One of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary for governor, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, appeared on “This Week in South Florida” on Sunday alongside his newly announced running mate, former Congresswoman Gwen Graham.

“This decision was made because I know he has the best ideas to take Florida forward,” Graham said on “This Week in South Florida”. “That’s something that’s incredibly important to me.”

The two served together in Congress about a decade ago, when Jolly was a Republican and both lawmakers were known for working across party lines as centrists.

During the interview, Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg asked how the ticket plans to appeal to progressive Democrats.

“I did want to send a message to this state, but it’s not about ideology,” Jolly said. “I’m choosing a governing partner capable of leading this state as governor.”

On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds remains a leading contender and has secured an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

Also running are current Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner. Both have criticized Republican Party leaders after Donalds was the only candidate to meet the party’s criteria for qualifying for a debate at its annual summer gathering in South Florida through polling and fundraising benchmarks.

“If you can’t be on the stage with your fellow Republicans, how can you possibly defend the free state of Florida,” Renner said.

“I’m willing to fight, I’m willing to do what I have to do to earn this,” Collins said.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Evan Power defended the process during his appearance on “This Week in South Florida,” saying candidates will still have an opportunity to address voters directly.

“All the candidates agreed to this criteria to begin with,” Power said. “We’ve offered them a stage, a showdown to present their case directly to our voters.”

Meanwhile, one of Jolly’s top Democratic rivals, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, recently dropped out of the race after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Florida’s Democratic and Republican primaries are scheduled for mid-August. The winners will advance to the general election in November.

While the Dutch extended their unbeaten streak to 16 games in group play, the orange-clad Oranje supporters were stunned by the late goal that left them at 21-2-11 in group play at the World Cup.

Virgil Van Dijk and Crysencio Summerville scored off each post for the Netherlands early in the second half, while Keito Nakamura had a goal between those as part of a three-goal flurry in just 14 minutes.

An uneventful first half changed quickly after the break for a crowd evenly split at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys with the retractable roof that offered relief from the muggy Texas heat, and the giant video board that fans had a hard time keeping their eyes off.

Summerville gave the eighth-ranked Dutch the lead in the 64th minute, and Japan was running out of hope when Ogawa sent the corner that Kamada timed perfectly. The ball deflected slightly again on its way toward Bart Verbruggen, who got his hands on it with a sprawling dive but couldn't keep it from going in.

Van Dijk sent a header toward the far post on the right in the 50th minute, bending forward from inside the penalty area as he stared at the ball before it caromed in for the Dutch captain’s 13th international goal.

Nakamura answered seven minutes later for 18th-ranked Japan, turning and rifling a shot past Verbruggen from the left side of the arc after taking a pass from Takefusa Kubo.

Another seven minutes later, Summerville took a pass from Ryan Gravenberch and sent a left-footed shot to the far left post past Zion Suzuki, where it caromed in again.

The Dutch’s most recent loss before the elimination round came the last time the World Cup was in the United States in 1994, when a group play defeat was followed by a quarterfinal loss to Brazil at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

In Group F, the Netherlands plays Sweden on Saturday in Houston, while Japan goes to Monterrey, Mexico, to face Tunisia on Saturday.

___

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Leer en español

Investigators are looking for a blue Honda Accord, model years 2023 through 2026, that may have front-end damage.

Police said the driver is wanted for questioning in connection with a crash that happened just before 12:30 p.m. at Northwest 17th Avenue and Northwest 43rd Street.

“The pedestrian was crossing 17th Avenue. The vehicle was traveling northbound and the pedestrian was hit by the vehicle,” Miami police spokesman Mike Vega said.

Authorities identified the victim as 61-year-old Alfred Akins.

Police said Akins was crossing the street when he was struck. The vehicle then left the scene.

“It was just an unfortunate situation. Blood was in the street. Very gruesome, very gruesome,” said nearby resident Matthew James.

Officers responded to the scene and attempted to render aid to Akins, according to police.

“If this vehicle would have remained on the scene, he would not have been facing charges for the accident,” Vega said.

Investigators examined what appeared to be Akins’ personal belongings, including clothing and a bent red walker left in the middle of the street.

Neighbors said they hope police are able to find the person responsible.

“What happened, why it happened, emotion and rage can be done to resolve it,” James said.

Police are urging the driver to come forward.

“The driver of the vehicle, you need to contact the City of Miami Police Department. Come to the station, turn yourself in,” Vega said.

Los investigadores buscan un Honda Accord azul, modelo 2023 a 2026, que podría presentar daños en la parte frontal.

La policía informó que el conductor es buscado para ser interrogado en relación con el accidente, ocurrido poco antes de las 12:30 p.m. en la intersección de Northwest 17th Avenue y Northwest 43rd Street.

“El peatón estaba cruzando la 17th Avenue. El vehículo circulaba en dirección norte y atropelló al peatón”, dijo Mike Vega, portavoz de la Policía de Miami.

Las autoridades identificaron a la víctima como Alfred Akins, de 61 años.

Según la policía, Akins cruzaba la calle cuando fue embestido por el vehículo, cuyo conductor huyó del lugar sin detenerse.

“Fue una situación muy desafortunada. Había sangre en la calle. Fue una escena muy impactante, muy impactante”, dijo Matthew James, residente de la zona.

Los agentes acudieron al lugar e intentaron brindarle primeros auxilios a Akins, informaron las autoridades.

“Si este vehículo hubiera permanecido en la escena, el conductor no estaría enfrentando cargos por el accidente”, señaló Vega.

Los investigadores inspeccionaron lo que parecían ser las pertenencias personales de Akins, entre ellas ropa y un andador rojo doblado, que quedó en medio de la calle.

Los vecinos dijeron esperar que la policía logre localizar a la persona responsable.

“Hay que saber qué pasó, por qué pasó. Las emociones y la rabia pueden resolverse”, expresó James.

La policía está instando al conductor a entregarse voluntariamente.

“El conductor de ese vehículo necesita comunicarse con el Departamento de Policía de la Ciudad de Miami. Venga a la estación y entréguese”, pidió Vega.

But on Hall of Fame induction day, even guys like Tarver can have trouble getting the words out.

“They always say I’m good on the mic but I don’t know, this is going to be tough,” Tarver said Sunday.

He and Golovkin both got through their speeches near the end of the ceremony for the class of 2026 that is being enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.

Golovkin went 42-2-1 with 37 KOs as one of the top middleweights in boxing history. He made a record-tying 20 consecutive title defenses in the 160-pound weight class, earning his first title in 2010 and remaining champion until Canelo Alvarez edged him in 2018 in their second blockbuster bout.

The native of Kazakhstan thanked his family, his trainers, his chef and officials from Madison Square Garden, where he had some of the memorable moments in his career.

“I have a great time with these people, a great time with my boxing family because, like 35 years I stayed in boxing, and this is my life," Golovkin said.

Nigel Benn, like Golovkin also a champion at middleweight and later at super middleweight, where he held the belt for four years, was also enshrined after going 42-5-1 with 35 KOs.

Cut men Russ Anber and Jimmy Glenn, referee Frank Cappuccino and Dr. Edwin “Flip” Homansky, who became just the second physician to be inducted, were also enshrined during the ceremony at the Turning Stone Casino.

Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) won one of his light heavyweight championships in 2004 when he knocked out Roy Jones Jr., who had long been considered the top fighter in the sport. Tarver beat Jones in two of their three fights, but his charisma helped him become known for far more than his success inside the ring. He was a top boxing TV analyst and famously played heavyweight champion Mason Dixon in “Rocky Balboa.”

“To the sport of boxing, you saved my life,” Tarver said. “You give me an identity, you gave me direction and a platform to show the world who I really was. Boxing taught me resilience, courage and the power of belief in yourself when the odds are always stacked against you.”

Before they became rivals, Jones' controversial loss in a gold-medal match in the 1988 Olympics helped send Tarver on his way to greatness.

“When I witnessed the great Roy Jones get robbed, bro, I can’t tell you,” Tarver said. “I got off the couch and ran three miles and I’ve been running ever since.”

Anber was working that match as a commentator, recalling rising from his seat and saying “They’re gonna rob Roy Jones.” During his lengthy career in the corners, he worked with boxing greats such as Oleksandr Usyk, Vasily Lomachenko and Deontay Wilder.

“I’ve spent 48 years sitting on a wooden stool with a steel bucket at my feet, a towel over my shoulder, a Q-tip in my mouth and a glob of Vaseline on the back of my hand, and it’s been the best seat in the house,” Anber said.

Naoko Fujioka, Japan’s first five-division champion who went 19-3-1 with 7 KOs, was inducted, along with fellow women’s champion Jackie Nava, who won titles at bantamweight and super bantamweight in consecutive fights in 2005 to highlight her 40-4-4 career with 16 KOs.

Rounding out the class were Jimmy Clabby, who went 86-21-23 with 46 KOs before retiring in 1923, and journalist Kevin Iole and late broadcaster Alex Wallau from the Observer category.

A smiling Golovkin enjoyed his time with all who were on stage with them. Triple G even declined a request to boast that the event was a “Big Drama Show,” his description of the punishing performances he planned to and so often delivered.

“Not today,” he said. “Today is a different day. It’s a special day for these guys, not for me.”

___

AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing

Según la Policía, Akin Liverpool, de 23 años, fue visto por última vez el sábado.

La Policía informó que Liverpool mide 5 pies y 8 pulgadas de estatura y pesa aproximadamente 150 libras. Tiene cabello negro y ojos marrón oscuro, y fue visto por última vez vistiendo una camisa negra y un traje de baño negro.

Los investigadores no divulgaron de inmediato detalles adicionales sobre las circunstancias de su desaparición.

Las autoridades confirmaron que el caso está siendo investigado por la Unidad de Víctimas Especiales del Departamento de Policía de Miami.

Cualquier persona con información sobre su paradero debe comunicarse con el detective D. Reyes o con cualquier detective de turno de la Unidad de Víctimas Especiales al 305-603-6300 o al 305-579-6111.

El reportero Trent Kelly, de Local 10 News, estuvo en la Terminal J del Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami, donde arriban los vuelos internacionales, y constató la llegada este domingo por la mañana de varios aficionados al fútbol procedentes del extranjero.

Autoridades del aeropuerto informaron que esperan un ligero aumento en el flujo de pasajeros durante este fin de semana y el lunes, a medida que aficionados de todo el mundo viajan a la ciudad para asistir al torneo.

El primer partido del Mundial en el sur de Florida se jugará este lunes y enfrentará a Uruguay y Arabia Saudita en un duelo clave de la fase de grupos.

El encuentro comenzará a las 6:00 p.m.

Aficionados, periodistas y seguidores de ambas selecciones han llegado desde distintos países para presenciar el encuentro.

Uruguay afronta el torneo como bicampeón del mundo, mientras que Arabia Saudita buscará revivir la sorpresa que dio en el Mundial de 2022, cuando derrotó a Argentina.

Para quienes aún esperan asistir al partido, todavía hay boletos disponibles, aunque a precios elevados.

“Los boletos fueron muy caros”, dijo Fernando Nin, quien llegó desde Uruguay. “Nos costaron alrededor de 500 dólares, pero valió la pena”.

Hasta la mañana del domingo, los boletos de reventa para las localidades en la parte alta del Miami Stadium —nombre que recibirá temporalmente el Hard Rock Stadium durante el Mundial— se ofrecían entre 500 y 600 dólares, mientras que los asientos en la parte baja costaban entre 800 y 1,500 dólares.

“Es muy caro”, comentó Atan Sobol, de Argentina. “Estuvimos en Qatar para el primer partido, pero allí pagué lo mismo por cuatro o cinco encuentros. Pero los argentinos somos pacientes. La paciencia es más importante que el dinero”.

El partido del lunes será el primero de los siete encuentros de la Copa del Mundo programados en el sur de Florida, entre ellos un duelo de dieciseisavos de final, un partido de cuartos de final y el encuentro por el tercer lugar.

“Es la primera vez que el Mundial llega a Miami, así que vamos a ver cómo reacciona la gente de Estados Unidos al fútbol”, afirmó Sobol.

Alemania vs. Curazao (Grupo E), a la 1:00 p.m., en el Houston Stadium.

Países Bajos vs. Japón (Grupo F), a las 4:00 p.m., en el Dallas Stadium.

Costa de Marfil vs. Ecuador (Grupo E), a las 7:00 p.m., en el Philadelphia Stadium.

Suecia vs. Túnez (Grupo F), a las 10:00 p.m., en el Estadio Monterrey, en Guadalajara.

Fiestas para aficionados en Miami

El festival para aficionados estará abierto de 12:00 p.m. a 10:00 p.m. en Bayfront Park, ubicado en 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Así marcha la fase de grupos

• Grupo D: Australia suma 3 puntos; Estados Unidos suma 3 puntos.
• Grupo C: Brasil y Marruecos tienen 1 punto cada uno; Escocia suma 3 puntos.
• Grupo B: Catar empató con Suiza.
• Grupo A: México y Corea del Sur tienen 3 puntos cada uno.

Calendario

15 de junio

Se disputarán cuatro partidos:

España vs. Cabo Verde (Grupo H), 12:00 p.m.

Bélgica vs. Egipto (Grupo G), 3:00 p.m.

Arabia Saudita vs. Uruguay (Grupo H), 6:00 p.m.

Irán vs. Nueva Zelanda (Grupo G), 9:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá de 11:00 a.m. a 9:00 p.m. en Bayfront Park.

16 de junio

Habrá tres partidos:

Francia vs. Senegal (Grupo I), 3:00 p.m.

Irak vs. Noruega (Grupo I), 6:00 p.m.

Argentina vs. Argelia (Grupo J), 9:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival para aficionados de 2:00 p.m. a medianoche en Bayfront Park.

17 de junio

Se jugarán cinco encuentros:

Austria vs. Jordania (Grupo J), 12:00 a.m.

Portugal vs. Congo (Grupo K), 1:00 p.m.

Inglaterra vs. Croacia (Grupo L), 4:00 p.m.

Ghana vs. Panamá (Grupo L), 7:00 p.m.

Uzbekistán vs. Colombia (Grupo K), 10:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival para aficionados de 12:00 p.m. a 10:00 p.m.

18 de junio

Cuatro partidos:

República Checa vs. Sudáfrica (Grupo A), 12:00 p.m.

Suiza vs. Bosnia (Grupo B), 3:00 p.m.

Canadá vs. Catar (Grupo B), 6:00 p.m.

México vs. Corea del Sur (Grupo A), 9:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 11:00 a.m. a 9:00 p.m.

19 de junio

Cuatro partidos:

Estados Unidos vs. Australia (Grupo D), 3:00 p.m.

Escocia vs. Marruecos (Grupo C), 6:00 p.m.

Brasil vs. Haití (Grupo C), 8:30 p.m.

Turquía vs. Paraguay (Grupo D), 11:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 2:00 p.m. a medianoche.

20 de junio

Tres partidos:

Países Bajos vs. Suecia (Grupo F), 1:00 p.m.

Alemania vs. Costa de Marfil (Grupo E), 4:00 p.m.

Ecuador vs. Curazao (Grupo E), 8:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 12:00 p.m. a 11:00 p.m.

Miami Beach: Las puertas abrirán a las 6:00 p.m. en The Bandshell (7275 Collins Ave.) para un evento dirigido a aficionados uruguayos, organizado conjuntamente con el Consulado General de Uruguay.

21 de junio

Cinco partidos:

Túnez vs. Japón (Grupo F), 12:00 a.m.

España vs. Arabia Saudita (Grupo H), 12:00 p.m.

Bélgica vs. Irán (Grupo G), 3:00 p.m.

Uruguay vs. Cabo Verde (Grupo H), 6:00 p.m.

Nueva Zelanda vs. Egipto (Grupo G), 9:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 11:00 a.m. a 9:00 p.m.

22 de junio

Cuatro partidos:

Argentina vs. Austria (Grupo J), 1:00 p.m.

Francia vs. Irak (Grupo I), 5:00 p.m.

Noruega vs. Senegal (Grupo I), 8:00 p.m.

Jordania vs. Argelia (Grupo J), 11:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 12:00 p.m. a 8:00 p.m.

Miami Beach: Las puertas abrirán a las 11:00 a.m. en The Bandshell para la transmisión del partido Argentina vs. Austria, programado para la 1:00 p.m.

23 de junio

Cuatro partidos:

Portugal vs. Uzbekistán (Grupo K), 1:00 p.m.

Inglaterra vs. Ghana (Grupo L), 4:00 p.m.

Panamá vs. Croacia (Grupo L), 7:00 p.m.

Colombia vs. Congo (Grupo K), 10:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 12:00 p.m. a 1:00 a.m.

24 de junio

Seis partidos:

Suiza vs. Canadá (Grupo B), 3:00 p.m.

Bosnia vs. Catar (Grupo B), 3:00 p.m.

Marruecos vs. Haití (Grupo C), 6:00 p.m.

Escocia vs. Brasil (Grupo C), 6:00 p.m.

Sudáfrica vs. Corea del Sur (Grupo A), 9:00 p.m.

República Checa vs. México (Grupo A), 9:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 2:00 p.m. a 9:00 p.m.

Miami Beach: Las puertas abrirán a las 4:00 p.m. en The Bandshell para el partido Escocia vs. Brasil, que comenzará a las 6:00 p.m.

25 de junio

Seis partidos:

Curazao vs. Costa de Marfil (Grupo E), 4:00 p.m.

Ecuador vs. Alemania (Grupo E), 4:00 p.m.

Túnez vs. Países Bajos (Grupo F), 7:00 p.m.

Japón vs. Suecia (Grupo F), 7:00 p.m.

Turquía vs. Estados Unidos (Grupo D), 10:00 p.m.

Paraguay vs. Australia (Grupo D), 10:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 3:00 p.m. a 1:00 a.m.

26 de junio

Seis partidos:

Noruega vs. Francia (Grupo I), 3:00 p.m.

Senegal vs. Irak (Grupo I), 3:00 p.m.

Cabo Verde vs. Arabia Saudita (Grupo H), 8:00 p.m.

Uruguay vs. España (Grupo H), 8:00 p.m.

Nueva Zelanda vs. Bélgica (Grupo G), 11:00 p.m.

Egipto vs. Irán (Grupo G), 11:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival de 2:00 p.m. a 11:00 p.m.

27 de junio

Seis partidos:

Panamá vs. Inglaterra (Grupo L), 5:00 p.m.

Croacia vs. Ghana (Grupo L), 5:00 p.m.

Colombia vs. Portugal (Grupo K), 7:30 p.m.

Congo vs. Uzbekistán (Grupo K), 7:30 p.m.

Argelia vs. Austria (Grupo J), 10:00 p.m.

Jordania vs. Argentina (Grupo J), 10:00 p.m.

Miami: Festival para aficionados de 4:00 p.m. a 1:00 a.m. en Bayfront Park.

Evento especial en Sunrise

El 27 de junio, el Amerant Bank Arena organizará una watch party gratuita para personas con boleto, a partir de las 7:30 p.m. El estacionamiento será gratuito.

Además, el condado de Broward ofrecerá transporte gratuito en autobuses Express desde el Amerant Bank Arena hasta el Miami Stadium (Hard Rock Stadium), en Miami Gardens, para los aficionados que cuenten con boletos para el Mundial de la FIFA 2026.

Comienzan los dieciseisavos de final

28 de junio

Se disputará un partido a las 3:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados estará abierto de 1:00 p.m. a 10:00 p.m. en Bayfront Park, ubicado en 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

29 de junio

Se jugarán tres partidos a la 1:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m. y 9:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá de 12:00 p.m. a medianoche en Bayfront Park.

30 de junio

Habrá tres partidos a la 1:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. y 9:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá de 12:00 p.m. a medianoche en Bayfront Park.

1 de julio

Se disputarán tres partidos a las 12:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m. y 9:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá de 11:00 a.m. a 11:00 p.m. en Bayfront Park.

2 de julio

Habrá tres partidos a las 3:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. y 11:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá de 2:00 p.m. a 10:00 p.m. en Bayfront Park.

3 de julio

Se jugarán tres partidos a las 2:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. y 9:30 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá de 1:00 p.m. a 9:00 p.m. en Bayfront Park.

Comienzan los octavos de final

4 de julio

Se disputarán dos partidos a la 1:00 p.m. y 5:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá de 12:00 p.m. a medianoche en Bayfront Park.

5 de julio

Habrá dos partidos a las 4:00 p.m. y 8:00 p.m.

Miami: El festival para aficionados abrirá por última vez de 3:00 p.m. a 11:00 p.m. en Bayfront Park.

6 de julio

Se jugarán dos partidos a las 3:00 p.m. y 8:00 p.m.

7 de julio

Habrá dos partidos a las 12:00 p.m. y 4:00 p.m.

Comienzan los cuartos de final

9 de julio

Se disputará un partido de cuartos de final a las 4:00 p.m.

10 de julio

Se jugará un partido de cuartos de final a las 3:00 p.m.

11 de julio

Habrá dos partidos de cuartos de final a las 5:00 p.m. y 9:00 p.m.

Sunrise: El Amerant Bank Arena organizará una watch party gratuita para personas con boleto a partir de las 5:00 p.m. El estacionamiento será gratuito.

Comienzan las semifinales

14 de julio

El festival para aficionados permanecerá cerrado.

Se disputará una semifinal a las 3:00 p.m.

Miami Beach: Las puertas abrirán a las 3:00 p.m. en The Bandshell (7275 Collins Ave.) para la transmisión de la semifinal.

15 de julio

Se jugará la segunda semifinal a las 3:00 p.m.

Miami Beach: Las puertas abrirán a las 3:00 p.m. en The Bandshell para la transmisión del partido.

Finales

18 de julio

El partido por el tercer lugar se disputará a las 5:00 p.m.

Miami Beach: Las puertas abrirán a las 3:00 p.m. en The Sandbowl, ubicado detrás de The Bandshell (7275 Collins Ave.), para la transmisión del encuentro.

Sunrise: El Amerant Bank Arena ofrecerá estacionamiento gratuito para los aficionados con boletos para el Mundial que utilicen el servicio gratuito de autobuses Express del condado de Broward hacia el Miami Stadium (Hard Rock Stadium), en Miami Gardens.

19 de julio

La gran final del Mundial se jugará a las 3:00 p.m.

Miami Beach: Las puertas abrirán a la 1:00 p.m. en The Sandbowl, detrás de The Bandshell, para la transmisión de la final.

Sunrise: El Amerant Bank Arena también organizará una watch party gratuita para personas con boleto durante la final. El estacionamiento será gratuito.

Leer en español

Germany vs. Curaçao, a Group E match, is at 1 p.m. at Houston Stadium.

The Netherlands vs. Japan, a Group F match, is at 4 p.m. at Dallas Stadium.

Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador, a Group E match, is at 7 p.m. at the Philadelphia Stadium.

Sweden vs. Tunisia, a Group F match, is at 10 p.m. at Estadio Monterrey in Guadalajara.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Groups’ stage progress

Group D: Australia gets 3 points; United States gets 3 points

Group C: Brazil and Morocco each get 1 point; Scotland gets 3 points

Group B: Qatar ties Switzerland

Group A: Mexico and South Korea each get 3 points

Schedule

June 15: There are four matches: The Group H, Spain vs. Cape Verde, game is at Noon. The Group G, Belgium vs. Egypt, game is at 3 p.m. The Group H, Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay, game is at 6 p.m. The Group G, Iran vs. New Zealand, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 16: There are three matches: The Group I, France vs. Senegal, game is at 3 p.m. The Group I, Iraq vs. Norway, game is at 6 p.m. The Group J, Argentina vs. Algeria, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 17: There are five matches: The Group J, Austria vs. Jordan, game is at Midnight. The Group K, Portugal vs. Congo, game is at 1 p.m. The Group L, England vs. Croatia, game is at 4 p.m. The Group L, Ghana vs. Panama, game is at 7 p.m. The Group K, Uzbekistan vs. Colombia, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 18: There are four matches: The Group A match, The Czech Republic vs. South Africa, is at Noon. The Group B, Switzerland vs. Bosnia, game is at 3 p.m. The Group B, Canada vs. Qatar, game is at 6 p.m. The Group A match, Mexico vs. South Korea, is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 19: There are four matches: The Group D, U.S. vs. Australia, game is at 3 p.m. The Group C, Scotland vs. Morocco, game is at 6 p.m. The Group C, Brazil vs. Haiti, game is at 8:30 p.m. The Group D, Turkey vs. Paraguay, game is at 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 20: There are three matches: The Group F, Netherlands vs. Sweden, game is at 1 p.m. The Group E, Germany vs. Ivory Coast, game is at 4 p.m. The Group E, Ecuador vs. Curaçao, game is at 8 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Miami Beach fan party: Doors open at 6 p.m. on June 20 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for an event for Uruguayan fans co-hosted by the Consulate General of Uruguay.

June 21: There are five matches: The Group F, Tunisia vs. Japan, game is at midnight. The Group H, Spain vs. Saudi Arabia, game is at Noon. The Group G, Belgium vs. Iran, game is at 3 p.m. The Group H, Uruguay vs. Cape Verde, game is at 6 p.m. The Group G, New Zealand vs. Egypt, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 22: There are four matches: The Group J, Argentina vs. Austria, game is at 1 p.m. The Group I, France vs. Iraq, game is at 5 p.m. The Group I, Norway vs. Senegal, game is at 8 p.m. The Group J, Jordan vs. Algeria, game is at 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 8 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 11 a.m. on June 22 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 1 p.m. Argentina vs. Austria match.

June 23: There are four matches: The Group K, Portugal vs. Uzbekistan, game is at 1 p.m. The Group L, England vs. Ghana, game is at 4 p.m. The Group L, Panama vs. Croatia, game is at 7 p.m. The Group K, Colombia vs. Congo, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 1 a.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 24: There are six matches: The Group B, Switzerland vs. Canada, game is at 3 p.m. The Group B, Bosnia vs. Qatar, game is at 3 p.m. The Group C, Morocco vs. Haiti, game is at 6 p.m. The Group C, Scotland vs. Brazil, game is at 6 p.m. The Group A, South Africa vs. South Korea, game is at 9 p.m. The Group A, Czech Republic vs. Mexico, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 4 p.m. on June 24 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 6 p.m. Scotland vs. Brazil match.

June 25: There are six matches: The Group E, Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast, game is at 4 p.m. The Group E, Ecuador vs. Germany, game is at 4 p.m. The Group F, Tunisia vs. Netherlands, game is at 7 p.m. The Group F, Japan vs. Sweden, game is at 7 p.m. The Group D, Turkey vs. U.S., game is at 10 p.m. The Group D, Paraguay vs. Australia, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 26: There are six matches: The Group I, Norway vs. France, game is at 3 p.m. The Group I, Senegal vs. Iraq, game is at 3 p.m. The Group H, Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, game is at 8 p.m. The Group H, Uruguay vs. Spain, game is at 8 p.m. The Group G, New Zealand vs. Belgium, game is at 11 p.m. The Group G, Egypt vs. Iran, game is at 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 27: There are six matches: The Group L, Panama vs. England, game is at 5 p.m. The Group L, Croatia vs. Ghana, game is at 5 p.m. The Group K, Colombia vs. Portugal, game is at 7:30 p.m. The Group K, Congo vs. Uzbekistan, game is at 7:30 p.m. The Group J, Algeria vs. Austria, game is at 10 p.m. The Group J, Jordan vs. Argentina, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders at 7:30 p.m. on June 27. Parking is free. Broward County is offering free Express bus transportation from the arena to the Miami Stadium, also known as Hard Rock, in Miami Gardens, to FIFA World Cup ticket holders.

Round of 32 begins

June 28: There is a match at 3 p.m.

Miami watch party: The fan festival opens from 1 p.m to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 29: There are three matches at 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 30: There are three matches at 1 p.m., 5 p.m., and 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 1: There are three matches at noon, 4 p.m., and 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 2: There are three matches at 3 p.m., 7 p.m., and 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 3: There are three matches at 2 p.m., 6 p.m., and 9:30 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 1 p.m to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Round of 16 begins

July 4: There are two matches at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 5: There are two matches at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens for the last day from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 6: There are two matches at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

July 7: There are two matches at Noon and 4 p.m.

Quarterfinals begin

July 9: There is a quarter-final match at 4 p.m.

July 10: There is a quarter-final match at 3 p.m.

July 11: There are two quarter-final matches at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders at 5 p.m. on July 11. Parking is free.

Semifinals begin

July 14: The fan festival is closed. There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 14 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

July 15: There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 15 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

Finals begin

July 18: The third-place play-off match is at 5 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 18 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 5 p.m. bronze final.

Sunrise ride to stadium: The Amerant Bank Arena has free parking for FIFA World Cup ticket holders who ride Broward County’s free Express bus transportation to the Miami Stadium, also known as Hard Rock, in Miami Gardens.

July 19: The final match is at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 1 p.m. on July 19 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 3 p.m. final.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders for the final on July 19. Parking is free.

Related stories

• Key information for fans attending matches at Miami Stadium
• Security guard accused of stealing FIFA referee uniform from Miami Beach hotel

Track FIFA World Cup groups

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L

Why this photo?

I shot this photo because the evening sun was streaming through the stadium, creating long shadows of players on the field from my photo position way up in the catwalk. We usually don’t get to shoot from these elevated positions. It's a kind of catch-all photo position at larger events where we have a team of photographers on the ground. It’s not a primary position, but it can make unique photos that you just don’t see from down below. I thought the shadows could make an interesting frame and break up all the action photos my colleagues were shooting. It just took a little time before a couple players would enter the band of light and cast their shadows.

How I made this photo

I made this photo from the stadium catwalk with a handheld Sony A1 Mark II and 600mm lens. An elevator ride, a hike up the stands and then a few tight ladders to climb. I tried to pack light, but didn’t. No going up and down for forgotten items. Dodging cables and ducking beams. Shooting through the stadium lights. Searching for ethernet lines that worked. Trying not to look straight down.

Why it works

I think this frame works mainly because of the players’ body language and the ball — still flying in — are mirrored and exaggerated by the long shadow. The players' strained faces is a nice bonus.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

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Local 10 News’ Trent Kelly was inside Terminal J at Miami International Airport, where the international arrivals come through, and there were several futbol fanatics from overseas arriving Sunday morning.

Airport officials said they are expecting a slight uptick in travel this weekend and into Monday, as soccer fans from around the world fly in for the tournament.

Monday’s first South Florida match will feature Uruguay battling Saudi Arabia in a crucial group stage showdown.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

Soccer fans, media members, and team supporters have been arriving from across the globe.

Uruguay enters the tournament as a two-time World Cup champion while Saudi Arabia is hoping to recapture some of the magic from its stunning upset of Argentina during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

For fans hoping to see the action in person, tickets are still available, but they aren’t cheap.

“It was very expensive, the tickets,” said Fernando Nin, who arrived from Uruguay. “It’s like around $500 for us, but worth it.”

As of Sunday morning, resale tickets were starting between $500 and $600 for seats in the upper level of Miami Stadium, the re-branded name of Hard Rock Stadium for the duration of the tournament, while lower-level seats were selling between $800 and $1500.

“It’s very expensive,” said Atan Sobol from Argentina. “We were in Qatar for the first match, but I paid the same for four or five matches in Qatar. But Argentinians are patient. Patience is more important than the money.”

Monday’s match will be the first of seven World Cup games scheduled for South Florida, including games in the round of 32, a quarterfinal and the bronze medal match.

“This is the first time here in Miami with the futbol, so we are going to see how the people of USA react for us,” said Sobol.

For Maria Morales from Colombia, her father snagged tickets to multiple games in different cities for her 15th birthday.

“To Mexico vs. Uzbekistan and then coming back to see Portugal vs Colombia,” she said. “I always wanted to go to the World Cup and this was the opportunity and my first time in Miami.”

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Key Largo Fire Rescue celebrated Flag Day by hoisting a giant American flag for drivers to see on the Overseas Highway.

From Key Largo to Key West, fire stations along the island chain showed the colors of the USA with one of the most expansive National Flag Day displays in South Florida.

“We set up the ladder truck this morning to display the flag over at the entrance to Key Largo,” said Key Largo Fire Rescue driver/engineer Sam Huttig. “For the 250th anniversary we’re definitely proud to display the flag and show it off for our community here in Key Largo.”

El cuerpo de bomberos de Key Largo Fire Rescue conmemoró el Día de la Bandera izando una gigantesca bandera estadounidense para que pudiera ser vista por quienes transitaban por la Overseas Highway.

Desde Key Largo hasta Key West, las estaciones de bomberos a lo largo del archipiélago exhibieron los colores de Estados Unidos como parte de una de las mayores celebraciones del Día Nacional de la Bandera en el sur de Florida.

“Esta mañana desplegamos el camión con escalera para exhibir la bandera en la entrada de Key Largo”, explicó Sam Huttig, conductor e ingeniero de Key Largo Fire Rescue. “Con motivo del 250.º aniversario, nos sentimos muy orgullosos de mostrar la bandera y compartirla con nuestra comunidad aquí en Key Largo”.

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Investigators said they were alerted to a body floating in the water after receiving a 911 call.

Local 10 cameras captured Miami police and fire boats working in Biscayne Bay just south of Brickell Key on Sunday morning.

It comes one day after Miami Police Department’s Special Victims Unit released a missing person flyer for 23-year-old Akin Liverpool, who they said was last seen on a charter boat in the area on Saturday night before police believe he fell overboard.

Police and the coast guard began working together to find Liverpool by water and air.

Investigators say the body that was pulled from the bay Sunday morning is now part of a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission case.

The person has not officially been identified and the investigation is ongoing.

Los investigadores informaron que fueron alertados sobre un cuerpo flotando en el agua tras recibir una llamada al 911.

Cámaras de Local 10 captaron embarcaciones de la policía y del cuerpo de bomberos de Miami realizando labores de búsqueda en la Bahía de Biscayne, al sur de Brickell Key, la mañana del domingo.

El hallazgo ocurre un día después de que la Unidad de Víctimas Especiales del Departamento de Policía de Miami difundiera una ficha de búsqueda por la desaparición de Akin Liverpool, de 23 años, quien fue visto por última vez la noche del sábado a bordo de una embarcación chárter en esa zona, antes de que, según la policía, cayera al agua.

La Policía de Miami y la Guardia Costera iniciaron un operativo conjunto de búsqueda por aire y por agua para localizar al joven.

Las autoridades señalaron que el cuerpo recuperado la mañana del domingo forma ahora parte de una investigación a cargo de la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC).

Hasta el momento, la persona fallecida no ha sido identificada oficialmente y la investigación continúa.

La policía de Pembroke Pines informó que agentes acudieron al aeropuerto, ubicado en el 101 SW 77th Way, para atender el incidente.

Según las autoridades, el helicóptero se preparaba para despegar cuando volcó. Durante el accidente, la aeronave impactó un avión que se encontraba estacionado.

Las autoridades señalaron que cuatro personas viajaban a bordo del helicóptero al momento del accidente.

La policía informó que los cuatro ocupantes fueron trasladados a un hospital cercano para recibir atención médica por lesiones que no ponen en riesgo su vida.

Hasta el momento, las autoridades no han dado a conocer la identidad de las víctimas ni las causas del accidente.

Esta es una noticia en desarrollo. Habrá más información conforme avancen las investigaciones.

Medios relacionados

UPDATE: Four passengers were onboard; all are being transported to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries. https://t.co/jkCrSAQnLT

— Pembroke Pines PD (@PPinesPD) June 13, 2026

McConnell, 84, was the longest serving Senate leader in history before stepping aside from that role while finishing his final term, which ends in January.

“Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” spokesperson David Popp said in a statement without elaboration. It was not immediately clear whether the Kentucky lawmaker was in Washington, his home state or elsewhere.

McConnell’s health has been a subject of scrutiny for years.

He fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon in December 2024. He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a Washington hotel. After he returned, he twice froze up during news conferences that summer, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff came to his assistance.

McConnell had polio in his early childhood and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing stairs. In addition to his 2023 fall, he also tripped and fell in 2019 at his home in Kentucky. He had surgery for a fractured shoulder.

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the Republican leader from 2007 until last year, serving as both majority and minority leader during that period.

He remains active in the Senate, showing up for work when the chamber is in session, and recent chairing public hearings and grilling officials from his perch as the chairman for the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense. He has intermittently used a wheelchair to navigate the Capitol and routinely has his security detail, as a former congressional leader, at his side.

However, the number of cases in Congo is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed on May 15, weeks after it is suspected to have begun, and the contact tracing coverage rate is at 56%, a sharp decrease from last week.

The latest Ebola outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment, unlike the “Zaire virus,” which was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

Fifty-six people have recovered, and the current fatality rate of the outbreak is 23%, the Ministry said.

The outbreak is concentrated in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, and have spread across the border to Uganda.

Nearly a million people have been displaced by conflict in Ituri, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, making contact tracing difficult as people flee attacks or move frequently in the vast province with dense forests, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach.

Tracing is also difficult among the thousands of artisanal miners who regularly move between remote sites in the mineral-rich region.

Attacks on health workers from angry residents, skepticism among some locals, and armed conflict in hot spots continue to challenge efforts to stop the outbreak.

Last month, U.S. officials said Washington intends to send Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya rather than flying them back home. They said the center would be located at Laikipia Air Base with a capacity of 50 quarantine beds. The move led to protests over the plans to build an Ebola quarantine center, which was later halted by the courts.

He signed a two-year extension with Joe Gibbs Racing that runs through 2027 and he insists it will be his last season. At 45, he's the oldest full-time Cup Series driver in the field, but he can't stop winning.

Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday for his third consecutive victory and passed the late Kyle Busch for sole possession of ninth place on the all-time wins list.

Hamlin last week won his 63rd race in NASCAR's top series to tie his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate on the all-time wins list. His eighth career victory at Pocono pushed him ahead of Busch for sole possession of ninth.

His recent success — it is his fourth win of the season, not including the non-points All-Star race — has renewed talk that Hamlin should reconsider retirement when his deal with Gibbs expires.

“I think for Denny, he wants to leave on top, right? He doesn’t want to leave where it was one year too long,” said JGR co-owner Heather Gibbs. "At this rate, what he’s producing out there, it’s not something you would not consider. We want the best drivers in our cars. Our teams work to put the best cars on track.

"If it works out and he’s still producing and he wants to, it’s a huge commitment for him, he’s got his own team that he kind of wants to run. It’s hard when you dangle checkered flags in front of him, too. He so far has put a stop to such talk despite performing at the highest level of his long career."

Hamlin, who wasn't even sure he wanted to return to honor this two-year extension after losing the championship in last November's season finale and then the December death of his father in a house fire, understands he's performing at a high level.

But as far as continuing past 2027? It's not yet on his radar despite how strong he's been on the track.

“I would certainly say it’s the best we’ve been,” Hamlin said. “We come to the racetrack every week knowing we got a great shot to win. The team’s doing an amazing job giving me exactly what I need in the car every single week. That’s why we’re winning.”

Sunday's win comes nearly 20 years to the date after his first career victory, which was at Pocono on June 11, 2006. He swept the races at the Pennsylvania track that year.

Hamlin said Pocono has become “like a second home for me.”

“First win here, so special here. Pocono has mastered the fan experience from the crowd in the stands to the infield here,” Hamlin said. “Just so happy for this whole Joe Gibbs Racing team. The pit crew is flawless right now. We got it all going."

Despite 64 career victories, this marks the first time in his career that Hamlin has won three consecutive races.

The feat tied Richard Petty, who did it in 1966 and 1967, Bobby Allison in 1971 and Darrell Waltrip in 1981. Petty, Allison and Waltrip are all in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

He also took a jab at NASCAR, noting that it was technically his ninth victory at Pocono, but he was stripped of the victory in 2022 when NASCAR said he and Busch's car's failed post-race inspection.

“They aren't getting that checkered flag back,” Hamlin said.

Tyler Reddick, who drives for the 23XI Racing team owned by Hamlin and Michael Jordan, finished second as Toyota took the top two spots. Hamlin is now 19 points behind Reddick in the Cup Series standings.

“Everyone is racing hard for track position. Some of it’s just bad luck, I guess, where you catch cars,” Reddick said. “It’s a bummer. I mean, if the 11 wasn’t the winner, you could consider this a good day. I know we finished second. Scoring the points we did just didn’t get the job done.”

When Hamlin tied Busch for all-time wins last week, Hamlin celebrated with a special tribute to Busch. On Sunday, he collected the checkered flag and skipped any tributes to Busch, who died unexpectedly of sepsis at age 41 last month.

Toyota drivers have won 10 of 16 races this season, and JGR has accounted for five of them.

William Byron finished third in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

“I think this is probably the first time in four months that I’ve been able to drive the car this way, just be able to make moves and have the balance stay with me," Byron said.

Byron was followed by John Hunter Nemechek in fourth in a Toyota for Legacy Motor Club. Nemechek led 42 laps Sunday — double what he's led the last two years.

Kyle Larson was fifth for Hendrick and Erik Jones was sixth for Legacy as Toyota drivers took four of the top six spots.

Bell fights through pain

Christopher Bell, driving with a broken wrist after a horrific wreck last weekend at Michigan that registered as the hardest hit in the era of NASCAR's new car, led 18 late laps based on strategy but faded to a 26th-place finish.

“Certainly we were mired back in the 20s and so I think it was an amazing gamble,” Bell said. “The situation is so hard because you don't know if you're racing for the win, if you're racing to finish the race, and so I don't stop shifting until about 10 to go. Certainly adverse conditions, like whenever people make quick moves on restarts and get put three-wide or the car gets loose, things like that are very difficult.”

Bell expected his injured arm will be a hindrance the next two weeks as NASCAR races the street course in San Diego and the road course in Sonoma, California — two tracks where shifting is heavily used.

No rain

NASCAR moved the start of the race up two hours to avoid expected rain in the Pocono Mountain region that could alter the completion of the 400-mile race. By doing so, all inclement weather was avoided and the race was run without interruption.

Up next

NASCAR makes its inaugural visit to San Diego with a first-of-its-kind street race at Naval Base Coronado. The NASCAR San Diego weekend marks the first NASCAR event ever contested on an active military base, with races Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

San Diego will host just the second street course in NASCAR’s modern era. The Chicago street course hosted two national series each of the past three seasons. The race weekend will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

In the lawsuit filed Saturday in Los Angeles federal court, the model who created and hosted “America's Next Top Model” said she was interviewed for 3 ½ hours, during which she took responsibility for some of the show's controversial decisions. Those interviews were edited down to 16 minutes and manipulated “to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed,” the lawsuit said.

“The accountability Ms. Banks took ended up on the cutting room floor. It was there, but viewers were never given the opportunity to see it,” her lawyers wrote.

Banks is seeking damages in her lawsuit against Netflix, the directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy and EverWonder Studio. She’s also seeking an injunction barring the use of her image in connection with the docuseries’ soundtrack, released as an album.

Emails seeking comments were sent Sunday to the defendants’ representatives.

“America's Next Top Model” launched in 2003 and ran for 24 seasons. In recent years, the reality competition series has undergone a critical reevaluation over accusations of body shaming, manipulation of contestants and problematic photoshoots. Banks has previously addressed those criticisms, acknowledging “the insensitivity of past ANTM moments” and “some really off choices.”

The lawsuit contends that the producers of the Netflix docuseries used “selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation of continuous footage” to formulate a narrative that Banks allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on the show, used the contestant's trauma to drum up ratings and then couldn't remember it when asked during the interviews.

“Defendants edited the Netflix Series to make it appear that Ms. Banks knew she was being asked about a sexual assault and was intentionally trying to evade the topic,” the lawsuit stated, contending that Banks hadn't been told — or asked — about the assault during the interview.

Banks' lawyers wrote that she wasn't permitted to review the docuseries until a day before its Feb. 16 release. According to the lawsuit, she had not been contacted for fact-checking after her interviews, and was not given an opportunity to respond to accusations from other participants. Other judges from the show, including one her lawyers contend holds a grudge against Banks, consulted on the docuseries.

“Had Ms. Banks known these individuals were so deeply involved in the formulation of the Netflix Series, also serving as consultants shaping the editorial direction, and that she had been excluded from such a role, it would have raised a red flag,” the lawsuit read. “She would have known she was being set up. She would not have participated.”

Banks' lawyers reached out to Netflix in March to request access to the full footage of her interviews. Netflix and EverWonder denied that request, according to the lawsuit. Since the docuseries' release, public reaction has been “swift, harsh, and directed squarely at Ms. Banks” — even SMiZE & DREAM, her ice cream shop in Sydney, Australia, has been subject to review bombing on Google, the lawsuit read.

The Associated Press sent an email seeking further detail from Banks’ lawyers and representatives on Sunday.

“Every other conversation about ANTM’s legacy — including the candid reflection Ms. Banks came prepared to have — is now drowned out by an accusation she was never given the chance to answer,” her lawyers wrote. “This lawsuit is that answer — particularly after her efforts to resolve the matter directly with Netflix and the producers were refused.”

Tens of thousands of spectators lined Fifth Avenue under sunny skies to watch marchers decked out in red-white-and-blue. This year’s honorees included rapper and singer Daddy Yankee, who served as grand marshal, and actor Anthony Ramos, who was part of the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani drew cheers as he clutched a small Puerto Rico flag and wore a Knicks jersey over a shirt and tie.

The event, which bills itself as America's largest cultural celebration, honors the contributions of Puerto Ricans on their home island and throughout the nation and world. It’s a been a June tradition in the city since the late 1950s.

U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and jazz musician Charlie Sepulveda were recognized with lifetime achievement awards.

The parade was traveling along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan from 44th Street to 79th Street, spanning 35 city blocks.

The National Puerto Rican Day Parade Scholarship Gala was held on Friday, celebrating academic excellence and student achievement.

Gina Kim and Wilson finished at 17-under 263 at Midland Country Club.

“I haven’t been in a leading position for a long time,” the 19-year-old Wilson said. “Even as a team, I feel like both of us haven’t been in this leading position. We walked down 18 just now and we were like: ‘Does this feel weird to you? Like this is so weird.’ So it’s a little nervy out there. I feel like we handled it really well.”

Gina Kim holed out from the fairway for eagle on the par-4 fifth.

“I knew I hit a really good shot and I was thinking, ‘Oh, OK, maybe I’ll tap in in for birdie.’ And then it just disappeared,” she said. “I think that really set the tone for the day.”

The 26-year-old Gina Kim won in her 64th start on the LPGA Tour, while Wilson was making the ninth start of her rookie season.

“This has been the most fun week,” Gina Kim said. “It’s been tough, and it’s nice to have a really good friend to be able to do this by.”

Last year, Wilson — the 2022 USGA Girls' Junior winner — was second and Gina Kim third on the Epson Tour money list to earn LPGA cards.

“Part of the reason I asked Yana to be my partner is we actually played in the final group on Epson and we’ve played together numerous times,” Gina Kim said. “So, I knew she was really, really good under pressure and I trusted her.”

Hyo Joo Kim and Choi finished with a 65.

Somi Lee and Jin Hee Im had a 61 to tie for third at 14 under with former UCLA teammates Alison Lee and Lilia Vu (64).

Juli Inkster, who at 66 became the oldest player in LPGA history to make the cut in an official event, teamed with Angel Yin to tie for 12th at 9 under. They shot 64.

“We had an amazing time,” Inkster said. “Angel played amazing.”

Nelly Korda and Olivia Cowan tied for 17th at 8 under. They rebounded from a third-round 76 with a 66. Korda was coming off a victory in the U.S. Women's Open for her second straight major victory.

___

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

AI giant Anthropic said Friday it has taken its latest artificial intelligence models, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, offline to comply with a directive from the Trump administration to prevent their use by foreign nationals.

The export controls mark the U.S. government’s most significant step to date to restrict access to the most advanced AI models. Anthropic released Fable widely this week. That model is a limited version of the even more advanced Mythos, to which the company has tightly limited access due to cybersecurity fears.

“The situation we’re in collectively right now with Mythos and Fable is something that can happen with overreliance on certain models” Carney said. “Nobody has done anything wrong in the situation. But we will have done something wrong if we just accept this, don’t take the lesson, don’t build out and diversify.”

Carney made the comments in Ireland ahead of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France. He said artificial intelligence will be one of the major discussions on Monday night.

Anthropic, based in San Francisco, California, has said the new Mythos model it announced on April 7 is so “strikingly capable” that it is limiting its use to select customers because of its ability to surpass human cybersecurity experts in finding and exploiting computer vulnerabilities.

“You’ll hear me say this over and over again. It is never a good idea to have one option,” Carney said.

Carney said he spent 45 minutes talking with French President Emmanuel Macron about artificial intelligence on Friday night. He said there “will not be a mission accomplished banner” that comes out of the summit because the issues are complex.

Carney linked the U.S. AI curbs to Canada’s push to diversify trade and technology. More than 70% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. and Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade. Trump’s trade war is causing a chill in investment.

Carney doesn’t have a bilateral meeting scheduled with Trump at the G7 despite the free trade agreement between U.S., Canada and Mexico being up for renewal. He said USMCA discussions will be held at the summit among Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for U.S. trade, Janice Charette, Canada’s chief negotiator, and U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“The right way to do it at this stage, will be between the principal negotiators, which is going to happen in Evian,” he said.

Carney visited his family’s ancestral village of Aghagower, Ireland earlier Sunday. Carney’s grandfather, Robert Carney, and grandmother, Nora Moran, were both from the town in County Mayo, and immigrated to Canada in the 1920s.

Owen Morgan was with his 17-month-old son, Malachy Morgan -- who was wearing Montreal Canadiens jersey -- and said people in Mayo county are very proud of Carney.

“People are very impressed,” Morgan said. “He’s very much standing up for Canadians, and I think that’s very much admired.”

Kai Havertz scored two goals as Germany pulled away from World Cup first-timer Curaçao and piled it on in a 7-1 win in group play. The smallest country to ever appear in the tournament hung tight at 1-1 until the 38th minute.

“We really needed this convincing win,” coach Julian Nagelsmann said. “We needed this self confidence. It was there but it definitely grew.”

He said Sunday's display was important for the country's fans.

“We have to show them that we can perform and we have to have the confidence,” he said. “I think we’re in a better spot than we were entering this match.”

Livano Comenencia tied it at 1-1 with his left-footed shot through traffic from the center of the box in the 21st minute to give Curaçao its first goal in the tournament and send fans of the tiny Caribbean nation into a frenzy.

“Even though it wasn’t me, it felt like it was me, it was all of us, the whole island, everybody,” Curaçao's Jearl Margaritha said. “We screamed our lungs out. So we were happy.”

It was all Germany after that with the team regaining the lead on Nico Schlotterbeck’s header off Nathaniel Brown’s corner kick in the 38th.

“One team has very high expectations and the other one doesn’t and that’s a bit tricky,” Nagelsmann said.

The margin of victory comes well short of the World Cup record of nine goals which has happened three times, with the last one coming when Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982.

Havertz connected on a penalty shot into the left goal in first half stoppage time to make it 3-1. Germany was awarded the penalty shot after Felix Nmecha was tripped in the box by Riechedly Bazoer.

Germany wasted no time after halftime to extend the lead with Jamal Musiala scoring on a right-footed shot across the goalkeeper’s area in the 47th minute.

Brown scored in the 68th minute to push the advantage to 5-1. The 22-year-old has an American father, but made it clear ahead of the World Cup he'd be representing the country in which he was born and raised by his mother.

Deniz Undav added a goal in the 78th minute. Havertz's second goal came in the 88th.

It was a strong start for Germany against underdog Curaçao as the team seeks redemption after failing to get out of the group stage in Russia and Qatar following its 2014 title.

“We are on the right path but of course there are things that we can do better and we will have stronger opponents,” Nagelsmann said.

Nmecha one timed it with his right foot into the near post just inside the upper box with an assist from Florian Wirtz in the sixth minute to make it 1-0.

The crowd of 68,021 was overwhelming rooting for Germany but there was a spirited contingent of people cheering on Curaçao.

It was the first match of the tournament at Houston Stadium, normally called NRG Stadium where the NFL’s Houston Texans play.

Manuel Neuer, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who came out of international retirement for the tournament, had one save in his first appearance for Germany in almost two years.

The match featured the largest age gap between coaches in World Cup history with Curaçao's 78-year-old coach Dick Advocaat becoming the oldest ever in the tournament against 38-year-old Nagelsmann, who is the youngest coach in this year’s tournament.

Germany faces Ivory Coast in its next match in Toronto on Saturday and Curaçao meets Ecuador Saturday in Kansas City.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

The crash happened shortly after the plane took off from a local airport around 11:30 a.m., and some of the occupants' family members witnessed the crash, said Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson.

A heap of blue and silver mangled metal lay in the grass near Butler Memorial Airport with a massive lineup of emergency vehicles gathered on a nearby street. Clergy and volunteers went to the site to assist relatives, Anderson said, and officials were working Sunday afternoon to identify all victims and notify their next of kin.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were also on scene Sunday afternoon, Anderson said, and a team from the National Transportation Safety Board was en route.

The private plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City, said Dennis Jacobs, the acting airport manager and Bates County Emergency Management Agency director. It was identified as a single engine turboprop plane.

“It had just taken off and made a left turn” before the crash, Jacobs said. “In my opinion, I think it was losing power, and he was trying to make it over to the highway and land, and he stalled and went down nose first and caught fire.”

Emergency responders put out the fire in the wreckage soon after the crash, Jacobs said, calling the scene “brutal.” First responders also checked the area under the flight path and did not find anyone who might have tried to jump out before the plane came down, he said.

The Pacific Aerospace 750XL that crashed is a model that’s popular for skydiving and also has proven useful for carrying cargo, aerial surveying and medical evacuation flights. The aircraft can carry more than 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms) and is capable of taking off and landing on short runways, according to the manufacturer. The plane was built in 2010, according to FAA records.

Sky diving companies operate in the region eight or nine months of the year, with the season usually starting in late March or early April and lasting into October or November. Someone answering the phone at Skydive Kansas City declined to speak to a reporter from The Associated Press.

The crashed occurred on a sunny day in the area. Data from the digital flight tracking company FlightAware shows the plane had already completed two short flights on Sunday before the crash. Two more successful flights were logged Saturday, and five on Friday, according to FlightAware.

It’s not yet known what factors may have contributed to the crash, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said, and those details will be part of the investigation carried out by NTSB officials.

The sheriff emphasized that the public is safe and this “appears to be an accident.”

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said poor maintenance has been a factor in a number of previous skydiving plane crashes because these companies are not held to a high standard under FAA rules. Guzzetti said skydiving companies are governed by the same rules any private plane owner has to follow and not the more stringent rules that charter flight operators and airlines adhere to.

“There’s been a whole history of skydiving accidents for inadequate maintenance and deficient safety culture,” said Guzzetti who used to be a crash investigator for both the NTSB and FAA.

The exact cause of Sunday’s crash won’t be clear for a year or more until the NTSB publishes its final report.

The NTSB has previously raised concerns about the weak oversight for skydiving operators in past crash investigations. The agency said after a 2019 crash that killed 11 people in Hawaii that the FAA’s regulatory system isn’t strong enough to ensure the safety of skydiving flights.

.The small airport serves around 30 aircraft, all privately owned, including crop dusting companies and sky dive operators, Jacobs said.

The small town of Butler has a population of around 4,300 people and is roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Kansas City. The Butler Memorial Airport, as well as the highway that runs beside it, will remain closed while federal investigators are on the scene, Anderson said Sunday afternoon.

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This story has been updated to correct that Jacobs called the scene “brutal.”

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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press Transportation Writer Josh Funk contributed from Omaha, Nebraska, along with AP reporter Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa.

The ship’s crew also ignored eight shows of force by military aircraft that included fired flares and flyovers, as well as two final warnings before being fired upon Wednesday, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the week, the U.S. military said an American aircraft fired “precision munitions” into the engine room of the Palau-flagged vessel M/T Settebello. The incident in the Gulf of Oman killed three Indian sailors, Indian officials said.

The U.S. official described the vessel as a shadow fleet ship that has been used to illegally transfer Iranian oil and evade sanctions and was seen trying to break the blockade multiple times. The official noted that U.S. forces communicated with the ship dozens of times over two weeks before the day when the ship was disabled.

In a statement, U.S. Central Command said the military gave the crew 15 minutes to get out of the engine room before the shots were fired that disabled the ship.

“After being in place for more than 60 days, it should be clear by now that U.S. forces will strictly enforce the blockade,” the statement added.

India’s foreign ministry said New Delhi has lodged a “strong protest” with the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his Indian counterpart on Friday “that all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from U.S. forces as they seek to uphold peace and security in the Strait,” according to a summary of the call released by the State Department on Saturday.

“Disclosure Day” opened largely as expected, collecting $92.9 million worldwide over its first weekend. That was good enough to give the 79-year-old Spielberg, who conceived the film's story, his best opening weekend for an original movie, not accounting to inflation.

Of course, Spielberg is the father of the modern blockbuster. But “Disclosure Day,” released by Universal Pictures, is his first summer movie in 10 years. And it opened in a much different movie world than once greeted “Jaws” or “Jurassic Park.” Its closest competition was the indie horror hit “Obsession,” directed by a YouTuber-turned-filmmaker, Curry Barker, more than 50 years Spielberg’s junior.

“It played very, very evenly across all of the U.S. and Canada,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal. “It did not come across as a coastal big-market movie. It resonated with everybody.”

While a much-watched NBA finals game might have been expected to depress ticket sales, at least in New York, Orr said there was no noticeable dip in the city's box office numbers Saturday night.

After Gen Z propelled moviegoing for the last several weeks, a slightly older audience drove interest in “Disclosure Day.” Some 41% of moviegoers were aged 45 and up.

“What's encouraging is that we had this big an opening with that audience demographic and with the fact that it's an original film,” said Orr. “So if we're opening this well, and we think we're going to have great word-of-mouth, and we have an older audience that doesn't necessarily rush out on opening weekend, all of that points to a great run through the summer.”

“Disclosure Day” returns Spielberg to the subject of alien life. Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colman Domingo star in a chase to reveal government evidence of UFO encounters. It cost $115 million to make.

While a good start, “Disclosure Day” — like most original movies — will depend on strong legs to be successful. Reviews (80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) have been strong, though audience response wasn't overwhelming. The movie landed a “B” CinemaScore.

“It's off to a solid start,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak. “Let's see how it plays in the coming weeks. If it holds like some of these other films have, like 'Project Hail Mary,' 'Michael,' ‘Obsession,' it will be in good shape. Staying power has been the bread and butter of this year and this summer.”

Meanwhile, the “Obsession” sensation continues. Though it originally opened with $17.2 million, the Focus Features release has exceeded that for four consecutive weekends. It did so again this weekend, collecting $19 million in ticket sales to bring its North American haul to $188.3 million and its worldwide total to $286.5 million.

Having cost less than $1 million to make, “Obsession” ranks among the most profitable releases in recent memory. Focus acquired it for $15 million.

Last weekend’s top film, “Scary Movie,” slid to third place with $14.5 million. The Paramount Pictures release, the sixth entry in the horror spoof franchise, dropped steeply from its opening weekend, down 73%. But with a modest production budget of $30 million, the Miramax-produced sequel is already a considerable success. Its two-week domestic total is $88.6 million.

A24’s “Backrooms” added $11.3 million domestically in its third weekend. It's rapidly grossed $262.3 million globally.

In its second weekend, Amazon MGM’s “Masters of the Universe” fell fast following a disappointing launch. Its box office dropped 71% with $8.7 million. Its two-week domestic total stands at $46.7 million

Next weekend, The Walt Disney Co.'s “Toy Story 5” opens with big expectations at the box office.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:

1. “Disclosure Day,” $44 million.

2. “Obsession,” $19 million.

3. “Scary Movie,” $14.5 million.

4. “Backrooms,” $11.3 million.

5. “Masters of the Universe,” $8.7 million.

6. “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” $4.7 million.

7. “Michael,” $4.1 million.

8. “The Furious,” $2.8 million.

9. “Stop! That! Train!” $2 million.

10. “The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act,” $1.8 million.

In the end, he clearly was the right choice.

Brown is now a five-time NBA champion coach — four of those rings won as an assistant, the fifth coming as head coach of the Knicks. He joins only Red Holzman on the list of those who won titles as coach of the Knicks, and fittingly, he did it on June 13.

There's a banner in Madison Square Garden that says “Holzman 613” to commemorate his win total with the franchise. Brown won this title on 6/13.

“I’m pretty good at trying to control what I can control,” Brown said. “I had zero control over who else was interviewing, who was denied permission. I had zero control over that. I just did the best I could in the interview process. I went about my business and waited until it was either going to progress or end. ... I was pretty nonchalant about it as time went on. I just let it unfold the way it unfolded.”

Brown speaks fondly of his days with Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, a place his family still calls home — and the place where the Knicks captured this title after topping the Spurs in five games. He raves about his years coaching with Steve Kerr in Golden State as well.

Brown was an assistant on the 2003 Spurs title team, then was with the Warriors for three more title runs. He was the NBA's coach of the year while with Cleveland in 2009; the Cavaliers wound up firing him. He was the NBA's coach of the year again while with Sacramento in 2023; the Kings wound up firing him, too.

But in New York, he's a legend for life now.

“Mike was invaluable to this run,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “He understands what it is to be a champion. He understands how to build a team, how to build habits that will put you in this position. We’re so grateful, so thankful to have him at the top. He kept us even so many times. He’s brought the best out of us, as people first. I’m so happy for him. He’s the reason why we’re here. He’s the reason why we’re here, and we’ve got love for him.”

Brown kept the mood light throughout the postseason push, didn't blink when the Knicks were down 2-1 in Round 1 to Atlanta after a pair of one-point losses, and always seemed to be the calm in the eye of the storm. Social media was blowing up with how Brown wasn't the right coach for the job when the Knicks trailed the Hawks.

New York went 15-1 from there. And a 53-year wait between titles is now over.

“I am so tired. I mean, I’m gassed,” Brown said. “You know, this stuff is harder than what you think.”

Maybe so, but he makes it look easy.

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

The full episode can be seen at the top of this page.

The New York Knicks will be feted with a championship parade through the streets of Manhattan on Thursday after a postseason in which they successfully rallied from six double-digit deficits to win games in the playoffs, including all four of their victories in the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

It continued the unprecedented run of NBA parity, with eight different franchises winning championships in the last eight seasons — Toronto in 2019, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023, Boston in 2024, Oklahoma City last year and now New York.

“To me, it just really speaks to the state of NBA basketball and the state of the future of the game," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. "And now with this draft class coming in this year — again, not just the first pick, but a draft that’s considered the deepest in many years — there's so much talent everywhere. ... So, it’s a really bright future ahead for the league.”

It is, but every team is now chasing the Knicks. They had all the answers.

For 29 other franchises, at least on some levels, there seems to only be questions.

— Will Milwaukee really trade Giannis Antetokounmpo after 13 seasons, 10 All-Star selections, two Most Valuable Player awards and an NBA championship in 2021?

— Will LeBron James come back to the NBA for a 24th season? If so, will it be with the Los Angeles Lakers for a ninth year or will he look for a presumably final chapter elsewhere?

— What will Washington do with the No. 1 pick in the draft later this month?

— And who will coach in Chicago, Dallas and Portland?

Those are just some of the major issues facing teams around the league as summer gets underway. It's going to be hard for the Knicks to repeat, because it's hard for any team to repeat — as the Thunder found out this season.

“The history of the NBA is littered with teams that were not able to find ultimate success again,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said. "I think there have only been three teams that have repeated since we’ve been in Oklahoma City, and the reasons for that are many, probably too many to list. But the fact is that it helps illustrate how rare and how special it is when you do have a chance to win at the highest level in this league or in professional sports in general.

"However, NBA history is also built on the backs of those teams that saw their losses as a continued quest for improvement and progress. Most importantly, they saw it as what competition boils down to, what it’s all about at any level of sports."

The Giannis question

Antetokounmpo, the biggest star in Milwaukee, will be eligible this fall for an extension that could be worth up to $275 million.

But the Bucks don't have a roster that's a championship contender. If they trade Antetokounmpo, they can essentially start over with what would be a slew of players and draft picks. If they keep him, there's no guarantee he'll be happy — because it seems like he's primarily interested now in trying to win more titles.

“I just think before the draft is a natural time, right, because if Giannis does play somewhere else we're going to get a lot of assets. ... You've got to get it right,” Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam said in May, when the team introduced new coach Taylor Jenkins — who was told that Antetokounmpo may or may not be with the franchise when next season starts.

The draft is next week. And logic would suggest that the Bucks — if they are going to trade Antetokounmpo — may do so at least a few days before the draft, so they have some specific idea of who to target with the capital that they'll get as part of whatever deal might go down.

Miami has been mentioned in the Giannis sweepstakes for months, and the Heat are involved in talks with the Bucks again.

LeBron watch

James has never gone into a summer with this much freedom.

He could stay with the Lakers. He could pick another spot. He could retire. He could demand a max salary. He could take less money to help a team out. Or he could just continue posting videos of chip-ins on Instagram; yes, James has the golf bug.

“When the time comes, you guys will know what I decide to do,” James said when the Lakers were eliminated this spring by Oklahoma City in a 4-0 sweep.

The Lakers have a lot of other decisions, including how to handle an extension for Austin Reaves. But getting some sense from James about his plans will surely go a long way toward having other moves fall into place.

The Spurs

Victor Wembanyama is eligible for a four-year extension that would top $250 million, and there's obviously no reason San Antonio wouldn't want to commit to keep the game's most fascinating player around. The extension would start in 2027-28.

There are some other roster spots to address, but the starters are under contract.

It will be interesting to watch how free agents view San Antonio as a destination, especially since the Spurs will go into next season as one of the favorites — if not the biggest one — for the 2027 NBA title.

“Competitiveness, that’s what makes you better,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “That’s what pushes you to continue to improve in the dark, long hours when nobody is around. We improved a whole lot this year. We have ... more motivation to continue to get better.”

Other top issues

— The NBA still hasn't revealed what, if anything, will come from an investigation by outside counsel into whether a $28 million endorsement contract between Kawhi Leonard and a California-based sustainability services company allowed the Los Angeles Clippers to circumvent league salary cap rules.

— Portland hasn't said who will coach next season, with interim coach Tiago Splitter still in the mix. Chicago and Dallas still have openings. It would seem advantageous to have coaches in place by the draft.

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

He joined host Glenna Milberg on the latest episode of “This Week in South Florida”, and their conversation can be seen at the top of this page.

He joined host Glenna Milberg on the latest episode of “This Week in South Florida”, and their conversation can be seen at the top of this page.

A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Omar Artan will still be entitled to payment despite not officiating any games at the near six-week long event. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

They said the fee would be determined after the tournament concludes next month.

Artan is one of soccer's top officials and was named Africa's best male referee in 2025. But the Somali national was denied entry after arriving at Miami International Airport from Istanbul last week.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Artan was “inadmissible due to vetting concerns”.

He had originally been issued a visa to travel to the U.S., according to the Somalia Embassy in Kenya, which processed it, and was due to meet up with other World Cup referees at their training base in Miami.

FIFA said it was not involved in the immigration processes and that the host government ultimately determines who is granted entry. As a result it said Artan would not be able to train and officiate at the World Cup.

The 34-year-old Artan was given a hero's welcome when he returned to Somalia earlier this week and vowed to attend the next edition of the World Cup — mainly staged in Morocco, Portugal and Spain - in 2030. He was also appointed to officiate one of European soccer's showcase games, the UEFA Super Cup in August.

“Football is made to connect people and UEFA wants to show its respect to Omar and his outstanding officiating skills,” UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said in a statement.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

Uno de los helicópteros se estrelló contra un concesionario de automóviles, donde había varios vehículos eléctricos estacionados, lo que provocó un incendio que ya fue extinguido, indicó el Cuerpo de Bomberos Militar de Río de Janeiro.

Las autoridades señalaron que hay una investigación en curso para determinar la causa de la colisión.

La policía reveló que el cantante y comediante estadounidense Oliver Tree figuraba en la lista de pasajeros entregada a las autoridades de aviación, pero no han podido identificar los cuerpos de los fallecidos en el choque.

Tree se presentó en Buenos Aires el 4 de junio y publicó un video en Instagram el sábado de él jugando fútbol en un vecindario de Brasil.

Fernandes de Freitas, un trabajador de un taller de neumáticos, dijo que vio a uno de los helicópteros en llamas y se dio cuenta que un pasajero saltó de la otra nave antes de estrellarse. “Fue aterrador, totalmente aterrador", declaró De Freitas.

Por su parte, el canal argentino de streaming Blender, confirmó el fallecimiento de Gaspar Prim Díaz —conocido como Gaspi— en el incidente. El joven de 23 años acababa de estrenar una serie en esa señal, tras adquirir notoriedad con transgresores videos en la vía pública en que abordaba a desconocidos. Era seguido por más de 2,8 millones de personas en YouTube.

“Gracias por todo tu arte, tu magia y tu sensibilidad. Cada uno de nosotros te va a extrañar mucho. Hasta siempre amigo”, publicó Blender en X. El youtuber español Ibaí Llanos también lamentó el deceso en sus redes. Se cree que el cineasta argentino Lucas Vignale —que acompañaba a Gaspi— también es otra de las víctimas del choque.

—-

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

He joined host Glenna Milberg on the latest episode of “This Week in South Florida”, and their conversation can be seen at the top of this page.

They joined host Glenna Milberg on the latest episode of “This Week in South Florida”, and their conversation can be seen at the top of this page.

Rio de Janeiro’s Military Fire Department said that one of the helicopters crashed on the parking lot of a car dealership, where several electric vehicles were parked, igniting a fire that was extinguished.

Officials said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collision.

Police said that American singer and comedian Oliver Tree was on the list of passengers handed to aviation authorities, but have not been able to identify the bodies of those killed in the crash.

Tree performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 4, and published a video on his Instagram Saturday where he is playing soccer in a Brazilian neighborhood.

Argentine streaming channel Blender said that content creator Gaspar Prim Díaz — also known as Gaspi — was in one of the helicopters.

Gaspi had more than 2.8 million followers on YouTube and was 23.

“Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility, every one of us will miss you,” Blender said on its X account.

Fernandes de Freitas, a tire repair worker, said he saw one of the helicopters in flames following the midair collision, and noticed that one of the passengers jumped out of the other aircraft, before it hit the ground. “It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying,” De Freitas said.

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Ramiro Barreiro contributed from Buenos Aires.

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

Against the backdrop of a 3-month-old war with Iran that’s been broadly unpopular with Americans and has rattled global oil markets and with inflation spiked to the highest level since April 2023, the White House — long known as the people’s house and a symbol of American democracy — opened its backyard Sunday night to stage a bruising UFC card on the South Lawn.

More than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been poured into building the arena, according to a court filing from the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn.

UFC is staging seven fights with all male fighters under the Freedom 250 banner to celebrate Trump’s 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.

The fight card headlined by two title fights on Paramount+ is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Eastern.

It’s the pinnacle of the relationship between UFC CEO Dana White and Trump that has yielded personal, political and financial dividends for both parties in a relationship that goes back 25 years. White's first card as UFC president came in 2001 at an event held at Trump Taj Mahal.

Trump has attended four UFC cards as sitting president, walking to the cage amid rock music and patriotic chants from fans much like the fighters themselves. White introduced Trump at two Republican National Conventions. White also attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April that was cut short by a shooting.

In a card that has been panned by fans online as underwhelming, Alex Pereira of Brazil will meet Ciryl Gane of France for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria then takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.

There are five other fights on the main card that include former title-fight participants Michael Chandler and Derrick Lewis and former 135-pound champion Sean O’Malley.

White said the show will go on rain or shine. Strong thunderstorms and heavy lightning disrupted Friday’s Lincoln Memorial promotional event, and the forecast for Sunday evening also looks threatening.

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AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

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According to authorities, 23-year-old Akin Liverpool was last seen on Saturday on a charter boat in Biscayne Bay that was going from Hobie Beach toward the Miami River.

Police say Liverpool is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds. He has black hair and dark brown eyes and was last seen wearing a black shirt and black swimming trunks.

Investigators did not immediately release additional details about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

Authorities confirmed that the case is being investigated by the MPD’s Special Victims Unit.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is urged to contact Detective D. Reyes or any on-duty detective with the Special Victims Unit at 305-603-6300 or 305-579-6111, or reach out to the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Miami at 305-702-6470.

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Pembroke Pines police said officers responded to assist with the crash at the airport, located at 101 SW 77th Way.

Authorities said the helicopter was getting ready to lift off when it rolled over. As it rolled over, the helicopter hit a parked airplane.

According to authorities, four passengers were aboard the helicopter when it crashed.

Police said all four individuals were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Officials have not released details about the victims or what led to the crash.

This is a developing story. Watch Local 10 News or refresh the page for the latest updates.

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UPDATE: Four passengers were onboard; all are being transported to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries. https://t.co/jkCrSAQnLT

— Pembroke Pines PD (@PPinesPD) June 13, 2026

Roberto Vannacci 's “National Future” party is injecting uncertainty into the conservative bloc that has underpinned Meloni’s government, exposing tensions ahead of the 2027 general election.

Meloni's party has its roots in fascism and she campaigned as an EU-skeptic, prompting analysts to speculate she would be a hard-line nationalist if elected. Instead, she has been a pragmatic conservative leader with a more moderate, pro-European approach, which also ensured a period of unusually long stability for Italy.

In early September, if still in office, Meloni will become the longest-serving head of government in the 80-year history of the Italian Republic, surpassing the late Silvio Berlusconi.

A rival carving out space to her right could test her ability to hold that tack, analysts say. The question is no longer whether Vannacci will influence the vote, but whether Meloni can contain, co-opt or outmaneuver her challenger.

Vannacci calls his party the ‘real right’

“With us, Italy will once again be the home of Italians,” Vannacci said at his party’s founding assembly on Sunday. “Everyone must feel safe in their own home.”

One day earlier, he proudly described his core lawmakers as the “dirty dozen,” stressing his outsider role.

Vannacci, 57, emerged politically with his 2023 self-published book “Il mondo al contrario” (The World Upside Down), which drew controversy for harsh attacks on LGBTQ+ people, migrants and minorities.

He entered politics a year later with Matteo Salvini ’s anti-migration League, winning more than 530,000 preferences in European Parliament elections. He left the League in February to launch his Futuro Nazionale, a break Salvini called a “betrayal.”

Since then, Vannacci has consolidated support. The party says it has surpassed 100,000 members and now has eight deputies, including defectors from the League and centrist Forza Italia, underscoring unease within Meloni’s coalition.

He rejects the traditional “far-right” label, calling his movement the “real right,” and has accused Meloni of failing to turn shared priorities into policies. He's for now ruling out a possible alliance.

Vannacci platform centers on hard-line positions on security and migration, including calls for the “remigration” of foreigners he considers not integrated; opposition to EU policies such as the Green Deal; and criticism of Western sanctions on Russia.

Vannacci’s rise comes as far-right and nationalist parties gain ground across Europe, reshaping the political landscape and focusing on polarizing issues like migration and security.

A potential wild card

Analysts say Vannacci's rise in Italy reflects a political and cultural shift.

“He is commanding a sort of political raid for hard-right votes within the main parties of the coalition,” said Massimiliano Panarari, politics professor at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. “Meloni’s strategy was to have no one to her right. Now she does.”

Panarari described Vannacci as “an entrepreneur of fear,” whose rhetoric pushes themes that Meloni can no longer openly embrace in government, like openly anti-gay and anti-feminist positions.

Lorenzo Pregliasco, political analyst and polling expert at YouTrend, said the development introduces “something new — an opposition from the right to the current government.”

“Now there is a force outside the majority that challenges it on popular issues like migration, security and culture wars,” he noted.

That shift carries electoral weight. Polls give Vannacci's party single-digit support, but that's a potentially decisive share when time comes for coalition building, given Italy’s main center-right and center-left blocs are so closely matched.

“They could be the difference between finishing ahead or behind,” Pregliasco said, describing Vannacci as a potential wild card.

Meloni has a tough choice to make

For Meloni, the dilemma is strategic.

“In terms of political debate, he introduces instability on the right,” Pregliasco said. “She and her allies must decide whether to absorb him into the coalition — but that would create problems.”

Addressing parliament earlier this week, Meloni accused Vannacci-aligned lawmakers of undermining the government and favoring the left, while her Brothers of Italy party and centrist allies have ruled out electoral agreements.

For now, Meloni has avoided direct confrontation, a strategy seen as both calculation and a bet that Vannacci’s momentum may fade.

“The issue is what to do with this loose cannon of Vannacci, which could drag the right back toward the far right,” Panarari said.

“I’m not sure it would benefit Meloni to shift further right before general elections. Her approach will likely be marked by ambiguity and ambivalence, as long as possible."

There’s a marginal threat (level 1 out of 4) of flooding underneath some of these heavier storms so neighborhoods with poor drainage will have to be vigilant later today. Look for middle of the road storm chances through early this week but decreasing by midweek.

We could experience our hottest heat index temperatures of the season by later in the week. Have a great Sunday and stay cool!

Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat, and in response to ceasefire violations, including occasional attacks.

Nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire, according to the health ministry. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the truce.

The number of deaths since the beginning of the war is now 73,001, according to the health ministry's tally. Over 173,200 people have been wounded since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, following the Hamas-led attack into Israel. That attack killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

The health ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

Stalled ceasefire

The U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal reached in October ended full-scale military operations and led to the return of all the remaining hostages. But other elements of the deal have stalled as Hamas has refused to disarm and Israeli troops have advanced in Gaza, rather than withdrawn. Both sides accuse the other of violating the agreement but say it is still in effect.

Progress on all other issues — including reconstruction, Israeli troop withdrawals and the establishment of a new Palestinian government — is being held up by the deadlock over disarming Hamas, the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, has said.

The war displaced most of the Palestinian population of over 2 million, left large parts of the territory in rubble and created widespread shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies as the border crossings with Gaza — all but one controlled by Israel — slammed shut.

At least eight more Palestinians killed in the weekend

An Israeli strike on Sunday afternoon in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp killed at least four people and wounded others, according to health officials at the Shifa hospital, where the casualties were taken. An Israeli military official, who spoke anonymously in line with military guidelines, said the military “struck terrorists” in the area, without elaborating.

A 13-year-old boy was among five Palestinians killed in Gaza on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday, according to Palestinian health officials. In response to the Saturday night strike that killed two of the five, the Israeli military claimed that it was striking Hamas militants.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo.

Yellow helmet still on, Hamilton pumped his fists and took a running leap into the arms of his fellow crimson-clad crew members after parking his Ferrari in the No. 1 spot on winner's row following his masterful race at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on Sunday.

It had been a throwback, vintage Hamilton win. A victory that showed the seven-time champion, whose last title came in 2020, may just be back to his best at age 41.

Hamilton thanked and thanked again his teammates, the engineers back in Italy, his family and his fans in an emotional celebration for the driver who once dominated the sport but hadn’t won a race in nearly two years.

“I watched Ferrari have all this success when I was younger and wondered what it would be like to win in this car. I’m forever grateful and hopefully the first of many," Hamilton said from the winner's podium while thousands cheered.

His record-extending victory No. 106 may have also ignited a title fight with a Mercedes that looked untouchable following a rulebook overhaul this year and had won all six previous races.

“They are all special in their own way, but this one is something else,” Hamilton said about the importance of a victory that ended a run of 40 races without a win, 30 of which had come since his move from Mercedes to Ferrari at the end of 2024. His last win had come at the Belgian GP in July of that year.

“It’s all starting to come together and I’m just happy in my life," said Hamilton, who looks like a different driver from the despondent racer who struggled with Ferrari last campaign and never even reached the podium in a grand prix.

Hamilton admitted that during his troublesome first year with Ferrari he reached a point when he thought “maybe it is true that you get to a certain point you lose it.

“But you don’t. It takes perseverance to tap into that inner self… now I feel great racing with 19 year olds.”

To sweeten the day for Ferrari, Hamilton was already cruising to victory when Kimi Antonelli, the F1 points leader, came to a stop on the track with just four laps to go when his Mercedes suffered an electrical shutdown.

That ended the young Italian's incredible run of five straight wins.

Antonelli still leads with 156 points after seven races, but Hamilton has closed the gap and has 115. George Russell guided his Mercedes to a second-place finish and now has 106 points.

It was Hamilton’s seventh win at this track, a record at Montmelo, and his first here since 2021.

He was building toward this long-awaited victory with runner-up finishes at Canada and Monaco. He said he had set the “foundation” with Ferrari before he qualified second ahead of Antonelli for the Barcelona race.

“Thank you so much to help me achieve this dream,” Hamilton said on team radio after crossing the finish line more than 19 seconds ahead of Russell. “Thank you for everyone pushing so hard at home, thanks to my family, and to my fans who continue to remind me who I am. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Ferrari outfoxes Mercedes with pitstop strategy

Hamilton took advantage of fresher tires and a superior pitstop strategy by Ferrari to overtake the pole-sitting Russell.

Ferrari opted for a three-stop race to give Hamilton fresher tires on a track that is known to be hard on rubber, especially with track temperatures at 50 Celsius (122 F). The quicker wheels had him slip ahead of Russell, who, like Antonelli, was on a two-stop plan, when a bit of luck sealed it for Hamilton.

A stoppage by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin brought out a virtual safety car, and Ferrari called in Hamilton for his final stop while his rivals couldn’t push the pace, and he emerged in the lead with a fresh set of tires.

Seeing Hamilton slip away, Russell was left to protect his position from Antonelli. They had jousted earlier in the race, before Antonelli eventually swept past.

Moments later, it all unraveled for Antonelli when he stopped and his shot at 18 points vanished.

Russell said his team will need to solve their mechanical issues, after he also had a late breakdown in Canada. He also had some nice words for Hamilton, his former teammate.

“It was a big bold move to join Ferrari and to see it paying off now is great to see, he is going to be a real threat,” Russell said.

Defending F1 champion Lando Norris was third in his McLaren, making it the first all-British podium since 1968.

Max Verstappen for Red Bull in fourth. Oscar Piastri, who won here last year, was fifth in the other McLaren.

Isack Hadjar of Red Bull was sixth, followed by Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto of Alpine. Liam Lawson and Avrid Lindblad rounded out the top 10.

Hamilton's teammate, Charles Leclerc, had to retire late when his Ferrari failed due to a hydraulic problem.

Alonso had a dismal day in what he said is likely his last race in northeastern Spain. The 44-year-old former champion started from the pitlane following an engine change after bottoming out in qualifying and then broke down in the race. Aston Martin’s other car, driven by Lance Stroll, retired early because of a gearbox issue.

This is the last race near Barcelona for two years. It will return in 2028 as it alternates on the F1 calendar with the Belgian GP at least through 2032.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The Republican candidates are competing Tuesday for the chance to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in one of the most closely watched campaigns in the November midterm elections. Collins has positioned himself as a stalwart ally of Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement, and the president said in his announcement early Sunday on social media that the trucking company owner and second-term congressman “has been with me from the very beginning” and is a ”true friend, fighter, and WARRIOR."

Dooley, a political newcomer, is backed by outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, who has clashed with Trump in the past. “I don’t know Derek Dooley, and neither does anyone else, but he seems like a nice person,” Trump wrote, while noting that Dooley did not vote in 2016 or 2020, when Trump was on the ballot. Dooley has acknowledged going nearly two decades without voting but says he did vote for Trump in 2024.

Collins led Dooley in the May 19 primary but neither surpassed 40%, leaving many Republican votes up for grabs. Trump’s endorsement has proved powerful as he shapes a party identity that is increasingly indistinguishable from his own.

“Everybody knows that I do best with the MAGA base,” Collins said on primary night. “It’s because they know I’ve always been with President Trump.”

Still, the president’s choice puts him at odds with more traditional Republicans, including Kemp. The endorsement is reminiscent of Trump’s decision to back Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton before his victory over U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the state’s recent primary runoff.

Dooley responded to Trump's decision by saying Georgia voters want “a political outsider” rather than “typical D.C. politicians like Mike Collins.” In an X post, Dooley expressed confidence that he would win.

Collins has embraced Trump since his first campaign for Congress in 2022, and he has echoed the president’s false claims that his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was fraudulent. Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 law that requires immigrants be detained when charged with certain crimes. Republicans believe the issue damages Ossoff because he initially voted against the measure before supporting it after Trump returned to the White House.

Dooley — and Kemp as his top surrogate — argue that a first-time candidate has a better shot to defeat Ossoff, the only Democratic senator facing voters in a state Trump carried in 2024.

Kemp, who once drew Trump’s ire for refusing to help overturn Biden’s victory, was the top choice of Senate Republican leaders looking for an Ossoff challenger. Kemp recruited Dooley, a childhood friend, to run instead.

The governor points to a trio of first-term Republican senators — Montana’s Tim Sheehy, Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick and Ohio’s Bernie Moreno — who defeated Democratic incumbents in 2024 running as outsiders who still aligned with the president.

Dooley’s argument is matched against Trump’s winning streak inside the party. In a matter of weeks, Trump has celebrated victories over Republicans who did not pass his test of loyalty.

Cornyn lost to Paxton, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost to Ed Gallrein, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana failed to make a runoff and several Indiana state senators were defeated by challengers.

Dooley has told voters he will “work with President Trump but fight for you.” He also emphasizes that Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate race in Georgia since 2016.

Collins walks no such tightrope, and he still insists that he can have wider appeal in the fall.

“You don’t beat Jon Ossoff by having no record,” he said. “You win by having a record of results.”

Group stage matches

JUNE 14: DAY 1

The Netherlands vs. Japan is at 4 p.m. in Dallas, Texas.

Sweden vs. Tunisia is at 10 p.m. in Guadalupe, Mexico.

JUNE 20: DAY 2

The Netherlands vs. Sweden is at 1 p.m. in Houston, Texas.

JUNE 21: DAY 3

Tunisia vs. Japan is at midnight in Monterrey, Mexico.

JUNE 25: DAY 4

Tunisia vs. The Netherlands at 7 p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri

Japan vs. Sweden at 7 p.m. in Arlington, Texas.

Track the groups’ progress

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L
• Track standing tables on FIFA

Group stage matches

JUNE 14: DAY 1

Germany vs. Curaçao is at 1 p.m. in Houston, Texas

• Game preview: Curaçao embraces historic World Cup debut against Germany
• Archives: Germany heads to World Cup with 9-game winning streak

Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador is at 7 p.m. in Philadelphia

JUNE 20: DAY 2

Germany vs. Ivory Coast is at 4 p.m.

Ecuador vs. Curaçao is at 8 p.m.

JUNE 25: DAY 3

Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast is at 4 p.m.

Ecuador vs. Germany is at 4 p.m.

Track the groups’ progress

Here is the list of the groups:

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L

GROUP STAGE MATCHES

June 11: Coverage of Day 1 of Group A matches

Mexico’s “El Tri” wins 2-0 against South Africa

• After-game analysis of the opening match
• 3 red cards mar opening World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa
• Get a feel for celebrations in Wynwood and in South Beach
• FIFA game video: Goal by Julián Quiñones
• FIFA game video: Goal by Raúl Jiménez
• FIFA video: Game highlights
• FIFA post-match video: Interviews of Mexican players in Spanish and South African players in English
• FIFA post-match video: Interview of Mexico’s Coach Javier Aguirre in Spanish

South Korea wins 2-1 against Czech Republic

• After-game analysis of opening match
• FIFA Video: Goal by Oh Hyeon-gyu
• FIFA Video: Goal by Hwang In-beom
• Track standings tables on Google
• Track standing tables on FIFA

June 18: Day 2 of Group A matches

• The Czech Republic plays South Africa at noon on in Atlanta.
• Mexico plays South Korea at 9 p.m. in Guadalajara.

June 24: Day 3 of Group A matches

The Czech Republic plays against Mexico at 9 p.m. on June 24 in Mexico City.

South Africa plays against South Korea at 9 p.m. on June 24 in Monterrey.

Track the groups

• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L
• Track standings tables on Google
• Track standing tables on FIFA

The election system used throughout the political battleground state relies on a QR code printed on ballots to tally the votes. Legislators passed a law two years ago barring the use of that barcode for the official vote count beyond July 1 of this year, but no replacement method of tabulating votes was ever implemented.

One of the instructions Republican Gov. Brian Kemp laid out for lawmakers when he called the special session is to “address issues created” by that law. Meanwhile, the secretary of state's office and the State Election Board have further muddied the waters by issuing conflicting guidance for county election officials about how votes should be cast and counted.

If the issues are not resolved soon, there is likely to be confusion and possibly litigation over the state's elections after July 1. A special election to fill a U.S. House seat is scheduled for that month.

How did we get here?

Georgia's current election system was first used statewide during the 2020 primary. After the general election that year, when Republican President Donald Trump narrowly lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump and his supporters claimed without evidence that the machines had deleted or switched votes.

Trump's backers continued to complain about the touchscreen voting machines, with some loyalists espousing wild conspiracy theories. Election integrity advocates also criticized the machines, saying they are vulnerable to hacking and that voters cannot be sure their selections are accurately reflected because people can't read QR codes.

Republican lawmakers in 2024 tried to address those concerns by passing a law banning barcodes for the “official tabulation count” after July 1, 2026. But in the two years since, neither the secretary of state's office nor the General Assembly has taken action to comply. Now, the deadline is fast approaching and a major midterm election looms.

Trump singled out those machines, which are used in at least some counties in more than a dozen states, in his first executive order on elections shortly after he took office for his second term in January 2025. That order has been blocked by multiple courts and is not being enforced.

The governor steps in

Last month, Kemp announced a special legislative session, scheduled to start Wednesday, to draw new congressional maps for the 2028 elections and to address the QR code issue.

It's possible that lawmakers could extend the deadline in the law to allow the QR codes to be used for now and give themselves some breathing room to come up with a new system before elections in 2028. But in the waning hours of the regular legislative session earlier this year, they rejected a proposal that would have done that.

Even if lawmakers agree on a solution, it might be tough to implement before a special election to fill the remainder of the term of U.S. Rep. David Scott, who died in April. The special election is set for July 28, with early voting beginning July 6.

Secretary of state offers guidance to election offices

The secretary of state's office last week issued guidance to election officials in the six counties included in that congressional district. The office says it's preliminary and subject to change based on any developments from the special session.

The ballots will be run through the scanners, which will read the QR code to generate the election night vote count. Then, before county certification, electronic images created by the scanners for each ballot will be uploaded to a server, where optical character recognition software will be used to tally the votes using the human-readable text. The results of that second process will be the official tabulation count.

The secretary of state's guidance expressly says counties must continue to use the current election system, including the touchscreen voting machines, and that there is nothing in the law that authorizes the use of hand-marked paper ballots for in-person voting.

Conflict with the election board

The State Election Board weighed in two days later with conflicting guidance. Board members argued the plan proposed by the secretary of state is not authorized by law.

The board passed a resolution instructing counties on what to do if the special legislative session does not result in an extension of the deadline for using QR codes. The resolution directs counties to use their emergency backup, which calls for hand-marked paper ballots with scanners used to count voters' selections.

When asked about the conflicting guidance during the election board meeting, Elizabeth Young, a lawyer with the state attorney general's office, said that while the guidance is not binding, "obviously it would cause confusion for elections superintendents if they are getting differing instructions from two agencies, both of which have some authority over what they’re doing.”

The election board has been controlled by a Trump-aligned majority and is often at odds with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who is a frequent Trump target.

Local election officials are in the middle

Henry County in Atlanta's suburbs is one of the counties where voters will go to the polls for next month's special election. Axiver Harris, interim elections director, said the county is aware of the conflicting guidance and is awaiting further clarification from the state.

“Given the uncertainty surrounding the guidance currently available, we believe it is wise to wait for further direction to ensure that any decisions made are consistent with state requirements and election administration best practices,” he wrote in an email.

Marcye Scott, who is running in the special election to serve the remainder of her late father's term, said she is not sure most voters are even aware of the issue and is focusing her attention elsewhere.

“My goal is to get people to the polls, get my people to the polls and get them to vote for me,” she said.

But Carlos Moore, another of the six candidates running in the special election, said he is worried about legal challenges if a new method of vote-counting is implemented without enough time. He hopes lawmakers extend the deadline to allow the use of the QR codes for now.

“I would ask that legislators do the right thing, leave well enough alone for the special election," he said. “Otherwise, it’s almost certain there will be challenges in court.”

Coverage of group stage matches

JUNE 13: DAY 1

Brazil and Morocco each get 1 point

• Game analysis: Brazil rallies for 1-1 draw against Morocco in its World Cup opener behind Vinícius Júnior’s goal
• FIFA game video: Morocco’s Ismael Saibari scores
• FIFA game video: A Vinicius Jr. special!

Scotland gets 3 points after playing against Haiti

• Game analysis: Scotland marks 28-year World Cup absence with 1-0 victory over Haiti in Group C
• FIFA game video: Scotland’s John McGinn scores
• Pre-game story: Haiti’s long-awaited World Cup return comes with formidable challenge

Next 2 matches

June 19: Day 2 of Group C matches

Scotland plays against Morocco at 6 p.m. in Boston.

Brazil plays against Haiti at 9 p.m. in Philadelphia.

June 24: Day 3 of Group C matches

Brazil plays against Scotland at 6 p.m. at the Miami Stadium, also known as the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Haiti plays against Morocco at 6 p.m. in Atlanta.

Track the groups

• Group A
• Group B
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L

After the U.S. moved forward with a three-point opener against Paraguay, Australia followed with a three-point victory against Turkey.

Coverage of group stage matches

JUNE 14: DAY 2

Australia gets 3 points after 2-0 against Turkey

• Game analysis: Australia spoils Turkey’s return to the World Cup with a 2-0 victory
• FIFA game video: Nestory Irankunda scores
• FIFA game video: Connor Metcalfe scores

JUNE 12: DAY 1

U.S. beats Paraguay 4-1 in Los Angeles to earn 3 points

• Analysis of the game: US opens its home World Cup with a dynamic 4-1 victory over Paraguay, sparked by Balogun’s 2 goals
• The first goal: U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie kicked into the box, and the hit deflected off Paraguayan midfielder Damián Bobadilla and into the net.

• FIFA game video: U.S. left-wing forward Christian Pulisic made a pass to U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, who scored the team’s second goal against Paraguay.
• Balogun scored the team’s third goal against Paraguay.
• Folarin Balogun, who could have played for England or Nigeria, scores 2 for US in World Cup debut

• Paraguayan attacking midfielder Maurício Magalhães, who was born in Brazil to a Paraguayan father, scores a goal.
• FIFA game video: U.S. wing midfielder Gio Reyna scores the team’s fourth goal.
• Roaring crowds in stars and stripes show up for the US team, and soccer’s moment in their country

• Get a feel for the pre-game fans in Los Angeles
• Game preview: US ready for co-hosts’ final World Cup opener against Paraguay before a raucous SoCal crowd
• US OPEN ’26: Scottie Scheffler trying to make history and Shinnecock tries to avoid recent history
• Local connection: Broward native Alex Freeman set for World Cup debut with US men’s national team
• Local watch party: Amerant Bank Arena hosts watch party for United States opener against Paraguay

Next 2 game days

June 19: Coverage of Day 3 of Group D matches

The United States plays against Australia at 3 p.m. at the Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington.

Turkey plays against Paraguay at 11 p.m. at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

June 25: Coverage of Day 4 of Group D matches

Turkey plays against the United States at 10 p.m. at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Paraguay plays against Australia at 10 p.m. at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Track the groups

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L
• Track standings tables on Google
• Track standing tables on FIFA

GROUP STAGE MATCHES

June 13: Day 2 of Group B in 1st stage

Qatar and Switzerland tie 1-1

• Game analysis: Boualem Khoukhi’s goal on header in stoppage time earns Qatar a 1-1 World Cup draw with Switzerland
• FIFA game video: Switzerland’s Breel Embolo scores 17th-minute penalty kick
• FIFA game video: Khoukhi’s equalizer
• Track standings tables on Google
• Track standing tables on FIFA

June 12: Coverage of Day 1 of Group B in 1st stage

Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina tie 1-1

• FIFA game video: Canadian Cyle Larin scores goal
• FIFA game video: Bosnian Jovo Lukić scores goal
• FIFA post-match video: Interviews with players in French, English, and Bosnian
• Canada is ready to become a soccer nation as it hosts World Cup opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina
• A Bosnian song about disillusionment with the American Dream becomes a World Cup banger

Future matches

June 18: Day 3 of Group B matches

Switzerland plays against Bosnia and Herzegovina at 9 a.m. at the Los Angeles Stadium.

Canada plays against Qatar at 12 p.m. at BC Place Vancouver.

June 24: Day 4 of Group B matches

Bosnia and Herzegovina play against Qatar at 9 a.m. at the Seattle Stadium.

Switzerland plays against Canada at 9 a.m. at BC Place Vancouver.

Track the groups

• Group A
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L

At 2 p.m., the Fan Festival opens until midnight for the watch parties at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.

Qatar vs. Switzerland, a Group B match, is at 3 p.m. at the San Francisco Bay Area stadium.

Brazil vs. Morocco, a Group C match, is at 6 p.m. at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Haiti vs. Scotland, also a Group C match, is at 9 p.m. at the Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Groups’ 1st stage progress

Group D progress on Friday: United States gets 3 points after opener against Paraguay

Group B progress on Friday: Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina each get 1 point

Group A progress on Thursday: Mexico and South Korea each get 3 points after openers

World Cup schedule

June 14: There are five matches: The Group D, Australia vs. Turkey, game is at Midnight. The Group E, Germany vs. Curaçao, game is at 1 p.m. The Group F, The Netherlands vs. Japan, game is at 4 p.m. The Group E, Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador, game is at 7 p.m. The Group F, Sweden vs. Tunisia, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 15: There are four matches: The Group H, Spain vs. Cape Verde, game is at Noon. The Group G, Belgium vs. Egypt, game is at 3 p.m. The Group H, Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay, game is at 6 p.m. The Group G, Iran vs. New Zealand, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 16: There are three matches: The Group I, France vs. Senegal, game is at 3 p.m. The Group I, Iraq vs. Norway, game is at 6 p.m. The Group J, Argentina vs. Algeria, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 17: There are five matches: The Group J, Austria vs. Jordan, game is at Midnight. The Group K, Portugal vs. Congo, game is at 1 p.m. The Group L, England vs. Croatia, game is at 4 p.m. The Group L, Ghana vs. Panama, game is at 7 p.m. The Group K, Uzbekistan vs. Colombia, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 18: There are four matches: The Group A match, The Czech Republic vs. South Africa, is at Noon. The Group B, Switzerland vs. Bosnia, game is at 3 p.m. The Group B, Canada vs. Qatar, game is at 6 p.m. The Group A match, Mexico vs. South Korea, is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 19: There are four matches: The Group D, U.S. vs. Australia, game is at 3 p.m. The Group C, Scotland vs. Morocco, game is at 6 p.m. The Group C, Brazil vs. Haiti, game is at 8:30 p.m. The Group D, Turkey vs. Paraguay, game is at 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 20: There are three matches: The Group F, Netherlands vs. Sweden, game is at 1 p.m. The Group E, Germany vs. Ivory Coast, game is at 4 p.m. The Group E, Ecuador vs. Curaçao, game is at 8 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Miami Beach fan party: Doors open at 6 p.m. on June 20 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for an event for Uruguayan fans co-hosted by the Consulate General of Uruguay.

June 21: There are five matches: The Group F, Tunisia vs. Japan, game is at Midnight. The Group H, Spain vs. Saudi Arabia, game is at Noon. The Group G, Belgium vs. Iran, game is at 3 p.m. The Group H, Uruguay vs. Cape Verde, game is at 6 p.m. The Group G, New Zealand vs. Egypt, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 22: There are four matches: The Group J, Argentina vs. Austria, game is at 1 p.m. The Group I, France vs. Iraq, game is at 5 p.m. The Group I, Norway vs. Senegal, game is at 8 p.m. The Group J, Jordan vs. Algeria, game is at 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 8 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 11 a.m. on June 22 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 1 p.m. Argentina vs. Austria match.

June 23: There are four matches: The Group K, Portugal vs. Uzbekistan, game is at 1 p.m. The Group L, England vs. Ghana, game is at 4 p.m. The Group L, Panama vs. Croatia, game is at 7 p.m. The Group K, Colombia vs. Congo, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to 1 a.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 24: There are six matches: The Group B, Switzerland vs. Canada, game is at 3 p.m. The Group B, Bosnia vs. Qatar, game is at 3 p.m. The Group C, Morocco vs. Haiti, game is at 6 p.m. The Group C, Scotland vs. Brazil, game is at 6 p.m. The Group A, South Africa vs. South Korea, game is at 9 p.m. The Group A, Czech Republic vs. Mexico, game is at 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 4 p.m. on June 24 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 6 p.m. Scotland vs. Brazil match.

June 25: There are six matches: The Group E, Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast, game is at 4 p.m. The Group E, Ecuador vs. Germany, game is at 4 p.m. The Group F, Tunisia vs. Netherlands, game is at 7 p.m. The Group F, Japan vs. Sweden, game is at 7 p.m. The Group D, Turkey vs. U.S., game is at 10 p.m. The Group D, Paraguay vs. Australia, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 26: There are six matches: The Group I, Norway vs. France, game is at 3 p.m. The Group I, Senegal vs. Iraq, game is at 3 p.m. The Group H, Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, game is at 8 p.m. The Group H, Uruguay vs. Spain, game is at 8 p.m. The Group G, New Zealand vs. Belgium, game is at 11 p.m. The Group G, Egypt vs. Iran, game is at 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 27: There are six matches: The Group L, Panama vs. England, game is at 5 p.m. The Group L, Croatia vs. Ghana, game is at 5 p.m. The Group K, Colombia vs. Portugal, game is at 7:30 p.m. The Group K, Congo vs. Uzbekistan, game is at 7:30 p.m. The Group J, Algeria vs. Austria, game is at 10 p.m. The Group J, Jordan vs. Argentina, game is at 10 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders at 7:30 p.m. on June 27. Parking is free. Broward County is offering free Express bus transportation from the arena to the Miami Stadium, also known as Hard Rock, in Miami Gardens, to FIFA World Cup ticket holders.

June 28: There is a match at 3 p.m.

Miami watch party: The fan festival opens from 1 p.m to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 29: There are three matches at 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

June 30: There are three matches at 1 p.m., 5 p.m., and 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 1: There are three matches at noon, 4 p.m., and 9 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 2: There are three matches at 3 p.m., 7 p.m., and 11 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 3: There are three matches at 2 p.m., 6 p.m., and 9:30 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 1 p.m to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 4: There are two matches at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 5: There are two matches at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens for the last day from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 6: There are two matches at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

July 7: There are two matches at Noon and 4 p.m.

July 9: There is a quarter-final match at 4 p.m.

July 10: There is a quarter-final match at 3 p.m.

July 11: There are two quarter-final matches at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders at 5 p.m. on July 11. Parking is free.

July 14: The fan festival is closed. There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 14 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

July 15: There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 15 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

July 18: The third-place play-off match is at 5 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 18 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 5 p.m. bronze final.

Sunrise ride to stadium: The Amerant Bank Arena has free parking for FIFA World Cup ticket holders who ride Broward County’s free Express bus transportation to the Miami Stadium, also known as Hard Rock, in Miami Gardens.

July 19: The final match is at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 1 p.m. on July 19 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 3 p.m. final.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders for the final on July 19. Parking is free.

Related stories

• Key information for fans attending matches at Miami Stadium
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Track FIFA World Cup groups

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Details of the deal were not immediately available. Key mediator Pakistan said the signing will be Friday in Switzerland. Key issues like Iran's nuclear program are expected to be addressed later.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed a deal had been reached and said he had authorized an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, imposed in retaliation for Iran's grip on the crucial waterway.

“Congratulations to all!” Trump wrote on social media, adding: “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade.”

The U.S. previously said it would ease its blockade of Iranian ports as the strait reopens, and would agree to relax sanctions to allow Iran to sell more of its oil and strengthen its battered economy.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was signed on Friday. He said the deal followed over 14 hours of talks in Tehran with a representative from Qatar, another mediator.

Iranian state TV showed a banner asserting: “US was forced to sign an agreement to end the war.”

Pakistan first announced the deal after a day in which Israel, sidelined from the negotiations, attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs while pursuing the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. The attacks posed a threat to completing the negotiations.

“Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, adding that mediators this week will facilitate meetings to “lay the foundation for the technical talks.”

The deal came under criticism even in the final hours

Broader negotiations on outstanding issues like Iran’s nuclear program would continue over the next 60 days, two senior Pakistani officials said earlier Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. If the sides fail to reach a resolution within that time, the timeline could be extended.

The deal likely returns the region to a status that existed before the war, but with thousands of people dead and Iran wielding a new source of negotiating pressure with its ability to influence shipping in the strait. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer, and its effective closure rocked the global economy.

Of the stated targets by the U.S. and Israel when they launched the war on Feb. 28 with strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran still has a missile program, support for armed proxies in the region like Hezbollah and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium for its nuclear program.

Khamenei’s son is now supreme leader, though he has not been seen in the public since the war began. His approval was needed for Iran to sign off on the deal.

Iran wanted a ceasefire deal to include the fighting in Lebanon, where Israel has pushed its invasion deeper than at any point in over a quarter-century as it targets Hezbollah. Tehran also has sought the release of billions of dollars in frozen funds.

The emerging deal had been sharply criticized by Israel’s government and by critics in Trump’s own Republican Party. Some said it did not improve on the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term and still describes as “bad.”

There was also apparent friction inside Iran in the hours before the announcement, as the government earlier Sunday warned that any division at home over the deal weakens its negotiating position. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged national unity and called it a “disgrace” when someone stands before parliament and calls anyone who negotiates a traitor.

The central question of Iran's nuclear program remains

After the war began, Iran attacked Israel and several Arab Gulf nations with missiles and drones. A ceasefire was reached on April 7. Ten days later, the U.S. military imposed its blockade. A historic face-to-face meeting between Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf ended without success.

Throughout negotiations, Trump alternatively threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure, even its civilization, and praised the relationship with Iran as “more professional” as his administration sought an exit from the war with midterm U.S. elections coming later this year.

Iran’s government, with its own tensions around hard-liners as it scrambled to replace several top officials killed in the war, repeatedly expressed wariness of negotiations after rounds of talks last year and early this year ended with U.S. and Israeli attacks.

Tehran has emphasized that it wanted a deal to focus on ending the war, with discussions put off until later on its nuclear program — the issue at the center of it all.

Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.

At times, the U.S. had sought the removal of the enriched uranium from Iran as part of a deal. Russia has offered to take it. At other times, Trump said he wanted the uranium destroyed.

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Frankel reported from Jerusalem, Sewell from Beirut and Weissert from Washington. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, contributed.

Putin’s call with Trump lasted just under an hour, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, who briefed reporters afterward.

On Ukraine, Ushakov said Trump emphasized the need to end hostilities and stated his readiness to influence European allies and Kyiv toward that goal, including at the upcoming G7 summit.

Trump also said that recent strikes on civilian targets in Russia complicate a settlement — though the White House has not confirmed that, nor commented on the call — and said that ending the war quickly could open the door to “a truly new quality of U.S.-Russian relations,” Ushakov quoted him as saying.

Putin, for his part, argued that attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure by Kyiv would not change Ukraine’s position on the battlefield, and said that if Zelenskyy wants a meeting with him, “let him come to Moscow,” according to Ushakov.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Russia soon, Ushakov said.

The leaders also discussed Iran, where Trump said a U.S. agreement with Tehran was close and that he hoped the results of the talks could be made public today, Ushakov said.

Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram Sunday that he had a “wonderful conversation” with Trump.

Beyond congratulating Trump on his birthday, the Ukrainian president said he thanked the U.S. president for supporting Ukraine.

He said they discussed “what could help bring peace closer now,” without providing details. Zelenskyy also informed Trump about how Ukraine’s position along the eastern front line has improved and strengthened.

“We agreed to discuss more during our meeting at the G7 summit,” he said.

The calls came as Trump prepared to mark his birthday with a UFC fight on the White House lawn Sunday evening, an event without precedent in American history. Once it concludes, Trump is set to fly overnight to France for the G7 summit, where Ukraine is expected to be a major topic of discussion Tuesday and Zelenskyy is due to join the gathering.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has long frustrated Trump, who as a candidate claimed he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office. He has since stopped making such claims and tends to pivot away from the topic when pressed. He has also grown increasingly vexed by the war between Israel and Iran, which has driven up gas prices, rattled financial markets and stoked concerns about inflation.

The diplomatic exchanges came against the backdrop of continued fighting. Ukrainian drone attacks killed one person and wounded nine others overnight in a residential building in the regional capital of Russia’s Oryol region, Gov. Andrei Klychkov said Sunday. Another drone attack killed one person Sunday in Russia's Bryansk region, local authorities said.

A separate drone strike hit fuel storage facilities in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, around 440 miles from the Ukrainian border, sparking fires. Zelenskyy said the strike had hit “an oil facility that was important for the reserve of the aggressor state.”

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil and gas infrastructure in recent months, arguing the sector funds Moscow’s invasion.

Separately, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday that the U.K. is investigating a sanctioned tanker, the Smyrtos, suspected of belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet” of vessels used to evade sanctions tied to the war.

British forces boarded and detained the vessel in the English Channel, in what the Defense Ministry called the first U.K.-led operation of its kind, carried out in coordination with French authorities.

“This operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide,” Starmer said.

___

AP writer Will Weissert contributed to this report from Washington.

Royal Marine commandos rappelled from helicopters onto the vessel, the Smyrtos, in the English Channel, in what the country’s Defense Ministry called “the first U.K.-led operation of its kind.”

The vessel will be held and monitored off the south coast of England for investigation, according to the Defense Ministry. The operation was carried out “in close coordination” with French authorities, who have previously intercepted a number of vessels linked to the “shadow fleet.”

“This operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide,” Starmer said.

Russia is believed to be using a fleet of hundreds of ships to evade sanctions over its war against Ukraine.

Sailing under a Cameroon flag, the Smyrtos left the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on June 5 destined for Port Said, Egypt, according to the MarineTraffic website.

U.K. authorities said that such operations were “directly bearing down on the resources sustaining Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and reducing its capacity to threaten security across Europe and beyond."

Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelenskyy thanked Starmer and the British people for their “principled resolve.”

“It was Russia’s hubris, fueled by high oil and gas revenues, that paved the way for this war, and every decision by partners that deprives Russia of money also limits the war itself," Zelenskyy said on X.

“Europe urgently needs to take legislative steps to enable not only the detention of tankers and restrictions on oil shipments, but also the confiscation of the oil they carry.”

Outside Madison Square Garden, a crowd watching on a big screen roared as the Knicks rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat the Spurs in San Antonio in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Soon after, tens of thousands of people filled the streets and the rowdiest among them were clashing with police, smashing windshields, scaling scaffolding, light poles and a statue, climbing into and atop school buses in Times Square and trying to hitch a ride on a moving fire truck.

Around 2 a.m., a 17-year-old was shot near 42nd Street and Broadway, police said. Bystander video captured the sound of at least seven shots and showed people crouching and running for cover. Police took the victim to the hospital because an ambulance could not get through the crowds, police said. A gun was recovered and three people were taken into custody.

Four people were stabbed or slashed and one of the school buses, which was being used for World Cup transportation, was lit on fire and engulfed in flames, police said. Other buses and five police cars were also damaged, police said.

In all, 63 people were arrested, with charges including assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Knicks owner James Dolan, speaking in San Antonio after the game, urged fans to stay calm.

“We need to tell everybody in New York that we know that they’re celebrating, we want them to have a great time," said Dolan, interrupting guard Josh Hart’s news conference. “Please be safe. Don’t get hurt, don’t hurt anybody.”

The city will officially celebrate the Knicks on Thursday with a parade and City Hall ceremony.

As the clock ticked to the final buzzer on Saturday night, anxiety that had dominated the game's first three quarters gave way to euphoria. An orange-and-blue-tinted fever dream that started with the Knicks' first playoff game two months ago ended in the third title in their 80-year history.

Fireworks boomed over Brooklyn and Central Park. Fans flocked to Times Square and ran through the streets. Outside the Garden, they sang the team's anthem: “Go New York, Go New York, Go!”

Police officers and ambulance workers shouted “Let’s go Knicks” over loudspeakers in Brooklyn. Strangers shook hands and hugged. In the Lincoln Tunnel, where people were riding buses back from the World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, drivers honked their horns in celebration.

“I’m so overwhelmed. I’m so happy,” said Mathieu Ogno, of Long Island, who fought back tears as he soaked in the victory at a team-sanctioned watch party at Wollman Rink in Central Park.

Ogno wore the jersey of Knicks captain Jalen Brunson, whose 45 points propelled the Knicks to victory and him to the NBA Finals MVP. Brunson’s gritty determination and chip-on-his-shoulder style have made him a fan favorite, embodying New York's working-class ethos.

The Knicks' championship — 19,392 days since their last — capped an extraordinary postseason for a franchise that hadn't been to the NBA Finals since losing to the Spurs in 1999. Since April 23, the team has won 15 of 16 games, with its lone loss coming Monday in Game 3.

Their last title, in 1973, was also won on the road in a Game 5. Their first, in 1970, was won at home in a Game 7 thriller. Neither was celebrated with a parade.

“I’m happy to see my Knicks finally make it over the hump,” said Shawn Muoneke, 26. “I’ve seen them knock on the door. They were knocking on the door the past few years. But they finally made it over the hump, and I’m so happy to see it and I’m so happy I’m in the city to experience it.”

Muoneke, born a year after the Knicks’ last trip to the NBA Finals, started rooting for them when he was 10. He drove from Maryland to be in the city for Game 5 at the team's Central Park watch party.

“I saw the ups, the downs and I watched the team come back up, and I was so happy to see them finally reach the highest echelon of stardom as a team,” Muoneke said.

After the Knicks' win, he said, the vibes in the city "are the highest they’ve ever been.”

President Donald Trump, a longtime Knicks fan who attended Game 3 at the Garden with Dolan, congratulated the team in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“What a year it has been but, even more so, what incredible playoff wins we have all witnessed, especially the last four - Maybe the greatest in the history of basketball,” Trump wrote.

With Brunson's clutch performance, he added, “a superstar was born.”

After several dozen arrests throughout the playoffs and violence after Games 3 and 4 in New York that left officers injured and a teen in a coma, police girded for unrest as Saturday bled into Sunday.

“As we celebrate, be responsible, look out for one another, stay safe, be smart, and make this a night that reflects the very best of our city,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on social media. “Let’s go Knicks.”

__

Emily Wang Fujiyama contributed reporting.

Goalkeeper Patrick Beach made eight saves for the Socceroos in their group opener as FIFA President Gianni Infantino looked on. Australia was playing in its sixth straight World Cup and seventh overall.

Turkey reached the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup but then missed five straight tournaments before qualifying this year by beating Kosovo in a playoff.

Irankunda broke through for the Socceroos in the 27th minute with a low shot while pursued by three defenders. It came less than a minute after the first-half hydration break.

Irankunda celebrated by punching the corner flag in a tribute to Australian soccer legend Tim Cahill. The 20-year-old who plays for Watford is the Socceroo's youngest-ever goal scorer at a World Cup.

Minutes later Beach stopped Abdulkerim Bardakcı's blast from distance. Beach started in goal for the Socceroos rather than experienced counterpart Matthew Ryan in a surprise decision from coach Tony Popovic.

Irankunda said the Socceroos took issue with comments Turkey captain Hakan Calhanoglu made a day before the match, proclaiming that his side had “more qualities and a more talented team.”

“Yeah, it was extra motivation,” Irankunda said. “Obviously we don't like people to talk bad about us because we're a great team. People underestimate us.”

Kenan Yildiz, a 21-year-old who plays for Juventus, was not in the starting lineup but subbed in for Turkey at half-time.

Turkey had a dangerous free kick in the 57th minute, but Arda Güler's attempt was saved by Beach. Güler, a talented 21-year-old attacking midfielder who plays for Real Madrid, was not yet born the last time Turkey played in the World Cup.

Connor Metcalfe capitalized on Ismail Yüksek's turnover in the 75th minute to double the Socceroos' lead. The Socceroos fell to France in the opener in Qatar but then beat Tunisia and Denmark in their group before getting knocked out by eventual champion Argentina in the round of 16.

Turkey maintained 72% of possession during the match and outshot the Socceroos 30-9, but couldn't manage to score.

“I respect Australia very much. I was expecting that they would play in this way,” said Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella, who took the team to the quarterfinals of the European championships in 2024. “This is football. As for the critics, nobody has underestimated Australia, actually.”

It is the third World Cup appearance for the Turks, who reached the tournament for the first time in 1954.

The teams are in Group D with the United States and Paraguay. The Americans downed Paraguay 4-1 in their group opener on Friday in Los Angeles.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

The populist Swiss People's Party, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered anti-migration sentiment over the years, notably about an influx of workers from the neighboring European Union.

Some have dubbed the proposal a “Swiss Brexit” because it could jeopardize Switzerland’s deep ties to the European Union anchored by deals that foster economic growth, cultural ties and cross-border travel, among other things. Switzerland is not one of the EU’s 27 member states, but it is all but surrounded by four of them

Recent polling from the gfs.bern agency suggested that it could be a close contest.

Preliminary results shared by the federal government showed that nearly 55% of voters rejected the proposal, with nationwide turnout almost 59%. Results were still pending from many of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.

Right-wing party says Swiss way of life strained by growing population

The number of people living in Switzerland has soared by nearly one-quarter over the last generation, and foreigners today make up nearly one-third of the population.

Critics say the boom in migration has brought foreign labor and skills to sectors such as healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology.

The right-wing party put forward the “sustainability initiative” measure, saying Swiss infrastructure, housing, social programs, natural resources and way of life have been strained by the spike in demographic growth.

The federal government, Parliament and EconomieSuisse, a major business association, oppose the idea.

In Geneva, Switzerland's second-largest city and a hub of U.N. institutions and humanitarian groups, early results showed about two-thirds of voters in the region opposed the measure.

Maria Lalu, a former diplomatic mission worker from the Philippines who arrived in Switzerland in the early 1980s, said she supported the proposal. “I have nothing against immigration. I also am a stranger,” she said after casting her vote, adding that she wants immigration to be more orderly.

Schoolteacher Natascha Robert said she voted against the bid, expressing concern that approval could hurt Switzerland's relationship with the EU. She also said Switzerland's growing diversity is an asset.

“I think people always have something to bring us," she said outside a polling station in the central Paquis neighborhood, emphasizing that she was born in Switzerland to two Swiss parents. “Does that mean that we have more foreigners, I feel less Swiss? Really, not.”

International migration is a controversial issue across Europe

Swiss democracy gives voters a direct say in policymaking through referendums typically held four times a year. Most ballots are cast through the mail, and in-person voting ended at noon local time on Sunday.

A “yes” vote would require the Swiss government to take action to cap the population by 2050.

If the population reaches 9.5 million before then, the government would be forced to restrict asylum, family reunification and residency permits, and may have to scrap Switzerland’s EU deal on the free movement of people.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported that Switzerland had a foreign-born population of 32% as of 2024, behind only Luxembourg and Australia among the group's 38 member countries.

International migration has long been a sensitive issue in Europe, as nations grapple with an aging population and increasing anti-foreigner sentiment. While that sentiment in other European countries centers on migrants from the developing world, most foreigners in Switzerland are Europeans.

Since Switzerland and the EU eased restrictions on citizens living and working across their borders in 2002, the Swiss population has grown by 23%, to 9.1 million as of the end of last year. Economic output has also increased, up 24% over the same period, government data show.

Swiss voters have repeatedly tackled the immigration issue over the last half-century. Only one such referendum — “Against mass immigration” in 2014 — narrowly passed, after campaigners stoked fears about overpopulation and rising numbers of Muslims in the country.

While many countries have limits on immigration, none has ever voted to limit its population, Swiss experts say.

A violent standoff extended into the evening after a series of incidents — including a car set ablaze and a bank's windows smashed — along the route of an afternoon march that drew an estimated 20,000 people, including some 600 so-called “Black Bloc” militants, according to figures from Geneva police spokesman Alexandre Brahier.

The demonstration, which had been previously organized by a hodgepodge of activist groups after weeks of negotiations with local authorities, was otherwise peaceful — with environmentalists, women's rights advocates, supporters of Palestinians and foes of imperialism, fascism and capitalism.

Early on during the march, firefighters extinguished a Tesla that was set ablaze next to the central bus stop and a phalanx of riot police cordoned off a secure area as a crowd congregated nearby.

A handful of demonstrators ripped down wooden barriers that were previously erected to protect a Banque du Leman and smashed its windows.

Several groups of dozens of youths wearing black hoodies, masks and goggles were mixed in among the other marchers — including behind an anti-Trump banner. Two with their faces totally covered refused to speak with The Associated Press and silently waved off questions before the protest began.

Some protesters fired flares toward officers or tore up chunks of asphalt and chucked them toward police in shields and riot gear.

The clashes continued even after police ordered the demonstrators to disperse.

The vast majority of marchers at the front were advocates of women's rights, many wearing purple T-shirts and holding up banners and posters that decried the “patriarchy,” a lack of women in executive positions and inequality in pay and executive jobs in the workplace.

Other marchers held signs that showed sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza, carried slogans like “Antisemitic never; anti-Zionist always” and criticized Trump — often with expletives — among other sharply worded messages.

Organizers of the protest printed a handbook for demonstrators that included a map of the security perimeter, tips on how to gear up for the march, and advice on how to behave if detained by police.

Travel restrictions and limited border crossings during the summit

Swiss and French authorities have deployed thousands of police to provide security for the three-day summit starting Monday in the resort town of Evian-les-Bains, France. The leaders are set to discuss wars in Ukraine,Iran and the Middle East, and economic issues like global inequality and access to critical minerals.

Ahead of the gathering, authorities in Geneva blocked off roads, banned unauthorized gatherings and pledged financial support for businesses who could be hit by unrest.

Scores of businesses and shops in downtown Geneva boarded up their storefronts with wooden panels as a precaution, leery of upheaval that left a trail of damage in the city during a similar summit in Evian in 2003. Only seven of the 35 roadway border crossings will remain open.

The show of activism began a day earlier: a flotilla of around 20 boats appeared on Lake Geneva off the coast of Evian on Saturday, displaying anti-G7 and pro-Palestinian banners. Swiss media reports said some 20 protesters had been detained on Friday evening.

Resident Robin Hedz lamented the “mess” and expressed bafflement about the “wood-wall everywhere,” while acknowledging the memories of the trail of damaged property over 20 years ago.

The G7 brings together Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, though leaders of several other countries including India, Kenya and Ukraine were expected to join for discussions.

France has announced the deployment of more than 13,000 police and gendarmerie officers to ensure security in the summit area. Over 800 French border control officers will be active, up from about 60 normally.

Trump is the focus of protests

Protests are nothing new around such elite gatherings. This time, activists expressed frustration with Trump’s leadership on issues as diverse as tariffs, the war in Iran, climate, and even his past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The G7 summit takes place as the United States and Iran appear close to a deal to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz.

“We are very afraid of the policy and the politics of Mr. Trump and also of the other leaders of the G7, because they are fighting, making war all over the place," said Francoise Nyffeler, spokesperson for the NoG7 coalition behind the demonstration on Sunday.

"The planet is in danger and we are very scared about it and we want to protest and say that the people of the world are against their policies,” she added.

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Associated Press journalists Oleg Cetinic, Kwiyeon Ha, Baz Ratner and Florent Bajrami in Geneva and Samuel Petrequin in London contributed to this report.

Now the question is whether Carolina will close the deal and win the Stanley Cup.

That answer could come Sunday night when the Hurricanes take a 3-2 series lead into their game at Vegas, facing a Golden Knights team that held the Cup aloft just three years ago.

Should the Hurricanes prevail, it will be their second Cup and first since winning it all 20 years ago when current coach Rod Brind'Amour captained that club.

He has kept the Hurricanes competitive, but as well as they played in the regular season, they couldn't get out of the East. They lost in the conference final two of the past three years before finally breaking through this year with a five-game series victory over Montreal.

Now Carolina is 60 minutes from potentially winning it all, but the Hurricanes do have some margin for error. They can lose and still win the Cup on home ice Wednesday in a winner-take-all Game 7.

Vegas coach John Tortorella boldly pronounced after Thursday's 4-2 loss in Game 5 that he was leaving his clothes at his North Carolina team hotel in anticipation of a return trip.

It might not have been Mark Messier's guarantee before the Rangers defeated the Devils in the 1994 Eastern final, but should the Golden Knights win the title, Torts' declaration will be up there in Las Vegas lore with team owner Bill Foley's “Cup in six” pledge that came to fruition in 2023.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

He grabbed it and lifted it skyward with a yell.

“I want to say something to New York,” Dolan shouted. “Hey New York! I'm sorry it took so long! But here we are, and hopefully it won't take that long again!”

The New York Knicks are champions of the NBA for the first time since 1973, beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games for this title. The clincher came Saturday night in a 94-90 victory, the Knicks' fourth comeback win of the series.

Some will say it’s the first “major” professional sports championship for New York in more than 14 years; that would be true when counting only Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL and the NBA, though it would be wrong to ignore the New York Liberty’s run to the 2024 WNBA title and New York City FC winning the MLS Cup in 2021.

But as far as the teams that have been part of the city’s fabric for generations and generations, yes, this 14-year drought is finally over. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, capping the 2011 season.

The Yankees — the most decorated team in U.S. major pro sports history — haven’t won a World Series since 2009. The Mets haven’t brought a World Series title to New York since 1986. The Rangers last hoisted that trophy in 1994, the Islanders in 1983. The New York Jets haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1969.

None of that matters, at least not right now. The Knicks — who won 13 consecutive games at one point in this playoff run and rallied from 29 points down to win Game 4 of the finals at MSG — are the toast of the town.

“Of course I've never seen anything like it, because it'd never happened before,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of the Game 4 comeback in an interview on NBA TV on Saturday. “But it's been amazing."

The Amazin' Knicks, indeed.

A third title, finally

It took them 80 years — the Knicks won the first game in NBA history in 1946, three years before what was then the Basketball Association of America started being known as the National Basketball Association — but the franchise has now become the ninth that can say it has at least three championships.

Boston has 18, the Los Angeles Lakers have 17, Golden State has seven, Chicago has six, San Antonio has five, and Philadelphia, Detroit and Miami all have three.

Welcome to the club, New York.

“I enjoy watching these guys," Knicks legend Larry Johnson said. "The Garden is back. ... It’s back like when we played and made our little run. The city is behind us.”

It's a franchise that has gone through 24 different coaches and more than 400 players since what was, until now, the most recent championship season. Some of the game’s biggest superstars called Madison Square Garden home and couldn’t end the title drought, names like Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Bernard King and Carmelo Anthony.

The Knicks lost a Game 7 in the 1994 finals to Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston, then made a miracle run to the 1999 finals in a shortened season only to lose to San Antonio in five games — the first of what became five championships for Gregg Popovich and the Spurs.

“We didn’t get it done. ... I always say the third time is the charm,” former Knicks guard John Starks said.

Starks was right. It took the Knicks 27 years to get back to the finals, had the Spurs again standing in their way, and to fully flip the script, it was New York prevailing in five games.

MSG, a banner is coming

And finally, the world's most famous arena — which has raised banners for Billy Joel, Elton John and Harry Styles more recently than it had hoisted one for the Knicks — will be adding to the collection swaying from the rafters. If it follows form from the others, the banner will only have the Knicks logo, then 2025-26 World Champions beneath that.

A simple message. Getting to the place where the Knicks could say those words again, that wasn't so simple.

“There are a couple of franchises that are pretty iconic just because of the history that they have, the location that they’re in, sometimes even the building that they’re in,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown, who won this title in his first season with the club. "New York is definitely one of the few that you could say that to in all three facets.

“Everybody goes through their ups and downs. I don’t really think much about the tough times that they had, because everybody has tough times, including individuals. You just want to try the best you can to be a part of whatever you can to bring joy to the city, to the organization. At the end of the day, the chips are going to fall how they fall. I feel blessed, fortunate, lucky, to be a part of what is going on now.”

It is, to put it mildly, an interesting organization. Dolan — who rarely speaks publicly — isn't afraid of clashes, even including ones with former Knicks greats like Charles Oakley, who was at road games in this title run but has remained away from MSG for years. Leon Rose, the team's president, typically doesn't make himself available to reporters either. There is an absolute mystique around the team and how it operates.

It has not always worked. Over a 25-year stretch that ended with the 2021-22 season — not that long ago — the Knicks had the worst record in the NBA. In the four years since, starting with the acquisition of Jalen Brunson from Dallas, the Knicks have the NBA's fifth-best record.

And now, Brunson — the finals MVP — is the best player on the best team in the world.

“It means the world to me,” Brunson said.

Start spreadin' the news ...

And this year, as Frank Sinatra said, the Knicks are king of the hill, top of the heap. Some in the fan base grumbled when the Knicks declined to hang an NBA Cup championship banner after beating San Antonio for the in-season tournament title earlier this season. Turns out, the Knicks were just waiting for something better.

So, the 53-year wait is over. It was a very different league, and a very different game, in 1973.

There were 17 teams in the NBA that season, barely half of the 30 that there are now. Teams called places Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City-Omaha and Seattle home then; the league has expanded many times since, adding 13 teams in nine different states, plus Canada and the District of Columbia.

The top salary in the league then was about $380,000, or roughly $2.9 million in today’s dollars. There was no 3-point line then, no multi-billion-dollar television deal, no international players.

The Knicks flew home on a United Airlines flight from the 1973 title clincher in Inglewood, California, and officials at Kennedy Airport expected what was then called a “rabid” crowd of fans present to greet the plane. They braced for “hundreds” of people that day.

This celebration might be a little bigger.

“To have the fans that we have in New York City and be able to bring home a championship after all these years is absolutely amazing,” Brown said. “It’s a surreal feeling.”

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.

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

He had been touting the emerging deal for weeks, and last-minute strikes in the conflict had threatened to overshadow the ostentatious UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza — where combatants sealed inside a wire-mesh octagon try to punch, kick, chop and pummel each other into submission.

Hour before the fights began, the president said an agreement to end the conflict “is now complete" and declared that the U.S. will end its blockade of Iran and that Strait of Hormuz would reopen, potentially easing high oil prices and skittish global markets. But the crucial details are still to be negotiated.

Word of the deal will allow the president to be especially jubilant as he walks out of the White House for the fights. Cabinet leaders, Republican lawmakers and 4,000-plus spectators screaming themselves hoarse will join him in a temporary arena under “ The Claw,” a spaceship-like metal arch fitted with lighting, sound equipment and large screens. Thousands more will be watching on big screens from the nearby Ellipse.

“This event is a one of one event, incredible event. I love it,” said UFC chief Dana White, a close friend of the president, during a Friday night hype session at the Lincoln Memorial where pairs of fighters shoved and scuffled for the cameras under the stoic gaze of Honest Abe’s marble likeness.

The president has sought to tie Sunday’s event — which features seven fights running past midnight — to larger, months-long celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

But it is much more geared toward feting himself, so much so that the G7 summit for leaders of industrialized nations pushed back their get-together so that the president could attend his cage-match party and then fly straight to France for the meetings.

The weekend hasn’t been all smiles for the president. Crews spent part of the weekend prying the president’s name off the Kennedy Center about a mile from Trump’s birthday bash after a judge ruled naming it after Trump had gone too far.

And the weather was also threatening to cloud celebrations. Sunday night’s forecast predicted a strong chance of thunderstorms and high winds after downpours and heavy lightning disrupted Friday’s Lincoln Memorial event.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing about the weather,” White declared on Friday, before conceding that he'll prefer to hold future UFC events inside arenas only.

A dramatic departure from how the last president marked his 80th

When Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, turned 80 in November 2022, he celebrated with a private family brunch at the White House, laying bare just how much and how quickly things have changed.

Asked about the contrast, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said that the fight “will be one of the most entertaining nights in American history" and said that the timing was appropriate. “Having this spectacle take place at the people’s house on Flag Day during our nations’ semiquincentennial anniversary is a fitting tribute,” Schuster said in a statement.

When he turned 80, Biden was the oldest president in U.S. history, and was months away from launching a reelection bid that he would ultimately abandon after a disastrous debate against Trump and mutiny among Democrats concerned he was too old to handle a second term.

Trump has now supplanted Biden as the oldest person to be elected U.S. president. He’s constitutionally barred from running again, yet constantly toys with the notion publicly. That’s despite polls showing rising public skepticism about Trump’s mental and physical health — recalling concerns Biden faced as he turned 80.

A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president.

The White House countered with a lengthy statement from Trump's former White House physician, Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, saying Trump's “stamina, focus, and strength are exceptional and on display every day. Claims to the contrary are pure fiction.” Jackson added that polling concerns were “being propagated by the same biased, liberal, Trump-hating press that completely ignored the absolute cognitive and physical disaster that was President Biden.”

Trump has nonetheless undergone four publicly announced physical examinations this term alone, with White House physician Dr. Sean Barbabella recently declaring him in “excellent health.”

‘Bread and circuses’ — Trump-style

The UFC event is an apt metaphor for Trump's pugilistic political style. He is as big a fan of cage-match-style politics as he is of cage-fighting itself.

But Trump has also long been a master of political misdirection, purposely presenting people with something other than his presidency to focus on when things aren’t going well.

With the war in Iran grinding on before Sunday's announcement — even during weeks of assurances from Trump that its end is nigh — gas prices skyrocketed. Renewed concerns about inflation and plummeting job approval ratings for Trump helped ensure that a White House birthday party unlike anything America has ever seen is definitely a diversion.

“This is all distraction,” said Mike Fontaine, a classics professor at Cornell University, who likened it to the gladiatorial games of Imperial Rome, when combatants brutalized each other for public entertainment meant to bolster rulers’ popularity and quell potential unrest.

“This is a classic strategy," Fontaine said. “In ancient Rome, the phrase would be, ‘bread and circuses.’”

Trump says the UFC is paying for the event and while its full costs haven't been divulged, the National Park Service said in a court filing that $60-plus million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have gone into it, while seven government agencies have “allocated significant resources and manpower.”

UFC also announced on Friday that it was adding as an official partner for the event World Liberty Financial to create a special $250,000 athlete bonus pool for Sunday night’s winners. The cryptocurrency company is co-owned by the Trump family, founded with the president’s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff and run by his son, Zach. The arrangement further blurs lines between the Trump family's financial interests and the events and construction projects the president has prioritized and used government resources to pull off.

Still, Fontaine said that when it comes to a personal flair for pageantry, the president’s second-term tendency to lean into “hardcore masculinity and brute fighting” is marrying the UFC's blood sport with Trump's trademark humor and enduring sense of showmanship.

“President Trump has a once-in-a-generation talent for this stuff,” he said.

The unanimous decision came after the party's 21-member steering committee heard a challenge filed by Tuberville’s former primary opponent, Ken McFeeters. The challenge argued that Tuberville did not meet the Alabama Constitution’s seven-year residency requirement.

“We looked at it with the facts. The contest was unsuccessful. And Coach Tuberville will be our nominee for governor," said Scott Stadthagen, the state Republican Party chair, said. Tuberville is often referred to as “Coach” because of his background coaching college football.

Stadthagen did not take questions from the news media. The hearing was not open to the public.

Tuberville has long faced accusations of living in Florida rather than the state he represents in Washington. He has faced the same claim as he runs for governor. “Does he live in Alabama? No,” McFeeters said before the hearing. “He doesn’t live here.”

Tuberville, who easily defeated McFeeters in last month’s primary and has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, has called the challenge a joke and said he meets the requirement to serve.

“We’re happy to put the residency issue to bed," campaign chairman Jordan Doufexis said earlier this month. He added that “it’s time to provide the facts and move on.”

Property tax records show Tuberville and his wife own a beach home in Florida valued at $5.6 million. His campaign has said his residence is a home in Auburn. The 1,551-square-foot property has an appraised value of about $291,780. The Auburn home was purchased by his wife and son in 2017. The senator’s name was later added to the property in 2024, and the son’s name removed. Both the Auburn and Florida homes appear to have recently been put in a revocable trust.

Tuberville released heavily redacted Alabama income tax returns from 2018 to 2024 as evidence he meets the seven-year residency requirement. The returns list a redacted Auburn address and indicate the Tubervilles moved to the state in August 2018.

Voting records show Tuberville voted in Florida in November 2018. He registered to vote in Alabama on March 28, 2019, about two weeks before announcing his run for Senate.

McFeeters said Tuberville’s Senate travel records also show frequent travel to the Florida Panhandle, which he said buttresses the idea that he resides in the location.

In a seven-page document explaining their decision, party officials said Tuberville had proven he meets the residency requirement. It cited Tuberville’s evidence, including his voting history in Alabama. The officials said courts have determined voter registration to be an important consideration when determining domicile.

Tuberville was head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008. He then coached at Texas Tech and the University of Cincinnati. He went to work for ESPN after retiring from coaching. In a 2017 promotional video for ESPN, he talked about moving to Florida after retiring from coaching.

The residency requirement in the Alabama Constitution is awkwardly worded, which could muddy any legal dispute. It says the governor and lieutenant governor “shall have been citizens of the United States ten years and resident citizens of this state at least seven years next before the date of their election.”

Tuberville won the Republican gubernatorial primary overwhelmingly, capturing 85% of the vote to McFeeters’ 9%.

Tuberville faced similar accusations when he ran for Senate in 2020. He was up against Jeff Sessions, who was running for the same seat that he held before he became Trump's first attorney general. Sessions aired a television advertisement describing Tuberville as a “Florida Man.”

Tuberville won 61% of the vote, compared with 39% for Sessions, in a Republican primary runoff, and went on to defeat Doug Jones, the Democratic incumbent.

Tuberville and Jones are headed to a rematch in the governor's race in November.

The Wemby era of the NBA is fully underway, with the 7-foot-4 French star unanimously winning the Defensive Player of the Year award this season, finishing third in the Most Valuable Player balloting and making first-team All-NBA for the first of what could be many, many times if all goes according to his plan.

But the ultimate moment has escaped his grasp for the second time in three years. In 2024, he tearfully watched the U.S. celebrate winning Olympic gold at the Paris Olympics — and now, he relived that moment by seeing the New York Knicks celebrating their first championship in 53 years by winning Game 5 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio on Saturday night.

“This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” the 22-year-old Wembanyama said. “I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is, but we’re learning from that, for sure. I’m learning more than any other time in my life before.”

His numbers in the finals: 26 points, 11.2 rebounds. 3.6 blocks per game. They were good, just not good enough.

And his series, fairly or unfairly, will also be remembered for some mistakes: The turnover that led to Jalen Brunson’s go-ahead free throw in New York’s Game 2 win (a game where Wembanyama missed a jump shot to win at the buzzer); and missing a pair of crucial free throws with 1:47 left in Game 4, the one where the Spurs wasted a 29-point lead and lost by one in what became the biggest collapse in finals history. The Spurs wasted double-digit leads in all four losses, including a 16-point cushion in what became the season finale.

“The margin of error is very thin,” Wembanyama said. “Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors, our mistakes, are punished so hard that we can’t have ups and downs like this. ... The ups are OK. The downs are the reason we lost.”

It's only Year 3 for Wemby. It's not like every star wins right away.

It took Michael Jordan seven seasons to win his first championship. LeBron James needed nine years. Jerry West needed 12 years for his one and only title. John Stockton and Karl Malone never got one. Charles Barkley, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony didn’t get one, either.

“He’s definitely the future of this league, man,” Knicks legend Larry Johnson said during the series when asked about Wembanyama. “He’s a heck of a ballplayer.”

Wembanyama knows the history, knows that it took some of the greatest to ever touch a ball several years to win a title.

Doesn't mean he likes it.

“It’s painful. It’s painful,” Wembanyama said. “But I’m not running away from that. I’m using it to fuel me. ... I’m not satisfied with not winning. But as I said, this is the biggest lesson of my life. As a team, there’s no better experience than what we just lived.”

His numbers are like almost nothing the game has ever seen before. There have been four seasons in NBA history where someone had 150 blocks, 150 assists and 100 3-pointers. Chet Holmgren did it for Oklahoma City in 2023-24, and the other three instances are all from Wembanyama — who has hit those totals in each of his first three seasons.

“I think for a lot of people, this team seems to be ahead of schedule,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday on NBA TV. “I don’t think they feel that way. I’m amazed at Victor. Not just his play on the floor, but he’s such a curious young man. He’s a pleasure to talk to. He’s very worldly. I mean, he’s got amazing interests off the floor. He’s really dedicated to his craft and he’s got such a bright future ahead of him.”

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

Of course, Brunson parted with more money than any of those fans.

Brunson is now an NBA champion and NBA Finals MVP in large part because of what he did against the San Antonio Spurs in the finals — though, really, his biggest contribution to this title run likely came in 2024, when he left as much as $113 million on the bargaining table to allow the Knicks the financial flexibility they needed to finish building a championship roster.

It was considered an unprecedented move.

It paid off.

Brunson had 45 points — including 13 straight down the stretch — to lead the Knicks to a 94-90, title-clinching win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, one that sealed a 4-1 win.

“I knew it was achievable,” Brunson said.

It was a storybook finish to a story like none other; not only did Brunson make the Knicks champions, he made his dad one as well. Rick Brunson played for the Knicks, and now is an assistant coach on his kid’s team.

“I have all of his trophies,” Rick Brunson said. “He has not one trophy at his house. I’m going to get his MVP trophy, too.”

A Big Apple legend for life

Brunson now has a seat at the table of sports kings of New York, alongside the likes of Derek Jeter, Eli Manning, Mark Messier and others. Deliver a championship to the Big Apple and you get celebrated for life. Brunson doesn’t seek attention — in fact, he genuinely seems to dislike it — but such is the risk one takes when he leads a storied franchise to its first title in more than half a century.

There was no doubt Jalen Brunson would win finals MVP. Knicks coach Mike Brown doesn't understand why he wasn't among the top vote-getters for the regular-season MVP as well.

“I hope you guys will listen to me: He's a top-three MVP candidate,” Brown said, holding his grandson on his lap in the championship celebration. “Everybody kind of mentions his name in passing. They don't do it seriously enough. ... He is a fricking 1-A. He is a MVP candidate and I hope tonight you guys recognize what this man is about.

“He is him.”

There are countless reasons why the Knicks have turned their fortunes around over the last four seasons, but the list starts with Brunson. New York had four winning seasons in a 21-year span before Brunson arrived; the Knicks have had four winning seasons in the four years that he’s worn the franchise’s colors. They’ve now won eight playoff series with Brunson in the lineup; they won seven series, total, from 1998 through 2022.

He’s a bona fide superstar as well, with three consecutive All-Star selections and three consecutive seasons in which he’s averaged at least 26 points. The only other players to do that in each of the last three years — be an All-Star and average 26 points in every one — are Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

They’ve all been NBA champions, too. So, now, is Brunson.

“He’s a tremendous player that’s skilled, picks his spots, knows his angles, shoots contested shots without being sped up,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said earlier in the finals. “He’s a phenomenal player.”

Another title won in Texas

Texas has been good to Brunson when it comes to titles. Villanova's 2016 championship was won in Houston, and the 2018 championship came in San Antonio — at the Alamodome, just a few minutes away from the arena that the Spurs call home.

Oddly, Texas wasn't always that good to Brunson as a pro — which is how he ended up in New York.

Brunson joined the Knicks in 2022 after leaving Dallas, which didn't offer him a contract anywhere near what the Villanova guard felt he deserved.

And then, two years later, Brunson took far less than he'd earned.

In 2024, Brunson signed a four-year extension with New York that could be worth $156.5 million if he accepts his option for the 2028-29 season. If Brunson waited until 2025 for his extension, he would have been eligible for a five-year, $269 million deal.

Brown said, if he was in that position, he wouldn't have taken the discount deal.

“He set the bar before he even stepped on the floor,” Brown said.

Brunson will almost certainly recoup some if not all of that money in his next extension, one that could top $300 million — possibly by a lot. But by passing up the much larger guarantee then, he provided the Knicks with the ability to make other moves that are paying off now.

And among the ones that followed his June 2024 decision: The Knicks brought in starters Mikal Bridges (a former Villanova teammate) and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Could all that have happened if Brunson didn’t accept the smaller extension? Maybe, but unlikely.

“I think he’s still underrated in the league, and he keeps proving people wrong, game by game, series by series, playoff appearance by playoff appearance,” said Knicks forward Josh Hart — one of the ‘Nova Knicks,’ the moniker given to the trio of himself, Brunson and Bridges, all NCAA champions at Villanova who have now become NBA champions in New York. “As a friend, as a teammate, it’s funny because you know he’s one of the best players in the league, and you’re happy that he’s starting to get some recognition.”

He’s getting more than some recognition. He’s getting a ring.

“Just thankful that this opportunity presented itself,” Brunson said, “and we were able to get it done.”

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

So far the sport's biggest stage has brought him — and the Scots — a lot more luck.

John McGinn deflected a shot off an opposing defender and past goalkeeper Johny Placide in the 28th minute, and Scotland defeated Haiti 1-0 in Group C of the World Cup on Saturday.

“When it went into the back of the net, you could feel the Scotland fans,” McGinn said.

Scotland, making its first appearance in the tournament since 1998, earned its first World Cup victory since 1990, when it beat Sweden 2-1.

“We came here to get three points. We did and now we move on,” Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson said.

Getting those crucial points did a lot more than that.

Group favorites Brazil and Morocco played to a 1-1 draw earlier in the day, putting Scotland at the top of the group standings.

“We obviously have a little less pressure than everyone put on us in this game," Clarke said. “They deserve to be the team that finally got in under their belt in the World Cup.”

Haiti, whose only other World Cup appearance was in West Germany in 1974, is still in search of its first World Cup point. The Grenadiers had multiple chances in the second half but couldn't quite equalize.

"We’re playing at an extremely high level. But you can get punished with one oversight,” Haiti coach Sébastien Migné said.

McGinn’s goal came off a rebound from Che Adams’ miss in the box that bounced off Placide and into open space. McGinn’s shot ricocheted off a defender from 13 yards out.

Scotland’s Tartan Army supporters were out in mass, creating a wave of red inside a filled in Gillette Stadium, located about 30 miles outside Boston.

Scotland came close to a goal in the 17th minute when captain Scott McTominay got loose and fired a shot that clipped the top of the post.

Haiti had its best opportunities in the second half. In the 74th minute, Ruben Providence sent a cross in to Wilson Isidor, but the forward came up empty on his attempt to direct the ball in.

Then in the 84th, Frantzdy Pierrot, who moved from Haiti to Boston at the age of 11, hit a header that went a wide of the left side.

Scotland stays in town to play Morocco at Gillette Stadium on Friday. Haiti will next face Brazil on Friday in Philadelphia.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

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Police said Inara Reina, 78, was last seen around 8:30 a.m. Friday at a home in the 7600 block of Northwest 18th Street in Margate.

Reina is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing about 110 pounds, with white hair. Police said she was last seen wearing a white shirt and pink leggings.

According to investigators, Reina may be driving a silver Volkswagen Tiguan with Florida tag HZJR86.

Authorities said Reina meets the criteria for a missing, endangered adult.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to contact the Margate Police Department at 954-972-7111.

Three babies between 2 and 5 months became ill in April and May in California, Pennsylvania and Washington after consuming Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Powdered infant formula, which is also sold on Nara.com, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

They were hospitalized and treated with the FDA-approved treatment for infant botulism, the agency said.

Infant botulism is a rare but serious illness that occurs in babies under age 1, whose gut microbiomes are immature. It is caused when infants consume bacteria with spores that produce a toxin in the gut.

Symptoms include constipation, poor feeding, drooping eyelids, weak muscle tone, difficulty swallowing and breathing problems, among others.

Babies who develop those symptoms need immediate medical attention. The sole treatment is BabyBIG, an IV medication made from blood plasma of people immunized against botulism.

Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Infant Formula makes up less than 1% of all infant formula sold in the United States, and the outbreak does not create shortage concerns for parents and caregivers, the FDA said.

People who have the formula are urged to stop using it immediately, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said in a statement. The formula is manufactured in Europe but sold only in the U.S., it added.

The CDC recommended that anyone with an opened can take a picture, record the lot number and use-by date and watch their infants for symptoms.

“Label it ‘DO NOT USE’ and keep it stored in a safe place away from other items you feed your baby for at least a month,” the CDC said. “If no symptoms appear after a month, throw the leftover formula away.”

No surprise there. Imagining Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong brainstorming with U.S. President Gerald Ford and other leaders would have been unthinkable.

China was in turmoil, nowhere close to becoming the economic giant it is now. Mao had also helped defeat France and U.S. forces in Vietnam, by militarily supporting Ho Chi Minh's communists that took power. So Mao would have been the odd man out had he been at the inaugural Rambouillet summit of six nations, growing into the G7 when Canada joined the following year.

But as U.S. President Donald Trump and his G7 counterparts gather again in France from Monday, China’s exclusion from the informal club's summits also looks odd, given its now immense sway over the world's economic well-being and affairs.

Put simply: Without China, does the G7 make sense?

Here's a closer look:

By the numbers, China would be a shoo-in

If determined only by economic success, China would already be in the club.

Its economy, swollen by decades of growth since Mao's death in 1976, now dwarfs those of G7 nations Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada — leaving only the United States to catch. By this measure, a G7 summit without China is arguably like a soccer World Cup without 5-time winner Brazil.

From being “only a tiny, benign, panda bear” in 1975, ”China has become a great global dragon," says John Kirton, a University of Toronto specialist on the G7.

“So many understandably ask: Would the G7 and the global community be better off if China became a member of the G7 club? A plausible answer is ‘Yes.’”

But it's only for democracies

A year ago, Trump mused about possibly expanding the club to include China, saying “ it’s not a bad idea " when a journalist asked him.

But an unwritten G7 rule has always been that it's only for democracies.

“We are each responsible for the government of an open, democratic society, dedicated to individual liberty and social advancement,” the founding leaders declared in Rambouillet in 1975.

China wouldn’t have cleared that bar then, during Mao’s rule that claimed many millions of lives through famine and revolutionary upheaval.

Nor, under President Xi Jinping, would China do so now. By multiple measures, including the annual Freedom in the World study the World Press Freedom Index or the Canadian Fraser Institute's ranking of economic freedom, China lags far behind G7 nations for civil liberties.

China a priority subject for the G7

China’s clout impacts all G7 countries, in myriad ways. It sells far more goods than it buys, announcing a record trade surplus of almost $1.2 trillion in 2025, which is a source of friction with other industrial powers. It controls supplies of crucial rare minerals. Its technological advances and growing military strength are giving rivals cold sweats. And it is the world’s biggest emitter of climate-warming pollution.

All this means that China will be an elephant in the room at the Monday-to-Wednesday summit in the Alpine spa town of Evian-les-Bains.

As host, French President Emmanuel Macron has carved out time for the leaders to talk about how to rebalance trade with China, amid fears that soaring Chinese exports of cars and other products could wreck G7 industries.

The chemistry between Trump and other G7 leaders has been bad of late — over the Iran war and other bones of contention — but China could be an issue that unites them, said Cédric Dupont, who specializes in international politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

“They agree on the same thing, you know: China is a problem,” he said.

Beijing looking on warily

China's Communist Party-led government has in the past criticized the G7's exclusiveness and painted it as a relic of the Cold War when the world was more divided along ideological lines.

But in a statement to The Associated Press ahead of the Evian gathering, the Chinese Foreign Ministry took a more nuanced view, saying “the G7 should serve as a catalyst for solidarity and cooperation rather than an amplifier of division and confrontation.”

Beijing-based analyst Wang Zichen says that “Beijing is wary of the G7 because it sees the group as structurally aligned with U.S.-led Western power, and increasingly as a venue where China is discussed as a challenge or threat.”

But Chinese leaders cannot ignore it.

“China recognizes that the G7 still represents a very significant concentration of economic, technological, military and financial power," said Wang.

China seen as a threat to G7 cohesion

Analysts say that admitting China into the club could wreck its cohesion, not only because Beijing’s authoritarian system of government, interests and its positions on Russia, Iran and other major issues don’t align with those of G7 democracies but also because its presence could test their long-standing alliances.

“China inside would indeed be a Trojan horse,” said Kirton. With a Chinese leader at the table, “individual members might be tempted to break G7 ranks to secure special favors from him on the economic, critical minerals, digital technology and other issues they address.”

Chris Alden, an international relations expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said that adding China “would make it very difficult for it to function.”

Russia's example is also a barrier to China

The G7's last expansion — accepting Russia as a member in 1998 — didn't end well.

The club froze out Russian President Vladimir Putin when he seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, foreshadowing the full-scale war now raging since 2022.

Trump said last year that excluding Russia “was a very big mistake.”

But Kirton said the experience convinced other leaders "that they should never take a chance on a less than fully democratic power becoming a full member of their fully democratic club again.”

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Associated Press writers Ken Moritsugu and E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.

Skubal didn't win back-to-back AL Cy Young Awards on fuzzy feelings or nostalgia. The fiery left-hander is all business, and his time away from the mound didn't soften him at all.

“I don’t want to play into that narrative of trying to be back,” Skubal said Saturday following his first start since April 29. "I need to be better, plain and simple. ‘Just happy to be there,’ that’s a loser mentality to me. I need to go out there and pitch and compete and give my team a chance to win and I didn’t do that.”

Skubal showed some rust while pitching 4 2/3 innings as the Tigers again failed to get any timely hits (they stranded 11 runners) i n a 3-1 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. The left-hander had a loose body removed from his elbow in an i nnovative surgical procedure on May 6 that accelerated his return.

While Skubal wasn't dominant, that hardly mattered to the Tigers. They were just happy to have No. 29 back on the mound and delivering pitches with his familiar high-leg delivery.

“He didn’t execute at the level that we’re used to,” said Detroit manager A.J. Hinch. “But man, it was nice to see him out there.”

Skubal was lifted after 80 pitches by Hinch, who noted it was a “weird start” given the Guardians' lineup changed dramatically in the early innings when Cleveland lost outfielders Angel Martinez (bruised foot) and Chase DeLauter (bruised ribs) to injuries.

Skubal allowed five hits, struck out four and made one big mistake when he elevated a two-strike pitch to Daniel Schneemann, who connected for a two-run homer in the third inning.

“If I want one pitch back, it’s the one to Schneemann,” Skubal said.

Skubal was ahead 0-2 in the count when he missed with a high fastball that Schneeman, a left-handed hitter who had never faced Detroit's ace, drove 417 feet to give the Guardians a 3-1 lead.

“It was bad. Really bad,” Skubal said. "On 0-2, I’m going up and away and I kind of miss. It’s not in enough and it’s not up enough. If I’m going to miss, it needs to be more in and more up. It’s a good swing on it, but the execution on it was pretty poor.”

Skubal's velocity was fine, as his fastball registered in the mid-90s (mph). His breaking pitches had their usual spin, and for the most part he was pleased with his outing.

“My process was really good today,” he said. "Every pitch I was bought-in on. At the end of the day, that’s all I can really control, is me trying to go out there and execute every pitch and sometimes things just don’t fall your way.

"Credit to those guys, too. They had some really good at-bats, and they were in on some pitches, and fouled off some pitches and took some really good pitches, too. You kind of give credit where credit is due. At the same time, I’ve got to be better to give our team a chance to win. I just didn’t do that today.”

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The San Francisco 49ers announced Smith's death on Saturday night. The team did not disclose a cause of death.

“We are devastated by the sudden and tragic passing of Aldon Smith,” the 49ers said in a statement. “Aldon’s undeniable talent and sheer dominance on the field were on display from the moment he joined our organization, having recorded one of the best rookie seasons the National Football League has seen. Beyond his excellence as a player, Aldon will be remembered for his infectious smile that lit up every room he walked into.”

Smith was drafted by the 49ers with the seventh overall pick out of Missouri in 2011 and made an immediate impact on the team, helping San Francisco snap a playoff drought and reach the NFC title game his first three seasons with one trip to a Super Bowl.

He had 14 sacks as a rookie when he finished second to Von Miller in voting for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and had a franchise-record 19 1/2 sacks in 2012 when he was named a first-team All-Pro.

His 33 1/2 sacks in his first two seasons are the most in NFL history. He kept that pace up with 4 1/2 sacks in the first three games in 2013 before the off-field issues started with an arrest for DUI and a stint in rehab for substance abuse that sidelined him for five games.

He was also arrested on a weapons charge that season but returned to the field.

“I’m getting there,” he said after his stint in 2013 on the non-football injury list. "Every day’s just a step closer to getting to where I want to be I’ve gotten a lot of support, from my family, friends, organization, teammates and everything. And it really says a lot that people care about me outside the field and they care about me as a person.”

Smith had 3 1/2 sacks in the playoffs that season but was suspended for the first nine games in 2014 and never made it back to his early level of performance because of suspensions and injuries.

San Francisco then released him in August 2015 after another drunken driving charge — his fifth arrest in three years. He signed with Oakland just before the start of the 2015 season and had 3 1/2 sacks in nine games before being suspended again.

“Aldon proudly wore the Silver and Black, was respected by his teammates and will be missed dearly,” the Raiders said in a statement.

Smith applied for reinstatement to the NFL in 2016, but was not allowed back initially. The Raiders released him in 2018 following a domestic violence arrest. A plea agreement was reached in that case.

He eventually was reinstated in 2020 and played 16 games for Dallas that season and had five sacks.

He signed with Seattle the next season but was arrested again for battery and was released in training camp. He served a six-month jail sentence for DUI in 2023 and never played again in the NFL.

Smith finished his career with 52 1/2 sacks in 75 games.

In college he was a first-team All-Big 12 selection and the recipient of Missouri’s Defensive Lineman of the Year Award in 2010.

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On Sunday, the island nation of 150,000 people will become the smallest country ever to compete at the World Cup.

Coach Dick Advocaat has done his best to keep his players focused and relaxed as they navigate this unprecedented experience.

“Just be yourself, and don’t be nervous,” defender Shurandy Sambo said Advocaat told them, just before the team left its Florida base camp for Houston. “Of course everybody is excited, but just be yourself, show yourself, because this is the biggest stage.”

The Curaçao players have worked hard to ensure they are prepared for their debut. Germany, making its 21st appearance in the World Cup, is a heavy favorite.

“We’ve watched a lot of clips of Germany. How they play, what they can do,” Sambo said.

Advocaat said there is more pressure on teams like Germany that are considered favorites and that his team has “everything to win and nothing to lose.”

He's confident that Curaçao is ready for the challenge of facing Germany, which he referred to as a towering contender.

“We are a minor, very small country compared to Germany and we’re going to make life very difficult for them,” he said. “We’re going to be a very unpleasant team to play.”

Curaçao’s squad is representing a country that rarely has a chance to have moments as big as this on international sports stages.

Due to its strong Dutch ties, Curaçao is not recognized in the Olympics as its own nation, and despite its impressive per-capita production of professional baseball athletes, Curaçao players represent the Netherlands at the World Baseball Classic.

“We are not here to just be here,” midfielder Ar’jany Martha said. “We want to show ourselves and get good results.”

Despite the country’s small population, Curaçao will have plenty of supporters to cheer them on as they make history. Sambo said his own family will be attending, as will 21 families of other players.

“I (would describe us) as one big family,” defender Livano Comenencia said. “If you see us on the bus or outside the bus, in the hotel, we are always with music, always happy. Everybody is around each other.”

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Gracie Fisher is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

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AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken contributed to this story.

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Facing pressure to win its first World Cup title since 2002, five-time champion Brazil was outplayed early and needed Vinícius Júnior's 32nd-minute goal to gain a 1-1 draw against Morocco on Saturday in a pulsating, high-profile group match.

“We started on a really bad note,” Vinícius said through a translator. “For certain, we got to hold on to the ball. We have to move better.”

A semifinalist four years ago, Morocco had 12 shots in the first 30 minutes and went ahead on Ismael Saibari's 21st-minute goal, a chip over goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

“The team was a bit anxious at the beginning. Nerves were all over the place,” Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti said through a translator. “A very imbalanced team.”

Brazil evened the score 11 minutes later. Vinícius exchanged passes with Bruno Guimarães on the left flank, took a few touches to cut around Neil El Aynaoui and rifled a right-footed shot past the outstretched arm of Yassine Bounou for his 10th international goal.

“We are satisfied with the draw,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. "We are not euphoric.”

Fans in Brazil's canary yellow dominated the crowd of 80,663 at MetLife Stadium — only about five sections near the south goal had fans in Morocco's red.

Seleção supporters expected the flowing, entertaining play of Pelé’s era and were subdued before Vinícius evened the score with his spectacular angled effort.

Brazil extended its unbeaten streak in World Cup openers to 21, including 17 wins, since a 1934 loss to Spain. No. 6 Brazil and seventh-ranked Morocco are the only top 10 teams to meet in the first round of the expanded 48-nation World Cup tournament.

“We cannot lose heart,” Ancelotti said. “You don’t win a World Cup based on your first match.”

Brazil plays Haiti on Friday in Philadelphia, then closes Group C against Scotland in Miami Gardens, Florida. Morocco faces Scotland in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday, then meets Haiti in Atlanta.

Brazil star Neymar, recovering from a torn right calf, didn’t dress for the game.

One hour before the match, an Uber from Times Square to the stadium, site of next month's final, was $126.95 — up from $83.95 for advance booking for the same time Sunday.

Ancelotti, the Italian who became Brazil's first foreign World Cup coach, wore a three-piece suit with a necktie on a sunny afternoon with a 88-degree Fahrenheit (31-degree Celsius) temperature for the 6 p.m. start.

Morocco went ahead after Lucas Paquetá lost control of a short pass from Roger Ibañez and knocked it off Bilal El Khannouss. It bounced to Noussair Mazraoui, who sent the ball to Brahim Díaz in the center circle.

His through pass split Gabriel Magalhães and Marquinho, and Saibari ran onto the ball at the top of the arc. Alisson was slow to come off his line as Saibari scored his 10th international goal.

Morocco nearly went back ahead in the ninth of 10 minutes of stoppage time. Alisson spilled Aynaoui's long-range shot, which was headed wide, then while on the grass leaned back toward the goal and used his right hand to block Ayoube Amaimouni's follow-up effort.

“We still have to improve,” Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi said. “We have to keep the positive things. We’re going to learn from the mistakes, for sure.”

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Cleveland star third baseman José Ramírez broke a bone in his left hand on a swing Saturday and will be sidelined for an indefinite period, a massive blow to the two-time defending AL Central champions.

Ramírez sustained a fractured left hamate bone leading off the fifth inning in the Guardians' 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers. The team didn't update the condition of the 33-year-old until after the game, when manager Stephen Vogt confirmed the break.

Vogt said Ramírez underwent imaging tests that revealed the fracture.

“He had a similar injury I think to his right hand a few years ago,” Vogt said. "He tried to go back out. He knew the position we were in, grabbed his glove and said ‘Maybe I can still play defense,’ but he couldn’t squeeze his glove. Hosey wanted to get back out there to help us win that game. He just couldn’t.”

A seven-time All-Star, Ramírez is the face of Cleveland's franchise and the Guardians' most indispensable player. Losing him for any time is crippling.

Surgery will likely take place in the next few days, and the Guardians, who moved back into first place, will then have to do their best to survive without their best player. They have options at third base, but none of them is close to being in Ramírez's class.

Ramírez, who is a switch-hitter, suffered a fracture to his right hamate bone in 2019 — the only time he has been on the injured list in his career — but was only out a month following surgery after being expected to miss as much as seven weeks.

He's been struggling at the plate so this season, and entered Saturday's game batting just .238 with 10 homers and 33 RBIs. Ramírez, who has finished in the Top 4 in MVP voting five times, is a career .274 hitter. He holds virtually every major team record.

Ramírez wasn't the only injury Saturday as the Guardians lost outfielders Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez in the first two innings.

DeLauter suffered a bruised right rib cage colliding with the outfield wall Martinez sustained a bruise when he fouled a ball off his foot.

When Ramírez left the game, the Guardians were without the top three hitters in their batting order. Vogt was forced to reshuffle his lineup and put Rhys Hoskins, who began the game at first base, in left field. Hoskins had not played there since 2018, when he was with Philadelphia.

It's not known if DeLauter and Martinez will join Ramírez on the injured list.

“We’re working through the logistics and what the next steps are so we’ll know more tomorrow or the next day," Vogt said. "These things can get complicated.”

Detroit manager A.J. Hinch, who has spent the season navigating through a litany of injuries, empathized with Cleveland's situation.

“It was one after another for those guys,” Hinch said. "If there’s any team that understands having injuries at a weird time, it’s us. I didn’t see anything with Ramírez to have him come out of the game, so when Stephen (Vogt) was on the field I had no idea what it was about and they were moving their players all around.

"Obviously health is a premium. Sounds like they’ve got a lot to sort out over there.”

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Skubal (3-3) threw 80 pitches in his first start since April 29. The left-hander had a loose body removed from his elbow during an innovative surgical procedure on May 6, allowing Skubal to come back earlier than expected.

The win came at a steep price for the Guardians as star third baseman José Ramírez suffered a broken bone in his left hand. Ramírez fractured his hamate bone on a swing in the fifth inning. He’ll be out for an indefinite period.

He gave up Schneemann's shot in the third inning and four other hits before being pulled after 4 2/3 innings. Although he wasn't as sharp as usual, Skubal's presence alone was a huge lift for the Tigers, who have been decimated by injuries all season.

Joey Cantillo (5-3) allowed one run in five innings and the Guardians won despite losing Ramírez and outfielders Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez to injuries in the first two innings.

Ramírez broke his right hamate bone in 2019 and went on the injured list for the only time in his career. He missed just one month after being expected to miss 5-to-7 weeks.

Cleveland's bullpen combined for four shutout innings with Cade Smith getting the last four outs for his MLB-leading 23rd save. The Tigers stranded runners at second and third to end the game.

DeLauter suffered a bruised right rib cage when he collided with the outfield wall in the first. Martinez fouled Skubal's first pitch off his left foot. The team said X-rays were negative and Martinez has a bruise.

Schneemann, who replaced DeLauter, followed a double by Ramírez in the third by connecting on a 0-2 pitch for his fifth homer, a 417-foot drive that made it 3-1.

Up n

ext

Tigers RHP Casey Mize (2-3, 2.27ERA) returns from a stint on the injured list to start against Guardians RHP Gavin Williams (9-3, 3.32), 4-0 in his last five starts.

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Sunny Mills donated $200 to the family after seeing the story and contacted the Local 10 newsroom asking how she could help. Her contact information was shared with the family, and the two sides connected.

Tavaras Calvin and his wife, Kerryann Barclay, arrived with flowers for Mills, thanking her for the donation.

The couple and their four children, ages 9, 6, 5 and 3, lost everything in an apartment fire the week before. On Wednesday, Local 10 News introduced viewers to the family after they checked into a hotel for a few days following the fire.

Investigators believe a battery from a toy car that was sitting outside on the family’s patio started the blaze. The family was not home at the time.

Mills said she immediately felt compelled to help after hearing their story.

“And then I called Kerry. And then she and I hit it off. And whatever amount of money I was going to give, I have to give twice as much, which is still not enough because they need at least $20,000,” Mills said.

Barclay said she wanted the opportunity to personally thank Mills.

“We just wanted to love on you. I wanted to make sure to come here to thank you overly. Outside of the camera and the interview, I was just grateful for the opportunity face to face to tell you I’m grateful for you,” Barclay said.

Mills responded, “I’m grateful for you too. Knowing you have the strength of the Lord and you will get through this.”

The family has a GoFundMe page that has raised close to $8,000. In addition to online donations, Calvin and Barclay said people have been donating clothes and furniture to help them rebuild.

They said they have rented a storage unit to hold the donated items while they search for a new home.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Yamamoto sailed into the ninth inning with a no-hit bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Tristan Peters hit a leadoff homer for the Chicago White Sox. The Japanese right-hander had to settle for a dominant performance in a 7-1 victory on Saturday.

The 27-year-old Yamamoto also carried a no-hitter into the ninth at Baltimore on Sept. 6. He surrendered a solo homer to Jackson Holliday with two out, and Los Angeles went on to a frustrating 4-3 loss.

This time, Alex Vesia closed it out for the Dodgers. But Yamamoto was left to wonder about another close call.

“What I did, I didn't make it, complete it, because of the ninth inning, the no-hitter,” Yamamoto said through a translator. “But how I was pitching, I was pretty satisfied.”

Yamamoto, who was the World Series MVP when the Dodgers won their second consecutive championship, improved to 4-0 with a sparkling 0.94 in his last four starts. He has surrendered 14 hits and struck out 24 in 28 2/3 innings during his win streak.

If he keeps pitching like he has been, there might be more no-hit opportunities on the horizon.

“He can attack the plate on both sides from ball to strike probably better than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said.

Yamamoto retired his last 22 batters while pitching eight innings in a 9-2 win against the Angels in his previous start. Then he retired his first 23 batters against Chicago.

The streak — and Yamamoto's bid for a perfect game — ended when shortstop Mookie Betts mishandled Chase Meidroth's two-out grounder in the eighth inning for an error.

“I’m not making any excuses. I should have made the play,” Betts said.

Jacob Gonzalez bounced to second for the final out in the eighth, but Peters hit a drive to right on a 96.6 mph fastball from Yamamoto. It was Peters' third homer of the season.

Yamamoto departed after Edgar Quero flied to center for the first out in the ninth. He was saluted with a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 37,832 as he made his way off the field.

“One of the best outings we’ve seen from an opponent this year,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “The stuff was outstanding. Lived on the edges. We didn’t have a ton to hit.”

Yamamoto struck out seven. He threw a season-high 109 pitches, 74 for strikes.

Before the ninth inning, Chase Meidroth had the best chance for a hit for the White Sox. He had a liner hook just foul before he struck out swinging for the final out of the fifth.

There was a short delay before the bottom of the sixth while the grounds crew worked on the area around the pitching rubber on the mound. But Yamamoto had no issues when the game resumed, striking out Gonzalez on a full-count cutter before Peters bounced to first and Quero fouled out to left.

“He was in the zone. He kept it out of the middle. I mean, kept them off balance,” Betts said. “I mean that's just Yoshi being Yoshi, you know. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

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Double major winner Nelly Korda and Olivia Cowan will need another big showing in Sunday fourballs if they want a chance to catch them. They made only one birdie, had bogey on both par 5s at Midland Country Club and shot 76 to fall six shots behind.

Korda and Cowan were tied for 13th. It will be only the second time this year on the LPGA that Korda is not in the final group.

Kim and Choi, the South Korean duo who are both among the top 20 in the women's world ranking, were at 10-under 200.

“The wind was obviously very strong today so that was a big factor that was different than the first round,” Kim said. They also shot 69 in foursomes in the opening round.

Gina Kim and LPGA rookie Yana Wilson managed a birdie on the par-3 closing hole, which was playing downwind to a front pin over the water. That gave them a 70 and left them one shot back.

Alison Lee and Lilia Vu, former teammates at UCLA, had the lead until they made a triple bogey on the 16th hole when Vu hit the tee shot out-of-bounds. They had to settle for a 69 and were in third place at 8-under 202.

“It’s a pretty meaty hole. I’ve been kind of leaking my drives out right so just wanted to make sure I had a draw but it was a pulled draw instead,” Vu said.

Juli Inkster, who at 66 became the oldest player in LPGA history to make the cut in an official event, teamed with Angel Yin for a 70. They were tied for 20th.

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Trump anunció el viernes la muerte del líder de la banda, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero, en un ataque aéreo contra su complejo en una zona rural de Venezuela. Desde hace tiempo, el mandatario ha acusado a la organización de Guerrero, también conocida como TDA, de aterrorizar comunidades en todo Estados Unidos, donde se la ha vinculado con redes de extorsión, narcotráfico e inmigración ilegal.

El grupo fue incluido el año pasado en la lista de organizaciones terroristas extranjeras por el Departamento de Estado, y fiscales federales acusaron a Guerrero de enviar drogas a Estados Unidos y de organizar actos transfronterizos de terrorismo, como el asesinato de un disidente venezolano en Chile.

El gobierno de Venezuela afirmó el viernes en un comunicado que trabajó con Estados Unidos para abatir al líder de la banda, también conocido como el Niño Guerrero, y describió el ataque aéreo como parte de una “operación conjunta” para combatir el crimen organizado.

Ataque en una zona minera clave

El gobierno de Venezuela indicó que el ataque se llevó a cabo en el estado Bolívar, en el sureste del país, una zona donde diversos grupos criminales, incluidos rebeldes colombianos, han operado minas ilegales de oro durante más de una década.

Las autoridades venezolanas intensificaron esta semana las operaciones contra la minería ilegal, con helicópteros que dispararon contra mineros clandestinos para intentar que desalojaran las minas a cielo abierto de la zona.

Bram Ebus, consultor del International Crisis Group que investiga el crimen organizado en la cuenca amazónica, señaló que las operaciones recientes, incluido el ataque al complejo de Guerrero, podrían formar parte de un impulso más amplio para allanar el camino a la inversión extranjera en el sector minero de Venezuela, que desde hace tiempo se ha visto obstaculizado por la presencia de grupos criminales.

Después de que el gobierno de Trump arrestara en enero al entonces presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, durante una redada antes del amanecer, el gobierno interino de Venezuela aprobó leyes que facilitan la inversión extranjera en las industrias petrolera y minera.

“Sabemos que los minerales de Venezuela, incluido el oro y los minerales críticos, están en el menú de Trump”, manifestó Ebus. “Esta operación no puede verse al margen del impulso general de Washington por acceder a los recursos naturales de Venezuela”.

Cambio en las operaciones estadounidenses contra grupos criminales extranjeros en América Latina

Estados Unidos ha respaldado durante mucho tiempo a agencias de seguridad en países de América Latina, entre ellos, Colombia y México, con capacitación, armas y apoyo logístico para combatir a los cárteles de la droga y el crimen organizado.

“En lugar de ayudar a otros ejércitos a llevar a cabo operaciones, ahora están contentos de realizar estos ataques por su cuenta”, comentó Adam Isacson, experto en seguridad nacional de la Washington Office on Latin America, un centro de análisis de política exterior con sede en Washington, refiriéndose al gobierno de Trump.

Recientemente, Estados Unidos puso en marcha operaciones militares conjuntas con el gobierno de Ecuador contra narcotraficantes cerca de la frontera con Colombia, mientras Trump ha presionado repetidamente a la presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum, para que permita que Estados Unidos realice ataques contra cárteles de la droga en México. The New York Times informó en mayo que Guatemala aceptó permitir que Estados Unidos realice ataques en su territorio, algo que el presidente guatemalteco negó.

Los gobiernos latinoamericanos alineados con Trump podrían permitir ataques directos de Estados Unidos contra grupos criminales en su territorio en los próximos meses si los tribunales de esos países lo permiten, dijo Isacson. Pero este enfoque plantea riesgos.

“Es posible que personal de Estados Unidos muera o resulte herido”, advirtió. “También existe el riesgo de que Estados Unidos se equivoque con su inteligencia y mate a ciudadanos inocentes de otros países en su propio suelo, o de que personal de Estados Unidos trabaje codo a codo con ejércitos que cometen abusos de derechos humanos en la misma operación”.

Impacto de la muerte del Niño Guerrero en el narcotráfico

Isacson explicó que, aunque la muerte del cabecilla del Tren de Aragua supone una victoria para el gobierno de Trump, no está claro cómo se han visto afectadas las finanzas del grupo o sus vínculos con funcionarios corruptos.

“La estrategia de los capos se ha cuestionado durante décadas”, sostuvo el experto. “Las prisiones de Estados Unidos están llenas de líderes de cárteles, desde ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán hasta los jefes del Cártel de Cali, y la cantidad de drogas producidas ha aumentado o se ha mantenido igual”.

El Tren de Aragua es un actor menor en la industria mundial de la cocaína y está involucrado en envíos de droga que salen de Venezuela, por lo que los analistas no esperan que la muerte cambie drásticamente el flujo de estupefacientes hacia Estados Unidos. El TDA también se queda con una parte de la minería ilegal de oro.

Isacson indicó que, fuera de Venezuela, el grupo participa en delitos menos rentables, como la extorsión y la trata de personas.

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

The crash happened just before 8:20 a.m. in the 12000 block of Northwest 22nd Avenue near Northwest 127th Street.

The homeowner, who has lived in the area for 14 years, said speeding has long been a problem in the neighborhood.

In an instant, the vehicle tore through the property, destroying part of a wall, damaging the carport and crushing the front end of a newly purchased vehicle parked in the driveway.

“The first thing I said when I came here was, ‘Is everyone OK? Where is the guy? Is he alive?’ because it was pretty intense,” she said.

She said the driver refused transportation by first responders and was uninsured.

Most of the damage was concentrated in the yard, though a second vehicle parked along the street was also struck during the crash.

“It already took me forever to kind of fix my house. Now it’s going to take me even longer,” she said.

The homeowner said speeding is a consistent issue in the area and hopes something positive comes from the destruction.

“I hope the city can do something about this, about the speeding. I know I’m not the only neighbor affected,” she said.

Despite the damage, she said she is grateful no one was hurt.

“Thank God I wasn’t here and I was running late to pick up my kids to start our little summer vacation,” she said.

The homeowner estimates the crash caused more than $50,000 in damage.

Authorities have not said whether the driver will face any charges.

For nearly two decades, the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura has been turning trash into music and inspiring audiences around the world. The youth ensemble was formed in one of the most unlikely places imaginable — a landfill in a struggling community on the outskirts of Asunción, Paraguay.

Using instruments made from discarded materials, the young musicians built an international following. Their journey became the subject of the acclaimed 2015 documentary “Landfill Harmonic,” introducing their story to audiences across the globe.

Now, that story is taking center stage in “Basura,” a new musical opening at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.

“I saw that documentary and was in tears, and so moved, because I know what music means to me,” said Alex Lacamoire. “So Michael Schulman got the idea of creating a musical out of it.”

Lacamoire, a Tony and Grammy Award winner best known for his work on Hamilton and In the Heights, serves as the production’s musical supervisor, orchestrator and arranger.

“What music means to us as creators, and how music brings a community together, and how music truly transforms lives. That was the impetus for us to create this show,” Lacamoire said. “That is what made us feel like this is a story that needs to be told.”

Writing the music and lyrics are 11-time Grammy winner Gloria Estefan and her daughter, Emily Estefan. Their original score blends Latin rhythms, heart and hope while honoring the sounds of Paraguay.

“It’s a really unique rhythms, really unique meld of instrumentation,” Gloria Estefan said. “The harp is very important, which we’re very proud of, and we also want to make Paraguayans proud. Learning about this culture has been ... I did a deep dive, deep dive for months before we even started writing.”

Already earning standing ovations during previews, “Basura” is ultimately a story about possibility — the idea that even amid hardship, beauty can emerge, art can flourish and lives can be transformed.

“And then there’s this story that speaks to the human spirit,” Estefan said.

“It’s really the human spirit rising above a really difficult circumstance, and that’s what I hope that people realize. We’re all just human beings going through life and challenges, and music has always been a saving grace to me, and it saved me in many moments of my life.”

For associate director Andy Señor, one line captures the show’s message.

“For me it’s that one line that is so beautifully placed in the show that the world sends us garbage and we give back music,” he said.

“And I think that’s a really great message, particularly in the world that we’re in right now,” Lacamoire added. “It’s not to feel as if it’s hopeless, because it’s not.”

And oh, what a miss by the mighty Swiss.

One TV headline back home at French language public broadcaster RTS blared: “QATARSTROPHE.”

Boualem Khoukhi scored the equalizing goal on a header in the fourth minute of injury time to give Qatar its first-ever point at the World Cup in front of 67,966 spectators at Levi's Stadium.

“Every draw feels like a loss,” Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka said. “We're looking at ourselves. This performance was not good enough today to win.”

Several of the Qatari players fell to the ground in celebration of the late goal as others ran to each other to embrace.

“I was very proud about today ... our mentality, the discipline they showed today,” Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui said. “We needed to have our plan we needed to fulfill. We were a little bit lucky sometimes, but you need to believe and to want to have this belief and bit of luck in life and in football.”

Breel Embolo scored for Switzerland from the penalty spot in the first half just over a week after being cleared to enter the U.S. following a visa delay, but the Swiss failed to capitalize on multiple other scoring chances.

Switzerland midfielder Denis Zakaria was asked by RTS if the result was a devastating scenario.

“Clearly," he said. "We didn’t play the kind of match we needed to. We had so many chances and we missed so many in front of goal. Today we paid dearly.”

In the 13th minute, Embolo was fouled by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada, who received a yellow card on the play. Abunada lay face down and appeared motionless for a couple of minutes before he began to move his legs and was able to stand up again.

When Embolo calmly sent his penalty into the upper left corner in the 17th minute, it sent the red-clad Swiss fans into a dancing frenzy in the stands.

The 29-year-old forward applied for an urgent visa at the United States embassy in Bern on June 3, one day after he was denied boarding the team’s flight to travel for his third World Cup because of a 2018 criminal conviction that was only finalized in April.

Switzerland dominated the possession game on an unseasonably warm June afternoon — with sprinklers running during a first-half break.

There were thousands of empty seats scattered throughout Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. Brazil and Colombia drew 70,971 two years ago in a group match at Copa America. The stadium in Santa Clara staged the Super Bowl only four months ago.

Switzerland goalkeeper Gregor Kobel made a save in the second minute after Edmilson Junior got through the defense for a one-on-one. Kobel corralled the ball again in the 90th on a close-range attempt by Ahmed Alaaeldin.

Switzerland is hoping to advance further than its round-of-16 showing four years ago before losing 6-1 to Portugal — when Goncalo Ramos delivered an improbable hat trick playing in place of benched star Cristiano Ronaldo. The loss prompted Switzerland midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri to apologize the the fans.

The Swiss used consistency and experience to go unbeaten through qualifying against Sweden, Kosovo and Slovenia. Coach Murat Yakin's team produced four wins and two draws to secure its sixth straight World Cup appearance and hasn't missed one since 2002, but the team has never gotten beyond the quarterfinals.

Qatar had to qualify through a playoff in November — beating the United Arab Emirates and Oman — after missing an opportunity from its group stage in Asian qualifying.

The Gulf State country became the first host nation to lose all of its group matches four years ago. Qatar lost to Senegal, Ecuador and the Netherlands in the 2022 tournament, scoring its lone goal in a 3-1 loss to Senegal.

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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

Tras alcanzar el 40.91% de los votos durante la primera vuelta, Cepeda, del movimiento oficialista Pacto Histórico, se convirtió en finalista al balotaje del 21 de junio, junto a De la Espriella, de Defensores de la Patria, quien lideró con 43.73%, según resultados del Consejo Nacional Electoral.

Desde el recinto cultural La Santamaría en Bogotá —una antigua plaza de toros—, el postulante oficialista aseguró que seguirá “construyendo las grandes transformaciones históricas” que consideró ha alcanzado el actual gobierno y llamó a defenderlas de las supuestas intenciones de la “ultraderecha”.

Cepeda, heredero político de Petro, mencionó el programa agrario impulsado por el actual gobierno, la defensa del ambiente y de los derechos de los pueblos y nacionalidades, la política de paz en medio del conflicto armado interno, así como otras reformas sociales.

“En el segundo gobierno, vamos a profundizar todos esos logros”, aseveró el candidato del Pacto Histórico y afirmó que “derrotaremos a la extrema derecha y su proyecto de muerte en nuestro país”, en alusión a su rival político. Sin mencionar su nombre, lo acusó de pretender echar abajo todas las reformas sociales de Petro.

De la Espriella, quien se autodefine como independiente, ha ofrecido dar un vuelco total en caso de llegar a la presidencia: reducir el tamaño del Estado, beneficiar a empresarios y presionar con operaciones militares a los grupos ilegales.

Ha dicho, además, que su postulación no cuenta con el apoyo de partidos tradicionales, aunque tras los resultados de la primera vuelta, la candidata Paloma Valencia —quien se ubicó en tercer lugar— y su padrino político, el expresidente Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), anunciaron su apoyo al conservador.

En medio de la ovación de miles de seguidores congregados en Bogotá, Cepeda también reiteró su defensa a los derechos de la naturaleza. Lo hizo desde un recinto que solía usarse para corridas de toros, pero que fueron prohibidas por una ley firmada por Petro en 2024.

“Continuaremos el liderazgo del presidente Petro como país que defiende la naturaleza”, afirmó.

Filósofo, exmiembro de las Juventudes Comunistas y actual congresista, Cepeda avanzó hacia el balotaje descartando el apoyo a una iniciativa ciudadana que buscaba una asamblea constituyente, una de las principales críticas hacia e la campaña presidencial de la primera vuelta. En cambio, dijeron que concentrarán esfuerzos para derrotar la “extrema derecha”.

James M. McDonald, a former federal prosecutor in the office he had been picked to run, served as a financial regulator during Trump’s first term and worked in the White House counsel’s office in President George W. Bush’s administration.

A partner at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, McDonald is part of the legal team handling Trump’s pending appeal of felony convictions in New York related to hush money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels as the Republican ran for president in 2016.

Trump said Saturday he would name McDonald to the role of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the most influential positions in the Justice Department. He would replace Jay Clayton, whom Trump put forward this week as his pick for the director of national intelligence.

McDonald’s perch as U.S. attorney would give him oversight of arguably the most prestigious of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices, with a vast portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.

McDonald was also part of the legal team that last month secured a favorable outcome for Indian billionaire Gautam Adani when the Trump administration Justice Department dropped a fraud and conspiracy case that had been brought under the Biden administration.

McDonald has also served as director of enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during Trump's first term in office and was deputy associate counsel in the White House under Bush.

“I am confident that Jamie will deliver strong results for our Country,” Trump posted Saturday about McDonald on the Truth Social platform.

Nicholas Biase, spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, said it "welcomes the President’s choice to lead the SDNY. Mr. McDonald is widely respected.”

Trump's announcement on Clayton came as pressure increased from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation as national intelligence director last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

Ohtani hit a leadoff homer for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday in his return to the starting lineup after being sidelined by inflammation in his left knee. He also walked three times and scored twice in a 7-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“I felt good waking up in the morning, I feel good now, so I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to stay healthy and should be good to go tomorrow as well,” Ohtani said through a translator.

The two-way star connected on a 1-0 fastball from White Sox right-hander Sean Burke for his 14th homer. The 409-foot drive to right in the first inning had an exit velocity of 109.6 mph.

It was Ohtani's fifth leadoff homer of the season and No. 29 for his career.

“Obviously he’s the best player in the world, so anytime you can get the best player in a world back in your lineup, he’s definitely going to help and he showed it immediately,” teammate Mookie Betts said.

The 31-year-old Ohtani was back at designated hitter after he rested during Friday’s 8-2 loss in the series opener at Chicago. The knee inflammation popped up Thursday night at Pittsburgh, prompting Ohtani to leave an 8-6 win over the Pirates in the seventh.

“We took him out of the game the other night just for precautionary,” manager Dave Roberts said before Saturday's win. “Yesterday, treated it up, today he feels great. All the confidence that he can go out there and hit, feel good, not regress at all.”

Ohtani, who had surgery on his left knee in September 2019, wasn't sure exactly what caused the inflammation.

“It’s actually hard to pinpoint at what moment this happened,” he said. “All I can really know for sure is that I think my mechanics wasn’t quite great in terms of my pitching side. So I believe that had something to do with this.”

Ohtani is scheduled to take the mound again on Wednesday against Tampa Bay. The 6-foot-4 right-hander tested his knee for his throwing motion by playing catch in the outfield before Saturday's victory.

“It wasn’t 100 percent today, but I, you know, with the next three, four days, I feel pretty confident with enough recovery that I should be able to make the next start,” he said.

Ohtani is batting .305 with 41 RBIs and 50 runs scored in 68 games for the NL West leaders. On the mound, the reigning NL MVP is 6-2 with a 1.06 ERA in 11 starts.

Roberts also said Justin Wrobleski is expected to make his next scheduled start Tuesday against the Rays. The left-hander left in the fifth inning on Thursday night because of a left hamstring contusion.

“Yesterday I talked to him and he is a little sore, which is understandable, but he’ll be ready to go on Tuesday,” Roberts said.

Roberts, 54, is going to miss Sunday's series finale against the White Sox. Bench coach Danny Lehmann will run the team while Roberts attends his daughter's college graduation.

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

The company behind the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, said it will respond to the inquiry “constructively” and that it already has in place measures to protect its customers.

“AI is a new and powerful technology, and we work every day to safely bring its benefits to people in a responsible way," an emailed statement from a spokesperson said. “We take the concerns raised by state attorneys general seriously.”

OpenAI has drawn criticism for ChatGPT allegedly offering encouraging words to users thinking of killing themselves or engaging criminal acts. It also has come under scrutiny for how its uses health data and other personal information of its customers.

On Thursday, the company was sued by a Canadian blaming the chatbot for her daughter's decision to hang herself. Earlier in June, the Florida attorney general sued the company after two separate shootings where alleged gunmen were reported to have asked ChatGPT questions while planning their crimes.

OpenAI said in a statement that its models repeatedly encouraged the individuals to seek real-world support, including from mental health professionals. The company also said it has cooperated with law enforcement in both shooting cases.

The new probe comes just a few day after it filed documents with U.S. security regulators for a highly anticipated initial public offering of stock. Artificial intelligence rival SpaceX celebrated its own IPO on Friday. The rocket maker founded by Elon Musk also runs an AI business responsible for a rival chatbot called Grok.

How governments should respond to the potential for good and possible dangerous of AI is becoming a big political issue.

Regulators Europe opened investigations into Musk's Grok over antisemitic content and sexualized material, include deepfake nudes. And another chatbot company preparing an IPO, Anthropic, was directed by the Trump administration Friday to shut down two of its online models to users abroad for national security reasons.

The OpenAI subpoena was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The Associated Press sent emails to a dozen state attorneys general Saturday asking for details of the probe but has not received any responses.

In its statement, OpenAI highlighted measures it has taken to keep children using its chatbot safe.

“Today’s ChatGPT includes a more protective experience for minors and people experiencing difficult situations, with safeguards that direct them to real-world resources and trusted human contacts," the statement read in part. “We believe kids should be treated like kids, which is why we built age prediction, released parental tools to guide their children’s use of AI, and disallowed advertising that targets kids.”

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Authorities said Coast Guard officials in the Miami sector received a report at approximately 11:59 p.m. that the man had gone overboard while the boat was transiting south of Brickell Key near Hobie Island Beach Park.

They said Coast Guard Station Miami and Air Station Miami crews, along with Miami-Dade and city of Miami Fire Rescue units and marine patrol officers, are conducting search operations in the area.

Officials said the search remains active and no additional details about the victim were immediately released.

Las autoridades informaron que funcionarios de la Guardia Costera del sector de Miami recibieron un reporte aproximadamente a las 11:59 p.m. de que el hombre había caído por la borda mientras la embarcación navegaba al sur de Brickell Key, cerca de Hobie Island Beach Park.

Indicaron que tripulaciones de la Estación Miami y de la Estación Aérea Miami de la Guardia Costera, junto con unidades de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, Miami Fire Rescue y agentes de patrulla marítima, están realizando operaciones de búsqueda en el área.

Los funcionarios señalaron que la búsqueda continúa activa y que no se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre la víctima.

Daphy Michel, 31, died March 2. She was found at a bus shelter. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office found her cause of death to be hypothermia and ruled the manner a homicide, “indicating the death was caused by the actions of another individual” and should not be interpreted as a declaration of criminal guilt, the office said in a statement. The office released its findings Friday.

Michel was a native of Haiti who was seeking asylum in the U.S. after arriving at the southern border in 2022, said Joseph Patrick Murphy, her family's attorney. She was granted humanitarian parole based on urgent humanitarian need, but she did not live to see a hearing scheduled for two weeks after she died, he said.

The medical examiner's office said Michel was a vulnerable adult “suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier” at the time of her release on Feb. 27, the office said.

She was arrested last summer for yelling at imaginary people due to her psychiatric challenges, Murphy said. She spent six months in Washington County Jail where she underwent multiple psychiatric examinations as she awaited her first hearing, he said.

A magistrate said he could not hold her for trial for threatening imaginary people, Murphy said. Afterward, ICE arrested her in her cell, put an ankle monitor on her and took her 25 miles (40 kilometers) away to Pittsburgh, where she sat at a bus shelter for days in winter, he said.

“She was in September clothes and it was February, and the weather overwhelmed her and she went into hypothermia,” Murphy said.

The medical examiner's finding of homicide is different from a criminal charge, meaning “somebody did or failed to do something that brought about her demise,” Murphy said. He said he expects Michel's family to file a lawsuit against ICE in connection with her death.

In an email, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Lauren Bis said, “ICE had NOTHING to do with this woman’s death. She passed away THREE days after ICE encountered her."

She called Michel “an illegal alien from Haiti” who was placed in removal proceedings after her arrest.

Michel had all her belongings and a fully charged phone when she was released, with public transportation available, Bis said. ICE learned the day after Michel died that her ankle monitor “had been tampered with," but county medical examiner staff “refused to cooperate or even talk with” ICE officials, she said.

ICE called the U.S. Marshals Service, who retrieved the ankle monitor but were refused information about Michel's condition, Bis said. ICE learned of her death via news media, she said.

In a statement, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato called Michel's death “a tragedy and appears that with a little humanity, it could have been completely avoidable.”

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., said her death was preventable and that “she deserved care, shelter, language access, and medical support.”

ICE is no longer reporting the deaths of detainees within 30 days of their release from custody, ending a 2021 Biden-era policy. Health experts say the change will reflect fewer deaths than actually occur without addressing issues in medical care.

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Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.

Harden was arrested at 3:41 a.m. and booked just before 5 a.m., then posted $100 bond and was released from police custody, according to charging documents, which said he had a handgun in plain view that was not in a holster.

His arraignment is scheduled for June 22, according to the clerk’s office website. Harden is listed as a Houston resident in court documents.

“The Cleveland Cavaliers are aware of the arrest of James Harden this morning and are in the process of gathering additional information,” the team said in a statement. “We are in contact with James and his representation and will continue to monitor developments as they become available. At this time, we will have no further comment.”

A message sent to Harden’s representatives from The Associated Press seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Harden, 36, just finished his 17th NBA season and has the right to exercise a $42.3 million option to return to the Cavaliers next season. He indicated when Cleveland’s playoff run ended with a loss to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals that he would like to remain with the club, which would suggest he’s willing to forgo the option in favor of a longer contract with the Cavaliers.

Harden is an 11-time All-Star and an eight-time All-NBA selection who earned MVP honors in the 2017-18 season while playing for the Houston Rockets.

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AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

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

Las autoridades informaron que el personal de guardia del Sector Miami de la Guardia Costera recibió un reporte aproximadamente a las 11:59 p.m. de que el hombre había caído por la borda mientras la embarcación navegaba al sur de Brickell Key y cerca de Hobie Island Beach Park.

Indicaron que tripulaciones de la Estación Miami y de la Estación Aérea Miami de la Guardia Costera, junto con unidades de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, Miami Fire Rescue y agentes de patrulla marítima, están realizando operaciones de búsqueda en el área.

Los funcionarios señalaron que la búsqueda continúa activa y que no se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre la víctima.

A half-dozen Canadians have done it since the NHL started sending players to the Olympics, but at this moment, more Americans have walked on the moon than accomplished what Morrow did. He is the only one.

That will soon change, no matter how the Cup final ends. After the U.S. won gold at the Olympics for the first time in 46 years, Carolina's Jaccob Slavin is one victory away from joining Morrow, unless Vegas wins Games 6 and 7 to put Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin in that exclusive club.

“I’ve had my 46 years,” Morrow told The Associated Press by phone Friday. “I’m always one that likes to see new people win the Cup, guys get a chance to do something that they’ll remember the rest of their lives. And for whoever does it this year, yes, I think it’s great.”

Morrow won the Stanley Cup four times in a row as part of that Islanders dynasty. Eichel is the only U.S. player in the final with a Cup ring, and he had a major part in the Golden Knights' championship run in 2023.

After helping the U.S. win gold in Milan in February, Eichel says there are similarities and differences to those journeys.

“One’s nine, 10 months; one’s two weeks,” Eichel said. “One of them is winner-take-all of just one game at a time. These are seven-game series, so it’s different in that sense. I think from an emotional standpoint and a mentality, I think there’s a lot of similarities: just the investment in winning and the feeling in the room and everything that comes with it.”

The single-elimination element is a good way of thinking of playoff hockey, Eichel said, though Hanifin pointed out that it is drastically different preparing for a game at a time at the Olympics than enduring the ups and downs of a postseason.

“When you’re playing seven-game series, you can kind of build over time and if you hit a little bit of a setback or some adversity, you can kind of learn from it and build and come back better,” Hanifin said. “Whereas Olympics, when you get into those medal rounds, it’s a one-and-done situation, so it’s different in that regard.”

If the Hurricanes win, it would be some measure of retribution for Seth Jarvis, who played for Canada in the final and lost to the U.S. in overtime on Jack Hughes' winning goal.

When Carolina had him, Slavin and bronze medalist Sebastian Aho pose for a photo with their medals in their Olympic jerseys, Jarvis in a behind-the-scenes video quipped about reliving his nightmares and brought up the stuffed animal versions of an Olympic mascot that IOC officials gave to a group of players after losing the biggest game of their lives.

Before the start of the final, Jarvis acknowledged the events are two separate things.

“Obviously, losing in the gold medal is going to suck forever,” Jarvis said. “But now I get a chance to be a winner and win something big here with a group of guys that I’ve been grinding with for five years, been through the ups and downs of it and people that I just really care about.”

Two more losses would put Jarvis back in the same spot, albeit without another stuffie. One more defeat by the Golden Knights would mean losing twice in a final this year for Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore and Mark Stone.

Before the series began, Slavin was working hard to keep his brain from drifting to the possibility.

“It crosses my mind,” Slavin said. “But we’ve got to go out and do a job first, so not trying to give it too much thought.”

In the nearly five decades since Morrow completed the Olympic gold-Stanley Cup double, the entire situation has changed. The NHL has participated in the Olympics six times since 1998, so players are already professionals.

Morrow at age 23 went less than a week and a half between beating the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid, New York, visiting the White House, having his first practice with the Islanders and making his NHL debut.

“I was trying to earn a living,” Morrow said. “I had to kind of really change focus quickly into trying to earn a job with the New York Islanders, and it wasn’t a sure thing for me when I first came to them right after the Olympics. Am I going to be able to play in the league? Those were questions that I was facing in trying to make a living. And these guys certainly didn’t have that facing them after the Olympics.”

They just had to get back to doing their job, which was a challenge in itself. Vegas and Carolina each finished atop its division and got through three rounds of the playoffs.

That gave Eichel, Hanifin and Slavin an opportunity to join Morrow, Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan from Detroit in 2002, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith from Chicago 2010, and Drew Doughty from Los Angeles in 2014 in the history books.

“For myself, it’s been a pretty surreal year: Winning gold was awesome, and then having the chance to play for a Stanley Cup is awesome,” Slavin said. “I take it as a blessing and just thankful for it.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

A petition by the initiative, named “Remigration and Reconquest,” gathered the 50,000 signatures needed to trigger parliamentary discussion, pushing the once-fringe concept of “remigration” into the political mainstream. No date has been scheduled yet for a vote.

The proposal, promoted by right-wing groups, calls for sweeping measures targeting foreigners, including coercive returns, incentives to leave Italy and broader policies critics say could extend to legal residents.

Several thousand demonstrators from around Italy gathered for the anti-migration march, singing the national anthem. On several occasions, many of them raised their arms in the fascist salute, shouting “Duce! Duce!," a reference to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.

A rival, pro-migration demonstration saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets in another part of Rome Saturday evening. That march was attended by various left-wing groups and trade unions, with some demonstrators waving Palestinian flags.

Thousands of police were deployed to ensure the two rival groups would remain apart. No violence was reported.

The debate on migration represents a delicate balancing act for Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition. While the anti-migration League has backed opening discussion, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and centrist allies have been more cautious about endorsing a proposal linked to extremist circles, amid concerns over legal risks and internal divisions.

Critics, including opposition parties and legal experts, argue the proposal would violate constitutional and international anti-discrimination principles by targeting people based on ethnic background, including naturalized citizens and their descendants.

The controversy comes even as Meloni’s government pursues a parallel policy of expanding legal migration, having approved a multiyear plan to admit hundreds of thousands of non-EU workers to address labor shortages in key economic sectors.

The demonstrations in Rome a day after a new set of European Union rules came into effect governing how each of the bloc's 27 member states will deal with irregular migration and asylum seekers.

The European Migration and Asylum Pact is the culmination of years of grueling negotiations that overhauled the previous system, which was widely considered a failure and gave far-right parties a potent issue to win votes.

It will certainly take something special to eclipse it as the goal of the tournament, even only three days in.

Deep into added time at Los Angeles Stadium and with virtually the last kick of the game, Gio Reyna capped a spectacular 4-1 win for the United States against Paraguay on Friday with an exquisite finish to a wonderful team move.

This was Pochettino-ball at its finest.

“This might be one of the best back-to-front team goals this country and this team has ever put together," Fox TV analyst Stu Holden said.

It might've been even better than that.

Done in 70 seconds

With the clock on 96 minutes and 10 seconds, the U.S. just had to see out time and ensure a Paraguay team that had already pulled one goal back in the second half didn't spark a late rally.

Over the course of the next 70 seconds, Mauricio Pochettino's team put together a 26-pass move from left to right, through defense and attack and left Paraguay's players chasing shadows. Not one Paraguayan got a foot on the ball. Then it was over to Reyna, who went on for a cameo as an 82nd-minute substitute for the outstanding Malik Tillman.

Receiving a pass from Alexander Freeman outside the box, Reyna took one touch to control the ball and another to carry it into the area. Then, with the outside of his right boot and with a touch of curl, he swept the shot past Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill into the far corner to send the U.S. supporters wild one last time.

And they weren't the only ones going crazy. As Reyna wheeled away in celebration, hands covering his ears, he was mobbed by teammates, substitutes and even Pochettino, who raced across the field to join in the moment.

“There’s not a whole lot of words to describe the feeling,” U.S. captain Tim Ream said after the team's biggest ever World Cup win.

Just like watching Brazil

Such was the U.S. control of the ball that it brought back memories of what many believe to be the greatest ever team goal in the World Cup when Brazil's Carlos Alberto finished off a multi-pass move against Italy in the 1970 final.

That game also finished 4-1 and Carlos Alberto's strike, like Reyna's, came late, in the 86th minute.

A nine-pass move ended with Pele laying the ball off to Carlos Alberto, who drove a low shot into the corner.

The stakes were much higher for Brazil, but for the U.S. it was an opening statement performance against a Paraguay team that had one of the best defensive records among the South American teams during qualification. Pochettino's team already has more goals than the U.S. managed in the entire 2022 tournament where it scored just three and was eliminated at the round of 16.

“Congratulations to Team USA on their Big Win, 4-1, over a very good Paraguay team,” President Donald Trump wrote Saturday on his social media site. “Keep it going!”

A taste of what's to come

The U.S. Men's National Team went big when it hired Pochettino, the former Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Tottenham coach in 2024.

There was a run to the Gold Cup final last year and he has not been shy about his ambitions at the World Cup.

“Why not us?” has become something of a motto going into the tournament.

With extended time to work with the players ahead of the opening game, Pochettino believes the full potential of the team will be seen.

“When you only have few days, you know, to reunite and to play, you only select players, but you cannot coach players,” he said Friday. “Only in this type of tournament like the Gold Cup or now the World Cup, because you have preparation, two, three, four weeks, I think that is the only moment that we can coach.”

Reyna's goal was a perfect example of Pochettino's insistence of concentrating on the team over individuals.

“One thing we need to praise is the collective effort,” the coach added.

Reyna erases pain of 2022

It was a triumphant return for Reyna after controversy in Qatar four years ago for alleged lack of hustle, which nearly got him sent home from that World Cup by then-coach Gregg Berhalter.

Pochettino made the bold call to include Reyna in his squad even though he made just four league starts last season for Borussia Mönchengladbach and none after Dec. 19.

Reyna also took the opportunity to announce that his wife was pregnant by putting the ball under his shirt and sucking his thumb.

“Celebration was for the little one on the way," he later posted on Instagram.

The US has had great goals in the past

Fans will debate whether this was the greatest goal by the USMNT.

In 1989 Paul Caligiuri struck a long-range volley against Trinidad and Tobago that qualified the U.S. for the World Cup for the first time since 1950.

In 1994, the last time America hosted the tournament, Eric Wynalda's free kick against Switzerland earned the U.S. its first point in the World Cup since 1950.

There was also Benny Feilhaber's volley that won the Gold Cup in 2007.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

Según funcionarios de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), el accidente ocurrió poco después del mediodía en la intersección de Southwest 248th Street y Southwest 112th Avenue, en el área de Princeton del condado.

Una investigación preliminar reveló que el agente giraba hacia el oeste en Southwest 248th Street cuando encontró escombros en medio de la vía, lo que provocó que perdiera el control de la motocicleta, según las autoridades.

Los investigadores indicaron que el agente, cuya identidad aún no ha sido divulgada, fue trasladado en condición estable a un hospital cercano para recibir tratamiento.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre el accidente.

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According to MDSO officials, the crash happened just after noon at the intersection of Southwest 248th Street and Southwest 112th Avenue, in the county’s Princeton area.

A preliminary investigation revealed the deputy was turning westbound onto Southwest 248th Street and encountered debris in the middle of the roadway, causing him to lose control of the motorcycle, according to authorities.

Investigators said the deputy, who has not yet been identified, was transported in stable condition to a nearby hospital for treatment.

No other details about the crash were immediately released.

Trump, who is trying to make progress on finalizing an Iran war deal in the coming days, is expected to have a busy schedule of one-on-one meetings with foreign leaders on the sidelines of the summit in the French lakeside town of Evian-les-Bains, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

The Republican president is expected to discuss with U.S. allies plans to remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz as confidence grows for a deal, one official said.

Britain and France, both G7 members, have expressed interest in assisting with demining the critical waterway once the conflict is paused.

Trump also plans individual meetings on the sidelines of the summit, which opens Monday, with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and United Arab Emirates to discuss efforts to wind down the Iran war.

Macron's office said the French president will host Trump for a dinner Wednesday to mark the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, at the Palace of Versailles, “a historic symbol of Franco-American friendship.”

The palace was the residence of French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. It regularly hosts heads of state and foreign dignitaries.

Macron hosted King Charles III and Queen Camilla there in 2021 for the palace’s 400th anniversary, with a dinner in the Hall of Mirrors, one of the features of the 2,300 rooms in the palace.

In 2017, before his personal relationship with Vladimir Putin deteriorated because of the war in Ukraine, the then newly elected Macron hosted the Russian president at Versailles.

Trump and Macron will meet after the U.S. leader arrives in France on Monday afternoon. Trump will depart Washington after celebrating his 80th birthday with a primetime mixed martial arts show on the White House lawn Sunday.

Trump also plans separate talks with India's prime minister, officials said. India, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt are attending the summit at Macron's invitation because they are not G7 members.

Leaders of the G7 countries, which also include Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan, are meeting to discuss economic growth and development, strengthening supply chains for critical minerals, illegal immigration and artificial intelligence, among other issues.

The wars in Ukraine and Iran are also expected to be front and center. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also be at the summit. A formal meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy is not currently scheduled, officials told reporters, though they could meet on the sidelines.

Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likely to discuss progress toward a trade deal between their countries when they meet, officials said.

The U.S. and India signed a joint framework agreement earlier this year and negotiations continue. One of the officials told reporters a deal is possible, but unlikely to be settled on at the summit.

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Petrequin reported from London.

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Held on the sand in Pompano Beach, the event featured volleyball competition, food, music, raffles and prizes, with proceeds supporting programs and services provided by the Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit.

The Ann Storck Center has served people with developmental disabilities for more than 70 years, offering educational, residential and therapeutic programs for children and adults.

The event featured 20 volleyball teams competing throughout the day, along with raffles, food, music and prizes, all aimed at raising money for programs that support children and adults with developmental disabilities.

“We have 14 programs, over 11 locations, and we provide education and therapy, family strengthening, but the most important thing we do is provide love and care,” said Pat Murphy, CEO of the Ann Storck Center. “We really believe people with disabilities have the right to live independent lives as we all do.”

Based in Fort Lauderdale, the Ann Storck Center has served the South Florida community for decades through a range of programs designed to support individuals with disabilities from infancy through adulthood.

“It’s birth through the end of life,” Murphy said. “We provide education through a school, our Early Learning Academy. We have 10 group homes. We have an advocacy program. Another neat program is our respite program where we go into people’s homes and give them a break for caring for their child with a disability.”

Murphy said fundraising events like the volleyball tournament help the nonprofit continue providing those services.

Twenty teams competed for first, second, and third-place prizes during Saturday’s tournament. Organizers also held raffles and encouraged community members to attend even if they were not participating in the competition.

“We have raffles, so come on out,” Murphy said. “We need people to buy raffles and support the Ann Storck Center.”

The event also featured meals donated by local businesses, including 200 lunches provided by Oceanic and pizzas donated by Jet’s Pizza for players and attendees.

Organizers said the annual tournament not only raises critical funding but also helps bring the community together in support of individuals and families living with disabilities.

Realizado sobre la arena en Pompano Beach, el evento contó con competencia de voleibol, comida, música, rifas y premios, y los fondos recaudados apoyarán los programas y servicios que ofrece esta organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Fort Lauderdale.

El Ann Storck Center ha servido a personas con discapacidades del desarrollo durante más de 70 años, ofreciendo programas educativos, residenciales y terapéuticos para niños y adultos.

El evento contó con 20 equipos de voleibol compitiendo durante toda la jornada, además de rifas, comida, música y premios, todo con el objetivo de recaudar fondos para programas que apoyan a niños y adultos con discapacidades del desarrollo.

“Tenemos 14 programas en más de 11 ubicaciones y brindamos educación y terapia, fortalecimiento familiar, pero lo más importante que hacemos es brindar amor y cuidado”, dijo Pat Murphy, directora ejecutiva del Ann Storck Center. “Realmente creemos que las personas con discapacidades tienen derecho a vivir vidas independientes, como todos nosotros”.

Con sede en Fort Lauderdale, el Ann Storck Center ha servido a la comunidad del sur de Florida durante décadas a través de una variedad de programas diseñados para apoyar a personas con discapacidades desde la infancia hasta la edad adulta.

“Es desde el nacimiento hasta el final de la vida”, dijo Murphy. “Brindamos educación a través de una escuela, nuestra Early Learning Academy. Tenemos 10 hogares grupales. Tenemos un programa de defensa. Otro programa muy valioso es nuestro programa de respiro, donde vamos a las casas de las personas y les damos un descanso del cuidado de su hijo con discapacidad”.

Murphy dijo que eventos de recaudación de fondos como el torneo de voleibol ayudan a la organización a continuar ofreciendo esos servicios.

Veinte equipos compitieron por los premios de primer, segundo y tercer lugar durante el torneo del sábado. Los organizadores también realizaron rifas y alentaron a los miembros de la comunidad a asistir incluso si no participaban en la competencia.

“Tenemos rifas, así que vengan”, dijo Murphy. “Necesitamos que las personas compren boletos de rifa y apoyen al Ann Storck Center”.

El evento también contó con comidas donadas por negocios locales, incluidos 200 almuerzos proporcionados por Oceanic y pizzas donadas por Jet’s Pizza para los jugadores y asistentes.

Los organizadores dijeron que el torneo anual no solo recauda fondos esenciales, sino que también ayuda a unir a la comunidad en apoyo de las personas y familias que viven con discapacidades.