The stabbing was reported at an apartment complex in the 12800 block of Vista Isles Drive.

According to Sunrise police, the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

A motive for the stabbing remains unclear.

No other details were immediately released.

The rocket's upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble that scientists — and skygazers — are eager to observe.

Space tracking expert Bill Gray predicts an impact of 5,400 mph (8,700 kph) — seven times the speed of sound — near Einstein Crater on the moon’s sunlit western limb. With the action unfolding in the wee hours, the eastern portions of the U.S. and Canada, and much of South America should have the best views.

While scientists are not too concerned about this particular piece of space junk, it highlights the growing threat as more and more items cram into orbit.

“Things are getting crowded up there,” said Gray, who plans to view the aftermath from New Brunswick, Canada.

It was never SpaceX's intent to hit the moon. But space experts said the crash could have been avoided if the upper stage had been nudged into orbit around the sun.

It will be the second dead rocket known to crash into the moon accidentally. A Chinese rocket segment dug out a pair of craters on the lunar far side in 2022.

Lucky for astronomers, the upcoming smashup will occur on the moon’s near side, packing the equivalent energy of three tons of TNT.

The impact flash, lasting less than a second, will probably be too dim to see, according to experts. But the stream of ejected material could stretch for several miles (kilometers) into space and remain visible to telescopes for tens of minutes.

“The gravity on the moon is low and there is no wind to blow the dust away,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Benjamin Fernando, who’s encouraging observations by professionals and amateurs alike.

“Part of the reason for our interest in this event is to figure out how much of a hazard debris impacts pose to future astronauts,” he added in an email.

Fernando anticipates an impact crater nearly 90 feet across and 16 feet deep (27 meters across and 5 meters deep), too small to see from Earth but visible to spacecraft.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Danuri lunar orbiter will gather before-and-after shots of the crash scene. Danuri will stray within a mile or two (a few kilometers) of the SpaceX rocket just two minutes before impact, according to Fernando and his team.

The abandoned rocket segment — measuring some 40 feet (12 meters) and weighing around 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) — hoisted two private lunar landers on Jan. 15, 2025.

One of them — Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost — became the first private spacecraft to pull off a fully successful lunar touchdown. The other, Japan-based ispace’s lander, wrecked.

With meteoroids and other natural objects offering little if any warning before walloping the moon, scientists said there’s much to learn by observing well-tracked strikes by human-made objects like the one coming up. NASA hurled rocket sections and lunar modules into the moon during the Apollo era for seismic measurements. Decades later, in 2009, NASA intentionally crashed its LCROSS spacecraft and upper stage in search of ice near the lunar south pole.

With the moon as the new travel hot spot, scientists said it’s crucial to improve debris monitoring and traffic control before packs of robots and astronauts arrive.

The United States and China are racing to land astronauts on the moon in the next few years. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are vying to provide the lander for NASA's yet-to-be-named moonwalkers of Artemis IV, who will succeed the 12 Apollo astronauts who strolled the lunar surface.

“This impact will not be a problem,” retired astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said in an email. “But in a future where there are long-term bases on the moon, similar impacts would be an issue and we need not to leave rocket stages in chaotic orbits of this kind.”

___

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.

Winfrey opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 after being inspired by conversations with former South African President Nelson Mandela about the transformative power of educating girls. He was among the guests at the school's opening ceremony.

Winfrey's charitable foundation ran and funded the school, but it was always part of the agreement that the academy campus near Johannesburg be ultimately handed over to the provincial education department, the academy said.

“The dream was never simply to build a school,” Winfrey said in a statement issued by the academy on Wednesday. “It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women. That mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education.”

The academy said Winfrey’s commitment to educating South African girls would continue through an expanded national scholarship program supporting academically talented girls at leading schools across the country.

More than 500 girls have graduated from the academy and some have attended top universities in South Africa, the United States and Europe, according to the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.

The Gauteng provincial government will take over the 52-acre academy campus, which has 21 classrooms, six science and computer laboratories, a 10,000-volume library and a 600-seat theater. It did not immediately say what the plans for the property were.

Gauteng Provincial Minister for Education Lebogang Maile said those currently enrolled in the school will be able to complete their education with uninterrupted financial support.

The academy drew international attention shortly after opening in 2007 when several students accused a dormitory matron of physically and sexually abusing them.

Winfrey traveled to South Africa to meet with students and parents, publicly apologized, and commissioned an independent investigation.

The matron was acquitted of criminal charges in 2010.

___

This report has been corrected to show Oprah Winfrey’s statement as issued on Wednesday and not Thursday.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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The shooting was reported in the area of Northwest Second Avenue and 12^th Street.

According to Miami police Officer Kenia Fallat, the victim was shot in the torso.

She said a Miami Fire Rescue crew responded to the scene and transported the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he is listed in critical condition.

The investigation remains ongoing.

No other details were immediately released.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Miami Police Department or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

The investigation is unfolding at the Palm Gardens shopping center off North Andrews Avenue and Northeast 26^th Drive.

Local 10’s Michaila Hightower was at the scene as a man was detained and placed in the back of a patrol car.

Another man was sitting on a nearby bus bench that was blocked off with crime scene tape. What appeared to be blood and pieces of clothing could be seen on the ground in the shopping center.

Police would not allow the man to speak with Local 10, telling Hightower that he was part of the investigation.

Watch Local 10 News or refresh this page for updates.

Though there was no shortage of levity, a sense of urgency filled the Detroit meeting room as Abdul El-Sayed, a former gubernatorial candidate who is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, began speaking about how his Muslim faith informs his progressive views.

The public health researcher asked the group of faith leaders ahead of Tuesday’s primary, “What does the inspiration of holding yourself accountable to something bigger than you mean for what you do for the people around you?”

El-Sayed added, “If you can’t eat food and I have something to do about it, I better do it.”

Progressive Democratic politicians have won major electoral victories across the country in recent months amid growing frustrations surrounding inequality, affordability and potential threats to job security posed by artificial intelligence. As the economy becomes a flashpoint for the November midterms, many of these candidates and voters who support them are citing religion as a justification for their positions.

“We’re in an era of historical inequality,” El-Sayed told The Associated Press. “Most faith traditions — certainly the Abrahamic faith traditions — put a lot more burden on the wealthy.”

The interfaith roundtable took place days after a high-profile rally for El-Sayed, who has made “Medicare for All” a fixture of his campaign and is running against the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens. It featured speeches from progressive heavy hitters like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Though not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, El-Sayed is being endorsed by liberal allies, many of them members of the DSA, while being criticized by Republicans and centrist Democrats for being too far left to be electable in a swing state.

If elected in November, he would be the first Muslim senator in U.S. history.

Representatives for Stevens, who is identified in congressional profiles as a Protestant, did not respond to requests for comment.

Progressive ideologies carry different connotations for different generations

Religious support for progressive economic and labor movements is not new, even if it has ebbed and flowed in the U.S. over the centuries. Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical was in many ways an ode to “Rerum novarum,” Pope Leo XIII’s seminal 1891 text on labor, wages and unions that helped shape Catholic social teaching.

This embrace of religion isn't unique to the Democratic Party's progressive wing. More moderate candidates like James Talarico, the seminarian running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, also highlight their faith. But as left-leaning Democrats and democratic socialists like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim, score wins in local and national races, Republicans have repeatedly decried the party's progressive wing as communists devoid of religion.

“Republicans and conservatives believe in natural rights that flow from a creator. I think communism rejects that. It espouses a very atheistic, centralized sort of secular view of society,” said Douglas Blair, a spokesperson for Heritage Action for America.

Megan Romer, a DSA national co-chair and ordained ruling elder within the Presbyterian Church (USA), conceded socialism is a troubling concept for some people of faith.

“People’s idea of it is, ‘Oh, that’s when you’re not allowed to have a religion, right?’ Which has been true in some socialist projects,” she said.

But experts say that narrative carries less weight among many younger Americans who have no memory of the Cold War and the anti-religious associations it begot.

Theology informs more than just faith

Though there are more Democrats unaffiliated with religion than Republicans, many people of faith do not see progressive ideologies like socialism as contradictory to their beliefs. They cite Black religious activists who were outspoken critics of capitalism, including Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and W.E.B. Du Bois, as models for their thinking about the relationship between religion and politics.

The Rev. Andrew Wilkes, who co-pastors the Double Love Experience Church in New York City, became interested in democratic socialism more than a decade ago after presiding over a funeral for someone whose insurance wouldn’t cover a critical operation. “It was not God that sent him home but an unjustly organized healthcare system and economy,” he said.

“There’s an increasing recognition, I would say, connecting socialism to a sense of a moral compass,” Wilkes said, adding that religion can bring optimism and creativity in a time of pessimism. “There’s a level of world-building that faith can speak to.”

Romer, who joined the DSA in 2018 in part because of Sanders’ unsuccessful presidential run two years earlier, thinks there is a theological component to why Christianity in particular has thrived among conservatives.

“That flavor of Christianity is a very individualistic one. They talk a lot about your personal relationship with God,” she said. “My interpretation of Christianity is one that, I think the early Christians — they were not communists in the modern sense, but they lived in communal situations.”

Attitudes toward capitalism are changing, and religion is playing a role

This faith-driven economic focus is not limited to elections.

Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice is a nonprofit organization that works with congregations throughout Southern California to support workers’ rights. Earlier this month, it facilitated a visit to Live Oak United Church of Christ in Brea, California, to support efforts to unionize a local grocery store chain.

“We just feel very, very overworked,” Luis Cueva, a Mother’s Market employee, told members of the congregation after their Sunday service as he asked for support.

“Jesus was a socialist,” Cueva said after the meeting, citing his teachings about it being difficult for rich people to go to heaven. “It means a lot to know that the church is willing to help.”

About half of U.S. adults have a positive view of capitalism, according to a poll last year from Gallup, down from 61% in 2010. Democrats have driven part of the shift, but favorable views of capitalism have also declined among independents.

President Donald Trump and other Republicans have cast these attitudes and candidates as being fundamentally at odds with religion.

“These are hard core, godless communists,” Trump said recently during a speech to the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “All communists are godless. They don't believe in God.”

Faith can be both a political asset and a liability

Although there are myriad points of contention within the Democratic Party, such as support for Israel, El-Sayed considers economic issues a top issue for his campaign.

“I talk about taking money out of politics because it’s the reason life is not affordable,” he said. “People are realizing that politicians on both sides of the aisle really are being paid off by the same people.”

The son of Egyptian immigrants, El-Sayed is aware that his Islamic faith can be weaponized or misunderstood. But since having a religious experience in college that followed a rebellious childhood, he takes seriously the implications of his faith.

“If you put your morals on a mantel, they’re not morals. They’re just, you know, things that you can admire and then you give yourself the permission to step away from them when it’s convenient,” he said.

As the roundtable concluded, leaders from each faith took turns praying. Their heads lifted, but the Rev. Horace Sheffield chimed in with one last request on behalf of El-Sayed.

“I don’t think y’all were specific enough. So I’m gonna say it real simple,” he said. “Lord, let him win.”

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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.

The annual dining program features participating restaurants offering special brunch, lunch and dinner menus through September, with several newcomers joining this year’s lineup.

Among the restaurants making their Miami Spice debut are Daniel’s Miami, Yamashiro, Maple & Ash and Zuma.

Daniel’s Miami is offering four Miami Spice dining experiences, including $40 brunch and lunch menus and dinner options ranging from $65 to $95.

Diners can choose from dishes including Wagyu beef empanadas, grilled branzino, braised Wagyu beef short rib and Florida grits-crusted grouper, along with specialty cocktails created for Miami Spice.

Yamashiro is also participating for the first time with a $40 Sunday brunch and $95 dinner menu featuring Japanese-inspired dishes, including its signature black cod.

Maple & Ash is also joining Miami Spice for the first time, giving diners the chance to experience the luxury steakhouse’s tableside service and signature dishes at special prices.

“We build everything around fun,” said Maple & Ash executive chef Kam Losonsky. “You’re getting a luxurious experience.”

The restaurant’s Miami Spice menu includes tuna tartare and filet mignon with truffle.

“You’re getting options you really aren’t gonna get anywhere else, especially for this price point,” Losonsky said.

Other participating restaurants include Jaya at The Setai, which is offering Asian-inspired lunch and dinner menus featuring dishes such as Pad Thai, Panang curry and Korean barbecue galbi short rib.

Zuma is offering lunch and dinner menus priced at $35 and $60. During Miami Spice, guests can enjoy the restaurant’s signature Maple Cheesecake from Zuma Vail, along with fan favorite dishes from last year, including:

1. Chicken karaage with chili lemon dressing
2. Prawn and black cod gyoza
3. Salmon teriyaki sauce and pickled cucumber

CATCH Miami Beach is serving a $65 dinner menu with seafood, sushi and steak selections, while Michelin-starred Le Jardinier returns with French-inspired three-course lunches and dinners.

Also participating are Michelin-starred Stubborn Seed, where diners can enjoy a three-course dinner featuring dishes such as truffle chicken and citrus pavlova, and Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, which is offering three-course lunches and dinners with menus that rotate throughout the season to showcase fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

Miami Spice, which lasts through the end of September, not only gives diners a chance to try new restaurants, but also helps restaurants introduce themselves to new customers.

For more information on Miami Spice and a list of participating restaurants, click here.

The group agreed to a road map as long as Israel also makes concessions, including ending hostilities and withdrawing its troops from the Palestinian territory, a Hamas official and a regional official told The Associated Press. Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim confirmed in a post on X that the group agreed to the deal.

Israel has not commented on the deal, which U.S. President Donald Trump announced hours earlier. It comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and the group was signed.

That 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, the deployment of a security force known as the International Stabilization Force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

But negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the implementation of the next phase of the ceasefire deal had largely deadlocked — and disarmament was a major sticking point.

Disarming would represent a sea change for Hamas, whose founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and which sees its arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, as lying at the heart of its identity.

“The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” Trump said on social media. “As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”

A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by The Associated Press said that all police weapons will be transferred to the U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It’s not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on other steps.

A process to decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of the ISF. The process will be linked to an Israeli withdrawal, in phases, from the areas under its control in Gaza, according to the agreement.

In a statement Thursday, an Israeli official said that there will be no Israeli withdrawal from the areas it holds in Gaza — which account for about 60% of the territory — before the militant group is disarmed and the strip demilitarized. The statement was made on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

A person with knowledge of the situation said that Israel is fully involved, but it's not a signatory to the deal, which is between Hamas and several countries helping to negotiate and guarantee the ceasefire. The person spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the agreement. The deal's guarantors are the U.S., Turkey, Egypt and Qatar.

It could take years for Hamas to disarm

On Thursday, U.S. and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment of the agreement that laid out a scenario very similar to the one outlined by Trump and his top aides when the Board of Peace was first formed. The board, which was established by Trump, oversees the ceasefire in Gaza.

While Gaza's police force is expected to hand over its arms, that doesn't include the vast majority of Hamas militants, and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials.

Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said. That timeline did not appear in the agreement obtained by AP.

The Hamas official and the regional official involved in the process said that Hamas and other groups agreed to “collect and store” arms inside Gaza under the supervision of the Palestinian technocratic committee and that weapons won’t be handed to Israel or non-Palestinian parties. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said this would be a gradual process linked to an Israeli withdrawal.

Israel has not responded but has been deeply skeptical

A U.S. official said Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation.

However, the official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had initially committed to when it agreed to Trump’s 20-point plan, which essentially involves withdrawing its forces from Gaza and committing to ending airstrikes on the territory.

A member of the Palestinian technocratic committee told the AP on Friday that it was eager to enter Gaza but was concerned Israel will pose challenges for them. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media. The person said they didn’t expect to enter Gaza for at least two months.

The committee welcomed the progress Friday, but said the work to restore public institutions and services and rebuild the territory would be immense.

The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical professionals, does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children make up around half of all deaths.

With Israel in control of much of Gaza, Palestinians are confined to squalid tent camps and heavily damaged urban neighborhoods.

___

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, Cooper from Phoenix, and Lee from Washington. Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in New York and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

None of those initiatives would have passed under a ballot measure getting decided by voters Tuesday.

Missouri's proposed Amendment 4 would make it significantly harder to amend the constitution by requiring citizen initiatives to pass in all eight of the state's diverse congressional districts instead of by a traditional, simple statewide majority. No other state has such a high standard — or has even asked voters to consider it.

“This is a first-of-its-kind,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a national group that backs progressive ballot initiatives like the ones Missouri's Republican lawmakers are hoping to quelch.

“It would be nearly impossible for citizens to participate meaningfully in any sort of direct democracy,” said Hall, who believes other states could try to copy Missouri's proposal.

Lawmakers seek to rein in citizen initiatives

The Missouri proposal is the culmination of years of attempts by lawmakers in numerous states to raise the bar for citizen-initiated petitions to qualify for the ballot and win voter approval. Some elected officials contend lawmaking is best left to themselves — the people's representatives — because citizen initiatives lack the vetting that comes from the multistep legislative process of public hearings, debates and revisions.

The effort to curtail citizen initiatives on state ballots comes as President Donald Trump pushes for greater restrictions on who can vote and how ballots are cast, asserting the integrity of elections is at stake.

Missouri’s measure “fits into the larger narrative and story around what the future of democracy looks like in the United States,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which supports progressive ballot measures.

Citizen initiatives are allowed only in some states

About one-third of U.S. states allow people to bypass their legislatures by gathering signatures to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. Several others allow the process for proposed laws.

In most of those states, a simple majority of voters is all that’s needed to approve constitutional amendments. Colorado requires a 55% vote for most measures, and Florida a 60% vote.

Voters in recent years rejected ballot measures to raise the approval threshold for amendments in Arkansas, Ohio and South Dakota. Still, South Dakota lawmakers have placed a proposal for a 60% approval threshold on the November ballot. North Dakota voters will consider a similar measure, and Utah voters will decide on a 60% requirement for citizen-initiated tax increases.

Missouri’s proposal would apply only to citizen initiatives. Constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature still would need only a statewide majority. No other state has a dual standard like that.

Missouri proposal requires geographic consensus

Republican state Rep. Ed Lewis, who sponsored Missouri's measure, said he wants to ensure people in all parts of the state have their voices heard. He said activists funded by out-of-state interest groups have run up large majorities in St. Louis and Kansas City to pass controversial initiatives that failed throughout most of the rest of Missouri.

The abortion, marijuana, sports betting and Medicaid initiatives all were placed on the ballot by petitions between 2020 and 2024 after lawmakers declined to act. All passed with 53% or less of the statewide vote.

Requiring “50% in each of our congressional districts is not a difficult barrier for anything that has a consensus,” Lewis said. But “it is a difficult barrier for either a very conservative or a very liberal initiative petition,” he said.

“If you’re going to change the constitution, shouldn’t it be broadly accepted?” Lewis asked rhetorically.

Amendments to the U.S. Constitution require ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Critics say Missouri's proposed amendment could undercut consensus, because an initiative backed by large margins in seven congressional districts still would fail if opposed by a slim margin in just one district.

“It is an astonishing level of unfairness, and it crushes our notion of one person, one vote and majority rule, which we learned about in school as kids,” said Scott Charton, a spokesperson for the Missouri Realtors campaign committees, which have backed previous initiatives.

Republicans are divided over initiative restrictions

Though Amendment 4 was referred to the ballot by Republican lawmakers, people at a recent Republican club meeting in Jefferson City were divided about whether to make it harder for citizens to amend the state constitution.

Rick Kolb said he supports the tougher standards.

“Our country was founded as a republic not a democracy,” he said. When initiatives appear on the ballot, “everybody votes on these things that they haven’t put any thought into it.”

But Jim Bryan said he opposes the amendment, fearing it could allow voters in St. Louis or Kansas City to thwart measures supported by the rest of the state.

“The popular vote is what I want,” he said.

A new petition could fortify citizen initiatives

Regardless of the outcome, Tuesday's vote may not be the last on Missouri's citizen initiatives.

The Respect Missouri Voters coalition submitted more than 300,000 petition signatures — currently being verified by election officials — to try to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot protecting the initiative process. It would reverse the Legislature's amendment by requiring only a statewide majority to pass citizen initiatives. It also would bar the Legislature from increasing the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, shortening the time to do so or imposing other requirements that weaken initiative rights.

The measure also would make it harder for the Legislature to reverse or amend voter-approved initiatives by requiring an 80% vote in both the House and Senate instead of a simple majority. That comes after the Legislature last year repealed a paid sick leave law approved by voters and referred a new constitutional amendment to the November ballot to reverse voter-approved abortion rights.

Supporters insist their measure is nonpartisan, noting that Democratic lawmakers also tried to restrict citizen initiatives before Republicans gained control of the Capitol.

“Politicians in power want all the power in their hands,” said Benjamin Singer, co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters. “They don’t want citizens to have a check on their power.”

Until now, the answer has been a doting home health aide from Haiti named Martha Nelson. But with the Supreme Court sanctioning a White House immigration crackdown, Nelson’s permission to stay in the country appears likely to be yanked within days, leaving French worried.

“She’s with me all the time,” says French. “Life would be impossible.”

As the Trump administration unwinds years of protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, twin populations of vulnerable people find themselves in the crosshairs: caregivers in jobs to which those immigrants have flocked, and the older adults and disabled people who rely on them.

Around the U.S., care homes and home health agencies are bracing for the loss of workers with TPS, which stands for temporary protected status, even as they continue to reel from other immigration policy changes that have squeezed an already short-staffed industry.

For businesses, it is a predicament that could hurt bottom lines and tax remaining workers. For their clients, it threatens to upend every aspect of their lives.

“They have become like family,” says Katy Sanchez, who lives in a group home for disabled people in Nanuet, New York, run by The Arc Rockland, which stands to lose 19 caregivers with TPS, on top of 20 others it lost in immigration changes last year. “If they are forced to leave, it would be devastating.”

Supreme Court ruling paved the way

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration last month, saying it could end temporary protected status. The ruling specifically pertained to 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, but immigration advocates and legal observers say it could be applied to a broader group of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.

The justices' move has been met with weeks of confusion. Immigration officials subsequently granted several extensions to TPS holders that carried through Monday. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued guidance Wednesday affirming TPS was over, though some attorneys and labor unions have argued work authorization remains intact until lower courts lift an injunction.

The Department of Homeland Security made light of the TPS expiration, referencing lyrics from a 1998 hit song: “It’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

Fearful they might be in breach of the law, some employers have begun terminating TPS holders, to the dismay of their clients.

Anna Fischbein grew accustomed to visits to her home in Sunny Isles, Florida, from the same kindly Haitian health aide every week for the past 10 years. But Jewish Community Services of South Florida terminated the aide along with 17 others when their TPS lapsed.

“I lost not only a lady working for me,” the 87-year-old Holocaust survivor says, her voice broken by sobs. “I lost a friend.”

Facilities scramble to come up with replacement workers

Around 1 in 5 workers in the U.S. is foreign born, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but immigrants are overrepresented in caregiving roles. Among home health aides, for example, one-third are immigrants, according to PHI, a nonprofit focused on the caregiving workforce.

In lives upended by age or disability, a cherished caregiver is a lifeline. For someone living in their own home, they may be the last line of defense before institutionalization. For those in a care facility, they may be their strongest advocate, who notices subtle changes before anyone else, ensures small comforts like dollar-store word search books, and brings a sense of humanity to the humiliation of being incontinent.

“They are the first people they see when they wake up in the morning and they’re the last ones that they see before they go to bed,” says Simone Smith, vice president of human resources at Cabrini of Westchester, a nursing home in Dobbs Ferry, New York, where eight Haitians with TPS await word of their fate.

Like similar facilities around the country, Cabrini is prepared to scramble to secure replacement staffers from nursing agencies and plead with remaining workers to take overtime shifts. Cabrini’s workforce is about 75% immigrant. Among those with TPS, Smith senses “almost a hopelessness.”

A Haitian who loses TPS faces an unbearable choice: Attempt to stay in the U.S. and find underground work, tiptoeing through life with fear that authorities will eventually find and remove them. Or return to a country so plagued by gang violence and poverty that many believe it would amount to a death sentence.

“I’m afraid all the time,” says a Haitian man working at a Brooklyn nursing home who asked for anonymity because of concerns for the safety of himself and his family. “I pay tax to the country. I’m a good person. … All I want is to work. When you work, you are a person.”

Families wonder what they will do

Outside a simple brick house in Queens, Nelson stands guard as French steps through her door. On the porch, you might mistake the two for old friends, their bond as much an illustration of what is at risk as it is of how much things have changed.

The women made the same journey, from Port-au-Prince to New York, four decades apart.

French was drawn here in 1970 by the potential opportunities she saw. She built businesses as a hairdresser and seamstress. Her late husband made his way as an electrician and contractor. They bought their home. Their children got good educations. They believed they achieved the American dream.

Nelson came after an earthquake flattened Haiti in 2010. At home, she ran a butcher shop, but after arriving in New York she found work in caregiving roles. She began working for French about three years ago after French fell and broke her hip. Nelson, now 69, has been with her nearly every weekday since.

Both women felt welcomed by the U.S. when they arrived. But French is saddened to see how views on immigrants have evolved.

“America is a good country,” French says, “but it has changed.”

Nelson brings leftovers, tends to French’s chores and is a source of companionship. They watch the news together and talk in Haitian Creole about their families. On weekends, Nelson calls to make sure French has gotten up from bed and nags her to eat.

“On my days off, I think about her,” Nelson says.

French says Nelson has become like family. Nelson agrees, saying she sees French as if she’s her own mother, a show of affection and the source of the pair’s one ongoing dispute.

“You’re not like my daughter,” French protests. “You’re like my sister.”

For now, the two continue their routine, knowing each shift may be Nelson's last. She keeps a copy of her work authorization zipped in a black cloth pouch that she carries everywhere, in case she is stopped. Each Sunday, she sinks to her knees in church, praying for an answer. She worries for herself and for French.

“It makes me feel depressed,” Nelson says. “It could be difficult for her without me.”

___

Salomon reported from Miami.

___

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

Brussels aims to track the use of AI models for violations of its new regulations, like the publishing of sexually explicit material, fake photos and videos, and cyber threats to public infrastructure. When the bloc's AI Act comes into force on Sunday, AI companies will be required to make clear to consumers with labels or digital watermarks that chatbots or imagery are generated with AI.

“As enforcement begins, we are taking an important step towards AI that people and businesses can understand and trust, and whose benefits are shared widely across our society,” said Henna Virkkunen, the EU chief for tech sovereignty, on Friday.

The European Commission said in a statement that new regulations also include “systemic risks” posed by AI like “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents, loss of control, cyber offense, harmful manipulation and threats to fundamental rights."

The team is the latest move in the 27-nation EU’s “tech sovereignty” strategy that welds landmark digital regulations with economic ambition that has seen over the past week billions of euros in fines on Big Tech companies as well as record investment in AI infrastructure inside the bloc.

The rollout comes on the heels of shocking AI safety failures that rattled the nascent industry. Political leaders worldwide are now weighing control of the technology with market leadership.

Anthropic said on Friday its artificial intelligence models hacked into three other organizations during testing, just days after ChatGPT maker OpenAI raised concerns over AI controls after it disclosed its rogue models hacked another company.

The EU is now expanding its AI Office in Brussels with an additional 38 people who will begin monitoring AI companies, from the new firms to the American and Chinese tech titans like OpenAI and DeepSeek.

Those companies must “document certain information,” said the European Commission, the bloc's tech enforcer, which reserves the right to interview AI company staff during investigations. It has also launched a Whistleblower Tool for tech workers and a Compliance Tool for tech users to confidentially alert authorities to illegal conduct.

If models or other products break the EU's sector regulations, called the AI Act, Brussels can fine the firms or cut off their access to the EU market. Recent gigantic antitrust fines on U.S. tech companies have irked U.S. President Donald Trump.

The EU now clearly sees systemic vulnerability in its deep reliance on American software companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft as well as imports of Chinese industrial goods and critical minerals. While it is seeking protections from AI, it is also keen to catch up in the AI arms race, where it is a distant third behind the U.S. and China.

More broadly, the EU is seeking more independence from both Washington and Beijing by reinvigorating specific domestic industries like manufacturing and defense and forging new trade deals from Brazil to Australia to meet the global rise in economic nationalism spearheaded by Trump.

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The blazes that burned 42,000 hectares (about 162 square miles) of pine forest and touristic resort areas in Bordeaux's Gironde region on the Atlantic coast haven't spread for several days.

Government officials said lower temperatures and higher humidity overnight were helping ease pressures on beleaguered fire squads, who turned their attention to forests and undergrowth along dunes of fine sand.

Europe is facing an extremely hot summer, fueling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean. The United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Greece and Turkey all battled blazes on Thursday.

The wildfire in southwest France initially forced 224,000 people to flee. Authorities have allowed 144,000 evacuees to return this week.

Officials on Friday seemed cautiously optimistic.

“It’s stabilized, but not totally stopped,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio on Friday. Hot spots remain.”

Police and investigators were looking into the origins of the wildfire, which could have been triggered deliberately — some suspects appeared to be repeat offenders, he said — or through negligence.

As of Friday, Nunez said, a total of 308 people had been arrested in connection with the blazes — including more than 120 minors — and 33 people had either been convicted or were being held pending court rulings on their cases.

Nunez also said in a social media post that Ukraine was to dispatch 70 civil security personnel and 10 vehicles in the coming days to help strengthen the deployment.

Pockets of trouble with fires continued across other parts of Europe.

In England, where half the country has been baking under drought conditions, firefighters battled a wildfire near a nuclear power station for a third day.

The Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said a fire near Leiston on the east coast of England had “stabilized” and there was no concern about it spreading to the Sizewell B power plant, which is just a few miles away from the blaze.

More than 100 firefighters have been deployed to battle the blaze, which has now burned about 150 hectares (370 acres), in Dunwich Heath.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Henry Griffin told reporters the fire has been stabilized, but because of its scale and unpredictable winds in the area, "I wouldn’t say it is under control.”

The rights group said an attack aircraft identified as a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 dropped two munitions on Kyrnia village in the Mopti region on June 15. One strike hit near the home of the village chief, killing his wife and three children. The second hit a nearby cattle market, killing four men. No fighters from the Islamic militant group JNIM, which has controlled the village for six years, were reported among the casualties.

The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the claims by Human Rights Watch.

Mali has been plagued for over a decade by militants affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, including JNIM, as well as a Tuareg separatist rebellion in the north.

Violence escalated in recent months after an alliance of JNIM and Tuareg separatists carried out the largest coordinated attack in over a decade, targeting the airport of the country’s capital, Bamako, the nearby garrison town of Kati, and several northern and central cities.

April’s attacks exposed the weaknesses of Mali’s strategy to combat the rebellion, including relying on Russia, which has partnered with the military-led government after it distanced itself from former allies such as France.

Russian mercenaries have been present in Mali since late 2021 to help its military junta fight militants and separatists. Last year, Africa Corps, which reports to Russia’s Defense Ministry, replaced the private mercenary Wagner Group in the country.

Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 19 people, analyzed satellite imagery, and reviewed a video the Africa Corps posted online describing the strike last month as targeting a “terrorist” gathering. Researchers said roughly 100 JNIM fighters were in the village at the time but were mostly gathered elsewhere, and that the strikes did not appear to target a clear military objective.

The rights group called on Mali’s government to investigate the strike and hold those responsible accountable, saying it could otherwise be complicit in war crimes.

Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An expanding crisis for soccer's governing body reached into Infantino's longtime inner circle when his pick to represent FIFA on the White House Task Force for the World Cup walked away calling the Joshua Kushner-backed $20 billion commercial subsidiary plan “a bad deal for football.”

Carlos Cordeiro is a former Goldman Sachs banker and officially Infantino's Senior Adviser yet revealed he was not involved in the secretive investment plan that has rocked the sport since media reports revealed it Tuesday.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement formally resigning, just hours after FIFA insisted in a statement: “Nobody is selling football.”

Cordeiro's exit — and call for other senior staff to speak out — intensified scrutiny on Infantino one day after European soccer body UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA games and events until the plan is dropped. North America's CONCACAF also rejected Infantino’s offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation by a mid-September deadline.

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in recent years, and took part in meetings of the administration's World Cup task force led by Andrew Guiliani.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” said Cordeiro, the former U.S. Soccer Federation president.

Asia joins Europe and North America

On another seismic day in soccer politics, Asia’s soccer body that has been a key ally in Infantino's 11-year presidency opposed the investor plan and said FIFA must urgently review its management style

The Asian Football Confederation said it “stands in solidarity” with UEFA and CONCACAF, the first two continental bodies to oppose Infantino whose combined 90 FIFA member countries near a majority of the 211 global total.

“Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA's 211 members

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA's commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“(T)he proposed (FIFA Forward Enterprise) cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward” and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.

The statement did not name Infantino yet criticized FIFA for problems beyond the content of the private equity plan plus failing to consult about the secretive proposal.

“Rather, it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed,” said the AFC, whose longtime president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa narrowly lost the FIFA presidential election to Infantino in 2016.

“Accordingly, the AFC calls upon FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework,” said the organization based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Infantino's job at risk?

Infantino had seemed — 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — to have a clear path to being reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031.

FIFA had briefed during the tournament that Infantino had letters of support from about 200 members, despite a furor over letting United States forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium even though he received a red card in his previous game. Trump acknowledged asking Infantino to review Balogun's mandatory one-game ban.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco.

FIFA blames the media

The Asian statement came hours after FIFA blamed the media and doubled down on pursuing the project which now seems to have a majority of the 211 in opposition.

“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports,” FIFA said in a statement early Friday. “We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each (member) has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”

The next FIFA event that would be targeted by the threatened European boycott is within weeks — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from Sept. 5. The four British federations comprise FIFA’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due Nov. 23.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

At least 34 migrants have died in the process.

“The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” said Juan Jesús Vivas on Friday.

The border crisis boiled over Thursday and continued on Friday with security forces clashing with migrants on the Moroccan side of the border.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the breach of the border on Friday speaking in Ceuta, describing the events as "a violation of Spain's territorial integrity.”

The Spanish leader cast blame on human smugglers, saying they "deceive so many young people, and ultimately lead many of them to their deaths — whether in the ocean or, as in this case, at Spain’s border in the autonomous city of Ceuta.”

Live footage of the border showed hundreds of migrants gathered on a hill overlooking Ceuta being dispersed with tear gas by Moroccan forces, while others continued to swim to the Spanish territory.

At the same time, large groups of migrants walked back from Ceuta toward Morocco to return home.

Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers association representing Civil Guard officers, called the situation a “serious humanitarian crisis," saying thousands of migrants, including unaccompanied children, were left sleeping in parks and on sidewalks, while others roamed the streets aimlessly.

“People are still entering. The reinforcements, including Spanish military troops, that have arrived are only helping the injured and other humanitarian efforts,” he said. "It’s chaotic.”

People died in border chaos

Among the 18 who died, many drowned, Sbihi said, but some were also killed in a stampede to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach, an urban beach near a border checkpoint with Morocco.

Ahmed Karim, a 33-year old Moroccan, said he had crossed into Ceuta because of the lack of jobs in his country.

“Many people want to go to Europe, America, but they don’t have the opportunity,” Karim said.

On Friday morning, the waters near the border fence were littered with buoys, shoes and other belongings left behind.

Moroccan police deployed additional personnel, used water cannons and fired warning shots into the air to prevent migrants from crossing into Ceuta, according to rights groups in Morocco.

“Despite the heavy police presence, people crossed through the waterway, while the land border remained closed,” said Achraf Maimouni, a human rights activist in Fnideq, the Moroccan city bordering Ceuta.

Migrants arrested at the border were taken farther into Morocco, away from Ceuta, “but people are still coming,” he said.

Morocco’s ambassador to Spain expressed hope that those who crossed from Morocco into the Spanish exclave would return. Karima Benyaich described the situation in Ceuta as difficult, saying it had unfolded against Morocco’s wishes.

“We have always prioritized legal, orderly and safe migration for all,” she said. Benyaich did not comment on what prompted the migrants to cross into Ceuta.

But authorities in both Ceuta and Madrid, linked it to a recent decision by Spain's Supreme Court that ruled migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported, unlike those who cross by land or climb the border fence.

Sánchez said migrant smugglers misinterpreted the ruling, but acknowledged that it may have played a role in sowing chaos.

“It appears that this interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling spread like wildfire over the past few hours through the networks of human trafficking organizations, triggering the kind of mass surge we witnessed yesterday," Sánchez said.

Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for migrants seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries.

To reach Ceuta, located on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.

Spanish leader criticized at home and abroad

Sánchez has bucked the anti-migration trend that has gained ground across Europe and in the U.S.. While the Trump administration and other European countries have tightened their borders and stepped up deportations, Spain earlier this year moved to give residency and work permits to hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in the country without permission.

Sánchez, a Socialist, argued that it would be good for the economy and the demographics of an aging Spain. Migrants who entered irregularly after January 1, 2026, were not included.

But his critics have jumped the opportunity granted them by the endless reels of young Moroccans streaming into Ceuta to attack his policy, saying it encouraged more migrants to come to Spain.

“Sánchez allows Spain to be invaded through Ceuta,” Spanish conservative politician Isabel Díaz Ayuso wrote on X.

Sánchez on Friday distanced the migrant legalization push from the events unfolding in Ceuta.

The chaos had ripple effects abroad as well. Premier Giorgia Meloni threatened to suspend Italy’s open-border Schengen agreement with Spain “to defend our borders and ensure the safety of our citizens,” even though Italy doesn’t share a border with Spain and is also a main entry point for tens of thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa each year.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France would also strengthen border checks with Spain, writing on X that he had activated the Rapid Intervention Border Force.

“This crisis in Ceuta has nothing to do with the regularization of migrants adopted by the Government of Spain, as is being falsely claimed by some," the Spanish government said in a statement late Thursday after Meloni's announcement. It also summoned Italy’s ambassador in Madrid.

“This crisis stems from an interpretation of a Supreme Court’s decision, according to which people who swim illegally across the border cannot be returned," the Spanish government said. The decision has been exploited by smugglers who take advantage of vulnerable migrants, it added.

Some activists in Morocco expressed doubt that the ruling was behind the surge, arguing most migrants would have been unaware of such legal decisions.

Migrants cross into another Spanish exclave

Migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, Spain’s other territory at the tip of North Africa.

There was widespread chaos in Bni Nsar, the Moroccan town bordering the Spanish territory, where migrants clashed with police, throwing rocks and setting police vehicles ablaze, according to local media and rights groups. They reported injuries among security forces and the arrest of dozens of people attempting to cross.

Omar Naji of the local branch of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights told the AP that the crossing attempts into Melilla appeared to be linked to the situation in Ceuta.

Like Ceuta, Melilla is a Spanish autonomous city on the North African coast. Many Moroccans consider both cities to be occupied territory.

Ceuta authorities had warned of a looming crisis

Juan Jesús Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s regional government, had warned earlier this week that migrant reception centers were overwhelmed as arrivals by sea had steadily been increasing before the chaos erupted Thursday.

Spain’s Interior Ministry would not confirm the number of migrants who had made it to Ceuta but said it would publish its next migration report on Monday.

Spanish media, citing unnamed government and security sources, estimated between 30,000 and 49,000 migrants had crossed in the past 24 hours. A member of Spain's civil guard who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release figures to the media said that 49,000 people were estimated to crossed. That's more than half of Ceuta's nearly 84,000 population.

Sbihi, of the civil guard workers association, said it was difficult to know exact numbers but believed tens of thousands of migrants had made it through.

Ceuta has been a Spanish possession since 1580. Its mixed population of Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers, lives in relative harmony.

——

Naishadham reported from Madrid, Brito from Barcelona, Spain. AP journalists Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, and Antonio Sempere in Ceuta, Spain, contributed.

Rescuers recovered 32 bodies from the mine on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and were working to retrieve the remaining two, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said in a statement.

Mine inspector Ghani Baloch said authorities initially believed 42 people had been inside the mine when the explosion occurred Thursday.

Balochistan’s Minister for Mines and Minerals Shoaib Nosherwani expressed condolences to the victims’ families and announced compensation of 500,000 Pakistani rupees (about $1,800) for the family of each victim. He said authorities would investigate the cause of the explosion and review safety measures at coal mines across the province.

Deadly accidents are common in Pakistan’s coal mining industry, particularly in Balochistan, where many mines lack adequate ventilation, gas-monitoring systems and other basic safety measures.

Despite the dangers and low wages, thousands of workers rely on coal mining for their livelihoods in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least-developed province, where poverty and unemployment remain widespread.

“It’s extremely important to us,” said Itai Nixon, who leads the diaspora department for Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. “We’re the state of the Jewish people, not just Israelis.”

Lesley Sachs, who has protested the current Israeli government and chairs the Israel Movement for Progressive and Reform Judaism, also considers a close relationship with diaspora Jews a “strategic asset” for both Israel and Jews worldwide.

So she’s greatly concerned about diaspora Jews losing the sense that Israel can be a homeland for them, especially as rising antisemitism targets them regardless of political and religious affiliations.

“That was always really, really important that everybody around the world, especially after the Holocaust, knows that there is a country that will always take them,” Sachs said in her synagogue in Tel Aviv. “This is already a few generations after, and this is less prominent in their DNA. And I think that this is really a failure on the part of both Israel and world Jewry, that we have not managed to keep that prominent.”

Since 2000, Taglit-Birthright Israel has brought a million Jewish young adults from the United States and elsewhere for a free 10-day “discovery” tour of Israel. The organization’s CEO says it’s more necessary than ever to show what their connection to Israel could be like beyond controversial politics.

“That really increases the importance of my job to expose people to what they give up on,” said Gidi Mark. “What we give them is a mirror.”

The staunch Israel-US relationship shows some cracks

Israel and the United States have long been staunch allies. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington earlier this week to discuss the war against Iran they launched together five months ago.

“The United States is perceived as the best friend of Israel in the entire world, and that’s still the case,” said Tamar Hermann, who directs the Israel Democracy Institute’s Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research in Jerusalem.

Divisions over the ceasefire in the Iran war, however, have weakened Jewish Israelis’ belief that Trump prioritizes Israel’s security — from 64% in March to 26% in June — according to the center.

Amid diplomatic tensions, the role of Jewish Americans who historically lobbied for political, military and financial support for Israel gains new prominence, Israelis said. And that deepens the concern that many young progressive Americans, including Jews, now see supporting Israel in any way as irreconcilable with their worldview.

The decline in support for Israel has become particularly stark since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians in southern Israel, and abducted 251 others. Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

That in turn ignited protests across the United States, especially on college campuses.

“Holocaust, refugees, the importance of Israel in times of need abroad, and the fact that Israel is a small country fighting for its existence … that’s history they read in a book,” Sachs said of younger Jewish Americans. “They weren’t emotionally part of it in any way or any form. And so they look at their values and the things that they believe in. And they don’t see it in Israel.”

Jewish Americans have complicated relationship with Israel

Only about 4 in 10 religious Jewish adults under 45 in the United States say that supporting Israel is “extremely” or “very” important for their Jewish identity, while about half of older religious Jewish adults do, according to the AP-NORC poll.

The survey of 1,022 Jewish adults — including people who identify as Jewish by religion and religiously unaffiliated people who identify as Jewish through culture, ethnicity or family background — also found that only about half of religious adults say Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza are justified. The number drops to 2 in 10 among Jewish adults without a religious affiliation.

At the same time, about 6 in 10 Jewish adults say prejudice against Jewish people is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the United States today.

To many Israelis, safety threats against Jews make it all the more tragic — and dangerous — that young Jewish Americans do not see the state of Israel as a refuge or even an ally.

“Antisemitism sadly helps us to explain why a Jewish homeland is not a bad idea,” said Asaf Zamir, a deputy mayor of Tel Aviv who served as consul general in New York. “Opposing the government is fine, but you cannot understand your history as a Jew without understanding the part of Israel in it.”

Israel reaches out to secular and liberal Jews in North America

In order to promote deeper attachment between Israel and diaspora Jews, both the government and religious organizations are reinforcing exchange programs. For decades, young Israelis have traveled to Jewish summer camps across North America, and non-Israeli Jews get free trips to Israel.

“To see Israel and meet Israelis is the gold standard,” Itai Nixon said of programs bringing teens to the country.

Taglit-Birthright’s Gidi Mark said that since 2023, with multiple wars, tour participants are fewer — and their reactions to touring Israel have also changed. He recalled one participant shouting “Israel! Israel!” outside his hotel just because he felt safe to express himself.

“These people don’t feel free to experience who they are in the places that they are coming from,” Mark said.

These and other initiatives are focusing on secular Jews and adherents to Reform Judaism. The largest branch of the religion in North America, it emphasizes progressive values such as social justice.

Orthodox Jews abroad tend to have stronger ties to Israel — and Orthodox Jews in Israel tend to see themselves as closer to diaspora Jews than do secular Israelis, Hermann said.

Within the Israeli Reform movement, which is a small part of Judaism in the country, there’s a push to send more young Israelis to the United States, including as camp counselors.

“That kind of action is important, that one-on-one connection saying, ‘You know what, we believe in the same things you do. Really, we have the same ideology in general, and we feel we need to change Israel together,'" Sachs said. “We need to be partners in making Israel the country that we all need.”

Alma Edry, 18, is spending two months as a counselor at a progressive Jewish summer camp in Ontario with teens and young adults from Canada and the United States. She said her biggest surprise has been “that Israel is such a big deal for people outside the country.”

“Most of their friends are anti-Israel,” she said of the campers. “This is their chance to celebrate their connection.”

___

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.

Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind Claude, posted on its website Thursday that it discovered the three incidents after reviewing more than 141,000 evaluation runs.

It had launched a “large-scale” cybersecurity review which specifically looked for evidence whether its AI models were able to access the internet from within testing environments that should have been sealed off, in response to the OpenAI incident, Anthropic said.

Anthropic said the models involved in the incidents were Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Mythos 5 and an internal research test model. The earliest incidents date to April, the AI company said.

“Claude compromised the impacted organizations’ infrastructure using basic techniques,” Anthropic said, such as exploiting weak passwords.

In all three incidents, the AI models were tasked with a “capture the flag” cybersecurity challenge, which Anthropic said has been one of the ways it assesses a model’s cyber capabilities.

The models were given a fictional scenario and told a piece of secret information, or the “flag,” had been hidden on a different machine on the network with the objective of breaking in and retrieving it, it said.

It added that it had already reached out to the affected organizations, which it did not name. Two of them said they had not previously detected the activity. Anthropic said it was “continuing to reach out to the third.”

Anthropic said it conducted its review with Irregular, which describes itself as the “first frontier security lab.”

“Addressing these risks will require closer cooperation across the AI ecosystem,” Irregular said in a post on X.

Last week, OpenAI said its AI models went rogue during an evaluation of its models, breaking into the servers of AI startup Hugging Face. OpenAI described it as a “significant security incident.”

These incidents have highlighted the vulnerabilities in AI security and controls and raised questions over how AI can be safely kept under human control as the technology’s usage becomes more widespread globally.

Researchers have warned for years about risks from technology and the need for stronger AI defensive engineering.

“Safety testing happens before a model is released precisely because we don’t yet know what it is capable of,” Anthropic said on Thursday on its website.

Kok Tin Gan, co-founder & CEO of cybersecurity firm NyxLab, which specializes in cybersecurity and threat detection, believes there will be more such incidents in the future.

“It is increasingly about governing what agents are available to the AI, what authorities they possess, which actions require approval, and how we ensure they remain within scope,” Gan said.

But the future of AI safety extends beyond just the safety of AI models, he said.

“If we simply give the AI a goal and allow it to decide how to achieve it, we should not be surprised when it takes actions that technically satisfy the objective, but fall outside our intended scope or expectations,” Gan said.

Therefore, stepping up the governance of the organizations and authorities behind these AI models is going to be increasingly important, he said.

The 30-year-old entertainer, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, wept after the verdicts were delivered in the District Court of Western Australia state in Perth.

He had pleaded not guilty to six charges of rape, three charges of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of choking in a Perth hotel room in September 2024.

The accuser cannot legally be named. She was 20 at the time.

Three days after the jury began deliberating, they found him guilty of only two of the assault charges which relate to him biting the woman. He testified during his eight-day trial that they were “love bites” and denied his victim had complained that he was hurting her.

He was found not guilty on some charges, but he could potentially face a retrial on three charges of rape on which the jury could not reach a verdict.

Despite the convictions, the Colombian-born entertainer remained free on bail until the case returns to court on Aug. 21 to discuss next steps.

Barrientos had been touring Australia and had already performed in Sydney and Melbourne before he encountered his victim in Perth. He was arrested several days later in the east coast city of Brisbane, where the tour was to end.

Prosecutors alleged the woman initially agreed to have sex but withdrew her consent because she feared for her safety.

Photos of the woman with bruising as well as bite marks on her face and neck were shown to the court.

Barrientos has been free on bail since he was charged and was allowed to return to Britain for several months.

Across the country, Democratic candidates are grappling with their previous positions calling to “defund the police” — a prominent demand during the protests that followed George Floyd's death — by either reimagining public safety services altogether or redirecting some police departments’ funds to other social programs. Now, they are facing tough questions about their past positions.

Democratic leaders fear that the outlier opinions favoring police defunding may again tarnish the party's brand and sink its chances of gaining ground in Congress, governor's mansions and statehouses nationwide.

“It was a serious debate in 2020 that arguably cost us some seats that year and caused us to lose on something where we should have had the upper ground, because a few members of our party wanted to have a stylistic debate rather than one on substance,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist.

Seawright said to avoid being painted as politically toxic on safety issues, Democrats “have to define the narrative before others define us with the narrative.”

That task may become more challenging as the party grapples with a rising left flank that has captivated its base, just as Republicans move to make warnings about crime, immigration and growing support for democratic socialism core to their closing midterm message.

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate reckons with past ‘defund’ rhetoric

In Wisconsin, a swing state known for razor-thin elections that President Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2024, insurgent democratic socialist State Rep. Francesca Hong has upended the Democratic gubernatorial primary by running far to the left in a state where independent and moderate voters are key in statewide races. A single mother and former line cook, Hong has captured the imaginations of liberal Democrats upset with the party establishment.

But she’s also raised concerns among more moderate Democrats that her past support for defunding the police would hurt her chances in the general election against Trump-backed Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany.

“I support defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police,” Hong said in a 2020 social media post after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A year later, while serving in the State Assembly, Hong again posted about Blake, writing: “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option.”

But as a candidate for governor, Hong had softened her tone while not disavowing her past statements. On Tuesday night, in the only televised debate ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, Hong said she did not support cutting police funding.

“The governor cannot defund the police and I’m not here to govern by slogan,” Hong said. “I’m here to make sure that I am the governor that is most serious about public safety, and that means investing in the things that we know prevent crimes.”

New York, Michigan politicians distance themselves from ‘defund’ calls

In neighboring Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a staunch progressive, has faced questions about his past support for defunding the police. Last November, CNN reported that the public health researcher and Rhodes scholar had deleted scores of posts expressing support for defunding the police. He now says he rejects the idea.

And in New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has tried to distance himself from his past criticisms of the city’s police department and a previous call to defund the agency. He is at times still dogged by a set of social media posts he made in 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, where he described the department as “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety” and pushed to “Defund this rogue agency.”

Mamdani apologized for the language during his campaign and stressed that he no longer wanted to defund the agency. He has since moved to ease lingering concerns by retaining his predecessor’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, an establishment moderate respected by the city’s business leaders and law enforcement community. That decision angered some of Mamdani’s progressive allies.

The backtracking illustrates how the politics of criminal justice have shifted since 2020, posing dilemmas for Democrats’ midterm strategy and their ability to enact their preferred solutions.

Memphis voters reject ‘defund the police’ but decry National Guard presence

The stakes are life and death for communities caught in the middle of the political debate.

In Memphis, Tennessee, residents are exhausted at being thrust into the national discourse over crime and safety. The president surged the city with National Guard troops last year as part of an “anti-crime” task force. The task force has faced renewed local backlash after federal agents earlier this month killed a man experiencing a mental health crisis and another person during an altercation while agents executed a drug warrant. The city's local Democratic lawmakers claim that the tough-on-crime policies only temporarily reduced crime while troop presence was at its peak.

“They don’t like how it was done, how President Trump and the governor were able to snap their fingers, and all of a sudden we see federal agents flooding our city,” said State Sen. London Lamar, who represents Memphis and has faced tough questions from constituents and her statehouse colleagues about how to address crime in the city.

But Lamar added that outside of frustrated local progressive activists, residents outraged by the administration's anti-crime crackdown were still skeptical of calls to “defund the police.”

“It's not really sticking because, though it's quietly kept, the vast majority of the community still wants law enforcement's presence,” said Lamar. The debate is a useful distraction, Lamar said, from real conversations over how to boost public safety.

“Our challenges are being exploited for political gain,” she added.

Having released her new single “Shotty” on Friday, Reid wants people to meet the less pristine version of herself: a 23-year-old from Atlanta who falls in love, deals with boy problems and is still finding her way.

“I think people might think I have it all together when I really don't,” said Reid, who is known for performances in “ Euphoria, ” “ A Wrinkle in Time ” and “ The Last of Us, ” which earned her an Emmy in 2024. She graduated from the University of Southern California last year.

“I'm a normal girl trying to figure it out,” she continued.

“Shotty” follows Reid’s debut single, “Clean Sweep,” continuing a music journey she has pursued over the past year. So far, she has recorded more than 25 songs.

Reid said she hopes to focus work on her first EP after wrapping production on Teyana Taylor's feature directorial debut “Get Lite,” giving herself time to shape a project that tells a cohesive story. She's releasing music independently through her label, 1720 Music, saying the approach gives her greater creative freedom while leaving the door open to partner with a major label in the future.

“The indie route, you have a little bit more autonomy of what you want to do and how you do things,” she said.

Reid said ownership also gives her an opportunity to create doors for other artists.

“It’s the most powerful thing,” she said. “I want to sign people. I want to sign songwriters and producers and artists, and give them opportunities.”

Music has quickly become as important to Reid as acting, a career she'll continue with upcoming projects including Netflix’s “Roommates” and “Get Lite.” Preparing for Taylor's film pushed Reid outside her comfort zone as a dancer, challenging her to become more comfortable as a performer.

It's a skill Reid hopes will eventually translate to performing her own music.

“It’s as big and as important as acting is,” she said. “It’s something that I want to continue to do and want to continue to grow at.”

Reid said years in Hollywood prepared her for criticism.

“People didn’t feel like I deserved to win an Emmy, but it’s still sitting in my house,” she said. “It’s still in my mama’s house, so I don’t really care what people say.”

Since releasing “Clean Sweep,” Reid said she has largely stayed away from reading online comments.

“I don’t want to get distracted or discouraged,” she said. “Mostly I’ve been so thankful. The sentiments have been really nice and people have been supportive. ... I'm excited and can’t wait for them to hear more.”

For Reid, music has become more about who she's always been.

“Not everything is gonna be perfect. Not everything is gonna be prim, proper and pristine and eloquent,” Reid said. “Like yeah, that’s a part of me, and I can do that, and I can do it really well. But also … this is me too.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the 13th such meeting of the Republican president's second term "will be a lot of fun and something different for the Cabinet to experience together.”

It will be the first Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Trump's second term after an earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather. During his first term, Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the retreat.

The public portion of Trump's Cabinet meetings has lasted as long as three hours, with the president letting everyone at the table update him on their departments or agencies — with added praise for him personally and his leadership thrown in. In a departure from other presidents, he allows the news media to stay for the duration of the meetings, a move that Leavitt has said proves his commitment to transparency.

More recently, however, Trump has commented on how lengthy the meetings have become. He has begun urging speakers to keep their comments brief, and he has limited the number of oral reports.

“Everybody around here has got a lot to say. But we did that once, and it lasted for like four or five hours. It was a little much,” Trump said at the May meeting.

Camp David was established in 1942 during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency and has been used by every president since.

Roosevelt had enjoyed relaxing aboard a presidential yacht, but the military and the U.S. Secret Service began to worry about his safety on open water during World War II. As a result, Roosevelt asked the National Park Service to find sites within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the White House that he could use for rest.

He chose what is now known as Camp David. He gave it the original name of Shangri-La, from James Hilton’s novel “Lost Horizon.” President Dwight Eisenhower renamed it Camp David, after his grandson and father.

Trump spent more weekends at the retreat in his first term but has visited sparingly in his second, most recently in June for Father’s Day.

In 2019, during his first term, Trump announced on social media that he had canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders — scheduled for just days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — after a bombing in the capital of Kabul killed a dozen people, including a U.S. soldier.

Presidents throughout history have turned to Camp David when they needed security and privacy for sensitive diplomatic talks with foreign leaders. Jimmy Carter took the leaders of Egypt and Israel there in 1978 for talks that produced the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between the two countries.

Camp David is also where Carter huddled in 1979 with representatives of a cross-section of American society. He later delivered a nationally televised speech on energy policy that became known as the “malaise” speech — even though he never said the word.

The camp's primary purpose is to provide presidents a place to rest, relax and recharge.

The 180-acre (73-hectare) retreat, which is run by the Navy and guarded by Marines, has a cabin named Aspen that’s reserved for the president, plus about a dozen other cabins for guests. A main lodge has conference rooms, a dining room and an office for the president.

Guests can take advantage of a range of indoor and outdoor amenities, including a fitness center, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a heated swimming pool and tennis and basketball courts. A chapel offers religious services.

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The unsavory surprises included roaches in the rice, rodent droppings, flies contaminating food, a sewage backup in a food prep area, and even a restaurant with no sink or dishwasher to clean its dishes. Inspectors ordered the kitchens to clean up and fix the problems.

No kitchens in Broward or the Florida Keys were ordered shut last week.

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

**LAS DELICIAS RESTAURANT

748 WEST 49TH ST.

HIALEAH

ORDERED SHUT 7/24

18 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed approximately 3 live roaches inside rice container at kitchen area."

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed approximately 3 live roaches inside rice container at kitchen area. Also observed approximately 3 live roaches under chest freezer at kitchen area.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 1 dead roach on preparation table at kitchen area. Observed approximately 7 dead roaches under preparation table at kitchen area. Repeat Violation.”

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

“Food stored in a prohibited area. Observed raw pork uncovered container inside mop sink at kitchen area. Operator removed during inspection.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Observed cooked pork (48F - Cooling); cooked rice (46F - Cooling); beans (43F - Cold Holding); cooked yuca (43F - Cold Holding); chicken soup (43F - Cold Holding); chicken wings (43F - Cold Holding) ground beef (43F - Cold Holding) on reach in cooler, as per operator from previous day.”

“No currently certified food service manager on duty with four or more employees engaged in food preparation/handling.”

**KELLY’S CAJUN GRILL

1635 WEST 49TH ST.

HIALEAH

ORDERED SHUT 7/20

23 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 4 rodent droppings under preparation table at kitchen area."

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed approximately 10 dead roaches inside reach in freezer at cook line. Observed approximately 3 dead roaches under equipment at cook line. Observed approximately 6 dead roaches inside walk in cooler.”

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

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed food stored on dirty plastic containers at walk in cooler.”

“Floor not cleaned when the least amount of food is exposed. Observed throughout kitchen.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed breaded fish (46F - Cold Holding); cooked chicken (46F - Cold Holding); raw chicken (48F - Cold Holding) on walk in cooler, as per operator less than 2 hours.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food thawed in an improper manner. Observed raw chicken (frozen) in standing water at 3 compartment sink. Employee moved to walk in cooler.”

“Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands. Observed employee coming from bathroom and begin work without washing their hands.”

**PUBBELLY SUSHI

8970 SW 72ND PLACE

DADELAND

ORDERED SHUT 7/20

8 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed approximately 20 live flies inside of plastic bin touching potatoes; on rack outside of walk in cooler and ice machine. Observed 3 live flies on kitchen cooking equipment on dry dish rack in ware wash area. Observed 1 live fly on wall in mop sink next to ware wash area. Observed 2 live flies on box of parchment paper outside of walk in freezer. Observed 2 live flies in air outside of walk in freezer.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed 1 case of potatoes with approximately 20 live flies inside touching product.”

**SUBWAY

20505 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY

CUTLER BAY

ORDERED SHUT 7/24

9 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drain. Sewage water coming up from the floor drain once I start the water in hand wash sink in the preparation area by the 3 compartment sink. The area where the water is backing up cannot be contained. Backup is in the preparation area by the 3 compartment sink.”

“Objectionable odors in bathroom or other areas of the establishment. Observed odor at the kitchen area once the water sewage backed up from the floor.”

“Floor area(s) covered with standing water. Observed standing water in the floor next to 3 compartment sink.”

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

“Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation. Observed manager with no hair restraint while engaged in food preparation.”

**JUST4FUN

5701 SUNSET DR.

SOUTH MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 7/24

1 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“No dishwashing facilities of any kind provided. Observed triple sink removed from establishment, no dishwasher available for proper wash rinse and sanitizing. As per operator, mall had them remove all ware washing equipment and drain was sealed.”

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Eros Emanuel Gehrig, whose driver’s license was suspended, crashed into the Lost City Brewing Company, at 12207 NE 13th Court, according to the North Miami Police Department.

Gehrig, 53, lost control and struck five cars before hitting the front of the building at about 3 p.m., according to police.

Chris Campos, the owner of the Lost City Brewing Company, said the bar was closed when the truck left a large hole in the wall.

“It’s an hour before we open, a half-hour after we were doing some repairs to the fridge that sits on this wall,” Campos said. “It’s really that serendipitous moment where nobody was here and, I mean, if people would have been here, it would have been awful.”

According to a police officer’s arrest report, Gehrig’s Florida driver’s license had been suspended indefinitely on Sept. 12, 2012. He was arrested on a charge of driving with a suspended license.

Police said Gehrig was taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital to be evaluated before being booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Gehrig was released from jail Thursday morning after posting bond.

The cleanup at Lost City is complete for now, and the business has reopened.

A boarded-up wall damaged in the crash has been transformed into a temporary piece of artwork, but Campos says it will take more time to fully restore the business.

“I don’t want to lose any more business,” Campos said. “We’re a small business. We can’t afford not to be open more than a day or two.”

Lugo, who speaks only Spanish, said someone found Coco and brought him to Sandy Paws K-9 Rescue in Fort Lauderdale. But when she went to claim him, the rescue said she did not have enough proof of ownership to take him home.

“When the deputy arrived, he told me to stay outside while he went in to see what was going on,” Lugo said in Spanish.

Desperate for help, Lugo reached out to Local 10 News.

A meeting was arranged in Fort Lauderdale, where Lugo was finally reunited with Coco.

After facing criticism on social media, Sandy Paws Canine Rescue explained why the dog was not released sooner.

“We contacted the initial person who owned the microchip, which was his original breeder. It was a man who was not connected to the family whatsoever,” said Desiree Remington, vice president of Sandy Paws Canine Rescue.

Remington said a few days later, Lugo’s son contacted the rescue, claiming the dog belonged to their family.

“The police advised us we did not need to give her the dog because she didn’t have proof of ownership,” Remington said.

She said everything changed after the rescue saw photos on social media clearly showing Coco with Lugo and her family, providing the additional evidence needed to confirm ownership.

That’s when the long-awaited reunion finally happened.

“There were too many conflicting stories for us to simply hand the dog over the first time she came to our residence,” Remington said.

With Coco back in her arms, Lugo said she was overwhelmed with relief.

“I’m so happy. I feel like I’ve gotten my life back. You can’t imagine what these 15 days without my dog have been like. I’ve suffered so much,” she said.

The death toll rose to 34, the Kumamoto prefectural government said, as rescuers raced to find those still missing after the quake triggered a mall explosion, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed that authorities must secure water supplies by doing “whatever it takes” and called for close coordination with the military and other relevant agencies. The earthquake left thousands of homes without power, but electricity was fully restored by Friday evening. The local power company also said there were no immediate reports of remaining outages.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. As search operations entered a fourth day, it wasn’t known how many people remained missing.

More than 1,500 buildings were damaged, including 179 that were destroyed, according to preliminary assessments by Kumamoto officials.

Officials said one more death and its connection to the quake is under investigation. At least 96 people were injured, including six seriously.

Debris collected at a severely damaged century-old Japanese inn

In Yatsushiro City, another hard-hit area in southern Kumamoto, Kinparo, a 116-year old Japanese inn, was severely damaged, with its roofed main entrance collapsed to the ground, white walls cracked and rooftiles fell.

On Friday, three days after the quake, workers were removing parts of the gate, which is part of a registered historic property that needs to be restored.

Started in 1910, the three-story ryokan with traditional architecture and its hot bath have attracted many fans from the region and across Japan.

“The damage is tremendous and it would require significant repairs, and I can’t even think if or how I can do that,” inn owner Keisuke Matsumoto said. “But it’s a valuable family inn that has been handed down for generations since my great-great grandfather built it, so I do hope to preserve it.”

Inside, his mother Misao Matsumoto said she was not injured in the quake but “I’m mentally discouraged. It’s very painful to see parts of what I’ve lived with and enjoyed for decades crumble to that state.” But she said experts of historic buildings will come in to discuss the reconstruction, so “I have to hang in there."

Across the street from the Kinparo inn, a fish cake shop owner unable to resume his business due to the water cutoff was giving away tube-shaped fish cakes while they are still edible.

Signs for the “chikuwa” fish cake hang from the ceiling. “I just wanted to cheer up this neighborhood,” said shop owner Shinichiro Katayama. He says he cannot clean or check his fish cake machine is intact until the water supply resumes. “I don’t even know if the machine still works. When water supply is back that would be my first step toward a recovery.”

Thousands are without water as heat soars

Kumamoto authorities said nearly 80,000 homes remained without water. More than 9,000 people were staying in shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Fuel has also become scarce as power outages disabled gas stations and quake damage disrupted deliveries from other regions. Many have resorted to sleeping in their cars for privacy, but with the fuel shortage, they struggle to keep the air conditioning running in sweltering temperatures.

Japan's weather agency and the Ministry of the Environment issued an extreme heat alert for Kumamoto city Friday as temperatures peaked at 36 C (97 F).

Hirokazu Sato, who lost his home in the earthquake, said he and his wife and three children would remain in their car until they can move into temporary housing.

“I don’t know how soon I’d be able to move in,” said Sato. “We need to have the air conditioning on throughout the day and night, which uses up gas.”

Kumamoto is also a major industrial hub, and there are concerns that the quake could possibly disrupt semiconductor and auto-parts supply chains for months to come.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a global chip giant that operates a lab in Kumamoto, said all personnel were safe and operations were gradually resuming after postquake inspections found the structure was sound, although detailed inspections and impact assessments were still underway.

Searches continue, with the number of missing unknown

Japanese officials had described Friday afternoon as a crucial point for rescue efforts as some experts say survival chances decline after the first three days.

With search dogs, rescuers continued looking for survivors across the Kumamoto area, including at the collapsed Aeon Mall in the town of Kashima, one of the hardest-hit sites. The complex was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened.

The company said about 3,000 shoppers were evacuated to a parking lot before an explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some staff remained working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Seven of the 11 rescued were confirmed dead, but officials did not say if anyone else is missing.

A search operation had ended at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the Yatsushiro city where a chimney collapsed in the quake, officials said. Of the 11 people dug out there, nine were confirmed dead.

Smaller-scale searches continued Friday at the sites of collapsed houses in badly hit towns in southern Kumamoto. Authorities haven't supplied a firm figure for how many people are missing.

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Ono reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer business writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

Devers did get a sacrifice fly, but Tatis added on to his impressive list of home run robberies.

Tatis tracked Devers' fly ball and leaped to get his glove high above the short wall in right-center at Petco Park to make the catch. He landed and tumbled onto his backside, but flipped the ball to center fielder Jackson Merrill, who tossed it into the infield.

Merrill helped Tatis to his feet and patted him on the chest. Pitcher JP Sears raised his left arm in celebration.

Tatis was an All-Star at shortstop in 2021 and was moved to right field in 2023, after missing the 2022 season with injuries and a PED suspension. He won the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove awards in 2023 and 2025.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Efforts were underway to retrieve the bodies of the four climbers despite the harsh weather, according to senior government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. They did not immediately identify which bodies were found.

Bad weather continued to hamper the rescue effort Friday, according to a statement from the Gilgit-Baltistan region's Chief Minister Amjad Hussain.

The climbers lost contact with their base camp after an avalanche struck Broad Peak while they were attempting to scale the mountain, said Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. “The team has been out of communication since Thursday,” said Haidri, adding that army helicopters were part of the search-and-rescue operation.

According to the Alpine Club, the expedition comprised five Nepali climbers, Pakistani mountaineer Sohail Sakhi, Omani climber Nathira, American climber Mallory Geis, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang, and another foreign climber.

On Friday, China’s government said it was trying to verify whether any of its nationals were among the 10 climbers missing.

“We will provide assistance to Chinese citizens in need and are also willing to offer help in accordance with the needs of the Pakistani side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday in Beijing.

The expedition leader was the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary, “14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible.” His record was surpassed in 2023.

Moving Mountains, a travel company based in Pakistan, announced late last month that the expedition team was on its way to the small town of Askole and wished them a safe journey climbing Broad Peak. The company said this was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be Sakhi’s final one.

Sakhi is a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer, and has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to Moving Mountains’ website.

Geis, 39, lives in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”

Broad Peak, at 8,047 meters (26,401 feet), is the world’s 12th-highest mountain. It lies in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, home to five of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, attracting climbers from around the globe.

Accidents are common during climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan because of avalanches and rapidly changing weather.

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Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. AP journalist E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

The Dodgers open a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox.

The two-way superstar wanted to play Thursday against the Seattle Mariners, manager Dave Roberts said, but it was the team's decision to rest him. Ohtani told the training staff of renewed soreness after Wednesday night's 4-2 win.

“I appreciate the communication,” Roberts said. “I can’t read minds, the training staff can’t read minds, so just for him to communicate that then allows for us to make a decision.”

Second baseman Tommy Edman went 0 for 3 in Ohtani’s place for the series finale, a 6-2 win.

Ohtani has been dealing with knee soreness since June 11 and hasn't pitched since July 3 while also dealing with a right biceps issue. He skipped the All-Star Game in Philadelphia to stay home and receive a lubricant injection in the knee.

He is still serving as the designated hitter. Ohtani was 5 for 7 combined in his last two games against the Mariners, with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored.

"The last couple days he’s been on base a lot more whereas the last part of the road trip he wasn’t, so there might have been a little something to that,” Roberts said, adding that nothing occurred in the game Wednesday to precipitate Ohtani sitting out the next day.

The Dodgers expect Ohtani to return to pitching this season, but they're not rushing him back to the mound.

“If there was something structural, then we would be much more concerned,” Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said Wednesday. “The fact that there’s not and the fact that it does keep improving suggests that we’re on the right path.”

For now, the team doesn't have any plans to shut down Ohtani entirely to give him time to recover from his ailments.

"We're talking about this constantly,” Roberts said. “Nothing should be off the table and nothing is set in stone. So I think it’s more of how he feels. With this new information we’ve got to have new conversations.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Now, AI is becoming a bigger part of healthcare, with hospitals and doctors’ offices using the technology in ways that some say are making care better for patients.

Dr. Jennifer Goldman, a primary care physician and chief medical information officer at Memorial Healthcare, is leading efforts to bring AI into the hospital and the exam room.

“It actually makes healthcare more human,” Goldman said. “I’m no longer having to look at a computer and type during the visit. I can listen more fully to my patients.”

Patients like Alexandra Tuduce Sanchez say the technology also makes communication and coordination between providers easier.

“If you need to see a neurologist or GI doctor, everybody has all the history of what you’re taking, what could be causing some of your symptoms,” Sanchez said.

In the fast-paced and constantly evolving healthcare world, experts say AI tools use specialized algorithms to document and summarize patient visits. They can also help screen patients for diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, earlier than ever.

Goldman said that, with a patient’s permission, she can use her phone during an exam to take notes, and the AI system will automatically transcribe the visit into a medical note.

“If my patients agree to let me use my phone in the exam room to take notes, then it will actually transcribe the visit in a note for me,” she said.

Goldman said Memorial Healthcare has been implementing AI for the past two years and believes the technology is only beginning to change healthcare.

“It makes the world a little smaller,” she said. “It’s not you alone in the exam room. You have the benefit of all the research and the community of physicians around you.”

AI tools can also identify subtle fractures, microscopic tumors and early brain lesions on scans that human eyes might miss.

Studies also show that AI scribes and automated note-taking systems reduce the hours physicians spend on paperwork, helping reduce burnout.

U.S. futures rose 0.5% and oil prices resumed climbing.

The Kospi surged at the open and then wavered, eventually rocketing up 17.9% to 6,695.45, its largest single day gain ever. Shares of South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics surged 28%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix soared 30%.

Despite its big jump Friday, the Kospi remains well below the peak of over 9,000 that it hit in June. It had shed more than 17% in the previous three days as investors dumped technology stocks in part over worries about an AI bubble and rising competition from chipmaking and AI rivals in China. The benchmark's previous largest single day gain, of nearly 12%, was in October 2008 during the global financial crisis.

The rebound followed Microsoft's report Thursday of stronger than expected profits for the last quarter, which were taken as a signal that big spending on AI is translating into profits. Microsoft's shares soared 15.5% for its best day in nearly 18 years.

Traders flooded back into the market to snap up shares in tech companies that had recently swooned over doubts that the huge investments will yield adequate returns.

European shares also advanced in early trading Friday. Germany's DAX rose 0.7% to 25,779.53, while the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.9% to 8,559.92. Britain's FTSE picked up 0.5% to 10,935.00.

In other Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 4% to 64,362.02. Multinational investment holding company and OpenAI-investor SoftBank Group jumped 13.8%, while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron rose 6.2%.

“The market went from throwing AI stocks overboard to fighting for the remaining seats before most traders had finished writing the obituary,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

The dollar bounced back after falling sharply against the Japanese yen overnight, gaining 0.5% to 160.28 yen. Regulators in Japan and the U.S. were suspected of intervening in the market after weeks of the dollar trading above 160 yen, near 40-year highs.

Japan's Nikkei financial newspaper said the intervention was coordinated, with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York conducting what is known as a “rate check” where it asks various banks to provide exchange-rate quotes for currency trades.

Officials from both sides refrained from comment on the matter.

As expected, the Bank of Japan opted to keep interest rates unchanged Friday as it wrapped up a policymaking meeting. Analysts said officials may have stepped into the markets to limit speculative moves linked to the central bank's decisions.

“Intervention in support of the yen may not work any better now than it has previously, but the persistence of the Japanese authorities suggests to us that the yen will remain around the 160 level this year before staging a more sustained rebound next year,” Jonas Golterman of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

The Federal Reserve likewise kept its benchmark rate unchanged at its policy meeting this week. A gap between interest rate levels in Japan and the U.S. has been a key factor behind the yen's weakness.

The euro fell to $1.1509 from $1.1524.

Taiwan's Taiex surged 8%, helped by a 10% jump for chipmaker TSMC.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1%, to 8,976.80.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher, to 25,884.83, while the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.7% to 3,832.26.

An official survey showed China’s factory activity slowed in July, the first contraction in five months. Some analysts believe China’s weak domestic demand and recent typhoons helped to slow manufacturing activity. The economy grew at its slowest annual pace in more than three years in the April-June quarter, at 4.3%.

A meeting of China's powerful Politburo a day earlier had little impact on market levels Friday since no major policy changes were announced.

Oil prices traded lower as tensions between the U.S. and Iran kept the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil transport, largely closed.

Brent crude, the international standard, reversed earlier losses, gaining 0.8% to $87.50 a barrel. It was trading near $72 a barrel before the Iran war began in late February.

Benchmark U.S. crude picked up 0.4% to $83.92 a barrel.

On Thursday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 gained 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 2.8%.

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Chan reported from Hong Kong.

“Frente a esta pasión expropiatoria de la alta política decidimos poner fin a 91 años de historia y reformar la carta orgánica del Banco Central de la República Argentina”, dijo el mandatario en un mensaje emitido por cadena nacional de radio y televisión.

La iniciativa oficial debe ser aprobada por el Congreso, donde el oficialismo requiere de los votos de partidos aliados de la oposición en ambas cámaras para la sanción de leyes.

La del Banco Central es la última y probablemente más ambiciosa de las reformas que ha impulsado Milei desde su llegada al poder en 2023, en su propósito por desregular la economía argentina tras décadas de intervencionismo del Estado.

“La reforma de la carta orgánica del Banco Central viene a poner fin con la estafa de falsificar dinero para financiar la alta política, cuya manifestación más evidente es la tasa de inflación”, argumentó Milei. “Dicha estafa es más conocida como impuesto inflacionario, que permite aumentar ingresos tributarios sin autorización del Congreso”.

Milei, un economista anarco-capitalista, ganó la presidencia prometiendo eliminar los altísimos aumentos de precios de Argentina y revertir sus crónicos déficits fiscales. Más de dos años después, sus amplias medidas de desregulación y austeridad han desacelerado la inflación: la tasa anual, ahora en 33%, superaba el 200% cuando asumió el cargo.

Los puntos de la reforma

-El proyecto establece que la misión fundamental del Banco Central será preservar el valor de la moneda.

-prohíbe de modo taxativo la financiación del Estado.

-Con el objetivo de blindar al presidente del Banco Central y al directorio de “los atropellos de la política”, la remoción de las autoridades monetarias requerirá dos tercios no solo de la Cámara de Senadores, como hasta ahora, sino también de la Cámara de Diputados.

-Se restringe el pago de dividendos por los resultados derivados de la prestación del servicio de liquidez.

Otros proyectos

En paralelo a los cambios en el Banco Central, Milei también anunció un proyecto por el cual incorpora la figura del “shutdown” (cierre) de la administración del Estado, como en Estados Unidos, en caso de un presupuesto nacional deficitario.

“Si durante varios meses seguidos el resultado fiscal es deficitario, el Congreso dispondrá de algunas semanas para devolver las cuentas al equilibrio”, explicó Milei. “Si no lo hace, entrará en vigencia automática el shutdown”.

En la práctica, se paralizarán las actividades no esenciales del Estado, mientras el presidente, el vicepresidente, los senadores, los diputados, los ministros, secretarios y subsecretarios “no cobrarán un solo peso de sueldo”, adelantó Milei.

Milei aclaró que jubilaciones, pensiones, planes sociales, la salud, la seguridad, la defensa nacional y el servicio penitenciario quedarán exceptuados.

Como parte del paquete de reformas, el presidente también impulsará cambios en el mercado de capitales y de seguros.

“Entre todas ellas (las reformas) pondrán fin a 91 años de saqueo, expropiación, impunidad y decadencia y nos permitirán hacer a la Argentina grande nuevamente”, concluyó Milei.

The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.

“The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” Trump said on social media. “As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

Trump announced what he said was an agreement to realize one of the most difficult portions of the Gaza ceasefire while negotiations have stalled and military attacks have escalated in the war that the U.S. and Israel in February launched against Iran, a key sponsor of Hamas.

On Friday, a Hamas official said they have reached an agreement on disarmament, the most crucial part of the ceasefire deal. Israel didn't give an indication that they had agreed.

Officials offer long or unspecific timelines for Hamas to disarm

U.S. and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment of the agreement that laid out a scenario very similar to the one described by Trump and his top aides when the Board of Peace, an international body established by Trump to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, was first formed.

The officials were unable to offer specific timelines for the disarmament of Hamas or other groups that operate in Gaza, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but said the Gaza police force would turn over weapons to the technocratic Board of Peace-backed Gaza administration in the next two weeks.

The Gaza police force, however, does not include the vast majority of Hamas militants and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials.

Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said.

Israel has not responded but has been deeply skeptical

A U.S. official said Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish at least behind-the-scenes control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation.

However, the official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had initially committed to when it agreed to Trump’s 20-point plan, which essentially involves withdrawing its forces from Gaza and committing to ending airstrikes on the territory.

The official said Trump would be “very, very disappointed” if Israel didn't adhere to the agreement. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Tuesday, but neither said much about what was discussed in their first face-to-face meeting since launching the war against Iran.

Israel’s U.N. Mission said it had no immediate comment.

The official added that Iran remains a wildcard in the equation because although it counseled Hamas members not to accept a deal, it is also not in a position to offer the group much support because it is preoccupied with the conflict with the United States.

Hamas previously had insisted on implementing the first phase of the ceasefire before moving to discuss its weapons. The group’s founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and it has been reluctant to give up an arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, that lies at the heart of its identity.

Hamas announced earlier this month, however, that it had dissolved its government in Gaza and was preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of the ceasefire deal.

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Israel’s military now controls more than half of Gaza, leaving Palestinians confined to squalid tent camps and heavily damaged urban neighborhoods.

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Cooper reported from Phoenix, Amiri from New York and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

Preston Tolth is the only person ever charged and convicted in connection with the 2021 disappearance of Begay, a weaver and grandmother of nine from a remote community on the Navajo Nation who has never been found. He acknowledged stealing her truck, beating her and leaving her on the side of the road.

Her case has become emblematic of the heartache felt across Indian Country when loved ones go missing or are killed. Begay's photo appears at marches. Her name is regularly invoked at rallies calling attention to the crisis.

Phoenix police arrested Tolth, 27, on Tuesday after getting a call about a home break-in. Officers found him about a block away, wearing clothing that matched the description of the suspect and carrying a pocket knife, according to court records.

Tolth was released from federal prison in June, five years to the day Begay vanished and two years earlier than his sentence was scheduled to end. The Bureau of Prisons cited a federal statue that counts time served after the commission of a crime but before sentencing, including on unrelated charges, in releasing him early.

Tolth was sent to a transitional housing facility in Phoenix. Under the terms of his plea agreement in federal court, he was not to commit any additional crimes while on supervised release. He also was barred from possessing dangerous weapons.

He faces a single charge of burglary in Maricopa County. Court records did not have an attorney listed for him, and his public defender in the federal case did not respond to an emailed request for comment Thursday.

Esther Winne, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, said the office is aware of his arrest.

“There is a process for handling violations,” Winne said in an email Tuesday, declining further comment.

Gerald Foxworth, an employee at Phoenix Oasis where Tolth was staying, said Tolth returned to the facility drunk on July 4 in violation of program rules. Tolth left on his own after refusing to be transported to a medical center, Foxworth said, and the facility informed Tolth's probation officer.

The U.S. Marshals Service had an active warrant out for Tolth’s arrest when he was picked up by Phoenix police.

The Associated Press left phone and email messages with Tolth's probation officer Thursday requesting comment.

Begay's family said they were unaware Tolth left transitional housing. His arrest is the latest frustration in a case they say has offered little in the way of justice or closure. The eldest of Begay's three children, Gerald Begay, said he is relieved no one was harmed in the break-in.

“(Federal officials) made the decision to release this person. Now he’s out here hurting people,” Begay said. “This could have ended far worse.”

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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

El gobierno abrió 10 centros de registro en diversas partes de Puerto Príncipe, en vecindarios considerados por lo general seguros, mientras decenas de haitianos esperanzados iban llegando poco a poco.

“Puede que sea la primera vez que voy a votar”, manifestó el obrero de la construcción Vadley Bernadel, de 34 años.

Haití no ha celebrado elecciones generales en más de una década, y el país no ha tenido presidente desde que el mandatario Jovenel Moïse fue asesinado en su residencia privada en julio de 2021.

La violencia de las pandillas no ha hecho más que aumentar desde entonces, pero el primer ministro de Haití está bajo presión para celebrar elecciones, teniendo el 13 de diciembre como fecha de la primera vuelta.

“Haití necesita a alguien con visión, alguien que pueda conducir al país en una mejor dirección”, expresó Bernadel, quien lamentó las múltiples crisis de su país.

Hombres armados aún controlan extensas zonas

La violencia de las pandillas ha desplazado a más de 1,4 millones de personas, y hombres armados controlan aproximadamente el 70% de Puerto Príncipe y las principales carreteras que conducen a las provincias Central y Artibonite del país, que también están bajo asedio.

Más del 50% del electorado haitiano vive en esas tres regiones, y no está claro si todos los posibles votantes podrán registrarse, y mucho menos votar, dada la violencia.

“El país puede organizar elecciones en tres meses si decide hacerlo. La pregunta es: ¿qué tipo de elecciones?”, planteó Diego Da Rin, analista del International Crisis Group.

Si el gobierno insiste en celebrar comicios el 13 de diciembre, “una gran parte del electorado va a quedar por fuera de las elecciones”, advirtió.

Da Rin señaló que la policía y una misión respaldada por la ONU han recuperado zonas cercanas al Palacio Nacional en Puerto Príncipe y han logrado otros avances, pero pandillas poderosas aún controlan enormes extensiones de territorio.

“No ha habido avances significativos”, afirmó. “El gobierno no va a poder organizar elecciones en los territorios controlados por las pandillas”.

Jacques Desrosiers, presidente del Consejo Electoral Provisional de Haití, dijo que planea abrir más centros de registro de votantes en las próximas semanas, incluidos 20 en Pétion-Ville, considerada una de las zonas más seguras.

En cuanto a la posibilidad de abrir centros en otras comunidades, indicó que eso está en manos del gobierno haitiano.

Los haitianos temen morir mientras el país se prepara para las elecciones

El abogado Francky Cavetan dijo que no planea votar porque es demasiado arriesgado, pero sí visitó un centro de registro por curiosidad.

“Aquí no va a haber elecciones porque el gobierno y el consejo electoral le están mintiendo a la población”, sostuvo. “Están haciendo creer a la gente que las elecciones traerán seguridad, pero tiene que haber seguridad antes de las elecciones”.

Más de 5.900 personas murieron el año pasado en todo Haití, y más de 1.600 más entre enero y marzo de este año, según las Naciones Unidas. Además, en el primer semestre del año se reportaron 5.500 incidentes de violencia de género, y el 70% de los casos involucró violación, muchas de ellas violaciones en grupo cometidas por pandillas, dijo recientemente Farhan Haq, portavoz adjunto del secretario general de la ONU.

Cavetan cuestionó cómo siquiera harían campaña los candidatos. También estaba molesto porque cree que un gran número de haitianos no sabe que también se les pedirá participar en un referéndum el mismo día de las elecciones, mientras el gobierno impulsa cambios a la Constitución del país.

“Ni siquiera le están explicando a la gente qué es lo que planean cambiar en la Constitución”, señaló Cavetan.

Da Rin coincidió con ese sentir y apuntó que el público todavía no sabe qué cambios busca el gobierno.

Sin embargo, su mayor preocupación en torno a las elecciones es la seguridad.

“El desafío para las autoridades en este momento es organizar elecciones sin haber derrotado a las pandillas y disminuir lo máximo posible la influencia que tengan sobre las elecciones”, explicó.

Da Rin indicó que los vínculos de larga data entre las pandillas y ciertas élites poderosas en Haití siguen activos.

Desde hace tiempo, las pandillas han sido utilizadas para intimidar a los votantes o convencerlos de elegir a determinados candidatos, así como para destruir urnas cuando algunos miembros de la élite haitiana creían que sus candidatos podrían no ganar, señaló Da Rin.

“Las pandillas han sido como un instrumento muy importante para las élites para hacer ganar a sus candidatos en las elecciones”, afirmó.

En un centro de registro en la comunidad de Laboule, sólo tres personas se habían inscrito una hora después de que abrieran las puertas.

Victor Valensky, conductor de un colorido autobús conocido como tap-tap, era uno de ellos.

Dijo que estaba enojado por la situación de su país, pero también temía la violencia de las pandillas.

“Quiero participar en las elecciones, pero tengo que asegurarme de estar a salvo”, expresó el hombre de 38 años. “Si muero ahora, probablemente mi esposa no podrá mantener sola a mis dos hijos… Voy a ser muy cuidadoso antes de salir el día de las elecciones”.

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Coto informó desde San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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

“El Estado colombiano está preparado para garantizar la seguridad antes, durante y después de la posesión presidencial", aseguró la ministra de Defensa encargada, Angélica Verbel López, en un comunicado de prensa.

La seguridad será reforzada tanto en Cali, capital del departamento Valle del Cauca, como en sus municipios aledaños que incluyen a Jamundí, donde hacen presencia las disidencias de la extinta guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) que no se acogió al acuerdo de paz firmado hace una década con el Estado.

El Ministerio de Defensa indicó que fortalecerán la inteligencia militar para anticipar o detectar “cualquier acción criminal”, lo que se une a la recompensa de hasta 157.000 dólares ofrecida por la alcaldía de Cali por información sobre posibles ataques.

También será restringido el espacio aéreo de Cali para sobrevolar drones. Sólo podrán operar los drones desplegados por la fuerza pública para labores de vigilancia.

Las disidencias de las FARC suelen ejecutar acciones criminales de alto impacto, usando explosivos usualmente lanzados desde drones, lo que ha cambiado la dinámica del conflicto armado en los últimos dos años.

Los militares y policías que serán desplegados en la zona tendrán especialidades de antiexplosivos, operaciones especiales, artillería, vigilancia, transporte y evacuaciones aeromédicas, agregó el reporte.

El esquema de seguridad será complementado por helicópteros y aviones militares que sobrevolarán la ciudad.

De la Espriella decidió posesionarse en Cali rompiendo la tradición de jurar en Bogotá como sus antecesores para dar un mensaje a los grupos armados ilegales a los que prometió mano dura en su gobierno.

“Bandido que no se someta, lo vamos a dar de baja", dijo De la Espriella el jueves en una declaración a la prensa en la que dio “menos de una semana” a los ilegales para que se rindan. "Luego no digan que no se los advertimos”, agregó.

De la Espriella, quien ha denunciado amenazas en su contra, insistió en que cortará con la política de negociación de paz con los ilegales que sostuvo el saliente presidente Gustavo Petro.

Petro desconoció la victoria de De la Espriella, su férreo opositor, pese a que la autoridad electoral lo declaró ganador sobre el oficialista Iván Cepeda, lo que derivó en la suspensión de la transición de gobierno entre las entidades.

No obstante la tensión política, De la Espriella ha continuado armando su equipo de gobierno y preparando su asunción al poder. El jueves anunció como ministra de Salud designada a la abogada Ana María Vesga, a quien le encomendó “superar la crisis humanitaria, financiera y de confianza que enfrenta la salud”.

“A partir de hoy, Chile y Venezuela comienzan una nueva etapa, que nos va a permitir avanzar en tremendos desafíos que tenemos como países en un mismo continente, desafíos que hablan de seguridad, de migración y de desarrollo económico”, dijo en una declaración a la prensa el mandatario chileno, José Antonio Kast.

La reactivación de las relaciones consulares es el primer paso hacia la reanudación plena de los vínculos bilaterales entre las dos naciones, cuyos lazos menguaron por completo a partir de julio de 2024, cuando el entonces presidente chileno Gabriel Boric cuestionó la transparencia de las elecciones venezolanas que según el Consejo Nacional Electoral de ese país ganó Nicolás Maduro sobre el candidato opositor Edmundo González, algo que desconoció la oposición y varios países de la región.

“Quiero valorar la disposición del gobierno venezolano y saludar a la presidenta encargada, Delcy Rodríguez, por la disposición a avanzar en esta hoja de ruta conjunta”, agregó Kast.

Por su parte, el canciller chileno, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, enfatizó que la medida permitirá que “los 700.000 venezolanos que se encuentran en Chile podrán empezar a recibir la asistencia consular, lo mismo para los cerca de 25.000 chilenos" que viven en Venezuela. “Esta es una buena noticia para ambos países”.

Las actividades consulares en los dos países están suspendidas desde enero de 2025, cuando Venezuela determinó el cese de los servicios a raíz de la crisis diplomática. Desde entonces, los consulados se mantienen cerrados y sin atención al público.

Con el anuncio del jueves, Chile sigue los pasos de países como Perú y Estados Unidos que igualmente pusieron en marcha una hoja de ruta para retomar las relaciones con Venezuela.

En marzo Washington reabrió formalmente su embajada en Caracas tras el restablecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas plenas con el país sudamericano, después de que el gobierno de Donald Trump capturara a Maduro durante una operación militar y lo trasladara a Estados Unidos.

La semana pasada, Perú y Venezuela también informaron que han iniciado “un proceso progresivo de reanudación integral de las relaciones bilaterales” las cuales estaban rotas desde el 30 de julio de 2024.

De acuerdo con el último censo en Chile, divulgado en 2025, los venezolanos componen la mayor población internacional que vive en el país y representan el 41,6% de toda la población nacida en el extranjero.

En los últimos años, las tensiones entre los dos países han adentrado también la arena social, ya que el país sudamericano se volvió uno de los mayores países receptores de inmigración en América Latina. La población migrante saltó desde el 0,8% en 1992 al 8,8% en la actualidad.

El flujo migratorio descontrolado se convirtió en uno de los ejes de la carrera electoral por la presidencia de Kast, ya que muchos chilenos, incluso el gobierno, vinculan la llegada masiva de extranjeros con un aumento de la delincuencia.

Durante la campaña electoral Kast prometió implementar un gobierno de mano dura contra la violencia y la inmigración irregular y, tras asumir la presidencia el pasado marzo, reafirmó su compromiso con poner en marcha expulsiones masivas e impulsar un proyecto de ley para convertir la situación migratoria irregular en un delito.

Estimaciones oficiales calculan que alrededor de 336.000 personas, en su mayoría venezolanos, se encuentran viviendo en Chile sin los papeles necesarios.

The death was in Palm Beach County. There have been 12 more infections statewide so far this year, including two more in Palm Beach and two in Miami-Dade County, according to the FDOH’s data.

The other eight cases were in Bay, Hillsborough, Lee, Marion, Okaloosa, Polk, and St. Johns counties, according to the FDOH. Last year, there were five deaths and 33 cases.

Eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, and swimming in marine waters with an open wound increases the risk of exposure to the bacteria, according to the FDOH.

People with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of severe and life-threatening illness with symptoms such as fever, chills, septic shock, and blistering skin lesions, according to the FDOH.

FDOH data

Jessica Treviño, 34, filed a lawsuit through her attorney this week asking a federal judge to intervene.

Treviño and her husband were arrested in December after federal agents followed them into a Home Depot parking lot in South Texas. Both were deported and are living in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas. Their three children, all U.S. citizens, are living with family on the U.S. side near the border.

After being brought to the country as a child at the age of 7, Treviño subsequently received legal permission at 20 to remain in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Introduced in 2012, DACA does not confer legal status but has allowed hundreds of thousands of people who had come to the U.S. as children to temporarily remain and obtain work permits.

As a DACA recipient, she must maintain a clean criminal record and is not allowed to travel outside the United States.

Her attorney, David Rozas, filed the lawsuit. He noted her status and work permit were most recently authorized until April 2027.

Last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent her a notice of intent to terminate her status for “unauthorized travel outside of the United States on or about March 25, 2026," the same day she was deported from the country by the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment as of Thursday afternoon.

Rozas filed a petition asking a federal judge in Brownsville to declare the woman's expulsion was unlawful, order the government to facilitate Treviño's return to the U.S. and allow her DACA status to remain valid.

“The government had no lawful basis to remove her, and we filed this petition to demand she be brought back home,” her attorney added.

An immigration judge under the Justice Department had issued a voluntary departure order for Treviño in February while she was in ICE custody, but a valid DACA status prevents the Department of Homeland Security from deporting her.

“I would be so blessed to be able to go back home, because that’s what I long for most right now. I’m really desperate. It’s been seven months since I’ve been home,” Treviño said Thursday. Her three children are set to start school next month and their mother said she would like to be there.

The current Trump administration has deported 86 DACA recipients and arrested 241 others, according to a DHS letter sent in February to Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois.

Advocates for DACA recipients say Treviño's deportation is part of a pattern.

“This is what a deliberate, systematic effort to destroy DACA looks like in practice: target recipients one by one, manufacture justifications after the fact, and leave their children to grow up without them,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a policy organization defending immigration rights.

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This story has been revised to correct that Treviño arrived in U.S. at age 7, not 8, later receiving DACA status at 20 years old.

Darnold was asked Thursday if he feels the narratives about him have gone by the wayside. For years, the discourse on Darnold centered around him being a bust, considering his pedigree as a former No. 3 overall pick, and a transient quarterback who hopped from team to team. Darnold’s first year under center for the Seahawks, after all, marked his fifth team in eight seasons.

Despite the scrutiny, Darnold said his confidence in himself has never wavered.

“I don’t allow myself to really pay attention to anything like that,” Darnold said five days into training camp. “If I do catch wind of it, I have my process on how to handle that. Like I said, it’s just about handling my process and doing it my way, so that when I get out there, it’s not about what I’ve done or what I’m going to do, it’s about what I’m doing right now.

“I think if I just continue to have that mindset as we go on, we’ll be just fine.”

What Darnold is more interested in is getting up to speed with the Seahawks’ new offensive scheme.

First-year offensive coordinator Brian Fleury and Darnold have some familiarity with one another, though. Fleury spent the last four years as the 49ers’ tight ends coach, and Darnold was San Francisco’s backup for the 2023 season.

Darnold has enjoyed getting to reconnect with the stoic Fleury, who has been tasked with replacing current Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak.

“Whether it’s a good play or bad play, his mentality never changes out there on the field, which I already knew about, being in San Francisco with him,” Darnold said. “But, he was always very even keel. Now, getting to spend a lot more time with him as the offensive coordinator, it’s fun to be able to watch him work every single day and see his mentality out there.”

Darnold would also like to keep working on his report with wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, who signed a $51 million, three-year contract in March.

Shaheed, who had 59 catches for 687 yards and two touchdowns last season for Seattle and New Orleans, spent a good chunk of the offseason training with Darnold. The two Southern California natives teamed up at Saddleback College in Orange County, which Darnold imagines will only help Shaheed further get up to speed with the Seahawks ahead of his first full season in Seattle.

“He’s a friendly receiver to throw to,” Darnold said. “... I’m looking forward to him continuing to get more reps and build that chemistry so that we can see him more often getting catches and doing his thing at the receiver position.”

Fans will have plenty of chances to get sneak peaks of Darnold’s and Shaheed’s progress on the HBO show “Hard Knocks”. As the quarterback of the reigning Super Bowl champions, Darnold understands he very well may be one of the focal points of the show.

It’s an impending experience Darnold is prepared for ahead of his ninth NFL season. After a second straight Pro Bowl season, Darnold has proven he belongs among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks after a much-criticized beginning to his professional career.

While Darnold isn’t one to reflect on how far he’s come, coach Mike Macdonald is more than willing to shower praise on his even-keeled quarterback as the Seahawks seek to defend their Super Bowl title.

“The thing I appreciate about Sam – and you can’t speak for everybody — but just every rep is a rep,” Macdonald said. “If it’s in the quarterback room and they’re going over the script, he treats that rep the same as he does here, if it’s practiced online or we’re in a game. It’s all the same. That’s the mental approach that we want all of our guys to take.”

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

The recording, released by Mississippi authorities this week, captures a July 4 call to a private marine towing company requesting assistance for a boat that was taking in water off Horn Island, where Wells was last seen.

“Our bilge pump stopped working. We’re sinking. Can y’all please come?” the caller asks, noting that there were about seven people on board. The dispatcher then speaks with a captain for the towing company, who said a relative of the boat owner reported those onboard had solved the issue and "don't need any help right now.”

The distress call was made to Sea Tow, a private company, and released to media outlets by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Law enforcement officials have said they were told by witnesses that Wells was not on the boat when it left the island.

Speaking at the National Urban League Conference on Thursday, the civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Wells' family had retained audio engineering experts to review the recording. The legal team is also calling on prosecutors to include outside authorities in the review of phones belonging to friends who traveled with Wells to the island.

A voicemail left with the Jackson County District Attorney’s office was not returned.

Wells' parents also attended the conference, pleading for anyone with information to come forward. “We will not rest until we get answers," said his mother, Christine Wonsley.

Online speculation and suspicion mount

The teenager's death has touched off rampant speculation, deepened in part by uncertainty about his final hours, distrust of law enforcement and Mississippi’s long history of racist violence.

The teenager, who was Black, had traveled to the uninhabited island with a group of friends from high school, all of whom were white. He did not return with his friends to the mainland that evening. His body was found two days later off the island’s coast.

A day after the discovery, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating with authorities and that investigators did not suspect foul play. The sheriff has released few details since but has said the investigation is ongoing.

An independent autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family was inconclusive about the cause of his death. The official autopsy will remain sealed until a grand jury reviews the evidence, which is a standard practice in Jackson County, according to the local district attorney.

In the absence of new information, social media users have seized on videos and photos shared online. Some have made unsubstantiated claims against Wells’ friends, whose attorneys and family members have since reported death threats and doxing campaigns.

Following the release of the dispatch call this week, online sleuths quickly tracked down some of the people mentioned in the audio.

In a statement Wednesday, the parents of a 21-year-old said their son had been doxed and threatened as a result of “outright fabrications” stemming from the audio.

They said he had boarded the malfunctioning boat to help, then briefly towed it a short distance with his own boat. He has since cooperated with law enforcement, provided names of potential witnesses and allowed authorities to inspect his boat and GPS device, the statement added. An attorney for the family said they had already served one person with a cease-and-desist letter for alleged defamatory claims and planned to serve others this week.

Crump defends the attention on the case

On Thursday, Crump rebuffed criticism that his attention on the case could inspire online targeting of others. He noted that Wells’ parents also have faced online attacks.

“We’re not trying to cast aspersions on anybody, we want the truth,” Crump said. “If it was your child, you’d want the same thing."

The attorney was also joined Thursday by relatives of Tyler Smith and Daniel Erving, two Black 18-year-olds who died in recent months, in circumstances that Crump described as “very similar” to Wells' final hours.

Smith, a recent high school graduate from Lexington, Kentucky, died on July 4 from a gunshot wound that police said was accidental and self-inflicted. His family has disputed the determination. Police said the investigation remains ongoing.

Erving drowned in a Texas lake in April after jumping from a railway bridge with two teenage friends, local authorities said. Earlier this month, the two friends were charged with evidence tampering because they had “failed to report the incident and later discarded items belonging to Daniel,” according to a Dallas police spokesperson.

Relatives of both Erving and Smith said their concerns about the investigations had not been taken seriously by local law enforcement.

“Three 18-year-old Black boys all within three months,” Crump said. “We want answers.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and cosponsor of the bill, sent out a social media post that said “The cap is a hard cap. Full stop. That loophole is closed.”

But the refusal by the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference to sign off on changes to the Protect College Sports Act during a frenzied week of negotiating is a sign that they do not agree with Cruz's assessment and would like to see stronger language in the bill.

The Senate broke for the weekend late Thursday without taking action on the bill. It goes on vacation next Friday and the likelihood of the bill reaching a vote before then has grown slim.

One of the key concessions made over the past week was the addition of an up to $27.5 million (up from $25 million) “retention pool" that could be used to keep players on rosters. It would be added to the $21.3 million salary cap already in place to make the new number $48.8 million.

The new cap would then presumably include many of the third-party name, image, likeness deals that circumvent the current cap — many arranged by schools' multimedia rights groups. The bill would restrict future third-party deals to what Cruz called truly “open market” deals.

The Senate negotiators say language in the bill already does that.

“Some commissioners want more: bar any company doing business with a school from signing that school’s players,” Cruz said in his post. “So a QB couldn’t sign with Nike because Nike has a separate contract with his university. That’s not protecting a cap. That’s blocking a kid from selling his own name.”

A letter to the conferences from a key negotiator, obtained by Yahoo Sports, spelled out how the language in the bill deals with the commissioners' concerns.

The letter also addressed concerns that the new salary cap would blow past revenue-sharing amounts established in the House settlement, which dictates the terms of paying players.

“To the extent the current House settlement framework or its implementation treats these payments differently, federal statute, and the rules that are protected by it, trump the settlement,” it said.

The letter did not explain how and plaintiffs' attorney Jeffrey Kessler has said he would need to see the legislation before weighing in on how it impacts the settlement.

The NCAA, which has supported the bill, put out a statement from President Charlie Baker acknowledging the shrinking window to get this done.

“While no bill is perfect, I implore college sports leaders and Senators to support this bill now," Baker said. "It is our best chance to deliver the benefits and level playing field student-athletes deserve while providing the protections institutions need to sustain college athletics long-term.”

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

Friday will feature a sun/cloud mix and southwest winds, sustained five to 10 mph. Temperatures will make a run for the mid-90s. If Miami reaches 95°F, it ties the record high for the date. Early or late afternoon showers and storms could develop.

Minnesota IT Services said state officials had yet to identify who was behind the attacks that took place Sunday and Monday. There were no reports that residents had been impacted by the attacks, though one city asked residents to conserve water for a couple hours while they tried to determine what was wrong.

The FBI, which is investigating, has not publicly identified a culprit and a spokesperson declined to say Thursday who the bureau thought might be responsible. The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other agencies warned in an advisory last week that Iranian hackers have been targeting water and wastewater systems and the operational controls other critical infrastructure sectors.

Digital warfare has become ingrained in military conflict, and local water plants or healthcare facilities often lack the funds and know-how to install the latest software patches or take other security steps. That has made them a favorite target, both because of the relative ease of penetrating them and because of the panic such disruptions can cause.

Iran has the “geopolitical motivations” and a recent history of targeting water systems, said Cynthia Kaiser, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI's cyber division who has been closely monitoring threats to critical infrastructure from hackers linked to the country.

“I think most credible researchers and responders would be right to treat it like it’s Iran until proven otherwise,” added Kaiser, who is now the senior vice president of Halcyon’s Ransomware Research Center. “When it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's really important to call it out.”

Iran's interest in the operations of water systems inside the U.S. dates back years. In 2016, the Justice Department charged a group of Iranian hackers in connection with a cyberattack targeting a small dam near New York City.

Minnesota IT Services said that as of Thursday, there were no active requests from Minnesota communities for residents to modify usage of their drinking water. The state agency said most of the confirmed attacks involved technology that water systems use to remotely monitor and control equipment. It said that being impacted meant investigators confirmed there was malicious activity involving the system’s technology and didn’t mean every impacted community had their water service disrupted.

The state agency said there are similarities among the incidents, including timing and the types of technology used, but investigators haven’t determined if the same culprit was behind each one.

For a few hours on Monday, the city of Braham asked residents to minimize water use as they tried to determine why the water plant was offline. The city of about 1,700 people, located about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, said in a news release that the water plant outage was due to a cyberattack, but it didn't cause any issue with water quality.

The city said the attackers shut down the operating controls that shut down the well and water treatment plant. That left the city for a time only able to provide residents with the water held in the water tower.

In Plymouth, a city of about 80,000 located outside of Minneapolis, officials said on social media that their water infrastructure communications had been restored by Tuesday afternoon following a cyberattack. The city said crews were able to continue operating the system during the outage and it didn't have any impact on water levels or quality.

U.S. Army veteran and nurse Cynthia Dominique described how she would tackle the district’s severe financial challenges if elected.

“I believe we have to take a holistic approach,” she said. “We have to find a way to pay our teachers more, including the staff who make learning possible, the bus drivers, the cafeteria workers, the custodian staff.”

Candidate Rochelle “Shelly” Soffer is a school speech language pathologist and former teacher.

“When we get the budget, we have to scrutinize the budget,” she said. “Where are we over-spending, where are we under-spending when we make these allocations, when we make these projections? Where are the projections not aligning?”

Both candidates detailed how they would address the district’s declining enrollment as families opt out of traditional public school.

“Why are they looking at these other avenues? What is it that we are not doing as a county that would make them come back?” asked Soffer. “Now we’ve heard safety and security, but we also gotta look at programming.”

Said Dominique: “The programs that we implement, the technology that we implement, we should be scrutinizing everything to make sure it’s actually improving student outcomes and we’re getting a return on our investment.”

School board elections are nonpartisan.

While you do have to be registered to vote, you are not required to be registered with a political party in order to vote for who you want to see represent your district on the school board.

Election day is set for Aug. 18.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said this week at the Big Ten media days event that any proposed scheduling decisions would have to wait until a final decision comes on playoff expansion. The Big Ten is pushing for a 24-team approach to replace the current 12-team format.

That’s fine with many of the conference’s coaches and athletic directors.

“We’ve talked a lot about scheduling in our AD room and with our coaches about what’s coming next and what’s the right way to do things,” Petitti said. “I will tell you that our focus now is seeing clarity around the playoff and access and how that’s going to work before we make the next decision.”

Scheduling moves by other conferences have left the Big Ten as the lone holdout in this regard. The Big Ten has won the last three national championships, and none of those teams — Michigan in 2023, Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana last year — played a nonconference regular-season game against a Power Four program.

In the past, the Big Ten could point to its nine-game conference schedule as a reason it didn't need to force tougher standards in nonconference scheduling since some other Power Four leagues were only playing eight conference games.

That's no longer the case.

The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference are adopting nine-game league schedules this year, and the Big 12 already was doing so. Those leagues make their teams have at least one nonconference game against a Power Four team or Notre Dame, though some Big 12 teams are using matchups with Washington State or Oregon State to fill the requirement because those games were scheduled before the previous version of the Pac-12 imploded.

Northwestern’s David Braun and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule said they would welcome a similar requirement, as long as the Big Ten gets its wish regarding postseason expansion.

“If we go into a 24-team playoff, it makes total sense,” Rhule said.

While most Big Ten teams regularly schedule at least one nonleague game against a major conference team, there are exceptions.

For example, this is the third straight season Indiana hasn’t played a nonconference regular-season game against a Power Four team. The Hoosiers host North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky before opening their Big Ten schedule.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said he could foresee college football eventually making changes that allow for a more uniform scheduling strategy among the leagues.

“We play who’s on the schedule,” Cignetti said. “I suspect down the road something will happen with scheduling, sort of standardizing scheduling. You’ve got two conferences (the Big Ten and SEC) that are head-and-shoulders sort of above the rest right now. I think there will be some standardization."

He said it wouldn't surprise him to see it in two or three years.

Other Big Ten teams not playing nonconference games against Power Four members or Notre Dame this season include Nebraska, Penn State, Southern California and Washington. This season is just the second time since World War II that USC hasn’t faced Notre Dame.

Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers and Washington joined Indiana in not scheduling non-Power Four teams last year. New Penn State coach Matt Campbell was asked this week what he’d think about the Big Ten requiring teams to do so.

“There’s been so much going on in our own world that I don’t even know if I can give you an educated answer to that from my standpoint of it … I still think this landscape is constantly shifting around us,” Campbell said. “I think as we settle in, maybe I’ll have a better answer for that when I know what our landscape is.”

That reflects the general lack of consensus among Big Ten coaches regarding whether teams should be required to include a Power Four program in their nonconference schedules.

“Everybody’s going to look at it differently,” said Minnesota's P.J. Fleck, whose team hosts the SEC's Mississippi State on Sept. 12. “I like it because I think playing a team like that prepares you for Big Ten play way earlier.”

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

“Jackson leadership team tells me there’s about 50 Haitian employees who are subject to be terminated due to the TPS (Temporary Protected Status) being revoked by Washington, and it puts a wear and tear on the remaining staff,” she said. “Missed lunches, double shifts; it puts a financial burden on the hospital.”

In a statement provided to Local 10 News, a spokesperson for Jackson Health System said contingency staffing plans to prevent disruptions to patient care are in place, including overtime.

“You know, to pay overtime alone is silly when you just had somebody yesterday who was well-trained,” said Baker. “At Jackson, with our mission to take care of all residents regardless of your ability to pay, it’s just a shame that we would put more stress on the system. Jackson struggles every day to break even.”

The hospital group added that 50 employees affected is a small fraction of their 15,000 employees.

There was a similar sentiment from the spokesperson for Broward Health who told Local 10 news the 47 staff members impacted there represents less than 1% of their total workforce.

A spokesperson for Memorial Healthcare System told Local 10 News they had 27 impacted employees out of 17,000.

“While it may seem like a small number with only 50 being affected, 50 is a big number,” said Baker. “That’s a big number to hire.”

That is especially true for those with specialized nursing skills, like the two she says who worked in the transplant unit.

“Almost similar to an ICU or a step down unit because these patients are so sick and it takes so long, not everybody can work that floor unless you’ve been properly trained,” said Baker. “Two of our Haitian nurses are being sent back.”

She added that filling those vacancies can also take a financial toll.

“They say for every nurse you lose, you lose $100,000, and that’s the cost it takes to hire, to train, to process, to precept, and when they’re what we call non-productive while they’re training for eight to 12 weeks, we’re paying them,” said Baker. “Those dollars add up, all the way back to advertising for a vacancy, and interviewing, adding all the time put together, it’s a significant cost and loss to the system.”

This is happening at a time the Jackson Health System is experiencing patient growth and is actively hiring.

Baker also responded to the the claim that TPS beneficiaries with work permits take jobs away from American citizens.

“That’s a myth in healthcare because there’s too many vacancies in healthcare,” she said. “The problem is, can we survive the shortages were challenged with? So I can’t believe anybody would be turned away from a job in healthcare because some immigrant got it over them, that’s kind of, I think, more politics at its worst. A divisiveness.”

Baker made a plea to those in Congress who have the power to make a difference.

“Do your job,” she said. “We love our Haitian members in our community and at Jackson. It’s disgusting that our senators are allowing this to happen. We are sending our Haitian teammates back to what is probably one the most dangerous countries on Earth today.”

Baker also offered advice for the people being impacted by the loss of TPS.

“Everyone asking, what should I do? Should I show up to work? The main thing I tell them is to speak with your employer,” she said. “You are not allowed to work while unauthorized in the country, but there are different cases, some TPS recruitments who have filed for other forms of relief, so those individuals are a little safer, but it is up to your employer. The employer knows the law, that they cannot have someone working who is unauthorized to do so in the United States. So when I say don’t panic, make sure that you have all your affairs in order, get all your immigration affairs in order, all your personal affairs in order.”

She went on to say that many still feel they are in “legal limbo” because lower courts still need to weigh in on an exact timeline for executing final administrative orders.

“This is not the time to be missing any immigration hearings, any appointments, any ICE check-ins, and I understand there’s a well-founded fear of being arrested, and I can’t guarantee, no attorney can guarantee that that’s not going happen, but I would rather you proceed with the proper procedures than for you to sit here and then there’s a final order of removal because now it just becomes more issues for you,” said Baker.

Full Statement From Jackson Health System:

Jackson Health System recognizes that the expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a difficult and uncertain time for affected employees and their families. Jackson has worked closely with these employees to submit any documentation that could establish continued work authorization. Federal law requires that employees whose work authorization expires and who cannot provide alternative eligibility documentation can no longer remain employed. Jackson has continued to employ affected team members for as long as federal TPS extensions remained in effect, and we would welcome them back should they regain work authorization.

Approximately 50 employees are affected, a small fraction of our 15,000+ team members. We have contingency staffing plans, including per diem staff, agency personnel, and overtime, to ensure uninterrupted, high-quality patient care throughout this transition.

Krysten Brenlla, Media Relations & Branded Content Manager, Jackson Health System

The arrival was fit for a champion, as Inter Miami rolled out the red carpet with a fanfare and a band to introduce the five-time Champions League winner.

Casemiro, 34, who has spent much of his career with European giants including Real Madrid, told fans through an interpreter that he was excited to be in Miami and that he chose Inter Miami because he believes the club is the best team in MLS.

The club also showed off its new Cénit jersey, which features pink, white and Miami blue colors inspired by the team’s new stadium.

The name Cénit means “zenith” or the highest point in Spanish, representing Inter Miami’s goal of reaching the top this season.

The new kit will make its on-field debut Saturday against Columbus, as Casemiro prepares to help Inter Miami defend its MLS title.

Watch more of his introduction in the video at the top of this page.

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Claudia Caglianone’s family said she was detained earlier this month at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

“When people hear about detainees, the picture that comes to mind is somebody that they’ve been told to fear,” said her cousin, Gabriel Dominguez. “When I think of that, I think of a young woman who spent the majority of her life trying to do the right thing.”

The family said Caglianone moved to the United States in 2017, applied for asylum shortly after arriving and received Temporary Protected Status in 2023 while her asylum case remains pending.

“So here we are, standing together and doing the very thing for her that she’s done for so many of us — to show up,” Dominguez said.

He also called his cousin “living proof that the reality is much more complicated than any narrative that could be painted.”

The family said Caglianone spent time at the Miramar detention facility before being transferred to the Pompano facility.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz visited the facility on behalf of the family.

She said she had no concerns about the conditions inside but remains worried about those being held there.

“I am very concerned that there are 671 people in this facility that shouldn’t be here, that should not have been detained in the first place,” Wasserman Schultz said.

“We’ll continue to show up until we bring her home,” Dominguez said.

La familia de Claudia Caglianone informó que fue detenida a principios de este mes en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood.

“Cuando la gente escucha sobre personas detenidas, la imagen que les viene a la mente es la de alguien a quien les han dicho que deben temer”, dijo su primo, Gabriel Domínguez. “Cuando yo pienso en eso, pienso en una joven que ha pasado la mayor parte de su vida tratando de hacer lo correcto”.

La familia indicó que Caglianone se mudó a Estados Unidos en 2017, solicitó asilo poco después de llegar y recibió el Estatus de Protección Temporal (TPS) en 2023, mientras su caso de asilo continúa pendiente.

“Así que aquí estamos, unidos y haciendo por ella lo mismo que ella ha hecho por muchos de nosotros: estar presentes”, dijo Domínguez.

También describió a su prima como “la prueba viviente de que la realidad es mucho más complicada que cualquier narrativa que se pueda presentar”.

La familia informó que Caglianone estuvo detenida en el centro de detención de Miramar antes de ser trasladada al centro de Pompano.

La representante federal Debbie Wasserman Schultz visitó el centro en representación de la familia.

Dijo que no tenía preocupaciones sobre las condiciones dentro del centro, pero que sigue preocupada por las personas que permanecen detenidas allí.

“Me preocupa mucho que haya 671 personas en este centro que no deberían estar aquí, que nunca debieron haber sido detenidas en primer lugar”, dijo Wasserman Schultz.

“Seguiremos presentes hasta traerla de regreso a casa”, dijo Domínguez.

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FWC officials said its officers responded alongside crews from U.S. Coast Guard Station Marathon and U.S. Navy Search and Rescue Key West after the three divers became separated from their boat.

Officials said a Navy Search and Rescue helicopter located the divers within minutes.

Video captured the moments that rescue crews brought all three men and their diving gear aboard a patrol vessel before reuniting them with their boat.

Officials said no injuries were reported.

The FWC thanked its federal partners for their role in the successful rescue.

Funcionarios de la FWC informaron que sus agentes respondieron junto con equipos de la Estación Marathon de la Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos y del equipo de Búsqueda y Rescate de la Marina de Estados Unidos en Key West después de que los tres buzos se separaran de su embarcación.

Las autoridades informaron que un helicóptero de Búsqueda y Rescate de la Marina localizó a los buzos en cuestión de minutos.

Un video captó el momento en que los equipos de rescate subieron a los tres hombres y su equipo de buceo a bordo de una embarcación de patrullaje antes de reunirlos con su embarcación.

Las autoridades informaron que no se reportaron personas heridas.

La FWC agradeció a sus socios federales por su participación en el exitoso rescate.

Mayor Katie Wilson's announcement followed hours of speculation about whether Police Chief Shon Barnes would step down, as some of his supporters said he had rebuffed Wilson’s request to resign.

Wilson said she was appointing Deputy Chief Andre Sayles, a law enforcement veteran with more than two decades of experience, as interim chief.

Barnes told The Seattle Times earlier Thursday that whether he remained as chief was “up to the mayor.” He said he was off for the day and spending time with family.

In a written statement, the mayor said she was grateful for Barnes' service. The statement included comments in which Barnes called it an honor to have served the city.

“I hope this transition gives the city and this department the opportunity to return full focus to what matters most, addressing youth gun violence and preventing more tragedies,” Barnes said.

Barnes was out of town at a law enforcement conference when gunfire erupted last weekend at the Bite of Seattle, an annual three-day festival that draws hundreds of food and retail vendors and performers. Three people, including one suspect, were killed, and four people were wounded. One of the injured was a 2-year-old boy.

Dozens of officers were at the event, and at least one saw a 15-year-old suspect firing into a crowd and quickly persuaded him to surrender, according to court documents. Police are still searching for at least one other person.

While Wilson credited the quick police response with potentially saving lives, she acknowledged that the city was slow to communicate in the aftermath.

After an initial social media post announcing the shooting, it took nearly five hours for police to provide any additional information to the public, including whether there was any ongoing threat. The city also failed to send out any notifications through its emergency alert system. In the meantime Wilson announced that two people had been taken into custody, a statement she later retracted.

Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis finally provided an update around 11 p.m. Sunday during a news conference that was also attended by the mayor, Gov. Bob Ferguson and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

“What I did not fully understand in that moment was how little information had reached the public or the press since the incident began at 6 p.m.,” Wilson said in a video statement Thursday. “Had I known that, I would have pushed for an immediate briefing, rather than waiting for a press conference to be organized.”

Barnes was the second Black police chief in Seattle.

Several Black community organizations, including the Seattle NAACP and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, rallied to try to save his job Thursday. In an open letter to the mayor's office, they credited him with improving relations between the department and the community, helping reduce gun violence and strengthening the department's operations.

“Chief Barnes should not be made a scapegoat for the complex challenges of public safety,” the letter said.

At least six City Council members issued statements supporting Barnes. A statement signed by four of them pointed out that the city has had four chiefs in less than three years.

“Our priority must be stability, not further disruption,” it said.

Barnes was appointed by Seattle's previous mayor, Bruce Harrell, in December 2024 after serving as chief of the Madison, Wisconsin, police department.

When Wilson — a democratic socialist who once supported defunding police — won the mayor's race last year, she kept Barnes on as chief. That was a signal to the city's business establishment and community groups that she did not intend to take a radically different approach to public safety.

“Seattle had been on a positive course on public safety with police hiring trending up and crime trending down,” Jon Scholes, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, said in an emailed statement. “It’s imperative the next chief of police is able to maintain progress that’s been made and instill confidence in our community.”

Barnes faced some criticism for spending time in Chicago, where his family lives. Sgt. Patrick Michaud, a department spokesperson, said Thursday that Barnes has made four trips to Chicago this year and spent in total about 18 days traveling there.

The resignation comes as Seattle heads into another big festival weekend. Seafair Weekend Festival 2026 — a boating event, air show and festival — starts Friday.

Jefry Julian Chaucanes Vasquez, de 23 años y residente de Miami Gardens, enfrenta una larga lista de cargos graves relacionados con ambos incidentes.

El video muestra a los agentes persiguiendo la Ford Escape, propiedad de un investigador de la Fiscalía Estatal, por la US 1 después de que Chaucanes Vasquez salió de la cárcel bajo fianza en Islamorada el 12 de junio.

Las autoridades informaron que había estado encarcelado por huir de los agentes durante una persecución a 125 millas por hora por la US 1 el 9 de junio.

La persecución terminó cuando el vehículo se estrelló cerca de Marathon.

Hasta el jueves, Chaucanes Vasquez había regresado a la cárcel sin derecho a fianza.

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Jefry Julian Chaucanes Vasquez, 23, of Miami Gardens, is facing a litany of felony charges in connection with both incidents.

Video shows deputies pursuing the Ford Escape, belonging to a state attorney’s office investigator, down U.S. 1 after Chaucanes Vasquez bonded out of jail in Islamorada on June 12.

He had been in jail, authorities said, for fleeing from deputies in a 125-mph chase down U.S. 1 on June 9.

The chase came to a crashing end near Marathon.

As of Thursday, Chaucanes Vasquez was now back in jail without bond.

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In a statement to Local 10 News, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed that “pursuant to an FDLE investigation, David Lynch was charged with interception and disclosure of wire, oral or electronic communications.”

Multiple sources familiar with the investigation told Local 10 News that a recording device was discovered attached to Lynch’s office telephone after he was terminated from the town. Those sources said the device was turned over to FDLE investigators.

Sources also told Local 10 News that Lynch allegedly recorded conversations involving senior town officials, including the town attorney and the police chief, without their knowledge.

Local 10 News reached out to Lynch by text message seeking comment. The message was marked as read, but he did not respond.

In a statement to Local 10 News, Pembroke Park Town Attorney Jacob Horowitz said the town is cooperating fully with the investigation.

“The Town of Pembroke Park is aware of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation. The Town takes these matters seriously and remains committed to full cooperation with the FDLE. As this is a pending law enforcement matter, the Town is not in a position to comment at this time.”

Horowitz added that additional questions should be directed to FDLE, which is the investigating agency.

Sources told Local 10 News the recording device was found while town employees were clearing out Lynch’s second floor office after his termination.

Lynch’s departure followed a Local 10 News investigation that uncovered more than $64,000 in taxpayer funded payroll advances, described in town records as a loan, that had been issued to Commissioner William Hodgkins. Town records showed Lynch approved the loan without bringing the matter before the town commission.

Commissioners voted in March to suspend Lynch and later terminate his employment, citing financial management concerns and other issues raised during public meetings.

Pembroke Park Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs has also filed a defamation lawsuit against Lynch. That case remains pending.

Before coming to Pembroke Park, Lynch served as mayor of Euclid, Ohio.

Ohio Supreme Court records show Lynch permanently resigned his law license in 2018 while disciplinary proceedings were pending. The court has not publicly disclosed the allegations that led to those proceedings.

The charge of interception and disclosure of wire, oral or electronic communications is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted.

As of Thursday, Broward County jail records did not show that Lynch had been booked into custody. Sources told Local 10 News that Lynch returned to Ohio following his termination from Pembroke Park.

En un comunicado enviado a Local 10 News, el Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida confirmó que “como resultado de una investigación de la FDLE, David Lynch fue acusado de interceptación y divulgación de comunicaciones por cable, orales o electrónicas”.

Múltiples fuentes familiarizadas con la investigación dijeron a Local 10 News que, después de que Lynch fuera despedido del municipio, se descubrió un dispositivo de grabación conectado al teléfono de su oficina. Esas fuentes indicaron que el dispositivo fue entregado a los investigadores de la FDLE.

Las fuentes también dijeron a Local 10 News que Lynch presuntamente grabó conversaciones de altos funcionarios municipales, incluido el abogado del municipio y el jefe de policía, sin su conocimiento.

Local 10 News se comunicó con Lynch mediante un mensaje de texto para solicitar comentarios. El mensaje aparecía como leído, pero no respondió.

En un comunicado enviado a Local 10 News, el abogado municipal de Pembroke Park, Jacob Horowitz, dijo que el municipio está cooperando plenamente con la investigación.

“El municipio de Pembroke Park está al tanto de la investigación del Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida. El municipio toma estos asuntos con seriedad y mantiene su compromiso de cooperar plenamente con la FDLE. Como se trata de una investigación en curso, el municipio no está en posición de hacer comentarios en este momento”.

Horowitz agregó que cualquier otra pregunta debe dirigirse a la FDLE, que es la agencia encargada de la investigación.

Las fuentes dijeron a Local 10 News que el dispositivo de grabación fue encontrado mientras empleados del municipio vaciaban la oficina de Lynch, ubicada en el segundo piso, después de su despido.

La salida de Lynch ocurrió tras una investigación de Local 10 News que reveló más de $64,000 USD en anticipos de nómina financiados con dinero de los contribuyentes, descritos en registros municipales como un préstamo, otorgados al comisionado William Hodgkins. Los registros municipales mostraron que Lynch aprobó el préstamo sin presentar el asunto ante la comisión municipal.

Los comisionados votaron en marzo para suspender a Lynch y posteriormente despedirlo, citando preocupaciones sobre el manejo financiero y otros asuntos planteados durante reuniones públicas.

El alcalde de Pembroke Park, Geoffrey Jacobs, también presentó una demanda por difamación contra Lynch. Ese caso continúa pendiente.

Antes de llegar a Pembroke Park, Lynch se desempeñó como alcalde de Euclid, Ohio.

Los registros de la Corte Suprema de Ohio muestran que Lynch renunció de forma permanente a su licencia para ejercer la abogacía en 2018 mientras enfrentaba un proceso disciplinario. El tribunal no ha divulgado públicamente las acusaciones que dieron origen a ese procedimiento.

El cargo de interceptación y divulgación de comunicaciones por cable, orales o electrónicas es un delito grave de tercer grado, sancionable con hasta cinco años de prisión y una multa de $5,000 USD en caso de ser declarado culpable.

Hasta el jueves, los registros de la cárcel del condado Broward no mostraban que Lynch hubiera sido ingresado bajo custodia. Fuentes dijeron a Local 10 News que Lynch regresó a Ohio tras su despido del municipio de Pembroke Park.

Human-caused climate change made the hot and dry conditions responsible for Spain's record-sized inferno 20 times more likely to happen, and it doubled the chances of extreme fire conditions for the flames in France, scientists at World Weather Attribution calculated in a rapid analysis Thursday, conducted while fires were still burning. Warming in the past 26 years has tripled the odds of the severe fire risk conditions in Spain and increased the chances in France 40%, the same report found.

At the same time, researchers published a separate study on Thursday — written and edited long before this week's fires began — that found the number of days that Southern Europe's weather reached extreme fire-prone levels has more than doubled compared to decades ago.

Both studies examined changes in the weather that creates fire-prone conditions. The measurements factor in air temperature, drought conditions, humidity and wind.

"The change in these fire weather conditions in Spain is really extremely strong and is, I think, one of the largest changes that I've seen," said Friederike Otto, an Imperial College of London climate scientist who coordinates World Weather Attribution. Spain is having its hottest summer on record, after an incredibly wet January that allowed plants to grow before a severe drought hit, a combination that increased wildfire fuel, the report said.

Spain also had the added problem of land abandonment, which left unmanaged plants and trees to dry out, Otto said. France's Bordeaux region, meanwhile, had thick groves of pines that also burn well when a fire starts, she said.

World Weather Attribution — an international collaboration of scientists who examine extreme events to determine climate change's role, if any — did that study so quickly, the report didn't get peer reviewed, which is the scientific gold standard. But Otto and her colleagues used techniques that are scientifically accepted, and many of their reports are published in peer-reviewed journals later.

Warming world means fires ignite ‘more explosively’

Otto's team calculated how much climate change — from the burning of coal, oil and gas — increased the chances for fires of this intensity to happen. They did so by comparing fire weather severity levels to past measurements for the region and to what they would be if the world was 2.5 degrees (1.4 degrees Celsius) cooler. That is how much Earth has warmed since pre-industrial times.

“This study makes sense and provides numbers to confirm what fire scientists already knew,” said Syracuse University fire scientist Jacob Bendix, who wasn't part of either research. “We have always known that fires ignite more easily and spread more explosively under conditions of extreme heat and drought. And we’ve known for decades that extreme heat and drought are becoming more common due to anthropogenic climate change. So the general outline of these events, if not all the details, was tragically predictable.”

Thursday's other study, in the journal Scientific Reports, finds that there were about 10 extreme fire weather days a year in Southern Europe in earlier decades, but it is now up to around 25 a year, said study author Raúl Cordero, a climate scientist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. And it is not just more frequent bad fire weather days. Those days are about 50% more intense than they were from 1981 to 2010, his study said.

Fires were decreasing until climate change overwhelmed gains

The number of Southern European fires and amount of land burned had decreased quite a bit from the 1980s to 2018, mostly because of better fire suppression and management techniques, Cordero said. But then things quickly got worse fast because climate change overwhelmed that improvement, he said.

“It doesn't matter how many resources or how much money you have, you just cannot stop the propagation of a fire when the weather is so extreme,” Cordero said. “The climate forcing is so extreme nowadays that it's just amazing.”

University of California Merced fire scientist John Abatzaglou, who also wasn’t part of either research, said, “these findings make clear that climate change is not just a future problem, it’s already here.”

“We need to stop burning fossil fuels,” Otto said. “Because as long as we keep burning fossil fuels, temperatures will increase globally. And that will mean that these fire weather conditions will get worse and worse and worse. And there are hard limits to what we can adapt to.”

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

Following a few days of respite, fears of a wider war have grown, with renewed fighting threatening to engulf even more countries. Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person. Also this week, drones caused fires on ships at an Egyptian port, and Saudi Arabia said it came under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The war — which in its early days President Donald Trump said would last four to five weeks, although he warned it could take longer — has caused the price of fuel to spike and roiled the global economy. As months have passed, concerns have deepened about using up the stockpile of weapons the U.S. needs to defend its bases and allies.

The war is unpopular among Americans, and a new AP-NORC poll says Trump’s approval rating on Iran has dipped slightly since last month.

The recent pause in fighting, which began over the weekend and spurred hopes among mediators of diplomatic progress, ended with increasing missile and drone attacks across many countries in the Middle East.

“We note with concern that the security situation remains precarious,” said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, whose country has been a key mediator.

Talks “are ongoing to normalize the situation, particularly the situation in the Strait of Hormuz,” he told reporters.

The US and Iran trade strikes

An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait on Thursday, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan’s air defenses shot down five missiles launched from Iran.

No injuries were reported from Jordan’s interception, the country’s state-run Petra news agency said, quoting the spokesman for the country’s armed forces. Both Jordan and Kuwait host American troops.

The attacks came after the U.S. military said it completed “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan.

U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces struck dozens of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm, which lies off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world’s energy supplies that has been at the center of the conflict.

The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers.

Fires reported on two natural gas vessels at an Egyptian port

Also on Wednesday, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a U.S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported.

The office of the Egyptian prime minister said initial investigations showed the fires had been caused by a drone. In a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said investigators were able to recover traces of the drone and will try to determine where it came from.

Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator, has until now been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have denied they were behind the attack.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi didn’t outright deny Iranian involvement but said: “Egypt is an important friend and partner in the region, and its security is of utmost importance to us.”

“We must all be vigilant against Israeli plots and false-flag operations designed to undermine regional peace,” he said on X. “The threat is clear, mutual, and fearful of Muslim solidarity.”

The war has wreaked havoc on the global economy

The conflict has wreaked havoc on the global economy as energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have ground to a near halt. Much of the diplomacy around ending the war has focused on reopening the strait, through which 20% of oil and natural gas shipments passed in peacetime.

The already limited traffic through the strait has plunged to wartime lows during the recent exchange of strikes, from 82 ships during the week of July 13-19 to just 39 from July 20-26, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a shipping data and analysis firm, said in an webinar.

Fighting elsewhere has squeezed energy supplies further.

Saudi Arabia has accused Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while the Houthi rebels said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.

The Houthis have also declared a blockade of Saudi shipping and threatened to choke off another crucial Middle East trade route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden. That route became even more important during the war, as Saudi Arabia used it to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

While some Saudi oil exports are continuing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait despite the blockade, Lloyd’s List Intelligence said much of that oil now follows an expensive and time-consuming workaround: It travels from Saudi Arabia on tankers to the Egyptian city of Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea coast before being pumped overland through a pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir. Then it’s loaded on tankers again.

The Suez Canal is not deep enough to handle the largest and most economical tankers when they are fully loaded with oil.

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met Wednesday with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly about the private meetings.

They said the Saudi decision to join the U.S. attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that the kingdom would not tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure. At the same time, the defense minister underscored to Trump and Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations.

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Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Aamer Madhani in Washington; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Fatma Khaled in Cairo; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.

The National Transportation Safety Board, in a report released Thursday, also found the Federal Aviation Administration's oversight of the company, Bering Air, was inadequate.

Both were contributing factors to the February 2025 crash, which was one of Alaska's deadliest plane crashes this century. The NTSB also determined the pilot did not monitor and maintain adequate airspeed, likely because he was trying to manage the plane's ice protection system while preparing to approach the airport in Nome. And it said the plane was overweight for a trip into icy conditions. The airport itself had temporarily closed its runways for de-icing, the agency said.

The Associated Press sent a message seeking comment to Bering Air. The FAA released a statement in response to questions stating it “takes NTSB recommendations seriously and will carefully review them.”

Recommendations made by the NTSB to the FAA include calling for pilot training on preventing and recovering from loss of control in flight for many charter and air taxi operators. The NTSB also raised prior recommendations, such as expanded use of flight data monitoring programs and broader load manifest requirements.

The NTSB said it found a pattern of underreported weights on Bering Air flight manifests and flights operating above weight limits.

The agency said the FAA failed to recognize the air carrier’s “increased operational complexity and rapid growth” after the pandemic and bankruptcy of its largest competitor as factors warranting increased oversight. The report said the FAA's oversight “failed to identify and address the routine operation of overweight flights.”

Jennifer Homendy, the NTSB chair, in a statement said the tragedy “was not the result of a single failure, but a series of preventable breakdowns that eroded critical safety margins.”

The plane was flying as part of a regularly scheduled commuter flight from the community of Unalakleet to Nome, a 150-mile (240-kilometer) trip. Authorities have said that the aircraft went missing about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Nome. The wreckage was recovered from a drifting ice floe.

The government opened 10 registration centers across Port-au-Prince in neighborhoods considered generally safe as dozens of hopeful Haitians trickled through.

“This may be the first time that I’m going to vote,” said 34-year-old construction worker Vadley Bernadel.

Haiti hasn’t held general elections in more than a decade, and the country hasn’t had a president since President Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence in July 2021.

Gang violence has only surged since then, but Haiti’s unelected prime minister is under pressure to hold elections, with Dec. 13 marking the first round.

“Haiti needs someone with a vision, someone who can lead the country in a better direction,” said Bernadel, who decried his country’s multiple crises.

Armed men still control swaths of land

Gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people, with armed men controlling an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and the main roads that lead to the country’s Central and Artibonite provinces, which also are under fire.

More than 50% of Haiti’s electorate live in those three regions, and it’s unclear whether all those seeking to vote will be able to register, let alone vote, given the violence.

“The country can hold elections in three months if it chooses to. The question is, what kind of elections?” said Diego Da Rin, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

If the government insists on holding elections on Dec. 13, “a large part of the electorate will be left out," he warned.

Da Rin noted that police and a U.N.-backed mission have seized back areas near the National Palace in Port-au-Prince and made other inroads, but powerful gangs still control vast amounts of territory.

“There has been no significant progress,” he said. “The government will not be able to organize elections in territories controlled by gangs.”

Jacques Desrosiers, president of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, said he plans to open more voter registration centers in upcoming weeks, including 20 in Pétion-Ville, considered one of the safest areas.

As for the possibility of opening centers in other communities, he said that lies in the hands of the Haitian government.

Haitians fear being killed as country prepares for elections

Lawyer Francky Cavetan said he does not plan to vote because it’s too risky, but he did visit one registration center out of curiosity.

“Elections are not going to happen because the government and electoral council are lying to the population,” he asserted. “They are making people believe that elections will bring security, but they have to have security before elections.”

More than 5,900 people were killed last year across Haiti, and more than 1,600 others from January to March of this year, according to the United Nations. In addition, 5,500 gender-based violent incidents were reported in the first half of the year, with 70% of cases involving rape, many of them gang rapes, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, recently said.

Cavetan questioned how candidates would even campaign. He was also upset because he believes a large number of Haitians are not aware that they will also be asked to participate in a referendum the same day as the elections as the government pushes to change the country’s Constitution.

“They’re not even explaining to people what they’re planning to change in the Constitution,” Cavetan said.

Da Rin echoed that sentiment, noting that the public still doesn’t know what changes the government is seeking.

His biggest concern surrounding the elections is safety, though.

“The challenge for the authorities right now is to organize elections without having defeated the gangs and to minimize their influence on the elections as much as possible,” he said.

Da Rin noted that longtime links between gangs and certain powerful elites in Haiti are still active.

Gangs have long been used to intimidate voters or convince them to select certain candidates, as well as to destroy ballot boxes when some members of Haiti’s elite believed that their candidates might not win, Da Rin said.

“Gangs have been a very important tool for elites to help their candidates win elections,” he said.

At a registration center in the community of Laboule, only three people had signed up an hour after doors opened.

Victor Valensky, a 38-year-old driver of a colorful bus known as a tap-tap, was one of them.

He said he was angry at his country’s situation but also feared gang violence.

“I want to take part in the elections, but I have to make sure I’m safe,” he said. “If I die now, my wife probably won’t be able to support my two kids by herself. … I’m going to be very careful before I step out on election day.”

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

At least this year, he doesn't need to. He's on the field at camp with the New York Giants, and all eyes are on the No. 1 receiver who is starting to regain his previous dynamic form.

Now 10 months removed from tearing the ACL in his right knee and still on a lengthy road back from the injury, Nabers is not yet a full participant in practice. But the Giants' No. 1 receiver is running routes at full speed during individual drills and sparking optimism that he'll be healthy enough to play in a game sooner than later.

“It felt good," Nabers said Thursday after the second practice of camp in the mountains of West Virginia. “I mean, I might not show it. I like to be a person that you never know my facial expressions. I’m always just smooth and calm. But it felt good to be out there with the guys, get a couple throws, just move around.”

Nabers, who turned 23 on Tuesday, sounded more hopeful about his future than he did in early January, when he walked with the assistance of a cane the previous weekend as a precaution and would not commit to being ready for the season opener. Saying at the time, “If my body doesn’t feel right, then I’m not going to go out there," he began a period of lingering pessimism that began to fade a bit this week when he did not land on the PUP list and was a visible part of the team.

“Every time he’s on the field, everybody knows where he’s at,” quarterback Jaxson Dart said Wednesday. “There’s an aura that he has on the field that is exhilarating. It makes me happy. It makes everybody happy just to see him out there.”

The smiles are everywhere over the situation. But with more than seven weeks to go before New York hosts Dallas on Sept. 13 to begin the season, he and team officials are still reluctant to say if Nabers will be ready to go by then.

“No target dates," Nabers said. "Just continuing to listen to the training staff, and they continue to ask me questions. And when I’m ready, I’m ready.”

Progressing to team practice sessions would seemingly be the next step of a process that included significant rehab and even a second cleanup surgery earlier this year. On the prospect of playing in a preseason game to test the knee, Nabers deferred to new coach John Harbaugh, who praised the wideout's efforts to even get to this point.

“I really am impressed with how hard he’s worked,” Harbaugh said. “I just think he’s worked really hard. He deserves to be out there doing what he (is doing). It’s really cool to see.”

Nabers catching passes from Dart in any setting is a positive, given their limited time together last season. Nabers was injured and sidelined for the rest of the season in the second quarter of Dart's first NFL start.

All the two have really been able to do since is talk and watch video together as a way of advancing their rapport before they can play in a real game together again.

“We’re just going to continue to get him in slowly,” Dart said. “He’s doing a great job with how he’s attacking his recovery. I’ve got all the confidence in the world in him and his approach to the game.”

Nabers acknowledged it has not been easy mentally to be away from football, and he has leaned on Dart, as well as new teammate Odell Beckham Jr. and others, to get through those struggles.

“Overcoming an injury is not easy,” starting left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “If anything, (it is good) just for his mental (state) to be back out here with the guys and running around and catching the ball."

Nabers did take joy in surprising other players on Wednesday with just how smoothly he was running and cutting and catching the ball. But after going through a few weeks of that himself, he did not surprise himself.

“I felt like the training staff did a very good job on getting me ready before I even stepped foot out there,” Nabers said. "Those cuts I’ve been doing with the training staff, those routes I’ve been doing with the training staff, so it wasn’t anything (but) normal to me that I was able to go out there and do it full speed.”

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

The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement Friday that the relics were discovered at Gulf Shores International Airport on July 18 after the agent observed what appeared to be a large, opaque item inside a suitcase during an X-ray screening. When he opened the luggage, he found five small cannonballs wrapped in paper towels and notified a supervisor.

“I had never seen anything quite this unique,” TSA Officer Justin Dupree said in a statement from the agency. “I’ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.”

The cannonballs — the largest about the size of grapefruits and weighing about as much as a shot put ball — were inactive and didn’t contain any explosive material or active components, the TSA said. Still, cannonballs are artillery munitions and considered prohibited items on planes.

Police eventually determined the cannonballs were stolen from Fort Morgan, based on paint marking applied to the artifacts by fort staff, and that they dated to the American Civil War. The historic Gulf Shores fort played a significant role in several military conflicts, including the Civil War.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that a juvenile stole the cannonballs from a storage area in the fort and then placed them in their grandmother’s checked bag. The grandmother told officers she did not know they were stolen.

Spokespersons for Fort Morgan didn't respond to a email seeking comment. The sheriff's office said the institution declined to press charges, and the artifacts were returned to the fort.

Cignetti took over a program that had gone 9-27 the three years before his arrival and led it to College Football Playoff appearances in each of his first two seasons, including a 2025 national title.

He wants his program to maintain the same edge it carried while working its way up.

“We have a way of doing things,” Cignetti sad. “We’ve got guys that have been together, and all we do is win.”

Indiana’s stunning two-year run under Cignetti already has allowed the traditional Big Ten also-ran to shed its status as the Bowl Subdivision program with the most losses in history. That dubious honor now belongs to conference rival Northwestern.

The Hoosiers obviously have bigger long-term goals than that.

They want to keep it going without Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who went to the Las Vegas Raiders with the top pick in this year’s draft after his lone season at Indiana. He was one of a school-record eight players drafted.

“We need to make sure that we keep the same blueprint as last year going into this year, and that includes maintaining the same work ethic,” offensive tackle Carter Smith said.

Indiana did a remarkable job of restocking its roster by getting one of the nation’s top collections of transfer portal talent. Indiana’s list of 18 transfer newcomers includes former TCU quarterback Josh Hoover and ex-Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh.

Marsh got an early indication of Cignetti’s no-nonsense approach, as the former Spartans player showed up for a spring practice in gold cleats and got criticized by his new coach. Cignetti has since praised the work habits of Marsh, who caught 100 passes for 1,311 yards and nine touchdowns over the last two seasons.

Indiana’s chances of earning a third straight playoff bid could depend on Hoover, who threw for 9,627 yards, 71 touchdowns and 33 interceptions over the last three years. He has rather large shoes to fill.

“What separated Fernando was when the game was on the line, those fourth-quarter wins, the last three minutes, four minutes, that’s when he played his best football,” Cignetti said.

Indiana could be on the verge of establishing itself as annual contenders as long as Cignetti sticks around, as the Hoosiers have followed up their portal success by making inroads in high school recruiting. Over the last two weeks, Indiana has gained verbal commitments from 2027 five-star wide receiver Monshun Sales and highly regarded 2028 quarterback Lukas Prock.

Cignetti is more focused now on making sure his current team is prepared for its title defense. Defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker was asked how it felt to enter a season as the hunted rather than the hunter.

“We prepare in a way we wouldn’t think we’re being hunted,” Tucker said. “We’re preparing like we’re predators and we’re hungry. We still have that chip on our shoulder, ultimately.”

Big Ten media may have given Tucker and his teammates some ammo in that regard. A Cleveland.com poll of reporters that serves as the unofficial Big Ten preseason media forecast had the defending national champions finishing third in the conference, behind Ohio State and Oregon.

Cignetti understands the challenge ahead after beating both Ohio State and Oregon on the way to the title last year. Cignetti, who worked as an assistant at Alabama from 2007-10, closed his news conference Thursday by explaining why he believes the Big Ten is college football’s best conference.

“We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest,” Cignetti said. “We believe everything is earned, not given. When we fall short, we say, ‘We fell short.’ We don’t cry a river, whine and complain. That’s why we’re the best.”

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

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On Thursday, Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Laura Gonzalez-Marques sentenced Jones, 25, to 13 years in state prison for his role in the shooting of Officer Erica Socarras on April 24, 2020, in Miami.

“You are a very young man, Sir. And, I hope that you take the time in prison to reflect on the things that you have done, and come out of it differently, because you endangered an officer,” Gonzalez-Marques told Jones during the sentencing hearing.

Gonzalez-Marques also sentenced Jones to a three-year probation and ordered him to stay away from Socarras.

Jones pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted premeditated murder with a deadly weapon, throwing a deadly missile, aggravated assault with a firearm, and solicitation to commit murder.

Socarras, a tactical robbery unit detective in an unmarked Dodge Charger, wasn’t injured during the shooting in Brownsville. A round struck the Taser she had on her gun belt, according to police.

Deputy Chief of Miami Police Albert “Al” Guerra described Socarras as “incredibly courageous” and a “successful” top officer.

“As I sat next to her in the courtroom, I had asked her if the sentencing was adequate for her, and she said, ‘It is adequate,’ and she just wants it to be done already, so she is happy that it has finally come to a conclusion,” Guerra told reporters after the sentencing hearing. “It’s a good conclusion for us, and she is just in good spirits.”

In April, Gonzalez-Marques sentenced Antranard Womble, Jones’s co-defendant, to 15 years in prison for firing at Socarras during the traffic stop at the corner of Northwest 22nd Avenue and 54th Street.

“Mr. Jones unlike Mr. Womble was not in possession of a firearm nor was he identified as one of the shooters in this case,” Attorney Mayra Trinchet, who represented Jones in the case, wrote, according to the court record’s mitigation packet.

Jones, who had been in jail without bond since Aug. 20, 2020, has two pending cases on charges of battery by a detainee upon a visitor or another detainee, according to court and inmate records.

Local 10 News Photojournalist Tim McFarland contributed to this report.

Related story: Man gets prison after pleading guilty to shooting at Miami police officer

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Tevin Dean, 31, has been arrested and faces a dozen felony charges tied to the June 8 incident, according to an arrest warrant.

Dean is accused of acting alongside co-defendant Sheendalie Joseph, who allegedly set up the robbery by letting Dean inside the apartment while the victim was upstairs.

Once inside, police say, Dean brandished a firearm and later held a kitchen knife to the back of the victim’s head, threatening to kill him while Joseph held the phone to the victim’s face in order to gain access. The victim was allegedly forced to strip naked and was bound with duct tape while the pair rifled through his belongings.

Investigators say the two made off with more than $27,000 in cash, property and digital currency. According to the warrant, they got into the victim’s Coinbase account, sold off his cryptocurrency, and sent roughly $1,200 through Zelle to an account belonging to Joseph’s son.

They’re also accused of linking the victim’s debit card to a CashApp account that wasn’t his and attempting several fraudulent transactions, along with stealing additional credit cards from a dresser drawer.

Officials say the victim was left tied up and struggled for nearly half an hour before breaking free.

Police say the pair tried to cover their tracks afterward — deleting seven Ring camera clips just minutes after leaving the scene and factory-resetting the victim’s iPhones before pawning them, wiping out evidence investigators couldn’t recover even with a search warrant.

Dean is charged with home invasion with a firearm, armed kidnapping, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, grand theft, unlawful access of an electronic device, unlawful use of a two-way communication device, criminal use of personal identification, possession of a stolen credit card, and tampering with evidence.

Dean was denied bond by a Broward County judge.

Tevin Dean, de 31 años, fue arrestado y enfrenta una docena de cargos graves relacionados con el incidente ocurrido el 8 de junio, según una orden de arresto.

Dean está acusado de actuar junto con su coacusada, Sheendalie Joseph, quien presuntamente preparó el robo al permitirle entrar al apartamento mientras la víctima estaba en el segundo piso.

Una vez dentro, la policía informó que Dean sacó un arma de fuego y luego sostuvo un cuchillo de cocina en la parte posterior de la cabeza de la víctima, amenazándola con matarla mientras Joseph le sostenía el teléfono frente al rostro para obtener acceso. La víctima presuntamente fue obligada a desnudarse y fue atada con cinta adhesiva mientras ambos revisaban sus pertenencias.

Los investigadores informaron que ambos escaparon con más de $27,000 USD en efectivo, bienes y moneda digital. Según la orden, accedieron a la cuenta de Coinbase de la víctima, vendieron sus criptomonedas y enviaron aproximadamente $1,200 USD mediante Zelle a una cuenta perteneciente al hijo de Joseph.

También están acusados de vincular la tarjeta de débito de la víctima a una cuenta de Cash App que no le pertenecía e intentar varias transacciones fraudulentas, además de robar otras tarjetas de crédito de un cajón de una cómoda.

Las autoridades informaron que la víctima quedó atada y luchó durante casi media hora antes de lograr liberarse.

La policía indicó que ambos intentaron encubrir sus acciones después del robo al eliminar siete videos de una cámara Ring apenas minutos después de abandonar el lugar y restablecer de fábrica los iPhone de la víctima antes de empeñarlos, borrando evidencia que los investigadores no pudieron recuperar ni siquiera con una orden de registro.

Dean enfrenta cargos por invasión de vivienda con arma de fuego, secuestro a mano armada, agresión agravada, privación ilegal de la libertad, asalto agravado, hurto mayor, acceso ilegal a un dispositivo electrónico, uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación de dos vías, uso delictivo de identificación personal, posesión de una tarjeta de crédito robada y alteración de evidencia.

Un juez del condado Broward le negó el derecho a fianza a Dean.

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Steve Lawson, 45, was taken into custody soon after disembarking the Norwegian Getaway at PortMiami on Friday after it arrived from the Bahamas. His arrest came after customs officers searched his phone, according to court documents.

Investigators said the father of seven had more than a dozen videos of young girls being raped and sexually abused, including an hour-long video that showed more than 100 victims.

A federal criminal complaint states that Lawson, who photographs weddings and families, admitted to buying the videos using cryptocurrency while the ship was docked in the Bahamas and it states he claimed he was “enticed to do so after he observed female minors in bikinis on the cruise.”

The Daily Mail wrote an article about Lawson and his family of nine living in a converted school bus traveling across the U.S. in 2019.

That same year, Lawson was seen on Local 10 News after sewage flooded his family’s Plantation home.

In court on Thursday, prosecutors argued that Lawson is a danger to the community and has an addiction.

The federal judge ordered he be held on a $900,000 bond. If he posts his bond, he’ll be prohibited from using any electronics or the internet and can’t work as a photographer.

“We recognize the serious nature of the charges and are committed to working diligently through the legal process to achieve a fair and just resolution of this case,” Lawson’s attorney, Susan Lawson ― no relation ― told Local 10 News in a statement on Thursday.

But Local 10 News has learned that Steve Lawson was not the only person ― or Broward resident, for that matter ― arrested after getting off the Norwegian Getaway that day.

A separate criminal complaint states that customs officers also looked at a phone belonging to Michael William Simmons, 40, of Tamarac, after he disembarked the cruise.

Investigators said he took videos of his daughters’ friends, aged 9 to 11, showering while stationed in Anchorage, Alaska for the Air Force in 2014 and said he admitted to doing so “for his sexual gratification.”

They said he also admitted to buying child sexual abuse videos using an encrypted system designed to conceal a user’s IP address.

It’s unclear whether the two know one another.

Steve Lawson, de 45 años, Leer en español poco después de desembarcar del Norwegian Getaway en PortMiami el viernes, luego de que el crucero llegara desde las Bahamas. Su arresto ocurrió después de que agentes de aduanas revisaran su teléfono, según documentos judiciales.

Los investigadores informaron que el padre de siete hijos tenía más de una docena de videos en los que niñas eran violadas y abusadas sexualmente, incluido un video de una hora de duración que mostraba a más de 100 víctimas.

Una denuncia penal federal indica que Lawson, quien se dedica a fotografiar bodas y familias, admitió haber comprado los videos utilizando criptomonedas mientras el barco estaba atracado en las Bahamas y afirmó que se sintió “tentado a hacerlo después de observar a menores de edad en bikini durante el crucero”.

El Daily Mail publicó un artículo sobre Lawson y su familia de nueve integrantes viviendo en un autobús escolar convertido en vivienda mientras recorrían Estados Unidos en 2019.

Ese mismo año, Lawson apareció en Local 10 News después de que aguas residuales inundaran la vivienda de su familia en Plantation.

Durante la audiencia del jueves, los fiscales argumentaron que Lawson representa un peligro para la comunidad y que tiene una adicción.

El juez federal ordenó que permanezca detenido con una fianza de $900,000 USD. Si paga la fianza, tendrá prohibido usar dispositivos electrónicos o internet y no podrá trabajar como fotógrafo.

“Reconocemos la gravedad de los cargos y estamos comprometidos a trabajar diligentemente durante el proceso legal para lograr una resolución justa y equitativa de este caso”, dijo la abogada de Lawson, Susan Lawson, sin parentesco con él, en un comunicado enviado el jueves a Local 10 News.

Pero Local 10 News supo que Steve Lawson no fue la única persona, ni el único residente de Broward, arrestado tras bajar del Norwegian Getaway ese día.

Una denuncia penal por separado indica que agentes de aduanas también revisaron el teléfono de Michael William Simmons, de 40 años y residente de Tamarac, después de que desembarcó del crucero.

Los investigadores informaron que, mientras estaba asignado por la Fuerza Aérea en Anchorage, Alaska, en 2014, grabó en video a amigas de sus hijas, de entre 9 y 11 años, mientras se duchaban, y que admitió haberlo hecho “para su gratificación sexual”.

También dijeron que admitió haber comprado videos de abuso sexual infantil utilizando un sistema encriptado diseñado para ocultar la dirección IP del usuario.

No está claro si ambos se conocen.

Apple raised the prices of its Macs and iPads last month, citing a memory-chip shortage brought on by the artificial intelligence boom. The company had called the demand spike an “unprecedented challenge” for the consumer electronics industry. While it hasn't yet raised iPhone prices, analysts and consumers expect that to happen later this year.

The maker of the iPhone and iPad said Thursday it earned $29.79 billion, or $2.02 per share, in the April-June period. That is up 27% from $23.43 billion, or $1.57 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue grew 16% to $$109.42 billion from $94.04 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.89 per share on revenue of $109 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. Tariff refunds of 11 cents per share contributed to the quarter's earnings.

“Today, Apple is proud to report our strongest June quarter ever, with double-digit revenue growth across iPhone, Mac and Services, and in every geographic segment,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. It was Cook's final earnings call. He announced his retirement in April, after 15 years at the helm of the company. John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, will assume the role on Sept. 1.

"I couldn't be more confident in his leadership, in the executive team and the extraordinary people at Apple," Cook said.

Apple continues to generate cash without the massive artificial intelligence spending that its Big Tech peers area are dealing with “and that showed across most parts of the operation,” said Thomas Monteiro, an analyst at Investing.com. “As the market grows more worried about free cash flow trajectories elsewhere in Big Tech, Apple keeps standing out as the safe haven in the storm.”

But he cautioned that memory costs — which are continuing to increase — could challenge Apple in the coming quarters. It also won't have the tariff benefit to boost profit margins again. September's iPhone launch and more price increases should “help cushion the hit,” Monteiro said.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple, which recently regained its title as the world's most valuable company from Nvidia, fell $7.52, or 2.3%, to $325.91 in after-hours trading.

Maj. Collin Welch, 40, pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing about $54,000 in government money and inducing the Mongolian woman and her daughter to remain in the U.S. unlawfully. He’s awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Welch made a fake divorce decree to convince his second wife that he was no longer married to his first, according to a statement he signed as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. After moving her to the United States, he forged other government records to convince her that she was in the pipeline for U.S. citizenship and legally staying in the country.

Two deployments — to Afghanistan and Djibouti — and years spent away from his family put a strain on Welch, his lawyer, Gregory Rosen, said in a statement.

“None of that changes the fact that Major Welch accepts full responsibility for his actions,” Rosen said. “That alone speaks louder about his character than any statement of offense, standing alone, ever could.”

The affair began in 2019, when Welch was with the Alaska National Guard and stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It continued after he returned to Alaska in 2021 and moved to Arkansas the next year. They were married in 2022 in Mongolia.

In 2023, Welch moved to Washington with his family for a role with the District of Columbia National Guard that required extensive foreign travel. He used his government travel card to rent hotel rooms in the Washington area for video calls with his second wife, so she wouldn't know he was living with his family.

He also submitted false reimbursement expenses and lied to his superiors to get authorization for foreign travel to visit the Mongolian woman, according to the statement filed in court.

Welch charged the government for plane tickets for the Mongolian woman and her daughter to move to the United States in 2024. He married her again in Virginia, falsely saying he had never been married before. He paid for their living arrangements in Northern Virginia until they were evicted late last year when he tried to pay the rent with forged checks.

During that time, Welch knew the woman and her daughter had expired tourist visas but faked a variety of records to convince them otherwise. Those included letters from immigration authorities, Social Security cards and a Defense Department letter purporting to say the immigrants were enrolled in military health coverage.

Casi 30 centímetros (un pie) de lluvia cayó en distintas partes de los condados de Columbia y Rensselaer, cerca de Albany, durante un período de 48 horas que terminó la mañana del jueves, informó el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Albany, la capital del estado, registró 20 centímetros (8 pulgadas) de lluvia en el mismo período.

Los equipos de primera respuesta en Albany y en otras localidades informaron del rescate de varias personas de sus casas y vehículos el miércoles tras el desbordamiento de vías fluviales e inundación de calles. Las cuadrillas también bombearon sótanos anegados. No hubo reportes de muertes ni de heridos, y para el jueves, las aguas de la inundación habían empezado a retroceder.

En fotos y videos publicados en internet aparecen autos varados con el agua hasta las ventanillas de las puertas, tierras agrícolas locales inundadas por las fuertes lluvias y aguas de crecida que se movían rápidamente y se derramaban sobre las carreteras.

El propietario del molino, Andy Klein, contó que un vecino golpeó su puerta principal alrededor de las 8 de la mañana del miércoles en Castleton-on-Hudson para advertirle de la inundación. Un arroyo contiguo anegó su propiedad con aguas de 91 a 122 centímetros (3 a 4 pies) de profundidad y destruyó la parte más antigua del molino, junto a su casa.

“Es un hecho horrible”, manifestó. “El molino ha estado allí durante cientos de años, y es un hecho muy triste. Soy un gran aficionado a la historia, y acabo de ver cómo un edificio se hacía pedazos”.

La planta de agua en Castleton-on-Hudson sufrió daños durante la inundación, lo que llevó a emitir un aviso para que los residentes locales hiervan el agua y reduzcan su consumo, señalaron las autoridades.

Las fuertes lluvias de principios de esta semana también anegaron otras zonas de Nueva York, así como de Nueva Jersey y Pensilvania, inundando calles y provocando rescates acuáticos.

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

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According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, a call was received at 5:48 a.m. involving a crash with injuries near State Road 7 and Riverland Road. Deputies as well as Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue responded to the scene.

According to BSO, the driver was headed south on State Road 7 in the right lane when the crash occurred.

According to investigators, the pedestrian, 58-year-old Bryan Kommes, did not walk in the marked crosswalk when he attempted to cross the road and stepped into the path of the Chevrolet, where he was struck.

BSO said Kommes was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators said the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation.

At this time, detectives do not believe excessive speed or driver impairment were contributing factors in the crash, according to the sheriff’s office.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward (BSO), una llamada fue recibida a las 5:48 a.m. por un accidente con personas heridas cerca de State Road 7 y Riverland Road. Agentes y personal de Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue respondieron al lugar.

De acuerdo con la BSO, el conductor circulaba hacia el sur por State Road 7 en el carril derecho cuando ocurrió el accidente.

Según los investigadores, el peatón, Bryan Kommes, de 58 años, no cruzó por el paso peatonal señalizado cuando intentó atravesar la vía y se interpuso en la trayectoria de la Chevrolet, donde fue atropellado.

La BSO informó que Kommes fue trasladado de urgencia al Broward Health Medical Center, donde fue declarado muerto.

Los investigadores indicaron que el conductor permaneció en el lugar y cooperó con la investigación.

Por el momento, los detectives no creen que el exceso de velocidad o que el conductor estuviera bajo los efectos de alguna sustancia hayan sido factores que contribuyeran al accidente, según la oficina del sheriff.

La investigación continúa.

The Seattle-based company said Thursday that sales in its cloud computing unit called AWS rose 37% during the April-June period, faster than the 28% clip in the previous quarter and marking the fastest rate of growth in 18 quarters.

CEO and President Andy Jassy disclosed to investors on the call that Amazon now expects capital spending to total $220 billion, which also includes outlays on robots, semiconductors and satellites. That's up from the $200 billion investment plan that was announced in February and well above the $128 billion in capital spending for all of last year. Jassy cited the higher cost of memory chips as the main reason for the increase.

Jassy told investors that even at the $220 billion level, Amazon will not have enough capacity to meet all of the demand it has this year.

“I believe this dynamic will also be true in 2027 too,” he added. “In fact, the demand we already have for 2028 is striking.”

Still, shares rose more than 9% in after-hours trading.

Investors had been closely watching Amazon’s quarterly earnings to see if the company’s big spending on AI is starting to pay off.

The Seattle-based company offered a cautious sales outlook for the current quarter.

Amazon was among the last of the tech giants to report its earnings results covering the latest three-month period. The reports offer investors a read on AI spending and cloud computing growth across the industry.

Google parent Alphabet reported better-than-expected revenue for the second quarter last week, fueled by an 82% increase in its cloud business. But the stock tumbled as the tech giant increased its full-year forecast for capital expenditures to a range of $195 billion to $205 billion. That’s up from its previous estimate of $180 billion to $190 billion.

Microsoft, which on Wednesday reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, said growth was strong for its Azure cloud business. The company didn’t announce a big increase in how much it plans to spend on AI investments. That helped to boost shares.

Investors are worried that such spending is eating into companies’ cash flows and may not ultimately be worth it if AI doesn’t deliver as much productivity and profits as promised.

In a statement released Thursday, Jassy said AWS is “booming” and noted that its AI and chips businesses each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion. He noted that in stores, the company set record delivery speeds for its Prime members in the first half of the year, noting that 40% more items were delivered either same-day or overnight.

“There’s a lot to be excited about, and we have much more coming for customers in the second half of the year and beyond,” he said.

Amazon’s results from the latest quarter underscored that demand keeps growing for Amazon’s services and technology.

In April, Amazon signed big deals with OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.

Amazon announced in April what it called a “major expansion” of its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI one day after the artificial intelligence company said it was loosening its ties to longtime backer Microsoft.

Like other retailers, however, Amazon is experiencing higher tariff costs because of President Donald Trump’s foreign trade policies. Rising shipping costs as the Iran war affects oil and fuel prices also could cut into the company’s e-commerce revenue.

Meanwhile, Amazon has been speeding up order delivery times through a combination of robotics, AI technology and more efficient warehousing. In fact, speedier delivery helped Amazon dethrone Walmart in February from its status as the nation’s largest company by revenue, according to Fortune, which compiles a ranking of the top 500 U.S. corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years.

Amazon announced in May it was rapidly opening small order processing hubs in dozens of U.S. and foreign cities for 30 minute deliveries, catering to people who can’t or don’t want to wait for cough medicine to relieve flu symptoms or tomatoes for tonight’s dinner salad.

The company said Thursday that for the first six months of the year it more than doubled the number of new customers for its online pharmacy service, while same-day prescription deliveries were up nearly five times.

Amazon also pushed up its big four-day sale event known as Prime Day to June from July this year.

Amazon reported net income of $62.65 billion, or $5.75 per share, in the three-month period ended June 30. That compares with $18.16 billion or $1.68 per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales rose to $200.6 billion from $167.7 billion a year ago.

Analysts were expecting sales of $197.03 billion for the latest quarter.

Amazon said it expects net sales to be in the range of $197 billion to $202 billion. Analysts expect $203.9 billion, according to FactSet.

El jueves, la jueza del Tribunal de Circuito del condado Miami-Dade, Laura Gonzalez-Marques, condenó a Jones, de 25 años, a 13 años de prisión estatal por su participación en la balacera contra la agente Erica Socarras el 24 de abril de 2020 en Miami.

“Usted es un hombre muy joven, señor. Espero que aproveche el tiempo en prisión para reflexionar sobre las cosas que ha hecho y salga siendo una persona diferente, porque puso en peligro a una agente”, le dijo Gonzalez-Marques a Jones durante la audiencia de sentencia.

Gonzalez-Marques también condenó a Jones a tres años de libertad condicional y le ordenó mantenerse alejado de Socarras.

Socarras, detective de la unidad táctica contra robos que viajaba en un Dodge Charger sin identificación policial, no resultó herida durante la balacera en Brownsville. Según la policía, un proyectil impactó el taser que llevaba en el cinturón junto a su arma de fuego.

El subjefe de la Policía de Miami, Albert “Al” Guerra, describió a Socarras como “increíblemente valiente” y una destacada agente.

“Mientras estaba sentado junto a ella en la sala del tribunal, le pregunté si la sentencia era adecuada para ella, y respondió: “Es adecuada”, y que simplemente quería que todo esto terminara de una vez. Está feliz de que finalmente haya llegado a su fin”, dijo Guerra a los periodistas después de la audiencia de sentencia. “Es un buen desenlace para nosotros y ella se encuentra de buen ánimo”.

Gonzalez-Marques ya había condenado a Antranard Womble, coacusado de Jones, a 15 años de prisión por disparar contra Socarras durante la parada de tránsito en la esquina de Northwest 22nd Avenue y 54th Street.

Jones se declaró culpable de intento de asesinato premeditado en primer grado con arma mortal, lanzamiento de proyectil mortal, agresión agravada con arma de fuego y solicitud para cometer asesinato.

Jones, quien permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza desde el 20 de agosto de 2020, tiene dos casos pendientes por cargos de agresión cometida por un detenido contra un visitante u otro detenido, según registros judiciales y penitenciarios.

El fotoperiodista de Local 10 News Tim McFarland colaboró con este reportaje.

Historia relacionada: Hombre recibe condena de prisión tras declararse culpable de disparar contra agente de la Policía de Miami.

Hafley spoke with reporters Thursday before the Dolphins took the field for the second day of training camp, just months after a major offseason overhaul that included the releases of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receiver Tyreek Hill and linebacker Bradley Chubb.

The team also traded wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the New York Jets.

Despite the changes, Hafley said the word “rebuild” does not fit the mindset inside the Dolphins’ locker room.

“I don’t know how you can have a conversation with a competitive player or a competitive coach and have it sit right with them where we’re just going to say, we’re just going to rebuild this year,” he said. “And I mean, it’s just not the mentality of any competitor who’s made it to this level or any coach that’s made it to this level.”

Hafley said the team’s approach is centered around getting better every day while competing.

“Whether it’s practice or whether it’s a drill, I think we all want to win it and our mindset is we need to get better, we need to develop, and everything that we do is going to be about competing to get better throughout the process and we want to win,” he added.

The Dolphins began training camp with a new coaching staff and a new quarterback in Malik Willis, who joined Miami after the offseason departure of Tagovailoa.

Hafley said it is too early to evaluate players after only a few practices and emphasized the importance of consistency over time.

“I just think, guys, it’s going to be really hard to assess anybody in these first couple of practices,” Hafley said. “I think the key to everything is going to be consistency over time.”

One of Hafley’s biggest priorities during camp has been creating more realistic game situations. The Dolphins have spent more time in 11-on-11 drills and less time in 7-on-7 work, something Hafley said better prepares players for the challenges of an actual game.

“I want to just play football,” he said. “I think that’s how you get good.”

Hafley also discussed the return of running back De’Von Achane, who is being eased back into practice after time away from football.

“Well, he (Achane) just came back, so he’s got to build up his reps just like everybody else to get ready to play in a game,” Hafley said. “But we’ve got to gradually increase it, and we’ll do that throughout camp. So it’s just (his) first day back. (He) hadn’t really played football in a while, but I am very glad that he’s back.”

The Dolphins will continue training camp as Hafley works to establish his culture heading into the new season. The first practice open to the public is set for Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

View the Dolphins’ full training camp schedule by clicking here.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward (BSO), la balacera fue reportada alrededor de las 10:12 p.m. cerca de la cuadra 4000 de Southwest 15th Street.

La portavoz de la BSO, Gerdy St. Louis, informó que mientras los agentes y los paramédicos de Pompano Beach Fire Rescue se dirigían al lugar, les notificaron que los padres de la víctima la habían trasladado a una estación de bomberos cercana.

Los paramédicos en el lugar brindaron asistencia a la víctima antes de que fuera trasladada a un hospital local para recibir tratamiento, informaron las autoridades.

La edad y el estado de la víctima aún no han sido divulgados.

St. Louis indicó que detectives de las unidades de Escena del Crimen y Delitos Violentos de la BSO investigan las circunstancias que rodean la balacera.

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According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the shooting was reported at about 10:12 p.m. near the 4000 block of Southwest 15th Street.

BSO spokeswoman Gerdy St. Louis said as deputies and Pompano Beach Fire Rescue medics were heading to the scene, they were advised that the victim’s parents had transported the boy to a nearby fire station.

Medics there provided aid to the victim before he was transported to a local hospital for treatment, authorities said.

As of Thursday morning, the boy was listed in critical condition.

The victim’s age has not yet been released.

St. Louis said detectives with BSO’s Crime Scene and Violent Crimes units are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback didn’t get the contract extension he sought and plans to play out the final season of his three-year, $100 million deal.

“I’ve been pretty up front and honest about my feelings about Tampa, it being home for our family, raising kids here,” Mayfield said Thursday. “We love it here. I wanted a deal done and set the deadline and told them it was going to be all ball after that, and I did mean that. I don’t know if they thought I was gonna take some of the offers that they gave.

“I’m at the point in my career, understanding what I’ve brought to this franchise. One, I’m very thankful for the chance they gave me — do not get me wrong on that. But I also know, I really know what I’ve brought to this franchise, leadership-wise and even play-wise. It’s been some of the best years of my career, and I think it’s only going to trend upwards.”

Mayfield, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft by Cleveland, revived his career in Tampa Bay after replacing Tom Brady in 2023. He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons while leading the Bucs to consecutive NFC South titles. He was an MVP candidate through the first half of last season when the team started 6-2 but struggled with injuries and tailed off.

“It’s disappointing in that regard, to feel disrespected a little bit,” he said. “That’s really the disappointing part to feel undervalued after thinking you’ve earned it. This is not a ‘poor me’ thing. There’s a lot of other people who have it way worse off. But I can sit here and look at other quarterbacks and peers and evaluate myself based on that and put myself in certain categories that I deserved to be compensated for that.

“I think I’m a franchise quarterback. I’ve been told I’m a franchise quarterback. It’s been said publicly from ownership down here and to not have a deal done is very disappointing.”

Mayfield had set a deadline on getting a new contract by the start of training camp. He said he addressed his teammates to let them know he won’t let the issue become a distraction. He also doesn’t need it to motivate him.

“Money should never be the motivation in football,” he said. “It’s how do I help this team win? It’s never going to be the motivation for me. When it comes to having a chip on your shoulder and all that, for me it just puts me in the mindset of betting on myself. That’s something I’m pretty familiar with, and it’s a good place to be. As a highly competitive guy, sometimes you have to put yourself backed into a corner and fight your way out. I have a lot of guys and a lot of staff around me that are with me, so I’m not alone in it. We’re fighting for the same goal, and that’s to be playing in February.”

If Mayfield plays like he did in 2024 — 4,500 yards passing, 41 touchdown passes, 71.4% completion rate, 106.8 passer rating — the Buccaneers likely will have to pay him even more than he commands now. A contract that averages between $50-55 million is considered to be Mayfield’s current range.

“Baker hasn’t missed a beat or changed one bit through anything that’s going on,” offensive lineman Ben Bredeson said. “He’s still our quarterback, he’s still the same leader, friend, guy that we all love. When he says it’s all about ball, he means it. He’s probably one of the most consistent and locked in individuals I’ve ever had the chance to play with. It’s an honor going to work with him every day and no matter what’s happening outside of the building, he has not changed one bit and is ready to go at all times.”

Two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Vita Vea also is unhappy with his contract situation as he enters the final year of his deal. He has missed the first two days of practice with a back injury.

“It’s all about winning here now and what we’re going to do and hopefully gets his back fixed and gets his deal done,” Mayfield said. “Vita deserves that. He’s the anchor of our defense. I hope they take care of him.”

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

La oficina de Milei presentó el decreto como una respuesta a semanas de críticas de celebridades, aficionados rivales y usuarios de redes sociales, luego de que polémicas decisiones arbitrales alimentaran la especulación de que la FIFA había favorecido al equipo argentino y a su superestrella Lionel Messi en el torneo. Los detractores dirigieron su enojo —por la agresividad ocasional de los aficionados argentinos, y por el juego brusco del equipo en el campo — no sólo contra los jugadores, sino cada vez más contra la sociedad argentina en su conjunto.

La medida añade nuevos motivos a la ley migratoria de Argentina, lo que permite que las autoridades impidan el ingreso, deporten y revoquen visas a personas que se determine que han promovido el odio contra los argentinos en declaraciones orales o escritas, o que hayan profanado símbolos nacionales.

“Frente a las recientes manifestaciones de hostilidad contra la República Argentina y los argentinos, el Gobierno Nacional reafirma que la defensa de la Nación, de sus ciudadanos y de sus símbolos no es negociable”, manifestó la oficina del presidente. “Quien ataque a la República Argentina no es bienvenido en nuestro país”.

La decisión supone un marcado giro para un país que, durante mucho tiempo, se ha enorgullecido de recibir inmigrantes. La Constitución de Argentina alienta explícitamente la inmigración y, durante décadas, el país ha ofrecido a los extranjeros amplios derechos civiles y un acceso relativamente fácil a la residencia legal, la educación pública y la atención sanitaria.

Sin embargo, Milei ha introducido medidas migratorias más estrictas, las cuales han elevado los requisitos para obtener la residencia permanente y ampliado las facultades del gobierno para deportar a extranjeros acusados de delitos, a menudo publicitando las medidas con una retórica similar a la del gobierno del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump.

El desprecio generalizado hacia Argentina se apoya en estereotipos de larga data, particularmente en América Latina, según los cuales los argentinos se consideran cultural y económicamente superiores a sus vecinos, en parte debido a la gran proporción de la población que desciende de inmigrantes europeos. La reacción se intensificó cuando jugadores y miembros del cuerpo técnico de la selección argentina atacaron a sus rivales españoles tras la final del Mundial. Peticiones en línea para expulsar a Argentina del torneo reunieron cientos de miles de firmas.

El miércoles, la FIFA, el organismo rector del fútbol mundial, inició procedimientos disciplinarios contra la Asociación del Fútbol Argentino por el altercado, así como por presuntos insultos racistas y conducta inapropiada de aficionados. Los jugadores también enfrentan una investigación de la FIFA por exhibir una pancarta en la que se afirmaba el reclamo de Argentina sobre las Islas Malvinas (conocidas como Falkland en inglés), controladas por el Reino Unido, después de la victoria del equipo sobre Inglaterra en semifinales.

Milei, un aliado cercano de Trump, ha dicho que el aluvión de críticas es una “campaña anti-Argentina”. La semana pasada —sin aportar pruebas— alegó que los gobiernos de izquierda de Brasil y México, así como el Partido Demócrata de Estados Unidos, habían financiado la campaña para socavar a su gobierno libertario de derecha. Eso ayudó a desencadenar una crisis diplomática con el vecino Brasil, que retiró a su embajador en Argentina por las acusaciones y los insultos de Milei al presidente brasileño Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

En el decreto del jueves se indica que los castigos no son aplicables al desacuerdo ideológico ni a la crítica política, académica o cívica protegida por la Constitución de Argentina.

Pero deja sin respuesta cómo distinguirán los funcionarios la expresión protegida del discurso de odio prohibido, si las autoridades migratorias revisarán la actividad de los extranjeros en redes sociales, y con qué rigor se aplicarán las nuevas facultades contra turistas y residentes de larga data.

“¿Quién y como va a aplicar esas causales?”, preguntó Maximiliano Ferraro, un legislador de la oposición, al criticar el decreto, al que considera un truco político innecesario. ¿Cómo “se determinará que una persona incurrió en supuestos tan ambiguos como el “mensaje de odio” hacia el país o nuestra población?”

“Mientras se envuelven en la albiceleste para un anuncio, muchas de las políticas que promueven no son más que espectáculos nacionalistas y expulsivos”, añadió.

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

Cameron threw only 72 pitches through six innings with two walks and five strikeouts, with little solid contact by the Twins. Catcher Salvador Perez sprang forward to pick up Ryan Kreidler’s dribbler in front of the plate and make an on-target underhand toss to first base for the second out of the sixth as the 36-year-old tumbled to the grass to keep the feat alive.

But Jeffers delivered a clean single to right-center field on an 0-2 changeup from Cameron.

Cameron still stretched his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 16 by getting the next six outs for his career-long outing with a one-hitter in eight shutout innings. He threw seven shutout frames in relief last Friday after the Royals used an opener in a 2-1 loss at Detroit. This one ended even worse, when Kody Clemens hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning to give Minnesota a 4-3 victory.

Former Twins right-hander Randy Dobnak pitched seven scoreless innings for the Royals on Wednesday night in a 4-0 victory.

Cameron went 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts last season and finished fourth in American League Rookie of the Year award voting. The 27-year-old threw 6 1/3 no-hit innings in his major league debut on April 30, 2025, for a 3-0 win at Tampa Bay.

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The department’s 27 passport agencies nationwide will start offering the special travel documents next month. They previously had only been available at the Washington, D.C., passport office for in-person applicants.

Trump, whose stern portrait is emblazoned on an inside page, is the first living president featured in the travel document.

The passports are the latest instance of Trump having his name and likeness added to buildings, documents and other highly visible tributes. His image is on a gold-finished commemorative coin celebrating the country’s founding that the U.S. Mint has begun producing, and there are efforts to put Trump’s signature on all new U.S. paper currency, also a first for a sitting president.

“In response to overwhelming demand, the Department of State is making an additional 250,000 of the special commemorative passports available to the public,” it said in a statement. “Americans all across the country will now have the opportunity to apply for one of these additional special passports, known as the ‘Patriot Passport.’”

Passport offices in Centennial, Colorado; Chicago; Dallas; Detroit; New Orleans; New York; and Stamford, Connecticut, will offer the Trump passports at one-day special events starting Aug. 8. The list will grow to include other passport offices throughout August.

Those who want the special passport must apply in-person on the day specified on the department’s passport website. Those wanting a traditional passport must apply on different days.

The commemorative passport features Trump’s picture over a gold imprimatur of his signature to an interior page, while the cover carries the words “United States of America” in bold gold print at the top and “Passport” at the bottom — a reversal of the current standard cover.

In addition, a small gold laminate American flag, with the number 250 encircled by stars, is at the bottom of the back cover.

The only presidents featured in current U.S. passports are in a double-page depiction of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Other depictions include the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and scenes of the Great Plains, mountains and islands. Current passports also contain quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower.

The addition of Trump’s picture and signature to the passport book is the newest step his aides have taken to increase the president’s visibility, including adding his name to the U.S. Institute of Peace building and the Kennedy Center performing arts venue, although that signage was later removed on a court order.

Trump also has made waves with his plans for a new White House ballroom and a massive arch to be built at one of the entrances to Washington from Virginia.

The changes at the National Jamboree, which ends Friday, reflect shifts made by Scouting America since the organization became a target of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over what he calls “woke” policies. Some scouts who had planned to attend the event in West Virginia said they backed out because Scouting America scrapped the inclusion initiatives it previously celebrated.

Hegseth threatened to end the Pentagon's century-old partnership with Scouting America if it did not make changes including refocusing away from diversity initiatives. The organization, previously known as Boy Scouts of America, rebranded in 2024 to emphasize inclusion and the growing number of girls in the scouting ranks.

“Scouting fundamentally is a safe place for young people to have fun,” said Samuel J. Aronson, an assistant scoutmaster who has organized inclusive events at previous national events. “In the absence of these spaces, we’re denying all that, both the safety and the fun, to thousands of young people.”

Thousands attend the National Jamboree

This year, about 15,000 scouts, leaders and volunteers from across the country are attending the 10-day event in the mountains of West Virginia. In addition to activities including mountain biking and kayaking, the gathering hosts leadership programs and educational sessions.

A Scouting America spokesperson said the organization remains “fully committed to welcoming and serving all youth,” but did not address questions about the changes to the jamboree.

The Pentagon made a deal with Scouting America in February but the two sides have given conflicting accounts of that agreement. This month, a gay rights activist obtained the memo outlining the agreement from the Defense Department after filing a lawsuit, arguing that clarity was of public importance.

The six-page document spells out ways the Pentagon will monitor compliance, including that officials from each organization would have “periodic touchpoints and meet” as needed. It was obtained by James Dale, who was expelled from the Boy Scouts in the early 1990s for being gay and later sued over discrimination. He equated the Pentagon's tactics to the actions of a bully.

“They basically have their thumb on the organization, threatening them under constant pressure,” Dale said.

Deal preserves ties between Scouting America and Pentagon

The scouts and the military have long held close ties; The military provides logistical support for the jamboree and some scout troops meet on or near bases.

Asked about the implementation and monitoring of the deal, a Pentagon spokesperson referred to previous comments by Hegseth.

In February, Hegseth posted a video that said his department would “vigorously review” changes made by Scouting America and would cease the military’s longtime support of the organization if it failed to comply by late August.

Some scouts disappointed by changes to inclusion efforts

John Andrew Segebarth, a 21-year-old college student and Eagle Scout, has been disheartened by the agreement. He joined the scout ranks in first grade and said he had been looking forward to staffing the space for LGBTQ+ and Allied Scouts at this year’s jamboree.

Segebarth, who is gay and was elected by peers as a national officer for scouts in 2024, said the removal of inclusive spaces is a sharp reversal for Scouting America. National scouting events in recent years included community spaces for girls, scouts of color, LGBTQ+ scouts and persons with disabilities, according to Aronson.

“Scouting’s kind of walking back on its values that they told me they believed in,” said Segebarth who, along with Aronson, decided not to attend the jamboree this year.

It was at a community tent that Layla Grace found the first place where she could talk openly about being a transgender female. Now a 21-year-old assistant scoutmaster, Grace had also planned to staff the space for LGBTQ+ and Allied Scouts in West Virginia this year.

When the spaces were canceled, Grace said she almost didn't go to the jamboree but decided she wanted to be there to help those in need. She wound up volunteering at an area dedicated to addressing issues that include mental health, food security and education.

And she's trying to fill the gap left by the removal of inclusive areas.

“I am wearing so many rainbows on me, my right hand has my nails painted in the lesbian flag and my left hand has my nails painted in the transgender flag,” she said. “I am being as loud as I can to do my best to hopefully make up for the lack of community spaces.”

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Associated Press reporter Ben Finley contributed to this report from Washington.

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A representative for the the mall said the new stores are aimed to give visitors more reasons to enjoy the outlet shopping center.

One of the newest arrivals is Sephora, a longtime request by shoppers, the representative said. Also now open is LandShark Bar & Grill by Margaritaville, the brand’s first location in Miami-Dade County. The company says it serves American fare, seafood and tropical cocktails with live music on the weekends.

Dolphin Mall also recently welcomed Eko Padel & Pickle, which the company says is the brand’s first U.S. location. This indoor sports venue features professional padel and pickleball courts, lessons for players of all skill levels, an on site-cafe, and spaces for private events. Prices start at $30 for one person per hour.

Other recent openings include JD Sports, Miniso, Luli Fama, Primark, and the newly renovated CMX Cinemas Dolphin 19 & IMAX.

Fabletics is expected to open in August, according to the mall, and Pop Mart, a retailer known for collectable designer toys and character collaborations, is expected to open later this year.

Dolphin Mall said the new businesses reflect continued investment in expanding the property’s mix of retail, dining and entertainment experiences for shoppers and visitors.

Un representante del centro comercial indicó que las nuevas tiendas buscan ofrecer a los visitantes más razones para disfrutar del centro comercial outlet.

Una de las incorporaciones más recientes es Sephora, una tienda muy solicitada por los compradores, señaló el representante. También abrió sus puertas LandShark Bar & Grill by Margaritaville, la primera ubicación de la marca en el condado Miami-Dade. La empresa indicó que ofrece comida estadounidense, mariscos y cócteles tropicales con música en vivo los fines de semana.

Dolphin Mall también dio recientemente la bienvenida a Eko Padel & Pickle, que, según la empresa, es la primera ubicación de la marca en Estados Unidos. Este recinto deportivo bajo techo cuenta con canchas profesionales de pádel y pickleball, clases para jugadores de todos los niveles, una cafetería y espacios para eventos privados. Los precios comienzan en $30 USD por persona por hora.

Otras aperturas recientes incluyen JD Sports, Miniso, Luli Fama, Primark y el renovado CMX Cinemas Dolphin 19 & IMAX.

Según el centro comercial, Fabletics abrirá en agosto y Pop Mart, una tienda conocida por sus figuras coleccionables de diseñador y colaboraciones con personajes, abrirá más adelante este año.

Dolphin Mall indicó que estos nuevos negocios reflejan la inversión continua para ampliar la oferta de tiendas, restaurantes y entretenimiento para compradores y visitantes.

The former lieutenant governor made the announcement in a video posted on his Facebook page as democratic socialist Francesca Hong has garnered strong support from the liberal wing of the party.

Barnes’ decision to drop out came a day after the release of a Marquette Law School poll of Wisconsin Democratic primary voters that found Hong leading Barnes and the other candidates by a significant margin, although about one-third of primary voters remained undecided.

“It's become very clear who our nominee is going to be,” Barnes said.

Barnes’ move came on the same day that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that it had asked him about allegations of inappropriate behavior lodged with the state Democratic Party, local party officials and others against him.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party received an anonymous letter in 2024 and again in 2025 making allegations against Barnes, a person with direct knowledge of the party’s actions told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the review.

The party hired a law firm in 2025 to look into claims that Barnes used his position in the party to seek out inappropriate relationships with young adult women, the person said. The review found nothing actionable because the allegations were anonymous and unspecific, the person with knowledge of the probe said.

Barnes' campaign issued a statement saying, “There are no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing against Mandela.”

Barnes is the third Democrat to withdraw from the race. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez ended her run amid a campaign finance scandal two weeks ago and former state economic development director Missy Hughes dropped out in June.

After Rodriguez ended her campaign, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley rejoined the race with the endorsement of Gov. Tony Evers.

Crowley made a direct plea to Barnes' supporters to back him.

“There's a place for you in what we're building,” he posted on social media.

Evers told reporters Thursday that he was surprised by Barnes’ move.

“But he needs to do what he needs to do,” Evers said. “I don’t know why he’s getting out. I have to believe it’s something relatively important.”

Evers said he stuck by his endorsement of Crowley, who worked closely with Evers and Republican lawmakers on a deal to increase funding for local communities. Evers chose to endorse him over Barnes, who served as his lieutenant governor in his first term.

Evers said Crowley was the best candidate “even if Mandela was in.”

Hong did not immediately return a text message seeking comment.

Joel Brennan, a long-shot candidate in the race, said, “It’s unfortunate for voters that this primary has gotten more attention for chaos than the stakes of this election."

The shake-up comes after nearly 128,000 voters have already returned absentee ballots and on the third day of in-person early voting. On Wednesday, a judge rejected a lawsuit supported by the Democratic Party seeking to allow voters who have already returned their absentee ballots to cancel them and vote again.

The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who faces only nominal opposition in the Republican primary. Tiffany, who has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, said it's become clear the race will be a choice between a “socialist agenda” or “common sense.”

“This election is not about red versus blue,” he said. “It is about whether Wisconsin stays Wisconsin.”

Barnes ending his campaign comes after he benefited from other candidates dropping out in the Democratic primary race for Senate in 2022 to clear the field for him. He ended up losing by under 27,000 votes that year to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Según la policía de North Miami, el accidente se reportó poco después de las 3 pm en Lost City Brewing Company , ubicada en 12207 NE 13th Court.

Según la policía, el conductor, Eros Emanuel Gehrig, de 53 años, perdió el control del vehículo y chocó contra cinco coches antes de estrellarse contra la fachada del edificio.

“La estructura fue evaluada y se determinó que era segura y que no representaba ningún peligro para la seguridad”, dijo un portavoz del Departamento de Policía Metropolitana de Nuevo México (NMPD) a Local 10 News en un correo electrónico.

El propietario de la cervecería, Chris Campos, declaró a Local 10 News que es un milagro que no hubiera nadie dentro del local en ese momento.

“Falta una hora para que abramos, media hora después de que estuviéramos haciendo algunas reparaciones al refrigerador que está en esta pared”, dijo Campos. “Fue un momento realmente fortuito en el que no había nadie y, la verdad, si hubiera habido gente, habría sido terrible”.

Según el informe de detención, una revisión de los registros reveló que la licencia de conducir de Gehrig en Florida había sido suspendida indefinidamente el 12 de septiembre de 2012.

Fue arrestado bajo el cargo de conducir con la licencia suspendida.

La policía informó que Gehrig fue trasladado al Hospital HCA Florida Aventura para ser evaluado antes de ser ingresado en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Gehrig fue puesto en libertad el jueves por la mañana tras pagar la fianza.

The 2-1 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with a judge appointed by President Donald Trump in the majority, deepened a split between federal appeals courts over the administration's mandatory detention policy.

Four other appeals courts have also rejected it, while the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans and Eighth Circuit in St. Louis have sided with the Trump administration.

The expanding circuit split increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue. The administration last month asked the high court to consider it.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it “strongly disagrees with the Ninth Circuit panel and is confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention.”

“President Donald Trump and Secretary Mullin are now enforcing the law as it was actually written to keep America safe,” the statement said.

Under previous administrations, most noncitizens without a criminal record who were arrested inside the U.S. were allowed to seek a bond hearing while their immigration cases were pending. Mandatory detention was generally reserved for people arrested at the border.

Last July, immigration officials issued guidance expanding mandatory detention to immigrants in the U.S. interior. The move — part of the administration's mass deportation campaign — prompted a deluge of federal lawsuits by immigrants seeking release from custody.

Some federal judges who ordered bond hearings blasted the administration for repeatedly violating their orders.

The Trump administration has argued that Congress changed immigration law in 1996 to allow mandatory detention beyond the border, but previous administrations didn't enforce that provision.

Writing for the majority in Thursday's ruling, 9th U.S. Circuit Judge Daniel Bress rejected that argument.

“Although no reading of the complicated and interrelated textual provisions at issue here is without some shortcomings, the historical understanding of the statute is the better one,” Bress, a Trump appointee, wrote.

He was joined by Judge M. Margaret McKeown, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Judge Carlos Bea, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, dissented, saying the text and purpose of an amendment Congress approved in 1996 support the Trump administration's reading.

Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases in human history before it was eradicated in 1980, largely thanks to vaccination. For centuries, the virus had killed about one-third of the people it infected and left most survivors with deep and sometimes disfiguring scars.

Outbreaks struck Asia and Europe and eventually spread to the Americas, where colonial writings, administrative records and missionary reports documented how it killed millions and devastated Indigenous populations who had never been exposed to the virus.

Now there's scientific evidence for the spread: An analysis of Chilean mummies provides the strongest genetic link yet to the virus as it existed outside of the Americas, and provides a better picture of how it reached remote populations through colonization, said geneticist Shigeki Nakagome with Trinity College Dublin.

In the new study, Nakagome and colleagues examined 13 bone samples previously collected from an archaeological site at Camarones, in northern Chile.

Researchers found evidence of two smallpox infections in ancient DNA from the leg bone fragments of an adult man and woman.

From dating the remains and peeking at the genes, scientists concluded the two likely died between 1492 and 1631. Scientists also compared the genes in this version of smallpox to other versions and fit it neatly between European strains from medieval times and later versions. This was important molecular evidence, suggesting that the strains of smallpox infecting people in the Americas evolved first from Europe.

“Nobody would ever question that smallpox came to this hemisphere from colonization, but this proves it,” said Patricia Foster, a biologist at Indiana University. She had no role in the new research, which was published Thursday in the journal Science.

Exactly which population brought smallpox to the Americas from the Old World remains unclear, said the study authors. European settlers came in different waves to the Americas following the explorations of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean in 1492 and Amerigo Vespucci along the South American coast about a decade later. The disease also could have passed through Africa as part of the introduction and expansion of the slave trade.

These smallpox infections in South America were identified in an area with no previous record of the disease, opening new questions about how the virus got so far south — possibly spreading along Indigenous trading networks that had long pre-existed the arrival of Europeans.

Studying various strains of the virus also allowed scientists to pinpoint how it evolved over time, turning off certain genes to become more effective at its deadly mission.

In addition to confirming the history of smallpox, the research also shines a light on the human cost. The two sick individuals studied were between 18 and 35 years old, and the disease is likely what killed them.

The findings point to how devastating the disease was across the Americas, wiping out entire populations and leaving them vulnerable to European conquest, said study coauthor Constanza de la Fuente Castro, a biological anthropologist at the University of Chile.

“It wasn't just cultural or demographic. It's literally written into biological evidence that we can still recover and read today,” de la Fuente Castro 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.

The crackdown set off after a truck driver, who authorities said was in the country illegally, made an illegal U-turn that caused a crash that killed three people on the Turnpike in Saint Lucie County.

Since then, the industry has been on high alert.

“There’s a lot of disruption in this industry,” said Osvaldo Canto, an instructor with the Commercial Driver License program at Miami Dade College. “In our opinion, it was needed because we were seeing a lot of things going on that were not supposed to be happening.”

Canto said enrollment in the program has boomed. New and experienced drivers want to comply with state and federal requirements.

“They need to have basic English,” Canto said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has been enforcing the executive order. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced states couldn’t issue commercial licenses to drivers who couldn’t speak English. Law enforcement checks the driver’s language skills during traffic stops or inspections.

Luis Garcia is a student in the program at Miami Dade College. He is taking English proficiency courses at MDC.

“I’m originally from Cuba,” Garcia said.

Critics say the increased enforcement unfairly targets immigrants, and it is to blame for a shortage of truck drivers. Canto hopes it will just make the roads safer.

Related story: White House wants veterans to replace immigrant truckers who lost their licenses in crackdown

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Miami opens the preseason Oct. 3 against the Toronto Raptors at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City as part of NBA Canada Games 2026. The game marks the first NBA preseason contest ever played in Quebec City.

The Heat then return home to host the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 8, the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 10 and the Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 14 before wrapping up the preseason on the road against the Orlando Magic on Oct. 16.

The announcement comes after one of the most eventful offseasons in franchise history, during which the Heat acquired forwards Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis via trade with the Milwaukee Bucks in late June.

The pair were officially introduced by the team at Kaseya Center on July 16 and said they were eager to begin their new chapter in South Florida.

Miami will hold its annual media day Sept. 28 at Kaseya Center before opening training camp on Sept. 29.

And don’t forget, you can watch Miami Heat games on Local 10 next season as WPLG Local 10 and the Heat announced a newly expanded media rights agreement, making Local 10 the home of HEAT basketball across South Florida! CLICK HERE for more information on how to watch!

Heat fans can also call 786-777-4375 for more information on how to purchase tickets for the 2026-2027 preseason and regular season.

Miami Heat 2026-27 preseason schedule (locations included)

• Oct. 3: at Toronto, 7 p.m. (Videotron Centre)
• Oct. 8: vs. New Orleans, 7:30 p.m. (Kaseya Center)
• Oct. 10: vs. Minnesota, 8 p.m. (Kaseya Center)
• Oct. 14: vs. Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m. (Kaseya Center)
• Oct. 16: at Orlando, 7 p.m. (Kia Center)

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week announced it would wrap up the program, which was initially implemented by the Biden administration in 2024 to lower patients' Medicare Part D prescription drug costs in response to effects of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

While federal officials insist the financial impact on Medicare beneficiaries will be minimal, the decision opens the Republican-led administration to potential political consequences in a high-stakes midterm election year. Voters have identified cost of living as a top concern, and many older adults, who tend to vote in high numbers, are on fixed incomes where every dollar counts. The roughly 25 million Americans with Medicare Part D plans will find out about their 2027 rates in the fall, when they are casting ballots in November's elections.

Democrats slammed CMS's move as part of a pattern of federal attacks on healthcare affordability, alongside federal Medicaid cuts and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies that had reduced premium costs for working-age Americans in that program.

“The Trump administration is actively raising prescription drug costs for 25 million seniors,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X in response to the news, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. “Heartless, cruel, and completely by choice.”

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday said ending the subsidy program would prevent billions of taxpayer dollars from being funneled to insurance companies. It cost the agency an estimated $3.6 billion in 2026.

He said most Medicare beneficiaries would see less than a $10-per-month increase, and some would even see lower premiums than beforehand.

“Every Medicare beneficiary still has access to low-cost plans, and we will continue to lower prescription drug prices for every American patient, from more MFN deals to our policy giving seniors access to GLP-1s for $50 a month,” he wrote on social media.

The federal government also negotiates directly with pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of some of the most expensive drugs in Medicare, through a program created by Congress in 2022.

This week's decision has no impact on the out-of-pocket cap that limits the amount that older adults with standalone Medicare drug coverage spend on their prescription drugs over the course of a year. That was set at $2,100 in 2026 and is projected to rise to $2,400 for 2027.

Part D beneficiaries paid an average of $36 a month this year for their prescription drug premiums with the subsidies in place, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. The subsidies offset the average premium by $16 in 2026, according to the federal Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

It's not yet known how many Americans the change will effect, or how much more they'll pay. Older Americans have the opportunity to shop for plans each year, and prices vary widely between them. CMS has said it will release information about next year's premiums in September.

AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond said her organization, which serves Americans 50 and older, had supported the temporary subsidy.

“While it’s too early to know the full impact of this change, it would be unfortunate if this decision made Part D coverage less affordable, just as we’re beginning to see billions in savings from Medicare drug price negotiation,” she said in a statement.

Juliette Cubanski, vice president and director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF, said the price increases may be marginal for some consumers but impactful for others when combined with higher prices in other areas, like groceries, gas and housing.

“What's going to matter most for consumers is how much more or less they have to pay at the end of a month, and how much they have left after the bills are paid,” she said. “This could just make it more challenging for some people to make that math work.”

The conflict, now in its sixth month, halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that previously served as a delivery route for a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas. With global supplies constrained, prices for Brent crude, the international standard, soared from about $70 to above $100 a barrel for much of March, April and May, and at one point reached $126.

The money that oil companies accrued between the beginning of April and the end of June could receive extra scrutiny this year. Gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices climbed during that period, increasing costs for drivers and airline passengers. Supplies ran low in some countries, leading to sporadic fuel rationing in Australia and government office closures in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The attacks between the U.S. and Iran resulted in huge profits for some of the biggest publicly traded oil companies as they sold their goods for higher prices. Exxon Mobil on Friday reported doubling its second-quarter profits to $14.53 billion, up 105% from the same time a year ago. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in revenue, up 42% from the same time last year.

Chevron, based in Houston, nearly quadrupled its profits to $12.07 billion, up 385% from the same quarter last year, and reported $70.06 billion in revenue, up 56% from the same time last year.

Six of Europe's largest oil companies posted first-quarter profits of $22 billion altogether, a total which was 43% higher than the same time last year, according to Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that investigates environmental problems.

“There are constituencies around the world who are having a very good crisis, and the oil producers are one of them,” said Patrick Galey, fossil fuels lead at Global Witness. “When you compare that to the hundreds of millions of people who are struggling with rolling blackouts, with electricity curbs, rationing, waiting in line for food queues, or the disruption to fertilizers and the potential impact that that has on food prices, we don’t think that it’s a justifiable price for the rest of the world to be paying.”

Lawmakers propose taxing major oil producers for war windfalls

Energy companies such as Exxon and Chevron do not set the price of American oil, which ricocheted from $68 to $115 a barrel during the quarter. It’s driven by supply and demand, and what traders, refiners and other buyers are willing to pay.

Nevertheless, Democrats in Congress introduced bills in March to tax major oil producers for profits they show from 2026 onward and have the tax proceeds redistributed to consumers.

“It’s fair to put a windfall profits tax on inordinate windfall profits rather than cut off children’s food programs,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who introduced the Senate version of the legislation.

Whitehouse's measure and a companion bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California would amend the U.S. tax code to impose a per-barrel excise tax on companies that produced or imported at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025. The tax would be 50% of the difference between the oil price at the time of the levy and the average price per barrel last year. Similar proposals failed to pass in previous years.

“We cracked $4 again per gallon last weekend in gas stations that I drove by, and that’s a big expense, particularly for families that get their income from driving around from job to job in the work van or the work truck,” Whitehouse said. “It makes a real difference.”

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S., which was below $3 before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, reached $4.11 Friday. That's about $1 more than the cost of a gallon at this point last year.

Refineries rake in cash while consumers pay more for fuel

Outfits such as Exxon and Chevron, which not only extract oil and gas but also own refineries, are in the best position to profit from the current market conditions, said Tom Seng, assistant professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University.

Refineries turn crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil. They’re enjoying historically high “crack spreads,” which is a term to describe the profits refineries expect to make based on the prices of oil and products such as gasoline and jet fuel, Seng said.

In late July, refineries planning to buy a barrel of oil for about $80 were looking at potential profits of $50-$60, which is huge compared to the average range of $20-$25, he said.

“The return on refining, on a percentage basis, has skyrocketed,” Seng said. “Oil right now is priced what it is priced because of the Iran war. But in the meantime, the refineries are making money hand over fist.”

Globally, not all refineries have been able to get the supply of crude oil they need to meet demand since the conflict began, said Timothy Fitzgerald, a University of Tennessee professor of business economics who studies the petroleum industry.

As a result, refineries that have ample oil to work with, including those in the U.S., are turning high profits, particularly when they make jet fuel and diesel, which is priced about 41% higher in the U.S. than before the Strait of Hormuz was blocked.

"If you’re a company that owns a bunch of refinery capacity, things look pretty good," Fitzgerald said.

American refineries are running at near-full capacity and poised to benefit because some refineries in the Middle East and Russia were damaged, while others in Asia can't get the amount of oil they used to from the Middle East.

“Ultimately, users of the energy services pay,” Fitzgerald said. “Consumers, people like you and me buying retail motor gasoline or diesel fuel or airplane tickets. But it also means that almost everything else we buy has an embedded energy content to it ... and this is where you start to worry about it driving increases in costs.”

Not all oil and gas companies benefit in the same way

In the present geopolitical environment, some companies are winners while others are losers, Fitzgerald said.

“If you’re a company like a U.S. (oil) producer, even a U.S.-based international company like an Exxon or Chevron who’s got lots of production outside the Gulf, things are good. You’re selling your product at a higher price,” he said.

But companies in the Middle East that are not able to benefit from higher prices because they are struggling to get their liquefied natural gas out of the Persian Gulf or have a lot of damaged oil fields or processing facilities have a very different take on recent events, Fitzgerald added.

“Your ability to sell anything and the volume that you may be getting out is so curtailed that your revenues are way down and you’re incurring higher transportation costs and security costs,” he said.

Exxon and Chevron weren’t as profitable in the first quarter due to the way oil is traded; the first real opportunity they had to take advantage of higher prices oil was in April. Companies that had a lot of oil stored in floating tankers and available for spot-market trading, including some European ones, were able to benefit from March’s higher oil prices, Seng said.

Mientras, el presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel defendió ante los diputados la reciente publicación de políticas aperturistas al sector privado en la isla.

Díaz-Canel encabezó el foro legislativo, mientras que el exlíder Raúl Castro lo siguió por teleconferencia.

La reorganización del Estado fue anunciada en junio y contempla reducir de 27 a 20 los ministerios, al tiempo que se producirán algunas fusiones y desaparecerán otros cuyos contenidos serán absorbidos por los restantes. Por ejemplo, el nuevo Ministerio de Agricultura y Alimentación reunirá a los actuales de Agricultura y de la Industria Alimentaria.

En tanto, la nueva ley de vivienda permitirá que los ciudadanos tengan dos viviendas a su nombre en zonas urbanas –hasta ahora sólo se autoriza una— y una de descanso y que los emigrados no pierdan sus propiedades.

Estas sesiones parlamentarias que se convocan pocas veces al año y que comenzaron la víspera se producen en momentos en que la isla enfrenta la casi paralización de su vida económica y social tras un cerco petrolero impuesto por Estados Unidos desde enero . Las consecuencias para la población han sido apagones de más de 20 horas diarias, cortes de internet, desabastecimiento de agua y medicinas y escasez de combustible.

También poco después de la publicación esta semana de una serie de normas gubernamentales con acceso a sectores antes solo reservados al Estado, como la extracción petrolera o la creación de casas de ancianos y que buscan sacar al país de una mayor caída.

Durante su discurso de cierre de las sesiones, el presidente Díaz-Canel hizo énfasis en las hostilidades de Estados Unidos que dijo han llevado a la isla a “un escenario extremadamente complejo y amenazante, propio de una fortaleza sitiada".

Los gobiernos de ambas naciones reconocieron haber mantenido contacto pero se desconoce su contenido. El presidente Donald Trump acusó al modelo de la isla de ineficiente y aseguró que está dispuesto a tomar la isla si esta no se aviene a cambios económicos y políticos.

Al mismo tiempo, Díaz-Canel negó que las medidas aperturistas sean una reacción ante las presiones de Estados Unidos pero reconoció las inquietudes en algunos sectores de la población.

“Existen preocupaciones legítimas y francas sobre el crecimiento del capital privado, la concentración de riquezas y capital por una persona, lo relacionado con los derechos de usufructo, superficie y negocios inmobiliarios, la posibilidad de privatización de empresas estatales, la ampliación y naturalización de la desigualdad… y la falta de mecanismos de participación y control popular", expresó el mandario.

“A todos estos asuntos hay que prestarle atención… las transformaciones que hoy implementamos no son para más capitalismo sino para defender y avanzar en la construcción socialista”, agregó.

Las sesiones del miércoles y jueves sirvieron también para que funcionarios de primer nivel como el primer ministro Manuel Marrero hicieran un recuento de la situación actual.

Marrero aseguró que a raíz de la salida de las cadenas internacionales — luego de las amenazas de sancione de Estados Unidos contra ellas — y de la caída del estratégico sector del turismo –muchas líneas aéreas abandonaron sus rutas a la isla— se encuentran cerrados el 73% de los hoteles.

Además, el viceprimer ministro y titular de Comercio Exterior, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, informó que debido a las sanciones estadounidenses varias empresas navieras se vieron obligadas a dejar más de 7.000 contenedores en puertos del Caribe cargados con alimentos y medicinas para la isla.

The players won't be punished for the bet, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The league posted the initial video from All-Star Weekend, days before Bueckers’ Dallas Wings and Reese’s Atlanta Dream were set to play Wednesday night. The clip featured Bueckers and Reese placing what appeared to be a personal wager on the game. It was presented with the caption, “We did?” with a laughing emoji followed by, “Paige Bueckers on the bet she made with Angel Reese at All-Star Weekend on tonight’s matchup.”

The WNBA moved quickly to delete the message, but not before it was shared on social media.

“While the social media post was intended to be lighthearted, WNBA players are well aware of the league’s policies prohibiting betting on WNBA games and receive training every year reinforcing those policies,” a league spokesperson said Thursday. “We recognized that the post missed the mark, removed it shortly after it was published, and addressed the matter internally.

“We will also use this as an opportunity to reemphasize with the players involved that conversations about wagering on WNBA games, even when intended as a joke, can have negative consequences.”

The Wings and the Dream both deferred to the league statement when asked for comment.

The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that any kind of wagering is strictly prohibited and that players can be fined, suspended or even disqualified from the WNBA at the sole discretion of the commissioner.

The Dream rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat the Wings 82-81 on Wednesday, with Reese notching 22 points and 12 rebounds and Bueckers finishing with 16 points and six assists.

___

WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

La camiseta, diseñada por adidas, presenta una base blanca con detalles en rosa, verde menta y negro. Según el club, el diseño está inspirado en la cubierta arquitectónica del Nu Stadium y refleja tanto el estilo de Miami como la nueva etapa del equipo.

Royal Caribbean aparece en la parte frontal de la camiseta como socio oficial del uniforme del club, mientras que Lowe’s continúa como patrocinador de las mangas. La empresa de tecnología financiera Nu debuta como patrocinador en la parte posterior de la camiseta.

El club celebrará el lanzamiento la noche del jueves con un evento por invitación en el Nu Stadium, que también servirá como presentación oficial del recién fichado mediocampista brasileño Casemiro.

Se espera que los propietarios del club, Jorge Mas y Jose Mas, participen en las actividades, que incluyen una conferencia de prensa y un encuentro con los aficionados.

Además de la camiseta, la colección Cénit incluye prendas de vestir y calzado, entre ellos chaquetas, camisetas, pantalones cortos, pantalones deportivos, zapatos y sandalias.

Está previsto que los jugadores de Inter Miami estrenen el nuevo uniforme el Sabado, cuando reciban al Columbus Crew durante la Noche de Fútbol Juvenil de Lowe’s. Los primeros 10,000 aficionados que ingresen al estadio recibirán una camiseta blanca conmemorativa del evento.

La campaña promocional de la colección, bajo el lema “We’re Home”, cuenta con Lionel Messi, Facundo Mura, Mateo Silvetti y Germán Berterame, y destaca la mudanza del club al Nu Stadium, inaugurado en abril.

La colección Cénit está disponible desde el jueves en las tiendas oficiales de Inter Miami, en distribuidores seleccionados de adidas y en MLSstore.com.

Inter Miami tiene marca de 11-4-2 en la temporada y ocupa el segundo lugar de la Conferencia Este de la MLS, detrás de Nashville (12-3-2).

El próximo partido del club contra Columbus Crew está programado para el sábado a las 7:30 p.m.