“I love Alabama. I’ve got to go to the game,” Trump responded, when asked if Tropical Storm Isaias — which could become the year’s first Atlantic hurricane — might affect his plans to attend the game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Saturday night.

Forecasts have the storm menacing the Gulf Coast. That might affect Alabama in coming days.

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

Trump says it’s a ‘great discredit’ to the Nobel Peace Prize that he has not received the award

Ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize being announced, Trump said he deserved the award from the Norwegian Nobel Committee but, “They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me.”

Trump, who launched a war in Iran this year, went through his accomplishments for which believed qualified him for the Nobel. He also noted that the 2025 winner, Venezuela’s María Corina Machado, gave him her award.

“Whether I get it or not, I have done far more,” Trump said. “And I think it would be a great discredit to them” if he goes unrecognized.

Trump says he has ‘no regrets at all’ about endorsing Paxton in Texas Senate race

The president said Paxton is “a great attorney general” and that he thought he’d be “a great senator.”

In leaked, recent audio, Paxton, the Texas attorney general, was recorded as saying his campaign was being run by Washington, rather than himself.

Trump’s endorsement of Paxton helped him beat incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary. But Paxton is now locked in a close race with Democrat James Talarico — even in America’s largest reliably Republican state.

Asked if he now regretted backing Paxton, Trump said that Paxton was “the best attorney general of the whole country.”

Trump claims Russia says plague risk ‘very much under control’

Asked if the recent death of a Russian lab worker was a sign that a plague might be developed as bioweapon, Trump said, “We don’t think so so. We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so.”

Trump had previously indicated that he would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue. When asked if the situation was similar to dealing with China on the coronavirus during his first term, Trump suggested that Russia was staying relatively quiet on the issue just as China did before the virus turned into a global pandemic.

“China didn’t say much and Russia is not saying much either, but they do say they have it very much under control,” Trump said.

Trump creates stock accounts for every US child, though they’re only funded for newborns

Trump says that 70 million children under the age of 18 will now have automatic “Trump Accounts” set up by the government to invest in stocks.

Parents and legal guardians need formally claim the accounts by using the program’s website or mobile phone app. Trump called the accounts “a passion of love” that promotes capitalism.

The accounts were part of the 2025 tax overhaul and allow after-tax contributions of up to $5,000 a year, with the government seeding accounts with $1,000 for children born between 2025 and 2028.

Trump says he could cut ties with advisers over work in the Balkans during midterms

Trump says he will press two of his top political advisers on their outside consulting work amid scrutiny over their efforts to help a pro-Russian government in the Balkans.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that as Trump was campaigning last week ahead of next month’s midterm elections, advisers James Blair and Chris LaCivita were in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity of Republika Srpska assisting with local elections.

“Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “They are allowed to do work for others, just like all consultants in Washington, D.C.”

“I do not have any idea who else they work for but will, on reflection, ask them and, if there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!” he wrote.

Blair served as White House deputy chief of staff before departing to lead Trump’s outside political operation. LaCivita was co-manager of his winning 2024 campaign.

The two did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rubio says standing of Western civilization is at risk if countries don’t ‘reclaim’ national power

Standing in front of the ruins of the Acropolis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the case for nationalism, while trying to maintain the importance of global alliances.

In a sweeping and dramatic speech about ancient civilization that reflected his political aspirations beyond being America’s top diplomat, Rubio warned European countries that decisions made in the next decade “will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world, or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline.”

“We will either choose to act now, or lose the choice to act at all,” he said. “Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice. We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power.”

Rubio also said despite “passions” that have strained U.S.-Europe relations, allied-countries must work to “rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together.”

Michigan GOP Senate nominee distances himself from Trump’s Canada tariffs

Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for Senate in Michigan, released an ad Wednesday calling for an end to President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, marking the second recent break with the president by the battleground state candidate.

“We know that Canada is not our enemy,” Rogers says in the video. “We need to end this tariff war now.”

The U.S. and Canada have been locked in an escalating trade war since Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods this summer. Rogers previously defended some of the tariffs as “necessary.”

Rogers has also recently called for the U.S. war with Iran to “end quickly.” He had previously backed the war.

Rogers, once a critic of Trump, has aligned himself closely with the president since his first Senate campaign in 2024 and has Trump’s endorsement this year. Rogers faces progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed for the open Senate seat.

The Department of Homeland Security is DHS proposes a $70,000 fee for international students to work in the US

The $70,000 fee proposed Wednesday for international students seeking to work in the United States is just the latest Trump administration effort to reduce foreign enrollment in U.S. higher education. A Department of Homeland Security statement described the fee as a response to visa fraud and abuse that created a “pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

And Trump on Tuesday said he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible case of plague at a Siberian research institute. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he would be talking with Putin about the case “very soon.”

The Latest:

Trump administration has been putting pressure on international students

Last year, the Republican administration began suddenly terminating the legal status of thousands of international students, detaining and deporting many of them, as part of its wider efforts to crack down on immigration and reshape higher education.

This summer, the administration finalized a rule that sought to prevent international students from staying in the U.S. for more than four years without approval from the federal government. The move drew swift backlash from higher education leaders who said it would increase the burden on schools and noted that many programs are longer than four years by design. A federal court prevented the rule from taking effect in September.

DHS proposes a $70,000 fee for international students to work in the US

The $70,000 fee proposed Wednesday for international students seeking to work in the United States is just the latest Trump administration effort to reduce foreign enrollment in U.S. higher education. A Department of Homeland Security statement described the fee as a response to visa fraud and abuse that created a “pipeline for cheap foreign labor.”

It would require schools to pay for each student participating in an optional practice training program, known as OPT, in jobs related to their major during or after their time in school. Students are generally eligible for one year of work post-graduation, though certain science, technology, engineering and math majors are eligible for an additional two years. The initial application would cost $70,000, plus a $30,000 fee for each renewal.

The public has 60 days to commen t on the proposal before DHS can finalize it and put it into effect. The proposal also could face legal challenges from higher education groups or business associations that could delay it.

President hosting event on Trump Accounts automatic enrollment

The White House said the president is announcing that all Americans under age 18 are being automatically enrolled in Trump Accounts.

The Treasury Department described the new initiative last week, saying it’s opening accounts for all children with a valid Social Security Number, which their parents or guardians can claim through the Trump Accounts app.

Children born during Trump’s second term automatically qualify for $1,000 from the government. Other minors can invest their own money into the tax-advantaged accounts, and draw on it when they turn 18 for costs like school or a home.

The White House said automatic enrollment makes it easier for families to participate.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Michael and Susan Dell are expected to be among those attending the 1 p.m. event at the White House.

Rubio says no confusion over US goals with Iran

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there should be no confusion over the Trump administration’s ultimate goal with respect to the Iran war — and that is to prevent the country from ever developing a nuclear weapon.

Rubio made the comments on Wednesday at a news conference in Athens with the Greek foreign minister after Vice President JD Vance told Reuters that the administration might be able to accept an agreement that calls for Iran to make a “meaningful” decrease in its capacity for nuclear enrichment.

President Donald Trump has previously said Iran should not be allowed the capability to enrich.

“I don’t understand where the confusion is about the nuclear program,” Rubio said. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Simple, period, end of story. I’m not going to go into the details about what would be acceptable or not. I can tell you this: that they’re not going to ever have a nuclear program.”

In first Maine Senate debate, Collins seeks to distance herself from Trump

Republican Sen. Susan Collins argued during the first of four debates with Democrat Troy Jackson that she’s the most independent senator in Congress, repeatedly voting against Trump’s agenda. “I’m not exactly his favorite senator,” she said.

Jackson, a former state Senate president and logger, pointed to Collins’ critical vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee who eventually helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion. “Would you trust her to pick the next Supreme Court justice?” he asked.

Collins argued that her seniority and experience in the Senate have resulted in money and resources for Maine. She touted her ability to remove certain items from Trump’s trade war with Canada, including pulp, concrete and road salt.

Jackson’s response: “We can’t eat road salt.”

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Alito criticizes Supreme Court’s emergency docket surge and Trump’s rhetoric

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told The Associated Press in a rare interview that rhetoric about the court from Trump and his administration doesn’t sit well with him.

“I personally am not pleased with that,” he said. “Everybody in this country has the right to criticize what we do. The substance of their criticism can be quite harsh. If we deserve it, then that’s fine. But rhetoric is a different story.”

Alito also criticized the escalating volume of emergency appeals before the court, but said there’s little the justices can do to change the trajectory. Such petitions have skyrocketed during Trump’s second administration, putting the court at the center of hotly debated issues such as the Republican president’s new ballroom construction and his proposed restrictions on mail ballots in the midterm elections.

Alito spoke in connection with his first book, “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of The Constitution, The Court and Our Country.”

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GOP fears grow that even $1 billion may not buy midterm victory

Republicans are increasingly anxious that the $1 billion at their disposal may not be enough to fend off sweeping midterm election losses as the party reckons with Trump’s unpopularity, persistent cost concerns and the fallout from the war in Iran.

The cash advantage, spread out across a half-dozen groups, is driven largely by the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc., which had nearly $416 million on hand at the end of August and increased its spending on critical races in September.

But that money may have come too late, forcing the president’s group to pay much higher rates because of the shrinking availability of air time. Four Republican Senate campaign officials said groups that reserved advertising time last spring paid much lower rates than MAGA Inc. and its affiliated groups. Now, the Trump-connected organizations are sometimes paying more than five times what they would have spent if they had acted earlier.

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El gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, declaró el miércoles el estado de emergencia en 25 condados. Se prevé que la tormenta tropical Isaias se fortalezca. A finales de esta semana podría traer lluvias intensas, vientos fuertes e inundaciones a partes del estado.

Según la oficina del gobernador, la orden ejecutiva permite al estado ubicar suministros y personal de emergencia antes de la llegada de la tormenta.

La declaración de emergencia abarca los condados Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Walton, Wakulla y Washington.

El Equipo Estatal de Respuesta a Emergencias de Florida (SERT) comenzó a preparar suministros en Tallahassee y en la zona del condado Santa Rosa, según un comunicado de la oficina del gobernador. Entre ellos hay generadores, combustible, barreras contra inundaciones, agua potable, comidas no perecederas, lonas y sacos de arena.

“Los floridanos deben aprovechar este tiempo para tener listos sus planes ante desastres y asegurarse de que su kit de suministros para huracanes esté completo”, dijo DeSantis en un comunicado.

El pronóstico más reciente indica que una tormenta tropical o un huracán podría tocar tierra en la costa central del Golfo a finales de esta semana.

Incluso las zonas alejadas del lugar donde toque tierra podrían enfrentar condiciones peligrosas. En el norte de Florida se esperan lluvias intensas, vientos fuertes, inundaciones costeras y tornados aislados.

Las autoridades también advierten que más lluvia podría aumentar el riesgo de inundaciones repentinas. Algunas partes del estado ya han recibido lluvias importantes y tienen los suelos saturados.

Los funcionarios estatales piden a los residentes de las zonas que podrían verse afectadas que revisen sus planes de emergencia. También les recomiendan tener listos sus suministros para huracanes antes de que empeoren las condiciones.

Los residentes pueden encontrar información para prepararse en FloridaDisaster.org y recibir actualizaciones del Equipo Estatal de Respuesta a Emergencias de Florida en X.

Según los registros de la cárcel, Dasheona Ford, de 29 años, ingresó el martes en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Los registros muestran que enfrenta varios cargos por delitos graves derivados de distintos casos. Entre ellos están robo por la fuerza, hurto mayor y fraude organizado. También se le acusa de uso fraudulento de una tarjeta de crédito, uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación y lavado de dinero.

El arresto de Ford llega después de que la policía de Miami Beach arrestara la semana pasada al taxista Reynoso Osias en relación con la investigación.

Según la policía, la investigación comenzó tras un robo por la fuerza el 14 de junio, cerca de la calle 11 y Washington Avenue. La víctima les contó a los detectives que había salido de una discoteca cuando se le acercó una mujer, luego identificada como Ford. La mujer le quitó su iPhone y huyó hacia un taxi amarillo que la esperaba.

Las cámaras de vigilancia captaron a Ford subiéndose al taxi, dijo la policía. Minutos después, se le ve bajarse del vehículo y acercarse a otro hombre que parecía visiblemente ebrio. Según los investigadores, le sacó un celular del bolsillo.

Más tarde, los detectives ampliaron la investigación a otro incidente, ocurrido el 28 de junio, según la policía. A una víctima ebria le robaron el celular y le sacaron dinero de sus cuentas bancarias. Los investigadores dijeron que las cámaras de vigilancia mostraban a la víctima subiéndose al mismo taxi.

Según la policía, la víctima les dijo a los detectives que no recordaba haberse subido al vehículo. Tampoco había parado ni pedido un taxi.

Finalmente, los investigadores identificaron a Osias como el taxista. Dijeron que las pruebas lo vinculaban con los celulares robados y con las transacciones financieras fraudulentas. Cuando los detectives lo arrestaron la semana pasada, encontraron ocho iPhones dentro de una bolsa plástica debajo del asiento del conductor, según la policía.

Según los registros de la cárcel, Osias enfrenta varios cargos por delitos graves. Entre ellos están secuestro, conspiración para cometer robo por la fuerza y plan organizado para defraudar. También se le acusa de delitos contra usuarios de computadoras y de uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación.

Los registros de Ford incluyen además otros cargos en varios casos. Se le acusa de un plan organizado para defraudar por $50,000 o más, uso fraudulento de información de identificación personal y robo de una tarjeta de crédito. También tiene cargos adicionales de hurto mayor y fraude con tarjeta de crédito.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Ford seguía detenida en el TGK, con la fianza “por determinar”. Osias permanecía en el MetroWest Detention Center, con una fianza de $17,500.

Paige Hansen leans down, holding between her fingers the plant whose seeds could soon turn into one of her food products.

“That diversity of crop in the field, I think we should be eating the same way with our diets,” Hansen said. “And ultimately that’s how I think we can shift things.”

After dealing with a dairy allergy in her adult life, Hansen traveled back and forth for about two years between her home in California and the Cornell Food Venture Center in Geneva, New York, to develop a buckwheat-based alternative milk. Now, she has partnered with New Barn Organics, launching her buckwheat milk in Whole Foods Markets across the country this month and creating a buckwheat milk powder that could be used as an ingredient in confections, snacks, crackers and other food products.

It's part of an effort Hansen and her partners are undertaking to expand the market for buckwheat and hopefully incentivize more farmers to plant it. In the United States, some farmers already plant buckwheat as a cover crop, but many farmers avoid planting cover crops because of the costs despite the environmental benefits. Hansen and other organic farmers see buckwheat as one way to change the food system and help farmers become more resilient in the face of human-caused climate change.

“If we can grow a valuable crop it’s a lot more likely to become part of the system than if we’re growing it because there’s a subsidy payment,” said Klaas Martens, an organic farmer who has grown buckwheat for about 40 years and has worked with Hansen.

Buckwheat fields ‘feel alive’

A popular food crop in the United States until the mid-20th century, buckwheat fell out of favor as farmers turned to higher-yield crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat. Today, buckwheat is often used as a cover crop, and farmers often use the fast-growing plant to suppress weeds or rebuild depleted soils between the harvesting of other crops like corn and soybeans. As a cover crop, buckwheat can also store carbon in its roots and reduce fertilizer runoff at times when fields would otherwise be bare.

Globally, about 2 million tons of buckwheat were produced in 2024, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, a decrease of about half over the last two decades. Comparatively, about 1.2 billion tons of corn were produced globally in 2024, an increase of about 53% in that same time period.

China, Russia and Ukraine produce the most buckwheat, whose seeds are more akin to a fruit rather than a grain despite its name. It’s the main ingredient in soba, a Japanese noodle, and the Ashkenazi Jewish dish kasha varnishkes uses roasted buckwheat alongside pasta and sautéed onions.

Buckwheat takes between 10 to 12 weeks to produce seed. Its short growing cycle means many farmers who sell the harvested crop can plant it between a winter-planted crop and a spring-planted crop.

The plants’ roots also release an acid that can draw phosphorus out of soil and attract a diversity of microbes, creating a soil environment that is “much more favorable for some of our main food crops,” Martens said.

But little is known about how buckwheat can work best in a farmer's crop rotation. At Cornell University, researchers are working to better understand how the plant suppresses weeds, how it grows and yields under varying conditions and how farmers could potentially add it into their rotations as a cash crop.

Dan Gladstone, who manages 800 acres (324 hectares) of organic crops in Newfield, New York, uses buckwheat as a cover to suppress weeds and rebuild soil but also sells harvested buckwheat. Its roots make the soil loose and easy to plant the following season without tilling, a technique Gladstone implements as much as possible to reduce fuel use and wear on equipment. The crop also supports a diversity of pollinators and Gladstone said he finds buckwheat fields “alive in a way that a lot of other crops don’t feel.”

But harvesting buckwheat can be challenging. It doesn’t all ripen at the same time so farmers need extra equipment to cut the crop so it can dry in fields before getting threshed and hulled.

Despite that, Martens thinks if more farmers added buckwheat into their cropping systems, it would help diversify away from corn and soybeans and could make farms more resilient against losses from extreme weather. Crop insurance, he added, is geared toward high-yield crops like corn and soybeans and adding buckwheat into a crop rotation may help farms stay profitable. Growing buckwheat, which is usually done without fertilizer or pesticides, could also help reduce a farm's costs while providing income, he said.

“There’s a big difference between being highly productive and extremely resilient,” Martens said. “And there’s a risk in our system because it is highly dependent on a few outside inputs and if you take away some of those outside forces or they become damaged in some way, the entire system is at risk.”

Building market needs cooperation

In Penn Yan, a village of about 5,000 on the shores of Keuka Lake, The Birkett Mills have been processing buckwheat into flour and other products since the late 18th century. There, millers work with 200-year-old milling stones that grind buckwheat and a system of pulleys, wheels and belts that move and sift the buckwheat as it is further refined next to modern robots that bag and stack some finished products. To be gluten-free, the mill uses a sorter to separate buckwheat from other debris and grain.

The mill also works directly with local farmers, selling them buckwheat seed and buying back the crop at a fixed price. That financial guarantee is one way more farmers might start planting the crop.

“There’s also a home for it when they’re done with it,” said Kyle Gifford, president of The Birkett Mills. “Some of these cover crops, they just plow them back under the field because there’s nowhere to sell it.”

Gifford said the company is milling more buckwheat than it has before, working around the clock, seven days a week to meet increased demand. His father, Jeff, said he sees more farmers in the area growing the crop than he did a decade ago. They process the grain for use in their own products and for other companies, including Hansen’s.

Gladstone thinks having strong partnerships with processors and product companies will get more farmers on board with planting buckwheat as a cash crop.

“We need somebody who’s going to do the wholesale processing and turn it into an ingredient. And then we also need people who turn those ingredients into food,” Gladstone said.

And getting buckwheat into more food products as an ingredient is Hansen's mission. Partnering with a large brand like New Barn Organics allowed her to triple the amount of buckwheat she was buying from farmers. She hopes that demand could offer farmers an incentive to plant the crop on more acres or undergo an organic certification process, she said.

And starting with the ingredients in our food is how the food system can change.

“I’ve always thought that you can’t really have innovation in food unless you have different types of crops to work with,” Hansen said. “Otherwise, you’re kind of all innovating with the same set of ingredients from the same big ingredient suppliers.”

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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Follow Joshua A. Bickel on Instagram, Bluesky and X @joshuabickel.

El accidente ocurrió en la cuadra 700 de Northwest 11th Street.

Local 10 News obtuvo un video de seguridad que muestra todo lo ocurrido. Una camioneta está estacionada frente al negocio y, de repente, se lanza hacia adelante contra la fachada.

Las cámaras dentro del local muestran lo rápido que pasó todo.

Un grupo de personas estaba sentado adentro en ese momento. En el video se ve a una mujer con camisa rosada tratando de escapar mientras la camioneta entraba al negocio.

Según Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, la mujer fue llevada después al hospital para recibir atención médica.

Su esposo, que pidió ser identificado solo como Joseph, estaba con ella dentro del local cuando ocurrió el choque. Cuenta que el impacto lo dejó desorientado.

“No solo me quedé sordo por el estruendo. Estaba confundido y vi mucho humo, así que trataba de entender qué estaba pasando”, dijo.

Dentro del negocio quedó un enorme desastre.

El conductor dijo que pensaba que la camioneta estaba en reversa, pero el vehículo avanzó.

Mohammad Hassan, dueño del negocio, calcula que los daños superarán los $35,000.

“Me siento muy mal”, dijo. “Estoy muy decepcionado, de verdad. Muy molesto”.

Hassan tiene el negocio desde hace más de dos años. Dice que tendrá que cerrarlo hasta que terminen las reparaciones, y eso será difícil porque es su sustento.

“Este es mi negocio principal”, dijo. “De aquí sale todo, la renta, todo sale de aquí. No sé cuánto tiempo tendré que tener cerrado”.

El conductor de la camioneta pudo irse a su casa. La policía no ha dicho si enfrentará algún cargo o si recibirá una multa por el choque.

La policía de Fort Lauderdale dijo que los agentes acudieron alrededor de las 5:03 a.m. a un accidente con un peatón en la cuadra 2100 de Northwest 21st Avenue.

Según los agentes, al llegar encontraron a un hombre en el lugar y empezaron a darle maniobras para salvarle la vida. Más tarde, el personal de Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue lo declaró muerto en el lugar.

Las autoridades dijeron que el conductor se quedó en el lugar del accidente. La Unidad de Homicidios de Tránsito de la policía de Fort Lauderdale investiga el caso.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre la víctima.

More than 70% of new cases are still coming from outside of known contacts and at least 60% of deaths are outside of treatment centers, Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya told The Associated Press. “There are so many other people who are becoming sick, who are not tested, treated, or listed,” said Kaseya on Tuesday.

The conflict-battered, remote North Kivu province, which has emerged as the new epicenter, now accounts for around 40% of all newly confirmed cases in Congo, compared with 24% at the end of August. But the response on the ground is “chaotic,” said Stephanie Hoffmann, a project coordinator with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “There is a lack of coordination and organization, but there’s certainly a lack of actors present here,” Hoffmann told the AP.

Congo's deadliest Ebola outbreak — caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment — was declared in May under some of the most challenging conditions imaginable fueled by mass population movements, rebel violence, mistrust and poor welfare of front line workers.

Congo has recorded more than 8,500 cases in the outbreak, according to government data, making it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record and the country’s deadliest. On Tuesday, Kenya reported its first Ebola case, a man who arrived from Congo and died while receiving treatment.

The biggest challenge to date is contact tracing, Dr. Kayesa said. Only 23% of expected contacts of Ebola patients have so far been traced. The disease is spreading in a region of Congo with intense population movements due to economic activities, conflict displacement and mining, and where there’s deep mistrust with the government and misinformation about the virus.

“I’m unable to tell you when we can stop this outbreak unless we implement the village-centered approach,” the Africa CDC chief said, calling for direct involvement of villages and local leaders in contact tracing, burials of deceased patients and isolation of cases.

Treatment centers overwhelmed as other health facilities support

Many Ebola treatment centers in North Kivu are struggling with shortages of health workers and supplies, contributing to more deaths among patients, the World Health Organization has said.

North Kivu’s case fatality rate of 58% is the highest among Congo’s seven affected provinces. The disease has spread to half of its 34 health zones. In nine of those 17 affected zones, more than half of patients with confirmed infections have died, according to Health Ministry data.

Desperate for care, patients in some parts of North Kivu have turned to regular health facilities, MSF said.

“Local healthcare workers are the ones feeling this the most because they have to make the decision between sending their community members home to potentially die by themselves or putting themselves at risk to help treat them in their health center,” said Hoffmann, coordinator of MSF’s Ebola treatment center in Butembo, North Kivu.

Some families are reluctant to report a death

Nearly five months after the outbreak was declared, it has become harder to track in parts of North Kivu, where residents still have “a hard time believing the disease exists,” said Michel Ngimba of the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Butembo.

He described cases in which families were reluctant to report a death or allow a sample to be taken from someone who died with Ebola symptoms. In other cases, families “want to arrange the funeral quickly,” Ngimba said, potentially creating new chains of transmission because the bodies of people who die from Ebola are highly contagious.

“The situation has become more difficult to monitor (and) surveillance has to deal with situations that are highly fluid and sometimes difficult to document,” he said.

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AP writer Sebastien Kitsa Musayi in Beni, Congo contributed.

——

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

August Hanning, 80, who is “strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage,” led the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005. He was arrested on Tuesday.

A former aide of Hanning, identified only as Manfred D. in line with privacy rules in Germany, was also arrested Tuesday and is already in pretrial detention. He's accused of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.

Prosecutors didn't reveal who exactly the two men were suspected of spying for or which foreign intelligence services they provided with classified information.

Here's what to know about one of the biggest security breaches in German history:

Germany's former top spy allegedly received 2,000 intelligence documents over 12 years

The two men allegedly agreed in 2010 that Manfred D. would continuously provide Hanning — who had left office five years earlier — with valuable foreign intelligence information in exchange for payment. Manfred D. served as chief of staff for several subsequent BND presidents from 2012 until this year.

The federal prosecutor's office says that Hanning allegedly used this information to his financial advantage in his private consulting work.

Based on the current status of the investigation, Manfred D. is said to have provided his former boss with approximately 2,000 documents over a 12-year period through June 2022.

In one instance, Hanning is alleged to have used classified information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service. However, “it has not yet been possible to determine whether the report reached its intended recipient,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.

“In another instance, Hanning is alleged to have passed on information following an extensive exchange — also with an employee of another intelligence service,” a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.

Leon Kruse, a lawyer for the former spy chief, disputed the allegations on Wednesday, German news agency dpa reported.

Kruse was quoted as saying by dpa that while Hanning was indeed in possession of confidential documents, “the allegation that he passed on information contained therein to the detriment of Germany — let alone in exchange for payment — is unfounded.”

“My client is being wrongfully prosecuted,” Kruse said, according to the report.

Stolen documents intended exclusively for spy agency's internal affairs

Hanning may have had access to information intended exclusively for use within the BND, according to prosecutors. Many of the documents contained classified information for executive intelligence briefings.

Beyond that, prosecutors haven't given any further details about the mostly classified material and aren't expected to do so in the near future.

“No further information beyond what is contained in the press statement is currently being provided,” Ines Peterson, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, said Wednesday.

German officials vow a full investigation

“The federal government takes this case extremely seriously and is providing full support to the investigating authorities,” a spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters Wednesday.

“The allegations being made are serious. We need to analyze the situation and get to the bottom of it,” Sebastian Hille said. “We must await the results of the investigation in order to determine whether any changes are needed” to how the intelligence services should work and be controlled in Germany.

The chair of the parliamentary committee that oversees intelligence agencies said that the security breach has shocked both the German and international intelligence community. He said that Germany needs to reach out to allied intelligence agencies who may have lost their trust in the BND after the spying scandal became public.

“Although this has caused quite a stir, I am quite confident that the German services enjoy a very high reputation internationally,” said Marc Henrichmann, who is also a national lawmaker with Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union.

Hille, Merz’s spokesperson, said that he wasn't aware if foreign intelligence services had reached out to Germany about the incident.

Several German politicians have also called for stricter rules banning former officials with security clearances from engaging in private consulting work after leaving office.

Germany has a history of spying scandals

There have been previous spying scandals at Germany's foreign intelligence agency.

In 2022, Carsten L., a former BND employee, allegedly passed internal documents to the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, with the help of an accomplice. The trial for particularly serious treason, which Bruno Kahl, the BND director at the time, said caused “serious damage” to the German service, is still ongoing, dpa reported.

In 2014, BND employee Markus R. was exposed as a spy for the CIA. He had passed on more than 200 documents to the U.S. intelligence agency and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016.

In the 1960s, Heinz Felfe headed the Counterintelligence: Soviet Union division at the BND in West Germany while also working for the KGB. He was arrested in November 1961 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason in 1963 before he was released in a prisoner exchange to communist East Germany in 1969, dpa reported.

Germany works on beefing up intelligence agencies as threats rise

The huge intelligence breach comes at a time when the German government is working on a reform designed to grant its intelligence agencies broader powers to take measures such as countering sabotage and hacking attempts — in response to a growing threat from powers such as Russia and extremists.

In August, the Cabinet approved draft legislation aimed at strengthening the BND and its domestic counterpart, the BfV, and reducing the reliance of Germany, which is the most populous country in the European Union, on intelligence from its allies.

The case is prompting the Florida Department of Health and mosquito control to place traps in areas with a high density of mosquitoes.

Those traps will then allow officials to test the species, and to also test for dengue, west Nile, malaria and other mosquito born viruses.

Mosquito control has also responded to more house calls where residents are asking their areas be sprayed.

Health officials say the symptoms of dengue can present as a flu-like illness, with severe muscle aches, joint pain, fever and sometimes a rash. Medical experts say dengue will appear within 14 days of being bitten.

Local 10 spoke with infectious disease expert Dr. Aileen Marty about what to look for if you feel you have been infected and how some cases can be severe or fatal.

“In addition to the symptoms you had before, you can get damage to vital organs, not just your lungs, but your liver, other organs could be severely affected and it can be fatal,” she said.

Even more concerning is that there is no specific dengue antiviral available at this time, though there are medications to treat the symptoms to get past the infection.

So what can you do to protect yourself? Wear protective clothing, use mosquito repellant and drain any standing water from around your homes.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital as executioners attempted to put her to death last Wednesday for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. The lethal injection drug didn’t kill her, but her lawyers said her arms were left burned and blistered.

Her survival raises further questions about her medical and legal future. Her attorneys said her prognosis remains unclear and that she faces a long recovery.

“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” attorneys for Pike said in a statement. “Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented.”

Her attorneys said they are grateful for the first responders and the medical team at the hospital “who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her.”

It’s the first indication Pike’s health has improved

As recently as Sunday, Pike’s attorneys said she had remained unconscious and on a ventilator.

Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike’s legal team, said the development “bodes well for a good recovery.” But, he added, it could be weeks or months before anyone knows exactly what her recovery might look like, and whether her competency could be restored to a level that might enable the state to try again to execute her.

“She’s still in the ICU,” he said. “She has recovered to a certain degree that she’s able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk. There’s still a lot of bad things that can happen here, even when everyone is doing their job well.”

A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction said she could provide no information other than that Pike remained hospitalized Tuesday.

A court hearing is set for Wednesday

Pike’s attorneys are set to go to court Wednesday as they seek to learn more about what happened in the failed lethal injection.

The attorneys are seeking a court order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, records and other information from the Sept. 30 attempted execution. Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles scheduled a Wednesday morning status conference in the case.

Pike’s attorneys said in their Tuesday statement that they continue to ask outgoing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Christa is a survivor and will take recovery one day at a time,” her attorneys said.

Lee halted further executions following Pike’s hospitalization and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.” U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican candidate to replace him, called on the state to explore other methods of execution to ensure it can continue carrying out capital punishment.

Could the state try again?

In addition to questions about competency — whether Pike can understand why she would be put to death — Pike has strong arguments that it would be cruel and unusual for the state to try again to execute her, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham Law professor who has studied execution methods for 36 years. It could also violate the prohibition on double jeopardy, trying or punishing someone twice for the same offense, Denno said.

In other recent cases, states have been allowed to try again after failing to establish a suitable intravenous line, she said, but Pike is the first person to survive after the lethal drug was actually administered.

“They carried out every aspect of the execution,” Denno said. ”She didn’t die, but every process they intended, they did it.”

Seattle University Law Professor Michael Russo, who handled capital cases as a public defender in Los Angeles, called the failed execution horrible but said he doubted whether the Supreme Court would stop the state from trying again on double-jeopardy grounds, should it decide to do so.

“There’s nobody else in the history of the death penalty in this country who has gone through what she’s been through,” Russo said. But, he added, “I think what this Supreme Court would say is, her sentence was to die — to be executed — not to suffer an attempt at execution.”

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Associated Press reporter Gene Johnson contributed from Seattle.

“Artists With Autism” turns creative talent into real-world opportunity, and artwork into independence.

Despite some major setbacks in recent months, the group’s vision and its mission hasn’t changed.

“The main focus was helping them become independent as artists,” founder Cynthia Kaegi said. “To learn skills that were marketable — for hoping that they could get a job.”

RELATED STORY: (PART 1) - Colors that connect — inside ‘Vichy’s Art’

Kaegi launched the non-profit, noting her son’s artistic passions and wanting more opportunity for those on the autism spectrum.

The group was born in 2012 and opened a gallery and training space at Festival Marketplace in Pompano Beach, until warehouse redevelopment forced them out, with no home base.

“We need to find a new home right away and a new gallery to show our art —as well as sell them,” said local artist, Joseph Michael Vidal.

The group kept going though — taking its mission to local art markets, events and pop-up galleries across South Florida.

The Plunge Beach Resort’s gallery, which regularly features local artists, invited the group to share and showcase their work in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea — through its Plunge into the Arts program.

“This is a perfect opportunity where people who don’t usually have interaction with people with autism, that they can meet them and talk to them, and they can admire what their talents are, because when you’ve met one person with autism, that’s one person with autism. They are all different and and that’s why it’s called a spectrum,” Kaegi said.

Artists With Autism is looking for businesses or organizations that may be able to sponsor or provide a permanent space. The group is also seeking additional art markets and community events where artists can display their work.

To get involved or find art/events, click here.

The organization is encouraging more artists with autism to get involved as it expands — building bridges with new audiences.

“It’s a good thing to show that everyone has a great talent,” said Vidal.

To submit an idea for What Connects Us, email whatconnectsus@wplg.com.

No direct impacts from Tropical Storm Isaias in the southwestern Gulf are expected, but our friends and neighbors along the northern Gulf Coast are likely to experience the season’s first hurricane by Friday. Hurricane watches for that region could be issued as early as later this afternoon.

The attack took place about 11 a.m. local time at the Vocational School Complex No. 4 in Ostroleka, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Warsaw, police said. Authorities did not provide any information about the suspected motive, or details about the weapon.

Five students, two teachers and two passersby were injured, regional Gov. Mariusz Frankowski said. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but one person was seriously wounded and some victims were evacuated by helicopter to a hospital.

Authorities identified the suspect only as Jakub Z., in line with Polish privacy laws.

He was arrested on a riverbank less than 1 kilometer (a half mile) from the school after fleeing the scene, according to police. He was wounded at the time of his arrest in what prosecutors said was a result of “self-mutilation.” The young man was taken to a hospital.

Police in the Mazovia province, which includes both Ostroleka and Warsaw, posted a photo on X showing a policeman with his hand placed on the back of a person lying down with their hands tied behind their back. The person’s face and hands are pixelated.

Polish media published blurred photos reportedly taken by students that showed bloodstained floors inside the school.

Two hours after the attack, Ostroleka Mayor Paweł Niewiadomski wrote on social media that the “situation has been brought under control” but that the school would remain closed while authorities investigate the circumstances of the attack.

He said kids and others affected would receive psychological support and that he had asked all schools in the region to ban any unknown people from entering their premises.

A spokesman for the local firefighters told Polsat television that a suspicious backpack was found in the school and that authorities were investigating its contents.

Police said the suspect had previously come to their attention over the possession of a small amount of narcotics.

School attacks are not common in Poland. However, a stabbing at a Catholic convent in southeastern Poland last month left one person dead and four others wounded. Police detained a suspect.

——- Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Small SUV: 2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid

Nissan’s best-selling model is getting its first full redesign since 2021, and it’s a significant one. The fourth-generation Rogue small SUV debuts with a new hybrid powertrain called E-Power that works more like an electric vehicle than a traditional hybrid. A small gas engine acts as a generator, recharging a battery that powers the electric motors driving the Rogue. The result is reduced noise and quicker acceleration compared to the regular Rogue, Nissan says. Nissan also estimates that the Rogue Hybrid will get 38 mpg in combined city/highway driving. That’s a bit less than what the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 hybrids can do, but it’s still very good for a small SUV.

Starting price: $37,065, including destination fees

Three-row SUV: 2028 Toyota Highlander

The Highlander undergoes a massive change for 2028, becoming an all-electric three-row SUV with a quoted range of up to 320 miles. Buyers who still want a gas- or hybrid-powered three-row Toyota SUV will need to look at the larger Grand Highlander. But you needn’t step up to the bigger version to get a reasonably comfortable third row, even for adults. Edmunds’ first drive in the new all-electric Highlander showed the new version’s way-back seat to be much more comfortable than the outgoing model’s. Besides the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and Kia EV9, there aren’t many three-row EVs aimed at bigger families, so we’re excited to see Toyota offering an all-new alternative.

Estimated starting price: $60,000

Luxury SUV: 2027 Audi Q9

At the same time Audi is sunsetting the longstanding A8 flagship sedan, it’s adding a new full-size three-row SUV. The 2027 Q9 is the largest vehicle Audi has ever built, and it’s aimed squarely at rival German stalwarts like the BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS. Power comes from a 429-horsepower turbocharged V6. Inside, there’s seating for seven or a more premium six-passenger layout with second-row captain’s chairs. The Q9’s third-row seating area is considerably roomier than the one in the Q7, which also gets a redesign this year. Audi has also fitted the Q9 with all of its latest technology and driver assist features.

Starting price: $89,095, including destination

Compact pickup: 2027 Slate Truck

No 2027 model has generated more buzz among budget-conscious shoppers than the Slate Truck, the debut model from an American startup automotive company. The Truck is a bare-bones two-seat electric pickup that’s smaller than a Ford Maverick. By design, it comes without factory paint or even an infotainment touchscreen. Instead, buyers are encouraged to personalize it to their liking, up to and including the option to turn the cargo bed into a seating area and effectively turn the Truck into a five-seat SUV. The Slate Truck is an intriguing option for affordable vehicle, but go in with your eyes wide open: It lacks many features you might take for granted in other vehicles, and its estimated range of just 205 miles is a concern.

Starting price: $26,400, including destination

Full-size pickup: 2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Chevrolet’s full-size truck is getting its first redesign since 2019, and that should make it a more capable rival to the Ford F-150, Ram 1500 and Toyota Tacoma. The 2027 Silverado 1500 brings a bolder exterior design, a new interior and a standard 16.3-inch touchscreen. Two new V8 engine options join the carryover turbocharged four-cylinder and diesel six-cylinder. The 5.7-liter V8 produces 402 horsepower, while the larger 6.2-liter V8 cranks out 481 horsepower. Both are more powerful than the Silverado’s previous V8s. Expect Super Cruise — GM’s hands-free driving technology — to be available on top trims. And like all full-size trucks, there will be many variants — seven to be exact, topping out at more than $80,000 for the off-road-oriented ZR2 or the luxurious High Country.

Estimated starting price: $40,000

Edmunds says

The new model year is jam-packed with big updates for some of the most popular vehicles on the market. These models we listed above will have some significant advantages over a vehicle in the here and now. Buyers shopping for new wheels will have a lot of exciting options to choose from in the next few months.

____

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

Vaccaro is seeking damages she says were caused by Hill, who has denied the allegations.

Jurors were shown video captured by a baby monitor inside the couple’s home that showed an argument between Hill and Vaccaro while their newborn baby was sleeping.

The two could be heard screaming and yelling profanities. At one point, Hill appeared to take the baby with him.

Local 10 News previously obtained video from the former couple’s Sunny Isles Beach home showing Hill holding their daughter during an argument and looking over the edge of a balcony.

The video was recorded during an April 2025 domestic dispute that prompted police to respond to the couple’s condominium. No arrests were made.

Vaccaro has accused Hill of multiple instances of physical and emotional abuse during their marriage.

Taking the stand Tuesday, Vaccaro said she endured abuse during the marriage and had remained silent about it.

“During this whole period of an 18-month marriage, it’s been a consistent two week on, two weeks off situation. Of course, we had our moments where it was beautiful, but the two weeks of when he goes back to this angry man, it’s bad,” she said. “It’s something I can’t live with, today. I can’t allow my daughter to see. I’m a new mom, obviously. I’ve endured a lot of abuse during this marriage, and I’ve been very silent.”

Vaccaro described several incidents of alleged physical abuse, including one in July 2024. She said Hill attempted to strike her in the stomach while she was pregnant and that she blocked the blow with her hands. She also accused Hill of pulling her hair during the same confrontation.

“I was pregnant, and he treated me like I was just a man,” Vaccaro said. “It was so violent. I was hurt so bad.”

Vaccaro’s attorneys also presented jurors with a photograph that she said showed a mark on her neck following an earlier confrontation with Hill.

She testified that Hill had wrestled with her over her ring and other jewelry, tackled her onto a bed and pulled the jewelry from her neck.

“He was wrestling me for my ring and my jewelry on my neck and tackling me to the bed and ripping it off,” Vaccaro said.

The jury also heard testimony concerning an alleged postnuptial agreement. Vaccaro said Hill pressured her to sign the agreement, and her attorneys presented text messages they said were exchanged during the dispute.

Hill has denied the allegations. His attorneys have challenged Vaccaro’s account and argued that her claims have been exaggerated.

Christie Bright, Hill’s attorney, urged jurors to examine the allegations against the evidence presented in court.

“Those are very serious allegations, and they deserve to be treated seriously. But taking an allegation seriously doesn’t mean accepting it because it was made,” she said. “It means examining the evidence. It means comparing what someone said today, this week, in this courtroom, to what they said contemporaneous to when it was happening.”

The trial is expected to last about 10 days.

• South Florida to honor victims today, marking 3 years since Hamas’ attack on Israel
• Woman hospitalized after truck crashes into northwest Miami-Dade business
• ‘Dangerous’ Florida Keys fugitive captured in Mexico after 5 days on run

You can watch a live feed of our news broadcast at Local10.com/Live.

La tormenta va camino de igualar o romper un récord de 121 años como el primer huracán de la temporada del Atlántico que llega más tarde. Según el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, el récord data de 1905, cuando el primer huracán del Atlántico de ese año se formó el 8 de octubre.

El Centro Nacional de Huracanes de Estados Unidos, con sede en Miami, emitió el miércoles una vigilancia de huracán para la costa norte del Golfo desde Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, hasta Indian Pass en el Panhandle de Florida. La vigilancia significa que son posibles condiciones de huracán dentro de 48 horas.

Isaías se ubicaba unos 420 kilómetros (260 millas) al noroeste de Progreso, México, y a unos 870 kilómetros (540 millas) al suroeste de la desembocadura del río Misisipi, según el Centro Nacional de Huracanes. Tenía vientos máximos sostenidos de 75 kilómetros por hora (45 millas por hora) y se desplazaba hacia el este-noreste a 13 km/h (8 mph).

Los meteorólogos pronostican que Isaías se convertirá en huracán para el jueves mientras gira hacia el norte en dirección a la costa estadounidense del Golfo de México. Aunque su trayectoria podría cambiar, la tormenta está prevista a tocar tierra a última hora del viernes o temprano el sábado.

El centro de huracanes avisó que los residentes de la costa norte del Golfo deben prepararse para vientos peligrosos, marejada ciclónica y fuertes lluvias que podrían provocar inundaciones repentinas.

“Definitivamente es hora de revisar su plan para huracanes y poner en marcha lo que necesite”, declaró Eric Blake, meteorólogo del centro de huracanes.

En Gulf Shores, Alabama, los organizadores cancelaron el Festival Nacional del Camarón que estaba programado desde el jueves hasta el fin de semana. El evento atrajo a un estimado de 325.000 personas el año pasado.

El presidente del festival, Rob Barnas, declaró que la seguridad de visitantes, además de cientos de vendedores y voluntarios, “es nuestra máxima prioridad”.

El gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, declaró el estado de emergencia para 25 condados en las regiones del Panhandle y Big Bend. La declaración activa el plan de manejo de emergencias del estado para huracanes, permitiendo desplegar personal de emergencia y equipos.

Isaías previsiblemente dejará lluvias de 8 a 15 centímetros (3 a 6 pulgadas) a lo largo de la costa del Golfo a partir del viernes, con algunas áreas recibiendo hasta 25 centímetros (10 pulgadas). Partes del sureste, tan tierra adentro como Tennessee y las Carolinas, podrían ver de 3 a 8 centímetros (1 a 3 pulgadas) .

La tormenta llega en una temporada de huracanes del Atlántico inusualmente tranquila este año debido a un fuerte El Niño, que interrumpe la formación de tormentas sobre ese océano. La actividad de tormentas en el Pacífico ha estado por encima del promedio.

_________________________________

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

Communities in Isaias' potential path moved quickly to prepare with landfall forecast as soon as Friday evening. Some Gulf oil wells paused production and an Alabama beach city canceled a weekend festival known to draw thousands of tourists. Florida's governor declared a state of emergency for more than one-third of the state's counties.

Isaias could become a major Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 111 mph (178 kph) or stronger, before it strikes land, said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

“We’re expecting multiple dangerous, life-threatening impacts along portions of the northern Gulf Coast beginning Friday and continuing into the weekend," Brennan said in a video briefing Wednesday.

The storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year due to a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean. Storm activity in the Pacific has been above average.

Storm surge threat extends from Louisiana to Florida

The Miami-based hurricane center on Wednesday issued a hurricane watch for the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass on the Florida Panhandle. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours.

Brennan said dangerous storm surge could affect an even wider area, from southeast Louisiana to Florida's Big Bend. Heavy rains of 3 to 6 inches (7 to 15 centimeters) could trigger flash flooding near the coast, with accumulations of 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 centimeters) as far inland as Tennessee and the western Carolinas.

Isaias was centered about 255 miles (410 kilometers) northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 520 miles (840 kilometers) southwest of the Mississippi River’s mouth, according to the hurricane center. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph).

Forecasters predict Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE’-ahs, according to the hurricane center) will become a hurricane by Thursday as it turns northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. Though its path and timing could shift, the storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday.

Gulf oil production and tourism are already affected

Ahead of the storm, oil and gas producers began shutting down some offshore production in the Gulf, which accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the U.S.

As of Tuesday, producers had temporarily halted about 9.2% of the oil produced in the region, taking about 185,000 barrels per day off the market, according to the Marine Minerals Administration.

In Gulf Shores, Alabama, the storm threat caused organizers to cancel the National Shrimp Festival that had been scheduled for Thursday through the weekend. The event drew an estimated 325,000 people last year.

Festival Chairman Rob Barnas said the safety of thousands of anticipated visitors, plus hundreds of vendors and volunteers, “was our top priority.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 25 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions. The declaration activates the state's emergency management plan for hurricanes, allowing officials to deploy disaster responders and equipment.

In Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle, electric utilities were prepositioning crews to quickly repair any power outages. City officials provided sand for residents to fill sandbags to protect their homes against flooding. And Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves urged people to check on elderly neighbors and others who might need help.

“Obviously no need to panic at this point," Reeves told a news conference Wednesday. "This is really about preparation.”

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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Rico reported from Atlanta. Associated Press journalists Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.

Israeli settlers opened fire on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the goal of the Iran war is to prevent Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Read our full coverage here.

Houthis claim more attacks in Saudi Arabia

The Houthis used ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, to attack military facilities and airports in Saudi Arabia, the rebels’ military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Wednesday on social media. He didn’t provide evidence for the claim.

The attacks targeted King Khalid International Airport in the capital, Riyadh, with missiles, he said.

Also attacked were Abha airport, military facilities in Khamis Mushait and other “critical sites” in the cities of Najran and Asir, Saree said.

The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Yemen’s port city of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government.

1 dead and 16 wounded as Israeli settlers fire on olive harvesters

Israeli settlers opened fire on olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing a Palestinian officer who responded to the attack and wounding 16, Palestinian officials said, the latest in a series of violent attacks since the harvest began this month.

Ali Hassan Yasser al-Bazzari, 44, was a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces who went to the Palestinian village of Burqa when news of the attack surfaced, said his cousin Abdul Latif al-Bazzari, who was also injured on site.

Sami Daghlas, a member of the Burqa village council, said that after the attack the Israeli military prevented emergency medical responders from reaching the injured for more than an hour.

The military went to the area after getting reports of an Israeli civilian injured by a rock. Several Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks were apprehended for questioning, the military said in a statement.

The Israeli military and police did not respond to questions about whether the person who shot and killed al-Bazzari had been arrested. Arrests following settler violence in the West Bank are rare, and convictions are rarer still.

In a second attack Wednesday, dozens of settlers chased olive harvesters from groves, forcing them to take shelter in a house near the village of Marda in the northern occupied West Bank, said Bassam Abdah, a former head of the village council.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at residents near the house and detained three people, Abdah said.

Five Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured this week in such attacks, according to Palestinian officials. They say Israelis have damaged thousands of trees, costing farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

‘Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,’ says Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there should be no confusion over the Trump administration’s ultimate goal in the Iran war: to prevent the Islamic Republic from ever developing a nuclear weapon.

Rubio made the comments Wednesday after Vice President JD Vance told Reuters that the administration might be able to accept an agreement calling for Iran to make a “meaningful” decrease in its capacity for nuclear enrichment.

U.S. President Donald Trump has previously said Iran should not be allowed the capability to enrich.

“I don’t understand where the confusion is about the nuclear program,” Rubio said. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Simple, period, end of story.”

Strikes in Gaza kill 3 people

Israeli strikes in northern and southern Gaza killed three Palestinians and wounded at least a dozen others, according to health officials at Gaza hospitals.

An Israeli strike in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza overnight killed one civil defense worker, according to health officials at the territory’s Health Ministry and the civil defense. The Israeli military said Wednesday of the strike that a “Hamas military-wing terrorist, who was presented to the world as a ‘civil defense worker,' was eliminated in the strike."

Two other strikes each killed one person and wounded at least a dozen others in southern Gaza, according to officials at Nasser hospital. The Israeli military said one strike targeted a military operative, without elaborating, and said it was not aware of the second strike.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,467 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire was reached with Hamas nearly a year ago, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its figures are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It doesn’t give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

The Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation did not blame any party for the attacks at Abha and Riyadh’s King Khalid international airports, but Houthi rebels took credit earlier for the airport strikes.

The attack on Abha airport killed Moroccan and Algerian residents and wounded 28 other people, while the attack on King Khalid airport killed a Sudanese national and wounded eight other people, officials said.

As Riyadh has been targeted over the past week, new cage-like fences have been erected around fuel tanks and other equipment of the Saudi state-run Aramco oil company near the capital's airport. The kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter, has seen oil and military assets targeted in recent days, posing a threat to crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has been curtailed due to the Iran war.

The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said forces intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh and destroyed a platform in Yemen’s capital of Sana that had been used to launch attacks on the Saudi capital. The AP could not independently verify these claims.

Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni forces launched a major ground and air offensive aimed at retaking territory that the rebels seized a month ago along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Those positions gave the Houthis better surveillance as they pursue a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. On Monday, officials said forces of the Saudi-led coalition recaptured several key areas around the strait, through which about 12% of global trade transits.

Houthis push for strategic areas in Yemen

“The Houthis believe that they can maximize Saudi economic costs and compel Saudi Arabia to surrender to Houthi demands by striking civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities and airports,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in an analysis.

Inside Yemen, fighting has centered in and around the crucial town of Dhubab, some 54 kilometers (33.5 miles) south of the port city of Mokha that the rebels seized last month, according to both the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognized government.

Two Houthi officials said Wednesday that the rebels had regained control of key areas of Yemen’s southwestern coast, including Dhubab and the nearby village of Al-Jadid, as well as the Bab el-Mandeb strait, after intensified fighting with Saudi-backed coalition forces.

A government official denied the claims, which The Associated Press could not independently verify.

The Houthis also claimed that Saudi forces had targeted “civilian assets” over the past 24 hours in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, as well as Taiz, Jawf and other active fronts, including Saada and Marib.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said, without providing evidence, that fighter jets used in the attacks had taken off from Khamis Mushait and Taif in Saudi Arabia, while missiles had been launched from Najran and Jizan. The rebels have repeatedly claimed attacks on those Saudi cities in recent weeks.

Saudi-led coalition vows full support to Yemen government

Al-Malki has vowed “full operational support” to Yemeni government forces until the Houthis are “eliminated.” The coalition has said 100 fighter jets were providing support. Another aim is to liberate Sanaa, Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi criticized Saudi Arabia over support for Yemen’s government forces in the latest escalation with the Houthis, which has shattered a truce reached four years ago.

Rebels are ready to support Palestinians in every way they can in case of “any new round of escalation” with Israel, al-Houthi said in a speech Wednesday expressing solidarity with Gaza on the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The offensive began after the rebels seized Turbah town on a main road linking the provincial capital of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, with Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government. Officials have said U.S. support has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning.

The escalation has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire. Almost 1,000 people have been killed in the latest fighting, with over 200,000 displaced, according to the United Nations. Cholera and malnutrition cases are increasing, access to trauma care is more difficult and some hospitals have shortages of surgical and other supplies, the World Health Organization said this week.

Houthi missiles target Aden's airport

The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Aden. Explosions were heard by an AP journalist around 2 a.m.

The rebels hit a military camp close to the city's airport with ballistic missiles, Saree said. Security authorities in Aden said the Houthis targeted the airport with two missiles, with no casualties. The airport is close to the seat of government.

One missile hit close to the runway just before the scheduled landing of a flight from Cairo, the Human Rights Ministry said. Flight 603, operated by Yemen’s flagship airline, landed safely in Aden at 3:30 a.m., according to the flight tracking platform FlightAware.

The ministry said the missile hit as other passengers were waiting to board their flight to the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

The office of Prime Minister Balendra Shah decided on Monday that search and rescue operations for victims of the Aug. 26 floods will cease. Instead, authorities will concentrate on rehabilitation and reconstruction including restoring roads and bridges cut off by floods, particularly in remote areas where damaged infrastructure has made aid deliveries difficult.

Rescuers have so far recovered the bodies of at least 1,455 people, but 5,285 others remain missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals.

The government estimates reconstruction and recovery will cost $4.77 billion. Nearly 33,000 people have been affected and about 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Hopes for finding survivors were briefly revived after two Nepalese workers were rescued from an underground tunnel at the Trishuli hydropower project on Sept. 4, and again two days later when rescuers found a Chinese man at the same location.

Families of victims have held protests and vigils in Nepal, calling for search efforts to be improved.

“I am so angry at the government for giving up on search and rescue with thousands of people still missing. I just don’t understand how they can do that when we still have hope left that our loved one can still be found,” said Usha Khatri, who has spent days searching for her husband in multiple towns where the river flows and bodies have been recovered.

During her ongoing search she has checked photos of bodies that were recovered but buried for preservation until identification is made.

“Either they have to give up the body or show some solid proof that my husband is gone and only then can they declare him dead,” Khatri said.

“They have abandoned us and they should not have stopped the search,” said Mahesh Shrestha, whose brother was an engineer at a hydropower plant that was hit. “Our family demand they continue looking for him.”

Others welcomed the decision and said they are seeking government-issued death certificates.

“After so many days and weeks there is little or no hope of finding anyone alive. We are sure that none of our family members survived and we are just looking for a closure,” said Nirajan Poudel, who lost five family members in the flood.

Several people whose relatives remain missing have performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important final rite in the Hindu tradition and performing the ceremony even without a body provides a sense of spiritual release for some families.

Poudel said the government has so far refused to issue death certificates, saying laws need to be amended first. Death certificates are necessary in Nepal for families to receive compensation, insurance and inherit properties.

Nepal's government did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press for more information about the death certificates.

The two-month operation targeted illegal logging, gold mining and wildlife trafficking across nine countries, identifying some 60,000 hectares (148,000 acres) of illegally cleared forest — an area 10 times the size of Manhattan Island.

But investigators increasingly focused beyond the people cutting trees, mining gold or trafficking animals to the companies, financial networks and international buyers suspected of profiting from environmental destruction.

In one investigation originating in Colombia, authorities had identified 11 foreign companies suspected of involvement in clearing more than 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) of protected Amazon forest. Interpol said intelligence gathered during the latest operation uncovered links to another 161 companies and 65 people across several continents.

Investigators found suspected permit fraud and the alleged use of shell companies and foreign investment mechanisms, Interpol said. Colombian authorities arrested 16 people and seized digital evidence, while Interpol issued international notices seeking information or action involving suspects linked to the network.

“Following the money, whether from an illegal gold mine in Panama to a buyer in North America, Europe or Asia, helps a case move beyond the individuals physically harvesting the timber, handling the animal or extracting the gold,” Krandall Gullock, head of Interpol’s Regional Bureau for Central America, said in a statement.

Illegal gold mining fuels deforestation and pollution

Environmental crime has become increasingly intertwined with organized crime across Latin America, particularly in remote forest regions where illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking can exploit the same routes and financial networks used for other illicit commodities. Gold is particularly attractive to criminal groups because of its high value, portability and ease of sale. Illegal mining has expanded across parts of the Amazon as gold prices have risen, driving deforestation and contaminating rivers with mercury and other toxic substances.

In August, The Associated Press accompanied Peruvian security forces raiding illegal gold mines advancing into the Tambopata National Reserve in the Amazon. Authorities there are increasingly trying to target not only mining equipment but the financial networks behind the operations, as miners frequently return after raids.

Earlier this year, nearly 200 people were arrested in the first coordinated cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining involving Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname. Authorities seized gold, cash, mercury, firearms and mining equipment.

The latest Interpol operation underscored the scale of the chemicals feeding the trade. In Costa Rica, authorities seized about 4.6 metric tons of cyanide and 11 containers of mercury, both used in gold extraction. Mercury is highly toxic and can contaminate rivers, wildlife and people, while cyanide can also cause severe environmental damage if improperly handled or released.

Wildlife trafficking another focus of crackdown

The crackdown, known as Operation Madre Tierra VIII, ran from June 1 to July 31 and involved Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. More than 330 cases were reported, with 312 people identified as suspected of involvement in environmental crimes.

It follows a similar Interpol operation last year that resulted in 225 arrests and uncovered more than 400 environmental crimes, including illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, mining and pollution.

Wildlife trafficking was another major focus this year. Authorities recovered more than 1,000 live animals, including endangered Bengal tigers, lions, jaguars, ocelots, parrots and macaws. Some were found along routes also used by criminal networks to move drugs and other illicit goods, Interpol said.

Authorities also seized 165 kilograms (364 pounds) of dried shark fins worth an estimated $280,000.

“These cases demonstrate the transnational nature of environmental crime, with biodiversity-rich countries increasingly targeted as sources of high-value commodities destined for illicit markets around the world,” said Thomas Ungerbuehler, Interpol’s assistant director of environmental security.

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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 election late Tuesday was a significant moment in a political crisis in the small Balkan nation that has caused legislative deadlock for over 19 months and two early parliamentary elections.

Just before Shiroka Pula was elected, lawmakers also approved a law limiting the powers of a special court in The Hague, Netherlands, which was set up to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the country's 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia.

During the extraordinary session in Parliament, Shiroka Pula secured 81 votes in the 120-seat parliament. Outside, thousands of protesters had gathered demanding that the legislature pass the law limiting the powers of the war crimes court, known as the Specialist Chambers.

Shiroka Pula recently served as president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. She will become Kosovo’s third female president since the country’s post-war independence. She was a last-minute consensus candidate backed by the ruling Self-Determination movement and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

The role of president in Kosovo is largely ceremonial, though office holders do play an important role in foreign policy and serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. She will have to endorse the law limiting the power of the Hague court for it to become binding.

In her speech after taking the oath late Tuesday, Shiroka Pula said: “Today, I accept with great honor and full responsibility the duty of President of the Republic of Kosovo.”

“This mandate does not belong to one person alone, it belongs to our citizens, our institutions, and the state for which many generations have sacrificed,” she said.

Shiroka Pula’s election came after over two weeks of protests following a verdict by The Hague-based court convicting four of Kosovo's wartime rebel leaders of war crimes, including the country's former president Hashim Thaci. They were sentenced to between 13 and 25 years in prison.

Kosovo has criticized the verdicts as unjust, maintaining that the KLA, which Thaci had led before entering politics, had fought against Serbian oppression. Both residents and politicians feared the court ruling would tarnish Kosovo’s independence struggle.

More than 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, were killed during the conflict in Kosovo, while about 1 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars were driven from their homes during the fighting.

Many molecules come in versions that look alike but are not exactly identical, like right and left hands. Kagan, who is from France, and Soai, from Japan, found ways to make chemistry pick a side, describing and designing reactions to produce the desired mirror image.

“The medicines we have today would not be possible without this chemistry,” said Rigoberto Hernandez, president of the American Chemical Society.

Soai was shopping at a neighborhood supermarket when he heard he had won.

“I’m very excited to receive the very nice news,” Soai told the Nobel committee and journalists by phone. “Of course, this is one of the most exciting days in my life.”

The discovery enabled most modern medicines

Mirror images of the same molecule can have different properties. For example, one version of the chemical carvone smells like mint, while the other has a whiff of caraway, a spice often used in rye bread.

The alternate versions can also behave differently when interacting with other chemicals. When designing drugs to treat diseases, scientists are choosy about which mirror image they use. They want the version of a molecule to treat a cold, not one that will make the sniffles worse.

In the 1980s, Kagan’s work showed there might be a way to design reactions to produce one form of a molecule over the other. Years later, Soai perfected the process. He created the first-ever chemical reaction to efficiently produce only one of a molecule’s mirror images, in what’s now known as the Soai reaction.

“This is probably the coolest experiment in organic chemistry,” said Peter Somfai, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Kagan, 95, is affiliated with the Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France. Soai, 76, is affiliated with the Tokyo University of Science. The Nobel committee described their work as a feat never previously achieved by anyone “other than life itself.”

The French Academy of Sciences, where Kagan is a member, congratulated him, as did French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the prize “an immense source of pride for the country” and “a recognition befitting a lifetime of research.”

“It might be difficult to say that this drug, or that drug, was developed using this,” Somfai said. “I would say all of them, because we use this as a tool, we use this as an understanding, how to develop catalysts, how they function.”

Life, too, prefers one mirror image over the other. DNA twists to the right, and the proteins in human bodies are made of mostly left-handed building blocks.

In addition to developing better medicines or perfumes, deciphering the mirror images of molecules can help scientists understand the chemical architecture of life, said chemist Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the journal Science.

“There are still fascinating aspects that remain unknown and surely more yet to be discovered,” Soai said at a news conference hosted by his university in Tokyo. "I hope to do what I can, however modestly, to contribute to help advance research in this field."

Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri, distributed an extra edition with a headline proclaiming “Nobel Prize Mr. Soai,” with a big photo of the scientist. The papers quickly disappeared as office workers picked them up on their way home.

More Nobel prizes are still to be awarded

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm.

Last year, three scientists won the chemistry Nobel for their development of new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments.

This year's prizes began with the Nobel for medicine, awarded Monday to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award announced Tuesday recognized a scientist's efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos.

The literature prize is set to be awarded Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

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This story has been corrected to correct that Kagan, not Soai, is 95.

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Ramakrishnan reported from New York. Dazio reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalists Alexa St. John in Detroit, Catherine Gaschka in Paris and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

Martinez spent 2009-11 playing for Fordham, a school just 5 miles from the big ballpark. His last trip to Yankee Stadium as a student was memorable.

“We had practice get canceled and so me and my roommate we went out pretty early. They were playing the Red Sox. Might have had a few too many adult beverages. Got kicked out,” he recalled in May. “It was rowdy. We were kind of rowdy. Next time I was at Yankee Stadium I was pitching."

Hoping for its first World Series title, Tampa Bay has a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five AL Division Series against New York. Martinez is 2-2 with a 2.93 ERA in nine Yankee Stadium appearances.

“As a student at Fordham, whenever we had practice off or a day off and they were playing at home, we’d come over, catch a train and watch a game at Yankee Stadium and we’d be in the bleachers, my roommate or a couple buddies,” the 36-year-old right-hander recalled Tuesday.

“Man, obviously playing here would be pretty badass,” Martinez remembered thinking back then.

He became a first-time All-Star this year, going 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA — including 7-3 with a 2.38 ERA and .232 opponents batting average on the road.

“It’s supercool to see a guy like that who’s been around for a long time, have the success he’s had,” Rays outfielder Jonny DeLuca said. “It’s the vibes. It’s everything that he brings."

Martinez was primarily a middle infielder in college, hitting .295 with four homers and 66 RBIs. He made five relief appearances as a freshman, none as a sophomore and 10 as a junior, totaling 26 1/3 innings.

He drew the attention of Texas Rangers scout Jay Heafner on March 14, 2011, throwing four shutout innings of three-hit ball against Charleston Southern. Heafner was tipped to watch Martinez by Juan Alvarez, a former major leaguer who was a Rangers scout at the time and had given Martinez some pitching lessons during his junior year at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Kendall, Florida.

Martinez was selected by the Rangers in the 18th round of the 2011 amateur draft with the 564th pick and signed for a $60,000 bonus. He made his big league debut in 2014 and went 17-30 with a 4.77 ERA in 68 starts and 20 relief appearances while getting optioned to the minor leagues 13 times.

Not wanting to risk getting designated for assignment, Martinez left and spent four seasons in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters and Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He pitched for the U.S. in the 2021 Olympics, beating South Korea in the group stage and allowing Munetaka Murakami's go-ahead homer in the third inning of a 2-0 loss to Japan in the gold medal game.

“We could talk for an hour about how Japan changed my career,” Martinez said. “I just grew as a pitcher physically and mentally and was able to hone in my craft. Ultimately I was able to shake that label of being a depth guy, being a guy that can be in Triple-A and come up for a spot start and kind of ride that DFA train and bounce around teams and just fill in.”

He has blossomed back in the major leagues and has a 53-65 career record with a 3.99 ERA in nine big league seasons. After pitching for San Diego and Cincinnati. he joined the Rays for 2026 on a $13 million, one-year deal.

“Induces soft contact,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We got a lot of guys and a lot of starters that get a lot of outs via the strikeout. We know and he knows that that’s not his bread and butter. It’s to try to get guys out early in the count, trust the defense. He does that as well as anybody.”

After bouncing between the rotation and the bullpen, Martinez became a full-time starter this season.

“I’ve always believed that I can be a starter,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed being one of the five or six horses on the team that the team relies on for a full season.”

Martinez impressed Cash as much with his demeanor.

“He is so genuine and authentic,” the manager said. “The selfless approach. I’ve heard him no less than 20 times this year look at me as like: 'I don’t care. I’ll do whatever. I’ll pitch out of the pen. I’ll start games. I’ll do whatever you need me to do to help this team win.'”

Martinez returned to Fordham on Sept. 21, throwing long toss at Jack Coffey Field with fellow Rays pitchers Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta on an off day before his last start against the Yankees.

“In his head it logically made sense to come up to campus and throw more than I guess throwing in Central Park,” Fordham baseball coach Kevin Leighton said. “They easily could have taken it easy, but those guys were up early in the morning after a flight to New York and they were getting their work in up at Fordham. To me, that says a lot about those guys and their work ethic and commitment to being the best.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

In Greece to discuss deepening economic, energy and security cooperation, Rubio made the case for nationalism while emphasizing the importance of global alliances during a dramatic speech about ancient civilization that appeared to reflect his political aspirations beyond being America’s top diplomat.

Rubio aimed to remind listeners of qualities he says were born in Greece and later defined the West, such as curiosity, courage, ambition, a restless spirit of exploration and a drive to discover the unknown.

“It has become fashionable today to believe that enlightened foreign policy means prioritizing the ‘global community’ over one’s own people," Rubio said. "And I think here, too, we have much more to learn from the men of ancient Greece. They knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else.”

Rubio touts alliances with Europe but says US pursues 'national power’

In his current role, Rubio is seen by many as the gentle face of the Trump administration and has been frequently dispatched to clarify or otherwise address concerns about the president’s frequently undiplomatic statements.

He is on the second leg of a three-nation tour of NATO allies that has already taken him to Iceland and will end in Portugal on Thursday, aiming to reassure U.S. partners that the Trump administration is committed to their success and security despite what has been an often brusque approach to traditional friends that has stirred unease.

“We must strengthen an alliance capable of confronting threats of our age. And we can,” Rubio said Wednesday, maintaining that the U.S. administration wanted Europe to join its bold vision of the future.

He also was clear, however, about the United States acting in its own interests around the world.

“We will either choose to act now, or lose the choice to act at all,” he said. “Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice. We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power.”

Rubio warned European countries that the decisions made in the next decade “will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world, or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline.”

But he also argued that despite “passions” having strained U.S.-Europe relations, allied countries must work to “rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused countries in Europe of backsliding on their traditional values and democratic principles by stifling the free speech of conservatives and falling short on commitments to international partners like the United States.

Many of those countries have rejected the complaints and accused the U.S. under Trump of being guilty of similar behavior and worse with its staunch anti-immigration stance that some believe is racist.

Rubio's speech offers presidential overtones

The tone and tenor of Rubio’s remarks, the symbolic backdrop and the State Department's hiring of a local television crew to provide different angles of the speech, including a camera-mounted swiveling crane, were more reflective of a stump speech during a presidential campaign than a public address while on a diplomatic trip.

The former Republican senator, who previously ran for the White House in 2016, touched on the history of Western civilization while making mention of his own family’s immigration journey, at one point marveling how a son of Cuban immigrants could become the U.S. secretary of state.

“Two and a half centuries after the founding of the American Republic, halfway across the world from where I stand now, I stand here today as the Secretary of State of that Republic, and as the great-grandson of settlers who arrived in the New World from Spain,” Rubio said. “I stand here to testify to a debt that no lapse of time, no distance of space, can ever extinguish.”

Along with Vice President JD Vance, Rubio is seen as one of the leading contenders to assume Trump’s mantle at the top of the Republican Party, which faces stiff challenges in next month’s congressional midterm elections.

The speech, however, contained several historically dubious points, including that the founders of the United States had embraced the direct democracy that Athens was known for. The founders were suspicious of direct democracy and so created the Electoral College as a check on the popular will.

Rubio also hailed the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés as an heir to the Athenian concept of exploring and pursuing knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Cortes is viewed much differently in Latin America, where his toppling of the Aztec empire and other bloody conquests are remembered for huge numbers of dead and the theft of treasure.

Visit follows allegations of misconduct by US ambassador

Before his speech, Rubio declined to comment when asked about allegations of misconduct leveled at U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.

At a joint news conference with the Greek foreign minister, Rubio said he would not address the matter while visiting a foreign country, but added, “Suffice it to say our embassy here is doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”

The top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Gregory Meeks, have initiated probes into claims reported last month by the Wall Street Journal that Guilfoyle acted improperly while serving as the top U.S. envoy to Greece.

The Journal reported that Guilfoyle told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.

Guilfoyle, a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr., has denied any wrongdoing and Rubio has defended her before.

Ahead of his visit, about 1,500 people gathered to protest Rubio’s presence and the war in Iran, chanting “American killers!”

The demonstration was organized by a communist labor union and other left-wing groups and was held ahead of extensive road closures planned in Athens. Organizers said similar protests were held in at least 12 other Greek cities.

Police banned public demonstrations Wednesday in central Athens.

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Amiri reported from New York.

The five children were killed when a Russian missile struck an apartment building, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Three were 1 year old and another was 8.

Zelenskyy had warned the previous day that intelligence services had concluded that Russia was building up for a “massive” strike.

Although Ukraine knew about the looming attack, which coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, it couldn’t repel it completely.

“This is the ‘gift’ that Putin gave himself for his birthday: the killing of children, the killing of people,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Wednesday.

The deaths and damage illustrated the difficulty Ukraine has in countering Russia’s ballistic missiles and the new jet-powered drones used in Moscow’s escalating bombardments. Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, Ukraine can’t stop Russian ballistic weapons. It is racing to develop a new generation of interceptors fast enough to catch Moscow's high-flying jet-propelled drones.

Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a long-range aerial war as their armies remain largely deadlocked on the battlefield, more than 4 ½ years after Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. The unrelenting aerial attacks are hurting Russia but could be ruinous for smaller Ukraine.

U.S.-led peace efforts appear unlikely to bring any short-term relief, with the possibility of holding low-level technical talks still under discussion. Putin, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with the invasion in the belief that Ukrainians will buckle under the pressure and Kyiv’s Western supporters won’t stay the course, Western analysts say.

“Russia is pursuing a deliberate strategy of terror,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X. “Trying to make daily life impossible for Ukrainians who want to live in peace.”

Russia wants Ukrainians to be afraid to sleep

, official says

A Russian strike destroyed an apartment block in Pryluky, in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, killing 19 people, including five children, Zelenskyy said. Authorities said around 50 were wounded.

Deaths were also reported in three other Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, according to Zelenskyy.

“The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively,” the Ukrainian leader said on social media.

Ukraine is looking worldwide for available Patriot missiles, which are in short supply due to the Iran war.

“Russian ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge. And air defense packages for us right now are a vital necessity,” Zelenskyy said.

In Kremenchuk, in the Poltava region, two people were killed and seven injured, said Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the regional military administration, and a rescue operation was continuing.

“That is exactly what the enemy is counting on. For us to be afraid to fall asleep. To let our children out of our sight. To plan anything. So that everyone thinks: next time it could be my address,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the military carried out a massive strike overnight targeting industrial facilities involved in the production and storage of missiles and drones across Ukraine. The ministry said that port and ship repair facilities in the southern Odesa region and ships carrying cargo for the Ukrainian military were also hit.

Ukraine hit back against Russian oil facilities, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine has hit back at Russia by launching long-range drones and missiles at oil refineries and storage depots.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukraine targeted two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions of Russia.

Russian officials made no immediate comment.

Zelenskyy also indicated that Ukraine had struck in the Black Sea. He posted images of a fire said to show an oil tanker burning in the water near the Russian city of Sochi.

It was not possible to independently verify the images.

Some Russian online media late Tuesday also posted the images. Unconfirmed reports said the tanker was carrying oil from Novorossiysk to India and was attacked by Ukrainian sea drones.

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

“Some very tough political choices stare us in the face,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore ahead of autumn IMF-World Bank meetings to be held in Bangkok next week.

“My message to the world's economic policymakers next week will be this: we cannot keep delaying necessary policy action — you have the tools, now have the wisdom to use them,” she said.

At the meetings in Bangkok, finance ministers and central bank governors of 191 IMF-World Bank member countries will assess the state of the world economy and discuss strategies to support financial stability and sustained growth.

So far, the hardest recent hits to global well-being have come from conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere, Georgieva noted.

But excessive debt is a growing burden for wealthy countries such as the U.S., Japan and Germany, as well as low-income countries that must choose between spending on public welfare or repaying onerous loans at a time of high interest rates, she noted.

Georgieva pointed to risks associated with the rapid buildup of data center capacity to deliver artificial intelligence, which has helped push stock prices in many places to record highs, supporting strong economic growth despite high energy costs due to the Iran war.

Investments in AI are likely to exceed the relative scale of spending on building railroads, electricity grids and telecommunications networks.

“Love it, hate it or fear it, AI is here, rapidly becoming a key driver of countries' relative fortunes in the world economy,” she said.

The AI building boom is underpinning robust corporate earnings as well as higher inflation. But there is a lag between the heavy investments involved and the arrival of AI's benefits, Georgieva said.

“Should earnings fall short,” she said, “hyperscaler leverage and large and growing global holdings of U.S. equities could turn a disappointment into a far-reaching shock.”

Seven of the top 10 countries for AI-related trade are in the Asia-Pacific region, where the share of global economic activity has risen to 43% from 25% in 1991, the last time the meetings were held in Bangkok.

While China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries with strong tech sectors are benefiting from the AI boom, it is bypassing most others, Georgieva said, adding to economic inequality. AI also is raising energy demand, pushing prices for fuel, fertilizer, food and other key commodities still higher.

She urged countries to rein in public spending and to raise the cost of borrowing as needed to control inflation, while protecting the most vulnerable members of their societies.

Policies are needed to ensure AI is well regulated and to train workers, make labor markets more flexible, facilitate entrepreneurship and improve energy security, Georgieva said.

The relentless Milwaukee Brewers are making that job awfully difficult — but after three scintillating, one-run playoff games packed with pressure moments, extraordinary plays and hero turns in this NL Division Series, the Padres are still fighting for at least another day.

Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking homer, King pitched the final two innings on one day of rest and the Padres avoided playoff elimination with a 4-3 victory Tuesday night, trimming Milwaukee's lead in the best-of-five series to 2-1.

“It feels like we've played three straight games against the Brewers like that,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said. “We finally were able to come out on the right end of things in this one. A lot of big effort from a lot of guys during the game to get us to the final score.”

Xander Bogaerts scored San Diego's fourth run on a hustle play in the sixth and then capped his team's stellar defensive performance with a game-ending double play at shortstop for the Padres, who hung on in a nail-biter over the MLB-best Brewers. This is the first playoff series since the 2021 National League Championship Series to begin with three straight one-run decisions.

“Can’t do much about the first two games, but all three games have been really good baseball,” Bogaerts said. “Once tomorrow comes, let’s go for it, but right now let’s enjoy this one, because this was a really good one.”

Game 4 is Wednesday night at Petco Park. If necessary, Game 5 will be back in Milwaukee on Friday.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado drove in early runs for the Padres, but their bullpen didn’t have star closer Mason Miller, who went on the paternity list about 45 minutes before the first pitch. San Diego also didn't have top setup man Adrian Morejon, who has shoulder “stickiness,” according to Stammen.

So despite pitching 12 innings in two starts over the previous seven days, King stepped up and finished it off — but only after a thrilling ninth.

King retired four of his first five batters before walking William Contreras and Brice Turang. Christian Yelich then cracked a 107 mph line drive up the middle, where Bogaerts went down to his knees to field it on a short hop and scampered to touch second base before throwing out Yelich at first to end it.

“I know that I have bullets in my arm that I don’t want to save,” King said. “If you’re in an elimination game, you want everybody to be all in on it, and ... we have a bunch of dogs down there that are all in.”

King — who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the Wild Card Series opener against the Chicago Cubs a week ago — earned his first save since 2023, his first in the postseason and his first for the Padres.

San Diego had won 19 of 22 and swept the Cubs before losing two straight heartbreakers in Milwaukee last weekend.

Brewers come up short

Contreras homered and had three hits for the Brewers, who lost their 12th consecutive postseason road game dating to the 2018 NLCS.

Yelich even got his first playoff RBI since 2018 with a seventh-inning single, but Milwaukee fell behind early and never led, leaving 11 runners on base.

“That’s part of baseball,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “When you’re facing a good team with a good pitching staff, that’s part of it. We didn’t get the big hit at the big time, but do you fault Yelly for hitting one 107 there and Bogaerts making a great play? They've got a great team, and they played great defense tonight.”

Back-and-forth game

Neither starter excelled on a tense, uncommonly hot October night in downtown San Diego. Nick Pivetta yielded two runs and five hits while pitching into the fifth for the Padres, and Dustin May got pulled abruptly with a 1-0 count on Bogaerts and a runner aboard in the fourth.

Cooper Pratt tied it for Milwaukee right after Pivetta’s exit when left fielder Dustin Harris couldn’t throw him out on Jackson Chourio’s 242-foot sacrifice fly. It was the fifth RBI of the series for the 22-year-old Chourio and his 16th in 15 career postseason games, already tying Ryan Braun for the franchise record.

Cronenworth lined JoJo Romero’s first pitch of the fifth over the wall in right for only his second hit this postseason.

Bogaerts likely saved at least one run in the fifth when he dived to keep Contreras' single in the infield with two runners on.

Bogaerts then singled in the sixth, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Pratt bounced his throw from shortstop for an error after Miguel Andujar’s broken bat came flying toward him along with the grounder.

Yelich singled home Contreras for his first playoff RBI since he homered in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS against the Dodgers — a span of 87 plate appearances over 19 games.

Up next

Walker Buehler will start Game 4 for the Padres after making 32 starts in a resurgent season for the former Dodgers star. The Brewers hadn't announced a starting pitcher, but Robert Gasser, Shane Drohan and Chad Patrick are all available after starting a combined 45 games this season.

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A previous version of this story corrected that King started Game 2, not Game 1.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Nearly every poster, stump speech or televised debate seems to reference the attack, which has scarred the country and remains fresh in the minds of voters. Three years on, the worst security failure in Israel’s history now threatens to end the career of its longest-serving prime minister.

“October 7 is kind of a framework for the entire political discussion that is going on,” said Tamar Hermann, an expert on Israeli public opinion at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank. “All of us are post-traumatic in a way.”

Netanyahu’s opponents want him to pay for the failures that led to the deadliest day in Israel’s 78-year history and plunged the country into a series of inconclusive wars. His defenders say Netanyahu was betrayed by the military establishment and that he has led Israel through a dramatic rebound from its darkest hour.

A loss in the Oct. 27 election would likely end the career of the soon-to-be 77-year-old Netanyahu. A victory would mark the greatest turnaround yet for a man who has defied naysayers for three decades.

A deadly day that has shaken an entire region

On the morning of Oct. 7, Hamas militants fired several thousand rockets into Israel and thousands of militants attacked through holes blown in the border fence or with boats or motorized paragliders. Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed over 74,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities, left the territory in ruins and sparked an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. Israel later went to war against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, seized a chunk of Syria, attacked targets in Yemen and joined the U.S. in two wars against Iran.

Hundreds of Israelis, mostly young soldiers, have died, and nearly every household has been touched by the violence. Netanyahu promised “total victory,” but Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s theocratic government all remain intact.

Israel’s international standing has plummeted, a number of foreign governments have accused it of genocide — a charge it vehemently rejects — and Netanyahu is now wanted by the International Criminal Court.

After a string of resignations by top security officials, Netanyahu is the only senior figure from Oct. 7 still in office, making this month’s election in many ways a referendum on his leadership.

It's the focus of the campaign for both sides

Netanyahu and his opponents have put Oct. 7 at the forefront of their campaigns — for different reasons.

His opponents — from across the political spectrum — call his outgoing coalition “the massacre government,” a reference to the Oct. 7 attack occurring on their watch. Netanyahu says he has led a “war of redemption.”

His chief rival is Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief whose son and nephew were killed in battle in Gaza. The opponents have pledged to form a government of “repair and reconstruction” — beginning with the formation of an official commission of inquiry into Oct. 7. They also have vowed to end draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox religious men, a long-standing policy that has outraged the secular majority at a time of war, and accuse Netanyahu of threatening Israel's democratic institutions.

“The most fateful elections in the history of the State of Israel are between evasion and enlistment,” Eisenkot wrote on X. “Between taking responsibility and fleeing from responsibility.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for a commission of inquiry while trying to shift the blame to security officials. He recently accused the then-head of the Shin Bet security service, Ronen Bar, of withholding information ahead of the attack. Bar has vowed to file a defamation lawsuit.

Netanyahu has meanwhile denied reports in American media outlets that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt warned him ahead of Oct. 7.

He insists the country is stronger than ever.

“Our enemies expected us to collapse,” Netanyahu said in a recent address to the United Nations. “Well, we didn’t collapse. Instead, we rose and fought like lions.”

Oct. 7 victims are seeking seats in parliament

Eisenkot’s new Yashar party list includes two parents who lost children on Oct. 7. Netanyahu’s Likud party also includes two grieving parents, among them the mother of a policeman killed in battle on Oct. 7 whose remains were the last to be returned to Israel as part of a ceasefire. Another Likud candidate lost both legs while serving in Gaza.

The leader of the dovish Democrats party, Yair Golan, is a retired general who put on his uniform and rushed to the southern border to fight on Oct. 7. The centrist Together party’s list has another former general, Noam Tibon, who also battled militants as he rescued his son’s family, and the mother of a soldier killed that day.

Other parties have also added people directly impacted by the attack.

Organizers, including victims' relatives, say they are keeping politics out of a mass memorial service in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. But they have hardly concealed their anger at the country’s leadership.

“We will not let anyone evade responsibility,” Yonatan Shamriz, whose brother was taken hostage and mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers after escaping captivity, said in a radio interview.

There is little discussion of the Palestinians

Largely missing from the Israeli public discourse is any discussion of the dire situation in Gaza or the fate of the Palestinians.

Israeli leaders have said little about the unprecedented death toll in Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe and the lack of reconstruction. Instead, they have focused largely on the country’s pain over Oct. 7.

There is almost no mention of peace talks, and even Netanyahu’s challengers largely oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the international community's preferred solution for the decades-old conflict.

When a pair of Israeli filmmakers released a documentary last month about civilian deaths in Gaza, party leaders across the spectrum, including Eisenkot, accused them of treason.

Oct. 7 has hardened the bitter split over Netanyahu

Polling suggests a close race between Netanyahu and his chief rival, Eisenkot, with an uncertain outcome.

According to the Israel Democracy Institute, over 60% of Israelis say their attitudes toward Oct. 7 are a central factor in whom to vote for. That number jumps to 68% among the Jewish majority; Arab voters are most concerned with a crime wave in their communities.

But Hermann, the IDI polling expert, said this doesn’t necessarily mean bad news for Netanyahu. She says the past three years have hardened attitudes on both sides.

Just because everyone says Oct. 7 is important, she said, “doesn’t mean that they will come out with the same conclusion.”

Gov. Genta Koja, in Tokyo for the first time since taking office a week ago, conveyed Okinawa's outrage in his meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, asking her government for further efforts to reduce the burden of hosting U.S. military bases on the small island.

“Okinawa has requested preventive measures every time similar crimes were repeated in past, and now we have this case again,” Koja told Takaichi in a guest room at the Prime Minister's Office packed with reporters.

“I must say past disciplinary measures and human rights education implemented by the U.S. military have not worked at all,” Koja said.

People in Okinawa have long opposed the heavy U.S. military presence on the island and complained about noise, pollution and crime related to American bases, though some have come to see its strategic value due to what is widely viewed as a growing threat from China.

Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old Ohio native belonging to the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel and stealing her wallet and backpack. He has denied the allegations, according to Japanese media.

Takaichi said she regretted the “heinous crime” and shared the outrage. Noting the new disciplinary measures announced by the U.S. military Tuesday, Takaichi said she expected the American government to take subsequent steps.

Japan and the U.S. will discuss “how to implement preventive measures that are effective,” she said.

Hours earlier, the U.S. military in Okinawa announced a 48-hour pause of all military operations for training through noon on Friday, as well as restricting the ability of troops to leave their base and prohibiting consumption of alcohol.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, wrote in a letter posted Tuesday on X that episodes like these “demand we pause for reflection” and that serving on the Japanese island “comes with responsibility.”

U.S. troops on Okinawa will be under a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. for 30 days following the two-day training period, Watson said.

Koja said he appreciated prompt response from the Japanese and U.S. governments to the murder case “as a sign they both took the case seriously.”

However, he will need to see details of the ongoing training, he said, and requested the Japanese involvement to make U.S. disciplinary measures more effective.

A majority of the more than 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security agreement are based on the island.

Earlier Monday, Koja made the same request in his meeting with Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

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Associated Press writers Ben Finley and Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.

Marchand was not on the bench for the third period, and coach Paul Maurice did not have an update on his condition afterward.

“We’ll get him looked at probably Thursday,” Maurice said.

Marchand was hurt after taking a stick to the face from Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke with 52.6 seconds remaining, which caused him to twist around and collide with the right post before his left leg bent back in an awkward way.

Marchand was down on the ice for several minutes being examined by an athletic trainer before teammates Brady Tkachuk and Niko Mikkola helped him to the bench, with Marchand unable to put any weight on his leg. He was then helped back to the dressing room.

Marchand, 38, is in his third season with the Panthers after playing his first 16 seasons with the Boston Bruins. He was traded to Florida in March 2025 and helped them win their second straight Stanley Cup that season.

But the defense of those titles last season was scuttled by injuries, and now the Panthers have seen two key players injured on their four-game West Coast trip to start this season.

Aleksander Barkov, one of the top two-way centers in hockey, hurt his left leg in an overtime loss at San Jose on Thursday. Maurice said earlier Tuesday that Barkov is expected to miss six to eight weeks and will not require surgery.

“I mean, we have a little experience with Sasha going down, so it wasn’t quite as shocking the second time it happened,” Maurice said. "We know we have good depth. And there’s a threshold for any team, a number of injuries you just can’t survive, and we passed that early last year. So, real good resolve here. The tank is deep right now. We had a big summer off, so we’re strong.”

Clarke received a four-minute double-minor penalty. It was the second penalty of the game for Clarke, who was called for interference against Eetu Luostarinen earlier in the period. Luostarinen was shaken up on a cross-check from Clarke, sustaining a stinger, but was able to return to the game.

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here

For now, it will show off its bulging bundle of intellectual properties, with the official announcement touting “a franchise portfolio spanning Top Gun and Harry Potter to White Lotus and SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Several such lists could be made without any overlap. Tony Soprano is now under the same roof as Michael Corleone. The creations of J.R.R. Tolkien and Taylor Sheridan now share a home. And the DC Universe is in the same space as “Star Trek.”

Both companies also have a storied history — some of it even recent — of non-franchise creations, whose creators are worried about what will be left for them as big swaths of Hollywood fear for their jobs and productions.

Moviegoers and TV viewers may wonder what all the fuss was about in the short run, while in the long run they may not recognize the landscape that's left.

Here’s a look at how the consumption and production of film and television will look in the near future.

What does it mean for TV and streaming?

The streaming services that provide the most direct interface viewers have with the two merged companies — HBO Max for Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount+ for Paramount — will look the same Wednesday as they did Tuesday, but they won't stay that way.

In its announcement of the completed deal, echoing what CEO David Ellison previously told shareholders, Skydance said the two streamers “will unify into a single service over time.” No timeline was given.

The classic broadcast and cable properties the two companies own that feed those services — HBO, TNT, HGTV, and Food Network for Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS, MTV, BET and Nickelodeon for Paramount — should also show no short-term evidence of change, but that won't mean major upheaval isn't coming.

Combined, the two services have well over 200 million subscribers, though it’s not wholly clear how much overlap there is between the two. HBO Max’s share of that is nearly double that of Paramount+. That could have an effect on the branding of the chimera to come, and some of the HBO Max name — which Warner Bros. Discovery previously tried to drop in favor of just Max — could live on.

“I do not believe the consumer is going to observe the difference in the organization, whether it be in raised subscription fees to HBO Max or raised subscription fees to Paramount+ or new programming rolled out in the first quarter,” said J. Christopher Hamilton, a professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. “I think it’s going to take some time for them to really, really lock in on what implemented changes will have the least amount of disruption to the consumer base, but also to the town.”

Skydance TV slate includes ‘Pitt,’ ‘Potter,’ ‘Lotus’ and ‘Landman’

The pipelines for each streamer have kept pumping as though no massive change was coming.

The biggest forthcoming piece of TV for Warner Bros. is its Harry Potter reboot, with a Christmas premiere for Season 1 on HBO Max and Season 2 shooting already underway for whatever its streamer is called when it drops.

Season 3 of “The Pitt,” which won best drama Emmys for each of its first two seasons, is well underway and set for an early 2027 release, and “The White Lotus” is set to finally complete its monthslong shooting of Season 4 on the French Riviera with a release sometime next year.

“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has wrapped shooting its second season and is slated to start rolling out episodes early in 2027, and the fourth and final season of its fellow “Game of Thrones” scion “House of the Dragon” is set to start shooting in the new year.

Paramount+'s slate is dominated by the many cowboy-coded creations of Sheridan, with new seasons forthcoming on “Landman,” “Tulsa King” and several of the spinoffs, prequels and sequels of his “Yellowstone.”

One major change is inevitable: Sheridan's contract runs out in 2028, when he'll be off to NBCUniversal.

What does it mean for the movies?

In the past week, Paramount announced two franchises in development: a G.I. Joe movie with Bradley Cooper, directed by Danny McBride, and a live-action Transformers film, executive produced and creatively shaped by Steven Spielberg.

The Paramount slate has in the past dozen-plus years been heavily weighted toward franchise fare, whether it’s “Mission: Impossible,” “Star Trek,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” or any of the other big-name brands in its arsenal.

While the studio had a slew of best picture winners in the 1990s, including “Forrest Gump,” “Braveheart” and “Titanic,” it’s been a bit of a drought since (broken only by 2007's “No Country for Old Men,” which Paramount distributed internationally).

Acclaimed executives are among the early exits

Warner Bros., meanwhile, had been on a hot streak with a combination of original and franchise films. This year, under the stewardship of Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, they collected 30 Oscar nominations and won 11, including best picture for “One Battle After Another.”

Ellison wrote in a post on X last week that by combining the two storied studios, “we aren’t rewriting history — we’re equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine.”

But neither Abdy nor De Luca will be part of the merged operation, which left filmmakers like Tony Gilroy reeling. Gilroy called their exits “a seismic change in Hollywood of a magnitude that I don’t remember,” adding, “They’re just real film people. And these studios are real studios. There’s no reason for them to be merged or pulled apart.”

Paramount Motion Picture co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg will lead the overall film operation for Skydance now. James Gunn and Peter Safran are expected to continue running DC Studios.

Skydance will also include Warner Bros.’ newest specialty label, Clockwork, with former NEON executive Christian Parkes remaining its head. The label was established to support independent projects, both produced in-house and acquired, with future releases including “Anora” filmmaker Sean Baker’s latest, “Ti Amo!,” and Park Chan-wook’s Matthew McConaughey and Pedro Pascal movie “The Brigands of Rattlecreek.”

What about movie theaters?

Theatrical exhibition lives or dies by a robust release schedule, and the promise of “a minimum of 30 high-quality theatrical films” a year will likely be an appealing one to exhibitors. Next year, the combined studios could exceed that with some 36 releases including a Superman sequel, a Minecraft movie sequel and “A Quiet Place Part III.”

Over the past two years, North American theater owners have reinvested some $2.7 billion in their cinemas, according to a report from the trade association Cinema United. The domestic box office is currently healthy, up around 19.5% from last year and is expected to cross the $8 billion mark this week.

The merged company has some big releases on the horizon for the remainder of this year too, including “Dune: Part Three.”

Cinema United’s president and CEO Michael O’Leary last month reiterated that their primary objective is to safeguard theaters from the “harms of legacy consolidation,” but the group was encouraged by the consent decree’s language on “increased film production for five years, meaningful theatrical exclusivity and wide distribution, prohibitions on cost increases, and continued access to the catalogs of Paramount and Warner Bros.” Those conditions, O’Leary said, will enable theaters “to adapt and succeed.”

It's a far different image than the one his Democratic opponent, local prosecutor Shannon Taylor, has been painting for voters in the red-leaning district. She says Wittman is “too busy getting rich" by trading stocks in companies he's supposed to regulate, a characterization he says is false.

Taylor's campaign is one of many that's embracing an anti-corruption message in a midterm year that's otherwise defined by high gas prices, persistent inflation and sinking confidence in the economy. With so much frustration over the cost of living, candidates see an opportunity to argue that incumbents are more interested in looking out for themselves or donors than their constituents. For some Democrats, it's also an indirect way to remind voters of controversies surrounding President Donald Trump’s family business interests.

At a recent news conference on the U.S. Capitol steps, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said, "Anyone who is stealing from the American people, shortchanging the American people, or screwing over the American people, you are now on notice.”

An AP-NORC poll conducted in September found that registered voters nationally are more likely to describe Republicans than Democrats as corrupt. About half said “corrupt” describes Republicans “extremely” or “very” well, compared to a third who said the same about Democrats.

Virginia’s 1st Congressional District will present one of this year's starkest tests for Democratic attempts to turn their message into a winning campaign issue, as Taylor tries to overcome Wittman's deep experience and down-to-earth reputation with allegations of greed.

Democrats eye a flip for the first time in decades

The district hasn’t been represented by a Democrat since the late 1970s but is now part of the party's push to flip control of the U.S. House. Trump won it by about 5 percentage points two years ago, but Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger took it by nearly 3 points last year.

Money is gushing in. Wittman — who could lead his chamber’s Armed Services Committee if Republicans hold the House — raised about $4 million to Taylor’s $2.1 million in the most recent reporting period. But Taylor has received far more support from outside groups than Wittman, and they’ve spent nearly $5 million on her behalf, with the vast majority of the money attacking Wittman, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

In an interview, Wittman called Taylor “a liar” who has misrepresented the ranges and estimates in his financial disclosures, which don't give a precise accounting of his net worth. Those records do make clear Wittman’s reported assets and individual stock holdings — he has dozens in companies with interests before Congress — have grown substantially during his time in office.

But Wittman said that’s mostly because of inheritances he and his wife received after their parents died. His campaign said he has not used nonpublic information to make investing decisions and doesn’t personally select his stock holdings, which are managed by outside advisers. It also noted that he’s voted for a bill to limit stock trading.

Wittman said he understands voters' concerns about the cost of living and argued Taylor wouldn't help fix the problem.

He said Republicans have addressed affordability issues through tax relief included in Trump's “ big beautiful bill.” Wittman also said he's “not the biggest fan” of Trump's tariffs, which he believes have sometimes driven up costs.

“I hope this election is about ideas, about what are the solutions to the problems, and acknowledging that those problems are there,” said Wittman, who's been endorsed by Trump and has criticized Taylor's record as soft on crime.

Taylor, the top elected prosecutor in a suburban Richmond’s Henrico County, pledges to support a stock trading ban, term limits — something Wittman argued isn't necessary — and a lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists.

“Politicians in both parties are cheating the system, getting rich by trading stock while getting information only they have. Personally profiting when corporations rip us off,” Taylor said in one television advertisement.

Wittman has deep ties to the district

Bruce and Mary Halliburton, a retired married couple from Henrico County who are self-described independents, said Taylor's message has resonated.

“He’s earned enough money,” Bruce Halliburton said of Wittman after the couple voted early for Taylor.

But voters in Gloucester County, a Republican stronghold, defended Wittman as a hard worker who knows the district, and they rejected Taylor's corruption accusations.

“That's a crock of lies against the man,” said Michael Greene, who sells oysters, fish and crabs at his nearby J&M Seafood Shack.

Greene said Wittman greeted him by name when the two ran into each other in late September at the Guinea Jubilee, a community festival celebrating the area's maritime heritage.

It's those kinds of ties that could help insulate Wittman from Taylor's criticisms. In fact, he's never had a close race, winning by at least 10 points in every reelection campaign.

About half of the district’s population lives in the counties surrounding Virginia’s capital city, Richmond, while the rest is comprised of smaller, more rural counties that hug the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers that flow into it.

As Wittman walked around the Guinea Jubilee, he was stopped over and over again with requests to pose for photos. One man said he’d met Wittman at a different festival. Another had run into him during a church visit. A pastor knew him from his time working in the district’s shipyards, where Wittman would visit. A child, cellphone in hand, interrupted an interview to ask Wittman to chime in on a video call.

Taylor campaigned at the same event, where she enjoyed a crab cake and talked to vendors about the impacts of Trump's tariffs.

She easily won her primary earlier this year and defeated a Republican incumbent when she was first elected in 2011 as a prosecutor.

Last year, Taylor unsuccessfully ran for attorney general. She took corporate donations in that race but in this one isn't accepting corporate PAC dollars, something she said in an interview is the result of listening to voters “upset about what they see as corporate and special interest influence.”

Candidates across the US harness a similar message

Allegations about corruption and self-dealing have echoed around the country this year on both sides of the aisle.

“I’ve had enough of self-serving politicians who keep getting richer at our expense,” said Democratic candidate Jamie Ager, a farmer running for an open North Carolina U.S. House seat where Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards dropped his reelection bid after an ethics investigation into improper conduct with female staff.

Rebecca Bennett, a Democratic congressional candidate in New Jersey, has criticized Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. over stock trading disclosures during a four-month absence from Congress. Kean didn't disclose his hospitalization for depression until he returned to Washington, and he said it was financial advisers, not him, trading the stocks.

It's also a major theme in Virginia's adjacent 2nd Congressional District, a closely watched battleground where Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans is trying to stop a comeback attempt from Democratic former Rep. Elaine Luria.

Kiggans has hammered Luria for stock trades and her previous opposition to a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. Luria has since reversed herself and said lawmakers can “set an example by not owning or trading individual stocks.”

“People are tired of that type of corruption in Washington,” Kiggans said.

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Associated Press journalists Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pa., and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

Pike, 50, survived despite receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital on Sept. 30. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer.

“She is very aware of what they did to her up to a point,” attorney Randy Spivey said following a court hearing in Nashville where a judge told the state to save evidence from the execution attempt.

“On Monday night, it was our understanding that Christa was brain dead and that life support would be removed the next day,” Spivey said. “But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone ... Christa woke up and began talking.”

Spivey, who was not with Pike when she woke up, said he was told her first words were, “Where am I?” and “Who are you?”

The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the only person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.

Her lawyers said she still can't move her arms or swallow, her prognosis remains unclear and that she has a long road to recovery. Her arms were burned and blistered by the attempted execution and she is handcuffed to the hospital bed, they said.

The failed execution has renewed scrutiny of how states carry out the death penalty, in particular the use of lethal injection. Texas was set to carry out Wednesday the first execution in the U.S. since Tennessee attempted to put Pike to death.

Christa Pike’s attorneys want evidence preserved

At the hearing Wednesday, Pike's attorneys asked the court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to save evidence in the case and provide more information about what went wrong. A judge told the state to preserve “anything that was in the actual room.”

“Part of the issue that we are facing is up until yesterday, our client was unconscious, unable to communicate with counsel, unable to communicate with medical providers, and without her consent” a new lawsuit cannot be filed, Luke Ihnen, a federal public defender, told the court.

Pike’s attorneys wanted a court order to require the prison system to preserve information from the attempted execution, including drug lot numbers, needles, execution logs and other information.

Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles indicated that her order to save the evidence would be sweeping, saying the state should maintain recordings, witness accounts, emails along with drugs, syringes, IV lines and other medical items.

The Tennessee Attorney General's Office said a court order was unnecessary. John W. Ayers, assistant attorney general, said evidence from the death chamber already had been collected and logged.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee ordered a review, calling what happened “deeply disturbing.” Lee postponed the state’s only other execution scheduled for this year.

The state's prison chief resigned in the wake of the failed execution.

Christa Pike's recovery remains uncertain

Medical and lethal injection experts have focused on the possibility that a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue rather than entering her bloodstream. Pike’s attorneys wrote in their court filing that “apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown.”

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

Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike’s legal team, said it could be weeks or months before anyone knows exactly what her recovery might look like, and whether her competency could be restored so the state can try again to execute her.

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Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit and John Seewer, in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, a day after topping its prior all-time high set in August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 302 points, or 0.6%, as of 1:54 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower.

Stocks felt pressure as yields swung in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed as high as 5.36% in the morning, up from 5.27% late Tuesday.

Higher yields put downward pressure on prices for stocks and other investments. They can also slow the economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money. But the 10-year yield eased back to 5.29% later in the day after the U.S. Treasury sold $39 billion of 10-year Treasurys at an auction, where the median yield was less than 5.26%.

Yields also swung with oil prices, which continue to yo-yo amid uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the industry to return to normal. The International Energy Agency said Wednesday its members support accelerating the release of oil from inventories that they announced earlier this year, with a particular emphasis on diesel fuel.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, topped $102 in the morning, but it later fell back to $99.86, down 0.7%, in the afternoon. That’s well above its $72 price from before the war began, though it’s not as high as the nearly $110 it was scraping last month.

Also pushing up on bond yields are worries about how much debt the U.S. government and others worldwide have racked up, and how much more they add to it by the day.

The head of the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that record levels of debt for governments is one of the three major crosscurrents driving where the global economy goes, along with artificial-intelligence technology and high energy prices.

“Some very tough political choices stare us in the face,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore ahead of autumn IMF-World Bank meetings to be held in Bangkok next week.

She pointed in particular to France and Italy, among other European countries with high debt.

France's CAC 40 stock index dropped 1.2% for one of the world's biggest losses as yields on French bonds got back to jumping amid worries about the government’s debt and strained budget. Protests across France have raised pressure on the government to increase spending, which could add further to its debt.

On Wall Street, Worthington Steel fell 8.1% after the metals processing and manufacturing company reported weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

The pressure is on companies to continue to deliver big growth in profits. Such strength would help to support stock prices when the other big lever that affects stock prices, interest rates, is pushing downward.

Analysts have high expectations for this upcoming earnings reporting season. They’re forecasting growth in earnings per share of nearly 30%, according to FactSet. If companies fall short of that bar, stock prices could easily fall further from their record heights.

Constellation Brands added 2.1% after the seller of Modelo beer and Robert Mondavi wine reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But its gain was restrained after it also gave a forecasted range for profit over its full fiscal year whose midpoint was below what analysts expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi sank 2% for one of the world's largest losses following a sharp drop for SK Hynix, one of its two dominant stocks.

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AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Israelis mourned at the site of the Nova Music Festival, as well as at bomb shelters, intersections and in communities targeted on Oct. 7, 2023. On that day — the deadliest in the country's history — militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed much of Gaza and drove most of its 2 million residents from their homes.

This is the first anniversary since all the hostages, living and dead, were returned. Signs calling for their return are mostly gone, but reminders of those who were killed are ubiquitous in a country still reckoning with the trauma of that day.

For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of fear and misery. Most Gaza residents live in squalid tent camps, with large parts of cities bombed to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military. Despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.

Israeli troops occupy a large chunk of southern Lebanon in their conflict with Hezbollah militants, who began firing on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Iran, the United States and their allies are locked in a confrontation that has seen attacks across the region and has shaken the global economy — a conflict that Israel helped launch and that the war in Gaza paved the way for, even if they weren’t directly connected.

Families mourn at the festival site

Hundreds of people paid their respects to the more than 350 people killed in and around the festival site. Videos from that day showed militants gunning down fleeing revelers, shooting the wounded at point-blank range and ambushing those seeking refuge in bomb shelters.

On Wednesday, survivors' relatives hugged at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time the first rockets were launched three years ago — as explosions boomed in nearby Gaza.

Anya Davitashili, who lost her 25-year-old son, Sean, said she visits the site every Saturday. It’s where she feels closest to him.

“I have a video of him dancing here that ends at 6:29 in the morning. It’s in front of my eyes all the time,” she said. “Every morning, you wake up and there is just endless missing.”

A released hostage marks his first Oct. 7

Elkana Bohbot, 37, is marking the anniversary in Israel for the first time since his release after 738 days of captivity. For most of that time, he said, he was held underground in a dark, damp tunnel.

Bohbot, who was abducted from the festival, was kept in a small cell with other hostages, given little food and allowed to bathe only every few weeks, he said. His captors forced him to take part in propaganda videos, including one where he acted out a fake call to his family.

In the year since his release, Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation. In August, his wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling his promise to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son, Reem, a sibling.

The newborn Michele is “not a symbol for my people, she is more of a symbol for the enemy,” Bohbot told The Associated Press. “This child is the message for you that we were here and we will always be here forever.”

Palestinians in Gaza live among the ruins

No events are expected Wednesday in Gaza, but Hamas in a statement defended the Oct. 7 attack, saying it had returned the Palestinian cause to the world’s attention.

“The conflict with the enemy did not begin on that day, (and) its final chapters are not written yet,” it said.

Palestinians in the territory said their suffering over the past three years had previously been unimaginable.

“We witnessed death, destruction, and bombardment that we had never known before,” said Walid Akram, a Gaza City resident who, like most in Gaza, has been displaced by the war.

Raed Khozeiq’s coastal neighborhood in Tel al-Hawa was largely flattened. Nothing about his life now is the same, he said.

“No country in the world has gone through what we have experienced here,” he said. “A war of extermination, starvation, the absence of schools and universities — nothing remains.”

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its figures but says around half were women and children. The numbers from the ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

While a ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10, 2025, halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas militants. Since the ceasefire, 1,460 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the ministry. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in attacks in that period. Restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have contributed to a hunger crisis, food security experts say.

The Middle East has been reordered

A contentious election at the end of the month hangs over this year's anniversary in Israel. Voters are bitterly divided over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership, his role in the security failures surrounding the attack and his refusal to launch an official inquiry into them.

The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led to wars across the Middle East as Israel confronted Hamas, Hezbollah and their backer, Iran. Israel has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Lebanon, where more than 300,000 Lebanese remain displaced. The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in two rounds, battering Iran and upending global markets far from the battlefield.

Violence has also risen across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel’s far-right government has heightened restrictions on Palestinians while emboldening extremist settlers who have attacked them and destroyed their property.

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Associated Press journalists Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Sam Metz in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

This would be the first execution scheduled in the U.S. since Pike.

Because the same drug used in her attempted execution — pentobarbital — would be used in Texas for Jamaal Howard, his attorneys argued that the drug poses the same risks, and said they believe the state's supply had become degraded.

Pike's lawyers are seeking more information about what went wrong after the 50-year-old survived two doses of pentobarbital. She was hospitalized and, as of Tuesday, was awake and speaking.

Her attorneys have alleged her execution was marred by blown veins, where a needle goes all the way through a vein and causes a leak of blood and fluid, as well as Tennessee's deteriorated pentobarbital and a lack of emergency medical care.

“There is a similar risk,” Howard’s attorneys wrote, “that Texas’s execution drugs are likewise degraded, as they are far past the original beyond-use dates that the pharmacopeia allows for drugs of this kind.”

Texas has executed six people so far this year, with two more scheduled after Howard, which would be the 30th execution nationwide in 2026.

A killing caught on surveillance video

Howard, 46, was found guilty of capital murder in the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, who was shot once in the chest during a robbery. Evidence presented at the trial included the store’s surveillance video, which showed Howard shooting Swartout.

Howard, who was 20 at the time, took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store in the small, rural town of Silsbee, located about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northeast of Houston, according to court records.

His attorneys have argued that Howard is intellectually disabled and his execution should be halted. The state said that he has not presented evidence that would show he meets the requirements for a claim of intellectual disability.

He has an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court pending to stop the execution.

The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion in how they determine such disabilities.

Motion to stay because of drugs

The motion filed in the Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas early Wednesday said Howard's attorneys had filed requests for information about the lethal dose of pentobarbital the Texas Department of Criminal Justice planned to use. They say the department asked for a state attorney general opinion about whether they would have to disclose that information, despite a “years-long practice of disclosing information.”

The Texas attorney general opinion is not expected to be returned until after Wednesday, meaning Howard can't litigate whatever decision the state might make on releasing that information, they say.

Texas officials did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday morning.

Executions in the US this year

Florida has carried out 16 executions so far this year, the most of any state. Most states that allow executions use lethal injection as their primary method.

Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Lee has halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year.

The cash advantage, spread out across a half-dozen groups, is driven largely by the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc., which had nearly $416 million in cash on hand at the end of August and began stepping up its spending on critical races in September.

But that money may have come too late, forcing the president's group to pay much higher rates because of the shrinking availability of air time. Four Republican Senate campaign officials said groups that reserved advertising time last spring paid much lower rates than MAGA Inc. and its affiliated groups.

Instead, by waiting until September, Trump-connected organizations are sometimes paying more than five times what they would have spent if they acted earlier.

A representative of MAGA Inc. familiar with the group's strategy said its spending has allowed Republicans to keep races more competitive than they would have been otherwise. In some cases, the group has been the only one on the air criticizing Democratic candidates.

The MAGA Inc. representative and the Republican Senate campaign officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.

The challenge is acute in places like Texas, where Trump will travel on Wednesday for the second time in a week to stump for Republican Ken Paxton's Senate campaign. The state hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 1988, yet MAGA Inc. has spent more than $22 million in the past month, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.

Another group, Texas PAC, which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has spent more than $83 million on advertising in the past month, an extraordinary amount to protect what's normally a safe Republican seat.

One of those advertisements, which featured Paxton's estranged wife saying she's supporting the full Republican ticket, aired across the United States last weekend during a football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans.

Candidates are charged a lower advertising rate than outside groups, so the late infusion of super PAC cash has come at a steep price.

MAGA Inc., which is running ads primarily on streaming services, has been charged roughly $894 per airing, according to AdImpact, while Texas PAC has been charged roughly $809 for a mix of broadcast and streaming. That compares with about $290 for Democratic nominee James Talarico's campaign, also on broadcast and streaming.

Those averages mask some of the more glaring disparities. For example, during a football game last month, Texas PAC was charged $450,000 to air a single spot in the Austin market. Talarico's campaign paid $50,000 for a spot during the same game in the same market, according to AdImpact.

Elections are a referendum on the power of money

The 2026 campaign is shaping up as a referendum on the power of money in American politics. Democrats freely acknowledge their disadvantage, relying instead on anti-Trump sentiment among voters and targeted messaging on issues like corruption. Some Republicans, meanwhile, are open about the challenge of trying to spend their way out of a tough campaign at this late stage.

Neil Newhouse, a longtime Republican pollster, echoed concerns that his party was deploying its cash too late.

“After the votes are counted, I think we're going to find the most effective advertising in terms of communicating message and moving voters and poll numbers, the most effective time was advertising that happened well before Labor Day, not after it,” he said. “A million dollars of advertising in October is a drop in the bucket."

Thune's group began pulling back in North Carolina last week, a sign of the party's challenge in the Senate race there. The state's outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis has been increasingly vocal about his party's vulnerabilities and recently said that, even with a strong cash advantage, “in the last month, you pretty much have to place your bets.”

“If we have endless resources, then we should spend endlessly in every state,” he said. “Absent endless resources, you've got to make data-driven decisions about where you can win.”

The midterms mark the first national election since the Supreme Court in June erased limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president, injecting even more money into a political system already awash in cash.

Money alone doesn't translate into victory

There's plenty of evidence that money alone doesn't translate into victory.

Democrat Kamala Harris entered the final stretch of the 2024 campaign with significantly more money than Trump but went on to lose every critical swing state and the White House. Elon Musk's $25 million didn't lift his preferred candidate to a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat last year. And Tom Steyer didn't advance to the general election in the California governor's race despite pumping $216 million of his own money into the campaign.

The $1 billion that Republicans have amassed compares with roughly $579 million held by a comparable collection of major Democratic groups.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party is facing an “obscene” amount of spending that could swamp them in the midterms.

“We're never going to have as much money as them,” he said in an interview. “I sum up the election in this sentence: Can a massive Republican advantage in money beat a massive Democratic advantage in better candidates and political climate? I bet it can't.”

In addition to Texas, Democrats have mounted competitive Senate campaigns in states like Ohio, Maine, Iowa and Michigan. A similar dynamic has emerged in governors' races from Florida and Georgia to Wisconsin, Ohio and Nevada.

Former President Barack Obama is stepping up his involvement in the midterms and will headline a fundraiser for Senate candidates on Wednesday.

In the House, Democrats are growing so confident they can retake the majority that they're expanding their targets deeper into traditionally Republican districts in Arkansas and Tennessee. But a lack of money could limit their gains.

“We absolutely need to spend enough to get our message out,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “And district by district, we are.”

Trump turns to his bond with supporters

From his earliest days as an unlikely political figure, Trump has consistently overcome expectations. Facing daunting prospects heading into the final weeks of his last midterm, he's betting he can again outwit political gravity, relying in large part on the deep bond he's built with supporters.

He has stepped up his campaign rallies in recent weeks, traveling to deep red territory to galvanize the party faithful. At events like the one this past weekend in Vandalia, Ohio, the crowd was enthusiastic and cheered at the lines that have become Trump staples over the years, particularly when he dips into profanity. The high school gymnasium that held the event was packed, though crowds began emptying out about halfway through the 90-minute rally.

In the closing minutes of a speech Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska, the president revived his plea that supporters who have stood so fervently by him pretend as if he is on the ballot one more time.

“In a true way, I am running,” he said. “We have to keep it going.”

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This story has been corrected to show Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, “I bet it can’t,” not “I bet it can.”

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Vandalia, Ohio, and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

Now, Skydance must decide how to make the most out of a trove of entertainment assets, including the HBO Max and Paramount+ video streaming services, a film library that includes “Star Trek,” “Barbie,” “Top Gun,” “Harry Potter,” and “Superman,” and two major news organizations, CNN and CBS News.

All are under the direction of Ellison and his new co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.

Here's a look at the new company, by the numbers:

$81 billion

How much it cost Paramount to buy Warner, excluding debt. Skydance acquired Paramount last year for $8 billion.

Around $80 billion

Skydance's estimated net debt following its acquisition of the two movie studios, according to Morningstar.

Around $550 million

Warner CEO David Zaslav’s “golden parachute,” or compensation package, that he is set to receive now that the merger is closed. This is the value Warner Bros. assigned to the executive's severance, stock awards and health coverage in a March regulatory filing.

The compensation package is about 68 times more than “Digger,” Warner’s last movie as a standalone studio, brought in domestically this past weekend.

$10.99

What you will pay monthly for HBO Max’s basic plan, which includes ads. The cost of an ad-supported monthly subscription to Discovery+ is $5.99, while the Paramount+ ad-supported Essential plan costs $8.99 a month. The subscription costs increase for each of the services’ ad-free plans.

Nearly $70 billion

What Skydance says its annual revenue now is following its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Prior to the merger, Paramount Skydance and Warner had a combined revenue of $65.3 billion for the 12 months ended in June, according to FactSet.

$77.71 billion

The market cap for Warner Bros. Discovery as of Monday, before the merger closed. That is about seven times greater than what Paramount Skydance's market capitalization was on the same day.

30

Number of movies Ellison promised the combined studios would release per year in the first two years after the merger. The number rises to 32 in the three years after that. Ellison made the promise as part of a settlement with 12 states that sued to block the merger.

11.8%

Share of total TV viewing that cable, broadcast and streaming properties owned by Paramount (6.5%) and Warner Bros. Discovery (5.3%) accounted for in July, according to Nielsen.

Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Malaysia highlights the growing engagement between Myanmar and some governments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, even as the regional bloc has continued to exclude the country’s leaders from top-level meetings since a 2021 military takeover, which triggered armed resistance.

His visit comes four days after nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals returned to Myanmar from Malaysia. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees and rights groups have criticized the repatriations, saying that the security and humanitarian situation in parts of Myanmar remains volatile, and returnees could face persecution and forced military conscription in an active war zone.

Malaysian officials greeted Min Aung Hlaing after landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He will meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday.

Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Min Aung Hlaing attended and spoke at a private business gathering aimed at enhancing investment and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Min Aung Hlaing sought to reassure Malaysian investors that Myanmar was on a path toward democracy and that his government was working to restore stability, state-run MRTV television reported in its evening news program.

He told attendees that they could "invest with confidence" in Myanmar in sectors including food, agriculture, livestock, construction, banking, healthcare, education and technology.

Malaysia says that about 5,000 Myanmar nationals — including those returned Sunday — have agreed to be repatriated in stages from Malaysia. As of the end of August, 11,804 Myanmar nationals were being held at immigration detention facilities across Malaysia, according to the Malaysian Home Ministry.

It was unclear if any of the returnees included minority Muslim Rohingya, who are facing persecution in Myanmar and have been denied citizenship.

Malaysia is home to about 215,600 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, including about 126,000 Rohingya who make up one of Southeast Asia’s largest refugee communities. Despite hosting them, Malaysia isn't a party to the U.N. Refugee Convention and treats refugees as undocumented migrants.

Rohingya have faced growing public hostility in Malaysia because of their increasing numbers, fueled by concerns over jobs, public services and security.

Anwar has defended the repatriation policy as a diplomatic effort to find a long-term solution, saying Malaysia can't host refugees indefinitely and Myanmar must take responsibility for its citizens.

Min Aung Hlaing has stepped up his diplomatic engagements since he was sworn in as president in April following an election that critics say was designed to cement the military’s hold on power.

Wednesday’s trip is part of an attempt to rebuild regional ties that deteriorated after he ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021 while serving as army chief.

It also marks Min Aung Hlaing’s fifth visit to an ASEAN member state, following Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, as he seeks to restore his standing within the 11-member bloc.

The visit has drawn criticism from activist groups such as Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, an independent monitoring group, which said the meeting could help Min Aung Hlaing's administration bolster its international legitimacy through cooperation on the refugee issue.

“Without any meaningful action to resolve the civil war in Myanmar, the repatriation remains a risky move, putting immediate danger to the refugees’ lives, especially for Rohingyas," Sindy Ajara, Asia-Pacific analyst at the group, said in a statement.

Most recently, working with other agencies like the Key West Police Department, FWC divers were in the Lower Keys to identify boats anchored improperly.

Divers found vessels held in place by car motors, tires, cinder blocks and steel wheels -- objects that can make an environmental mess and damage pristine sea grass.

“An illegal mooring is basically anything that is not an anchor,” said FWC Lt. Jeremy Foell.

Monroe County has been adding designated mooring fields to curb unmanaged and unsafe anchoring.

“They understand the good cause that we’re trying to make,” said FWC Officer Miguel Despian “They understand that we’re trying to make the water safe.”

FWC says it’s trying to educate boaters not only on what a legal mooring is, but also how long a boat can stay in place.

An updated law is now in effect to stop boats from sitting in the same spot in the water for a long period of time, unless owners get a permit.

Living on the water is a way of life for hundreds of people in the Florida Keys, but officials want to make sure those residents are safe.

Derelict vessel specialist Riana Sargent says she sees what can happen when a boat falls into disrepair. Sargent told Local 10 that enforcement operations can help people stay in compliance.

“It’s a very, I would say, an alternative form of housing. So we do try to work with a lot of people to at least do the minimum and get them at least safe and functional on the water,” she said.

Under law, vessels anchored in Florida waters for 14 days or more, within any 30-day period, are now required to obtain a free FWC permit. More information on that, click here.

In front of 85,000 fans, the superstar capped off an international career spanning 21 years, 126 goals, a 2022 World Cup victory, and two Copa América titles.

“It was a source of great pride to wear this jersey for over 20 years,” Messi told the crowd, speaking into a microphone from the center of the pitch. “I never stopped fighting, never stopped giving my all. I would love to keep coming back forever, because playing for the Argentine national team is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you.”

His teammates — many of them overcome with emotion — along with the coaching staff led by Lionel Scaloni and the fans, gave him a standing ovation.

“I’m going to miss you all. Now I’ll be on your side, supporting the national team and the guys who come next,” Messi promised. “When we’re united, we’re stronger than anyone and can overcome anything. Tough times lie ahead, because what this group achieved won’t be easy to repeat.”

Orchestrating the win

Following a corner kick taken by Messi, defender Nicolás Otamendi connected with a header to open the scoring in the 48th minute. Messi then provided an assist to young talent Nicolás Paz, who paid tribute to the star with an exquisite left-foot finish in the 61st.

Ten minutes later, Messi buried a left-foot penalty into the top corner, adding to his tally as the Albiceleste’s all-time leading scorer.

“Olé, olé, Messi,” the crowd chanted in his honor.

Passing the torch

Despite still playing at a high level at age 39, Messi announced on Aug. 31 that the end of his time with Argentina was set.

Messi played his final match — his 208th for Argentina — amid a spectacular fireworks display. He wore a special edition Albiceleste jersey featuring wider vertical stripes than the standard design, a giant sun, and a golden No. 10 on the back. The back detail featured a goat’s horns in the print — a nod to the “GOAT,” referencing both the animal and his status as the “Greatest of All Time.”

Ten minutes after kickoff in the international friendly, the referee paused the match to honor the Argentine captain. Rivals and teammates approached to greet him while fans rose for a standing ovation. Messi raised his hand in acknowledgment.

After the match ended, he thanked his teammates for the titles they had won and left them with a directive: “We need to build a strong, united group because there are people who want the national team to fail, and we shouldn’t give them the satisfaction."

From heartbreak to World Cup glory

A successor to the legendary Diego Maradona, Messi made his senior national team debut in 2005. His journey was fraught with frustration until 2022, when he finally lifted the World Cup — a triumph that secured his place in the pantheon of the sport’s greatest players and cemented his status as a national hero in Argentina.

Accompanied by his sons Thiago, Mateo, and Ciro, Messi was overcome with emotion as the Argentine national anthem played, sung by a veteran of the 1982 Falklands War. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez tried to comfort him by placing an arm around his shoulders.

Devoted fans and moving tributes

“It’s not a goodbye, it’s a ‘farewell forever,’ Captain” — that was the message Rebeca Arias and Daniel Lema emblazoned on a hat designed for the occasion. On the brim, they drew various depictions of Messi corresponding to each of the six World Cups he contested. The young couple traveled more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from their native Tucumán to witness his final performance.

“We believe this is a unique moment. It’s all worth it — being here, making the journey we did. Something like this might never happen again with a player,” Arias remarked.

In the last World Cup, Messi went close to another title, falling just short after a 1-0 defeat to Spain in the final. However, the runner-up finish didn't overshadow his remarkable performance in the tournament — featuring eight goals and four assists.

“The match against England took a huge toll on us; the reality is that we were running on fumes,” he explained, referring to the dramatic 2-1 semifinal victory.

His contribution was so pivotal that Messi has once again entered the conversation for the Ballon d’Or, competing against the two top contenders to succeed him: Spaniard Lamine Yamal and Frenchman Kylian Mbappé.

The Argentine star remains the only footballer to have won the award eight times.

“I am proud to be Argentine and to have been able to fulfill this dream with all of you,” he concluded, before taking a solitary victory lap to cherish the fans’ final chants of “Messi, Messi.”

Messi receives honorary doctorate

Before his farewell at the stadium, Messi received an honorary doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), a public institution.

The academic institution presented the honor at the national team’s training complex in the suburb of Ezeiza. The star was awarded a diploma and a medal in recognition of his performance with the national team, as well as his influence both on and off the pitch.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

The Miami Heat hosted their annual Red, White, and Pink Game presented by the Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute.

The intra-squad scrimmage offered fans an early look at the Heat ahead of the regular season, but the purpose extended far beyond the court as the goal of the evening was to shine a bright light on cancer survivors and warriors.

The organization knows their voice is loud and influential, with a resounding message.

The team stepped on to the court escorting loved ones and the community of those who have been impacted by cancer.

Local 10’s Jason Carter was there, and his full report can be seen at the top of this page.

Democrats are trying to flip the Maine Senate seat as they work to win control of the Senate. Trump lost the state in 2024, giving Democrats hope of defeating the five-term moderate Republican, who has been targeted by Democrats in previous elections and survived.

During the hourlong debate, Jackson focused largely on attempting to connect Collins to Trump. He kicked off the night by pointing out she cast a critical vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee who eventually helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion. Collins supports abortion rights and said Kavanaugh assured her it was settled law, but she has said recently that she does not regret her vote to confirm him.

“Would you trust her to pick the next Supreme Court justice?” asked Jackson, a former state lawmaker and logger.

He also repeatedly brought up her procedural vote to advance the president’s 2025 tax and spending bill — though Collins ultimately broke with her party to vote against it.

Collins countered that she has voted against Trump more than she did Joe Biden when the Democrat was president, and has pushed back against Trump on tariffs, immigration enforcement and the war in Iran.

“I voted against my party more than another other senator on either side of the aisle,” Collins said.

The attention on Trump comes as only 31% of U.S. adults approved of how the Republican is handling the presidency, according to a September AP-NORC poll. That’s well below where his approval stood when he took office last year.

The president has started holding rallies around the country in an effort to help GOP candidates win in November, telling voters to pretend he is on the ballot. At Tuesday's debate, a moderator noted Trump has floated the idea of campaigning in Maine, and asked Collins if she would stand beside him if he does.

“I’m not exactly his favorite senator,” she said, adding “I would say that he’s not coming to Maine.”

Collins, who has said she didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, voted to convict the president after his 2021 impeachment over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In January, Collins joined a handful of Republican colleagues in backing a failed effort to limit the president’s ability to unilaterally use force in Venezuela. The move prompted Trump to say on social media that they “should never be elected to office again.”

Collins argued that her seniority and experience in the Senate have resulted in money and resources for Maine, saying: “Leadership matters in Washington.”

She also spent Tuesday evening attempting to turn the focus of Maine’s high cost of energy and housing on Jackson, arguing that he had a larger role in making a difference when he was the state Senate president and criticizing “Augusta’s failed policies” as a way to connect Jackson’s to the state’s struggle to address affordability.

Other moments showed how the two candidates were approaching their appeal to working class Maine voters. For example, as Collins touted her ability to remove certain items from Trump’s trade war with Canada, including pulp, concrete and road salt. Jackson pushed back by quipping “we can’t eat road salt.”

Jackson and Collins are scheduled to participate in three more debates later this month.

In a post on social media, acting Secretary Adam Telle said the execution of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will take place at Fort Hood.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell had said Monday that President Donald Trump had approved the execution of Hasan. The U.S. military has not carried out the death penalty since 1961.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, walked into a medical building where soldiers were getting medical checkups, shouted “Allahu akbar” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 injured.

He said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims and made almost no effort to defend himself at trial. He told jurors that evidence would show he was the shooter and described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.”

Trump’s approval triggered a series of procedural steps toward carrying out the execution, but Hasan could put them on hold — potentially for years — with a habeas corpus appeal in the civilian federal court system, according to an article published in May in the magazine Army Lawyer.

“As the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution proceeds with an investigation of members of the Broward County Commission and county government, it would not be prudent for me or members of my staff to engage in discretionary budget negotiations with the Commission while that investigation remains active,” Tony said in part in a statement on Monday.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the investigation pertains to consultant contracts over commissioners’ move to retake the fire department from BSO and to study taking airport and port policing in-house and out of Tony’s purview.

The newspaper reported that during a mid-September news conference, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier would not elaborate further on the probe or whether any crime was alleged.

“This decision is to protect the people of Broward County from unnecessary disruption, uncertainty, or questions about whether budget discussions could be influenced by the investigation,” Tony said in the statement. “It is not a judgment about the investigation’s outcome.”

During a commission meeting Tuesday, Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen was fired up while addressing Tony and BSO’s $850 million budget.

“Let us audit your budget, sheriff,” Bogen said. “Stop bullying us, stop doing your ridiculous disparaging videos.”

Tony has not been to a commission meeting in person in several months. Bogen added that the county passed a new budget last week.

“As far as I’m concerned, sheriff, you’re not negotiating, you’re not showing up to meetings,” said Bogen.

Other commissioners also weighed in on Tuesday, with some questioning the spending within BSO.

“The sheriff is not the one building spas and guided toilets and workout centers, that’s coming from leadership in the sheriff’s office,” said Commissioner Michael Udine.

Not only did the Padres cover splendidly for their top reliever in their gritty playoff victory Tuesday night, they kept San Diego's season going likely long enough for Miller to pitch again.

The Padres announced that their All-Star closer was on the paternity list and would miss Game 3 of the NL Division Series only about 45 minutes before they faced the Milwaukee Brewers with their season on the line. San Diego did not announce that setup man Adrian Morejon also was unavailable because of discomfort in his shoulder.

The Padres had to face the MLB-best Brewers without the top two relievers in their vaunted bullpen — but that didn't deter a team that fought through a midseason malaise and streaked into the postseason with a sensational September.

“It was a chance for the other guys to pick those two up,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “We relied on them and got a lot of wins because they pitched so well this season. All the other guys stepped up and did their job today.”

After starter Nick Pivetta faltered in the fifth, three relievers fought to get eight outs against the Brewers' relentless lineup before Game 2 starter Michael King took care of the final two innings in a 4-3 victory for his first save since 2023.

After the Padres survived this desperate day, pitching coach Ruben Niebla said they expect Miller to return to the team for Game 4 on Wednesday night. King said Morejon also could be available.

San Diego's bullpen was taxed in Game 3 but held on thanks to King, who stepped up on one day of rest and delivered. He yielded a base hit in the eighth and then two walks in the ninth before Christian Yelich smacked a 107 mph line drive up the middle. But veteran shortstop Xander Bogaerts stopped it on a short hop and turned a game-ending double play, finishing King's emergency outing at 40 pitches.

“I know that I have bullets in my arm that I don’t want to save,” King said. “I felt like it needed to be the right time. I think that it all aligned with Mason going on paternity. Even if he was available, I was still going to be up and ready to go in whatever situation that presented itself. If you’re in an elimination game, you want everybody to be all in on it, and I feel like not just me included, we have a bunch of dogs down there that are all in.”

King pitched seven innings a week ago against the Chicago Cubs and five more on Sunday against the Brewers, throwing 169 total pitches. But he was ready for more immediately after leaving the mound in Milwaukee.

“He said it as soon as he came out of the game the other day: ‘I’m going to be ready for Game 3 and 4,'” Padres slugger Manny Machado said. “I kind of told him, ‘Why? Get ready for Game 5.’ But he wanted the ball, man. He definitely showed up today for us and closed it out. It wasn’t easy. They’re a hard ballclub over there. They didn’t make it easy for us.”

Miller was one of the best closers in the majors this season. With a fastball that regularly touches 104 mph, he converted 38 of his 41 save opportunities and went 5-2 with a 0.90 WHIP and 129 strikeouts over 70 innings.

But the right-hander also blew a save in the ninth inning of the Padres' 4-3 loss in Milwaukee on Sunday, putting San Diego in an 0-2 hole in the best-of-five series. While attempting to finish a two-inning save, Miller issued three walks before Jackson Chourio delivered a two-out, two-strike, two-run single to win it on Miller's 40th pitch.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Harry Moon, the president of NSU, recently reported that one of the seven students named in a Sept. 16 civil lawsuit alleging that a 20-year-old sophomore was raped at a fraternity house in Ithaca, New York, was admitted to NSU in Davie.

“At the time of admission, the university was not aware of allegations subsequently reported in media,” Moon recently wrote in a letter to students on Oct. 4. “Once we learned of the reported incident, we acted immediately on behalf of the safety and well-being of our students and the NSU community.”

Moon did not identify the NSU student, who had allegedly been a member of Chi Phi fraternity’s Xi chapter and was a suspect of the alleged gang rape on Oct. 19-20, 2024, in the 100 block of Edgermoor Lane in Ithaca.

The students in the fraternity were temporarily suspended from Cornell after the woman reported the rape to the Cornell University Police Department on Nov. 8, 2024, according to the civil lawsuit, which refers to the victim as Jane Doe and accuses Cornell of negligence.

“I was super drunk ... I was being hit ... physically hit very, very hard ... I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” Jane Doe told police, according to a transcript of an interview by Cornell University PD that started on Nov. 14, 2024, and was published by CBS News New York on Sept. 30.

The civil lawsuit alleged the victim suffered “injuries, including, but not limited to, severe emotional and psychological distress, humiliation, fright, dissociation, anger, depression, anxiety, a severe shock to her nervous system, physical pain, and mental anguish, and emotional and psychological damage.”

No one was charged with a crime. Cornell expelled two of the seven students after a Title IX investigation, The New York Times reported on Oct. 3. The public civil litigation recently prompted a Tompkins County grand jury’s review.

“It can take years of therapy and healing for victims of sexual assaults to fully process and understand what happened to them. Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence,” Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten wrote in a statement on Sept. 28.

On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she had removed Van Houten from the case and named James as the special prosecutor to investigate, present evidence to a grand jury, and “prosecute any” offenses.

“Because this matter involves federal law regarding an individual student, the university is legally restricted by federal regulations that limit what the university can share,” Moon wrote in the recent letter to NSU students.

In 2022, an Instagram page celebrating students of the NSU University School, the private high school at 3375 SW 75 Ave., in Davie, featured one of the suspects as a 2023 graduate who had been admitted to Cornell to study biological sciences.

In the civil lawsuit, Jane Doe accused the student of sending a message to the “Chi Phi Actives” Snapchat group chat announcing that there was “Free Pu---” and “in doing so ... organized and encouraged” the alleged gang rape. The NYTimes identified the student as one of the two who were expelled from Cornell.

“The university continues to monitor the situation and will remain vigilant. As a result of actions we have taken, we are not aware of any current threat to the university community with regard to the matter,” Moon wrote in the letter to NSU students.

Mars Rivera was among the NSU students who said they felt uneasy about what was not included in Moon’s letter.

“Obviously, it doesn’t say if he’s been removed or if he’s still here or any of that,” Rivera told Local 10 News.

Cornell announced on Tuesday that Sally Yates, a former deputy attorney general, will look at how Cornell handles sexual misconduct complaints.

If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, support is available 24/7 at the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.