According to fire rescue officials, the fire erupted at about 7:30 p.m. in the 5700 block of Northwest 15th Street.

A long line of fire trucks stretched across the scene, with Lauderhill police also responding to the area.

A total of 16 residents were displaced from their homes.

Neighbors gathered outside, watching as crews worked to extinguish the flames. One man who lives two doors down said the fire was hard to miss.

“It was dark. It had a certain smell, like (an) electrical scent,” the man, identified only as Maxwell, said. “Black smoke. Maybe about 10 to 15 feet.”

No injuries were reported.

The American Red Cross is helping 13 of those displaced by the fire, including eight children and five adults.

“The Red Cross is providing emergency financial assistance, health and mental health services, one-on-one support to connect people to available recovery assistance and will continue to provide additional support to the families to meet their disaster-caused needs,” the organization said in a news release.

Click here to donate to the Red Cross to help support their efforts.

Christian Q. Bouie, the burglary suspect accused of shooting Appie in the shoulder on Saturday night, was at the Broward County Main Jail on Monday.

After the shooting, another police dog bit Bouie, 30, during his arrest, and fire rescue personnel took him to the Broward Health Medical Center.

Bouie faced four charges: Use of a deadly weapon on a police animal, interfering with law enforcement with violence, possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon, and resisting arrest without violence.

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According to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, the crash happened just before 9 p.m. in the 500 block of West Sunrise Boulevard.

Crews say when they arrived, they found the two minivans, one of which was overturned with people trapped inside.

Medics took the nine injured victims to Broward Health Medical Center.

Seven of them suffered serious injuries and three of the injured are children, authorities said.

Their conditions have not been released. The crash is under investigation.

Según señaló la fiscalía regional de Los Ríos en un comunicado, las detenciones se llevaron a cabo en la madrugada por la policía y los imputados son dos hombres y una mujer, todos estudiantes de la institución.

La investigación se remonta al pasado 8 de abril, cuando la ministra, quien lleva poco más de un mes en el cargo, fue agredida física y verbalmente durante una manifestación estudiantil y cuando participaba en un evento académico en la Universidad Austral de Chile, en la ciudad de Valdivia, a unos 800 kilómetros de Santiago.

“Estos hechos son especialmente graves porque afectan directamente a autoridades en el ejercicio de sus funciones, lo que no solo compromete su integridad, sino también el normal desarrollo de actividades públicas”, dijo en la nota la fiscal Tatiana Esquivel.

El mandatario José Antonio Kast, un ultraderechista que llegó al poder el 11 de marzo, señaló en ocasión del hecho que la funcionaria fue agredida por "un grupo ideologizado que tiene solo un objetivo: silenciar y amedrentar”. “No buscan dialogar ni mejorar la educación. Su actuar no tiene explicación ni justificación”, aseveró.

Chile acumula un largo historial de violencia escolar y es conocido por las manifestaciones estudiantiles que a menudo sirven como catalizadores de movimientos sociales. No es infrecuente que terminen de forma violenta.

Los imputados, que no han sido identificados, deberán comparecer esta misma jornada a una audiencia de formalización de la investigación, instancia en la cual el Ministerio Público comunica ante el tribunal y los acusados los cargos que se les imputa y la calificación jurídica respectiva.

El caso generó el rechazo transversal de la clase política chilena, con distintos partidos y figuras condenando los hechos.

La ministra de Seguridad, Trinidad Steinert, valoró positivamente las detenciones y aseguró que "las manifestaciones pacíficas son un derecho”, pero el gobierno no acepta que sean ejercidas "a través de la violencia”.

“El ministerio de Seguridad interpuso una querella. Vamos a ser parte y concurrir a la audiencia de hoy con el fin de solicitar las medidas cautelares más gravosas”, señaló Steinert.

Ackerman, 66, has served in that role since 2013, presiding over the rebirth of the conference following the decision a year earlier for the Big East to split. Ackerman led the negotiations that resulted in the return of UConn in 2020 from the American Athletic Conference.

“It’s been an extraordinary honor for me to serve as the Commissioner of one of the most prestigious and storied organizations in college sports,” Ackerman said in a statement. “I want to thank our Presidents for entrusting me with this one-of-a-kind leadership opportunity and for supporting the investments needed to maintain the Big East's stature and meet our schools’ high competitive and academic standards."

Big East men's basketball teams won four national championships during her tenure, with two by Villanova and two by UConn — more than any other Division I conference in that span. The UConn women's team won its 12th national title in 2025.

“Speaking on behalf of all the BIG EAST Presidents, we announce Commissioner Val Ackerman’s retirement with a tinge of sadness and deep gratitude,” said St. John’s president, the Rev. Brian J. Shanley, who is the chair of the conference's Board of Directors. “When we re-founded the BIG EAST in 2013 as a basketball-centric conference, our first task was to find a commissioner who could provide the strategic vision needed to position us as a basketball peer with the power football conferences and compete with the country’s best. We found that visionary leader in Val Ackerman."

She presided in the relocation of the conference headquarters to New York in 2014, and the Big East moved to the famed Empire State Building last year. Ackerman also ensured that the Big East men's basketball tournament will remain at Madison Square Garden until 2032, which would be the 50th anniversary of the event there. The women's tournament is set to be held at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut until 2029.

Before coming to the Big East, Ackerman was the first president of the WNBA when it was launched in 1997 and was in charge of the league for eight years. She also held positions including president at USA Basketball.

Ackerman played at Virginia and was a four-year starter, becoming the first 1,000-point scorer in program history.

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

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

In the article, posted on the magazine's website Friday, author Sarah Fitzpatrick said Patel is deeply concerned about losing his job and that “he has good reasons to think so — including some having to do with what witnesses described to me as bouts of excessive drinking.” Fitzpatrick was also named as a defendant.

His behavior, including “both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” has alarmed officials at the FBI and Department of Justice, leading one official speaking anonymously to say that worry about what would happen in the case of a terrorist attack in the U.S. “keeps me up at night,” the magazine said.

Patel still described as pivotal for Trump White House

The White House told The Atlantic that Patel remains a critical player on President Donald Trump's law and order team and credited him for decreases in the crime rate. Trump's team is also said to be pleased by Patel's willingness to go after the president's rivals.

Patel, in the lawsuit filed in district court in Washington, denied the allegations of his behavior and criticized the magazine for relying on anonymous sources. Fitzpatrick wrote that she interviewed more than two dozen people and granted them anonymity to “discuss sensitive information and private conversations.”

“Defendants cannot evade responsibility for their malicious lies by hiding behind sham sources,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said Patel's lawyers asked The Atlantic for more time to respond to accusations but the magazine did not reply. “It is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice,” it said.

Atlantic outlines behavior it says witnesses saw

The Atlantic said Patel had been spotted drinking heavily at the private club Ned's in Washington and at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, where he often spends time on the weekends. Six people told the magazine that briefings and meetings involving Patel had to be rescheduled for later in the day because of drinking the night before.

It said that on “multiple occasions” Patel's security team had difficulty waking him and at one point requested equipment designed to forcibly open a building when Patel was unreachable behind closed doors.

With his lawsuit, Patel is following a playbook used by his boss to fight back against damaging stories. Last week, a judge in Florida dismissed Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its report about a risqué birthday greeting he had sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The judge said Trump had not plausibly alleged the story was published with actual malice, the standard for a libel finding.

Last September, another judge dismissed Trump's $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times and some reporters for a story critical of the president's business acumen. Trump was allowed to file an amended lawsuit, which he did.

Trump also sued CBS News and ABC News for stories he didn't like before taking office again for his second term. Both of those news organizations paid a settlement out of court to Trump before the cases could go to trial.

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

Winston-Salem police Capt. Kevin Burns said a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old died at the scene after being shot around 10 a.m. at Leinbach Park, near a middle school. Five others between the ages of 14 and 19 were shot and suffered injuries ranging from critical to minor, Burns said at a news conference. Four of those victims are female, officials said.

Officials said multiple people fired guns during the shooting. Winston-Salem police Chief William Penn said no one was in custody but authorities believe some of those injured may have also been involved in the shooting.

“I feel like everyone else. I’m frustrated, I’m angry, I’m sad. This didn’t have to happen,” Penn said.

Penn said he couldn’t immediately answer whether the teens who died were the ones scheduled to fight. The police chief also said “no” when asked if it was known what the fight was about.

Officials said schools near the park were safe.

The shooting happened in a park in a suburban and residential area northwest of downtown Winston-Salem, a city of about 250,000 known for decades as the home of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

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Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, contributed to this report.

Investigators with the Homestead Police Department said Samantha Morales, 34, drunkenly opened fire after confronting the victims after they walked out of Dr. Limon Ceviche Bar, located at 2508 NE 10th Court ― within the large Homestead Pavilion shopping plaza.

According to police, the victims told investigators that after they “exited the restaurant and began to say their goodbyes,” Morales drove up in a Tesla and asked them whether they were “good” or “OK.”

An HPD report doesn’t state whether or how Morales knew the women.

After one of the victims replied, “Yes, I’m OK. Are you?,” police said Morales retorted, “Yes, b----. But it looks like you have a problem.”

Police said Morales opened her car door and pulled out a gun, asking, “What are you gonna do about it?”

After one of the victims asked Morales whether she was going to “intimidate” them with the gun, police said the group continued to argue until Morales opened fire, shooting two of the women.

According to the report, one of the women “lunged” at Morales in an effort to disarm her.

“The two then began to fight and were separated by the police,” a detective wrote. “The victim then noticed she was shot.”

Detectives said Morales told them that she “she did not remember the incident but claims she was fighting for her life” and “admitted to having three alcoholic beverages.”

Authorities arrested Morales on three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of using a firearm ― all felonies ― plus misdemeanor charges of improper exhibition of a firearm and using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.

As of Monday, she remained behind bars at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after a Miami-Dade judge ordered her held without bond.

Miami police said an officer noticed a large group of dirt bike and ATV riders “gathering and impeding traffic” on Northwest Second Avenue and 27th Street at around 11:15 p.m.

Police said two other officers on foot patrol saw the group as they approached Northwest 26th Street and approached Chamari Jaheim Pippins, 22, of Hollywood, who was on a blue Yamaha dirt bike with no license tag.

After one of Pippins’ friends told him that officers were coming up to him, police said he looked back, made “eye contact” with one of the officers and “accelerated” in an attempt to get away.

According to an arrest report, Pippins “spun the tires to a point where he was unable to attain traction” and lost control, “striking a victim on the sidewalk” and hitting a black Infiniti parked on the street.

Police said the pedestrian suffered “multiple injuries,” including an elbow fracture and cuts on her eyelid and foot; medics later took her to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment.

The report states that officers took Pippins into custody and found he had a concealed Glock 45 pistol.

Police arrested Pippins on charges of aggravated fleeing and eluding causing injury, possession of a weapon while committing an offense and resisting an officer without violence. He was also cited for failure to obey a police officer or firefighter and failure to have a vehicle registration.

Records show that Pippins, booked into jail early Sunday morning, remained in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Monday morning on a $5,500 bond.

Hundreds of outfits across the world are offering multiday trips where attendees pay for drug-assisted experiences claiming to promote psychological healing, personal growth and other benefits.

Many have safety procedures in place, but they still carry “potential for physical, psychological, and interpersonal harms,” researchers who surveyed dozens of retreats wrote in a recent paper in JAMA Network Open.

Currently no psychedelics have been federally approved in the U.S., although that may soon change. On Saturday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Food and Drug Administration to accelerate reviews of psychedelics that show potential for conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder. The order also directs law enforcement agencies to quickly lower restrictions on any psychedelic approved by the FDA.

The only drug to come before the FDA thus far, MDMA, was rejected as a PTSD treatment in 2024 due to concerns about its safety and effectiveness.

Dr. John Krystal, a Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist who has followed the field, says psychedelics should be approached as “a serious medical procedure that carries risks that must be carefully managed.”

People who work in the field say today's retreats are far safer than those of prior decades, when psychedelic experiences were almost always conducted underground with few safety precautions.

“The sheer visibility of psychedelics has led to more demand for these retreats,” said Brad Burge, who has worked with psychedelic nonprofits, drugmakers and retreat operators for nearly 20 years. “That growing market has allowed retreats to expand their services, hire more medical and coaching staff and take safety more seriously than we've ever seen in the past.”

Here's what to know about the trend:

Psychedelic retreats are currently illegal in the US

Virtually all the drugs offered at retreats are illegal under U.S. federal law, including magic mushrooms, ayahuasca, MDMA and LSD.

Retreat companies will not always make that explicit or sometimes claim that they are protected by a rare legal exemption for religious organizations that traditionally use psychedelics.

But only a handful of groups have formally obtained that legal status, including the Native American Church, which uses peyote in its ceremonies.

Some retreats are held in countries that don’t restrict psychedelics, including Peru and Brazil, where ayahuasca — a psychedelic brew of Amazonian plants — has been used for centuries by Indigenous cultures.

No matter where they operate, experts say there are no industrywide standards or regulations for how participants are screened, prepared or monitored afterward.

“If there is no regulation, what does that mean about the quality of care you’re going to have?” said Joshua White, founder of the Fireside Project, which runs a hotline for people experiencing distress during psychedelic trips. ”I certainly fear that there could be a race to the bottom where there is no liability or accountability."

Safety procedures and staffing credentials vary

With essentially no oversight, potential attendees are on their own when vetting different options.

“It’s really important that somebody interested in a psychedelic retreat do their research, talk to the organizers or facilitators to get more information about what is being offered and how,” said Amy McGuire, a biomedical ethicist at Baylor College of Medicine and co-author of the JAMA Network Open study.

McGuire and her colleagues documented a wide range of practices, including some companies offering multiple psychedelic drugs over the course of their retreats.

Many retreats have health professionals on site, but their roles and responsibilities are often vague. In some cases, they take psychedelics alongside participants, which could impair their ability to respond in an emergency.

Important questions when evaluating retreats include:

— Do retreat staff have training and equipment to handle a medical emergency?

— Is there a hospital nearby and transportation to get there?

— Do staffers spend significant time helping participants prepare and process the experience?

Websites that compile user reviews, such as Retreat.guru, are one source for this information.

Screening for risky medical conditions is not rigorous

One of the most important safety steps happens before any retreat begins: screening out people with serious medical conditions who shouldn't take psychedelics.

More than half the retreats surveyed for the study excluded participants with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

“Psychedelic drugs may worsen symptoms of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia,” noted Krystal, who was not involved in the research. “It is important that patients are carefully screened to ensure that appropriate patients enter treatment.”

Significantly, all the retreats said they rely on potential customers to truthfully disclose their medical history and health conditions.

That approach carries risks, the authors noted, since people suffering from severe afflictions may withhold information if they think it could stop them from attending.

"When you’re really desperate and hoping to access something that you think could help you, there’s an incentive not to be truthful,” McGuire said.

Discontinuing medications is common

Another potentially risky practice: Nearly 90% of the surveyed retreats require or recommend that attendees stop taking certain medications, including antidepressants, before using psychedelics. These so-called “washout periods" ranged from one day to six weeks before the psychedelic experience.

Medical experts say safely tapering off antidepressants like Prozac can take six to 12 weeks and requires professional supervision.

"The patient needs to realize that by going off their medicine they’re at greater risk of recurrence or exacerbation of their symptoms,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, a Columbia University psychiatrist. “They should be monitored regularly to make sure nothing bad happens.”

The rationale for halting antidepressants comes from research that combining those drugs with psychedelics may cause excess levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that influences mood, sleep and other functions.

But retreat operators may also be trying to make sure the medications don’t dull the intensity of the psychedelic experience, according to McGuire.

“There’s a business rationale for wanting people to have the maximum experience when they show up and they’re paying for these retreats,” she said.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Felipe Llanos Colon was driving a U-Haul van after stealing from the Franky Diamonds booth at 7900 NW 27 Ave., in the West Little River area, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputy’s report.

“The victim jumped onto the hood of the offender’s vehicle, and the assailant proceeded to drive away, with the victim mounted on the hood of the van,” the deputy wrote, according to the report.

Llanos Colon fled with a $39,500 watch at about 1:05 p.m. on April 13; Miami police officers arrested him on Friday for another case; and deputies re-arrested him for the theft.

“Screenshot images of the defendant’s face from the video were obtained and later submitted to the MDSO real-time operations center, which used facial recognition software to identify the defendant,” a deputy wrote, according to the report.

The victim at the flea market’s Franky Diamonds booth reported that Llanos Colon ran away after putting on the watch, so he chased him to the parking lot and attempted to stop him by jumping onto the van’s hood.

LLanos Colon “drove off the property through a cutout in a fence, leading to Northwest 30th Avenue, where he proceeded southbound ... while the victim maintained a grip on the hood of the van,” according to the report.

Llanos Colon stopped at Northwest 79th Street, got out of the van, ran westbound, and vanished near the MetroRail area, according to the report.

After Miami police officers arrested Llanos Colon on Friday at 1280 NW 60 St., in Liberty City, Miami-Dade corrections booked him at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Llanos Colon appeared in court on Saturday, and a judge ordered him to stay away from the Franky Diamonds booth employee and ordered house arrest with an electronic monitor.

Miami-Dade prosecutors filed two criminal cases against Llanos Colon on Saturday, according to county court records.

Llanos Campos faced charges of second-degree grand theft and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bond was $20,000. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Ariel Rodriguez was set to preside over this case.

For the arrest in Liberty City, Llanos Campos faced charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and knowingly driving with a suspended license. His bond was $500. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Julie Nelson was set to preside over this case.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

“Se deja atrás el tiempo del partido único. Hoy empieza una Bolivia con nuevos liderazgos, nuevos proyectos y un compromiso claro: trabajar juntos”, dijo Paz el domingo por la noche tras la segunda vuelta para elegir gobernadores en cinco de nueve regiones. En las otras cuatro se eligieron autoridades en primera vuelta.

Según el cómputo preliminar del Tribunal Supremo Electoral, siete de las nueve regiones estarán lideradas por gobernadores de corrientes distintas al oficialismo.

Aunque Paz no tiene un partido propio, el gobernador de La Paz y el de Beni han recibido el respaldo del gobierno. En cambio Santa Cruz, la región más rica y poblada, estará controlada por un gobernador de derecha afín al expresidente Jorge Quiroga (2001-2002).

El Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) de los expresidentes Evo Morales (2006-2019) y Luis Arce (2020-2025), que por casi dos décadas fue el partido más poderoso, sólo controla la región central de Cochabamba —la tercera en importancia— donde ganó el exsenador y dirigente cocalero Leonardo Loza, leal a Morales. Loza dijo que seguirá una línea de oposición dura al gobierno.

La derrota más sorpresiva para Paz fue en su región, Tarija, donde ganó en segunda vuelta una senadora opositora.

El gobernante asumió en noviembre en medio de una crisis económica y con graves deficiencias en el abastecimiento de combustible.

Hasta ahora su mayor oposición ha sido de sindicatos, organizaciones sociales y gremiales, de gran poder de movilización en las calles, que rechazan sus reformas económicas.

“Estas elecciones regionales de gobernadores y alcaldes nos han dejado un mejor pluralismo. Hoy hay una gran diversidad política que es la que dominará en adelante, a diferencia de los tiempos del MAS que acaparó todo el poder”, sostuvo la profesora de ciencia política Jimena Costa.

El caso más grave fue el de Sushi Cafe, en el 7917 NW 2nd Street de Miami, donde los inspectores encontraron más de 35 excrementos de roedores debajo del mostrador de sushi, cucarachas vivas y muertas, y moho dentro de la máquina de hielo. El local acumuló 31 violaciones y fue clausurado el 15 de abril.

También en Miami, Moshi Moshi, ubicado en Biscayne Boulevard, fue cerrado el 14 de abril después de que los inspectores hallaron ocho cucarachas vivas dentro del horno de la cocina y moscas sobrevolando el área donde se almacena el vinagre para sushi.

Don Camaron Grill & Market, en el 501 NW 37th Ave de Miami, fue el que más violaciones acumuló: 33 en total. Los inspectores documentaron cucarachas vivas y muertas en el área de preparación de mariscos, moscas posadas sobre las mesas y empleados que manipulaban pescado crudo y alimentos listos para consumir sin lavarse las manos.

En Pittzza at Ironside, dentro del complejo Miami Ironside, los inspectores contaron más de 50 moscas sobre el fregadero de la cocina y encontraron alimentos almacenados a temperaturas peligrosas durante más de cuatro horas, incluyendo carne cruda, ricotta y salsa de pasta.

Kelly’s Cajun Grill, en el Pembroke Lakes Mall de Pembroke Pines, fue clausurado el 15 de abril tras una queja de un consumidor. Los inspectores hallaron dos cucarachas vivas sobre una mesa de preparación en la parte trasera del local.

El camión de comida El Toro Loco Ranch fue sacado de circulación el 17 de abril después de que los inspectores encontraron moscas posándose repetidamente sobre pan expuesto y carne molida cocinada almacenada a temperaturas inseguras.

En Hialeah, Los Lagos Restaurant, también conocido como Mayajigua Restaurant Corp., fue clausurado el 10 de abril con 20 violaciones, entre ellas ocho cucarachas vivas en distintas áreas de la cocina y huevos crudos almacenados sobre vegetales sin lavar.

Café Ruyi, en el 5300 NW 7th Avenue de Miami, recibió su orden de cierre el 14 de abril tras una queja de consumidor. Los inspectores encontraron una mosca posada sobre arroz frito en la línea de cocción, lo que obligó a desechar el alimento. No es la primera vez que este local es clausurado: ya había sido cerrado en febrero de 2019.

Todos los establecimientos fueron autorizados a reabrir únicamente después de completar las limpiezas ordenadas y aprobar una reinspección satisfactoria.

Los equipos de rescate dijeron que al llegar encontraron dos minivans involucradas en el choque, con una volcada y personas atrapadas en su interior.

Un total de nueve personas fueron trasladadas al Broward Health Medical Center.

Siete de ellas sufrieron heridas graves y tres de los heridos son niños, según las autoridades.

Sus condiciones no han sido reveladas.

El choque está bajo investigación.

De acuerdo con la policía de Hallandale Beach, el choque ocurrió en la intersección de Federal Highway y Northeast Third Street.

La policía dijo que un vehículo no se detuvo ante un semáforo en rojo, lo que provocó la colisión.

El personal de Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue tuvo que rescatar con equipos especiales a una persona atrapada en el segundo vehículo.

Esa persona fue trasladada a un hospital local en condición estable.

Todos los carriles fueron reabiertos tras el choque, aunque la policía advirtió que los conductores podrían seguir experimentando demoras hasta que la escena sea despejada por completo.

La policía dijo que el choque parece haber sido causado por manejo distraído, pero la investigación continúa.

La policía de Hallandale Beach les recuerda a los conductores que:

Mantengan los ojos en la carretera y las manos en el volante en todo momento.

Eviten usar dispositivos móviles mientras conducen.

Configuren la navegación, la música y otros controles antes de comenzar su viaje.

Permanezcan alerta en las intersecciones y respeten siempre las señales de tráfico.

De acuerdo con un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami, cuatro alertas de ShotSpotter fueron detectadas en el área de Northeast Miami Court y la calle 71 a las 8:54 p.m. del domingo.

La policía dijo que el sospechoso, Samuel Saint Remy, de Miami, llamó al 911 alrededor de las 9 p.m. y reportó que le disparó a un conductor que había intentado atropellarlo con su vehículo.

Los oficiales que respondieron encontraron a la víctima sentada en el asiento del conductor de un Nissan Murano 2020 azul, con múltiples heridas de bala, según las autoridades.

De acuerdo con el informe, los oficiales sacaron al conductor del vehículo y le prestaron primeros auxilios hasta que llegó el personal de Miami Fire Rescue.

La policía dijo que Saint Remy fue detenido y se recuperó una pistola Smith & Wesson, junto con un cargador vacío y uno lleno que tenía en su poder.

Según el informe, los detectives obtuvieron video de vigilancia del estacionamiento, ubicado en 7101 N. Miami Ave., que muestra a Saint Remy y a la víctima en una discusión verbal.

La policía dijo que la víctima luego entró a su SUV mientras Saint Remy estaba parado frente al vehículo.

La víctima entonces aceleró en dirección a Saint Remy antes de continuar hacia la salida del estacionamiento, según las autoridades.

De acuerdo con el informe, en el video se ve a Saint Remy metiendo la mano en su cintura, dirigiéndose hacia el vehículo y luego disparando varias veces hacia el lado del pasajero del SUV mientras estaba estacionario.

La policía dijo que Saint Remy regresó luego a su posición inicial en el estacionamiento y recogió un objeto desconocido del suelo.

“Debido al retraso del video y la claridad limitada, no se puede determinar de manera concluyente si el vehículo golpeó al acusado”, escribió un oficial en el informe de arresto.

Saint Remy fue detenido en la madrugada del lunes bajo cargos de intento de asesinato en segundo grado, uso de arma de fuego durante la comisión de un delito grave y descarga ilegal de un arma de fuego en un lugar público.

A pesar de invocar su derecho a guardar silencio, Saint Remy hizo “declaraciones espontáneas” que fueron redactadas del informe publicado, y una conversación telefónica con su madre en criollo fue grabada. Sus declaraciones a su madre también fueron redactadas del informe.

Hasta el lunes por la mañana, Saint Remy se encontraba detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. Los registros de la cárcel en línea indicaban que su fianza estaba “por determinarse”.

Williams' agency, Elite Loyalty Sports, announced the deal that includes $37 million of fully guaranteed money and a $22 million signing bonus. Williams had been owed about $33 million this season in the final year of a three-year, $82.3 million deal he had signed before the 2024 season before agreeing to the new contract.

The 49ers got the deal done on the first day of their offseason program and three days before the start of the draft. San Francisco has the 27th pick in the first round and had been linked to some tackles but that could be less of a priority now that Williams is under contract for two more seasons.

Williams turns 38 in July but is still playing at a high level after making the Pro Bowl and earning second-team All-Pro honors.

San Francisco originally acquired Williams from Washington for a third and fifth-round pick during the 2020 draft and re-signed him to a six-year, $138.1 million contract the following offseason. The sides did a reworked three-year deal just before the start of the 2024 season after Williams held out of training camp.

There was much less drama this time around as the two sides came to the agreement before the start of the offseason program.

Williams is coming off his 12th Pro Bowl season — the most for any offensive tackle — and is two shy of tying Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews’ record for any offensive lineman.

Williams made three straight All-Pro teams from 2021-23 before being hampered by injuries in 2024. He was healthy for most of last season, playing 16 games for the first time since 2013.

Williams’ 40 pressures allowed last season were his most since his rookie season with Washington in 2010, according to Pro Football Focus, but he still remained one of the top left tackles in the game in both run and pass blocking.

The 49ers have not drafted a tackle with a Day 1 or Day 2 draft pick since acquiring Williams from Washington during the 2020 draft, leaving the team with no obvious succession plan for when Williams’ tenure in San Francisco is finished.

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

Hug's fourth consecutive win in Boston puts him into second place all-time in Boston men’s wheelchair history, behind only South African great Ernst van Dyk’s record 10 titles between 2001 and 2014. American racer Daniel Romanchuk was second in 1:22:44, followed by Jetze Plat of the Netherlands in 1:24:13.

In the women’s race, Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Britain earned her second win in Boston, crossing the finish line in 1:30:51. Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland was second in 1:32:59 and Tatyana McFadden of the United States was third in 1:36:43.

American racer Susannah Scaroni, the 2023 and 2025 champion, did not defend her title. She is expecting her first child.

Hug jumped in front of the field quickly, building a 13-second advantage over David Weir of Britain three miles into the race. That lead grew to 55 seconds by the halfway point.

Since winning the Berlin Marathon in 2022, Hug has lost only one of the seven world major titles, when he finished second at the New York Marathon in 2024.

The race came on a clear morning with starting temperatures in the low 40s.

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

Clad only in her signature corsetry that binds the flesh, Stark stood in the midst of a circle as the cameras captured all angles of her body, simultaneously — part of an intricate process known as photogrammetry. The goal: to scan her body and build a mannequin — three, actually — for display in one of the world’s top museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And at the Met Gala, no less.

“It was definitely a bit nerve-wracking,” recalls Stark of the “intimate and vulnerable” experience. But, she quips, “something about being naked on a 40-degree (Celsius) day in a corset that isn’t hiding anything kind of takes the awkwardness away from the situation, actually.”

The mannequins, and others based on real-life models like Stark, will be featured in “Costume Art,” the upcoming spring exhibit at the museum’s Costume Institute that's launched by the starry May 4 gala. It’s part of an effort to add an element of body positivity to a show that examines the dressed body in art over the centuries, says curator Andrew Bolton.

Making room for body types that art has ignored

Bolton notes that the classic fashion mannequin is usually around a women’s size 2. The idea of these new mannequins, which will accompany the more traditional ones, is to stress that in the history of art, certain body types have been ignored or excluded — the corpulent body, the disabled body or the aging body, for example. But they, too, are part of the story. (The show comprises about 400 items — half art objects, and half garments from the museum’s collection, displayed in pairs.)

The aim was “to challenge a history of museum mannequin display that’s very much characterized by thin, abled and standardized bodies,” Bolton says. Rather than simply adapt existing mannequins, curators wanted to base the new mannequins “on a diverse range of real bodies with real, lived experiences.”

So, along with Stark, Bolton recruited models like Sinéad Burke, the Irish disability activist who was born with dwarfism; Aimee Mullins, the athlete, actor, model and activist who wears prosthetic lower legs; and Aariana Rose Philip, a musician and model who uses a wheelchair, among others. Nine real-life models were used to create 18 new mannequins. Seven additional mannequins represent shapes like the pregnant body and the thin male body but aren’t based on real people.

And these 25 new mannequins will not be consigned — as some are — to retirement after the show, which opens to the public May 10. When “Costume Art” ends in January 2027, they'll join the museum’s permanent collection, for future use.

This element of permanence is exciting to Stark, who has created looks for Beyoncé and has her own, body-positive line of lingerie called Panty. Her three mannequins will be wearing her own designs, and will appear in the Reclaimed Body and Corpulent Body sections.

Stark has long used corsetry techniques in unconventional ways. While corsets have traditionally been used to mold the body to classic ideas of beauty, Stark uses the same techniques “to actually emphasize those parts of the body that we’ve been conditioned to hide. It’s using the corsets to bring back power to the female form.”

Highlighting body positivity while the fashion industry is turning away

The designer feels her participation in the Met’s exhibit could not come at a more crucial moment — a time when the industry’s commitment to body positivity appears to be fading.

“It’s a really interesting moment in time for the Met to be doing this show because obviously we’ve seen the complete rapid decline of the body positivity industry,” she says. “Designers left, right, and center are just starting more and more to refuse to work with plus-size models.” Her own experience is backed up by a recent Vogue Business Size Inclusivity Report, which cited a decline in plus sizes on the runways of four major Fashion Week cities for the Fall/Winter 2026 season.

Burke concurs, calling that decline “shameful and embarrassing.”

Her organization, Tilting the Lens, aims to place disabled people in positions of power and leadership across the industry — “whether they are creative directors and designers, whether they’re CEOs, whether they are chief marketing officers,” she says.

Burke, who will attend the Met Gala as a member of the host committee, modeled for two mannequins, both to be shown in the Disabled Body section — one in a Burberry trench coat made for her, and the other in a dress by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.

“You stood in this cage of cameras,” she said of the modeling experience. “It’s deeply uncomfortable and really vulnerable in the sense that you are in your skin and in very little else ... your body is photographed, observed, recorded from every angle, angles which you yourself may not even be familiar with.”

Nonetheless, she welcomes participation in the show, and especially the opportunity to consult with the museum on ways to present disabled people. That includes the language used. “There’s so many ways in which we could have called the disabled body something else, using euphemisms that create a distance from being disabled,” she said.

Burke is also involved in training the guides and volunteers at the museum, who can help to “make people feel seen, challenge people gently, and have a broader conversation about the connection between embodiment, fashion and art.”

Visitors can see themselves in the mannequins

The scanning process for models like Stark and Burke, at a Brooklyn company called New York Capture, was just the beginning. Artist Frank Benson then used the scans to create a sort of digital clay, molded to better display the garments. Then, the digital information went to a company in Italy, Bonaveri, to create the actual mannequins.

And there's another unique aspect to all the mannequins — just over 200 — in “Costume Art”: They've been fitted with a polished steel surface akin to a mirror, in which visitors can see themselves.

The idea, Bolton says, is that you’re looking not only at the person the mannequin is meant to embody, but also yourself.

In addition, about a third of the mannequins are placed on pedestals, with the others at ground level. Burke’s mannequin is one of those placed on a pedestal, and Bolton says that’s intentional.

“Andrew, my entire life, I’ve been looked down on, both literally and metaphorically,” he says the activist told him. She was, he said, very humbled at the idea that people would now — literally — look up to her.

The exhibit will include plenty of classical body shapes, of course, and Bolton stresses that the idea “is not to reject what came before.”

“We’re using it as an opportunity to add new voices and new silhouettes and new presences,” he says. “The figures don’t deny the past, but in a way, I suppose they complete the picture.”

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For more coverage of the 2026 Met Gala, visit https://apnews.com/hub/met-gala.

It won’t be cold behind the front since that season is behind us, but it will be a welcomed change. Highs will struggle to reach 80° through Thursday with much lower humidity. Lows at night will drop into the upper 60s.

At Sushi Cafe in Miami, inspectors found more than 35 rodent droppings along food prep areas, live and dead roaches, and mold-like buildup inside the ice machine.

Moshi Moshi had live roaches crawling inside an oven and flies swarming food storage.

Kelly’s Cajun in the Pembroke Lakes Mall was ordered shut after a consumer complaint.

Don Camaron Grill & Market racked up 33 violations, including roaches, flies landing on prep surfaces, and employees handling raw seafood and ready-to-eat food without washing hands.

At Pittzza at Ironside, inspectors documented more than 50 flies in the kitchen and food held at unsafe temperatures for hours.

A mobile vendor, El Toro Loco Ranch, was ordered shut after flies repeatedly landed on exposed bread and cooked meat was kept at dangerous temperatures.

No restaurants in the Florida Keys were ordered shut. All of these locations were allowed to reopen only after ordered cleanups and passing re-inspections.

No places in the Florida Keys were ordered shut.

All the places mentioned were allowed to re-open following an ordered cleanup and then a re-inspection.

**SUSHI CAFE

7917 NW 2ND STREET

MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 4/15

31 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 35+ rodent droppings along wall underneath sushi counter next to, behind, and in between reach in coolers in sushi bar area.”

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach crawling underneath reach in cooler across from cook line.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 8 dead roaches under sushi bar counter. Repeat Violation.”

“Accumulation of dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents, or other pests, in control devices. Observed dead roaches stuck on glue trap under sushi bar.”

“Pesticide/insecticide labeled for household use only present in establishment. Observed can of household pesticide stored under shelf in sushi bar.”

“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin. Repeat Violation.”

“Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. Observed all reach in cooler handles soiled.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tile shows damage or is in disrepair. Observed ceiling in disrepair above walk in cooler.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Observed floor heavily soiled with old food debris inside of tile grouts and underneath cook line/fryer.”

“Interior of oven/microwave has accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris. Observed interior of oven and microwave soiled at sushi bar. Repeat Violation.”

“Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. Observed all reach in cooler gaskets soiled. Observed heavy grease buildup in between fryer and grill on cook line.”

“Reach-in cooler interior/shelves have accumulation of soil residues. Observed interior of all reach in coolers heavily soiled with old food debris. Repeat Violation.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed wall heavily soiled with grease in sushi bar underneath counter and hand sink. Observed wall heavily dusted in kitchen next to hood.”

“Dish machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength. Discontinue use of dish machine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dish machine is repaired and sanitizing properly. Observed Dishwasher (Chlorine 0ppm).”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed deli slicer blade heavily soiled with old food debris across from dish area.”

“Employee failed to wash hands before putting on gloves to initiate a task working with food. Observed employee changed pair of gloves and began to handle clean equipment and food without washing hands in between.”

**MOSHI MOSHI

7232 BISCAYNE BLVD.

MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 4/14

15 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 8 live roaches inside of oven on cook line in kitchen area.”

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed 12 live flies on cases of sushi vinegar in storage room where rice is washed.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed throughout kitchen.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance. Observed throughout kitchen.”

“Equipment in poor repair. Observed chest freezer door in poor repair.”

“Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. Observed in cooler across stove: raw shrimp and beef stored behind carrots and scallions in lowboy.”

**KELLY’S CAJUN GRILL

PEMBROKE LAKES MALL

11401 PINES BLVD.

PEMBROKE PINES

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 4/15

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 2 roaches on top of prep table in rear food preparation area.”

**EL TORO LOCO RANCH (MOBILE)

16901 SW 117TH AVE

MIAMI

ORDERED OFF THE ROAD 4/17

10 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Mobile food dispensing vehicle service opening not kept closed except during food service. Observed service window open at time of inspection. Also observed back door open at time of the inspection.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed 4 live flies landing on an open pack of bread near service window.”

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed 4 live flies flying on an open pack of bread near service window. Observed 4 live flies landing on paper towel dispenser. Observed 3 live flies landing on clean metal container used for pepper. Observed 4 live flies landing on reach in cooler door. Observed 5 live flies landing on single service container. Observed 2 live flies landing on clean cooking pans above handwash sink. Observed 2 live fly landing on clean plastic container and cutting board above the triple sink.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed cook ground beef (50F - Cold Holding) at reach cooler dated 4-16-26.”

“Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. Observed in single service container raw pork stored on top mixed of onions and other chopped spices.”

“Handwash sink not accessible for employee use at all times. Observed handwashing sink used to stored buckets and other utilities.”

**DON CAMARON GRILL & MARKET

501 NW 37TH AVE

MIAMI

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 4/16

33 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Seafood prep area: 2 live roaches crawling on the floor by the prep sink and underneath a table by the prep sink.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Seafood prep area: 2 dead roaches on the floor: Back area cookline: 1 dead roach on the floor. By the large mixer nearby the walk in cooler: 1 dead roach on the floor behind the large mixer Prep table in front of the main cookline: 1 dead roach by on the table by a container without wrapped utensils. Small cook area: 1 dead fly inside the reach in cooler with bottled sodas and water bottles.”

“Live, small flying insects found. Dining room: 2 live flies landed on tables. Ceviche area, by the glass display: approximately 4 live flies on flying throughout the area and 1 on the glass display case. Seafood prep area: 4 live flies resting on the prep table and 2 live flies on the prep sink. Main kitchen: 2 live flies flying throughout the ware wash and cook line area.”

“Employee has not received adequate training related to their assigned duties as evidenced by lack of general knowledge in performing their assigned duties. Observed employee by the cookline touch raw fish place on the flat top grill and grabbed a plate put a container in the plate to hold tortillas for soft tacos without removing gloves and washing hands. Observed employee scraping a pot at the three compartment sink and then pick up strainer to take out cooked pasta noodles without removing gloves and washing hands.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. All food storage containers soiled, dry storage area. Cutting boards on the flip-top reach in cooler soiled.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Throughout the prep kitchen.

Objectionable odors in bathroom or other areas of the establishment. Back area by the dry goods storage container outside."

“Raw in-shell clams/mussels/oysters received at greater than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Delivery, left in the kitchen: oysters (57-58F - Cold Holding), as per operator, received 30 minutes before the inspection, Operator placed inside the walk cooler, second temperature 20 minutes later, oysters (49-51F - Cooling).”

“Outer openings not protected during operation and vermin and/or environmental cross contamination present. Observed the bay doors by the small cookline/seating area at the seafood market open during operation. Advised the manager to keep the doors closed, observed fans in the outside, not on.”

**PITTZZA AT IRONSIDE

MIAMI IRONSIDE

7580 NE 4TH CT.

MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 4/15

15 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed 4 live flies in prep area where salad coolers are stored. Observed in kitchen area above triple sink: 50+ live flies. Observed 20 live flies under triple sink in kitchen area. Observed 10 live flies where pizza prep is conducted in kitchen. Observed 5 live flies in walkway between kitchen and walk in cooler, on clean dishes and olive oil box.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Observed walk in cooler with ambient temp of 45F, the following TCS foods stored inside for more than 4 hours: ricotta (47F - Cold Holding); pasta sauce (53F - Cold Holding); raw beef (49F - Cold Holding); mascarpone (48F - Cold Holding); ham (50F - Cold Holding); butter (45F - Cold Holding).”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed walk in cooler with ambient temp of 45F, the following TCS foods stored inside for more than 4 hours: ricotta (47F - Cold Holding); pasta sauce (53F - Cold Holding); raw beef (49F - Cold Holding); mascarpone (48F - Cold Holding); ham (50F - Cold Holding); butter (45F - Cold Holding).”

“Accumulation of debris on exterior of ware washing machine. Observed exterior soiled.”

“Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. Observed employee on cell phone and then begin to cut pizza dough with barehand.”

**LOS LAGOS RESTAURANT

DBA (MAYAJIGUA RESTAURANT CORP.)

3828 WEST 16TH AVE.

HIALEAH

ORDERED SHUT 4.10

20 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach behind towel paper wooden installation above hand wash sink at kitchen area. Operator killed and discarded during inspection. Also observed 4 live roaches crawling on the floor at kitchen entrance. Also observed 1 live roach crawling on the floor under dry storage shelves at kitchen area. Also observed 2 live roaches crawling on the floor next to reach in cooler at front counter.”

“Interior of oven/microwave has accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris. Observed microwave interior soiled above steam table at kitchen area. Repeat Violation.”

“Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. Observed gaskets soiled at reach in freezer and reach in cooler next to three compartment sink at kitchen area.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tile shows damage or is in disrepair. Observed several ceiling tiles with water damage and holes at kitchen area.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food, other than whole meat roast, hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed Guava and cheese pastry (126F - Hot Holding) inside hot holding unit at front counter. As per operator for less than 4 hours.”

“Raw animal food stored over or with unwashed produce. Observed raw shell eggs stored over unwashed produce on shelf at walk in cooler. Repeat Violation.”

**CAFE RUYI

5300 NW 7TH AVENUE

MIAMI

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 4/14

24 VIOLATIONS FOUND

ALSO ORDERED SHUT 2/26/2019

“Live, flying insects found. Observed approximately six flies flying in the air at kitchen area Observed one live fly landed on fried rice at the cook line.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed one live fly landed on fried rice at the cook line.”

“Food placed in soiled container/equipment. Observed cooked chicken wings stored inside cardboard boxes. Employee discarded the wings.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food thawed in an improper manner. Observed package cooked beef thawing in a container at room temperature by the entrance of the kitchen. Instructed employee on proper method.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed wall soiled throughout kitchen area.”

“Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. Observed reach in cooler equipment door soiled at kitchen.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Observed floor soiled throughout establishment.”

In the latest religious rights case for the conservative-majority court, the justices will hear from Colorado's St. Mary Catholic Parish and the Archdiocese of Denver, which are supported by the Republican Trump administration.

The schools argue that Colorado is violating their religious rights by barring them from the taxpayer-funded universal preschool program over their faith-based admission policies. They say the state has allowed other preschools to prioritize children with disabilities or those from low-income families, so admission based on religious beliefs about gender and same-sex marriage should be allowed, too.

The state said that religious schools are welcome to participate but are required to follow nondiscrimination laws. Income and disability decisions are in line with those rules, Colorado said. The program was created by a 2020 ballot measure and provides public funding for preschool at schools selected by parents.

The plaintiffs are represented by the group Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which applauded the high court’s decision to take up the case.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that states cannot exclude families from government benefits because of their faith. We’re confident the Court will say the same thing here and put a stop to Colorado’s no-Catholics-need-apply rules,” said Nicholas Reaves, a senior counsel at Becket.

As part of the case, which will be heard in the fall, the court will consider narrowing a landmark 1990 decision over the spiritual use of peyote, a cactus that contains a hallucinogen called mescaline. That opinion, written by conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia, found religious practices don’t create exemptions from broadly applicable laws.

The justices declined a push from the schools, along with a Catholic family in Colorado, to overturn the ruling.

The high court recently has backed other claims of religious discrimination while taking a more skeptical view of LGBTQ+ rights.

The justices last month ruled against another law in Colorado that banned “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids after the measure was challenged by a Christian counselor.

Last year, the justices found that parents who have religious objections can pull their children from Maryland public school lessons that use LGBTQ+ storybooks. In 2022, the court found a high school football coach who knelt and prayed on the field after games was protected by the Constitution.

The court deadlocked, though, over a plan to establish a publicly funded Catholic charter school after Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Puts into perspective the kind of roll Tyler Reddick is on right now.

The driver for the 23XI Racing team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan picked up his fifth win of the season on Sunday, when he made a last-lap pass of reigning series champ and defending race winner Kyle Larson to win at Kansas Speedway.

It wasn't just Reddick's fifth win of the season. It was his fifth through nine races, a pace matched only four times in NASCAR's top series, and not since Dale Earnhardt started off the 1987 season that way. Earnhardt went on to win six more times while claiming the third of his seven championships, and there's little to make it seem that Reddick can't do the same thing.

“I mean, it's early,” Reddick said after joining Jordan in a post-race celebration. “Certainly over these next 17 races (before the playoffs), the ones that are missing it a little bit here and there are going to start hitting. I think the competition will certainly continue to tighten up as we get through this year. We've done a really good job of making the most of our days."

Scoring a lot of points, too. The revamped postseason structure means that whomever is leading before the Chase begins gets a huge advantage, and Reddick already has a big lead over Hamlin and the rest of the field in that regard.

“We’ll just try and get as comfortable a lead as possible,” he said. “If we can maintain a gap like this as we get further into the season, hopefully it puts us in position to try and steal some more wins if it’s split-strategy calls middle of the race or late in the race.”

It's not just Reddick that is running on all cylinders, though. His entire team is on a roll.

Bubba Wallace ran near the front most of Sunday and finished fifth. Riley Herbst was 14th, one spot ahead of Corey Heim, who made a spot start in the No. 67 car for the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500 yet was every bit as quick.

That's pretty strong stuff for a race team that is in just its sixth season.

“I think the missing part has been really executing across the board,” 23XI president Steve Lauletta said. "Our pit crews have taken a big step forward. Everybody worked really hard in the offseason to refine our processes and our communication.

“We're only what, nine races into our sixth season? Still a lot of work to do be done.”

Yet the work is clearly paying off.

After winning three times in 2024, Reddick was shut out entirely last year. Wallace won the team's only race at the Brickyard 400, and an organization that seemed to be ascending suddenly appeared to have leveled off a bit.

Now, 23XI is on an entirely different level. One that nobody else seems to be matching.

“I mean, again, super gratifying,” Lauletta said. “It wasn't just (Reddick) not winning, right? Just as an organization, we only won one race. It was the Brickyard, which was great. There was no heads being hung. It was just more the attitude of, ‘We’ve got to get to work,' and that was across the board. ... A lot of really good things are happening overall that started with the work that we needed to do in the offseason to kind of make sure we would be where we wanted to be as an organization this year.”

Where they wanted to be was up front. Reddick is putting them there every week.

It's not just the five wins, either. He was in contention to win a couple of weeks ago at Bristol before finishing fourth, had another top-10 run at Phoenix, and has finished in the top 15 and on the lead lap in each of the first nine races this season.

Next up is Talladega, too, where Reddick won just a couple of years ago.

“When you win,” Jordan said Sunday, “it's always fun. Right now it's fun for everybody at 23XI. Me being here (in Kansas) and being able to see all the wins, I'm so happy for the team. I just think we need to continually build on this, without a doubt.”

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

The testimony undercut a central allegation by prosecutors in the closely watched corruption trial of Nadiem Anwar Makarim, the co-founder of Gojek and the education minister at the time of the procurement. It took place during the transition to remote learning in schools when classrooms were forced to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Makarim, 41, was arrested in September following an investigation into the procurement of Chromebook laptops that prosecutors say caused $125 million in state losses.

Scott Beaumont, former president of Google Asia Pacific in 2019-2014, Caesar Sengupta, former general manager and vice president in 2018-2021, and William Florence, a former executive, testified at Jakarta’s Corruption Court on Monday via Zoom.

The case centers on the allegation that Makarim “enriched himself” in connection with the Chromebooks procurement in 2020-2021, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said he pressed Google to invest in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa, known as PT AKAB, the parent company of Gojek.

Makarim, who was education minister in 2019-2024, allegedly favored Google’s Chromebook despite a ministry research team refusing to recommend the laptop model due to ineffectiveness in regions lacking internet access.

The purchase of more than 1.2 million Chromebooks was designed to strengthen Google’s dominance in Indonesia’s educational sector. The program was linked to Google's investments of about $787 million in PT AKAB through Google Asia Pacific, lead prosecutor Muhammad Fadli Paramajeng said.

Makarim received about 809 billion rupiah ($48.2 million) in connection with the program, prosecutors alleged.

Beaumont denied the allegation. “There was no connection at all between Google's investment in GoTo and any of the conversations with the Ministry of Education,” he told the panel of three judges. Makarim's Gojek merged with the country’s biggest e-commerce firm Tokopedia to form the GoTo Group in 2021.

Sengupta also denied the charges.

Google has previously stated that Chromebooks are designed for the realities of the classroom, including those in remote areas. While optimized for the cloud, they are offline-capable even without connectivity. It also said that Google licenses software and does not dictate Chromebooks’ pricing.

Makarim, a Harvard University graduate, co-founded Gojek in 2009, and remained until 2019, when the company was valued at over $10 billion. He stepped down to join the cabinet of former Indonesia President Joko Widodo.

Prosecutors allege his resignation from PT AKAB and Gojek was a “strategic concealment” to mask conflicts of interest while Makarim appointed close associates as directors and “beneficial owners,” allowing him to maintain indirect control over company decisions.

He faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment if found guilty.

Makarim has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not personally receive funds from Chromebook procurement or related services. His defense argued that he divested from PT AKAB upon taking office, his wealth fell by more than 50% during his term and procurement decisions were made by technical teams and officials, not the minister.

The verdict could come as soon as this month. Two former Education Ministry officials and a former tech consultant also were charged in the case, while another staff member remains at large.

Mitch Winehouse, who was administrator of this daughter's estate, sued Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay in the High Court over the $1.2 million (890,000 pounds) they earned at auction in the U.S. from items he claimed they did not have the right to sell.

Amy Winehouse was 27 when she died from alcohol poisoning in her London house in 2011.

Parry, who was also Winehouse's stylist, and Gourlay said they either owned or were given the 150 items that included dresses, shoes, scarves, earrings and purses.

Parry earned $878,000 — including $243,200 from the silk minidress Winehouse wore at her final performance in Belgrade, Serbia — for the 56 items she sold at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles in 2021, the court said. Gourley earned $344,000 for 85 items.

Parry applauded the decision by Deputy Judge Sarah Clarke to dismiss Mitch Winehouse's claim that the two were not entitled to sell the items and did so without his knowledge.

“The High Court has cleared my name, unequivocally and in full, after years of deeply damaging and unfounded allegations brought by Mitch Winehouse,” Parry said in a statement. “This was not a partial outcome or a matter of nuance. The claim has failed entirely. It should never have been brought.”

There is a case to be made that Pope Leo XIV, the careful, reserved, Midwestern Augustinian, found his voice on his epic trip through Africa, blasting the “handful of tyrants” and “chains of corruption” that have held parts of the continent hostage for centuries.

But the fact is, Leo has been preaching this kind of message for a while now, including in the context of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. It just took U.S. President Donald Trump’s unprecedented broadside and Vice President JD Vance's claims of theological superiority for many people to pay attention, especially American Catholics.

“Yes, Pope Leo might give the impression that he is engaging, in his quiet way and with authority, and this is how it looks to the world press and social media,” Cardinal Michael Czerny, a top Vatican official and aide to Leo, told The Associated Press.

“But in fact the Holy Father’s homilies and talks in Africa have been prepared, well in advance, in terms of the local African reality and the church," Czerny said. "So, if they seem relevant to the current wars, controversy, this reminds us of Jesus saying, ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!’”

Leo tried to make that point when he came to the back of Air Pope One on April 18, en route from Cameroon to Angola, and complained that “a certain narrative” had taken hold suggesting he was in a feud with Trump over the Iran war and his peace messages in Africa were directed at the president.

Leo insisted his words about tyrants and the religious justification for war had been wrongly interpreted and he was referring only to the African context, and to a separatist conflict in western Cameroon, in particular.

The thin line of the pope's explanation

But Leo also was trying to have it both ways. Yes, he was talking about the separatist conflict at a peace meeting in Bamenda. Yes, he was preaching the Gospel message of peace and fraternity. But he also has been talking about Trump, a lot.

“That distancing of Pope Leo from some interpretations was really a move to de-escalate a very dangerous situation,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Trinity College Dublin. “Because the Vatican needs the United States to restore some kind of peaceful — not order — but a horizon of peace, a hope of peace.”

Leo criticized Trump, directly, before he got to Africa. And in one remarkable comment two weeks ago, he encouraged the faithful to contact their congressional representatives to demand an end to the war.

The headline from the April 7 encounter outside Leo's country house in Castel Gandolfo was that Leo had called Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable.”

But the more significant message followed. “I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities, political leaders, congressmen, to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war,” Leo said.

Faggioli termed the comment “the Vatican’s nuclear option,” making a direct appeal to U.S. voters to take a stand, because it genuinely feared Trump was about to take the Iran war in a vastly more catastrophic direction.

What came before Leo's unprecedented appeal

The Holy See had never resorted to such a directly political message from a pope even at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when a Catholic president — John F. Kennedy — was on the verge of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union, Faggioli said.

At that moment, Pope John XXIII did make a public appeal — his famous Oct. 25, 1962, radio address — with a strong, direct plea for peace including to “those who have the responsibility of power” to “do everything in their power to save the peace.”

The pope also sent private letters to Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and worked behind the scenes through diplomatic channels to de-escalate the situation. But he didn't urge U.S. voters to essentially choose which Catholic to listen to: their president or their pope.

“What is at stake now is that at a time of war, loyalties of Catholics are tested in a particular way,” Faggioli said. He added that however the situation ultimately resolves itself, the tension will complicate any future political aspirations of Catholics seeking high office, whether Vance on the Republican side or California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the Democratic side, as long as a U.S.-born pope is still in Rome.

Kathleen Sprows Cummings, director of the Global Catholic Research Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, said Leo has consistently operated “on a higher plane” but American Catholics are used to church discussion of morality in the context of sexuality, gender and abortion, and it's jarring to process foreign policy through a moral lens.

“So JD Vance can say the pope should stick to morality," she said, “but war and peace are ancient moral issues.”

The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the under-secretary in the Vatican’s culture department, said Leo is continuing in the tradition of popes past to preach the Gospel message of peace. What has changed, he said, was how Trump reacted.

“The strong reaction arrived from America," he said. "It was America that reacted to Leo’s words, and not vice versa.”

Even with his direct comments about Trump, Leo was not engaging in an attack, Spadaro said.

“It’s very dangerous to imagine that the pope is fighting with Trump, because it means demeaning the pope to a level of contrast, one against the other, which Trump may want but that the pope has no intention of doing," he said.

New role, same Leo, Vatican official says

Spadaro added that from his perch, Leo hasn't changed at all from when he was known as Robert Prevost, the Chicago-born missionary priest.

“I see the Prevost I’ve always seen,” Spadaro said. “Let’s say it’s the backdrop that has changed, so his calm yet very direct style stands in stark contrast to a chaotic scenario, and that’s why it’s striking.”

For better or worse, the incredible saga of Trump, the war and geopolitics seems far removed from Leo’s day-to-day ministering to his flock in Africa, who have turned out in droves to welcome the American pope in each stop on his four-nation tour.

The polyglot pope has made it easy for them to hear his words, delivering speeches, homilies and prayers in the languages of the faithful: French in Algeria, English and French in Cameroon, Portuguese in Angola and, starting Tuesday, Spanish in Equatorial Guinea.

Lucineia Francisco left her family behind on Sunday so she could see Leo at the Shrine of Mama Muxima, Angola’s most popular pilgrimage destination. Some 30,000 people turned out for Leo’s rosary prayer.

“My kids were crying to come, but I said no,” Francisco said. “This is a spiritual journey that I’m really going to face on my own.”

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

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This version corrects the title for Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the under-secretary in the Vatican’s culture department

Voters in the Commonwealth will consider a ballot measure that would amend Virginia’s constitution to give the Democratic-majority General Assembly temporary power to redraw the state’s congressional districts. It’s the latest move in an escalating redistricting arms race that began in July 2025, when Texas Republican lawmakers redrew their state’s congressional map to favor Republicans at President Donald Trump’s urging.

Democrats hold six of Virginia’s 11 congressional seats, but if a plan passed by the legislature in February and signed by Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger is enacted, the party could gain the upper hand in 10 districts, a net pickup of four seats.

The new boundaries would be in place in time for November’s midterm congressional elections, where just a handful of seats could determine which party controls the House for the last two years of Trump’s final term.

Under the proposal, state lawmakers would retain the power to redraw district boundaries until October 2030, when the authority would revert to the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission.

Spanberger and former President Barack Obama are among the high-profile Democrats who have endorsed the referendum, saying it's a necessary response to Republican-initiated mid-decade redistricting in other states. But groups opposed to the measure have also prominently featured the two in campaign materials alongside their past quotes critical of gerrymandering. Former GOP Govs. Glenn Youngkin and George Allen oppose the measure.

Groups supporting the proposed amendment have far outraised those opposing it, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

Democrats won Virginia in the past five presidential elections, but voters tend to be less party-loyal in state elections, as the governorship has changed party hands six times over the last 33 years.

If support for the measure falls mostly along party lines, the “Yes” side can expect overwhelming support in the state’s traditional Democratic strongholds of Northern Virginia and the cities of Richmond and Norfolk, while the “No” side should see wide margins in the smaller, more rural counties that make up the bulk of the state geographically.

Fairfax County, the state’s most populous, votes heavily Democratic, but Republican candidates who can chip away at the Democratic advantage there can win statewide. In 2021, Republicans Youngkin and then-attorney general candidate Jason Miyares received about 35% of the vote in Fairfax and won their races. By comparison, Trump lost Virginia in all three of his presidential campaigns, and his best showing in Fairfax was about 31% in 2024. Republican Winsome Earle-Sears received about 26% of the vote in her unsuccessful 2025 gubernatorial bid.

Other key jurisdictions to watch are Chesterfield and Stafford counties and the cities of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Spanberger and Democratic presidential nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris carried all four areas in their statewide victories, but Youngkin swept the four in 2021. Majority “No” votes in any of these areas on election night could be an indicator of a very close race.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing side to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Virginia does not conduct automatic recounts. On ballot questions, a group of 50 or more voters may request and pay for a recount if the vote margin is 1 percentage point or less. The government will pay for the recount if the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points or the recount changes the outcome. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The proposed constitutional amendment is the only statewide contest on the ballot.

It reads: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”

A “yes” vote would support allowing the General Assembly to redraw congressional districts ahead of the midterms. A “no” vote would leave current boundaries unchanged until the next round of regularly scheduled redistricting after the 2030 census.

Who gets to vote?

Any voter registered in Virginia can cast a ballot. Eligible voters may register on Election Day.

How many voters are there?

There were 6,386,877 registered voters as of March 1. Virginia voters do not register by party.

How many people actually vote?

About 3.4 million votes were cast in the 2025 general election for Virginia governor, which was the last statewide election. This was about 54% of registered voters at the time.

How much of the vote is cast early or absentee?

About 43% of total votes cast in the 2025 general election for governor were cast early or by absentee ballot.

As of Monday, about 1.4 million ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election. That’s about 93% of the total advance votes cast in the 2025 gubernatorial election. In-person early voting concluded on Saturday.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Virginia counties and independent cities vary in terms of when they release results from early and absentee voting.

Less than a third of jurisdictions release all or almost all of their early and absentee voting results in their first vote update of the night.

Nearly half the jurisdictions release no early or absentee voting results in the first vote update.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2025 general election for Virginia governor, the AP first reported results at 7:10 p.m. ET, or 10 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 1:52 a.m. ET with more than 99% of total votes counted.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 196 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

According to an arrest report from the Miami Police Department, four ShotSpotter alerts were detected in the area of Northeast Miami Court and 71^st Street at 8:54 p.m. on Sunday.

Police said the suspect, Samuel Saint Remy, of Miami, then called 911 at about 9 p.m. and reported that he shot at a driver who had tried to hit him with their vehicle.

Responding officers found the victim seated in the driver’s seat of a blue 2020 Nissan Murano, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said.

According to the report, officers removed the driver from the vehicle and rendered aid to him until Miami Fire Rescue personnel arrived.

Police said Saint Remy was detained and a Smith & Wesson handgun was recovered, along with an empty magazine and a full magazine that were in his possession.

According to the report, detectives obtained surveillance video from the parking lot, located at 7101 N. Miami Ave., which shows Saint Remy and the victim getting into a verbal altercation.

Police said the victim then entered his SUV as Saint Remy stood in front of the vehicle.

The victim then accelerated in Saint Remy’s direction before continuing toward the parking lot’s exit, authorities said.

According to the report, Saint Remy is then seen in the video reaching into his waistband, heading toward the vehicle and then firing multiple times toward the passenger side of the SUV as it was stationary.

Police said Saint Remy then returned to his initial location in the parking lot and retrieved an unknown object from the ground.

“Due to the video lag and limited clarity, it cannot be conclusively determined whether the vehicle struck the defendant,” an officer wrote in the arrest report.

Saint Remy was taken into custody early Monday morning on charges of attempted second-degree murder, using a firearm while committing a felony and unlawful discharge of a firearm in a public place.

Despite invoking his right to remain silent, Saint Remy made “spontaneous statements” that were redacted from the publicly released report and a phone conversation with his mother in Creole was recorded. His statements to his mother were also redacted from the report.

As of Monday morning, Saint Remy was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”

Austria 's health minister told parents, kindergartens and day care centers to use utmost caution when feeding young children HiPP. The company recalled some of its baby food jars because samples there as well as in Slovakia and the Czech Republic tested positive for rat poison.

Authorities believe tampering occurred in 190-gram (6.7-ounce) jars of baby food made with carrots and potatoes for 5-month-old children that were sold at SPAR supermarkets in Austria. The first sample tested positive on Saturday.

On Monday, Austrian authorities said they were searching for a second jar of baby food that may have poison. It may have been sold at a Spar supermarket in the eastern town of Eisenstadt, Austrian news agency APA reported.

“It is deeply disturbing that someone is apparently willing to endanger the health of babies for criminal motives,” Health Minister Korinna Schumann told APA.

Slovakia and Czech Republic take action

In the Czech Republic, two jars of HiPP baby food that tested positive for the poison were found in a store in the city of Brno. The state prosecution in Brno confirmed the find but did not give further details, citing a police investigation.

The Germany-based HiPP said that besides Czechia, contaminated jars were discovered in Slovakia. The company said that “retail partners in both countries have already removed all jars of HiPP baby food from sale as a precaution.”

Slovak police said they were investigating suspicious jars from a store in the city of Dunajska Streda.

Slovenia began preemptively withdrawing all HiPP products from shelves of Spar and other supermarkets, its health inspectorate said.

Austrian authorities also reached out to Hungarian officials, saying a poisoned jar may have been purchased by people living in the border region near Eisenstadt.

Poisoned jars likely have white sticker with a red circle

Burgenland Police in Austria said the suspicious products likely have a white sticker with a red circle on the bottom of the jar. Other warning signs include a damaged or opened lid and an unusual or spoiled smell. There might not be a popping noise when the jar is first opened.

The Burgenland public prosecutor’s office was investigating the case as “intentional endangerment of the public.”

HiPP last week said the recall “is not due to any product or quality defect on our part. The jars left our HiPP facility in perfect condition.”

HiPP said it was recalling all of its baby food jars sold at Austria's SPAR supermarkets — which include SPAR, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR and Maximarkt stores — in Austria as a precaution.

Rat poison typically includes bromadiolone, which prevents blood from clotting, according to the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety. Ingesting rat poison could lead to bleeding gums and nosebleeds as well as bruising and blood in the stool.

Symptoms could appear two to five days after ingestion, the agency said.

In Prague, Ester Svetlik Danelova, who is currently on maternity leave, told The Associated Press that “the situation is worrying,” for her family.

“I have three kids, and we definitely use this (baby food) throughout their lives,” she said, adding that “on the bright side, it means I cook more at home now.”

———

Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalist Stanislav Hodina contributed from Prague.

According to Hallandale Beach police, the crash occurred at the intersection of Federal Highway and Northeast Third Street.

Police said one vehicle failed to stop at a red light, resulting in the collision.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue personnel had to extricate one person from the second vehicle.

That individual was transported to a local hospital in stable condition.

All lanes have reopened after the crash, however police warned that drivers might still experience delays until the scene is fully cleared.

Police said the crash appears to have been related to distracted driving, but the investigation remains ongoing.

HBPD reminds drivers to:

• Keep your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel at all times.
• Avoid using mobile devices while driving.
• Set navigation, music, and other controls before starting your trip.
• Remain alert at intersections and always obey traffic signals.

In 2019, Jordan Avi Ogman was diagnosed with TECPR2, a fatal neurodegenerative genetic disease. His family says it took nearly four years to get that answer.

“The worst thing was four years of not knowing,” said his father, David Ogman. “And us going to every doctor in South Florida trying to figure this out. They look at Jordan. They thumb through the physician’s desk reference. They say everything’s fine. Take him home. Every kid develops at their own pace.”

Like many families dealing with rare diseases, they faced a long and difficult path to a diagnosis.

“They all pass away inner sleep from central sleep apnea. It’s a genetic brain disease, but it affects the entire central nervous system.” Ogman said.

The case highlights a broader issue in health care: parents often wait years for answers, losing valuable time as costs and emotional strain grow.

“Unfortunately, we’re 4 years behind in developing the gene therapy. I think by the time the gene therapy is developed, you know, Jordan might not be with us because we lost those 4 years,” Ogman said.

Now, a Boca Raton company says it may have a solution.

The story is also about a local innovation -- GENA, an artificial intelligence platform based in Boca Raton that aims to reduce genetic diagnosis timelines from years to seconds.

“We actually took the mind of a geneticist and put it into algorithms, and then accelerated the 3 to 4 days that it would take to diagnose one case, and we got it down to 10 seconds,” said Pete Martinez, CEO of Sivotec.

The company says it has already helped diagnose 160,000 cases involving rare diseases and hopes to expand its use beyond geneticists to pediatricians and primary care doctors.

On average, patients wait five to seven years for an accurate diagnosis. During that time, diseases can progress, and some of them are treatable.

As for Jordan, his family is praying for a miracle. They also hope their story brings awareness so others don’t have to face the unknown.

“If we had AI at our fingertips at any of these hospitals, Jordan would have been diagnosed immediately, and his cure would have already been developed,” Ogman said.

But unless a bill moving through Congress becomes law, that money could be taxed as income, taking big bites out of their payments and possibly disqualifying them from other government benefits.

“There was this terrifying disbelief,” Bree Jensen, communications director for the Eaton Fire Long-Term Recovery Group, said of informing fellow residents about the tax.

Thousands more who are suing the utility face the same prospect, as well as fire survivors in Colorado, Hawaii and Oregon after a tax exemption on wildfire-related compensation expired at the end of 2025.

In recent years, Congress has shielded wildfire settlements from taxes, but legislation to do so was short-lived and a struggle to pass, leaving gaps between laws that risk saddling some survivors with a possible tax burden on their compensation. A bipartisan House bill to extend the tax relief passed out of committee last month, but the timeline for bringing it to a floor vote and when the Senate will take action are unknown, leaving survivors in financial limbo.

“We have to assume we don’t have that money, so we’re making decisions, choosing cheaper materials, forgoing the solar,” said one Altadena homeowner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears compromising her expected settlement of about $700,000. If that money counts as income, she expects taxes would take 37%.

The homeowner hoped accepting a settlement would get her family home faster, after she, her husband and their four pets spent more than a year hopping between relatives' houses and rentals.

“All we wanted was to rebuild a comfortable house and get out of the situation we were in,” she said, adding their construction costs alone are estimated to reach $1 million.

As survivors watch lawmakers lock horns over the Iran war and the record-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown, some worry extending disaster tax relief will be de-prioritized.

“People have low expectations of anything actually getting done,” said Jenn Kaaoush, a 2021 Marshall Fire survivor and town council member in Superior, Colorado.

Compensation has become crucial to rebuilding

Utility equipment is believed to have sparked some of the deadliest and most destructive fires in recent years. Multibillion-dollar settlements have become common after these fires but take years to resolve.

As construction costs soar and insurance becomes more expensive and difficult to secure, compensation from lawsuits has become a critical component of how many households start over.

“It’s the difference between towns getting rebuilt and not getting rebuilt, quite frankly,” said attorney Doug Boxer, who has represented more than 17,000 Californians in cases against utilities and is part of the LA Fire Justice coalition suing Southern California Edison and its parent company, Edison International, on behalf of more than 2,000 clients.

SCE and Edison International have acknowledged their power equipment may have sparked the Eaton Fire, which destroyed 9,000 structures and killed 19 people. The utility last year announced a compensation program for those impacted, promising fast payments based on the value of one’s losses, as well as an additional premium for not joining litigation against the utility.

More than 2,800 households have applied for the compensation program. Thousands more are joining lawsuits against the utility. An investigation into the Eaton Fire's cause is ongoing.

Households can’t afford to lose a chunk of their payments to taxes, said Jensen, whose home also burned. “It sounds like a lot of money, but not in regards to how expensive it is to actually build in the community.”

A bipartisan bill would extend tax relief

Payments related to federally declared wildfire disasters from 2015 through 2026 would not count toward taxable income, according to legislation approved unanimously by the House Ways and Means Committee last month. That would apply to payouts received in 2026 and after.

The measure would extend expanded tax relief for property losses from federal disasters through this year, a provision that helped attract bipartisan support from lawmakers representing states vulnerable to hurricanes and other extreme weather.

Florida Rep. Greg Steube — a Republican who championed the 2024 tax relief bill and introduced its successor with fellow Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, now deceased, and with Democratic Reps. Mike Thompson and Jimmy Panetta of California — told The Associated Press he expects the legislation to ultimately pass, but he acknowledged “the exact timeline remains uncertain.”

Steube, whose southwest Florida constituents could benefit from the provision deducting personal casualty losses, has vowed to push the law forward.

Two similar bills were introduced in the Senate, but further action has not been taken.

After lobbying for the past and present bills as executive director of the survivor advocacy nonprofit After The Fire, Jennifer Gray Thompson said she believes lawmakers understand the bipartisan nature of disaster tax relief.

“As these disasters come in quick succession, we are going to have to adapt on all levels, and our tax code will have to adapt along with it,” she said.

Still, Gray Thompson said she can't be sure when action will come.

Survivors in Colorado, Hawaii and Oregon would also be impacted

Maui residents face similar challenges as they await payments from a $4 billion settlement with Hawaiian Electric. Only about 180 homes have been rebuilt in Lahaina among 2,200 structures destroyed.

What Lahaina survivors need most is “certainty,” Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen wrote to lawmakers in a letter supporting tax relief.

While the majority of destroyed homes in Superior have been rebuilt, Kaaoush, the town council member, said most survivors are still catching up financially after finding themselves underinsured.

She also worries that her constituents could be knocked off income-qualified government benefits for food, health care or veterans’ support if their wildfire payments count as income.

“This has second- and third-order impacts on their life that will do harm,” Kaaoush said.

Gray Thompson cautioned that while survivors waiting for relief can defer taxes or amend past returns, resolving issues with government programs, such as qualifying for college financial aid, is much harder. “There's no way to undo that,” she said.

Meanwhile, many in Altadena feel they’re continually facing new obstacles to returning home, said another resident who also lost his home and insisted on anonymity because of ongoing litigation.

Being taxed “would just add more pain and suffering for us, really,” he said.

It took stumbling across an article about a female chemical engineer who became a master whiskey distiller for something to click: Ireland's fellow students could go into plastics and pharmaceuticals, she was going into whiskey.

“It was kind of like a connection of, 'hey, I can see someone who looks like me, who has the same exact kind of education and background doing this job,' and kind of opened it up as an option,” said Ireland, now the chief blender behind Vermont-based whiskey brand WhistlePig.

Ireland is among a growing number of women who have become leaders inside a traditionally male-dominated industry that has not always welcomed outsiders. Increasingly, women are launching their own brands and finding new ways to innovate in distilling and blending at a time when more women are drinking whiskey.

Women are often asked: ‘Do you even like whiskey?’

There is a common, lingering doubt among some male colleagues and consumers that the women gaining expertise in the industry even like whiskey.

Becky Paskin, a journalist from the U.K. and founder of OurWhiskey Foundation, an organization that promotes and supports women in the whiskey business, said she was asked that question while serving as a judge at a whiskey tasting event.

“It is a drink that comes with certain expectations around which gender drinks it and which gender makes it,” Paskin said, adding: “Barely any other drink or food falls under such scrutiny,”

Paskin says part of her work is creating stock images of women consuming whiskey that don't present women as sex objects and are not a public service warning.

“The only images of women drinking whiskey were depicting them as being pregnant, drunk, naked; or pregnant, drunk and naked,” she said.

There's a long history of women preserving and advancing whiskey

Whiskey-making has long been considered a masculine profession in America, a drink exclusively enjoyed by men swirling golden liquid in dark, smoky rooms. But industry experts and historians are quick to point out that women have always been involved in the process and were likely key to its survival in the U.S.

The first distilling instrument was created by a woman, Maria Hebraea, an alchemist from around the 2nd century, according to Susan Reigler, a bourbon expert. From there, distilling was largely seen as women’s work as they were in charge of home brewing, making medicine and taking care of the home.

Women notably managed distilleries in the 1800s in Kentucky, where Catherine Carpenter recorded the first known recipe for sour mash, now the most common style of American whiskey. And while women led the temperance movement in the 19th and 20th centuries, some historians estimate there may have been more female bootleggers than men during Prohibition — in part because women were less likely to be searched by police, according to the book “Whiskey Women,” written by Fred Minnick.

Reigler says she often marvels at the U.S. whiskey industry's transformation, which was in a serious downturn in the 1990s when she first began reporting on it from Louisville, Kentucky. As distillers worked to make whiskey appealing to American consumers, Reigler began documenting how women contributed to that effort, ranging from the wives who made key marketing decisions that boosted distillery tourism to the female bartenders who designed new whiskey cocktails.

Three women co-founded the Kentucky Bourbon Trail — a novel idea at the time that has since been copied across the country — including Peggy Noe Stevens, the world's first female Master Bourbon Taster, who was working at Woodford Reserve, as well as Donna Nally with Maker's Mark and Doris Calhoun with Jim Beam, Reigler said.

“There have always been women in bourbon,” she said. “But a lot of them have been behind the scenes.”

Women advance innovation and creativity in whiskey

In Vermont, Ireland has been in charge of keeping WhistlePig’s whiskey consistent since 2018, but she also oversees experimental batches. Her first whiskey innovation was the Boss Hog VII that quickly attracted praise and awards for her decision to finish it in Spanish oak and Brazilian teakwood barrels.

Ireland says more women becoming involved in the industry establishes whiskey as “a drink for everyone.”

“It can be enjoyed by everyone and it’s being made by females too,” she said.

Judy Hollis Jones spent years as a senior executive in the food industry before launching a whiskey company in Kentucky in 2019. The transition to the whiskey world mimicked the boardrooms she had been in for decades, where she was often the only woman present.

Hollis Jones is the president and CEO of Buzzard's Roost, a whiskey brand she co-founded with Master Blender Jason Brauner. She describes the whiskey industry as a “tough business” that has ebbed and flowed over the years, but one thing that has steadily increased is the amount of women showing up to tastings and tours, eager to take partake in the whiskey experience.

“I’ve had people say to me, ‘Oh, well, you don’t wear jeans, boots and a cowboy hat,’” she said. “And I said: ‘No, I don’t. And every bourbon drinker female does not. We are very wide range of people that love bourbon.’”

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Associated Press reporter Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed.

Witnesses said a woman stabbed her boyfriend in a parking lot at 2266 Wilton Drive.

Police officers and fire rescue personnel responded to the area outside the Alibi nightclub.

Witnesses said police officers arrested the woman, and fire rescue personnel took the man to the hospital.

No other details were immediately released by authorities.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Sofia Mendez contributed to this report.

Watch 9 a.m. report

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The defending champion rode a tailwind on Monday to the fastest finish in the race's 130-year history, winning in 2 hours, 1 minute, 52 seconds. That was 70 seconds faster than Geoffrey Mutai's then-world best in 2011, and the fifth-fastest marathon of all time.

Korir said he knew he was on a record pace at the 40-kilometer mark, but he didn't bother to check the clock as he crossed the finish line. He was informed of his accomplishment by Boston Athletic Association president Jack Fleming, and jumped for joy.

“When they told me I had run the course record, that’s when I started to be happy,” said the 29-year-old Kenyan, who last year joined his brother to become the first relatives to win the race. “I knew I would defend my title. But I didn’t know I could run that fast.”

Sharon Lokedi joined Korir as a back-to-back champion, winning the women's race in 2:18:51 — a year after she shattered the course record by more than 2 1/2 minutes. The winners receive $150,000 and a gilded olive wreath sent from the plains of Marathon, Greece; Korir will receive another $50,000 for the course record.

Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania, who was 55 seconds back, and 2021 champion Benson Kipruto, another 3 seconds behind him, also were fast enough to beat the previous record on the hilly course that typically rewards racing strategy more than footspeed.

Kelvin Kiptum holds the marathon world record, with a 2:00:35 on the flatter Chicago course in 2023.

"Boston is not (usually) about time," Kipruto said. “Today, it was about time.”

Zouhair Talbi and Jess McClain ran the fastest times ever in Boston for Americans — leading the seven U.S. men and 12 U.S. women who finished in the top 20.

Talbi, who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics for Morocco and became a U.S. citizen last year, was fifth in 2:03:45; McClain, who crossed in 2:20:49, also finished fifth.

“I think we’re in an era in distance running, on the men and women’s sides, but especially the women’s side, where we’re all making each other so much better every time we line up with one another,” McClain said. “And I think it’s just going to get stronger and stronger.”

Korir recovered after falling at the start last year to claim the title won by his brother Wesley in 2012.

This year, he broke away from the pack as it headed into the Newton hills and opened a 40-second lead. Korir peeked behind him as he went through Kenmore Square with a mile to go, sticking out his tongue and spreading his arms as he ran down Boylston Street.

Lokedi moved toward the front of the pack around Mile 17 and charged up Heartbreak Hill to pull ahead. On a day that started in the 30s but warmed to 45 degrees (7 degrees Celsius) by the start, Lokedi pulled off her gloves as she went through Coolidge Corner in Brookline and smiled her way down Boylston Street.

“I didn’t know how fast I was going. I just wanted to run as fast as I could,” said Lokedi, who realized on the bus to the start that she forgot her watch and had to borrow one. “I just wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible.”

Loice Chemnung was second, 44 seconds back — a performance that would have been a course record before Lokedi's 2:17:22 last year. Mary Ngugi-Cooper was third, completing the Kenyan sweep of the women's podium.

Marcel Hug of Switzerland won his ninth wheelchair title in 1:16:06, a time second only to his 2024 course record. He is one shy of the all-category record of South African wheelchair athlete Ernst van Dyk's 10 Boston Marathon wins.

Two-time winner Daniel Romanchuk of Champaign, Illinois, was second behind Hug for the fourth straight time.

In the women's wheelchair race, Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Britain won her second Boston title, finishing in 1:30:51 to beat runner-up Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland by more than two minutes.

The athletes arrived in Hopkinton with frost on the ground and temperatures in the 30s. Although it warmed up through the day, it was the coldest starting temperature since 2018, when 38 degree temperatures combined with a headwind and driving rain that led to the slowest winning times in more than 40 years.

But the clear skies and a tailwind on Monday had the fastest field in the event's history expecting fast times for the second year in a row.

“Obviously the tailwind played into a lot of the approach,” McClain said. ”You don’t get these conditions every year, so if you’re going to go full send and ‘Carpe Diem,’ this is the year to do it. And that was kind of the mindset.”

Runners may have noticed some changes this year, with the race turning to a crowd scientist for help in spreading things out a little so they don’t face bottlenecks on the narrow streets of the eight cities and towns along the course. And at the start is a new statue of and by marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb — the first statue on the course honoring a woman.

Jack Fultz, who was serving as grand marshal on the 50th anniversary of his “Run for the Hoses,” said the weather was the “polar opposite” from the day of his 1976 win in temperatures approaching 100 degrees (38 degrees Celsius).

“I am just trying to soak it all in, to remember it all," he said in Hopkinton on Monday before the race. “There are almost are no words to fully describe the kind of experience. You have a dream of a lifetime and all of a sudden it comes true.”

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Associated Press Writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report.

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

Participants started at the Freedom Tower and took a 45-minute walk toward the Unity Line in Brickell.

The march began with community groups from across Miami, with former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez helping lead the “We Are United” march.

The event was organized by Mosaic Miami and aimed to bring people from different faiths, cultures and backgrounds together for a shared purpose: connection.

“All 47 of us have the same mission,” said Makena Johnson, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Miami. “We’re all here because we believe in unity. We’re all here because we want to be unified. We’re all here because we believe in love.”

Organizers say the goal is simple -- turning shared space into shared understanding.

As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, organizers say the event is a reminder that unity starts at the community level.

“We’re both together 47 organizations in Miami, who said enough is enough,” said Matthew Anderson of Mosaic Miami. “We need to show the nation that were stronger together. Gatherings like this are not happening across our country. With all the conflict going on we have Jews, Muslims, Christians, people who have no faith coming together. People reach across the aisle because we all have a stake in this community to survive,” said Matthew Anderson, of Mosaic Miami.

This marks the third year for the event, and organizers say it continues to grow each year.

Edgar Monserratt Martinez and Barrett Riley were both 18-year-old seniors preparing to graduate from the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale when they died.

Riley was driving a 2014 Tesla Model S at 116 mph in a 30 mph zone when he crashed into a wall along Seabreeze Boulevard in 2018, records showed.

The grieving families claim Riley and Monserratt survived the crash on May 8, 2018, but not the fire that followed when the batteries ignited, records showed.

Riley’s parents, James and Jenny Riley, claimed Tesla had designed defective lithium-ion batteries. The lawsuit was dismissed.

Riley’s parents also claimed Tesla installed a device to prevent travel above 85 mph, and a Tesla technician in Dania Beach removed it without their consent.

Attorneys representing Tesla denied both accusations and focused on Riley’s driving record.

At the conclusion of the civil trial in 2022, a jury ruled Barrett Riley was most responsible, so Tesla was only liable for $105,000.

In the more recent civil lawsuit, Monserratt’s loved ones claimed Tesla was negligent. The civil trial is set to begin on Monday in Broward County.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel responded to mile marker 119, south of Florida City.

An MDFR helicopter also responded.

At least one person was reportedly airlifted to a local hospital.

All lanes have since reopened.

No other details were immediately released.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mariana Ortiz contributed to this report.

An HC-130 Hercules crew from the U.S. Air Force 31st Rescue Squadron confirmed Sunday night that the overturned ship spotted Saturday is the cargo ship Mariana, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release. The plane deployed divers and boats.

“If divers locate a viable access point, the team may employ an underwater remotely operated drone to further investigate the vessel,” the guard said.

Debris, including a partially submerged inflatable life raft, was spotted about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of the overturned vessel, the guard said.

Guard air crews continued to search near the Northern Marianas for the missing crew members, whose nationalities weren't released. So far, the guard and partnering agencies from Guam, Japan and New Zealand have covered more than 99,000 square miles (256,000 square kilometers), the guard said.

The Mariana, a 145-foot (44-meter) dry cargo vessel registered in the U.S., suffered engine failure Wednesday as Typhoon Sinlaku bore down on the island chain, which is home to roughly 50,000 people.

After the crew reported that the ship had lost its starboard engine and needed assistance, the Coast Guard set up a one-hour communication schedule with the vessel, the guard said. But contact was lost Thursday. A HC-130 plane launched that morning to conduct a search, but it returned to Guam due to heavy winds.

The Mariana’s last known position was about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north-northwest of Saipan, which is the capital of the Northern Marianas and about 3,800 miles (6,115 kilometers) west of Hawaii.

Typhoon Sinlaku triggered floods, tore off roofs and overturned cars on Saipan. The islands endured roughly 48 hours of fierce winds, which delayed responders’ ability to assess damage and help communities, officials said.

The Northern Marianas' government on Sunday requested an expedited major disaster declaration. If approved, it would include assistance for survivors and public infrastructure as well as hazard mitigation funding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday.

Eight months after President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation's capital and called up the National Guard, more than 2,500 troops remain, in a deployment that has grown increasingly routine, with no clear end in sight.

Deployments to other cities have ended or been paused by courts in California and Illinois, while more limited operations are ongoing in cities including New Orleans. But in Washington, guard members still walk city streets and patrol metro stations, tourist attractions, neighborhoods and parks.

Even with pivotal elections looming this year, that lingering presence is barely mentioned in city council meetings or by candidates running for mayor and Congress — perhaps reflecting both competing priorities and a sense that local officials have little power to stop it. Unless the courts step in, the guard will remain at least through the end of the year, if not longer.

“Taxpayers are paying more than a million dollars a day to have them walk around,” said Phil Mendelson, chairman of the District of Columbia Council, in an emailed response to questions.

And, he said, “the presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look.”

An indefinite deployment drags on

Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order in August to deal with what he called a crime emergency. The order brought the guard in, along with hundreds of additional federal law enforcement officers.

Over the months, guard members have responded to medical emergencies, assisted with arrests, helped local police enforce the city’s juvenile curfew and carried out beautification projects. The D.C. Guard helped with snow removal during a major storm in January.

While the guard members do not make arrests, the Trump administration argues their support to the broader mission has helped reduce crime. The White House said 12,000 arrests have been made by the task force since operations began, including 62 known gang members, and thousands of illegal firearms were seized.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the president's crime task force in the city has “yielded tremendous results for local communities.”

“Every local leader should want to mimic this success in their own locales,” Jackson said.

But officials disagree over how much credit the deployment can be given in Washington, a heavily Democratic city. Figures show crime was already on the decline before, although those figures are being investigated after claims arose against local police that they may have been manipulated.

A court battle over the guard deployment is ongoing, and without a judge stepping in it could go on as long as the White House wants.

Asked how long the guard deployment would continue, Jackson said in an email that there were “no announcements to make.”

The office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, which is challenging the deployment in court, declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit. The National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon did not answer requests for comment.

Guard presence absent from public discourse

Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is not running for reelection, has walked a fine line on the guard's deployment and the broader federal intervention, at once appearing to work with the president but also pushing back on some of his demands, like local cooperation for immigration enforcement.

Leading candidates to replace Bowser and the city's 18-term non-voting delegate in Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, have focused on affordability, statehood and trying to hold federal agencies accountable for their role in the surge.

The District Council, which includes at least four candidates for mayor or delegate, unanimously approved a measure to increase transparency in federal law enforcement operations. While the military deployment is mentioned at times on campaign websites and in ads, it isn't currently a central campaign issue.

Other pressures on the city, including unemployment and lost revenue tied to federal workforce cuts, have taken priority. The city’s primaries are June 16, along with a special election for an at-large city council seat.

Some residents say frustrations over the guard eased after two members of the West Virginia contingent were ambushed just blocks from the White House, killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and severely injuring her colleague.

Kevin Cataldo, a neighborhood commissioner who joined the local Metropolitan Police on a walkalong in his neighborhood recently, said he already treated the guard members courteously, making a point to acknowledge them because they did not choose to be in the city. The shooting ambush deepened his sympathies for them. “That was just horrible,” he said.

District Council member Brianne Nadeau said constituents continue to ask why the guard is still around but the complaints are far fewer than at the start of the deployment.

“It would be great if the federal government would use its money and resources to help the District on the things we need help with and not act like an invading army,” Nadeau said in an email.

Fellow council members and mayoral candidates Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie have raised similar issues, including the high costs.

There has been little recent public polling specifically on attitudes toward the presence of uniformed personnel in U.S. cities.

With DC's limited autonomy, pushback is a challenge

Several groups are planning protests and other events on May 1 to oppose the federal surge, including the continuing presence of the National Guard, said Keya Chatterjee co-founder and executive director of Free DC, an advocacy group that fights for the city’s autonomy. Among the goals: “an end to the military occupation of D.C. before the June election.”

Chatterjee said normalizing the guard’s presence makes it easier to suppress dissent and “tilt the playing field” in elections.

The presence of guns and military personnel could create an intimidating atmosphere during elections, Chatterjee said. Citizens have to step in and “number one, we have to help our neighbors feel safe voting.”

Scott Michelman, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, said the situation underscores the city’s limits on self-governance.

Washington is a federal district with limited autonomy where Congress retains authority to review the city’s laws and control its budget and where the president has direct control of the D.C. Guard and can authorize an indefinite military deployment with little effective resistance from local authorities.

“We should have local control and local democratic accountability for the people who enforce our laws,” Michelman said. “D.C. is uniquely disempowered in our system in many ways.”

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This story has been corrected to show the spelling of the Free DC co-founder’s surname is Chatterjee, not Chatterjay.

With all the ballots counted on Monday, results showed the Progressive Bulgaria coalition receiving 44.6% of the vote, some 30 percentage points ahead of the center-right GERB party of veteran leader Boyko Borissov and the pro-Western reformist bloc led by the We Continue the Change party. Those parties ran almost neck and neck, scoring 13.4% and 12.6% respectively. Borissov conceded defeat and congratulated Radev.

Two other parties also appear to have gained seats in the 240-seat chamber, according to the latest results.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Monday congratulated Radev on his election victory.

“Bulgaria is a proud member of the European family and plays an important role in tackling our common challenges. I look forward to working together, for the prosperity and security of Bulgaria and Europe,” she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Radev promises a “European path” but with conditions

Radev described his party’s victory as unequivocal, a “victory of hope over distrust, a victory of freedom over fear," saying Bulgaria would “make every effort to continue on its European path”.

“But believe me, a strong Bulgaria and a strong Europe need critical thinking and pragmatism. Europe has fallen victim to its own ambition to be a moral leader in a world without rules,” Radev told reporters.

During his presidency, Radev gained a reputation as being sympathetic to Russia. He repeatedly opposed EU efforts to send military aid to Ukraine for its war against Russia's full-scale invasion. He has often argued that supporting Ukraine risks drawing Bulgaria into the war and has favored reopening talks with Russia as a way out of the conflict.

Maria Simeonova, head of the Sofia Office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that although as president Radev often expressed pro-Russian statements, prompting comparisons to a “new Orbán,” given his landslide victory at home, he is likely to now seek external legitimacy through building relationships with other European leaders.

"Radev is unlikely to openly adopt an Orbán-style rhetoric, at least in his engagement with European counterparts. His criticism — particularly regarding financial and military support for Ukraine or sanctions against Russia — will be aimed primarily at the domestic audience,” said Simeonova.

Radev left the presidency to bid to be prime minister

Radev resigned from the mostly ceremonial presidency in January, a few months before the end of his second term, to launch a bid to lead the government in the more powerful role as prime minister.

The 62-year-old former fighter pilot earned a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Air War College in 2003, before being appointed Bulgarian air force commander. His supporters are divided between those hoping he will put an end to the country’s oligarchic corruption and those lining up behind his euroskeptic and Russia-friendly views.

Bulgaria's previous conservative government collapsed in December after nationwide anti-corruption protests drew hundreds of thousands of mainly young people to the streets.

Radev’s popularity surged as he cast himself as an opponent of the entrenched mafia and their ties to high-ranking politicians. At campaign rallies he vowed to “remove the corrupt, oligarchic model of governance from political power.”

NATO and EU member Bulgaria has been repeatedly criticized for not tackling corruption and for deficiencies in the rule of law.

Vessela Tcherneva, Deputy Director of the Berlin-based European Council on Foreign Relations, said that the most important task for Radev’s government will not be foreign policy but rather freeing Bulgarian institutions from the control of Borissov and the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Delyan Peevski, an oligarch sanctioned for corruption by the US and Britain.

“For that he would get support from the reformist pro-European coalition We Continue the Change in parliament,” Tcherneva added.

Maybe this means an end to years of fragmented parliaments

Since 2021, the nation of 6.5 million has struggled with fragmented parliaments that produced weak governments, none of which managed to survive more than a year before being brought down by street protests or backroom deals in parliament.

Tired of the seemingly never-ending election roulette, people on the street reacted with mixed feelings to the latest election results.

“Above all, we expect a more stable judicial system, and for trust in institutions to truly be restored. Until now, they have been heavily influenced by various figures, many of whom, as we can see from the current results, have now left the government,” said Nikoleta Dimitrova, a 37-year-old shop assistant from Sofia.

Accountant Cveta Gerogieva, 55, was less optimistic: “I hope that we will really live a better life, but I am not sure that there will be stability for a long period. Probably we will vote again.”

More than 60 nations sent representatives to Brussels for talks with Palestinian representatives on stability, security and long-term peace.

The European Union has largely been on the sidelines in the Middle East despite being the biggest provider of aid to the Palestinians and backing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A majority of EU member countries now recognize an independent Palestinian state after many expressed outrage over Israeli actions in Gaza. The 27-nation bloc is also Israel’s top trading partner and a major buyer of Israeli weapons.

But the EU had no role in negotiating the October ceasefire in Gaza that took effect after two years of war. And European moves to condemn or sanction some Israeli actions frequently had been vetoed by Orbán.

Now Hungary's next leader, Péter Magyar, is indicating he will act differently from Orbán on Israel. And some leaders critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, are pushing for decisive action.

Challenging Europe's agreement with Israel

Magyar has said he would seek “pragmatic relations” with Israel but also rejoin the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over Gaza. Orbán defied that warrant while hosting Netanyahu in 2025, then started the process of Hungary leaving the world’s only court for war crimes and genocide.

Magyar also said he might not continue Orbán’s policy of vetoing actions on Israel — a stumbling block that EU leaders critical of Israel have failed to overcome over the past three years of conflict in the Middle East.

After the Brussels meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that without Orbán's veto action could be coming soon, such as imposing sanctions on violent Israeli settlers.

“We have 27 countries and 26 countries want to put violent settlers sanctions in place,” she said. “The one who doesn’t want the sanctions on violent settlers has gotten their upper hand. Now, this country had elections, and we’ll have a new government.”

The Spanish prime minister wants the EU to suspend its long-standing Association Agreement with Israel and has said Spain will make a formal proposal at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Tuesday.

However, a suspension seems unlikely because countries such as Austria and Germany tend to back Israel.

The agreement in force since 2000 sets out the legal and institutional framework within which the bloc and Israel conduct trade and cooperation. The EU has found indications Israel had violated that agreement in its military campaign in Gaza.

Other action, such as targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank, could be approved if a “qualified majority” — 15 of the 27 nations representing at least 65% of the EU's population — agree.

Ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and continued devastation in Gaza, have dimmed the prospect for a two-state solution, said Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot ahead of Monday's meeting.

“The two-state solution is being made more difficult by the day,” Prévot said. “But Belgium and many European and Arab partners continue to believe that this remains the only realistic path to a lasting peace, for Israelis, for Palestinians and for the stability of the entire region.”

Palestinian prime minister calls for unity

Gaza requires “one state, one government, one law and one goal,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa said in Brussels.

“Our common objective of achieving one security structure under the legitimate authority should guide the effective coordination between the International Stabilization Force, the Palestinian Authority, security institutions and other international actors. Security must not be fragmented,” he said.

He also called for “the gradual and responsible collection of arms from all armed groups and also the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.” The disarmament of Hamas is a major challenge in next steps for the ceasefire in Gaza.

In the West Bank, Palestinians say Israel has used the cover of the Iran war to tighten its grip over the territory, as settler attacks surge and the military imposes additional wartime restrictions on movement, citing security.

The EU has avoided directly joining the Board of Peace created by the Trump administration to tackle Gaza, preferring the multilateralism of the United Nations and global legal norms. But the bloc is eager to not be sidelined in diplomacy in the Middle East, just across the Mediterranean.

During the Brussels meeting, Mustafa said he had met for the first time Nikolay Mladenov in the Bulgarian diplomat's role as the Trump-appointed director of Board of Peace. He said he pressed Mladenov on ongoing Israeli military action in Gaza, increasing humanitarian assistance and security in the coastal enclave. “We see eye to eye on many things, and I think that we will be meeting again in the near future,” Mustafa said.

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Associated Press writers Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal and Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary contributed to this report.

Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes of London’s Metropolitan Police Service said officers arrested two young men, aged 19 and 17, overnight in relation to the attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in the borough of Harrow. The department has made a total of 15 arrests related to six attacks on Jewish targets and a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran's government that occurred over the past few weeks, he said in an interview with the BBC.

One “serious line of inquiry” is that Iran is hiring local criminals to carry out these attacks amid tensions in the Middle East, including the U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic, Jukes said.

“We’ve seen a pattern with other actors of thugs for hire, people taking cash that looks like quick and easy money,” Jukes said. “This is part of the modern hybrid war fought by proxies.”

In the most recent incident, a bottle containing a flammable liquid was thrown through the window of the Harrow synagogue on Saturday night, causing smoke damage, police said.

Counterterrorism police are investigating the series of incidents, which began on March 23 when an arson attack destroyed four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity that serves people of all faiths in north London. No one has been injured in the incidents.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said he “shares the country’s shock at the recent antisemitic attacks.”

“He stands with the Jewish community and he is determined to do more to give them the security they deserve," his spokesman, Dave Pares, said Monday.

Police on Friday closed Kensington Gardens, a central London park visited by thousands of tourists and local residents every day, after a group that Israel has linked to Iran posted a video claiming Israel’s nearby London embassy was going to be attacked with drones carrying dangerous substances.

Police said the embassy was not attacked, but the force shut the park as officers examined discarded items including two jars containing powder. Police said nothing harmful was found.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said on Sunday that “a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum."

“Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society,” he said on X.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans said police are aware that a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia had claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Britain. The same group has claimed responsibility for incidents in recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe, all of which appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests, she said.

Israel’s government has described Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, whose name means the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, as a recently founded group with suspected links to “an Iranian proxy.”

The U.K. has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says that more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year to October.

With the 14-day ceasefire set to expire Wednesday, Trump whipsawed in telephone interviews and social media posts between measured optimism that a deal could soon be reached and warning that “lots of bombs” will “start going off” if there's no agreement before the ceasefire deadline.

Trump indicated that he still expects to dispatch his negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad for a second round of talks, even as Iran insisted it would not take part until Trump dialed back his demands. Trump insisted he feels no pressure to end the war until Iran agrees to his terms.

“I am under no pressure whatsoever,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, “although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!”

Pakistani officials moved ahead with preparations for a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran as the tenuous ceasefire was further strained over the weekend by renewed conflict around the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump told Bloomberg News he was “highly unlikely” to renew the ceasefire.

Iran holds out on resuming negotiations

Tensions flared after the U.S. Navy attacked and seized a ship Sunday that it said was trying to evade its blockade of Iranian ports. On Saturday, Iran fired at vessels and abruptly stopped traffic in the strait, abandoning its promise to allow some ships to pass and claiming the U.S. was not holding up its side of the ceasefire.

The U.S. actions are “incompatible with the claim of diplomacy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday in a social media post.

He gave no indication what Iran will do after the ceasefire expires or whether Iran will return to a second round of negotiations with the U.S.

Over the weekend, Iran said it had received new proposals from the U.S. but suggested that a wide gap remained between the sides. Issues that derailed the last round of negotiations included Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and the strait.

Iran throttled traffic through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the open seas, shortly after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war. The U.S. has also instituted a blockade of Iranian ports. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade normally passes through the strait.

Trump swipes at war critics, seeks to calm investors

The U.S. president lashed out at war critics at home who are urging him to wrap up the conflict that began more than seven weeks ago.

“How bad is it that when you are in the middle of negotiations and you have got the Iranians in a perfect position, including being militarily defeated, and you have Democrats and some Republicans asking to settle it now?” Trump told the New York Post.

Even as Trump bristled at his detractors, he sought to soothe jittery investors as U.S. stocks fell Monday following the chaotic weekend in the Persian Gulf.

The president found himself remonstrating his energy secretary, Chris Wright, who on Sunday said American motorists might not see gas prices fall back into the $3 per gallon range until late this year or next year.

“I disagree with him totally. I think it’ll come roaring down if it ends,” Trump fumed to PBS. “If we end it, if Iran does what they should do, it will come roaring down.”

Israel-Lebanon talks to resume, official says

Meanwhile, historic diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon were set to resume Thursday in Washington, officials from both countries and the U.S. said. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes negotiations.

The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met last week for the first direct diplomatic talks in decades. Israel says the talks are aimed at disarming Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement with Lebanon.

A 10-day ceasefire began Friday in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants broke out two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran. Fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 2,290 people.

In two separate encounters on Monday, the Israeli air force struck and killed Hezbollah militants that the military said approached its troops in a threatening way. Israel has carried out several airstrikes since the ceasefire went into effect.

Hezbollah said it detonated explosives Sunday in an Israeli convoy inside Lebanon.

Iran says more than 3,000 have been killed in country so far

Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to a new toll released Monday in official Iranian media by Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization. He did not break down casualties among civilians and security forces, saying instead that 2,875 were male and 496 were female. Masjedi said 383 of the dead were children 18 years old and under.

Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.

Oil prices on the rise again after renewed conflict in Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s grip on the strait has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to one of the worst global energy crises in decades.

Oil prices were up again Monday, with Brent crude, the international standard, at about $95 a barrel — up from about $70 a barrel before the war started.

Iran said it had reopened the strait to ships Friday, but traffic halted after Trump refused to lift the U.S. blockade, and Iran on Saturday fired at ships trying to transit the channel.

“The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone,” Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president of Iran, said in a social media post.

The U.S. seizure of an Iranian cargo ship Sunday was the first interception under the blockade. Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a ceasefire violation.

Trump said the blockade will remain “in full force” until Tehran agrees to a deal. The U.S. military said Monday that it has directed 27 ships to return to Iranian ports since the blockade began last week.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad, and Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press journalists Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; David Rising in Bangkok; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; and Joshua Boak and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Turns out, they needed just over 52 minutes of game time to get the hang of it.

Drawing upon the never-quit identity the team forged in vaulting from last place in the Eastern Conference standings in early December to winning its first Atlantic Division title, the Sabres marked their return to the playoffs after a NHL-record 14-season drought with a big bang.

Thompson scored twice as part of Buffalo’s four-goal surge over the final 7:58 of regulation in rallying the Sabres to a 4-3 victory in Game 1 on Sunday night.

“I think eight years of adversity is enough experience to get you ready for something like this,” said Thompson, referring to the frustrations of spending his first seven seasons in Buffalo without a playoff berth.

“There’s just a heightened feeling of hunger. You don’t want to let this opportunity slip,” added Thompson, who led the team with 40 goals. “I thought tonight was really important to make a statement and set our standard.”

Game 2 is at Buffalo on Tuesday night.

Sabres finally wear down Bruins

It took two-plus periods for the Sabres to finally wear down the Bruins in an outing Buffalo dominated the offensive attack but had nothing tangible to show for it in trailing 2-0 after Elias Lindholm converted a rebound 68 seconds into the third period.

The script finally flipped with Buffalo’s forecheck causing two turnovers in Boston’s zone to set up Thompson’s two goals, scored 3:42 apart to tie the game at 2 with 4:16 left in regulation.

Mattias Samuelsson scored 52 seconds later, and Alex Tuch sealed the victory with an empty-net goal, before Boston’s David Pastrnak scored with seven seconds left.

“I told them right after the game, ‘You want experience? You got it now,’” said Lindy Ruff in the second year of his second stint coaching the Sabres. “I mean, what an experience. If you’re going to say this was my first playoff game, you’ve got a great story to tell.”

The Sabres went 5,473 days between playoff games since losing Game 7 of a 2011 first-round series to Philadelphia.

In their first game back, the Sabres became the NHL’s eighth team to rally from a two-or-more goal deficit in the final 10 minutes and win in regulation. And it marked just the second time Buffalo won a playoff game when trailing by two in the third period.

The other time was also against Boston, on Brad May’s first-round series-clinching overtime goal in a 6-5 win in 1993. The outing is celebrated in Buffalo as the “May Day!” game in clinching the Sabres' first playoff series win in a decade, and coined by late Hall of Fame broadcaster Rick Jeanneret.

Sabres honor late broadcaster

Chillingly, the Sabres honored Jeanneret, who died in 2023, by having his wife Sandra bang the drum and lead the pregame “Let’s go, Buffalo!” chants. And his family was in the press box, where Jeanneret was honored by having a large frame, featuring his familiar sweater, hung next to the broadcast booth.

Some of the loudest pregame cheers came when fans were shown on the Jumbotron holding up signs honoring the broadcaster nicknamed “RJ.”

The festively charged atmosphere, however, turned to grumbles midway through the third period before Thompson scored. The crowd didn’t let up until well after the game ended.

“It was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in my life,” goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said. “The fans are the ones who have waited so long. And so I’m really happy that we grinded out a win tonight.”

Bruins coach Marco Sturm wasn’t sure what happened.

“I thought we were in the perfect spot,” Sturm said. “Obviously, with the crowd behind them, they got some life and the game is done. Very unfortunate because my guys played really well. Really well. But that’s playoffs.”

Sturm caused a stir Friday by suggesting the Bruins were bigger and stronger than Buffalo.

What he didn’t count on was the Sabres having the energy to out-last his team.

“I think as a group, we thought we could crack them and roll from there,” Samuelsson said, before noting how it took 31 shots to finally getting one past goalie Jeremy Swayman.

“It’s just death by 1,000 cuts,” Samuelsson said. “You just keep wearing on him, wearing on him until you finally crack him. And we did.”

___

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Trump said Vice President JD Vance, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff would be going Monday to Islamabad, where Pakistani officials were preparing the venue, but Iranians made no commitment to a Round Two of talks with the U.S., and Vance's motorcade was later spotted at the White House. Trump said he’s “highly unlikely” to renew the ceasefire before it expires at 0000 GMT Wednesday (8 p.m. ET Tuesday.)

The escalating standoff threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after nearly two months of fighting that Iran's forensic chief has killed at least 3,375 people in Iran.

Israel and Lebanon meanwhile said they would join another round of talks in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, continuing their first direct diplomatic talks in decades.

Here is the latest:

Oil prices rise and US stocks give back a bit of their record-breaking rally

Oil prices climbed Monday following the latest rise of tensions between the United States and Iran, but the moves were more modest than they were earlier in the war.

U.S. stocks, meanwhile, gave back a bit of their record-breaking rally.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 5.6% to settle at $95.48 on worries that Iran could keep petroleum pent up in the Persian Gulf if it continues to block tankers from exiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% from its all-time high for just its second drop in 14 days after the United States seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel that it said had tried to evade its blockade of Iranian ports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 4 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%.

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Iraq and Syria tout their reopened border crossing as an alternative oil route

Iraq and Syria have reopened a key border crossing between the two nations for the first time in more than a decade, with officials highlighting its potential for trade and oil exports.

They say it offers an alternative to the embattled Strait of Hormuz at the focus of the Iran war — though overland oil transports are far inferior to pipelines and oil tankers at sea.

At the opening ceremony on Monday, Nadia al-Jubouri, a member of Iraq’s provincial council of Nineveh, said the crossing will allow for “trade exchange and oil transportation toward this great gate.”

Iran’s foreign minister says US actions are ‘incompatible with the claim of diplomacy’

Abbas Araghchi says he relayed his message in a phone call with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

In a social media post, Araghchi gave no indication as to what Iran will do after the ceasefire expires Wednesday or whether Iran will return to a second round of negotiations with the U.S.

He says his country “will monitor the behavior of the other side and take the appropriate decision to protect its interests and national security.”

Experts vary on whether US broke ceasefire with Iran

The U.S. did not violate the ceasefire because it was limited to bombing Iran, not enforcing the American blockade against Iranian-linked vessels, according to Michael O’Hanlon, a defense and foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution.

“We agreed to stop dropping bombs on them, and that’s the basic thing they wanted,” O’Hanlon said. They U.S. still had to enforce the blockade “if you’re going to make it mean anything,” he said.

But Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and a senior defense adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a violation is up for interpretation because there were no defined terms.

“Trump announced it. The Iranians agreed. But there’s no formal agreement,” Cancian said. “So whether it broke the ceasefire or not depends on your perspective ... Nothing was written down.”

Trump offers mixed messages about path ahead

The U.S. president has made a series of statements Monday about next steps in the U.S. war against Iran, declaring that he's in no rush to end the conflict while also expressing confidence that more negotiations with Tehran will soon happen in Pakistan.

Trump whipsawed in telephone interviews and social media posts between measured optimism that a deal could soon be reached and warning that “lots of bombs” will “start going off” if there’s no agreement before the ceasefire expires at 0000 GMT Wednesday (8 p.m. ET Tuesday.)

“I am under no pressure whatsoever,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, “although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!”

UN and EU report says Gaza recovery and reconstruction will cost $71.4 billion over 10 years

The report by the United Nations and the European Union with input from the World Bank says the total includes $26.3 billion in the first 18 months to restore essential services, rebuild critical infrastructure and support economic recovery.

The damage to physical infrastructure is estimated at $35.2 billion, and economic and social losses at some $22.7 billion since the war began following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel, the report says.

Gaza’s economy has contracted by 84%, more than 371,000 housing units in Gaza have been destroyed, over half of Gaza’s hospitals are “non-functional” and nearly all schools are destroyed or damaged, it says.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Monday that the next steps are to get the funding and “the conditions on the ground, both humanitarian and security conditions for this reconstruction to happen — and I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Trump gets defensive on Iran strategy

In a pair of social-media posts, the U.S. president lashed out at Democrats — calling them “TRAITORS, ALL” — and the media for their criticism and skepticism about his handling of the war in Iran.

Trump accused Democrats of doing “everything possible” to hurt the administration on Iran and he stressed that he wouldn’t be rushed into a deal “that is not as good as it could have been.”

“This is being perfectly executed, on the scale of Venezuela, just a bigger, more complex operation. The result will be the same,” Trump wrote, insisting that “time is not my adversary.”

He also rebutted notions that a deal he’s negotiating with Iran is similar to what former President Barack Obama reached in 2015, ranting about a Washington Post column on the topic.

Lebanese official confirms next meeting with Israel set for Thursday

A Lebanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed Monday that the next second scheduled session for direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials will take place in Washington Thursday.

The ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel to the U.S. met last week, the first such direct, face-to-face talks to take place in decades. The Lebanese official said the second session will focus on solidifying the 10-day truce currently in place between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and on the logistics and timing of wider negotiations that will take place at a later date over the two countries’ relations.

The two countries have had a rocky and often hostile relationship since Israel’s inception in 1948. Like the majority of Arab countries, Lebanon has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

Israeli airstrike wounds six people in southern Lebanon

The Lebanese Health Ministry said Monday’s strike hit the southern village of Qaaqaait al-Jisr.

Since a 10-day ceasefire went into effect at midnight Thursday, there have been several Israeli strikes. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it detonated explosives Sunday in an Israeli convoy inside Lebanon.

The U.S. State Department said Thursday that according to the ceasefire agreement, Israel reserves the right to defend itself “at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”

Despite ceasefire, Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon kill several people the army says were militants

The Israeli military said the two separate strikes in southern Lebanon on Monday killed an unspecified number of people who the army said had approached its soldiers in a threatening manner.

There was no immediate comment from Lebanese authorities or from the Hezbollah militant group.

Israel has launched multiple airstrikes since a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon took effect Friday. Israel says the people it targeted were violating the truce by operating in what it calls a “Forward Defense Area” in territory that Israeli forces still occupy. The ceasefire text published by the U.S. State Department does not mention such an area.

The military said Monday’s strikes took place in Bint Jbeil, a village that saw fierce fighting before the ceasefire, and in the Litani area.

Israel gives its highest honor to Argentine President Javier Milei

The South American leader, one of Israel’s biggest boosters on the international stage, received the country’s Presidential Medal of Honor at a ceremony in Jerusalem.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office said the award was in recognition for Milei’s support of Israel, his solidarity with families of hostages who were held by Hamas in Gaza and his connection to the Jewish people.

“The state of Israel is not alone,” Herzog said. “We have allies, and we have great friends,” he said, adding that Milei had demonstrated his friendship with his visits. He has made two previous trips to Israel since taking office in late 2023.

Milei and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also signed the “Isaac Accords,” an initiative launched by the Argentine president to expand cooperation between Israel and Latin American countries.

Additionally, Milei received an honorary doctorate from Israel’s Bar Ilan University. Among those in attendance at the university were former Israeli hostages of Argentine ancestry.

EU hosts Palestinian peace conference as it seeks greater sway in the Middle East

Europe turned its attention to the Palestinians on Monday as the election defeat of Israel ally Victor Orban in Hungary gives new momentum to efforts addressing Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

More than 60 nations sent representatives to Brussels for talks with Palestinian representatives on stability, security and long-term peace.

The European Union has largely been on the sidelines in the Middle East despite being the biggest provider of aid to the Palestinians and backing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The 27-nation bloc is also Israel’s top trading partner and a major buyer of Israeli weapons.

In the West Bank, Palestinians say Israel has used the cover of the Iran war to tighten its grip over the territory, as settler attacks surge and the military imposes additional wartime restrictions on movement, citing security.

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Vance is at the White House, not Pakistan

Reports based on Trump saying to The New York Post that Vice President JD Vance was en route to Pakistan were off by several thousand miles.

The vice president’s motorcade pulled up to the White House at roughly 11 a.m. EST on Monday, meaning that he has not left for Islamabad for talks regarding the Iran war.

US official confirms it will host another round of Israel-Lebanon talks this week

A second round of direct talks would come as uncertainty mounts over the prospects for an end to the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict and the Iran war.

The U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States would take place on Thursday at the State Department.

The official did not say who the U.S. would be represented by, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the first round last week. The main U.S. interlocutor between Israel and Lebanon has been U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa.

“We will continue to facilitate direct, good-faith discussions between the two governments,” the official said.

— By Matthew Lee in Washington

Trump says he’s ‘highly unlikely’ to prolong ceasefire with Iran that’s set to expire this week

Trump told Bloomberg News that he’s “highly unlikely” to renew the two-week ceasefire announced on April 7.

The president also said that the Strait of Hormuz would continue to be blockaded until the U.S. and Iran reach an agreement on the war.

US military says it has directed 27 ships back to Iranian ports during the blockade

The U.S. military’s blockade of Iranian-linked ships has focused on vessels entering or exiting Iranian ports. It’s an attempt to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint in the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.

The U.S. attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel over the weekend that it said had tried to evade its blockade. Iran’s joint military command has vowed to respond.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is preparing for a new round of talks between the United States and Iran two days before a tenuous ceasefire is set to expire

Israeli official says talks with Lebanon to resume in Washington

The official says the countries are resuming their historic diplomatic dialogue on Thursday.

The ambassadors of the two countries met in Washington last week for the first direct diplomatic talks in decades. The Israeli official says the same representatives will join Thursday’s talks.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes talks. There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. or Lebanon.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah opposes the talks, but is observing a 10-day ceasefire announced last week.

Israel says the talks are aimed at disarming Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement with Lebanon.

— By Josef Federman

US and allied forces kick off combat drills with Philippines as China objects

The United States and the Philippines kicked off their annual display of allied military might on Monday, aimed at deterring aggression in Asia, despite Washington’s preoccupation with the war in the Middle East.

More than 17,000 American and Filipino military personnel will participate in the weekslong Balikatan exercise, which includes mock battles and live-fire maneuvers facing the disputed South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel will participate. “Regardless of the challenges elsewhere in the world, the United States focus on the Indo-Pacific and our ironclad commitment to the Philippines remains unwavering,” Marine Lt. Gen. Christian Wortman said in the opening ceremony.

China has objected. “Unilateralism and military bullying have already brought profound disasters to the world,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun warned, without mentioning the United States.

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Trump snaps at critique that Israel dragged him into Iran war

In the lead-up and throughout the seven-week war, Trump has faced criticism from the left and from some of his own supporters that he followed Israel’s lead into launching the conflict.

But Trump on social media is blaming the media for pushing what he claims is a false narrative.

“Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” Trump posted.

Still no commitment by Iran for Round 2 talks with US

The office of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he spoke Monday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, urging sustained diplomacy to address pending issues.

The Pakistan Foreign Office statement did not mention whether they discussed Iran resuming talks with the US in Islamabad, but said officials agreed to remain closely engaged going forward.

Trump says Vance is en route to Pakistan, but it’s not clear where the VP actually is

The New York Post quoted Trump in an interview claiming that Vice President JD Vance is headed to Pakistan for negotiations on the Iran war, along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law.

“They’re heading over now,” Trump said. “They’ll be there tonight.”

But it’s not quite clear if Trump was speaking more broadly or if the claims about Vance are accurate. Administration officials have in response to questions declined to confirm if Vance is, in fact, midair on the way to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

Top Catholic leader in Israel condemns defacing of statue of Jesus in Lebanon

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, on Monday expressed “profound indignation and unreserved condemnation” of the defacing of a statue of Jesus Christ by an Israeli soldier in Lebanon, saying the act “constitutes a grave affront to the Christian faith.”

The Israeli military confirmed on Sunday that images showing an Israeli soldier smashing the head of a toppled Christ statue with a sledgehammer were genuine, setting off a wave of condemnation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had launched a criminal investigation into the soldier’s actions. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described it as “shameful” and apologized “to every Christian whose feelings were hurt.”

In a statement from Jerusalem, The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, headed by Pizzaballa, called for “immediate and decisive disciplinary action, a credible process of accountability, and clear assurances that such conduct will neither be tolerated nor repeated.”

Germany warns wars are destabilizing ‘far beyond Middle East’

The country’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, called on both Iran and the United States to cease hostilities and reach a negotiated solution in the Middle East.

He told reporters Monday in Hannover that the uncertainties created by the continuation of the conflict “have massive repercussions not only on the Middle East, not only on the Asian region, but also on the European region.”

“And the repercussions will not stop at America’s doorstep,” Merz added.

“All of this is currently jeopardizing economic development around the world and could lead to further political destabilization,” the chancellor warned. “The most important prerequisite for stability in the energy markets is an end to hostilities.”

UAE arrests people over alleged ties to Iran

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates arrested members of a unit with alleged ties to Iran, the state’s media reported.

The UAE-run WAM news agency reported Monday that those arrested had extremist views and were part of a “terrorist” unit, holding secret meetings, threatening internal security, planning to share sensitive location information and trying to recruit people to join suspicious foreign groups.

Dubai has previously shut down the city-state’s Iranian Hospital and Iranian Club, institutions that date back to the time of the shah.

Oil prices climb as US stocks give back only a bit of their record-breaking rally

Monday’s opening trades in the U.S. are a sharp turnaround from Friday, when oil prices tumbled after Iran said it was reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Now oil prices are climbing and U.S. stock prices are slipping again as the U.S. seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel on Sunday cast doubt on a second round of peace negotiations before the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. expires on Wednesday. Airline stocks also tumbled again, as they tend to when oil prices jump.

“The problem for markets is not the absence of hope; it is the overpricing of it,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

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What captaining an oil tanker in the Mideast is like right now

Captain Rahman Al-Jubouri helms the Palau-flagged Sea Moon in one of the world’s most volatile maritime corridors, where the U.S.-Israel war with Iran has disrupted global trade and left some crews stranded and exposed to attacks.

The hostilities are not new for al-Jubouri, an Iraqi who has worked these seas during decades of upheaval, including the Iran-Iraq War and the 1991 Gulf War. Once again, he finds himself operating in high-risk waters, as military strikes threaten vessels seeking to navigate through chokepoints like Bab el-Mandeb and the Persian Gulf.

“We’re sailing over a ball of fire,” he said, speaking to The Associated Press by phone as he guides the ship from the Gulf of Aden toward the Gulf of Oman to unload oil at Ras Isa port in Yemen.

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Israel condemns a soldier defacing a statue of Jesus in Lebanon

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned an Israeli soldier filmed defacing a statue of Jesus Christ during operations in Lebanon, saying he was “stunned and saddened” by the soldier’s actions.

Photos surfaced on Sunday of a soldier smashing the head of a toppled statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer. The Israeli military overnight confirmed the images were genuine, setting off a wave of condemnation. Netanyahu said Israel had launched a criminal investigation into the soldier’s actions. The Israeli military also said it was assisting the community to restore the statue.

The military did not immediately confirm where or when the incident took place. The Israeli military controls a large swath of southern Lebanon, reaching some 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Israeli border, and has not allowed residents to return.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch Christian, said Israel must take action against the “outrageous act.”

Wembanyama was making his playoff debut against Portland for a franchise and city that is longing for postseason success after six seasons of futility.

Spurs Hall of Famers Gregg Popovich, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and George Gervin were in attendance amongst a sell-out crowd at the Frost Bank Center adorned in a sea of bright T-shirts in the team's Fiesta colors.

Was the pressure of having the hopes of a city and so many Hall of Famers on his shoulders too weighty for the 22-year-old Wembanyama?

“I wouldn’t say weight. I would say it feels safe,” Wembanyama said. “It feels like if you trip, there’s a lot of hands that’s ready to catch you.”

And that’s how the Spurs feel with Wembanyama patrolling the court.

Wembanyama scored 35 points in a 111-98 victory over the Trail Blazers, setting a Spurs franchise record for the most in a playoff debut, surpassing Duncan’s 32 in 1998. Wembanyama’s 21 first-half points set an NBA record for the most in the opening half of an NBA playoff debut since the league’s play-by-play era began in 1997.

“I thought he was ready,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said. “He probably settled in a little bit later when he made some shots and his talent popped, but I thought he really settled in there at a point when our defense kicked into another gear.”

The Spurs played a video prior to the game that included Kendrick Lamar’s “tv off,” with the lyrics “It’s not enough” imposed on Wembanyama’s highlights. It was appropriate for Wembanyama and the Spurs.

San Antonio had not participated in the playoffs since 2019, a six-season postseason drought that came immediately after San Antonio won five NBA championships while appearing in a league-tying 22 straight postseasons.

Wembanyama made it a successful return, going 5 for 6 on 3-pointers and finishing 13 for 21 from the field.

“We put different guys on him," Portland coach Tiago Splitter said. "He had an amazing game, of course. 35 points, 5 for 6 from 3s. It’s really hard to take him out of the paint. I think we did a good for the most part taking him out of the paint. Of course he rolled a couple of times with a small on him and that’s a bucket. But those five 3s really hurt us.”

Wembanyama had a series of highlights, which is nothing unusual during his three seasons. The highlights have become so routine that Wembanyama can't recall at times when asked about a particular one.

“I don’t remember,” Wembanyama said. “Was it a two or a three?”

A rundown of how he dribbled behind his back to avoid Avdija at halfcourt, spun around him to run free to the rim for a two-handed dunk midway through the first quarter didn't jog his memory.

“Yeah. I have to look again,” Wembanyama said.

As likely will millions of fans, who had 2.43 billion views of Wembanyama on NBA social media this season, second only to Lakers star LeBron James' 2.85 billion views.

Wembanyama may take a look back just to further take in the atmosphere and excitement of Sunday's victory.

“It’s great to see this many people wear their shirts,” Wembanyama said. “I love the animation (on the video boards) when they say, ‘Wear your shirt.’ Yeah, you should absolutely wear your shirt if you’re coming to the game. But now at first, I mean, the first time I stepped on the court for warmups, I felt the atmosphere was different. Everybody’s ready. I mean, the fans were ready. It’s probably the most excited I’ve seen this year in this arena.”

While the crowd left with free T-shirts, the Spurs received more extravagant clothing from Kelly Olynyk, who celebrated his 35th birthday Sunday by handing out gifts.

Wembanyama and the entire Spurs' roster came to the game in matching, custom-made black suits, purchased by Olynyk.

“That’s Kelly," Wembanyama said. “Happy birthday, by the way. He took the initiative to make us all wear the same thing. That’s good. It’s a good team thing.”

So is Wembanyama.

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

The large-scale combat drills between the U.S. and Philippines will expand this year to include other militaries, including from Japan, France and Canada, which have signed visiting forces agreements with Manila, the Philippine military said.

More than 17,000 American and Filipino military personnel will participate in the Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — exercise. The event will last nearly three weeks and will include mock battle scenarios and live-fire maneuvers in locations including Philippine provinces facing the disputed South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel will take part in the combat drills, a major deployment that U.S. military officials said underscores Washington’s commitment to Asia despite its preoccupation with the war against Iran.

“Regardless of the challenges elsewhere in the world, the United States focus on the Indo-Pacific and our ironclad commitment to the Philippines remains unwavering,” Marine Lt. Gen. Christian Wortman said in the opening ceremony.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner said the multinational combat drills build deterrence and resilience against aggression in the region. He did not mention any country in his speech but in the past, he has strongly criticized China for its increasingly assertive actions against Philippine navy and coast guard forces in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay claims to the waters, a key global trade route, but territorial confrontations have particularly spiked between Chinese and Filipino forces in recent years.

China has objected to the U.S.-Philippine drills, saying they are aimed at containing its global rise. The Philippine military, however, has insisted the exercise does not target any country and is also needed to prepare allied forces to respond to natural disasters.

The U.S. has repeatedly warned China that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces come under an armed attack in disputed waters.

“We remain guided by a shared commitment to uphold international law, to respect sovereignty and to contribute to a free and open Indo-Pacific where nations can thrive without coercion,” Brawner said.

During the drills, Japanese forces will fire missiles from a coastal area in the northwestern Philippine province of Ilocos Norte to help sink a mock enemy ship about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away in the peripheries of the South China Sea, Philippine marine. Col. Dennis Hernandez told The Associated Press.

U.S. forces will use a marine drone laden with explosives to further bombard the enemy ship, Hernandez said.

Last year, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth assured Philippine officials while visiting Manila that the Trump administration would work with allies to ramp up deterrence against threats across the world, including China’s aggression in the South China Sea.

“Friends need to stand shoulder to shoulder to deter conflict, to ensure that there is free navigation whether you call it the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea,” Hegseth told Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

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AP writers Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

The violence reverberated across Shreveport a day after the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in two years. Schools brought in counselors for the victims' young classmates and community leaders called for a city-wide reckoning on stopping domestic violence.

“We can not afford to wait until the next crisis,” said Caddo Parish Sheriff Henry Whitehorn. “We owe it to the eight children who were lost.”

The shooter, identified as Shamar Elkins, killed seven of his children and another child, police said. His wife and her sister also were shot and wounded.

Shooter “just snapped," brother-in-law says

Elkins had voluntarily checked into a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in January for just over a week, said his brother-in-law, Troy Brown, who lived in the house with his wife, Keosha Pugh, and was at work during the attack. Elkins appeared “better when he came home” and seemed fine a day before the shooting, Brown said.

“All I know is he just snapped,” Brown told the AP. “If I wouldn’t have been at work, he was going to kill everybody in the house and that includes me."

Brown's wife, who made a series of frantic calls for help when the shooting started, and their 12-year-old daughter escaped through the home's roof, he said. His wife broke her pelvis after falling, he said.

“She said she was running for her life,” said Lionel Pugh, an uncle of the two women shot. “The only ones he didn’t kill was the ones who got away.”

Elkins died after fleeing and a police pursuit. It was not clear whether he was killed by officers who fired or from a self-inflicted gunshot, Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said.

Officials said the children who died — three boys and five girls — ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old.

Elkins and his wife, identified by family members as Shaneiqua Elkins, were separating and had been due in court Monday, said Crystal Brown, a cousin of a woman shot in the attack. She said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.

Family members described Shaneiqua Elkins as a doting mother, who celebrated her children’s success in school and carefully dressed them before family events.

“She raised those kids right,” Pugh said. “They were the center of her universe.”

Gunman had no recent arrests for domestic violence, police say

While the shooter did not appear to have a long criminal history, court records showed Elkins was placed on probation in 2019 after pleading guilty to illegal use of weapons. In that case, Elkins fired five rounds at a vehicle and told police that someone inside it had pulled a gun on him, according to a police report.

Based on Louisiana law, a person convicted of certain violent felonies — including illegal use of weapons — are banned from having a gun for at least 10 years after completing their sentence and probation.

Authorities said Monday that how and when Elkins got the gun is being investigated.

Louisiana, a reliably red state, has expanded access to guns in recent years. For years, Democrats in Louisiana have proposed bills to tighten gun control — or at least put “red flag” measures in place. But Republicans have routinely blocked such legislation.

Investigators were not aware of other domestic violence issues involving Elkins, said police spokesperson Chris Bordelon.

Elkins had served in the Louisiana National Guard from 2013 to 2020, said guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Noel Collins. Elkins held the rank of private and had no deployments, Collins said.

The violence started before sunrise Sunday

Authorities said the shooting erupted before dawn at two homes.

Elkins shot a woman in a neighborhood south of downtown, and opened fire a few blocks away at the home where the children were targeted, police said. Elkins' nephew was among the slain children, according to the Caddo Parish coroner’s office.

One of the victims, 5-year-old Braylon Snow, was getting ready for preschool graduation next month, said Laurance Guidry, president and CEO of Caddo Community Action Agency, which runs the Head Start program where Braylon was a student.

“They have the cap and gowns just like you would have when you were graduating from high school,” Guidry said.

Mourners lit candles for the victims Sunday night in a nearby parking lot.

“It just makes you take your children and hug them and hold them and tell them how much you love them because you just don’t know,” said Kimberlin Jackson, who attended the vigil and is an advocate at the Head Start program where one of the victims was a student. She said the last time she saw him was Friday.

A relative says they were a joyful family

Francine Monro Brown, a cousin of Shaneiqua Elkins, said she would often see the children playing in the yard on Sunday mornings when she drove past the house on her way to church.

“Happy children, joyful children. Shaneiqua is a great mother, She provided a great home for the kids,” Brown said as she stood near a growing memorial of stuffed teddy bears, flowers and pink and blue balloons.

Betty Pugh, another cousin of Shaneiqua Elkins, said she was always with her children. “That was the way we were taught: to love our kids, to take care of our kids. And that’s what she did,” Pugh said.

The mayor of Shreveport, a city of about 180,000 residents in northwestern Louisiana, called it one of the city's worst days.

The shooting was the deadliest in the U.S. since January 2024, when eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

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Brook reported from New Orleans. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Gerald Herbert in Shreveport; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Jake Offenhartz in New York.

It's the remaining months that have been the problem of late.

Now 34, Trout is six seasons removed from his most recent MVP in 2019. His last truly excellent year was in 2022, when he hit 40 home runs. Last season was only the second time since 2019 that he played more than 82 games, but he batted just .232 with an OPS below .800.

The batting average is about this same this season, but with seven home runs in 22 games, Trout looks like an offensive force again — albeit without the contribution on the basepaths he made earlier in his career. He went deep five times as the Los Angeles Angels split a four-game series with the Yankees.

The problem is this has happened before. Last year he hit nine homers in April before going on the injured list in early May with a knee injury. In 2024, he hit nine home runs in April but tore his meniscus before the end of the month and didn't play again. In 2023, his April OPS was over 1.000. He ended up playing barely half the season.

Trout arrived at spring training this year hoping to return to center field after playing most of last season in right or at designated hitter. He said playing center would actually be easier on his body.

So far, he's started 20 of his 22 games in center under new manager Kurt Suzuki. Trout's theory is being put to the test. If he's still healthy and hitting well at this time next month, then the Angels can start to wonder if Trout is about to enjoy a late-career renaissance.

Trivia time

Trout is one of four players to win three MVPs before turning 30. Who are the others?

(Hint: One of them has been a teammate of Trout's.)

Five above .500

All five teams in the NL Central have winning records. The Chicago Cubs have the third-best run differential in baseball, and Pittsburgh is fifth. Meanwhile, Cincinnati and St. Louis have been winning the close ones. The Reds are 6-0 in one-run games. The Cardinals are 5-0 — and also 5-0 in extra innings.

Both the Cubs and Cardinals are on five-game winning streaks.

Meanwhile, every team in the AL West is at or below .500.

Performance of the week

Byron Buxton went 4 for 5 with two home runs and four runs scored to help the Minnesota Twins to a 6-0 win over Boston on Tuesday night.

Buxton is not off to a great start at the plate this year. Half his RBIs for the season came Tuesday. The Twins, however, are at .500 after losing 92 games a year ago.

Comeback of the week

Down by four in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday night, the San Diego Padres scored five times to beat Seattle 7-6.

It was still 6-3 with two outs, but Luis Campusano and Ramón Laureano hit RBI singles, then Jackson Merrill drove in two runs with a double to win it. It was the first time since 2019 the Padres won after entering the ninth trailing by at least four. Seattle's win probability peaked at 98.7% in the ninth, according to Baseball Savant.

That was San Diego's seventh straight win. The streak eventually reached eight, and the Padres are now a half-game behind the first-place Dodgers in the NL West.

Trivia answer

Stan Musial, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.

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

“I didn’t do a lot, to be honest,” Dowd said. “It’s probably better if it gets on and off my stick that quick. ... I just found a little bit of space. Everywhere across the league, there’s limited space out there. Guys are playing their best hockey defensively because everything matters that much more. It was a bang-bang play.”

Game 2 is Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

The Golden Knights, who twice trailed before scoring three third-period goals, have not lost in regulation since John Tortorella (8-0-1) took over as coach.

The Mammoth lost in the franchise's first playoff game since 2020. They are in their second season in Utah after leaving Arizona.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. “It was physical. It was intense. Every inch was contested.”

Colton Sissons had a goal and assist for the Golden Knights and Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev also scored. Carter Hart stopped 32 shots. Hanifin had two assists.

Logan Cooley and Kevin Stenlund scored for the Mammoth. Karel Vejmelka, playing in his first playoff game after five years in the Utah/Arizona organization, made 27 saves. Captain Clayton Keller, who closed the regular season with 16 assists over a 10-game streak, failed to record one in this game.

The Golden Knights took the fight to the Mammoth from the beginning and finished with 52 hits to 29 for Utah. Vegas' high in the regular season was 36 against Los Angeles in the Oct. 8 opener.

Both teams breaking into several fights including one after the final buzzer.

“We played physical,” Tortorella said. “We have some things to work on, but it was good to see us bang around a little bit. It's a long series. You just keep on trying to do the things you think you need to grind away.”

Former Golden Knight Nate Schmidt delivered a tremendous cross-ice pass to Cooley, whose one-timer from the right circle put the Mammoth on the scoreboard first with just 11 seconds left in the first period.

Sissons scored the equalizer at 3:44 of the second period, jamming in the puck after a backhand pass from Cole Smith. Utah retook the lead not even two minutes later when Hart found himself out of position and Vegas defenseman Kaeden Korczak knocked the puck into his own net, though it was officially credited to Kevin Stenlund.

“We didn't really pay attantion to it,” Barbashev said. “Our guys did a really good job to get one back on the power play.”

That happened when the Golden Knights again tied the game when Stone put a rebound into the open net for a power-play goal 5:33 of the third period. They then soon had the lead when Utah defenseman MacKenzie Weegar turned over the puck in his zone, and Dowd knocked in Hanifin's shot.

Barbashev closed the scoring with an empty-netter.

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

The world’s richest man and Linda Yaccarino — the former CEO of X — have been summoned for “voluntary interviews," while other employees of the platform are scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout this week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

It remains unclear whether Musk and Yaccarino will travel to Paris. A spokesperson for X did not respond to questions from The Associated Press and Yaccarino’s current company, eMed, did not answer a request sent to the press email.

French prosecutors also suspect that controversy around the platform’s AI system Grok's deepfakes was concocted to boost the value of Musk-owned companies ahead of a key market listing, and alerted U.S. authorities. Musk welcomed a report that U.S. justice officials refused to help French investigators, posting on X, “This needs to stop.”

The reason for summoning Musk

Musk was summoned after a search took place in February at the French premises of X as part of an investigation opened in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Musk and Yaccarino have been invited in their capacities as managers of X at the time of the events investigated. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.

“These voluntary interviews with the executives are intended to allow them to present their position regarding the facts and, where appropriate, the compliance measures they plan to implement,” prosecutors said. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that platform X complies with French law, insofar as it operates within the national territory.”

The Paris prosecutor's office said Musk and Yaccarino's potential no-show on Monday “is not an obstacle for investigations to continue.”

What is being investigated

French authorities opened their investigation after reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system. It expanded after the AI system, Grok, generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes.

It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges.

Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global outrage this year after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized nonconsensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users.

Grok also wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial.

In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted, and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.

French prosecutors alert U.S. authorities

In March, the Paris prosecutor’s office alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — the U.S. federal agency responsible for regulating and overseeing financial markets — suggesting "that the controversy surrounding sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok may have been deliberately orchestrated to artificially boost the value of the companies X and xAI — potentially constituting criminal offenses," prosecutors said.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said this could have been done "ahead of the planned June 2026 stock market listing of the new entity formed by the merger of Space X and xAI, at a time when company X was clearly losing momentum.”

Justice Department brushes off French call

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department told French law enforcement authorities it wouldn’t facilitate their efforts to investigate Musk’s X. The newspaper reported that the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, in a two-page letter last week, accused the French of inappropriately using its justice system to interfere with an American business.

The letter also said France’s requests for U.S. assistance “constitute an effort to entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding aimed at wrongfully regulating through prosecution the business activities of a social media platform.”

French judicial authorities didn’t respond to requests for comments.

Investigations launched into several internet platforms

The cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor's office has launched in recent years a series of investigations focusing on internet platforms' suspected illegal activities.

French-language website Coco, which was cited in the landmark trial that turned Gisèle Pelicot into a global icon against sexual violence, closed in 2024 as its manager is accused of complicity in spreading child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes, among other things.

Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, was handed preliminary charges and placed under judicial supervision for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the platform, including child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking.

The Paris prosecutor’s office opened last year an investigation into TikTok over allegations that the platform allows content promoting suicide and that its algorithms may encourage vulnerable young people to take their own lives.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it has lodged a new complaint against X with the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office targeting "the platform’s policies that allow disinformation to flourish.''

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Associated Press reporter Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this story.

Residents lined the narrow streets as the rider passed, some lifting phones to record while others waved, clapped and called out, “Here he comes!” and “We love you, Paul!”

The ride cut through dense city blocks where everyday life continued alongside the spectacle — people walking dogs, jogging and moving through parks and apartment-lined streets, some pausing to watch, others carrying on.

Mary McCabe, who came from Lowell with her daughter Cecily, said it was interesting “just to see how different messages traveled back then.”

Cecily, who said she loves learning about the American Revolution, said seeing the reenactment in person made history feel more real.

“It’s really cool because I can actually see it with my own eyes,” she said.

More than a century-old tradition

Brig. Gen. Richard Reale Jr. of the National Lancers, part of the Massachusetts Organized Militia, portrayed Revere. He said the act serves as an important tribute to “tradition and patriotism” as America marks 250 years since the nation’s founding.

“The unit’s been doing this for well over 100 years, and I believe the same thing: It’s important to remember our patriots on a day like today — those who helped found this country and those who continue to preserve it. We thank our armed forces.”

The reenactor, dressed in Colonial costume and accompanied by another horseman, traced the route taken by Revere 251 years ago as he alerted militias about British movements.

Accompanied by a police escort, Reale made his way through the narrow streets of Charlestown, under an expressway to Somerville and then along the main streets of Medford and Arlington — passing salons, laundromats, restaurants and plenty of Dunkin’ stores.

People along the route popped out of their homes or stopped their cars to watch him pass. Trotting along on his horse, the rider repeatedly yelled, “Regulars are coming" and "Redcoat are out" while occasionally urging people to grab their muskets.

Large crowds greeted the rider in Medford, where he stopped at the site of what once was a tavern that Revere visited and quizzed the crowd on what they knew about the silversmith.

Outside Arlington town hall, resident Vernon Brown said the reenactment resonates deeply in a place tied to the Revolution’s earliest fighting.

“It’s Patriot’s Day — one of the great holidays of Massachusetts. We love it,” he said. “I think in Arlington here, where the Revolution really started — the first pitched battle was here — seeing Paul Revere just brings home how great America is and how everybody really does love this country.”

A second rider finished his ride in Lexington, where he met up with a reenactor playing another midnight rider, William Dawes.

A Revolution turning point

Revere's ride took place on April 18, 1775, when the silversmith and express rider was dispatched to Lexington to warn Revolutionary leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British were coming to arrest them. He then headed to Concord to warn about raids on military stockpiles.

Revere reached Lexington around midnight, and Dawes got there along a different route soon after with the same message.

Their efforts resulted in militiamen, muskets in hand, confronting a much larger contingent of British regulars marching from Boston on the Lexington Battle Green. The British regulars were eventually chased back to Boston, where militias pinned them down for 11 months in what became known as the Siege of Boston.

“It’s important because you have to have someone to meet the British troops,” said Nina Zannieri, executive director of the Paul Revere Memorial Association, which owns and operates the Paul Revere House. “It becomes a turning point. If no patriots had turned out on the green and the British had just rolled into town, it would have been different. But they actually meet resistance.”

Some aspects of the historic night are not part of this year's event, such as Revere taking a boat to Charlestown before starting his ride.

Nor is there Revere’s brief detention by a British patrol on his way to Concord after leaving Lexington. Revere was ultimately let go without his horse after convincing the British that hundreds of patriots were waiting for them, and he returned to Lexington to see the end of the battle.

“It’s basically important that he leaves Boston. He rides. He’s alerting people. Other people are out,” Zannieri said. “He starts a chain reaction, and he accomplishes his mission even though he gets stopped and held. He’s lucky he wasn’t killed.”

Then and now

While Revere dodged patrols and contended with rutted and muddy roads, his 21st century counterpart had it easier, traveling on pavement and passing through a world of stoplights, car dealerships and bustling downtowns that Revere never could have imagined. The 2026 Boston Marathon took place at the same time, though the routes did not overlap.

Michelle DiCarlo-Domey, who organizes the ride each year for the National Lancers, said thousands come out to see history come alive and show their patriotism.

“Whenever you can interact with the riders and the horses, it can help carry history on,” DiCarlo-Domey said. “Kids can relate to what they learn in school. And where else do you see two horses running down the street?”

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AP journalist Leah Willingham contributed from Boston.

Starmer said he would have withdrawn the appointment if he'd known Mandelson had failed security checks, as he tried to explain why Mandelson was given the U.K.'s most important diplomatic post. Starmer placed blame squarely on Foreign Office officials who he said failed to tell him about the security concerns and approved Mandelson's appointment despite them.

Starmer told lawmakers in the House of Commons that ”I would not have gone ahead with the appointment” had he known the truth. He called it “frankly staggering” that officials didn’t tell him about the failed vetting.

“At the heart of this, there is also a judgment I made that was wrong,” Starmer added. “I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson.

“I take responsibility for that decision, and I apologize again to the victims of the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who were clearly failed by my decision.”

Starmer fired Mandelson in September, nine months into the job, when new details emerged about his friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.

His explanation was greeted with jeers from opposition lawmakers, incredulous that the nation's leader hadn't known about the failed security vetting.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Starmer's lack of curiosity was hard to believe.

“It doesn’t appear that he asked any questions at all. Why? Because he didn’t want to know," she said.

Starmer denies misleading Parliament

Starmer was attempting to set the record straight after repeatedly telling lawmakers that “due process” was followed when Mandelson was appointed.

Though he apologized for his error of judgment, he denied misleading Parliament, which is usually considered a resigning offense.

Starmer fired the top Foreign Office civil servant, Olly Robbins, within hours of the revelation by The Guardian last week. But allies of Robbins say he never would have been able to share sensitive vetting information with the prime minister.

Robbins is expected to give his own version of events to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

Badenoch noted that Robbins is the latest high-profile government departure linked to Mandelson. She said that instead of taking responsibility for his mistakes, Starmer "has thrown his staff and his officials under the bus.”

Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, said Starmer “gives every impression of a prime minister in office but not in power.” Davey said appointing Mandelson was "a catastrophic error of judgment. And now that it’s blown up in his face, the only decent thing to do is to take responsibility."

Senior government colleagues have defended the prime minister. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said that if Starmer had known about the failed security vetting, “he would never, ever have appointed him ambassador.”

But lawmakers in Starmer’s center-left Labour Party, already anxious about its dire poll ratings, are restive. Starmer already defused one potential crisis in February, when some Labour lawmakers urged him to resign over the Mandelson appointment.

He could face a new challenge if, as expected, Labour takes a hammering in local and regional elections on May 7, which give voters a chance to pass a midterm verdict on the government.

Warnings about Epstein ties went unheeded

Critics say the Mandelson appointment is more evidence of bad judgment by a prime minister who has made repeated missteps since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has been forced into repeated policy U-turns.

He picked Mandelson as ambassador despite being warned by his staff that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein exposed the government to “reputational risk.”

Mandelson’s business links to Russia and China also set off alarm bells. But his expertise as a former European Union trade chief and contacts among global elites were considered assets in dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

A trove of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January included emails suggesting Mandelson had passed on sensitive, and potentially market-moving, government information to Epstein in 2009, after the global financial crisis.

British police launched a criminal probe and arrested Mandelson in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Mandelson has previously denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.

Starmer said he had ordered a review into any security concerns arising from Mandelson’s access to sensitive information while ambassador.

Many questions remain unanswered after Starmer's 2 1/2-hour question-and-answer session, including why Mandelson failed the vetting and whether officials felt political pressure to approve the appointment.

Several lawmakers asked why Starmer chose Mandelson for the job despite red flags.

“I’m interested in his judgment,” said Scottish National Party lawmaker Stephen Flynn. "Does he believe himself to be gullible, incompetent or both?”

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Sylvia Hui and Brian Melley in London contributed reporting.