In two days, MDSO deputies with the organized crime bureau arrested 12 women who are Chinese nationals, including five who listed Flushing, New York, as their permanent address, records show.

A deputy with the bureau’s vice and intelligence squad posed as a customer at the 10 businesses where there were arrests on Monday and Tuesday, according to the deputies’ arrest reports.

On Tuesday, deputies arrested seven women during undercover operations, from about 12:30 p.m. to about 10:20 p.m., at six massage parlors, records show.

Deputies identified the women as Quirong Xu, Hongli Ren, Zixuan Wang, Yan Xi, Mei Lin, Xiufen Lin, and Yaoying Lin.

Deputies reported arresting Xu, 67, and Ren, 62, at 9865 SW 184 St., in Palmetto Bay, and listed Ren’s permanent address as Flushing, records show.

Xu “advised of prices for sexual acts” and told the undercover deputy it would be “$70 for a hand job,” a deputy wrote, according to the arrest report.

Deputies reported arresting Yaoying Lin, 58, at 7337 SW 107 Ave., in Kendall.

Deputies reported arresting Xiufen Lin, 51, at 10694 SW 24 St., in Westchester, and listed her permanent address as Flushing.

Deputies reported arresting Mei Lin, 49, at 8410 West Flagler St., in Fontainebleau, and listed her permanent address as Flushing.

Deputies reported arresting Xi, 48, at 17033 South Dixie Highway in Palmetto Bay.

Deputies reported arresting Wang, 46, at 7428 SW 117 Ave., in Kendall, and listed her permanent address as Flushing, records show.

On Monday, deputies reported arresting Yuping Li, Junrong He, Xun Ou, Qingxiang Zhu, and Youdi Zhuge.

Deputies reported arresting Li, 60, at 10471 SW 40 St. in the Westwood Lakes neighborhood, and listed her permanent address as Flushing.

Deputies reported arresting Zhuge, 58, and He, 52, at 11760 SW 88 St. in Kendall.

Deputies reported arresting Zhu, 57, at 16938 South Dixie Highway in West Perrine.

Deputies reported arresting Ou, 36, at 7375 SW 24 St., in the Coral Terrace neighborhood.

THE CHARGES

County court records show Miami-Dade prosecutors filed 12 cases.

Quirong Xu faced a third-degree felony charge of operating a healthcare practice or profession without an active, valid license.

Hongli Ren and Yaoying Lin faced two misdemeanor charges: Engaging in prostitution, and committing an unnatural and lascivious act.

Xun Ou faced three charges: Operating a healthcare practice or profession without an active, valid license, engaging in prostitution, and committing an unnatural and lascivious act.

Zixuan Wang, Yan Xi, Mei Lin, Xiufen Lin, Yuping Li, Junrong He, Qingxiang Zhu, and Youdi Zhuge each faced four charges: Operating a healthcare practice or profession without an active, valid license; practicing massage therapy without a license; engaging in prostitution; and committing an unnatural and lascivious act.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.

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According to an arrest warrant, Jose Maya, 40, is accused of planting a video recording device under a bathroom door, which recorded the 23-year-old victim.

Detectives said the victim discovered the device on June 28 and reported the incident to law enforcement on Monday.

Authorities said the victim claimed she first became suspicious of Maya last year when she caught him lying on the floor immediately outside the bathroom door as she was showering.

The woman said that as she exited the shower, she noticed a small black object underneath the bathroom door, but she initially thought it was an insect because she wasn’t wearing her glasses or contact lenses.

According to the warrant, the victim said Maya quickly stood up as she opened the bathroom door, and claimed that he had been fixing a motion-activated night light near the bathroom.

The warrant states that the victim was suspicious, but initially dismissed the incident.

According to the warrant, the victim continued noticing a small black object appearing underneath the bathroom door as she showered and told her mother about her suspicions.

Detectives said the victim’s mother suggested placing a cellphone in the laundry room to confirm her suspicions.

According to the warrant, the victim did so and her cellphone captured Maya placing a recording device under the bathroom door while the victim was showering.

Detectives said the victim’s mother confronted Maya on June 28 and he provided some kind of admission, although his full comments to her were redacted from the publicly released warrant.

Detectives said the victim’s mother told her one of the videos showed her buttocks, while the other recordings were blurry.

Records show Maya was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at about 7:50 p.m. Tuesday.

“The North Miami Beach Police Department is aware of the arrest involving one of our captains. We remain committed to transparency, accountability, and upholding the highest professional standards for our community,” the NMBPD said in a statement Wednesday.

North Miami Beach Police Chief Juan Pinillos said Maya has been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the case along with an internal investigation.

Maya posted a $7,500 bond on Wednesday and is expected to be released later in the day. In bond court earlier in the day, Miami-Dade County Judge Mindy Glazer ordered that he stay away from the victim and said he is not permitted to have any weapons or ammunition.

“Jose Maya has been arrested and charged, but an arrest is merely an allegation, not a definitive judgment of guilt,” Maya’s attorney, Eric Schwartzreich, said in a statement to Local 10 News. “Like every individual accused of a crime, our client is presumed innocent unless the State presents evidence beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

“We are committed to thoroughly reviewing all the evidence, challenging the allegations through the judicial process, and vigorously defending our client in court.”

Jail records show Nathalie Jean, 43, faces one count each of burglary of an unoccupied structure and petty theft.

Jean is the mother of Yakheim Lollar, 17, whose December 2024 killing drew emotional testimony from family members during the sentencing of his ex-girlfriend, Jahara Malik, earlier this year.

According to an arrest report from the Miami Police Department, Jean’s Kia Telluride had been impounded at King’s Wrecker Service, located at 2151 NW Seventh Ave., after being towed.

Investigators say surveillance video captured Jean arriving at the tow yard in a silver Lexus just after 12:15 p.m. last Wednesday.

Miami police said the video showed Jean exiting the Lexus, entering her SUV, and driving out of the secured lot without authorization or paying approximately $486.45 in towing and storage fees.

The tow yard owner told police that he “never allowed the defendant to enter his towing yard to retrieve her vehicle,” the report states.

After discovering the SUV missing, the owner reviewed surveillance footage and reported it stolen.

Police said the vehicle was located Tuesday inside the parking garage of an apartment complex in the 6100 block of Northwest Seventh Avenue. The owner had the SUV towed back to his business and contacted police, according to the report.

Authorities said Jean later arrived at the tow yard intending to pay the outstanding fees, but employees had already called 911.

They said detectives detained Jean and conducted a recorded interview after advising her of her Miranda rights.

According to the report, Jean admitted to removing the vehicle from the tow yard on July 1 without paying.

Jean’s arrest comes two months after she publicly spoke in a Miami-Dade courtroom during Malik’s sentencing. A judge ultimately sentenced Malik, 18, to 17 years in prison followed by five years of probation.

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

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen ’s decision to run for the presidency for a fourth time means that someone found guilty not once but twice of embezzling public funds will campaign to lead the European Union ’s largest nation.

On Tuesday, a Paris appeals court cleared a path for the 57-year-old Le Pen to run by shortening a ban on seeking public office that had spelled possible doom for her ambitions. Opponents now know who they’ll be up against in the election less than 10 months away.

She's using the latest twist in her legal saga to fortify her story of a combative politician who is taking on the system in the interests, she says, of France.

“Her argument is essentially this: ‘Despite all the obstacles and all the ordeals I’ve been through, I’m still standing, I’m still running. I entered politics to carry this national project for France through to the end,'” said Luc Rouban, a senior researcher at Paris’ Sciences Po school of political sciences who studies Le Pen's National Rally party.

Legal uncertainty hangs over the election

While the Paris appeals court reduced both the ban and the prison sentence that judges handed down last year, it still ordered that she must serve a year of home detention, with her whereabouts monitored electronically.

The punishment conjured up the prospect of a candidate hoping to lead France stumping for votes with an electronic tag on her ankle.

Whether that will happen is unknown. By declaring Tuesday that she’ll challenge the ruling to France's highest court, Le Pen bought time. The court said Wednesday that the process will suspend the sentence that she be electronically monitored, at least until it has ruled.

When the Court of Cassation will rule is unclear. It said Wednesday the process should conclude before the election's first round in April, with the knockout round in May.

“I will therefore campaign without an electronic bracelet,” Le Pen declared.

Should she win — far from certain, despite polls suggesting she's one of France's most popular politicians — she would benefit from the legal immunity that comes with the presidency. That rules out any possibility of an electronic monitor while in office.

But electronic monitoring, if still required then, could come back into the picture after the presidency, said Julien Jeanneney, a professor of public law at the University of Strasbourg.

“In practice, however, one could imagine that a judge might decide not to require a former president of the Republic to resume wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet — particularly if the sentence had already been substantially served before" the election, he said.

Le Pen’s conviction leaves her open to criticism

Critics and potential election rivals argue that her embezzlement conviction would make her ethically unfit for the presidency.

“It’s not normal,” said Bernadette Flament, a 73-year-old resident of a village close to a campaign stop on Wednesday. “A president who governs, who will govern France, who has been convicted, is unacceptable.”

After multiple scandals involving lawmakers and ministers, polls consistently show French voters want higher ethical standards in public life and are highly critical of what they perceive as politicians’ dishonesty.

Last year, Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former French president in modern history to go to prison after he was found guilty of criminal conspiracy. He was made to wear an electronic monitor for three months.

“There is a strong public expectation on this issue,” Rouban said. “Marine Le Pen may try to play down her conviction, but the fact remains that she has been convicted.”

Le Pen's double-ticket candidacy isn't what it seems

Le Pen announced that she'll campaign as a “duo" with protege Jordan Bardella — which to American ears may sound like the Trump-Vance or Biden-Harris tickets in the last U.S. presidential election.

Le Pen, a veteran of three presidential campaigns and daughter of five-time presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, brings experience. The 30-year-old Bardella, president of their populist, anti-immigration National Rally party, is popular with Gen Z, with larger followings on Instagram and TikTok.

In France, it’s a break with tradition for candidates to double-team a presidential election. Le Pen says Bardella would be her prime minister if she wins. They campaigned together Wednesday.

But unlike in the United States, French voters only choose one leader in the presidential election. The choice of prime minister is the president’s alone and no law would oblige Le Pen to pick Bardella.

The pairing could appeal both to National Rally supporters and to “new swaths of voters attracted by Bardella’s youth, communication style and apparent pragmatism, more anchored on the right and more amenable to business interests," said Célia Belin, who specializes in French politics at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.

"By running as a ‘ticket,’ they hope to keep this large electoral base," she said.

___

AP journalist Alex Turnbull in La Flèche, France, contributed.

The forecast team, led by Dr. Phil Klotzbach, now predicts 2026 could rival some of the least active seasons this century, and its bottom-line forecast for Accumulated Cyclone Energy or ACE – the seasonal scorecard that considers the overall strength and duration of storms – would be the third lowest in 30 years if it materializes, behind only the well-below-average 2013 and 1997 hurricane seasons.

The team calls for 4 hurricanes, but only one major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane this season. Over the past three decades, only the 1997 and 2013 seasons ended with fewer than two major hurricanes. 2013 is the only hurricane season since 1994 to record no Category 3 or stronger hurricanes.

No Atlantic hurricane season in the reliable records (since 1950) has gone hurricane-less and generally two hurricanes is the floor, even for the least active seasons. The most active seasons like 2005 and 2020 have recorded as many as 15 hurricanes in a single season (15 and 14 hurricanes respectively in 2005 and 2020).

The lower overall numbers suggest lower chances of a U.S. hurricane hit this season, but the below-average forecast certainly doesn’t let the U.S. off the hook. Even in very inactive hurricane seasons, big hurricanes can strike (see Hurricane Andrew in 1992 for a South-Florida-specific example). That said, overall odds of at least one major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane making landfall in the continental U.S. are cut by more than half this year – from 43% in a typical season to 17% in 2026.

Playing by El Niño’s rules

If you’ve read any of our newsletters in recent weeks, the lower predictions shouldn’t come as a surprise. The driving factor behind the downward predictions is increasing confidence that we’ll have a strong to very strong El Niño in place for the peak months of the season, which will keep storm-busting wind shear high, especially in the western part of the tropical Atlantic where hurricanes often hit their stride.

Long-range seasonal forecast models can struggle with El Niño predictions during the spring months but that wasn’t the case in 2026. If anything, forecast models seem to have underdone forecasts out of the gate, and El Niño conditions are already transitioning from moderate to strong levels, with additional strengthening expected into the fall and winter, when El Niño traditionally peaks.

Nada for the near future

Mum’s the word across the tropical Atlantic for the foreseeable future. We’re seeing one of the biggest dust outbreaks of the season so far, and as we discussed in Tuesday’s newsletter, wind shear will stay prohibitively high for the next few weeks.

The only dark horse development contender isn’t until the end of next week with a frontal low off the Carolinas. Models keep those odds very low (less than 10%), and it’s not anything we need to be concerned with for now.

The letter released Wednesday from Beshear, a Democrat who is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028, to the former Senate Republican leader says “Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and well-being, and ability to hold office.”

McConnell, whose physical condition has visibly declined in recent years, was hospitalized June 14. He has not released a public statement, photos or videos since. Aides have disclosed nothing specific about his condition, other than to say last week that McConnell “continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

That lack of detail has fueled rampant speculation about his prognosis and whether he will return to the Senate when it reconvenes next week. The firestorm was enough that Republican Senate leaders on Tuesday made public statements saying they had talked to McConnell and that he was alert and discussing current events.

McConnell is retiring at the end of his term in January, and the campaign to elect his successor already is underway. Kentucky’s Senate succession law, which Republican legislators have twice changed during Beshear’s tenure, does not give the governor a role in picking a temporary successor should McConnell’s seat become vacant before his term ends.

Under the latest change in 2024, if the seat becomes vacant before Aug. 3, there would be a special election to pick a replacement, perhaps held concurrently with the general election in November. The special election winner could take office nearly immediately. The general election winner would be sworn in as part of the new Congress in January.

If the seat were vacated after Aug. 3, there would be no time under the law for a special election and the seat would remain vacant until January.

Beshear ended the letter by wishing McConnell “a safe and speedy recovery.”

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), Tupac, cuyo nombre real es Edwin Vega Serrano, fue arrestado el martes en relación con un incendio provocado ocurrido el 27 de junio que dañó propiedad de la Junta de Comisionados del Condado Miami-Dade.

Los agentes dijeron que Serrano, de 50 años y sin hogar, fue captado por cámaras de vigilancia prendiendo fuego a un montón de desechos arrojados ilegalmente, ubicado directamente al noreste de 3333 NW 38th St.

Luego tomó un objeto no identificado y dañó una cámara instalada en un poste del Departamento de Desechos Sólidos de Miami-Dade, dijeron las autoridades.

Según el informe, el video muestra posteriormente a Serrano prendiendo fuego a una bolsa que estaba en medio de Northwest 33rd Avenue.

Los agentes dijeron que el incendio causó aproximadamente $4,200 USD en daños a propiedad perteneciente a la Junta de Comisionados, incluidos unos 45 pies de cerca y cinco tuberías de drenaje de 18 pulgadas.

Las autoridades dijeron que Serrano fue detenido el martes después de que dos empleados del Departamento de Transporte y Obras Públicas lo vieran cerca de Northwest 33rd Avenue y 37th Street y alertaran a un agente.

Serrano fue arrestado por cargos de incendio provocado en segundo grado y daños a la propiedad.

Los agentes dijeron que invocó su derecho a un abogado y no respondió preguntas sobre el incendio.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Serrano permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. Los registros de la cárcel en línea indicaban que el monto total de su fianza figuraba como “pendiente de ser fijada”.

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According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Tupac, whose real name is Edwin Vega Serrano, was arrested Tuesday in connection with an arson that occurred June 27, damaging property belonging to the Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners.

Deputies said Serrano, 50, who is homeless, was captured on surveillance video igniting a pile of illegally dumped waste directly northeast of 3333 NW 38^th St.

He then grabbed an unknown object and broke a Miami-Dade Solid Waste Department pole camera, authorities said.

According to the report, the video then shows Serrano igniting a bag on fire, which was in the middle of Northwest 33^rd Avenue.

Deputies said about $4,200 worth of damage was caused by the fire to property belonging to the Board of Commissioners, including about 45 feet of a fence and five 18-inch drainage pipes.

Authorities said Serrano was detained Tuesday after two Department of Transportation and Public Works employees spotted him near Northwest 33^rd Avenue and 37^th Street and flagged down a deputy.

Serrano was arrested on charges of second-degree arson and criminal mischief.

Deputies said he invoked his right to counsel and did not answer questions about the fire.

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

This edition started with 48 teams; it’s now down to eight, with six of those from Europe. And unless Morocco pulls off a series of surprising outcomes over the final two weeks, the champion will come from Europe or South America.

Again. As always.

A tournament that has been around for nearly a century — the first World Cup was in 1930 — has been contested on 22 previous occasions. The champions: 12 from Europe, 10 from South America, zero from the rest of the globe combined.

This year’s quarterfinal lineup: six from Europe, one from South America, one from Africa. Not exactly a history-bucking set of outcomes there.

That said, it seems like even some of Europe’s best players are surprised at how well this World Cup has gone.

“I thought it was not possible to do some things,” Norway star Erling Haaland said after his two goals helped his team beat Brazil for a spot in the quarterfinals — the first time his nation has gone this deep in a World Cup. “I guess I’m wrong.”

He was wrong in a good way. The tournament hosts were wrong in a not-so-good way.

North America had three cracks at breaking through this year in a bigger-than-ever, 48-team World Cup with the U.S., Mexico and Canada all co-hosts.

None of those teams even made the quarterfinals.

“We need to get over that next hurdle,” U.S. star Christian Pulisic said in a televised interview after the Americans were ousted by Belgium in the round of 16, a lopsided 4-1 defeat that shows how far North America still has to go. “Trying to compete and beat the world’s best, that’s our next step … There’s still another step that we have to take.”

The three hosts all got through the group stage and the round of 32 with ease. The U.S., Mexico and Canada had a combined 9-2-1 record in those matches, outscoring opponents by a total of 20 goals. Things looked promising, to say the least.

Then came the round of 16. Thud.

England ousted Mexico 3-2, the U.S. got rolled by Belgium in a match that looked one-sided from the outset and Canada was outclassed in a 3-0 loss to Morocco. Combined numbers from that trio of matches: 0-3-0 record, outscored by seven goals.

“Levels,” French soccer legend Thierry Henry said in his role as an analyst on Fox after the U.S. defeat. “The World Cup is different in the group stage. Round of 32 never existed before. Everyone made history in the round of 32. It never existed before … Unfortunately, one host, two hosts, three hosts, out. That’s exactly what you don’t want at a World Cup. That is annoying for me.”

If it annoys Henry, imagine how it feels for the Canadians, Mexicans and Americans.

There hasn’t been a CONCACAF — the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football — team in the World Cup quarterfinals since Costa Rica in 2014.

Before that, it was the U.S. in 2002 in its best showing at the World Cup since finishing third in 1930. Canada has never been past the round of 16. Mexico has played in each of the last nine World Cups; it reached the round of 16 in eight of those, never going further in that span.

“Everyone gave everything,” Mexico midfielder Erik Lira said. “But, in the end, it wasn’t enough.”

That seems to be an every-four-years refrain for every place other than Europe and South America.

There was some diversity in the makeup of the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal field with five confederations — Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and North America — all represented that year.

It was a rare blip. Of the 48 available quarterfinal spots over the six World Cups since, Europe has claimed 30, South America 14, Africa three and North America one.

Morocco is carrying Africa's hopes now and that continent came out of the group stage looking poised for a breakthrough. It sent 10 teams to the tournament; nine made it into the round of 32.

And then, most of the teams saw their hopes end by surrendering late goals.

Ivory Coast, South Africa and Congo all surrendered decisive goals in the 86th minute or later of what became their exits from the knockout phase. Cape Verde's magical ride ended after giving up an own goal to Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina in the 111th minute. And for Senegal and Egypt, the endings were particularly harsh — both led 2-0 late in the second half, then fell by 3-2 scores to Belgium and Argentina, respectively.

Egypt felt the match was stolen by officiating decisions.

“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition," Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said. “Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the competition.”

The counterpoint to that was how, once again, a powerhouse like Argentina found a way. For the fifth time in the last six World Cups, Messi's team is in the quarterfinals.

Some things just don't seem to change.

“It wasn’t easy to come back from a 2-0 deficit in a World Cup knockout match — especially given how games are going these days, where no one gives you anything for free,” Messi said. “But thank God, we did it once again.”

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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According to detectives with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Homeland Security Bureau who were tasked with addressing intersection takeovers, an organized takeover event took place on Sunday between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. at various locations throughout the country.

Deputies said they identified Damiean Alvarez as a passenger inside a blue Infiniti G35 that was doing donuts at the intersection of Northwest 77th Court and 169th Street around 1:20 a.m. while approximately 50 to 60 vehicles were present and blocking the intersection.

Deputies said about two hours later, they again saw Alvarez inside the same blue Infiniti G35 which was doing donuts at the intersection of Northwest 25th Street and 76th Avenue, underneath the Palmetto Expressway, with around 50 to 60 vehicles present and blocking the intersection.

They said during both incidents, Alvarez was wearing a ski mask in an attempt to conceal his identity.

According to deputies, at both scenes, after the vehicles had blocked off all lanes of traffic, “spectators would exit their vehicles and approach the intersection to record and view the “spinner” vehicles do reckless driving patterns.”

Deputies said it was two days later, on Tuesday night around 9:05 p.m., when they took Alvarez into custody at his home along the 2700 block of Northwest 48th Street, where an arrest report indicated that the blue Infiniti was parked in the driveway.

An alleged confession from Alvarez was redacted from his publicly released arrest report.

As of Wednesday morning, he was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on felony charges of drag racing while masked. Records indicate he was also wanted on a warrant for a separate domestic violence case, for which his bond is listed as “to be set.”

Según detectives de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), de la Oficina de Seguridad Nacional, asignados a atender las tomas de intersecciones, un evento organizado de toma de calles ocurrió el domingo entre la 1 a.m. y las 5 a.m. en varios lugares del condado.

Los agentes dijeron que identificaron a Damiean Alvarez como pasajero de un Infiniti G35 azul que hacía trompos en la intersección de Northwest 77th Court y 169th Street alrededor de la 1:20 a.m., mientras aproximadamente entre 50 y 60 vehículos estaban presentes y bloqueaban la intersección.

Los agentes indicaron que unas dos horas después volvieron a ver a Alvarez dentro del mismo Infiniti G35 azul, que hacía trompos en la intersección de Northwest 25th Street y 76th Avenue, debajo de la autopista Palmetto Expressway, con alrededor de 50 a 60 vehículos presentes y bloqueando la intersección.

Indicaron que durante ambos incidentes, Alvarez llevaba un pasamontañas en un intento por ocultar su identidad.

Según los agentes, en ambas escenas, después de que los vehículos bloquearan todos los carriles de circulación, “los espectadores salían de sus vehículos y se acercaban a la intersección para grabar y observar a los vehículos que hacían trompos realizar maniobras de conducción temeraria”.

Los agentes dijeron que fue dos días después, el martes por la noche alrededor de las 9:05 p.m., cuando arrestaron a Alvarez en su vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 2700 de Northwest 48th Street, donde un informe de arresto indica que el Infiniti azul estaba estacionado en la entrada de la casa.

Una presunta confesión de Alvarez fue censurada en la versión pública de su informe de arresto.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight enfrentando cargos graves por participar en carreras de aceleración mientras llevaba el rostro cubierto. Los registros indican que además era buscado por una orden de arresto relacionada con un caso separado de violencia doméstica, para el cual su fianza figura como “pendiente de ser fijada”.

La Policía de Coral Springs identificó al sospechoso en un informe de arresto obtenido por Local 10 News el miércoles como Daniel Edward Niemiec, de 20 años.

Según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Coral Springs, los agentes recibieron una denuncia por correo electrónico el miércoles pasado de un familiar de la víctima, quien afirmó que Niemiec la había “agredido físicamente” después de que la pareja terminó su relación, en el apartamento de él, cerca de la cuadra 1600 de Northwest 91st Avenue.

El familiar de la víctima dijo a la Policía que la víctima “lo llamó angustiada y le dijo que había sido agredida físicamente por su ex novio, Daniel”, señala el informe.

La Policía dijo que inicialmente no pudo localizar a Niemiec, pero posteriormente habló con la madre de la víctima, quien indicó que recibió un mensaje de texto a las 2 a.m. del 2 de junio que decía: “Lo amo, pero acaba de lastimarme. Me estranguló y me golpeó”.

Según el informe, la madre de la víctima dijo a los agentes que su hija estaba de vacaciones en Florida, visitando a unos amigos y hospedándose con Niemiec, “quien ha estado poniendo sus manos sobre ella, causándole dolor y lesiones”.

La Policía dijo que la víctima también entregó fotografías que muestran las lesiones que presuntamente sufrió.

Los investigadores dijeron que el primer ataque reportado ocurrió mientras la pareja mantenía relaciones sexuales.

La víctima alegó que Niemiec “la abofeteó varias veces en el rostro” después de que ella le pidió que se detuviera y que “no quería que Daniel continuara abofeteándola y era en contra de su voluntad”, según los investigadores.

La Policía dijo que un segundo ataque ocurrió el 30 de junio después de una discusión que “escaló a agresión física cuando Daniel se acercó a ella en la sala y colocó con fuerza ambas manos” alrededor del cuello de la víctima.

Indicaron que la víctima dijo a los investigadores que Niemiec se reía mientras la estrangulaba y reiteró que el estrangulamiento fue “sin su consentimiento”.

Según el informe, después de salir del apartamento e ir a la casa de una amiga en Margate, la víctima dijo a la Policía que regresó al día siguiente para recoger sus pertenencias.

Ella dijo que Niemiec la esperaba afuera con su mochila, arrojó sus pertenencias sobre ella y luego vació el contenido de la mochila encima de ella, señala el informe.

Según el informe, la víctima declaró que “Daniel había defecado, orinado y llenado su mochila con salsa picante, ketchup y otros líquidos desconocidos”, los cuales “fueron arrojados sobre ella e hicieron contacto deliberadamente con su cuerpo”.

La Policía dijo que la víctima rechazó recibir tratamiento médico, pero “estaba temblando físicamente” durante el encuentro con los agentes y “parecía estar asustada”.

Después de ser puesto bajo custodia el jueves, Niemiec dijo a los investigadores que “el incidente de las bofetadas fue cierto y se salió de control”, según el informe.

La Policía dijo que Niemiec explicó a los investigadores que, mientras mantenía relaciones sexuales con la víctima, estaba “probando algo nuevo y no conocía los límites de la situación”.

También dijeron que Niemiec admitió tener “problemas de ira” y que creía que la víctima le había sido infiel.

Según los investigadores, él dijo que “al defecar, orinar y llenar la mochila con salsa picante, refresco, ketchup y diversos líquidos” sería una “venganza por haberle sido infiel”.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Niemiec enfrenta dos cargos de agresión doméstica y un cargo de agresión doméstica por estrangulamiento.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, ya no figuraba como recluso en los registros de la cárcel del condado Broward.

Si usted está experimentando violencia doméstica, puede llamar a Women in Distress al 954-761-1133 o a la Línea Directa de Violencia Doméstica de Florida al 800-500-1119.

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Coral Springs police identified the suspect in an arrest report obtained by Local 10 News on Wednesday as 20-year-old Daniel Edward Niemiec.

According to an arrest report from the Coral Springs Police Department, officers received a crime tip via email last Wednesday from a relative of the victim, who claimed Niemiec had “physically abused” her after the couple’s breakup at his apartment near the 1600 block of Northwest 91st Avenue.

The victim’s relative told police the victim “called him in distress and stated that she had been physically abused by her ex-boyfriend, Daniel,” the report states.

Police said they were initially unable to contact Niemiec but later spoke with the victim’s mother, who said she received a text message at 2 a.m. on June 2 that read, “I love him but he just hurt me. He choked me out and hit me.”

According to the report, the victim’s mother told officers her daughter was vacationing in Florida, visiting friends and staying with Niemiec, “who has been putting his hands on her causing pain and injuries.”

Police said the victim also provided photos showing injuries she allegedly sustained.

Investigators said the first reported attack occurred while the couple was having sex.

The victim alleged Niemiec “slapped her in the face multiple times” after she asked him to stop and “she did not wish for Daniel to continue slapping her and it was against her will,” according to investigators.

Police said a second attack occurred on June 30 after an argument that “escalated to physical abuse when Daniel approached her in the living room area and forcefully placed two hands” around the victim’s throat.

They said the victim told investigators that Niemiec laughed while choking her and reiterated the choking was “non-consensual.”

After leaving the apartment and going to a friend’s house in Margate, the victim told police she returned the following day to retrieve her belongings, according to the report.

She said Niemiec met her outside holding her backpack, dumped her belongings onto her, then dumped the backpack’s contents over her, the report states.

According to the report, the victim stated, “Daniel had defecated on, urinated on, and filled her backpack with hot sauce, ketchup, and other unknown fluids,” which were “dumped over her and made deliberate contact with her.”

Police said the victim declined medical treatment but “was physically shaking” during their encounter and “appeared to be in fear.”

After being taken into custody on Thursday, Niemiec told investigators that “the slapping incident was true and gotten out of hand,” according to the report.

Police said he told investigators that while having sex with the victim, he was “testing something new and did not know the limits of the situation.”

They said Niemiec also admitted to having “anger issues” and believed the victim had cheated on him.

According to investigators, he said that “by defecating, urinating and filling the backpack up with hot sauce, soda and ketchup and miscellaneous fluids” it would be “payback for her cheating.”

Jail records show Niemiec is facing two counts of domestic battery and one count of domestic battery by strangulation.

As of Wednesday morning, He was no longer listed as an inmate in the Broward County jail records.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, you can call Women in Distress at 954-761-1133 or the Florida Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-500-1119.

The ball has made headlines with its embedded technology and raised questions among fans, including: Why is everyone expected to promptly toss the ball back onto the pitch?

It's a question more out of curiosity than an outcry for change.

The thrill of catching a match ball is short-lived for World Cup -goers as staff members working the match await on the pitch in a ready position for fans to throw it back, per FIFA policy.

Some fans try to get a quick selfie with the ball if they are lucky enough to get their hands on it. A game ball would definitely be a coveted memento, especially for those who have spent thousands on flights, hotels and 100-level tickets.

“I mean, the amount of money that I spent, I should definitely be able to keep a football when I catch it from the stadium,” England fan Jack Goodwin said. “I saved up for a house and blew my whole deposit bringing me and my dad out from London.”

It's a tradition for American sports fans — catch a baseball at a game and you have a souvenir for life. Bonus if it's a ball from a playoff game or a milestone moment for the hitter.

In soccer, not so much.

“We don’t know, and we don’t care,” one Congo fan said when asked if he knew why fans couldn't keep a ball kicked into the stands. “We didn’t come here for a prize, we came here to watch our country.”

Baseball fans climb over each other and jump over seats for balls that come their way. Most soccer fans don't have a problem throwing the ball back.

Getting to the “why?” FIFA's policy is so rigid can be difficult. FIFA did not respond to emails requesting comment on this story. However, theories range from tradition, to economic concerns, to the ball’s technology, to the flow of the game.

“I don't think there's ever been a policy where you can keep the ball, which, unlike baseball, is a fairly expensive piece of equipment,” soccer historian Charles Cutton said. “Back in the day, it was not unusual for there to be one ball at a game. That was it. If it went into the stands, you had to retrieve it or give it back so play could continue. Now you’ve got them stationed all over the field."

Fans can purchase FIFA balls from licensed venders or pop-up stands for anywhere from $60 to $180. It's unclear how much soccer's ruling body pays for match-day balls, though it would seem whatever the cost FIFA could afford to have a few more on hand to ensure the match is not interrupted if one sails into the stands and a fan holds onto to it.

But while Major League Baseball fans eventually won the right to keep balls hit into the stands, soccer has stood firm in its expectations over the years. The evolution of the ball itself has only reinforced FIFA's interest in getting each one back.

This year's World Cup ball, the Adidas Trionda, is the most sophisticated to date.

Gone are the days of hand-stitched, leather, 32-panel balls.

“They've evolved from being natural materials like leather to now being a polymeric material," Georgia Tech professor Jud Ready said. “That's done for a couple of reasons. First, cost, but also, performance, because polyurethane does not absorb moisture like leather would.”

The Trionda is a four-panel, thermally pressed polyurethane ball, but perhaps the most defining feature is on the inside, where a 500Hz motion sensor sends real-time data to the video assistant referee system to help officials with decisions, including the oft-controversial offsides call.

Real-time data also goes to match referees to determine whether the ball has crossed the goal-line.

“The World Cup balls have radio frequency transmitters inside to serve basically as a GPS, as well as accelerometers to understand how much force is being kicked," Ready said.

Ready's colleague, professor Manos Tentzeris, said the sensor operates with 99.99% accuracy. Paired with cameras, it can pinpoint the precise location of anything on the pitch down to the tip of a shoe, which can be enough to determine whether a player is offside.

That technology isn't quite as valuable outside the stadium. Ready said the ball relies on stadium infrastructure to communicate with officials, making the electronics virtually unusable outside a World Cup venue.

Balls also must be charged before a match using a cord-free system similar to charging a smartwatch.

Because it's such a process, it seems unlikely a game ball will ever become a keepsake for a fan, but never say never — one day it could happen.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed Wednesday that there has been no additional movement in the building, the former headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, since Tuesday morning. The structure was deemed stable late Tuesday.

Four nearby buildings remained under evacuation orders Wednesday and normally busy midtown streets around the construction site were closed. After the structural issues were reported Tuesday, a nearby school, the Israeli consulate and a number of hotels were among the buildings evacuated.

“The building is stable and yet we are going to continue to prioritize the safety of all in that immediate area,” Mamdani said.

Temporary shoring and beams were installed on floors 18 through 23 of the building, and additional supports will be added throughout the day as crews make their way to the roof and down to ninth floor, according to Mamdani.

Once the emergency repairs are complete, the city's Department of Buildings will conduct a “rigorous assessment” to ensure the plans and the site are fully compliant with all codes before any non-emergency work proceeds, the mayor said.

On the streets surrounding the massive construction site, everyday life seemed to be slowly returning, with people walking dogs, pushing strollers and riding bikes. Residents and some hotel guests were let into a cordoned-off street near the building.

Authorities responded to emergency calls at the building early Tuesday to discover two mangled support beams and sagging floors on its 21st floor. The building itself, along with a wide stretch of a bustling area not far from the Grand Central transit hub and the Chrysler Building had to be evacuated and closed to pedestrians.

On-site contractors were eventually allowed to reenter the building to do the emergency repairs after city officials did a floor-by-floor inspection. The building was empty other than the workers.

The renovation project is billed as the largest office-to-residential conversion in the city’s history, creating some 1,600 units of housing. The plans call for transforming a pair of office buildings by adding more than a dozen stories atop one tower and redesigning another tower.

MetroLoft, the project developer, has said the building itself is not at risk of collapse and that no debris fell from the building, though Nathan Berman, the firm's founder has acknowledged the added weight from widening the top 15 or so floors of the building likely caused the damage.

___

Associated Press reporter Michael R. Sisak contributed to this story.

Emanuel’s condemnation of Israel’s leadership shows how far centrist Democrats have shifted away from historic support of Israel, three years after the war in Gaza began. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has curried favor with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Israel’s standing with the Democrats has plummeted.

About 58% of Democrats say the U.S. is “too supportive” of the Israelis, according to a new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, up from 45% in January 2024. Roughly half of Democrats believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza, a charge Israel vehemently denies.

Jewish adults, who overwhelmingly skew Democratic, have a slightly more favorable opinion of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, than of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the poll found.

“You cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have the right to fight,” Emanuel told a packed auditorium of students and supporters in a speech hosted by the university's Center for the Study of the United States. “You must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, security, and economic prosperity.”

A plan to end the pariah status

Emanuel offered a slate of tough love for Israel to “bust it out of its strategic pariah status,” focused on strengthening Israel’s diplomatic ties with Arab states and economic ties with the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, to provide an economic alternative to China’s sprawling multinational infrastructure program.

Specifically, he wants to end U.S. subsidies to Israel’s defense budget, arguing the country should pay for American defense like any other ally. He also wants to sanction Israelis who attack Palestinian civilians and property, along with politicians who offer their support for that violence. He added that America turning a blind eye toward Israeli injustices had “engendered the worst of your domestic politics.”

The speech was well-received by the liberal Tel Aviv University crowd, who applauded even when Emanuel condemned Israel's policies, such as Netanyahu role in not preparing for the day after in Gaza. He said “true friends tell each other the truth.”

Israeli media, however, preoccupied with the NATO conference in Turkey and a possible flare-up of conflict with Iran, barely registered Emanuel’s visit.

Rather than a two-state solution, Emanuel wants to push a 23-state solution, involving 21 Arab states, that would hold the Palestinians accountable for progressing toward a sovereign nation while accepting the historic Jewish connection to the land. The new, three-pronged U.S. policy would leverage the Arab world’s desire for stability, Israel’s need for security, and Palestinian demands for sovereignty, he said.

Emanuel arrived in Israel on Sunday, and visited several projects prior to his speech. One was a partnership between hospitals in Tel Aviv and Nablus where Israeli and Palestinian doctors train together. He also met researchers who recently published a report finding that sexual violence was systematic against Israelis in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks and their aftermath.

Emanuel also visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum and memorial in Jerusalem, and met with President Isaac Herzog.

He told The Associated Press earlier in the week he is avoiding meeting with political leaders before the country’s elections in the fall. Israel’s president is a symbolic, appointed position, not an elected official.

A country abandoned by its government

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the speech. Netanyahu famously called Emanuel a “self-hating Jew” over Emanuel's condemnation of Israel’s expansion of settlements in 2009, when he served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff. His denunciation so incensed far-right Israelis that a number of activists were detained while protesting his son's bar mitzvah in Jerusalem the next year, Emanuel recalled.

One of the activists police detained was Itamar Ben-Gvir, who today serves as Israel’s public security minister and oversees the police, which Emanuel dryly noted was representative of Israel's overall political direction in the past 15 years.

Emanuel, whose father was born in Jerusalem and fought in the 1948 war that led to the founding of Israel, also took time in his speech to acknowledge the toll of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in which Hamas-led militants launched air and ground strikes on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

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, part of the Hamas-led government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records that are generally considered reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts.

In his conversations with Israelis over the past several days, the intensity of feeling that the country had been abandoned by its government surprised him, Emanuel said before his speech. “This sense of post-Oct. 7 vulnerability, I had read about it, but you don’t feel the visceralness of this and the rawness of this until you sit across the table from people,” he said.

While no prominent Democrat has formally entered the 2028 presidential contest, that is likely to change soon after the November midterms. Emanuel, who also served as a congressman, Chicago mayor, and U.S. ambassador to Japan, has been one of the most direct about his intentions as a possible candidate. For example, he's done bike tours of early voting states like New Hampshire.

Emanuel, who said he still hadn’t officially decided to run, was emphatic Wednesday that the Democrats do not need to give up on Israel in order to win the White House in 2028. But Americans need to take a new direction when it comes to Israel, he said.

“The status quo is unacceptable, where you can’t say anything negative, which is an implicit endorsement,” he said. ___ Associated Press writer Steven Sloan contributed from Washington and Steve Peoples contributed from New York.

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Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Chinese nationals Yuping Li, Junrong He, Xun Ou, Qingxiang Zhu, and Youdi Zhuge on Monday.

Deputies arrested Li, 60, at 10471 SW 40 St. in the Westwood Lakes neighborhood. Her arrest report listed an apartment in Flushing, New York, as her permanent address.

Deputies arrested Zhuge, 58, and He, 52, at 11760 SW 88 St. in Kendall, and listed the massage parlor as their permanent address.

Deputies arrested Zhu, 57, at 16938 South Dixie Highway in West Perrine, and listed her as homeless.

Deputies arrested Ou, 36, at 7375 SW 24 St., in the Coral Terrace neighborhood, and listed her permanent address in San Bernardino County, California.

The five women each faced a third-degree felony charge of operating a health care practice or profession without an active, valid license.

They also each faced misdemeanor charges of practicing massage therapy without a license, engaging in prostitution, and committing an unnatural and lascivious act.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.

El incidente ocurrió durante la madrugada de este miércoles en la cuadra 5200 de Wiley Street, en Hollywood.

Según la Policía de Hollywood, los agentes acudieron a la vivienda alrededor de la 1:30 a.m. tras recibir reportes de un altercado que involucraba a un hombre.

Cuando llegaron, los agentes dijeron que el hombre se atrincheró dentro de la vivienda y, alrededor de las 4 a.m., prendió fuego intencionalmente al interior del inmueble.

Equipos de Hollywood Fire Rescue respondieron rápidamente y lograron extinguir el incendio, que, según informaron, causó daños significativos a la vivienda.

La Policía indicó que luego logró sacar al hombre de la vivienda envuelta en llamas antes de ponerlo bajo custodia sin más incidentes.

Las autoridades no informaron si hubo personas heridas y el sospechoso aún no ha sido identificado por la Policía.

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It happened during the early morning hours on Wednesday along the 5200 block of Wiley Street in Hollywood.

According to Hollywood police, officers responded to the home around 1:30 a.m. after receiving reports of a disturbance involving a man.

When they arrived, officers said the man barricaded himself inside, and then around 4 a.m. the man intentionally set a fire inside the home.

Crews with Hollywood Fire Rescue quickly responded and were able to extinguish the fire, which they said caused significant damage to the home which had previously been condemned.

Police said they were then able to remove the man from the engulfed home before taking him custody without further incident.

According to HFR, the suspect, who has not been identified, suffers from severe mental illness and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

It is the fourth year in a row that the queen, the wife of King Charles III, has visited the All England Club on Day 10 of the two-week tournament. She wore a light blue dress as she took her seat to watch the women's quarterfinal between Jasmine Paolini and Marta Kostyuk on Centre Court.

Other famous faces in the Royal Box included actors Elle Fanning and Dominic West, who was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Charles in the Netflix drama “The Crown.”

After Kostyuk's victory, Camilla surprised the next two players — British wild card Arthur Fery and Flavio Cobolli of Italy — by coming up to shake their hands as they prepared to walk onto Centre Court.

Before play started, Camilla met with a ball boy and a ball girl, as well as several long-serving staff members at the All England Club.

Kate, the Princess of Wales, is the patron of the All England Club and visited Wimbledon last week, meeting with fans in the famous queue outside the grounds and sitting next to two-time champion Andy Murray as she watched the tennis.

___

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

Según los registros de la cárcel en línea, el ex candidato a gobernador fue arrestado el jueves por la noche en Daphne, Alabama, por cargos de posesión de drogas peligrosas, parafernalia de drogas y posesión de marihuana.

Desde entonces, fue puesto en libertad.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre el arresto del hombre de 46 años.

Según un comunicado de prensa del Departamento de Policía de Daphne, los agentes detuvieron a Gillum cuando conducía de forma errática alrededor de las 22:45 horas del jueves.

La policía indicó que uno de los agentes vio una pipa de cristal en la consola central del vehículo, lo que les llevó a registrar el coche.

Según la policía, también se incautaron varios porros de marihuana y tres paquetes de una sustancia que dio positivo en metanfetamina.

Enseguida, Gillum fue detenido e ingresado en la cárcel municipal de Daphne antes de ser trasladado al centro penitenciario del condado de Baldwin.

Gillum, quien se postuló como demócrata contra DeSantis en las elecciones de 2018, ya había sido noticia en marzo de 2020 después de que la Policía de Miami Beach informara que lo encontró en el hotel Mondrian South Beach en estado de “ebriedad” junto a otros dos hombres.

Según un informe policial, los agentes encontraron tres pequeñas bolsas transparentes dentro de la habitación del hotel que contenían presunta metanfetamina cristalina, aunque los hombres nunca fueron acusados de ningún delito.

Gillum emitió un comunicado tras el incidente de 2020, en el que afirmó que había asistido a una boda la noche anterior y había estado bebiendo, pero negó haber consumido metanfetamina.

Gillum también fue noticia en 2023 cuando fue absuelto de mentirle al FBI en un caso de corrupción que también involucró el uso ilegal de contribuciones de campaña.

Hasta la mañana del martes, no había publicado un comunicado sobre el más reciente incidente en Alabama.

Syd Meyer y Chris Gleadall dijeron que pagaron $0.99 USD por el aguacate el domingo en el supermercado Publix ubicado en el 1000 de Overseas Highway, en Marathon.

“Estaban en oferta”, dijo Gleadall. “La verdad, no reviso mucho los productos que compro”.

Meyer dijo que el aguacate era para preparar sus tazones de pavo con aguacate, que suelen comer para la cena.

“Saco el aguacate, listo para prepararlo, y lo miro pensando: “Este tallo se ve muy raro”. Lo observo más de cerca y, en realidad, había una pequeña marca de bala en la base del cartucho. Era de calibre .22″, dijo Gleadall.

Decidieron grabar un video que compartieron en Instagram. Los usuarios reaccionaron con creatividad: “¡Holy Glock-a-mole!”, “¡Ammo-cado!” y “¡Bullet-cado!”.

The 24-year-old Ukrainian also reached the last four at the French Open, losing to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the eventual champion in Paris.

Kostyuk raised her hands and dropped to her knees after Paolini scuffed a shot on her second match point. After shaking hands with the Italian, Kostyuk did a pirouette on court.

The 12th-seeded Kostyuk had a sneak peak at Centre Court on Tuesday so that she wasn't overwhelmed for the match.

“I was flabbergasted by this entrance and everything inside,” she said in an on-court interview. “I was like, ‘wow,’ I need one day to recover from what I saw. ... I was on this court as (a) spectator once nine years ago watching Roger (Federer)."

Kostyuk will be back on Centre Court on Thursday to face Linda Noskova for a spot in Saturday's final. Noskova beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5 on No. 1 Court.

It's the first career Grand Slam semifinal for the 21-year-old Noskova, who improved to 10-1 on grass this season.

“I was as a little bit nervous before the match,” said Noskova, who beat Jessica Pegula in the Berlin Open final in the buildup to Wimbledon. “Usually when its really, really important for me and I'm putting a little bit of pressure on myself, that's when I play the best.”

The other women's semifinal features Coco Gauff against Karolina Muchova, who like Noskova is from the Czech Republic. They're up first on Centre Court on Thursday.

Paolini, the 2024 Wimbledon runner-up, made 26 unforced errors and hit just eight winners.

Two men's quarterfinals were also being played Thursday. British wild card Arthur Fery and Flavio Cobolli of Italy were on Centre Court and had a surprise visitor — Britain’s Queen Camilla — in the hallway moments before they walked onto court.

On No. 1 Court, French Open champion Alexander Zverev was facing Taylor Fritz of the United States.

___

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

Según los agentes, Wilson Matias Jr., de 19 meses, salió corriendo de su casa en Allen Road poco después de las 2 p.m. del lunes mientras su madre, Ericka Cante Hernandez, de 33 años, sacaba de la entrada un Chevrolet Suburban 2024.

Los agentes dijeron que Hernandez accidentalmente golpeó a su hijo con la camioneta SUV.

Wilson fue trasladado por paramédicos al Hospital Memorial Regional, donde murió.

Hernández dijo en español a Local 10 News que no tenía palabras y que estaba devastada.

Aunque los detectives creen que el accidente fue accidental, dijeron que la investigación continúa.

Familiares le dijeron a Local 10 News el lunes que cariñosamente se referían a Wilson como Junior.

“Estaba en shock porque era mi primer hermanito”, dijo Ashly Cante, hermana de la víctima. “Era un buen niño. Le gustaba jugar. Estaba conmigo y con mis hermanos.”

Desde entonces crearon una página de GoFundMe para ayudar con los gastos del funeral y los servicios conmemorativos.

Según la Policía de Fort Lauderdale, los agentes acudieron a la cuadra 1300 de Northwest 13th Court poco antes de las 4:30 a.m., tras recibir una alerta de ShotSpotter en el área.

Mientras registraban la zona, los agentes encontraron a la víctima dentro de su vehículo con una herida de bala, informaron las autoridades.

La Policía indicó que fue declarado muerto en el lugar.

Detectives de homicidios e investigadores de la escena del crimen permanecen en el lugar mientras trabajan para determinar qué provocó la balacera.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

Cualquier persona con información sobre la balacera debe comunicarse con el Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale o con Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

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According to Fort Lauderdale police, officers responded to the 1300 block of Northwest 13^th Court shortly before 4:30 a.m. after receiving a ShotSpotter alert in the area.

While searching the area, officers found the victim in his car, with a gunshot wound, authorities said.

Police said he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim’s father identified him to Local 10 News as 32-year-old Mike Menard. He said his son leaves behind a 5-year-old daughter.

Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators remain at the scene, working to determine what led up to the shooting.

No other details were immediately released.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Fort Lauderdale Police Department or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

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The new Quiet Zone Pilot Program targets excessive nighttime noise in the South of Fifth neighborhood, where residents have raised concerns about loud vehicles disrupting their quality of life.

The initiative is designed to curb persistent disturbances caused by engine revving, modified exhaust systems and amplified sound from vehicles during the late evening and overnight hours.

“This pilot program is aimed at the people who create so much noise with their vehicles that they become a neighborhood nuisance,” Miami Beach Vice Mayor Laura Dominguez, who sponsored the initiative, said in a statement Wednesday. “I hope this will be an important step at increasing the quality of life for our residents.”

As part of the program, the city has installed large, bright yellow aluminum signs at entrances to the designated Quiet Zone. The signs warn drivers that fines may be issued for excessive vehicle noise.

City officials said the pilot will be evaluated over the next year before determining whether it should be expanded to other neighborhoods.

“Our residents deserve to rest peacefully in their homes, especially during late-night hours,” Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner said in a statement. “Excessive vehicle noise is not merely disruptive — it is a quality of life issue.”

Meiner said the Quiet Zone Pilot Program builds on previous efforts to address illegal and disruptive vehicle noise and provides police with another enforcement tool.

Enforcement will be carried out by Miami Beach police officers during their regular evening patrols as part of Operation Quiet Streets. Officers may issue citations under applicable state laws and city ordinances when they observe violations.

City leaders say the program is intended to strike a balance between Miami Beach’s vibrant nightlife and the needs of residents who live in the area.

El nuevo Programa Piloto de Zona de Silencio está dirigido a reducir el ruido excesivo de vehículos durante la noche en el vecindario South of Fifth, donde los residentes han expresado su preocupación por los vehículos ruidosos que afectan su calidad de vida.

La iniciativa está diseñada para reducir las molestias persistentes causadas por aceleraciones de motor, sistemas de escape modificados y sonido amplificado de los vehículos durante las horas de la noche y la madrugada.

“Este programa piloto está dirigido a las personas que generan tanto ruido con sus vehículos que se convierten en una molestia para el vecindario”, dijo la vicealcaldesa de Miami Beach, Laura Dominguez, quien impulsó la iniciativa, en un comunicado emitido el miércoles. “Espero que este sea un paso importante para mejorar la calidad de vida de nuestros residentes”.

Como parte del programa, la ciudad instaló grandes letreros amarillos de aluminio en las entradas de la Zona de Silencio designada. Los letreros advierten a los conductores que podrían recibir multas por ruido excesivo de vehículos.

Funcionarios de la ciudad dijeron que el programa piloto será evaluado durante el próximo año antes de determinar si debe ampliarse a otros vecindarios.

“Nuestros residentes merecen descansar tranquilamente en sus hogares, especialmente durante las horas de la noche”, dijo el alcalde de Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, en un comunicado. “El ruido excesivo de los vehículos no solo es una molestia, sino un problema de calidad de vida”.

Meiner dijo que el Programa Piloto de Zona de Silencio se basa en esfuerzos anteriores para abordar el ruido ilegal y excesivo de los vehículos, y proporciona a la Policía otra herramienta para hacer cumplir la ley.

La aplicación del programa estará a cargo de agentes de la Policía de Miami Beach durante sus patrullajes nocturnos regulares como parte de la Operación Quiet Streets. Los agentes podrán emitir citaciones conforme a las leyes estatales aplicables y las ordenanzas municipales cuando observen infracciones.

Los líderes de la ciudad dicen que el programa busca lograr un equilibrio entre la vibrante vida nocturna de Miami Beach y las necesidades de los residentes que viven en el área.

Según una orden de arresto, Jose Maya, de 40 años, está acusado de colocar un dispositivo de grabación de video debajo de la puerta de un baño, el cual grabó a la víctima, de 23 años.

Los detectives dijeron que la víctima descubrió el dispositivo el 28 de junio y reportó el incidente a las autoridades el lunes.

Las autoridades dijeron que la víctima afirmó que comenzó a sospechar de Maya el año pasado cuando lo sorprendió acostado en el piso, justo afuera de la puerta del baño, mientras ella se duchaba.

La mujer dijo que, al salir de la ducha, notó un pequeño objeto negro debajo de la puerta del baño, pero al principio pensó que era un insecto porque no llevaba puestos sus anteojos ni lentes de contacto.

Según la orden, la víctima dijo que Maya se puso de pie rápidamente cuando ella abrió la puerta del baño y afirmó que estaba arreglando una luz nocturna con sensor de movimiento cerca del baño.

La orden señala que la víctima sospechó de la situación, pero inicialmente descartó el incidente.

Según la orden, la víctima continuó notando un pequeño objeto negro que aparecía debajo de la puerta del baño mientras se duchaba y le contó a su madre sobre sus sospechas.

Los detectives dijeron que la madre de la víctima sugirió colocar un teléfono celular en el cuarto de lavado para confirmar sus sospechas.

Según la orden, la víctima lo hizo y su teléfono celular captó a Maya colocando un dispositivo de grabación debajo de la puerta del baño mientras la víctima se duchaba.

Los detectives dijeron que la madre de la víctima confrontó a Maya el 28 de junio y él hizo algún tipo de admisión, aunque sus declaraciones completas fueron censuradas en la versión pública de la orden de arresto.

Los detectives dijeron que la madre de la víctima le informó que uno de los videos mostraba sus glúteos, mientras que las otras grabaciones estaban borrosas.

Los registros muestran que Maya fue ingresado en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight alrededor de las 7:50 p.m. del martes.

“El Departamento de Policía de North Miami Beach está al tanto del arresto de uno de nuestros capitanes. Seguimos comprometidos con la transparencia, la rendición de cuentas y el cumplimiento de los más altos estándares profesionales para nuestra comunidad”, indicó el NMBPD en un comunicado emitido el miércoles.

El jefe de la Policía de North Miami Beach, Juan Pinillos, dijo que Maya fue relevado de sus funciones mientras se resuelve el caso, además de una investigación interna.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Maya permanecía detenido en el TGK sin derecho a fianza.

Prosecutors are trying to convince state District Judge Tony Graf that they have enough evidence to bring Tyler Robinson to trial on an aggravated murder charge. After the hearing concludes, Graf must determine if the case should proceed, which experts say is likely.

Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination on the Utah Valley University campus, for which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea. His attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence. They have, however, sought to get the death penalty taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.

Here's the latest:

Robinson’s defense disputed the idea that he was hostile to Kirk’s politics

Defense attorney Richard Novak sought to block prosecutors from introducing a statement describing the traditional Christian values of Turning Point USA.

“This doesn’t say anything about Mr. Robinson’s state of mind,” Novak said about Turning Point USA board member David Engelhardt's statement. “I don’t think that this court should be deciding — based on the record before it — where, if at all, politics and religion intersect.”

The judge ruled that the Turning Point statement was relevant and would be “provisionally admitted,” with a final decision at a later date.

Robinson’s roommate provided investigators with a DNA sample

FBI analyst Amanda Bakker said after Robinson’s roommate provided a DNA sample for comparison, she was able to rerun her tests and attribute all of the DNA to two people.

Investigators found the towel and suspected murder weapon — a bolt-action rifle with one spent round — in a wooded area near where Kirk was shot.

DNA on the towel matched to two people, Jennifer Faumuina with the State Bureau of Investigation testified. One was Robinson’s roommate, Lance Twiggs, and the other was very likely Robinson, she said.

Defense lawyer Michael Burt cast doubt on the analyst’s conclusions

It’s a theme that’s likely to come up again during the weeklong preliminary hearing.

“She can’t match Mr. Robinson to the questioned samples,” Burt concluded.

Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride countered that the reliability of the DNA testing could be examined if the case goes to trial. He suggested the preliminary hearing was not the time to take up the matter.

“The point is there are explanations that are susceptible to different interpretations and arguments,” McBride said. “The court is going to determine if it meets the threshold of reliability at trial.”

DNA evidence from Charlie Kirk's assassination disputed by defendant’s lawyers

Lawyers for the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk are expected to keep questioning the reliability of DNA testing that prosecutors said links the defendant to the suspected murder weapon when a weeklong hearing continues Wednesday.

A member of Tyler Robinson’s defense team interrogated a DNA analyst from the FBI on Tuesday about the techniques she used to connect Robinson to a rifle found wrapped inside a towel at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot in September while speaking to a crowd.

Defense lawyer Michael Burt cast doubt on the analyst’s conclusions — a theme that’s likely to come up again.

Prolonged and intense heat is part of a climate change-driven pattern of weather extremes that has also led to intense flooding and prolonged drought. For farmers, this means shorter planting windows and potential loss of crops because of periods of early-season heat followed by a freeze.

“I think it’s pretty safe to assume these kind of heat waves aren’t going away or they’re not freak occurrences,” Woods said.

The recent heat dome, a high-pressure weather system that traps heat and humidity over a region, affected some specialty farmers who produce crops of fruits and vegetables. Human-driven climate change also has brought more intense heat waves and other extreme weather.

These specialty farmers have found ways to adapt, in part by adjusting their harvest schedules to avoid the hottest parts of the day. But they don’t always have access to the same safety net as farmers of traditional commodity crops such as corn and soybeans when extreme weather hits, experts say.

The heat and humidity that comes with a heat dome can be dangerous for farmworkers and is a “serious threat to human health,” said Melissa Widhalm, the associate director at the Midwest Regional Climate Center in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Woods works in the coolest parts of the day in the morning and evening, taking frequent water breaks. She plants and harvests by hand, unlike larger farms that often rely on machinery. If it gets too hot and she has to harvest, she pitches a tent she uses for farmer's markets in the fields to create some shade.

Heat can affect crop quality, harvest time

Extreme heat coupled with periods of rain and high humidity can also bring diseases and other pests that can destroy crops. Right now the priority is harvesting those most-vulnerable crops, such as tender salad greens. Woods grows vegetables and culinary herbs for restaurants in the region and for a community supported agriculture program. Harvesting crops when it's too hot outside can affect their quality, she said.

She's also concerned for the health of her seedlings that will grow into fall crops. Right now, Woods keeps her seedlings in an enclosed cabinet inside a barn where it's cooler. Once they've germinated, she moves them into a greenhouse with fans running to keep temperatures manageable.

“We have to do a lot of checking on the greenhouse and watering frequently to keep those teeny tiny plants alive,” Woods said.

For some growers, the recent heat also has shortened the harvest window for certain specialty crops.

For Paul Rasch, who owns and operates multiple fruit orchards in central Iowa, the heat has forced his crew of eight workers to step up harvesting of raspberries. Normally, they'd have about three weeks to harvest this perishable fruit, but “we’re scrambling to pick as many as we can,” he said.

They've started harvesting as early as 6 a.m. some mornings to finish before noon when it gets too hot and unsafe to work. He's also installed air conditioning inside buildings and is adding shade outdoors with trees and covered pavilions so customers coming to pick their own fruit can stay cool. And he's testing a few high tunnels so he can keep conditions more consistent for certain crops.

Rasch said that it seems like these heat events are becoming more common, more intense and lasting longer. These events, along with floods, drought and late-spring frosts are all worrisome and can adversely affect crops throughout the year.

“We don’t ever seem to have a typical year anymore,” he said.

Crop diversity protects against losses, insurance can be hard to access

Smaller farms like Woods' and Rasch's often plant and harvest a wide variety of crops throughout the year. Part of that is a business decision, but it's also to protect against losses that might impact one crop, but not others.

“You’re always gonna have something that will thrive while other things might be more challenged,” Woods said.

Rasch also said that crop insurance for specialty crop farmers is different than for commodity farmers. They're more vulnerable to extreme weather, but they aren't as protected, he said. Woods, who also works with the Organic Association of Kentucky, agrees and said she knows farmers like her who have a difficult time accessing insurance because they farm such a wide range of crops on small acreage.

And that's because federal crop insurance programs are designed to insure single crops with one growing season, like corn, soybean and wheat, said Duncan Orlander, a policy specialist with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

For smaller specialty crop farmers, the paperwork required to cover a larger range of crops on small acreage can be too burdensome and coverage for certain specialty crops may not even be available in certain places. Crop insurers are also disincentivized to sell policies with small premiums and potential payouts, he added.

And although there are federal programs that cover a farm's revenue rather than their specific crops, Orlander said these policies are complicated and widely underutilized.

“We’re not keeping up with the losses and the extreme weather that we’re seeing,” he said. “And we have to think a little bit differently about how we are going to mitigate risk and cover losses into the future when these things occur.”

For Woods, the community supported agriculture program she runs gives her flexibility in case one crop fails. Her customers are supporting the farm for the season regardless of what vegetables end up in their boxes. That program and her crop diversity is one way she “hedges our bets” against heat, floods and drought.

“It’s something you have to be aware of and plan for and have a plan to be resilient in the face of these kind of events,” Woods said.

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Follow Joshua A. Bickel on Instagram, Bluesky and X @joshuabickel.

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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.

La niña, originaria de Margate, fue vista por última vez el 30 de junio de 2025 cerca del Florida Mall en Orlando, pero no fue reportada como desaparecida sino hasta octubre, después de que su padre se enterara de que la madre de la menor estaba en la cárcel.

Las autoridades dijeron que la madre de la niña, Paasha Davis, fue arrestada bajo cargos de negligencia infantil, ocultar el paradero de una menor y mentirle a las autoridades.

Indicaron que la policía de Margate, la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado Osceola y el FBI trabajan en el caso.

El padre de la niña, Gordon Terrelonge, cree que Davis tiene las respuestas que llevarían a encontrar a su hija, y dice que los investigadores realizaron una nueva búsqueda con perros cadáver hace algunas semanas en el centro de Florida.

“Todos creemos que sigue viva”, dijo Terrelonge. “Pensamos que tal vez se la dio a alguien porque definitivamente perdió la cabeza, pero sentimos que el hecho de que ella pasara los últimos tres meses sin que la encontráramos, y luego descubrir que Gabby ha estado desaparecida desde junio o julio, en lugar de septiembre, nos demuestra que sentimos que ha tenido ayuda o tal vez la ha recibido”.

Cualquier persona con información sobre el paradero de Gabrielle, quien ahora tendría 11 años, debe comunicarse con el FBI.

En cuanto a Davis, Terrelonge dijo que permanece bajo custodia en un hospital.

Every year, Cuba argues in front of the United Nations that the U.S. economic embargo is the cause for their economic problems. Each year, Cuba loses more support for their argument. The United Nations has no legitimate or legal right to lift the embargo. The U.S. Congress can only lift the embargo.

The Cuban government propaganda machine has failed. Most Cubans on the island, including economists on the island, blame the Cuban government for their current poor economic conditions.

July 6 update: Raul Castro’s grandson says Cuba is willing to negotiate with US

Reuters reported earlier this morning that Raul Castro’s grandson Raulito, known as “El Cangrejo,” announced that Cuba is willing to negotiate with the U.S. The question we need to ask ourselves is whether Raulito is negotiating on behalf of the Castro family or the Cuban government?

We know that Cuba has been selling some of their assets, including some belonging to the military economic conglomerate GAESA in the last couple of weeks. Cuba’s attempt to invite foreign investment has not attracted many takers for the fear of losing their money.

July 2 update: Cuba’s culture of fear complicates a Democratic transition

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When we talk about Cuba, we usually concentrate on their centralized political and economic system. However, we fail to recognize that individuals that have lived under totalitarian regimes have had to survive under a culture of fear. Such system of government creates a psychological set of attitudes and values that help define the daily behavior in order to align the people’s wants and needs to the restrictions imposed by the government.

To break such behaviors could take years of psychological training and change. Therefore, transitioning a totalitarian state to support a transition to some form of a Democratic government could take time.

Dr. Andy S. Gomez’s June updates can be viewed by clicking here.

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

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According to online jail records, the former politician was arrested Thursday night in Daphne, Alabama on charges of possession of dangerous drugs, drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.

He has since been released from jail.

Further details surrounding the 46-year-old’s arrest were not immediately released.

According to a press release from the Daphne Police Department, officers pulled over Gillum as he was driving erratically at about 10:45 p.m. Thursday.

Police said one of the officers spotted a glass pipe on the center console of the vehicle, which led them to search the car.

According to police, several rolled marijuana cigarettes and three packages of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine were also recovered.

Gillum was then arrested and booked into the Daphne City Jail before being transported to the Baldwin County Correctional Facility.

Gillum, who ran as a Democrat against DeSantis in the 2018 election, previously made headlines in March 2020 after Miami Beach police said they found him at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel in an “inebriated” state with two other men.

According to a police report, officers found three small clear bags inside the hotel room containing suspected crystal meth, although the men were never charged with a crime.

Gillum released a statement after the 2020 incident, saying he was at a wedding the night before the incident and was drinking, but denied taking any methamphetamines.

Gillum also made headlines in 2023 when he was acquitted of lying to the FBI in a corruption case that also involved illegal use of campaign contributions.

He has not publicly released a statement regarding the latest incident in Alabama, as of Tuesday morning.

“I leave with a fulfilled heart, proud of my contribution to the greatest successes of Croatian soccer in history, and I wish my successor, the national team and Croatian soccer many new successes,” Dalić said in a statement posted by the national soccer federation on Instagram on Wednesday.

The announcement came less than a week after Croatia lost 2-1 to Portugal in the round of 32 at the World Cup.

“I have always said that there is no greater honor than leading my national team, and that I cannot have a more important, more responsible, and more beautiful job than this," Dalić said.

“The support in recent days has prompted me to reconsider my decision to leave, but... it’s about time. As much as I still feel the ambition and desire to write new successes with Croatia, I feel that this is the right moment to conclude this incredible era.”

The federation called Dalić's time at the helm an “unforgettable journey” and said his departure was a “proud farewell.”

“Following nearly nine years, head coach Zlatko Dalić has decided to close his incredibly successful chapter with Croatia,” the federation said on X. "Head coach, thank you for everything — the victories, the achievements, the qualifying berths, the medals, the unity, the respect, and your unwavering commitment to fight for Croatia, both on and off the pitch.

“The results speak of your coaching virtues. The respect you’ve earned from your players, staff, and opponents speaks volumes about the person you are."

Under Dalić, Croatia's so-called golden generation, which included star player Luka Modrić, was runner-up at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and third at the 2022 edition in Qatar. It was also runner-up at the 2023 Nations League.

The federation did not immediately announce a new coach.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Police arrested Anthony Gonzalez Tovar on April 17.

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies previously released surveillance footage they said shows Gonzalez Tovar exposing himself before approaching a woman, who was sitting on the grass along the 16300 block of Golf Club Road in Weston, on April 8.

Authorities alleged the video showed Gonzalez Tovar looking around before grabbing the victim from behind, who fought back until the suspect ran off.

Gonzalez Tovar was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center, but he has since been transferred to the Broward County Main Jail.

He will eventually be scheduled for a court appearance to face the attempted sexual battery charge as an adult.

At Miami Dade College’s Homestead Campus, the Microbiology Girls Club is giving middle and high school girls a college-level crash course in scientific research.

The club is helping reshape a field where who asks the question often shapes what gets discovered, and for Dr. M. Nia Madison, it’s personal.

“I’m very passionate about increasing the number of women in STEM fields because women have been underrepresented in STEM historically for a long time,’ said Madison, a microbiology professor at Miami Dade College Homestead Campus and founder of the club. “The purpose of the Microbiology Girls Club is to engage and inspire girls from a young age to be interested in all STEM fields.”

For six weeks, these girls spend their summer exploring a world most people never see.

Working alongside Madison, a college professor and researcher, they examine microscopic life, grow bacteria, use college-level lab equipment and piece together the identity of an unknown microbe.

By the end of the program, what started under a microscope has grown into something much bigger. Science-focused field trips broaden their horizons before they wrap up the summer by presenting their research to family and friends.

“I’m really excited about the fact that a lot of my students go on to four-year universities, graduate school, to engage in science terminal degrees,” said Madison.

Over the last decade, more than 400 students have passed through the program, many returning later as dual-enrollment students.

Each day blends hands-on research designed to show these girls not only how science works, but that they have a place in it and can really make a difference.

Madison said she opened the doors of her cutting-edge research lab to aspiring scientists, using mentorship as a way to diversify STEM fields.

She is a microbiologist and HIV researcher with more than two decades of research experience, extending beyond microbiology. She also mentors agricultural research students, advises the campus Garden Club and teaches sustainability.

This connection is building confidence, inspiring curiosity and creating a pipeline of future hometown scientists.

Through support from The Children’s Trust Youth Development Grant, Madison is already recruiting for the 11th and 12th annual Microbiology Girls Club programs.

For application information, contact Madison at: mmadison@mdc.edu

To submit an idea for What Connects Us, email whatconnectsus@wplg.com.

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According to deputies, Wilson Matias Jr., who was 19 months old, ran out of his home on Allen Road shortly after 2 p.m. Monday as his mother, Ericka Cante Hernandez, 33, was pulling out of the driveway in a 2024 Chevrolet Suburban.

Deputies said Hernandez accidentally struck her son with the SUV.

Wilson was transported by paramedics to Memorial Regional Hospital where he died.

In Spanish, Hernandez told Local 10 News she had no words and that she is devastated.

Although detectives believe the crash was accidental, they said the investigation remains ongoing.

Family members told Local 10 News that they affectionately referred to Wilson as Junior.

“I was in shock because that was my first little brother,” said Ashly Cante, the victim’s sister. “He was a good kid. He liked to play. He was around with me and my brothers.”

Loved ones have since created a GoFundMe page to assist with funeral and memorial expenses.

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On one side is a developer proposing an eight-story building with nearly 200 residential units.

On the ground floor of the building will be a new home for Crystal Academy, a school dedicated to serving children with autism.

But for many who live near the site, they say the issue isn’t the school, it’s the size of everything else that comes with it.

Neighbors say their streets are already congested and they worry hundreds of new residents would only make traffic worse while putting even more pressure on roads and city infrastructure.

However, many supporters of the project point to the development providing a permanent home for Crystal Academy, with a 99-year lease, rent free, because their current facilities are old and nearly unusable.

After hours of discussion, public comment, and Coral Gables commissioners trying to find a middle ground with design plans, they voted in favor of the building.

Developers said afterwards that they are ready to get to work, while those not in favor indicated their fight was not over.

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Detectives with the Miami Beach Police Department said they were working an undercover operation while attempting to locate criminals involved in human trafficking.

In total, they made six arrests, including Angely Cordero Cabrera, 21, from Dallas, Texas.

According to police, detectives found an online ad and called the listed number, and an undercover officer was directed to the Miami Princess Hotel, located at 4251 NW 11th St. in Miami, after inquiring if the listed girl was available.

Once there, police detained two females. They were Cordero Cabrera and a 16-year-old girl, police said.

According to officials, the arrests were made under the FIFA task force created by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, and the investigation remains active and ongoing.

Police said when there are large sporting events in town, human trafficking increases.

This is just the latest case of human trafficking in which South Florida law enforcement has cracked down on sex crimes.

Last week, Local 10 News reported on six men who were arrested after investigators said they agreed to pay for sex with what they believed to be one or two girls, aged 14 and 15.

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According to Fort Lauderdale police, the incident was reported at about 7:30 a.m. in the 1000 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue.

Detective Kerri Hagerty said the mother and son were approached from behind by an unknown person who struck both of them with a “blunt object.”

Hagerty said the woman sustained a cut in the back of the head and the boy sustained an abrasion to his face.

Both victims were transported to Broward Health Medical Center to be treated for their injuries.

Local 10 reporter Roy Ramos spoke with the mother after they arrived home from the hospital. She said she was walking her son, who has special needs, to a bus stop to take him to school when he was targeted.

The mother also told Local 10 News that she and her son had only moved into their apartment less than a week ago.

She said a man struck her son with a mallet-type of object and then began striking her with the object after she intervened to protect her son.

“Some guy just comes behind us, out the blue. My son is non-verbal, he’s disabled – that’s sad,” the woman identified only as Chrissy said, adding that her son has autism. “He just comes and tells him something and attacks him, and then I had to intercept and get in front (of him) and then he attacks me.”

Chrissy said the suspect appeared to be carrying a heavy mallet-like object.

“It looked like a mallet, some kind of thing, but it was really heavy because the intensity that he hit me in the head. I still had to stay alive to protect him,” she said.

Chrissy said her son also suffered internal damage to one of his eyes, but is not blind.

She also expressed frustration that witnesses did not stop the suspect.

“They didn’t care. ‘Don’t know, see nothing,’ of course,” she said.

Chrissy also had a message for the attacker.

“You attacked a child and a woman and you had no remorse. You were about to go again if I didn’t stop you,” she said.

Hagerty said the suspect fled the scene prior to officers arriving.

Anyone with information about the suspect’s identity is asked to call the Fort Lauderdale Police Department or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

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The girl, who is from Margate, was last seen on June 30, 2025, near the Florida Mall in Orlando, but wasn’t reported missing until October after her father learned her mother was in jail.

Authorities said the girl’s mother, Paasha Davis, was arrested on charges of child neglect, concealing the location of a minor and lying to law enforcement.

They said Margate police, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI are working the case.

The girl’s father, Gordon Terrelonge, believes Davis has the answers that would lead them to his daughter and says investigators conducted a new search with cadaver dogs weeks ago in Central Florida.

“We all believe she’s still alive,” said Terrelonge. “We think that maybe she gave her to somebody because she’s definitely lost her mind, but we feel like for her to do the last three months of not finding her and then finding out Gabby’s been missing since June, July, instead of September, that just shows you we feel like she’s had help or maybe gotten help.”

Anyone with information regarding the location of Gabrielle, who would now be 11 years old, is urged to contact the FBI.

As for Davis, Terrelonge said she is being held in custody at a hospital.

It happened early Sunday morning along Sunshine Boulevard near Southwest 27th Street.

“I can’t! I can’t! I can’t,” a woman is heard screaming on the call.

The dispatcher asks the woman to calm down as she tries to understand what is happening.  

“So a vehicle just ran into your house, is that correct?” the dispatcher asked.

“And they’re fighting, they’re fighting, somebody’s fighting,” the woman said.

Home security video showed a Lamborghini driving along the road when another car pulled up beside it, and that’s when the gunfire erupted.

Miramar police say three people in the Lamborghini were shot, including 21-year-old social media influencer Brianna Johnson, known online as DreamDoll Bri, who did not survive.

Now police officers are releasing the 911 calls just days after the shooting as they continue to search for a suspect.

Johnson’s loved ones created a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.

Standing in front of a judge with bandages on his nose and his arm wrapped in a cast was 38-year-old Vladimir Mushenko.

The injuries were sustained in a fatal crash that occurred on the Fourth of July along Dania Beach Boulevard.

Mushenko now faces 22 charges related to vehicular homicide, DUI and reckless driving.

Traffic homicide detectives with the Broward Sheriff’s Office say Mushenko was behind the wheel of a white BMW and speeding down Dania Beach Boulevard when he hit a curb, overcorrected, then lost control of the vehicle and slid sideways into the westbound lanes before crashing into a Mercedes-Benz carrying four people, including two children.

They were all rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

There were three passengers in the car with Mushenko, including Oleksii Masksymov, who was pronounced dead at the scene, and Said Akhmedov, who died at the hospital.

A third passenger survived and told deputies Mushenko was the driver.

In an arrest report, a deputy noted Mushenko showed signs of impairment, saying his breath smelled like alcohol, his eyes were glassy and he appeared disoriented.

Hospital staff at Broward Health Medical Center tested his blood- alcohol level, with the results revealing it was more than twice the legal limit, the report stated.

Prosecutors mentioned in court that Mushenko was convicted last year for careless driving.

The Russian national is currently being held behind bars at the Broward County Main Jail in connection with the crash and on an immigration hold.

Prosecutors said Mushenko entered the country illegally in 2023 from the California border.

Across the 77 insurers in the ACA program that have submitted rate filings that are publicly available, the median proposed premium increase for 2027 is 14%, according to Wednesday’s analysis from the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. The insurers cited mounting healthcare costs, federal regulatory changes and the recent expiration of pandemic-era enhanced subsidies as the biggest factors driving premiums higher.

The rise in premiums adds to what already was a significant jump in 2026, when the median rate increase was 20%, according to KFF.

While most Americans in Obamacare still qualify for subsidies that protect them from paying the full premiums, middle-class enrollees who don't get those subsidies will face an especially stark increase in costs. That group includes households with incomes at or above 400% of the poverty level — about $63,000 per year for an individual or $129,000 for a family of four.

The rate increases come as federal lawmakers have proposed various policy changes to overhaul the expensive U.S. healthcare system, but no comprehensive legislation has amassed enough support to pass. The higher costs are contributing to Americans’ existing worries about overall affordability, a concern that many voters say is front of mind with November’s midterm elections looming.

Insurers cite rising costs and a smaller, sicker covered population

Health insurers must send filings to regulators every year, explaining what they expect to see in premium rate changes for individual market health plans for the coming year.

Next year’s rates will be finalized later in the summer, but KFF’s analysis looked at those in the ACA marketplace that already are public across 16 states and Washington, D.C., to get an early glimpse at what insurers are saying. The report measured insurers' premium increases as an average across all types of plans — bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

The analysis found that insurers listed rising costs across the healthcare sector — from hospital visits to prescription drugs, the workforce and sicker patients — as the biggest cause of rising premiums. Overall inflation contributed to that pressure, driving prices higher across the entire economy.

Insurers also blamed the expiration of federal subsidies that had offset costs for many people and caused the Affordable Care Act program to balloon in size in recent years. When those tax credits expired in January, many plan costs skyrocketed. That prompted large swaths of enrollees to depart the marketplace, leaving sicker patients who carry higher risks and costs, and driving premiums higher.

New state-by-state data posted by the Trump administration shows that the overall ACA marketplace shrunk by more than 2.5 million people over the past year, with some states seeing declines amounting to nearly a third of their enrollee population.

Some insurers added that federal regulatory changes contributed to their requests for higher premiums. For example, they said new enrollment and eligibility requirements instituted by the Trump administration could affect the overall population of ACA enrollees.

While Affordable Care Act enrollees make up less than 10% of the population, similar cost drivers are likely to make other private plans, including employer-sponsored plans, pricier too, according to KFF’s analysis.

Findings align with other analyses

Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms also published an analysis of preliminary ACA insurer rate filings last month. Like KFF's, it projected double-digit premium increases in the marketplace next year.

Stacey Pogue, a senior research fellow at the center who authored the report, said the enrollees most affected by the rising premiums will be those who don't qualify for financial help. She said those people already saw the most significant increases to their premiums in 2026, with some of their premiums doubling or tripling.

“Those are the folks who kind of got a double whammy” this year, she said.

Pogue said the rate filings are demonstrating what many analysts had expected: that the expiration of enhanced tax credits would cause healthy Americans to flee the marketplace and leave a sicker patient population that relies more heavily on insurance.

“When the healthy people leave, the prices go up,” she said. “The analysts all predicted that, and now that's what we're seeing.”

The IOC provisionally lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and advised Olympic sports bodies they no longer need to be vetting its athletes for permission to compete as neutrals.

“It is an important step toward reinstating our athletes’ legitimate rights to participate in international competitions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday. “Work will continue through our sports authorities. They are conducting this work constantly and consistently, this work will continue.”

Peskov added that “now, it’s very important that all our athletes have the opportunity to compete in major international events.”

The IOC’s guidance to reintegrate Russians in international events is not binding for the governing bodies of individual sports.

Track and field has already said it will not follow suit and there is no sign yet of changes which could let Russia return to major soccer events like Euro 2028 or a future World Cup.

“FIFA has been made aware of the decision taken by the IOC to provisionally lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee," soccer's governing body said. "FIFA will analyze the decision before deciding on next steps in coordination with the relevant stakeholders.”

FIFA last year invited Russia to send a team to the inaugural boys’ Under-15 Football Festival in Azerbaijan starting Oct. 22. That came soon after the IOC recommended allowing Russian youth teams to compete with the country's flag and anthem.

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

Edmunds experts have identified four small sedans and one midsize sedan that they would recommend you focus on. Each car has competitive Edmunds scoring, widespread availability on the used market, and a reliability score of at least 4 out of 5 from RepairPal, an independent source for data-driven reliability ratings. We’ve also noted the latest model years you can expect to find at nationwide retailers such as Carvana and CarMax that meet our $15,000 price cap.

Honda Civic

The Civic’s status as a perennial favorite among small sedans is well earned. It delivers excellent fuel economy and peppy acceleration, while its suspension tuning strikes a near-perfect balance between ride quality and athleticism. Although the Civic’s center touch screen can be slow and annoying to use at times, the Civic otherwise impresses with its roomy back seat and tight construction.

Look for: Older Civics easily fall within our price cap, but aim to get a 2016 Civic if you can. It received a full redesign this year that features new styling, a roomier interior and a new optional turbocharged engine that provides plenty of power plus high mpg.

Kia Forte

Kia’s Forte is the brand’s small sedan, which was sold until a few years ago, when Kia replaced it with the K4. The Forte’s sharp styling, quiet interior, and an extensive list of available features make it feel like a small sedan that’s more refined than its price would suggest. It also gets good fuel economy and has a large and easy-to-load trunk. The Forte’s ride quality can be a bit too firm and uncomfortable over bumps, but overall it is a smart pick for a used sedan.

Look for: The last generation of the Forte debuted for the 2019 model year. Any Forte from this year up to 2021 or so should be pretty easy to find for under $15,000. Among the Forte’s available trim levels, the EX is worth focusing on because it comes with premium features such as synthetic leather upholstery and heated and ventilated front seats.

Mazda 3

While most of the sedans in this group either aren’t sporty at all or merely dress the part, the Mazda 3 is genuinely fun to drive. Even if performance isn’t a priority for you, this responsiveness can be a valuable asset during emergency maneuvers. The Mazda 3’s sharp exterior design also offers a dose of style while its interior quality exceeds expectations, and its crash test scores put it among the top of its class.

Look for: The third-generation Mazda 3 debuted in 2014 and was produced through 2018. Buyers shouldn’t have any difficulty finding solid choices from the later years of that production run. The 2018 Touring model offers a long list of standard features for the price and is equipped with a more powerful engine than lower trims.

Toyota Corolla

A long-running staple in the compact sedan class, the Toyota Corolla has built its reputation on providing no-nonsense transportation with low running costs. The Corolla gets high marks for its comfort and appealing list of advanced driver assist features. It’s not as spacious as some of its rivals, and pokey acceleration keeps the fun factor relatively low, but otherwise the Corolla is a sensible choice.

Look for: Toyota introduced the 11th-generation Corolla for 2013. You should be able to get a 2015 to 2017 Corolla for under $15,000. Notably, the 2017 Corolla features included revised front-end styling, new LED headlights, and upgraded interior upholstery.

Chevrolet Malibu

Finding a used midsize sedan that’s less than 10 years old and under $15,000 can be difficult if it’s a popular model such as the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. But this is where the Chevrolet Malibu earns its appeal. As the only midsize in this group, the Malibu offers more space for passengers and their cargo than the other sedans on this list, yet it still delivers proven reliability and strong overall value.

Look for: The current-generation Malibu arrived in 2016. Any Malibu from this year or newer is a good pick. If you can find one, the 2019 Malibu is worth seeking out for its revised styling and updated infotainment tech.

Edmunds says

These models prove you don’t need to spend big to get a reliable and well-equipped sedan. From style and technology to ride quality and efficiency, the real decision comes down to what matters most to you. Each one has certain strengths, but they all deliver solid value for the money.

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

To do so, the company is trying to convince policymakers, regulators, the public and prospective customers that the business it is building onshore is a more disciplined operation than the freewheeling offshore exchange that has at times been the subject of unfavorable headlines.

Polymarket has hired social media influencers to produce viral marketing on TikTok and other platforms. Its account on X, formerly known as Twitter, is now followed by millions and posts about current events throughout the day. It has signed partnership deals with major sports teams and Major League Baseball, as well as news organizations ranging from CNBC to CNN. It's all part of a pitch that its real-time markets are a more accurate read on the future than traditional polling or punditry.

The campaign is, effectively, an effort to sell Polymarket as something different from the Polymarket people know today.

What the American public knows as Polymarket has, at least by the letter of the law, been unavailable to Americans. In 2022, it was pushed offshore after settling federal charges that it operated an unregistered derivatives market. But Americans have regularly found ways around the prohibition, and the offshore business faced criticism over allegations of insider trading and allowing wagers tied to war and other violence.

Polymarket began operating again in the U.S. at the end of 2025 after buying the derivatives exchange QCEX to get the regulatory license to operate in the country. Executives say the U.S. exchange is walled off from the international platform, and they have hired a slate of compliance, surveillance and regulatory specialists in recent weeks to keep it that way.

“Trust is the product we are building here,” said Dan Lee, head of U.S. operations at Polymarket, in an interview. Lee started with Polymarket in February from Coinbase.

Among the hires, the company added Megan McGrath from Robinhood as its new chief compliance officer. Lee and another executive, Natalie Oblazny, were hired from Coinbase. It’s also hired former Department of Justice and FBI officials as the platform’s head of enforcement and new surveillance head. Lee said Polymarket’s successful reentry into the U.S. depends almost entirely on whether it can convince people that Polymarket U.S. can be a trusted prediction market platform, and the new hires are key to that effort.

Both Polymarket International and Polymarket U.S. provide the same service: trading on the likelihood of events, such as weather, sports, politics or news. But the underlying structures differ. Polymarket’s international platform is built on blockchain technology and requires users to trade with cryptocurrency, while Polymarket U.S. operates through a more centralized structure regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and funded with traditional U.S. dollars.

Customers using Polymarket U.S. versus Polymarket International won't notice the difference, with the exception of how they fund their accounts. Also Polymarket U.S. is going to have a much narrower number of contracts, and more regulations, than its international counterpart.

“Polymarket U.S. is supposed to comply with U.S. law and regulations. Polymarket International is where anything goes,” said Todd Phillips, who has written extensively on prediction markets at the Roosevelt Institute.

The stakes are high for Polymarket. Between its departure in 2022 and return six months ago, the prediction market industry has changed and grown in popularity. The trading volume across the platforms for Polymarket and rival Kalshi is now $26.6 billion, according to blockchain analytics firm Dune. That’s up from $9.75 billion in volume across the platforms in October last year. About two-thirds of that activity is on Kalshi, which dominates the U.S. market on the strength of sports wagering. Kalshi was valued at $22 billion in its most recent funding round.

Both platforms are also benefiting from a more favorable treatment of the industry in Washington. The Trump Administration has been generally supportive of prediction markets. The CFTC has sued states to argue that federal law should preempt any regulations that state politicians have wanted to place on the prediction market industry. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is also an investor in Polymarket through his venture capital firm 1789 Capital.

Even so, it’s been a rough start for Polymarket’s reintroduction to American audiences. The Wall Street Journal found evidence that Polymarket’s advertising and marketing campaigns used allegedly deceptive strategies that showed hired influencers making money trading on Polymarket when the trades were fake.

Politico reported in June that a Polymarket executive paid at least 20 political content creators, many of which did not disclose those partnerships to the public. Both projects have been part of the campaign Polymarket was using to reintroduce to American audiences.

In response to the WSJ and Politico reports, the company says it is investigating its marketing and promotional campaigns.

It's too soon to tell whether Polymarket U.S. will be able to differentiate itself from its international counterpart. Polymarket’s international platform has made headlines, often to public and political outrage.

When a U.S. Army sergeant was indicted earlier this year over bets on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he was trading on Polymarket’s international platform. The Associated Press reported in April that 50 brand new accounts on Polymarket’s international platform placed substantial bets on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire in the hours, even minutes, before President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on social media, raising concerns of insider trading.

Lee said he believes the steps the U.S. business is taking will help further legitimize it, despite the issues the international platform has faced.

“I think having the international business being the bulk of the volume, it often sort of masks the progress we are making here in the U.S. to broaden Polymarket’s acceptance,” Lee said.

The blast turned what was supposed to be a moment of celebration — the live screening of a potential Argentina upset by an Arab team — into a reminder of how the near-daily Israeli strikes across Gaza are continuing to kill civilians despite a truce reached in October.

The bomb hit a car in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at dusk Tuesday, killing passersby Mohamed al-Wahidi, an official at the Egyptian Committee in Gaza, 10-year-old boy Hamza al-Deri and his 8-year-old brother, Fari. Ahmed Daghmush, 33, the driver of the car, was also killed. That’s according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, which received the four bodies.

The Israeli military said al-Wahidi, who helped organize the soccer screenings, was not a target of the strike. It said the strike was aiming for a Hamas militant, and it was checking if Daghmush was the target.

Daghmush is a taxi driver not known to be affiliated with any militant group, Abu Selmiya said.

An Israeli strike hit the same street half an hour earlier, causing no casualties.

The committee for which al-Wahidi worked is the relief arm of the Egyptian government, which provides food, shelters and other assistance to Palestinians in Gaza. The committee organized the initiative to put up screens across Gaza to watch soccer matches, it said.

Many in the Palestinian diaspora live across the border in Egypt, which was a key mediator of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Team Egypt's Gaza fanbase has only grown since the start of the tournament, as coach Hossam Hassan has spotlighted the plight of the Palestinian people in press briefings and on the pitch. He dedicated his team’s victory over Australia on Friday to both Egyptians and Palestinians and waved a Palestinian flag on the pitch.

In a Monday briefing before the match against Argentina, Hassan urged the world to do more for the Palestinian people.

“I urge you, I urge all media officers, all athletes worldwide, regardless of their identities, maybe we can convey a collective message that is as follows, let the Palestinian people be, let them exist, let them live a life of their own," he said.

Israel’s military says its strikes target militants and it regrets harm to civilians. At least 1,084 people, including 258 children, have been killed since the truce took effect in October. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in that time.

The Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war stands at 73,110, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical professionals who maintain detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

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Magdy reported from Cairo and Frankel from Jerusalem.

Ukraine struck oil refineries in Russia's Saratov and Tatarstan regions, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey. Trump said the U.S. would give a license to Ukraine so it could manufacture Patriot air defense systems to counter Russia.

Russia attacks Kyiv, hours apart

In Kyiv, several explosions were heard shortly after midnight, even before authorities could issue an alert to give civilians time to find shelter.

The early morning Russian attacks killed one woman and injured two others in Kyiv, according to city administration head Tymur Tkachenko. The State Emergency Service said the attack damaged several administrative buildings and warehouses, as well as a garage complex and several trams.

Hours later, another Russian drone struck Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district, killing a second person and injuring six others, Tkachenko said. A total of eight people were injured in the attacks on the capital.

In Kharkiv, two people were killed and 20 others were injured in a series of overnight strikes, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

In Zaporizhzhia, Russian guided bomb injured a man and a woman Tuesday night, regional head Ivan Fedorov said.

Ukraine’s air force says Russia fired 169 long-range strike drones and seven missiles, including five ballistic missiles. Air defenses shot down or jammed 139 drones, and two anti-radar missiles didn’t reach their targets, it said.

All five ballistic missiles and 20 drones struck targets at 15 locations, the air force said, underscoring the continued strain on Ukraine’s air defenses.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it struck an arms industry facilities in Kyiv, hitting a plant that manufactured components for Flamingo cruise missiles and a facility assembling mid- and long-range drones.

Trump cites a better relationship with Zelenskyy

In Ankara, Trump said the U.S. will give a license to Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air defense systems to defend against Russian missile attacks like those that have been striking Kyiv in recent weeks.

It would be a huge coup for Ukraine, which badly needs the systems that are expensive, in high demand and take a long time to produce. Zelenskyy long has been asking for more Patriot systems, as well as the license to produce them.

“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said, sitting next to Zelenskyy. “I think they can produce them pretty quickly.”

The tone of their meeting was a markedly different from an earlier, acrimonious encounter at the White House in February 2025 when Trump berated Zelenskyy. On Wednesday, he praised the Ukrainian leader's willingness to reach a deal to ending the war, saying he has “done an amazing job” and “been very effective.”

“We’ve actually developed a good relationship. It’s hard to believe,” Trump said, adding he believed a deal on ending the war was on the horizon and that the U.S. would “work on some kind of security package” for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his support and said he wanted to discuss weapons supplies, possible peace negotiations and a developing drone deal.

“Air defense is the priority,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv wanted to share details of its needs under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, in which European allies and Canada are buying American weapons to help his country.

Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian and U.S. officials had begun work on a drone deal, calling it “a very good beginning.”

Trump was expected to have another call with Putin following his meeting with Zelenskyy.

Ukraine strikes Russian oil and gas facilities

The ministry also said air defenses downed 415 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday to early Wednesday. Gov. Roman Busargin of Russia's Saratov region said a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, injured several others and damaged industrial facilities.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian long-range attacks reached the Saratov, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan regions deep inside Russia, as well as the Voronezh region, closer to the Ukrainian border. The strikes hit refineries in Saratov and Tatarstan, the latest energy facilities struck by Ukraine that have worsened fuel shortages across Russia.

In the Tatarstan region, Nizhhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyayev said Ukrainian drones damaged industrial facilities in the city and injured several people. Belyayev didn’t identify the damaged facilities.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed head of the Crimean Peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, said restrictions on civilian fuel sales would continue and that gasoline would not be available “on certain days.”

Aksyonov said many of the decisions being made to resolve the crisis could not be disclosed publicly, adding that he was giving regular updates to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The fuel supply situation remains strained and will continue to be so for some time,” he said. “We are monitoring this issue closely in coordination with the federal government and are working on a solution.”

Russia’s Gazprom state-controlled gas company said Ukrainian drones attacked the Krasnodarskaya compressor station serving the Blue Stream natural gas pipeline to Turkey late Tuesday. It said the attack was intended to derail Russian gas shipments to Turkey, but there was no disruption of supplies.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it another “dangerous” attack against “the critical international energy system” and voiced hope that Turkey and other nations would warn Kyiv against such action.

Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said Ukrainian drones damaged two oil tankers in Taganrog Bay, injuring two crew members. The crew of one of the ships had to be evacuated.

He said there was no oil spill because the tankers heading to the port of Rostov-on-Don were empty.

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Seung Min Kim in Ankara, Turkey, and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed.

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

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research makes clear that for many U.S. Jews, support for Israel remains a bedrock of their religious identity, its existence a guarantee of Jewish self-determination and safety. Yet others — particularly those who identify as Jews through ethnic, cultural or family ties, rather than religion — feel less connected to Israel and judge its actions in the ongoing conflict more harshly.

About 7 in 10 Jewish adults overall identify as Jewish when asked about their religious affiliation, according to the sweeping survey that touched on everything from views on Israel to antisemitism concerns and strains on interpersonal relations. The rest, about 3 in 10 Jewish adults, say they are atheists, agnostics, or have no particular religious affiliation, but still identify as Jewish in other ways.

Israel has been at the center of the turmoil in the Middle East since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that killed some 1,200 people. More than 73,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since Israel retaliated, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilian and militant deaths. Israel’s ongoing offensives have become a wedge issue for Jewish and non-Jewish Americans, leading to protests, raising antisemitism fears and questions about America’s close ties to Israel.

Among Jews with a religious affiliation, views on Israel’s recent military actions are far from uniform or uncritical. Only about half say Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza are justified. About one-quarter believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, an accusation that’s been leveled by some human rights organizations and vehemently denied by Israel and the U.S. government.

But they are more supportive of Israel's actions than secular American Jews. About 4 in 10 religiously unaffiliated Jews say Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians, and only about 2 in 10 see Israel’s current operations in Gaza as justified. The vast majority, 74%, say they are “not too” or “not at all” emotionally attached to Israel, a sharp contrast from other Jewish adults.

Anna Constant, 56, of Seattle identifies as culturally Jewish and says she doesn’t feel closely connected to Israel.

“I kind of think of myself as an American version of a Jew. I do have a homeland," she said, referring to the United States.

At the same time, “my heart is broken for everything everyone is navigating over there. ... We have bad governments happening not just in Israel but in the United States. I’m trying to hold on to the reality that the people are not the governments.”

Conflicting views about Israel’s military actions

Jews who regularly attend religious services are more likely than those who never attend to feel a connection to Israel and see its military actions in Gaza as justified, the survey found.

About 3 in 10 Jewish adults never attend religious services, although that rises to about two-thirds among religiously unaffiliated Jews. About half of Jewish adults attend a few times a year or less often. About 2 in 10 attend at least once a month, including about 1 in 10 who attend weekly.

According to the survey, Jewish adults mostly identify as Democrats; about 3 in 10 identify as Republicans. Religiously unaffiliated Jews are slightly more likely than Jewish adults overall to identify as Democrats, and less likely to call themselves Republicans.

Jacqueline Rothstein, 35, splits time between a New York City suburb on Long Island and the city’s heavily Jewish borough of Brooklyn. She is Modern Orthodox, attending worship services about once a month.

A political independent, she views Republican President Donald Trump favorably and has an unfavorable view of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim Democrat who supports Palestinian rights. Rothstein says her Jewish identity and supporting Israel are “extremely important” to her.

She's keenly aware of divisions within the Jewish community, and cites family history as one key reason for the differing views of Israel. Two of her grandparents were Sephardic Jews expelled from Egypt in the 1960s; the other two were Holocaust survivors, she said.

“There are plenty of American Jews whose grandparents didn’t have that trauma,” Rothstein said. “If you have no connection to Israel, if your grandparents were safe in America, ... then you don’t know the struggle.”

Jewish adults who identify as religiously Jewish are much likelier than nonreligious Jews to identify as Zionists. About 3 in 10 religiously Jewish adults say “Zionist” describes them “extremely” or “very” well, compared to 6% of religiously unaffiliated Jews.

Just under half of secular Jews, 45%, say “Zionist” describes them ”not very well" or “not well at all.”

Many still see Israel as central to their Jewish identity

Supporting Israel is still fundamental to many Jewish adults’ identity, but its importance compared to other aspects of being Jewish varies.

About half of religiously affiliated Jewish adults say supporting Israel is “extremely” or “very” important to their Jewish identity, compared to about 1 in 10 religiously unaffiliated Jewish adults.

Rabbi Seth Adelson noted that Israel was founded primarily by secular Jews, but suggested that today in the U.S., stronger connections to Israel are felt by religiously observant Jews. He is the rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh, a Conservative synagogue with close ties to the three congregations targeted in the 2018 massacre at the nearby Tree of Life synagogue in which 11 worshippers were killed in the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.

“In recent years, perhaps due to the complexity of that region, due to the challenges faced by modern states, religious Jews have been more likely to hold on to our ancient stories, and Jews of no religion have been less likely to hold on to those stories,” Adelson said.

Some of the divide is generational. Younger Jews — regardless of their Jewish affiliation — are less likely to see Israel as important to their Jewish identity. But there are commonalities, too. Majorities of younger and older Jewish adults, for instance, say that remembering the Holocaust is important to their Jewish identity.

Bonnie Brody, 78, grew up in a community with several Holocaust survivors in Queens, New York. While she doesn’t always agree with its government’s choices, the Florida resident sees Israel as a vital haven for Jews.

“I heard the stories of the concentration camps and how even (the U.S.) turned back a ship full of Jews,” she said, referring to the ocean liner St. Louis that departed Germany in 1939 with hundreds of Jewish refugees aboard, and was prevented from landing in the U.S. “Many of them had nowhere to go.”

Painful conflicts with family over Israel are common

The survey finds that rifts are springing up within families and communities over Israel, even among religiously unaffiliated Jews.

Most Jewish adults, 55%, say they've felt offended by another person's comments about Israel since the Oct. 7 attack, while about 4 in 10 say they've disagreed with family members about something related to Israel.

About 3 in 10 say they've stopped talking to someone because of something they said about Israel.

Shainah Horowitz, 45, a staunch Democrat from Portland, Oregon, says the Jewish community in that solidly liberal city is riddled with divisions. On one hand, she said, there is friction between politically right-leaning Orthodox Jews and Jews with more left-leaning views, including those in her Conservative synagogue which takes pride in being LGBTQ+-inclusive. Meanwhile, she said, secular anti-Zionist Jews in Portland can be stridently critical of Jews who — like Horowitz herself — identify as Zionists and support the concept of Israel as a Jewish state.

“I cannot have conversations with certain friends — non-Jews and some very secular Jews who buy into the anti-Israel slant,” she said.

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

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The AP-NORC poll of 3,040 adults was conducted June 11-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The poll included interviews with 1,022 Jewish adults. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points and the margin of sampling error for Jewish adults is plus or minus 5.0 percentage points.

In Ituri province, the hardest hit among the three provinces in eastern Congo affected by the outbreak, some of the health professionals and other front-line workers told The Associated Press they’ve not been paid their wages and bonuses since the outbreak was declared on May 15. They also alleged they were working with limited gear, and were being treated unfairly by authorities as well as response teams.

“Since the Ebola virus disease outbreak was declared, we've been demanding payment for our work,” Dr. Biensi Kano, a member of the epidemiological surveillance committee in Ituri’s capital, Bunia, told The Associated Press.

The latest government data shows 1,708 recorded cases, including 580 deaths, and that the first month of this Ebola outbreak was already the worst on record, health authorities said. The strike comes at the start of enrollment for clinical trials for the treatment of the Bundibugyo virus that is responsible for this outbreak.

Treatment centers at near-full capacity

The World Health Organization representative in Congo, Dr. Anne Ancia, said Tuesday that the virus continues to spread, fueled by population movements and insecurity, while some treatment centers are at near-full capacity.

The non-payment of benefits “exposes us and our families to significant socio-economic difficulties and seriously undermines our living conditions,” said Kano.

In an official notice to national and provincial authorities over the weekend, front-line workers in Ituri threatened to strike if the wages were not paid in 24 hours. By Tuesday, some had already stopped working although no official strike has been declared.

The aggrieved front-line workers also include safety and security teams, those that often embark on community outreach as well as those burying patients who died from Ebola.

Congo’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the situation. Officials in Ituri, however, said they’ve met with the workers and their concerns are being addressed

“The fact that Bunia airport is closed is hampering the very implementation of the response, particularly certain aspects of the flow of funds. This is one of the reasons that may account for the delay in payment,” Akilimali Pierre, incident manager at Congo’s National Institute of Public Health, told The Associated Press.

Some of the workers organized a protest Monday outside the Rwampara Ebola treatment center. They set tires alight, causing a brief panic in the vicinity before the police intervened to restore order.

Health workers face other challenges as well, including attacks from angry residents and skepticism about the virus.

‘We risk dying for nothing’

Dr. Ben Bakule, a community investigator, said he narrowly escaped death in late May when a group of angry young men attacked him and his colleagues while they were tracing contacts of a confirmed Ebola case in the village of Tutu, in Djugu territory.

“We spend money on transport to get to work. We thought we’d be rewarded. At the moment, nothing is going right because we’re not being paid. We don’t deserve this sort of treatment,” he told The Associated Press.

“We might have to give up our jobs. These are risks we’re taking. We risk dying for nothing. This government wants this epidemic to continue,” Bakule added, his voice tinged with frustration.

When he visited the mining town of Mongbwalu — considered the hot spot for the disease — last month, Congo’s Minister of Health Roger Kamba assured the response teams that the government was prioritizing their working conditions.

"All doctors, all nurses and all staff working on the response will be fully supported. We have the money for that,” Kamba said at the time.

But front-line workers say the reality is different.

“We are doing everything we can to make the public understand how dangerous this disease is. I came here to save people’s lives, but this is how I am being thanked. We are working day and night without being paid,” said Dr. Ghislain Maneba, an epidemiologist and community investigator in the Rwampara health zone.

Meanwhile, the strike by some workers has caused concern among residents in Ituri, where measures to slow the outbreak have resulted in economic hardship.

Bunia resident Anifa Kito said she fears that response efforts may falter, further complicating daily life. “I would ask the authorities to resolve this situation before things get any worse,” she said, standing in front of her tomato stall.

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AP writer Constant Same Bagalwa in Bunia contributed to this report.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The aircraft operated by the private carrier K2 Airways had departed from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and reported a navigational system problem before losing contact with air traffic control late Tuesday.

The Pakistani navy and civilian teams in planes and ships found the plane debris after about 12 hours of searching in the Arabian Sea, Pakistan’s Airports Authority said in a post on X.

Retired Rear Adm. Faisal Shah said searchers were dealing with rough seas and that they were still looking for the main wreckage of the plane, which could prove much more difficult to find because the area is believed to be about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) deep, requiring specialized equipment.

He said recovering debris does not necessarily reveal the aircraft’s exact crash site because ocean currents, waves and wind can carry the floating wreckage far from where the aircraft went down.

In a statement, K2 Airways identified the missing crew as Capt. Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan.

“We continue to pray earnestly for the safety of our colleagues,” it said.

Ghulam Nabi Bahrani, the father-in-law of co-pilot Faisal Jatoi, said the family was in regular contact with him while he was in Sharjah, and that he had called his wife shortly before departure Tuesday. Bahrani said government officials have been in contact with the family since the aircraft disappeared.

“All we can do is wait and pray for a miracle,” he said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif released a statement expressing sympathy with the families of the five crew members, and directed the government to deploy all available resources for the search effort.

Pakistan’s Airports Authority said earlier on X that radar data showed the aircraft making a sharp change in heading and rapidly descending before radar and radio contact were lost at about 9:21 p.m., approximately 155 nautical miles (287 kilometers, 178 miles) west of Karachi.

Aviation expert Imran Aslam told local broadcaster ARY News late Tuesday that it remained unclear what caused the aircraft to disappear from radar. He said that even if an aircraft suffered an engine failure, it would normally continue gliding rather than plunge suddenly. He said the exact cause would become clear only after investigators gathered more evidence.

In May 2020, a Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 98 people crashed into a densely populated neighborhood near Karachi airport while attempting to land. All but one of the 99 people on board were killed. A government investigation later concluded that human error by the pilots and air traffic controllers caused the crash.

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Associated Press writer Muhammad Farooq contributed to this story from Karachi, Pakistan.

El gobierno central asignó 50 millones de yuanes (7,4 millones de dólares) para restaurar carreteras, escuelas y otras instalaciones en la provincia de Hubei, en el centro de China, y otros 20 millones de yuanes para ayudar a reconstruir viviendas y reasentar a residentes allí, informaron medios estatales. Once personas murieron y cientos resultaron heridas la noche del lunes en violentas tormentas eléctricas y tornados poco comunes.

El gobierno también asignó 30 millones de yuanes (4,4 millones de dólares) a la provincia de Gansu, donde el alud de tierra sepultó a los trabajadores forestales.

El dinero se sumó a los 100 millones de yuanes (14 ,7 millones de dólares) asignados anteriormente para escuelas, hospitales, transporte y otra infraestructura en la región de Guangxi, en el sur de China, donde graves inundaciones anegaron ciudades y dejaron a residentes varados tras lluvias más intensas de lo esperado derivadas de una tormenta tropical.

Lu Xiaofei, que trabaja en Shenzhen, un centro tecnológico cerca de Hong Kong, contó que la familia de su hermano estaba atrapada en su casa en la aldea de Lu, en el distrito de Qintang. Su hermano estaba con su esposa, su bebé de 9 meses, sus padres y su abuelo.

“El agua dentro de la casa supera la altura de una persona. Tienen que subir todos al segundo piso. No hay electricidad desde ayer por la mañana y ahora tampoco tienen agua corriente”, explicó Lu a The Associated Press en una entrevista telefónica.

Lu relató que su hermano le dijo que el nivel del agua subió anoche y que su situación era tan crítica que el agua potable pronto se les acabaría, mientras que las autoridades locales no se habían puesto en contacto con ellos. Muchos vecinos enfrentaban los mismos problemas, agregó.

Otras personas pidieron ayuda en redes sociales, mostrando videos de sus alrededores anegados tras las inundaciones y destacando la falta de recursos.

Varios embalses se desbordaron o reventaron después de que los restos de la tormenta tropical Maysak golpeara Guangxi, enviando torrentes de agua a pueblos y ciudades. Se informó de seis muertos y unas 130.000 personas han sido evacuadas. Más de 8.000 personas y unas 5.700 embarcaciones participan en la operación de rescate, informó la agencia oficial de noticias Xinhua.

Reportes no confirmados de medios locales dijeron que cientos de serpientes habían escapado de criaderos después de ser arrastradas por el agua. La televisora estatal CCTV reportó serpientes en el agua y dio consejos sobre qué hacer en caso de mordedura, pero no dijo de dónde habían salido las serpientes.

Las fuertes lluvias han azotado zonas del centro-este y del sur de Guangxi desde el sábado pasado, y el centro meteorológico nacional indicó que en algunas zonas habían caído entre 10 y 40 centímetros (aproximadamente entre 4 y 16 pulgadas) de agua. En varios de los puntos más afectados se registraron más de 90 centímetros (35 pulgadas), señaló.

Otra tormenta, el supertifón Bavi, podría golpear el sureste de China durante el fin de semana. En Taiwán, algunos agricultores se apresuraron a cosechar su arroz antes de la tormenta, que se esperaba para última hora del viernes.

El mal tiempo también causó muertes en otras partes de Asia. Aludes de tierra provocados por fuertes lluvias monzónicas en el sureste de Bangladesh mataron a varios refugiados rohinya, incluidos cinco niños. Las intensas lluvias del monzón azotaron partes de la vecina India, dejando más de una docena de muertos en los últimos días.

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La periodista de AP Fu Ting en Washington contribuyó a esta nota.

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

The dayslong funeral for Khamenei began Saturday, with authorities shutting down streets, airspace and daily life in the Islamic Republic’s capital, Tehran, as mourners commemorate the life of the man who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West. His body was later taken from Najaf to Karbala before returning to Iran.

Khamenei was killed in late February in wide-scale U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. He was among several senior Iranian leaders killed in strikes during the war. He was 86.

Talks between the United States and Iran appear to be on hold until after the burial. However, strikes from both sides in the Persian Gulf Tuesday and into Wednesday raised risks that the interim agreement to end the monthslong war that engulfed the Mideast could break down. The U.S. military attacked Iran early Wednesday after it said Tehran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, before Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain.

Khamenei's body arrived Tuesday in Najaf, considered one of the holiest of cities for millions of Shiite Muslims worldwide. Mourners holding portraits of the late supreme leader welcomed the body and senior officials escorting it, including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

The body was placed in a casket draped in the Islamic Republic’s flag and encased in glass.

Some supporters performed self-flagellation on the streets, while others waved Iranian as well as red and black flags symbolizing mourning and revenge.

Muhammad Taqi al-Hakim, a senior scholar at the Najaf seminary, led the funeral prayers at the Shrine of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law.

As the coffin was carried into the shrine, large crowds of mourners pushed and shoved their way to get close to it. Some threw themselves onto the casket, as the al-Hakim struggled to control the crowd, urging the pallbearers to carry it closer to the ground for fear it might fall.

“We, the people of Iraq, will remain a thorn in the eyes of the enemies,” said Jaafar Jawad, a funeral attendee. “(His body arriving here) is the greatest possible honor, and God willing, we will be loyal and repay a little of his debt in the holy city of Najaf.”

The body later arrived in Karbala, a holy city for Shiite Muslims where the Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet, was killed in 680 AD. Thousands of supporters gathered in the desert heat in and around the shrine. Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalaei, a representative of Iraq's top Shiite religious authority, led the prayers at the Imam Hussein Shrine.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

Trump made the announcement as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Turkey, praising him as having “done an amazing job” and “been very effective” in the war.

Speaking at the summit a day after Trump again expressed a desire for the U.S. to control Greenland, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “Greenland is of course not for sale.”

Here is the latest:

Merz defends US strikes on Iran

The German chancellor said it was clearly Iran that violated the ceasefire agreement. He said the U.S. military had struck back on Trump’s orders and “that is justified.”

But he added that “in the end, there must be an agreement with Iran that ends the nuclear program permanently and reopens the Strait of Hormuz permanently.”

Trump appears to have cooled on the idea of getting Syria to fight Hezbollah

Sitting across from al-Sharaa, Trump gave a cautious response when asked about his earlier suggestion that Syria should lead the fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“They could help, we’ll find out,” Trump said. “I think we’re making a lot of progress.”

Al-Sharaa wasn’t asked about it at their one-on-one meeting.

Trump raised the idea at the G7 summit last month, saying he thought Syria would do a better job than Israel. Days later, he again criticized Israel’s handling of the situation and said he was “close to giving it to Syria.”

Al-Sharaa has previously said he has no interest in taking on that role.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa thanks Trump for lifting sanctions

Al-Sharaa thanked Trump for “the historic decision to lift the sanctions,” saying “the entire Syrian people thank President Trump.”

Trump met al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 2025 months after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Since then, his administration has steadily eased U.S. sanctions on Syria.

Ahead of meeting Trump Wednesday, al-Sharaa met with a U.S. congressional delegation that was also in Ankara for the NATO summit, according to Syrian state media.

German leader says the summit contributed to keeping NATO together

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his expectations of the summit were more than fulfilled.

He said he’s “returning to Germany with the feeling that we made a big contribution to NATO staying together, to it becoming stronger, to it becoming more European.”

Merz said there was “a new feeling of European responsibility in the room.”

Trump says oil prices rise when the US attacks Iran

The U.S. president said oil prices were rising Wednesday after military attacks intensified with Iran in a troubling sign for peace talks.

“Any time we hit them, it goes up a little bit — $2,” Trump told reporters. “As oil goes, so goes everything else.”

The president has taken conflicting stances on the energy price bump caused by the Iran war, saying it wasn’t a consideration for ending the war and then touting price declines after an interim deal was announced in June.

But Trump’s math was somewhat off. U.S. oil futures were trading Wednesday morning at roughly $75 a barrel, an increase of about $5.

Trump suggests he’ll remove Syria from terrorism list

During his sit-down with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Trump was asked if he would remove Syria from the State Department’s state sponsors of terrorism list, which brings a range of sanctions.

“I think I will, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” Trump said. “He’s done a great job,” Trump added, referring to al-Sharaa.

Trump spoke warmly about al-Sharaa, calling him a strong and respected leader who brought together a country that was “a real mess, very disjointed.”

Syria has been on the list since 1979. Some U.S. lawmakers have called for removing Syria from the list, citing improvements after the 2024 ouster of Bashar Assad.

Spain’s leader downplays Trump’s threats and calls relationship with US ‘very positive’

Asked about Trump’s renewed trade threats, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the bilateral relationship with the U.S. “positive” and said Spain had fulfilled its defense spending obligations for 2026.

Sánchez added that he and Trump briefly spoke at the summit in Turkey and shared “nothing but kind words and friendliness.”

“We spoke about football, about the World Cup in the United States,” Sánchez told reporters. “It was an informal chat.”

The Spanish leader downplayed Trump’s threats to cut off trade with Spain, saying his government had taken the comments with “a certain normalcy,” reiterating that the European Union handles trade policy on behalf of the bloc’s 27 member states, including Spain.

“When one looks beyond these statements, what becomes apparent is that the relationship between the United States and Spain — across social, cultural, economic and political spheres — is very, very positive,” Sánchez said.

Spanish minister says Spain ‘accepts neither blackmail nor threats’

Health Minister Mónica García was the first Spanish government official to comment publicly in response to Trump’s renewed trade threats against Spain over its defense spending.

On X, García wrote: “Trump calls Spain a ‘terrible partner’ because it accepts neither blackmail nor threats. Because we are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace. What is terrible is to confuse diplomacy with bullying.”

Trump wants Putin and Zelenskyy to meet but says it probably won’t be in Moscow

Asked about his efforts to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said he’d like to see the leaders of both countries sit down together.

Trump said he’s talked about it with Putin, who he said was open to a meeting but wanted to host in Moscow. Trump said he rejected the idea on behalf of Zelenskyy.

Sitting across from Zelenskyy, Trump asked directly if he would meet in Moscow. The Ukrainian president answered with a quip.

“It’s difficult, there are a lot of Ukrainian drones there,” he said. “It’s dangerous.”

Trump has not only warmed to Zelenskyy but also Ukraine’s drone technology

As Trump was heaping praise on Zelenskyy and his country’s efforts in the war with Russia, he commended Ukraine’s use of drones to counter attacks and suggested the U.S. might buy the technology.

It’s a shift for Trump, who had previously been dismissive of Ukraine’s use of the low-cost but effective unmanned aircraft in the war and suggested the U.S. technology and tactics were superior.

Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. makes great drones, but it might buy from Ukraine because “they have an ability to make a lot of them” and called it “amazing.”

“It’s an amazing ability, very cheap,” he said.

“You’re very talented people,” he said to Zelenskyy. “So uh, yeah, I think we’re going to make that deal. You know, if we made that deal, we’d have great protection.”

Macron says Iran was ‘wrong’ to launch strikes

French President Emmanuel Macron said Iran was “wrong” to carry out the strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz that prompted a U.S. response, saying they violated the agreement Tehran had signed.

“I believe the Iranians were entirely in the wrong to carry out those strikes, which are contrary to the agreement they themselves signed,” Macron said.

Asked about the status of the ceasefire, Macron said the parties remain within the 60-day negotiation period established under the U.S.-Iran deal signed in June.

Macron said his understanding is that the meetings scheduled under that framework will continue to take place.

Trump threatens to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure

President Trump threatened Wednesday to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure and to seize Kharg Island, with its oil infrastructure, as his ceasefire with Tehran appeared to be in tatters.

Trump made the threats after announcing that the U.S. was preparing for a second night of strikes against Iran after Iranian attacks on American military sites in the Gulf.

If the U.S. has to, Trump said, it will take out Iran’s electric plants and desalinization plants. He said Tuesday’s strikes included attacks on Kharg Island but not its oil facilities.

“Maybe we’ll take over Kharg Island. We may take over Kharg Island. There’s not a thing they could do about it,” Trump said.

Rutte refuses to define NATO’s role in the Iran war

Rutte refused to say Wednesday whether NATO might play a role in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

“Obviously Iran is outside NATO territory,” Rutte said, but he added: “That doesn’t mean that NATO could never get involved.”

He said that “if helpful, NATO is always willing to play a role. But first now, let’s see what happens over the coming days and weeks.”

NATO prides itself as a defensive alliance focused on protecting the transatlantic area. Its last venture outside, into Afghanistan, ended in chaos and allies are reluctant to get drawn into any other war.

Britain and France are leading a separate international effort to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open once the fighting stops.

Kremlin warns Baltic nations will erode their own security if they host NATO’s nuclear weapons

Asked about Lithuanian lawmakers considering a measure that would remove a ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons in the Baltic nation following a similar move by Finland, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said Russia will have to take relevant steps to protect itself if any nuclear weapons are deployed to Baltic countries.

“Contrary to the expectations of the countries making such decisions, it will not strengthen their security,” Peskov said in a call with reporters. “On the contrary, it will significantly increase the level of danger they face, because countermeasures will be taken in relation to them to ensure protection of our interests.”

Last month, the Finnish Parliament voted to repeal a decades-old law that banned nuclear weapons from the country. The vote followed Helsinki’s 2023 decision to join NATO.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says NATO welcomes Trump’s leadership

Rutte says NATO allies have “warmly welcomed” Trump’s leadership, even after the American president reopened old wounds over Greenland.

Rutte said Trump’s leadership “is transforming this alliance and making it stronger.”

“The message from this summit is simple. NATO delivers,” Rutte said after chairing the summit.

In a win for Ukraine, Trump says US will allow Patriot air defense missiles to be made overseas

President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. will give a license for its Patriot air defense systems to be made overseas for Ukraine to counter Russian missile attacks, a huge coup for Ukraine which has badly needed the technology in the war that’s now in its fifth year.

Trump made the announcement as he met Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Turkey, praising him as having “done an amazing job” and “been very effective” in the war.

“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said.

Zelenskyy has long sought more of the defense systems, which are expensive, in high demand and take a long time to manufacture. He’s been pressing for Ukraine to be granted a license to manufacture the technology.

Trump says US is preparing for more strikes against Iran

The president said Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing for another night of strikes against Iran, just hours after he said the ceasefire was over.

“We hit them very hard last night,” Trump said when asked about a possible return to hostilities. “We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight.”

Trump made the remark in Ankara on the sidelines of the NATO summit. He said the strikes are continued retaliation for attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

“They are behaving very badly,” he said of Iran, accusing the country of launching drones and a missile at ships.

Trump has warm remarks in meeting with Zelenskyy

Though the U.S. president and his Ukrainian counterpart had a tense encounter at the White House last year, Trump said Wednesday as he sat with Zelenskyy, “We’ve actually developed a good relationship. It’s hard to believe.”

He said Ukraine has a good future with “such great land, such great assets, such great people” and that they were going to have a good talk together.

He also called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “difficult character” and Zelenskyy “a difficult character.”

Details of the next NATO summit are up in the air

Albania has been left wondering about whether it will host NATO’s next summit and when.

The Balkans country had been due to host one in 2027. But instead of referencing that rendezvous on their end-of-summit declaration as they usually do, the NATO leaders on Wednesday only said “we look forward to our next meeting” without providing details.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is generally well liked by his fellow leaders, but some NATO allies have cooled on the idea of holding a summit in Albania given his country’s low rate of defense spending.

Other allies are reluctant to hold another meeting at the mercy of Trump and are considering moving away from annual summits.

NATO leaders also pledged more money for Ukraine’s defense

NATO leaders pledged to provide Ukraine with $80 billion to help meet its defense needs this year and next, noting “the long-term threat Russia poses to Euro-Atlantic security.”

They also underlined that “Iran must never have a nuclear weapon” and called on Tehran “to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

NATO leaders reaffirm commitment to Article 5

NATO leaders reaffirmed their commitment to protect each other should any of them come under attack and said they’re working to make the alliance stronger by giving Europe more responsibility.

In a declaration after their summit in Ankara, the leaders said their resolve to defend each other under Article 5 of NATO’s treaty is “ironclad” and added “an attack on one is an attack on all.”

“We are building the future: A stronger Europe in a stronger NATO,” Trump and his counterparts wrote in the declaration.

The declaration comes after President Trump’s comments about a U.S. takeover of Greenland have rattled the military alliance.

US markets retreat, oil prices jump more than 5% after Trump says ceasefire with Iran is ‘over’

U.S. stock futures slid lower and oil prices surged more than 5% after President Trump said Wednesday that the interim agreement with Iran is over, though he’ll allow talks to continue.

Futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.7% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1%. Nasdaq futures were off 1.1%.

Trump made the comments following U.S. strikes on Iran that were a retaliation for attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $3.94 to $78.10 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude surged $3.60 to $74.04 a barrel.

“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump responded when asked about the status of the ceasefire. “It’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said on the sidelines of the two-day NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

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Trump scheduled to host Lebanese president at White House

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is scheduled to visit Trump on July 21, a White House official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly announce it.

A statement from the Lebanese embassy in Washington said the leaders will discuss regional security and other topics of mutual interest.

The U.S. helped broker a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, and the issue has been a continued factor in negotiations toward the end of the war in Iran.

Lebanon likely to loom large in Trump-Sharaa meeting

Damascus and Washington have been tight-lipped about the agenda of Wednesday’s planned meeting between Trump and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, but it’s likely that they will discuss Syria’s role in neighboring Lebanon.

Despite having once been an al-Qaida fighter, al-Sharaa has won Trump’s good graces, and Syria under him has restored long-shattered ties with the west.

Trump has several times publicly proposed that Syria should supplant Israel in combating the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Al-Sharaa has said that he has no desire to intervene militarily in Lebanon. Syria remained on the sidelines of the regional war that erupted after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

Trump and al-Sharaa will also likely discuss Syria’s relations with Israel, which is currently occupying a strip of southern Syria, while negotiations for a security agreement between the two countries have stalled.

Trump’s barbs are helping to draw Europe closer together

Trump’s attacks on Italy’s premier last month had an unintended consequence.

After Trump questioned Italy’s reliability as a wartime ally and claimed Giorgia Meloni had groveled for his attention, European leaders rallied to Meloni’s side, thawing what had been a frosty relationship over her hard-right political roots.

It was the latest example of how the often divisive American president is helping to draw Europe closer together.

This newfound European unity is already being tested in Turkey as Trump renews his attacks against NATO allies and claims that the U.S. should take over Greenland.

Turkey reveals its new military HQ

Turkey unveiled its new “Crescent and Star” military headquarters in Ankara to NATO defence ministers.

“This new headquarters complex will be fully operational soon and it will take its place among the largest military headquarters in the world,” Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler told his counterparts.

The design of the building, which is still under construction, replicates the image on Turkey’s flag when viewed from above.

“Being more than just a modern headquarters facility, it stands as a physical symbol of Turkey’s consolidated, agile and forward-looking defense posture,” Guler added.

Leaders meet behind closed doors for summit’s central discussion

The heads of NATO member countries gathered for a meeting that was originally scheduled to last three hours.

The meeting began with remarks from Erdogan and Rutte, with Trump seated to their right.

After the session, Trump is scheduled to have one-on-one meetings with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Spain says relationship with US is ‘excellent’

In response to Trump’s comments, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s office said that Spain “maintains an excellent social, cultural, and economic relationship with the US, and we have no intention of seeing that change.”

The spokesperson said the Spanish government regarded such statements “as a matter of routine.”

The spokesperson referenced the U.S.’ trade surplus with Spain, and the fact that the European Union handles trade for the bloc’s 27 member countries.

Erdogan offers to assist Hormuz demining efforts

Erdogan says his country is prepared to contribute to demining efforts in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Turkish president made the remarks in a speech marking the opening of the summit he is hosting.

Earlier, Erdogan was seen in a huddle with Trump, joined by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin.

Syrian president arrives in Ankara

As NATO member countries commenced their meeting in Ankara Wednesday, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in the Turkish capital, Syrian state television reported.

It said al-Sharaa will “hold numerous meetings with world leaders” in addition to his scheduled bilateral meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

Officials said six people were killed, and 11 others were missing in the Guangxi region by Tuesday evening. The severe weather forced 130,000 people to evacuate, according to the regional propaganda office.

Some residents were still waiting to be rescued. Lu Xiaofei, who works in Shenzhen, a tech hub near Hong Kong, said her brother's family was stuck at his house in Lu village in Qintang district. His brother was with his wife, his 9-month-old baby, their parents and grandfather.

“The water in the house is over one person’s height. They have to all move to the second floor. The power has been out since yesterday morning, and now they don’t have running water, either,” Lu told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Lu said her brother told her that the water level rose last night and their situation was so dire that drinkable water would be running out soon, while local authorities had not reached out to them. Many villagers nearby were facing the same challenges, she said.

Others called for help on social media, showing videos of their inundated surroundings following the flooding and highlighting their lack of resources.

Local media Litchi News reported that snakes from breeding facilities were washed away and were at large in Hengzhou city, with some attempting to enter houses. It quoted a villager saying that over a dozen of people were bitten.

The national meteorological center said heavy rain has been battering central-eastern and southern parts of Guangxi since last Saturday, with cumulative rainfall amounts reaching 100 mm to 400 mm (about 4 inches to 16 inches) in some areas. Some hard-hit areas recorded over 900 mm (35 inches), it said. The weather agency said heavy rain would continue to affect the areas on Wednesday.

Some train services were suspended in the region for safety reasons.

While Guangxi was grappling with floods, Super Typhoon Bavi is expected to hit parts of southeastern China over the weekend.

Elsewhere in Asia, severe weather also caused deaths. Landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains in southeastern Bangladesh killed several Rohingya refugees, including five children. Heavy monsoon rains battered parts of neighboring India, leaving over a dozen of people dead over the past few days.

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AP writer Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this story.

The S&P 500 fell 1% after Trump said the agreement to pause fighting was “over,” though he added that he would allow negotiations to continue. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 831 points, or 1.6%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% lower.

The action was stronger in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 8% to $80.09. That’s well below its peak from earlier in the war, when the price for the most actively traded contract reached nearly $120. But the jump is unsettling because oil prices had just dropped back to where they were before the war.

The worry is that a continuation of the war will block the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That could worsen inflation, which economists expected would ease with oil prices, and in turn force the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates.

Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

Losses for stock markets in Europe accelerated, and oil prices climbed immediately after Trump said, “For me, I think it’s over” about the status of the ceasefire. He added that U.S. representatives can continue negotiations, “but I think they’re wasting their time.”

Trump later said the United States was preparing for another night of strikes against Iran.

On Wall Street, companies with big fuel bills fell sharply. American Airlines lost 5.9%, and United Airlines fell 4.9%.

Stocks of companies in the housing industry were also weak. They were hurt by worries that rising Treasury yields in the bond market will lead to higher rates for mortgages and chill the industry.

Builders FirstSource, which sells countertops, windows and other building supplies, fell 6.6%. Homebuilders PulteGroup fell 4.6%, and D.R. Horton sank 4.5%.

Drops of 4% for Sherwin-Williams and 3.3% for Home Depot were two of the biggest reasons the Dow was heading toward its worst loss in about a month.

Helping to offset those losses was a steadying for some influential stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry. They’ve been under pressure in recent weeks on worries that their prices shot too high and that AI may not produce enough productivity and profits to make all the investments in chips and data centers worth it.

Their swings carry a lot of weight on Wall Street because AI stocks have grown into some of the U.S. market’s biggest, giving their movements more effect on the S&P 500 than other stocks.

Nvidia rose a modest 0.3%, for example, and was the second-strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500 because it's the largest stock on Wall Street.

The strongest push upward on the market came from Broadcom, which rose 4.1%. Apple announced a multiyear commitment with Broadcom to design and produce custom components for its products. Apple said the agreement's value could top $30 billion.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose with the price of oil. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.59% from 4.55% late Tuesday and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran began.

In stock markets abroad, losses for European markets worsened after Trump made his comments, and Germany’s DAX lost 2.2%.

In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 5.3% and continued its sharp swings amid dueling worries and euphoria about the AI stocks that dominate its market.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was an outlier and rose 3%.

Shares that trade in Hong Kong of Chinese AI startup Zhipu, known also as Z.ai and traded as Knowledge Atlas Technology, jumped 13.4%.

A six-month lock-up period for “cornerstone” investors following its January trading debut in Hong Kong expires this week. China National Radio reported late Tuesday that nearly 70% of Zhipu’s cornerstone investors are committed to stay on, despite previous worries that the lock-up period expiration could trigger a sell-off.

Zhipu’s share price has risen more than 1,300% since its debut.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott, Chan Ho-him and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

“The lesson of (the) recent past is that ignoring Afghanistan is not a good thing to do,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Salih, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday alongside the head of the United Nations Development Program, Alexander De Croo, during a joint visit to the country.

Although many challenges and difficulties remain, “it’s wiser to engage, to support and promote the right type of policies to making sure that Afghanistan remains safe and secure,” Salih said, speaking via video link. “Without it, I think we may well risk instability, with all the implications of that instability," whether that is drugs, extremism, criminal activity or the movement of refugees, he said.

Afghanistan hit by multiple crises

After four decades of conflict, the impoverished, aid-dependent country is now buffeted by multiple crises, from natural disasters and climate change to the largest influx of returning refugees the world has seen in decades.

“In Afghanistan, there is never a crisis just on its own. It’s always crisis on top of crisis,” De Croo told the AP. “And that you see here.”

Nearly 6 million people have returned to Afghanistan since 2023, the vast majority from neighboring Pakistan and Iran since those countries began a crackdown on migrants living there. Another roughly 2 million people are expected to return this year, the U.N. officials said.

The returnees have strained local communities, many of which already have scant resources in a country where poverty is rife and malnutrition stalks the most vulnerable.

This has been compounded by massive cuts in international aid and a Taliban government that has sidelined half of Afghanistan’s population, denying women and girls education beyond primary school and banning them from the vast majority of jobs.

The country is also internationally isolated. No Western nation has formally recognized Afghanistan’s government since the Taliban seized power in the wake of a chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops in August 2021. Russia was the first country to officially do so, in 2025.

Last month, a delegation from the Taliban government traveled to Brussels to meet European Union staff for talks on diplomatic services and the return of Afghans from European countries. The meeting symbolized a small crack in Afghanistan's diplomatic isolation.

Progress seen in some areas

Yet despite the significant challenges, Afghanistan has nonetheless shown improvement in some areas, notably in security and combating corruption and drug production, the U.N. officials said.

“I wouldn’t close my eyes to the fact that there is progress, and maybe progress that no one would have expected five years ago,” De Croo told the AP. He said drug production was down by 95% in a country that was one of the world’s major producers of opium and heroin.

“If now the international community turns its back to Afghanistan, the consequences will not only be in Afghanistan. The consequences will be much, much broader,” De Croo said.

“The message to Western countries is: if you want to have a stable and peaceful society, you are not only achieving that with domestic policy. If you want to live in peace and stability, your neighborhood also needs to be at peace and stability,” he added.

Draconian restrictions on women and girls remain

The harsh government-imposed restrictions on women and girls remain one of the greatest points of contention between the Afghan government and the international community. De Croo and Salih said they had discussed the issue in their meetings with Afghan officials during their visit to the country. Both said they believed the key to progress was engagement.

“We hope that constructive engagement will show the way forward in that regard,” Salih said. “It’s important that there is progress, there is tangible reforms that will allow for an inclusive system in this country.”

Aid cuts could have lasting repercussions

The international aid cuts have had “a very tangible impact” on the country, De Croo said, noting that 422 medical centers shut down in Afghanistan due to lack of funding in the space of a year. “Closed because the funding just disappeared. That is more than 3 million people that are impacted, that just lose their access to basic medical services,” he said.

Earlier this year, the World Food Program said funding cuts had forced it to turn away three out of four acutely malnourished children seeking help because it no longer had the funds to feed them.

The Afghan government launched a campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation soon after it seized power. But the dramatic cut in drug production was also due in part to farmers being given alternative crops to the cultivation of opium poppies, De Croo said, noting that funding for such programs had been severely curtailed.

“If we cannot continue working together with farmers in giving them an alternative for producing drugs,” then drug cultivation could return, he said.

Although international attention has shifted away from Afghanistan, Salih said that while challenges remain, there is now an opportunity for the rest of the world to engage with the country.

“It is vital to remind the world that the price of inaction far outweighs action,” Salih said. “You cannot ignore Afghanistan, and what happens in Afghanistan does not necessarily stay in Afghanistan."

Supreme Court judges in London held a hearing on a landmark human rights case that could decriminalize gay sex in the eastern Caribbean nation, potentially setting a precedent for the largely conservative Caribbean region.

The case was filed in February 2017 by Jason Jones, who argues that so-called “buggery” laws in the twin-island nation that prohibit gay sex, dating from when the country was a British colony, are unconstitutional. Those found guilty could receive up to five years in prison.

Jones is represented by lawyers including Anand Ramlogan, the former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago.

“Who are we to volunteer that gay people should starve because we don’t like the meat that they eat?” Ramlogan told the panel of judges. “Constitutional rights exist precisely because majorities are not always right. They ensure that the dignity and equality of every citizen are not left to the changing tides of public opinion.”

Opposing Jones are Trinidad and Tobago’s government, backed by the country’s Council of Evangelical Churches and its largest Hindu organization, Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha.

The case has wound its way through several courts. In April 2018, Trinidad’s High Court found the laws unconstitutional, but a local appeals court partially reversed that ruling in March 2025. Four months later, Trinidad's Court of Appeals allowed Jones to seek a ruling from the final court of appeal in England.

The case, which is now before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, is being closely watched by activists across the Caribbean.

Trinidad and Tobago is an independent country but also a republic within the British Commonwealth, so the Privy Council is its final court of appeals. The country has pushed for the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice to replace the Privy Council.

In 1991, the Bahamas decriminalized homosexuality, while the U.K. government repealed such laws in 2001 in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Elsewhere in the Caribbean, judges have recently struck down similar laws in Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda.

Gay sex remains a crime in Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines — all former British colonies. In the U.K., gay sex was decriminalized in 1967, more than 400 years after buggery laws were passed during the reign of King Henry VIII, with the last executions associated with the crime occurring in 1835.

“Jason Jones asks for no special privilege. He asks that the Constitution protects him as it does every other citizen,” Ramlogan said.

Jones, 61, who has been openly gay since age 16, left Trinidad and Tobago in 1996 because of what he described as homophobic violence and discrimination.

“His experience is part of a wider picture,” LGBTQ groups supporting Jones said in a recent court filing. “(He) is unable to fully express his sexuality without being branded a criminal.”

Jones argues that criminalizing gay sex is a moral stance, asserting that “Trinidad and Tobago is a secular society and a multiracial one. Christian morality is neither universal nor superior.”

While the country’s so-called buggery laws have not been enforced in recent history, attorneys and activists say they still send a message.

“A law of this kind operates not only through arrest and conviction, but through the stigma, fear, concealment and exclusion,” according to a recently filed written argument by activists in favor of Jones.

It asserted that criminalizing gay sex “compounds stigma at precisely the stage at which young people may be forming identity, seeking support, accessing education and healthcare, and deciding whether it is safe to disclose abuse, bullying or self-harm risks.”

The Privy Council panel of five judges could issue a ruling as soon as Wednesday's hearing ends, although they don't have a deadline to do so.

In posts that sometimes included photos and videos of their attacks on unconscious victims, they referred to women as “cars,” sedatives as “fuel” and rape as “driving,” according to court documents. They called their victims “dead pigs.”

Investigators have been poring through several years' worth of posts in roughly two dozen group chats on the popular messaging app that authorities believe served an online predator network of mainly Chinese men targeting mostly Chinese women in Germany. Their investigation has already led to the convictions of three alleged inner circle members on rape and other charges. A fourth was convicted Wednesday in Berlin.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call 1-800-656-4673 in the U.S., 116 016 in Germany or 15117905157 in China.

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“The perpetrators were characterized by a particular ruthlessness, an objectification of the victims, and the perfidious planning of their crimes,” Frankfurt chief prosecutor Dominik Mies told The Associated Press.

Major details of the investigation remain unknown, at least to the public, including how many attacks and perpetrators have been linked to the German Telegram chats and how the chats, some of which reportedly had tens of thousands of members, could have operated for so long. It's also unclear if the chats are linked to a ballooning investigation in Europe and the Americas into drug-facilitated sexual assaults by misogynist online communities.

Chinese community rallies to support the victims

Under German privacy laws, prosecutors are limited in what they can say outside the courtroom, documents are restricted and, in the ongoing case in Berlin, members of the public have been forced to leave the courtroom during parts of the trial.

This may be why the investigation into the Telegram group has garnered less attention in Germany than might be expected. But members of the country's Chinese community, mostly women, have been attending court proceedings to show support for the victims even if they don't know them.

“What makes one really angry is to see that such groups hate women, they have no respect,” said Fu Xiao, who traveled roughly 500 kilometers (310 miles) to Berlin last week to attend the trial. “Women aren’t seen as people.”

In China, state media has covered the cases comprehensively, but wider discussion about the prosecutions on Chinese-language social media like Rednote has been partially censored. Certain tags have been more likely to get a post deleted or banned on Rednote, screenshots and searches show. But posts using less direct language have survived the censors, including ones that refer to “date rape” or the euphemistic “students studying abroad in Germany.”

China’s Ministry of Public Security and Rednote didn't respond to requests for comment.

Cases echo a landmark French trial

The German cases have drawn comparisons to the attacks on Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who, over the course of nearly a decade, was repeatedly drugged and raped by her then-husband and strangers he invited to their home. The trial — and Pelicot’s decision to waive her anonymity — prompted a reckoning over rape culture in France and beyond.

“Pelicot is not an isolated case,” Judge Markus Koppenleitner said during a hearing in Munich for one of the Chinese men convicted in the German investigation. “This is not a Chinese or French phenomenon, but one that also exists in Germany and, ultimately, worldwide.”

Similar cases to the “German driving school” investigation have been popping up around the globe. Although authorities haven't publicly linked them to the German prosecutions, some investigators have cited tips from German authorities and journalists as crucial to their progress.

In Los Angeles, German investigators last year reached out to police about a potential suspect in drug-facilitated sexual assaults. The defendant, a graduate student from China, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting three women in LA after he allegedly procured the drugs from a Chinese national in Germany.

In the Netherlands last month, police arrested four men suspected of drugging and sexually abusing women after hearing from authorities in Germany and the U.K. Dutch police said the alleged perpetrators used social media chat groups to disseminate videos showing the abuse and discuss how to drug victims.

And Europol, the European Union’s police agency, last week announced “Project Medusa,” an international operation designed to dismantle online networks that promote drug-facilitated sexual assaults. Law enforcement from Germany and the U.K. are leading the operation, which has already netted 57 arrests.

Cases raise questions about Telegram

The German predator network managed to thrive despite clear violations of Telegram’s terms of service, again raising questions about how the platform has been used for criminal activity.

In 2024, the app’s founder was arrested in Paris over allegations that the platform was being used for illicit activity, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images. He denied wrongdoing, blaming surging numbers of Telegram users that he said “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.” The investigation is ongoing.

“Sexual violence is explicitly forbidden by Telegram’s terms of service and such content is routinely removed,” the company said in a statement. “Telegram fulfils all of its legal obligations in relation to such harmful content, including everything set out by” the European Union's Digital Services Act.

The company didn't respond to questions about the German cases, including how photos, videos and comments about sexual crimes were posted for years in the app, whether Telegram was aware of the activity and what, if anything, it did to alert the authorities.

Some of the German Telegram chats date back to at least 2020, court documents show. Attorney Magdalena Gebhard, who represented a victim in a previous Berlin trial that led to a conviction, said there was an inner circle of eight perpetrators but that some of the chat groups had up to 50,000 members.

Police only became aware of the network in 2024 after a man in Frankfurt, referred to by German courts as Dapeng Z., changed his tactics from drugging and sexually abusing female acquaintances to targeting strangers he met online, according to prosecutors.

German police arrested Dapeng Z., whom German and Chinese media have reported is the group's ringleader, in 2024 in cooperation with Chinese law enforcement, according to the Chinese consulate in Frankfurt and the Beijing News, a state-run media outlet.

He was sentenced in February to 14 years in prison for aggravated rape, attempted murder and other offenses, though he has appealed. His attorneys didn't respond to a request for comment.

Although authorities haven’t publicly said how many women were victimized by the “driving school” network, they have said their investigation is ongoing, meaning there could be further arrests and additional victims. Gebhard’s client, for example, only learned she had been sexually assaulted after investigators discovered video footage.

Another defendant convicted in Berlin

On Wednesday, Zhiting S., a 32-year-old trained medic, was convicted of being an accessory to rape, among other charges, and sentenced to five years in prison. The defense plans to appeal the verdict.

The Berlin state court found that in the chats, Zhiting S. had pointed to a particular sedative before an assault by the man convicted in Frankfurt, though he wasn't alone in offering such advice.

Zhiting S. also was convicted on three charges of sexual coercion related to alleged abuse of his partner in China. Video recordings led investigators to those crimes.

Defense attorney Ehssan Khazaeli said earlier that his client has admitted being part of a chat group but did not offer any significant advice.

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Wu reported from Bangkok. Associated Press reporters Geir Moulson and Fanny Brodersen in Berlin, Molly Quell and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

A member of Tyler Robinson's defense team interrogated a DNA analyst from the FBI on Tuesday about the techniques she used to connect Robinson to a towel wrapped around a rifle found at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot in September while speaking to a large crowd.

Defense lawyer Michael Burt cast doubt on the analyst's conclusions — a theme likely to recur during the five-day preliminary hearing.

“She can't match Mr. Robinson to the questioned samples,” Burt argued.

Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride countered that the reliability of the DNA testing could be examined if the case goes to trial. He suggested the preliminary hearing — where prosecutors have a lower burden of proof compared with a trial — was not the time to take up the matter.

“The point is there are explanations that are susceptible to different interpretations and arguments,” McBride said. “Ultimately, we’re going to have an expert hearing where all the literature is going to be before the court and the court is going to determine if it meets the threshold of reliability for admission to trial.”

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty. State District Judge Tony Graf will decide at the conclusion of this week's hearing if they have enough evidence to bring Robinson to trial on an aggravated murder charge.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea and his attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence. They have, however, sought to get the death penalty taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.

Prosecutors must show they have enough evidence for a trial

FBI analyst Amanda Bakker said after Robinson’s roommate, Lance Twiggs, provided a DNA sample for comparison, she was able to rerun her tests and attribute all of the DNA to two people.

Investigators found the towel and suspected murder weapon — a bolt-action rifle with one spent round — in a wooded area near where Kirk was shot.

DNA on the towel matched to two people, Jennifer Faumuina with the State Bureau of Investigation testified. One was Robinson’s roommate and the other was very likely Robinson, she said. Twiggs, a key figure in the prosecution’s case, will not testify in person this week, but prosecutors have said they plan to introduce a recorded statement.

Prosecutors allege Robinson confessed in a note left for Twiggs, who was also his romantic partner, that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

Investigators say Robinson went to a rooftop near where Kirk was speaking and shot him once through the neck as the activist was taking questions from a crowd of several thousand people. Kirk was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.

The defense team pushes back

Prosecutors contend the shooting endangered others at Kirk’s campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. Robinson also faces possible sentence enhancements based on the prosecution’s claim that he targeted Kirk because of his political views.

During one of several appearances on campus by Robinson on Sept. 10, the defendant went to the amphitheater where Kirk was later shot, State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull testified Tuesday. Hull said Robinson made contact with representatives of Turning Point USA, a group co-founded by Kirk that galvanized the conservative youth vote to help Trump win a second term.

The investigator did not detail what occurred during that interaction or if members of Kirk’s security team were present.

Robinson turned himself in after the shooting. Prosecutors allege he sent a text to Twiggs saying he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”

Robinson’s defense team pushed back Tuesday on the idea that he was hostile to Kirk’s politics. Defense attorney Richard Novak sought to block prosecutors from introducing a statement describing the traditional Christian values of Turning Point USA.

“This doesn’t say anything about Mr. Robinson’s state of mind,” Novak said about the statement from Turning Point USA board member David Engelhardt. “I don’t think that this court should be deciding — based on the record before it — where, if at all, politics and religion intersect,”

The judge ruled that the Turning Point statement was relevant and would be “provisionally admitted,” with a final decision later on.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

That's because Platner's starburst candidacy followed an increasingly familiar arc that's shown no signs of abating in American politics — the outsider who defies the warnings of party veterans and captures the hearts of primary voters, even as liabilities pile up and complicate the odds of winning the general election.

With candidates having so many ways to raise money and draw attention — and the public having so little faith in longstanding institutions — the country remains primed for new waves of anti-establishment campaigns, no matter how erratic.

“I think there’s going to be a lot more of this," said Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver.

Platner initially surged on the scene with a grassroots campaign in defiance of Democratic leaders, who had rallied around 78-year-old Maine Gov. Janet Mills as their best hope of unseating Republican Sen. Susan Collins. But Mills dropped out as Platner consolidated support, weathering a steady drumbeat of revelations over a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, extramarital sexting and controversial social media posts that would have wrecked a typical campaign.

But that changed this week when a former girlfriend told reporters that Platner drunkenly entered her house and sexually assaulted her in 2021, an allegation the candidate denied. Even Platner's most ardent supporters have urged him to drop out by July 13, which would allow the state party to replace him with a new candidate in a must-win race for Democrats who already faced a narrow path to wrest back control of the Senate in November.

Traditionally, political parties avoid this sort of last-minute surprise with an internal system to vet candidates. In addition, people running for national office have often previously served in local or state positions and have gone through scrutiny at that level.

That doesn't happen as much for populists who can bypass party gatekeepers and even base their entire campaigns on not being beholden to political professionals.

“I understand that people are tired of politics as usual, it’s just that part of the normal political process does vet candidates, and I think people should be worried about unvetted candidates facing Republicans who will have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend to exploit weaknesses,” said Neera Tanden, a veteran Democrat who has sparred with progressives over the years and currently leads the Center for American Progress, a party-aligned think tank.

A familiar story for Republicans

Of course, establishment-backed candidates can flame out, too. The last Democrat to lose a Senate race in a sex scandal was North Carolina's Cal Cunningham, a lawyer and former state senator who fell narrowly short of Republican Sen. Thom Tillis in 2020 after the disclosure of explicit text messages with a woman who wasn't his wife.

Plenty of incumbents of all ideological stripes have been brought down by scandals. The biggest recent win by a Democratic outsider came when Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won the New York mayor's primary last year against Andrew Cuomo, a former governor who was hobbled by a sex scandal.

Still, there's a longstanding pattern of insurgent candidates getting into trouble of all kinds.

Just ask Republicans. After the rise of the Tea Party in 2010, they lost multiple winnable races because outsiders defied their own party establishment to win primaries, only to lose in the general election. Republicans ended up missing a chance to gain control of the Senate despite outrage over President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

The party lost more Senate races in 2012 only to launch an internal war against outsider candidates and capture the chamber with more traditional nominees in 2014.

Liberal activists have openly hungered for a Democratic variant of the Tea Party, which emerged from disgust at Republican losses during Obama's presidency. Democratic voters stood by their party establishment during Trump's first term, but after President Joe Biden's collapse and Trump's return last year they have become enraged at their own party leaders.

In primary after primary, Democratic voters have favored younger, outsider candidates this year.

“The Democrats are going through what we went through 15 or 20 years ago,” said Matt Gorman, a veteran Republican strategist. “They're just in their second inning of this. The rubber's going to hit the road when they start losing winnable Senate seats.”

Of course, Trump is the ultimate example of the outsider, populist candidate, one who ran openly disparaging his party's leadership and now controls it with an iron fist. He has, however, an advantage that Platner and many other anti-establishment candidates lack — a decades-long, carefully cultivated image that dominated popular culture long before he ran for office.

“If you don't have a 25-year hard name ID before jumping into politics, this matters,” Gorman said of scandals like Platner's.

Liberals still want party to keep its distance

Even Platner backers like liberal podcaster Tommy Vietor were having second thoughts about the process this week.

“Obviously, a big lesson here is that vetting is really important, and some of the vetting gets done by campaigns themselves, and then ultimately it will be done by the media if the campaigns don’t figure that part out,” said Vietor on the Pod Save America podcast.

Vietor, who boosted Platner but has now called for him to drop out, noted that traditional vetting often doesn't pick up allegations of assault like the one threatening to sink Platner's campaign, but it can highlight red flags.

Even though Platner has not formally decided to withdraw, Maine's Democratic politicians are acting as if he has. State Sen. Troy Jackson, another progressive who opted to run unsuccessfully in the party's primary for governor, filed papers for his Senate candidacy on Tuesday, even with Platner still the nominee. Other Maine aspirants began jockeying for position before the July 27 deadline the state party would have to choose a replacement.

Platner's liberal backers have demanded he be replaced by a similarly anti-establishment candidate, saying that would best reflect the will of the state's Democratic voters who overwhelmingly backed Platner in the primary just a month ago. Whatever happens, it seems likely to leave more scar tissue along the fault lines that have split the party already this year.

Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which backed Platner but now has called for him to leave the race, said he hopes Platner’s replacement will have a similar agenda and will not let the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm “just run their campaign.”

“People clearly wanted a voice for systemic change,” Green said. “But it’s a little unclear exactly what’s happening behind the scenes.”

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Associated Press writers Matt Brown in Minneapolis and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.

Dugan, 67, faces up to five years in prison. Her lawyers argued during her trial that President Donald Trump’s administration sought to “crush” Dugan in an effort to ensure judicial compliance with the ICE strategy of targeting immigrants as they showed up for court hearings.

Dugan resigned the Milwaukee County circuit judgeship she had held for nine years in January amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers who labeled her an activist judge. Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a fierce Trump loyalist running for Wisconsin governor, urged authorities to “lock her up” in a social media post following her conviction in December.

Dugan did not testify during her trial, but her attorneys said she would speak at the sentencing, held in a packed courtroom with some observers watching from an overflow room. That would be her first public comments on the case in more than a year. In her resignation letter, she said the federal case threatened “the independence of our judiciary.”

Prosecutors pushed for a ‘serious sentence’

Dugan's attorneys argued that as a judge she was immune from prosecution. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who will hand down the sentence, rejected their attempts to vacate her conviction. While jurors found her guilty of felony obstruction, they acquitted her of concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor.

Prosecutors argued in a sentencing memo filed last week that Dugan violated her oath as a judge and put both law enforcement and the public at risk.

“Judges are entrusted with tremendous discretion, but there is a line they cannot cross,” Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling wrote. “The defendant crossed that line.”

Dugan’s attorneys argued she has been “punished enough,” including resigning as a judge and facing threats of violence. They argued in her sentencing memo that she should not be sentenced to any jail time besides the part of one day she already spent in federal custody.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the presentence report calls for 15 to 21 months behind bars. The judge is not bound by those guidelines.

Prosecutors said the average sentence for obstruction cases is 16 months, but they did not recommend a sentence.

“This was a serious offense, and it warrants a correspondingly serious sentence,” Frohling wrote.

No matter what she is sentenced to, Dugan's attorneys said they plan to file an appeal.

Dugan's case was a first for Wisconsin

Dugan's case marked the first time that a state judge in Wisconsin went to trial on charges of obstructing immigration agents.

On April 18, 2025, immigration officers went to the Milwaukee County courthouse after learning Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan confronted agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the chief judge's office, saying their administrative warrant wasn’t sufficient to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

After the agents left, she led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. A week later, FBI agents arrested Dugan in the courthouse, leading her outside in handcuffs.

Flores-Ruiz was deported in November.

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Associated Press contributors include Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa. Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin.

HBO Max’s emergency room series “The Pitt” was a rookie upstart last year with big wins including best drama series, best actor for Noah Wyle and best supporting actress for Katherine LaNasa.

Already a beloved veteran show, it owned this year’s acting categories. Wyle was nominated again, as was LaNasa. Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif and Sepideh Moafi also got nominations, with “The Pitt” taking four of the seven supporting actress spots.

Three of their castmates were nominated for best supporting actor: Patrick Ball, Shawn Hatosy and Gerran Howell.

Emmy voters love a departing show, and have loved “Hacks” since its first season. Those two colliding phenomena let it rake in nominations for its fifth and final season.

“Hacks” star Jean Smart has won best actress in a comedy for all four previous seasons. It would be stunning if she didn’t claim a fifth in September.

Her sidekick throughout the series Hannah Einbinder, who last year broke through and won supporting actress in a comedy in her fourth nomination, got a fifth nomination Wednesday, as did her castmate, the show’s co-creator Paul W. Downs.

Recent winners Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller announced the nominees at the Television Academy in Los Angeles. The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, airing on NBC, will be held Sept. 14 at the Peacock Theater, the longtime Emmys home that will soon also be home to the Oscars. Mariska Hargitay, who for decades has been one of NBC’s standard-bearers as the star of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” will host.

Two new shows from AppleTV+, the one-woman-against-the-hivemind drama “Pluribus” and the horror comedy “Widow’s Bay,” both scored big in their first seasons.

“Pluribus,” from “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan, got 18 nods. They included best actress in a drama for its only lead cast member Rhee Seahorn, who is considered the favorite to win the category.

“Widow’s Bay” got 19, second only to “Hacks” among comedies, including a best actor nod for star Matthew Rhys. Two other Apple shows got best comedy nods, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” whose stars Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer also got acting nominations, and “Shrinking.”

The nominations for “Shrinking” included a best supporting actor in a comedy nod for Harrison Ford. The buzz is strong for Ford, with prognosticators picking him to finally win an EGOT-tier award after a storied career. His castmate Jason Segel got a lead actor nomination for the show about therapists crossing boundaries.

Netflix’s “Beef” was tops in the limited or anthology series categories with 16 nominations. “Beef” had a dominant first season in 2023, and the anthology’s all-new grudge holders, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac and Charles Melton, all got nominations.

A day after assaults on commercial shipping escalated into an exchange of fire on Iranian and U.S. military targets, Trump renewed his past threats to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.

“We hit them very hard last night,” Trump said when asked about a possible return to hostilities. “We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight.”

Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump said the strikes are continued retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

“They are behaving very badly,” he said of Iran, accusing the country of launching drones and a missile at ships. After three tankers were hit Tuesday, the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by attacking American military sites in the Gulf.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf was defiant in a post on X: “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

Strikes raise fears that war could resume

The latest exchange of fire raised fears that the war in Iran could reignite, and Trump fueled those concerns by saying the interim agreement to pause fighting was “over,” although he added that he would allow negotiations to continue.

Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump's comments added new uncertainty, and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait that are crucial to the global economy.

“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump said when asked about the status of the ceasefire. He added that U.S. representatives can continue negotiations, but he cast doubt on the outcome. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.

Trump has threatened to seize Kharg Island at previous points in the war, including last month, when he also questioned whether the U.S. “has the stomach for it.” Some 90% of Iranian oil exports pass through the island.

The renewed attacks on ships in the strait, despite the negotiations, could reflect a divide among Iran's leadership. Hard-liners seek lasting control over the waterway, which is a globally important conduit for fuel shipments and has become a critical lever in confronting the West. Pragmatists want a permanent peace deal to lift international sanctions and provide desperately needed economic relief.

Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after the dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 in the war’s first moments. The funeral, which ends Thursday, was supposed to be a period of lower tensions.

The talks are meant to focus on the toughest matters, including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

US military says it hit air defenses and small boats

The U.S. military’s Central Command said American forces launched strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

It said it hit Iranian targets including air-defense systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Those boats have been key to threatening ships in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the war. Iran’s ability to bring shipping in the waterway to a near halt during the war proved its greatest strategic advantage.

Rising prices for energy supplies, fertilizer and food put pressure on the U.S. to make a deal. On Wednesday, the price of Brent crude, the international standard, spiked over 5% after Trump’s comments.

Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including in Bandar Mahshahr, where a Revolutionary Guard member was killed. It also reported attacks on Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.

On Wednesday morning, both Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait, home to U.S. Army forces, sounded missile alerts. The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement acknowledging targeting U.S. military installations in both countries.

Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones launched by Iran. The Kuwaiti Electricity Ministry said a number of lines were out of service after shrapnel fell on them.

A similar spate of Iranian attacks on shipping and U.S. retaliatory strikes occurred late last month, which drew Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait. Wednesday’s strikes came as Trump was in Turkey for a summit of the NATO military alliance.

Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, called Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait “a clear indicator that Tehran remains incapable of committing to the requirements of de-escalation and turning the page on war.”

US revokes license allowing the sale of Iranian oil

After the Iranian strikes on shipping. the U.S. revoked a license that — for the first time in years — had allowed Iran to conduct oil sales openly in U.S. dollars, as part of the interim deal. Iran long had been suspected of selling sanctioned crude at below-market prices to China.

Iran and the United States agreed as part of the interim deal to allow ships to pass through the strait without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran has insisted it must control the vessels’ routes and vowed to later charge fees for passage. That would upend decades of practice in the waterway. The ships attacked Tuesday all appeared to be using a route close to Oman’s shore, rather than one ordered by Tehran.

The U.S. and many Gulf Arab states say they will not agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait.

Mourners attend Khamenei's funeral services in Iraq

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi and other Iranian and Iraqi officials attended funeral ceremonies for Khamenei on Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf. Funeral prayers were planned later at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala.

Iranian state TV, meanwhile, released what it identified as video of wreckage in Khamenei's residence compound in Tehran after U.S.-Israeli attacks in the early days of the war.

Khamenei’s body will be returned to Iran to be buried Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.

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Kim reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Najaf, Iraq; and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.

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El Niño’s most prominent mark on the hurricane season is to ratchet up vertical wind shear – the scissor-like wind pattern that lops off the tops of organizing storm seedlings before they can develop into strong hurricanes. The increase in wind shear is highest in the western part of the tropical Atlantic, especially across the Caribbean, which also helps to reduce the number of U.S. landfalls during El Niño years.

Typically, however, it takes a little time for the abnormal warming of the waters in the eastern Pacific – the ocean phenomenon that defines El Niño – to link arms with the atmosphere and change global circulation patterns that ultimately reshape winds over the tropical Atlantic. Since El Niño peaks in the late fall and winter, we usually start to see the atmospheric response by August and September, as the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season hits.

This year, however, it appears we’re seeing that atmospheric feedback to the strengthening El Niño earlier than usual, which could be a result of the record-setting pace of the warming so far in the eastern equatorial Pacific.

Wind shear in the bellwether Caribbean has shot up like a skyscraper since mid-June and is the second highest to start July (second only behind 2015, another strong El Niño year) since satellite records began in 1979.

As we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, by July the wind shear load across the Caribbean becomes one of the most reliable predictors of future seasonal hurricane activity. The more shear we see in the Caribbean in July, generally the less overall tropical activity we should expect in August, September, and October.

It’s still early in the month, but forecast models show no signs of the shear surrendering its Caribbean stronghold. If anything, the shear looks to only increase over the coming weeks, with a bullseye of exceptionally strong wind shear centered squarely over the Caribbean.

If this is any indication, the tropical Atlantic will have some heavy lifting to do to churn out much activity in the months ahead. Of course, in any given week, the winds can relax enough for a hurricane to slip through the cracks (hurricanes are a given every season, even in strong El Niño years), and we’ll want to watch the subtropics a little more closely, especially east of Florida, but overall these trends bode well for a noticeably less active hurricane season.

And as we would expect, forecast models continue to advertise a very sleepy Atlantic, with no signs of life into at least late July.

“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Turkey. “I think they can produce them pretty quickly.”

Patriots are expensive, in high demand and take a long time to produce. Zelenskyy has for years been asking for more of them, and more recently for a license so that Ukraine can manufacture its own.

The tone of Trump's meeting with the Ukrainian leader was a break from earlier encounters which ended in acrimony, and Trump praised Zelenskyy's willingness to reach a deal on ending the fighting in Ukraine.

He said the Ukrainian president has “done an amazing job” and “been very effective” in the war.

“We’ve actually developed a good relationship. It’s hard to believe,” Trump said, adding he believed a deal on ending the war was on the horizon and that the U.S. would “work on some kind of security package” to provide to Ukraine.

Trump takes aim at NATO partners

Trump wasn't as friendly with some of his NATO partners, saying he was unhappy with the alliance for pushing back against his efforts to take control of Greenland and for not supporting his war in Iran.

NATO's European members plus Canada have scrambled to meet the increased defense spending targets Trump has demanded, as the U.S. draws down the number of troops it has in Europe and insists the continent take more responsibility for its own security.

But Trump reopened old wounds as he arrived at the meeting of 32 NATO leaders by insisting again that the United States should control Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory. He blasted some European countries for refusing to participate in the Iran campaign, singling out Spain as “a terrible partner in NATO” and renewing his threats to cut off trade.

Ahead of the summit, Trump said Greenland “is very important” for the U.S. but not for Denmark, declaring, “We need it for protection of the world, not just the United States.”

But Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her country is “ready to defend every inch of NATO including our own territory” in the event of an attack, and would rely on NATO allies to honor their commitment to defend each other.

Trump’s criticisms have in the past drawn European countries closer together as they confront wars in Ukraine and Iran, a ballooning trade deficit with China, and threats from Russia.

The president's renewed interest in Greenland could put at risk the entire future of NATO, which was founded in 1949 to counter the threat to European security posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte sought to tamp down the president's ire by giving him credit for recent increases in defense spending from NATO allies.

“Grab the win. It’s there,” Rutte told Trump on Wednesday.

NATO chief backs latest US strikes on Iran

Ahead of the summit, Rutte praised Trump for the series of U.S. strikes on Iran overnight, after Tehran struck three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

“I think what you did last night was absolutely necessary,” Rutte said to Trump. “It was a very strong response, and I’m with you on this.”

The U.S. strikes, as well as the revoking of a license allowing Iran to sell its oil on global markets, underscored the fragility of an interim deal to end months of fighting.

Trump said of the interim agreement with Iran: “For me, I think it’s over” — but added he will allow talks to continue.

“It’s just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said.

NATO leaders sought to show Trump they were boosting defense

Rutte has dedicated a huge amount of energy to keeping Trump's support for NATO and to holding the summit together.

The NATO chief pointed to countries including Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Denmark that are investing more in defense, but noted the Trump administration expects “the Europeans and Canadians will equalize their spending with the United States.”

Last month Rutte went to Washington to hail the “Trump Trillion” — the $1.2 trillion that European allies and Canada have added to defense spending since Trump came to power in 2017.

As leaders converged on Ankara, Rutte hosted a “big reveal” event to showcase the many deals planned for the increased spending — much of it to be spent on U.S. companies, creating thousands of jobs for Americans.

At last year's summit, the allies agreed to invest 5% of their gross domestic product on defense — 3.5% on their defense budgets and 1.5% on infrastructure so troops and equipment can move faster in times of conflict.

Yet figures released by NATO on Tuesday showed that Slovenia, Belgium, Spain and the Czech Republic have struggled to meet the alliance’s old spending target of 2% of GDP.

The Trump administration wants to see a leaner “NATO 3.0,” with Europe taking responsibility for its own security, including Ukraine, with conventional weapons while America would continue to provide its nuclear umbrella.

The Pentagon has launched a six-month review of U.S. military presence in Europe, leaving allies to seek clarity on just how deeply Trump intends to cut U.S. force numbers.

Zelenskyy pushes for NATO entry

Zelenskyy made a fresh appeal Tuesday for Ukraine to be allowed to join the alliance, saying Ukrainian armed forces are highly experienced and would only boost NATO’s defense capabilities.

He's highlighted Ukraine’s adaptability and its ability to strike deep inside Russia. He said Ukraine’s armed forces are “eliminating” on average 30,000 Russian troops every month.

In a declaration following Wednesday's summit, NATO leaders pledged to provide Ukraine with $80 billion to help meet its defense needs this year and next, noting “the long-term threat Russia poses to Euro-Atlantic security.”

Concern has been mounting among some countries with borders near Russia that Moscow might be preparing a hybrid attack — a combination of conventional warfare with tactics like cyberattacks — on the continent as President Vladimir Putin struggles to secure victory in Ukraine.

Trump also met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former insurgent who led the offensive that unseated autocrat Bashar Assad in December 2024. Despite having once been an al-Qaida fighter, al-Sharaa has won Trump’s backing as he seeks to rebuild Syria and restore its shattered ties with the West.

When asked whether he would remove Syria from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, Trump said: “I think I will. Why wouldn't I? He's done a great job.”

———

Associated Press journalists Collin Binkley and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way superstar blasted a 409-foot line drive to center on a 2-0 pitch for his 20th homer of the season. Center fielder Cole Carrigg could only watch it fly out.

“It was quite the homer,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was 119 (mph exit velocity) off the bat, low-launching, it was squared up, got out in a hurry. I just marvel at him every day. Three hundred is a big number."

Ohtani is the fifth-fastest in history to reach 300 and the 170th member of the club. It took him 1,102 games between playing for the Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers; New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was the quickest at 955 games.

It was Ohtani's 31st career leadoff homer and seventh this season. He also homered in the Dodgers' 8-7 victory in 11 innings on Monday night to highlight a 3-for-4 performance.

Roberts believes there's a lot more homers within reach for Ohtani, who turned 32 last Sunday.

“He just had a birthday, still young, still strong, so I definitely think 500 is in his future,” the manager said.

Teammate Freddie Freeman bowed as Ohtani made his way back to the dugout.

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

His place in the record books will probably last a lot longer.

The Kansas City Royals outfielder, typically a defensive specialist and pinch runner, tied a major league record with hits in 12 consecutive plate appearances, reaching the mark with an infield single against the New York Mets for his fifth hit in Tuesday’s wild 16-12 comeback win.

Batting ninth, the right fielder hit a two-run homer in the second inning and singled in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. Tolbert’s last three hits were infield hits.

Tolbert matched the record set by Chicago’s Johnny Kling in 1902 and equaled by Walt Dropo of the Detroit Tigers in 1952. The bat Tolbert used will be sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

“I’m truly lost for words, honestly,” Tolbert said. “I don’t know. It hasn’t really hit me, to be honest.”

With a chance to break the record, Tolbert was finally retired in the ninth on a fly ball to right against A.J. Minter to finish 5 for 6.

“He’s a good pitcher and broke the streak,” Tolbert said. “All I can do is just smile. I’m just grateful for the journey and opportunity.”

The remnants of the announced crowd of 32,734 gave Tolbert an ovation, and his teammates applauded while gathering on the top step of their dugout. Following the game, the Royals celebrated Tolbert with a Champagne toast in the visiting locker room.

“It’s nice — I guess everybody’s kind of in tune, knowing what was happening,” Tolbert said. “I appreciated the fans supporting me and cheering me on, trying to get the next one. When I was on deck, they were like, ‘Go for another one. Go for another one.’

“More importantly, just my teammates man, they were locked in,” Tolbert added. “Just awesome. Look in the dugout and everybody’s smiling. Brings a smile to my face, too.”

Tolbert, listed at 5-foot-10, was selected by the Royals in the 13th round of the 2019 draft and stole at least 48 bases in every minor league season from 2021 through 2025 before debuting in the bigs on March 31, 2025.

“I just couldn’t be more proud of him, the way he competes,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “His effort, energy, attitude — he lifts everybody up everyday. And for him to have those individual accolades are really special. The way the guys celebrated him right there was really cool.”

Tolbert was a career .247 hitter with one homer, seven RBIs and 28 stolen bases in 91 big league games entering Saturday, when he went 2 for 2 against Philadelphia before being lifted for a pinch hitter. He then started at shortstop on Monday and went 5 for 5 with a homer, his first of the season.

“He’s a sparkplug,” teammate Nick Loftin said “I’m happy that he’s able to find some success and consistent (at-bats). Now he’s going to Cooperstown.”

Tolbert is the first player with consecutive five-hit games since Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, who pulled off the feat Aug, 22-23, 1970.

“It’s always good to see your hard work pay off,” Tolbert said, “But like I said, back to work (Wednesday). That’s just my mindset.”

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

Twelve others survived, seven with minor injuries, state broadcaster CCTV said. The team was heading out to clear and maintain forest land when the landslide struck shortly before 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

Footage on CCTV showed a swath of denuded mountainside that ended in the valley. The exposed earth contrasted sharply with the green, heavily forested slopes that angled up steeply on both sides under mostly clear skies.

The landslide was about 40 meters (130 feet) wide and covered roughly 5,400 square meters (58,000 square feet), Longnan city natural resources official Yang Yaoxian said at a news conference. Excavators were used to help clear the accumulated debris, which was about 8 to 10 meters (26 to 33 feet) deep.

A preliminary assessment indicated the landslide was caused by a combination of the steep terrain, erosion and the area's geological structure. The material left by the landslide was unstable and there is a risk of a second landslide, Yang said.

The landslide was in an uninhabited area in Gansu province's Tanchang county, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) south of Lanzhou, the provincial capital.

Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. was a freshman in July 2024 when Mark Kulbis told him and other football players to do 100 “up-downs,” also known as “burpees,” along with full-body plank drills, according to the attorney general’s office. Dickey had sickle-cell trait, a medical condition that can increase the risk of serious injury or death following extreme exertion.

“We're at the point where we're just glad that someone is being held responsible for our son's death,” Calvin Dickey Sr., of Land O’ Lakes, Florida, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “We just want to see the process through, and we're going to leave it to the attorney general to continue following the evidence.”

Prosecutors announced Monday that Kulbis had been charged with felony aggravated hazing and misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and hazing.

“While the death of Calvin Dickey is tragic, Mark Kulbis did not contribute to it and is not responsible for it,” his attorney, Barbara Zemlock, said in a written statement. “The strength and conditioning program that was implemented was appropriate and in accordance with the training that Mr. Kulbis received, and with applicable standards."

Sickle-cell trait, which is diagnosed through a blood test, doesn’t usually affect people’s daily lives. But it can cause decreased blood flow and muscle breakdown after intense exertion, dehydration or high body temperatures. In very rare cases, that can result in collapse and death.

After other deaths involving athletes with sickle-cell trait, the NCAA in 2010 began requiring that new Division I athletes be tested for the condition and alerting coaches that athletes with it should slowly build up their intensity while training and be provided adequate rest and recovery.

Dickey, who was 6-foot-5 (195 cm) and nearly 300 pounds (136 kg), had grown up playing sports and by his junior year of high school decided to focus on football, his parents said. He played both offensive and defensive lineman, meaning he was often in for the vast majority of the game.

According to a federal lawsuit they filed against Bucknell last year, they did not know he had sickle-cell trait until he took the mandatory screening just weeks before training camp. Calvin Dickey Sr. said that the day before camp was to start, he received assurances from the offensive line coach that his son would be protected.

But Dickey Jr. started struggling and passed out while doing exercises that Kulbis had assigned as a punishment for the players not performing drills correctly, the lawsuit said. He was hospitalized and died two days later.

While it is rare for coaches to be charged criminally in cases where athletes collapse and die, some have been.

In Georgia, a girls basketball coach and an assistant coach were charged with murder after 16-year-old Imani Bell suffered heat stroke and died in 2019 during a training session that was held outdoors despite a heat advisory being in effect. That case remains pending. The school district settled the family’s lawsuit for $10 million and agreed to rename the gym in her honor.

In 2009, a former Kentucky high school football coach was acquitted of reckless homicide and endangerment charges in the heatstroke death of 15-year-old Max Gilpin. Defense attorneys argued that the Gilpin’s medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had caused him to overheat.

Dickey Sr. and his wife, Nicole Dickey, said their son loved playing football, but he planned to use his scholarship to Bucknell to receive an education that would eventually help him work in pharmacy. He became enamored of the field after speaking to a family friend who worked as hospital pharmacist, they said.

Since his death, they have channeled their grief into a foundation that helps raise awareness about sickle cell trait in athletes and promotes the health of student-athletes. It provides scholarships and hosts a program for football linemen called “50 Cal Big Man Camp,” after the number he wore.

“Those are the kind of things right now that bring a smile to my face and touch my heart,” Nicole Dickey said. “We want to protect the next generation and share what we've learned.”

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Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

The AP celebrated the 50th anniversary of the women's basketball poll last season. As part of it, a 13-member panel voted for the greatest college players of the past five decades. Stewart and Cheryl Miller were selected as the top players over the past 50 years.

The UConn great won four straight national championships and was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four each time. She was presented with her trophy at center court by AP Global Sports Editor Josh Hoffner a few minutes before tipoff of the Liberty’s game against the Dallas Wings.

Miller accepted her trophy at the Final Four in Phoenix last April at the “The AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience,” which was held at Arizona State’s First Amendment Forum in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Stewart couldn't make that ceremony.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Not in Little League. Not in high school. Not at Sam Houston State. Not in the minors. Not in Baltimore. Not in San Diego. Not ever.

Three home runs. Ten RBIs. One magical night that included a rare curtain call and ended with his batting helmet headed to Cooperstown.

The Pirates have been playing baseball since 1882. No player across 145 seasons had ever driven in 10 runs in a game. A grand slam in the first and a three-run homer in the third off Braves starter Hurston Waldrep, and another three-run shot off Atlanta reliever Connor Thomas in the sixth changed all that, breaking the club single-game record of nine RBIs set by Johnny Rizzo against St. Louis on May 30, 1939 — a scant 54 years before the 32-year-old O'Hearn was born.

The 10 RBIs also marked the most in the majors by a player this season, and he became the 11th big leaguer since RBI became an official statistic in 1920 to have at least three home runs and 10 RBIs in a game and the first since Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani did it against Miami in September 2024.

“Got some good pitches to hit and after the third one I was like, ‘Oh man, no kidding? I guess today's supposed to be my day,'” O'Hearn said.

In more ways than one. When O'Hearn took Thomas deep to push his RBI total to 10, it also marked the 100th home run of his nine-year career. Not bad for a semi-late bloomer who didn't reach the majors until 25 and didn't become an All-Star until last season, just after turning 31.

The Pirates saw enough to sign him to a two-year deal in the offseason, their first multiyear investment in a free agent in nearly a decade. O'Hearn has embraced the role of clubhouse leader on a team trying to reach the postseason after 10-plus years in the wilderness. His 16 homers are one short of his career high of 17 set last season, and his record-setting night came just hours after Pittsburgh lost rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin for two months with a left hand injury.

“We're going to keep rocking,” O'Hearn said. “We have good players.”

O'Hearn is one of them. Pirates manager Don Kelly wanted to give O'Hearn a break late with Pittsburgh comfortably ahead, but didn't want to do it at the cost of robbing O'Hearn of a shot at history.

So O'Hearn headed to the plate in the ninth, looking to become the 22nd player to hit four homers in a game. When he looked at the mound, he couldn't help but smile when he saw Braves infielder Jorge Mateo, whom O'Hearn called a “good buddy.”

Atlanta turned to Mateo to give the bullpen a breather in a blowout, and Mateo did what Waldrep and Harris couldn't by keeping O'Hearn in the yard, though not off the bases. O'Hearn laced a single to right field to complete a four-hit night and give the Pirates their third straight victory as ace Paul Skenes earned his first win in nearly two months.

The reigning NL Cy Young winner gave up two runs on eight hits over six solid innings, walking one and striking out four. Skenes, who opted out of next week's All-Star Game and was replaced by teammate Braxton Ashcraft, also saw his velocity consistently stick in the 97-98 mph range after frequently dipping into the mid-90s during a loss to Philadelphia last week.

Not that Skenes wanted to talk about it much. For once, his performance wasn't the story, even if he couldn't help but have a little fun at his teammate's expense.

“I think it was kind of selfish, to be honest,” Skenes deadpanned. “Everybody else was getting on, and then, home runs are rally killers. You hit a three-run home run or a grand slam, and it’s just like, what now? There’s nobody on. Nobody can drive him in. Good for him, I guess.”

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

The network, which has accused the Trump administration of trying to chill free speech in the escalating dispute, argued in a new filing to the Federal Communications Commission, made public Tuesday, that the issue had been resolved by the commission itself more than two decades ago.

The latest ABC filing was required as part of the FCC review process. It consisted of “reply comments” to the commission in support of the network's petition for a declaratory ruling that “The View” — the long-running morning show that combines entertainment and political interviews and often features commentary critical of President Donald Trump — is a bona fide news program.

ABC cited a 2002 FCC decision qualifying “The View” as such, which would mean it's exempt from equal time rules. Those rules require granting equal airtime to competing candidates for office.

In a May filing, ABC similarly accused the Trump administration of trying to chill its constitutionally protected free speech and hinder open political discussion by reopening the question about “The View.”

The dispute over ‘The View’ has broader implications

It was the latest volley in a broader dispute inside and outside the legal arena between the U.S. media and the Trump White House over what journalists perceive as the president’s attack on free speech and the media’s ability to do its job. Trump has been critical of media outlets whose journalism runs counter to his agenda.

His FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has indicated he intends to argue that “The View” is not a so-called bona fide news program. The issue could affect other shows that similarly combine entertainment and politics.

After the May filing, the FCC opened a public comment period on the issue, as part of the review process. ABC pointed out in its filing Tuesday that more than 77,000 comments have been submitted by the public, with “an undeniable majority” of the messages supporting “The View” and free speech.

“The commenters are right to be concerned,” the new filing argued. “The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor’s chair. Yet that is the seat the Commission now proposes to take ... deciding which broadcast programs qualify as legitimate news and, for those it finds wanting, compelling them to surrender their airtime to guests they never chose to feature.”

It said the dispute over “The View” touches on a march larger principle: “whether a federal regulator may override a broadcaster’s editorial judgment about whom to interview — a judgment the Constitution commits to broadcasters and their audiences, not to the state.”

ABC also argued that “nothing about ‘The View’ that the law cares about has changed since the Commission last answered that question more than two decades ago. ... What has changed is not the program but the political climate around it.”

It contended that Carr's FCC had chosen to focus its attention on daytime and late-night shows “perceived as unfriendly to the current administration — while leaving untouched the vast landscape of talk radio, where candidates routinely appear without their opponents.”

That, it said, “is not evenhanded regulation.”

FCC suggests ABC is misleading its public

An FCC spokesperson responded, in an email to The Associated Press, with a suggestion that ABC was misleading its public.

“While ABC insists that ‘The View’ is a ‘bona fide news program’ under the law,” the spokesperson said, "ABC should focus on complying with its public interest obligations, rather than misleading the public about them.”

The administration’s criticism of “The View” echoes its displeasure with late-night news hosts who criticize Trump — especially ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel. Donald and Melania Trump recently both called for ABC to fire Kimmel for a joke in which the comic described the first lady as having “the glow of an expectant widow.” Kimmel said the joke was a light roast about the couple’s age difference.

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Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.

The charges were part of a massive law enforcement operation involving agencies across the United States, Canada and Europe that swept up 37 defendants who are allegedly a part of three Indian international crime syndicates tied to kidnappings, racketeering, extortion, firearms dealing, drug trafficking and murder, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced at a news conference on Tuesday. He spoke alongside officials with the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Authorities are still searching for seven fugitives in the U.S., two in India and one in Europe.

The groups have “have fueled violence, fear and instability within the East Indian communities throughout California and abroad," said Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.

Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, and his childhood friend Satinderjeet Singh are accused of orchestrating the assassination of a well-known Sikh independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was fatally shot outside of a temple where he served as president in 2023. The killing sparked tensions between the Canadian and Indian governments, after then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there were “credible allegations” that the Indian government was involved in Nijar's death. Bishnoi is in custody, but Singh has not been apprehended.

Bishnoi's organization “routinely targeted prominent religious, social and political leaders with violence" in exchange for large amounts of money.

Nijjar, 45 when he died, was a prominent member of a movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, and he was organizing an unofficial referendum among the Sikh diaspora with the organization Sikhs For Justice. Nijjar, who was born in India and was a Canadian citizen, was wanted by Indian authorities at the time of his death. The authorities had offered a reward for information leading to his arrest.

Sikh diaspora activism has been a source of tension between India and Canada for years. Canada has the largest population of Sikhs outside India, and India has repeatedly accused it of tolerating “terrorists and extremists.” Both India and Canada expelled diplomats from the other country amid the international dispute.

Authorities also named two other criminal organizations that were swept up for similar charges over the course of the two-year investigation. The transnational organizations have members in countries ranging from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Members of the group are also accused of stealing large quantities of drugs from other criminal organizations operating in California, and then selling the illicit merchandise across the country and into Canada.

The indictments say that some defendants leveraged relationships with corrupt local authorities in India to persecute rivals or those who were believed to be cooperating with law enforcement. At least one defendant is accused of organizing criminal activities while detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, authorities said Tuesday, though it is not clear how he was able to communicate without being detected.

An attorney for Bishnoi was not listed on Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities on Tuesday touted the operation as an example of international cooperation.

“Working together, law enforcement in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia are determined to target and dismantle these criminal organizations wherever they operate," Essayli said.

Now the Dream trio will get to play together in Chicago at the WNBA All-Star Game on July 25 after all three players were selected as reserves by the league's coaches on Tuesday.

Reese had said after the All-Star starters came out that she felt her two Dream teammates should have been starting. It's the fourth time that Atlanta has had three All-Stars.

Joining the Dream players as reserves are Washington teammates Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen. Both made the All-Star Game as rookies last season.

Toronto's Marina Mabrey will be making her first All-Star appearance and gave the expansion franchise a player in the game. She matched the WNBA record with a 53-point game last month.

Other players selected by the coaches were New York's Jonquel Jones, Minnesota’s Courtney Williams, Las Vegas’ Jackie Young and Seattle's Dominique Malonga, who will also be making her All-Star debut.

Los Angeles teammates Nneka Ogwumike and Kelsey Plum also were picked. Ogwumike has been an All-Star 11 times and moved into a second-place tie with Diana Taurasi for most All-Star appearances, only trailing Sue Bird's 13.

Coaches couldn’t vote for their own players.

Plum has been sidelined for the last few weeks with a leg injury and will be evaluated again later this month. If she can't play, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will choose a replacement.

New this year, WNBA greats Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon will serve as honorary general managers and select the two teams from the pool of All-Stars. The pair will select the teams at some point soon.

Chicago, Portland, Connecticut and Phoenix all don't have All-Stars.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

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Both children were in hot cars.

More than 50% of pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths happen after a caregiver accidentally forgets a child in the back seat, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Some children die of vehicular heatstroke because they gained access to a vehicle and became trapped because an adult failed to keep the keys out of the child’s reach.

Children are at a higher risk of heatstroke than adults since their body temperature rises three to five times faster.

The risk is high even when it isn’t hot outside. Consumer Reports recently reported testing showed that while the outdoor temperature was 61 degrees, the temperature inside a closed car had reached more than 105 degrees in just one hour.

Safety tips

Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle.

If you see a child alone in a locked car, act immediately and call 911.

A child in distress due to heat should be removed from the vehicle as quickly as possible and rapidly cooled.

Store car keys and fobs out of a child’s reach and teach children that a vehicle is not a play area.

Remember that rolling the vehicle’s windows down or parking in the shade does little to change the interior temperature of the vehicle.

Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passenger’s seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat.

Activate car and app reminders when available

Teach caregivers, sitters and grandparents about the dangers of hot cars

Source: NHTSA, NoHeatstroke.org, Florida Department of Children and Families

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Syd Meyer and Chris Gleadall said they paid .99 cents for it on Sunday at the Publix at 1000 Overseas Highway in Marathon.

“They were on sale,” Gleadall said. “To be honest, I don’t really check my produce.”

Meyer said it was meant for their turkey avocado bowls, which they eat for dinner.

“I pull out the avocado, ready to prepare it, and I’m kind of looking at it like, ‘This stem looks really weird.’ I look closer, and there’s actually a little bullet engraving in the back of the round. It was a 22,” Gleadall said.

They decided to record a video that they shared on Instagram. Users got creative: “Holy Glock a mole!” “Ammo-cado!” and “Bullet cado!”

“Los Albicelestes” in their sky blue and white jerseys met along Collins Avenue in the North Beach neighborhood, known as “Little Buenos Aires.”

At Manolo, a restaurant on 73rd Street, and at the nearby Miami Beach Bandshell Fan Fest, fans hugged after the twists and turns of a tough match.

Lionel Messi was in tears after Argentina won 3-2 against Egypt, during a tense Round of 16 match in Atlanta.

Yasser Ibrahim and Mustafa Zico scored Egypt’s first two goals. For a few minutes, Argentine fans felt the weight of a devastating 3-0.

Zico scored again, but the video assistant referee disallowed the goal because Egypt’s Marwan Attia had stepped on Argentina’s Lisandro Martínez’s foot.

Argentina’s Cristian Romero scored with a header before Messi scored the equalizer in the 83rd minute. It was Messi’s 8th FIFA World Cup 2026 goal; it was the 21st of his World Cup career.

Related story: Lionel Messi scores his eighth goal of this year’s World Cup, takes lead in Golden Boot race

Just incredible. https://t.co/ZzFSxKvfev

— Will Manso (@WillManso) July 7, 2026

Enzo Fernández secured Argentina’s victory with the third goal.

Argentina’s next opponent is Switzerland at 9 p.m. on July 11.

The Round of 16‘s eight single-elimination knockout matches started on Saturday.

Colombia, Egypt, the U.S., Portugal, Canada, Paraguay, Mexico, and Brazil were eliminated.

Related story: After his suspension was lifted in scrutinized move, Balogun has little impact in US World Cup loss

4 quarterfinal matches

Morocco vs France at 4 p.m. on July 9.

Belgium vs. Spain at 3 p.m. on July 10.

Norway vs. England at 5 p.m. on July 11.

Switzerland vs. Argentina at 9 p.m. on July 11.

The tournament, held every four years, started with 48 teams on June 11.

After matches within 12 groups of four, 16 teams were eliminated. The Round of 32 matches eliminated the 16 others from June 28 to Friday.

Related link: View the knockout bracket

TOURNAMENT’S SCHEDULE

Quarterfinals

July 9: Morocco vs. France at 4 p.m.

July 10: Belgium vs. Spain at 3 p.m.

July 11:

• Norway vs. England is at 5 p.m.
• Switzerland vs. Argentina is at 9 p.m.

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

Semifinals

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

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

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

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

Finals

July 18: The third-place play-off match is at 5 p.m. at the Miami Stadium, better known as the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

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

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

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

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

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

Morocco and France advanced to play at 4 p.m. on July 9th.

Belgium and Spain advanced to play at 3 p.m. on July 10.

Norway and England advanced to play at 5 p.m. on July 11.

Switzerland and Argentina advanced to play at 9 p.m. on July 11.

Related story: Argentine fans celebrate in Miami Beach after advancing to quarterfinals

Eliminations

Eight teams were eliminated: Colombia, Egypt, the U.S., Portugal, Canada, Paraguay, Mexico, and Brazil.

The tournament, held every four years, started with 48 teams on June 11.

After matches within 12 groups of four, 16 teams were eliminated. The Round of 32 matches eliminated the 16 others from June 28 to Friday.

Related link: View the knockout bracket

TOURNAMENT’S SCHEDULE

Quarterfinals

July 9

Morocco vs. France at 4 p.m.

July 10

Belgium vs. Spain at 3 p.m.

July 11

• Norway vs. England is at 5 p.m.
• Switzerland vs. Argentina is at 9 p.m.

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

Semifinals

July 14: There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

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

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

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

Finals

July 18: The third-place play-off match is at 5 p.m. at the Miami Stadium, better known as the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

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

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

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

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

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

Clark has spent the last two weeks rehabbing from an injury that forced her out of a June 24 game against the Mercury. Earlier in the game, Clark was seen grimacing after taking a hit to her throat, a play that prompted league officials to suspend Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas for one game for what it described as “recklessly making contact with her fist” and set off a polarizing debate about cleaning up the game.

While an eight-day break heading into Sunday's game at Las Vegas managed to tamp down some of the rhetoric, it wasn't enough to get Clark back in action. Two additional days off may be.

“Very hopeful for tomorrow and, obviously, it'll be difficult for me to play both — this one on Wednesday and then the one on Thursday — but we'll see,” Clark said as Tuesday's practice started. "Obviously, from a health standpoint, just getting back into it, I would assume I'd be on a minutes restriction (Wednesday). Still hopeful of a little bit more than 20 if I'm able to go. Hopefully, I feel good after the game versus Los Angeles and then will be available in (Las) Vegas (on Sunday) .”

Coach Stephanie White was more cautious about Clark's availability, acknowledging she was still waiting for the team's medical experts to clear Clark for game action.

“I do what I'm told, I stay in my lane so whatever medical says we need to do to make sure she's ready and whatever she needs to feel comfortable and confident is what we'll do,” White said. “It's an adjustment based on who's playing and rotations and all of that, and it's an adjustment based on how we play. But certainly we want to make sure the message is the same and it's clear her long-term health and well is the most important thing. So if she's ready, she'll play."

Clark has missed three of Indiana's first 20 games this season after appearing in just 13 of 44 games in 2025. The Fever are 3-0 without her this season and reached the 2025 WNBA semifinals without Clark.

Still, her repeated injuries and the physicality opponents have used against one of the sport's most popular players have led to a debate about what the league should do.

White has spoken out about what Clark has faced, including uncalled fouls such as the one in which Thomas landed on top of Clark with her fist on Clark's throat. Thomas has since said she received death threats, something White and Clark both called unacceptable last week.

But the saga took a new twist Tuesday UConn coach Geno Auriemma appeared on the “Sports Media with Richard Deitsch” podcast. The Hall of Fame coach said he doesn't blame Clark for the attention she receives but believes Clark's supporters have stirred many of the controversies that have surrounded Clark through her first three pro seasons.

“Because the bandwagon and the fandom became so obsessed with the whole thing, it turned into a cause,” Auriemma said. ”(Clark) became the reason why white players get beat up in the WNBA and she became the reason why Black players don’t get the endorsements and don’t get the adulation that white players get. Not every foul is a good foul. Not every foul’s a bad foul, but there are fouls that are flagrant — but that’s all they are."

All Clark wants to do, though, is play, something she hopes resumes Wednesday night.

“I feel good about the stuff we're doing to help with (the back). Obviously, it's not always fun sitting on a plane for four hours and traveling a lot," she said. “It's hard on your body to travel and be on the road for 10 days and sleeping in different hotels and things like that. But I'm doing everything I can to be as healthy as possible. I really trust the people that are helping me and like I said I feel good, especially going into tomorrow.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

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The May figure was 84% higher than a year earlier. Airlines spent $6.47 billion on fuel in April, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said.

The higher year-over-year spending has been driven mostly by pricier jet fuel rather than a significant increase in how much of it airlines consumed. U.S. carriers used 1.627 billion gallons in May, down 0.6% from May 2025. Consumption was also slightly lower in April compared with a year earlier.

The average price airlines paid for fuel in May was $4.09 per gallon, down slightly from $4.11 in April but 85% higher than the $2.21 they paid in May 2025, the agency said.

Airlines worldwide have responded to the jump in fuel prices by raising fares and fees and trimming flight schedules. Fuel is typically one of the industry’s largest operating costs, leaving carriers particularly vulnerable to swings in energy prices.

The latest figures show the continued impact of the sharp rise in energy costs after the conflict in the Middle East started this year and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global crude and fuel supplies.

Fuel prices have eased from their spring highs after the U.S. and Iran reached an interim ceasefire agreement, offering some relief to airlines after a costly spring. But the truce remains fragile.

Three tankers were struck by projectiles Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the British military, and the U.S. revoked a license that had allowed Iranian oil sales under the agreement.

Delta Air Lines is set to report its second-quarter financial results on Friday, kicking off a wave of earnings reports from U.S. carriers. Executives are expected to discuss how recent declines in fuel prices could affect the industry’s finances going forward.

The average price for a gallon of jet fuel was $2.88 across the key airline hubs of Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York on Tuesday, according to the Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index. The price fell under $3 a gallon June 15 for the first time since early March and has remained below since.

Republicans currently have a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, and Maine is viewed as a necessary win for Democrats to gain the minimum of four new Senate seats.

But now there’s a question of whether Platner, who denied the allegation, will remain on the ballot and, if he does, whether he can defeat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Here’s a closer look at the top races that Democrats are targeting.

Democrats see some pickup opportunities

ALASKA: Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola’s candidacy against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has buoyed her party.

Peltola, one of a handful of Democrats who’ve won in Republican dominated states, was the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, winning special and regular elections in 2022 for the state’s only House seat.

At center stage for the state’s Aug. 18 primary is drama involving a man running with the same name and party affiliation as Sullivan. The state supreme court has said the challenger is qualified to be on the ballot.

Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied Sullivan’s allegation that they’re working with the challenger to cause confusion..

MAINE: Platner catapulted to the Democratic nomination despite earlier controversies. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer initially backed sitting Gov. Janet Mills but reluctantly aligned behind Platner -- until Monday’s latest bombshell accusation.

Now, Schumer and many Democrats are pushing for Platner to withdraw. If he does that by July 13, Maine Democrats can put a replacement on the ballot. If not, Platner could face Collins with minimal national party support.

If Platner drops out, his replacement could meet a similar challenge to what presidential candidate Kamala Harris faced in 2024, when she had a late start to appeal to a general election audience without having won the nomination in a competitive primary.

Meanwhile, Collins has won elections for 30 years despite no Republican presidential nominee, including President Donald Trump, winning Maine since 1988.

NORTH CAROLINA: Democrats landed one of their prize recruits with former Gov. Roy Cooper, who has never lost a statewide election through four terms as attorney general and two as governor. Republicans answered with Trump’s handpicked candidate, Michael Whatley, who’d previously served as state GOP chairman and as the Republican National Committee chairman.

Whatley was viewed as a prodigious fundraiser and ideal Trump surrogate in a state the president carried three times, and he has history on his side -- Democrats have won just two U.S. Senate races and one presidential contest in North Carolina in the last three decades.

Yet Cooper won governors races in two of Trump’s three presidential cycles and is leveraging his centrist image at a time when independents have soured on Trump. That leaves Whatley with the difficult tasks of satisfying Trump’s core supporters without alienating other voters; introducing himself to voters who don’t know him; and convincing enough North Carolina voters that they’ve been wrong about Cooper for decades.

OHIO: Democrats are counting on former Sen. Sherrod Brown to unseat Republican incumbent Jon Husted in what’s shaping up to be another expensive contest in the state — its third in four years.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC, has pledged $79 million to defend Husted, a former lieutenant governor appointed to fill the seat after JD Vance became vice president.

Brown served three terms in the Senate before losing a tough reelection contest in 2024.

Ohio has steadily trended Republican. But Brown won previously as an advocate of unions and the working class, and Democrats believe he can attract some of the voters who’ve helped Trump win the state three times.

Underdogs could offer surprises

IOWA: The state, which Trump won three times gives Democrats an opportunity to flip a seat with two-term Republican Sen. Joni Ernst’s retirement.

Democratic Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek faces Trump-endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson.

Turek is a relative newcomer to elected office and has pointed to his experience winning in a red state House district as proof he could appeal to independent and moderate Republican voters in November.

Hinson is a three-term House incumbent representing northeastern Iowa, and claims Trump needs a fighter who would “always have his back.”

TEXAS: State Rep. James Talarico, a 37-year-old seminarian, has become a national fundraising phenomenon.

Talarico faces the scandal-ridden Republican nominee Ken Paxton. The Texas attorney general has weathered an impeachment attempt by his own party, a yearslong corruption investigation and public airing of his martial difficulties. Through all that, Paxton has won multiple reelections.

Democrats were buoyed by their primary turnout of about 2.3 million eclipsing Republicans’ 2.2 million, something that hasn’t happened since the state flipped to Republicans in the 1990s. But the challenge for Talarico is turning that momentum into a racially, ethnically and geographically diverse coalition in November.

The seats Democrats have to hold

GEORGIA: Sen. Jon Ossoff is the only Democratic senator running for reelection this year in a state Trump won in 2024.

He had no primary opposition, and he’s been a fundraising force with more than $30 million cash-on-hand as he entered the general election campaign. Ossof has attracted national attention with his unapologetic broadsides against Trump.

Republican Rep. Mike Collins is playing catchup after winning a bruising GOP primary runoff. He must navigate skeptical Republicans who believe he’s too conservative or controversial for this battleground state. Collins repeats Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, and he’s also facing a House ethics inquiry over allegations that he misused taxpayer money to pay the girlfriend of a former top aide.

Collins’ strongest line of attack against Ossoff comes on immigration. Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, named for a Georgia nursing student killed by a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally. The 2025 law, among other provisions, requires immigrants accused of certain crimes to be detained by federal law enforcement.

Ossoff voted for that legislation after Trump returned to the White House. The senator had previously voted, along with all Senate Democrats, to block consideration of an earlier Republican version — offered as an amendment to a 2024 spending bill — that would have prohibited undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes from obtaining legal status. Collins and Republicans frame those votes as Ossoff flip-flopping on immigration enforcement.

MICHIGAN: Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ retirement opens up a seat the party must hold in a key presidential battleground that Trump won twice and former President Joe Biden carried in 2020.

The Aug. 4 Democratic primary pits moderate Haley Stevens against progressive Abdul El-Sayed. It was a three-way race until Mallory McMorrow, who had backing from some progressive Democratic senators, suspended her campaign.

Stevens and El-Sayed have split support among Democratic senators. Stevens has the support of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, while El-Sayed has support from Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives.

Stevens has also benefited from heavy outside spending, including nearly $8 million from a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, has run on issues like Medicare for All and halting all U.S. weapons transfers to Israel. He has campaigned with popular-yet-controversial streamer Hasan Piker, who has millions of followers online and has said things such as that “America deserved 9/11.”

The winner is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, in 2024.

Según la Policía de Fort Lauderdale, el incidente fue reportado alrededor de las 7:30 a.m. en la cuadra 1000 de Northwest Fifth Avenue.

La detective Kerri Hagerty indicó que la madre y el hijo fueron abordados por detrás por una persona desconocida, que golpeó a ambos con un “objeto contundente”.

Hagerty informó que la mujer sufrió una cortada en la parte posterior de la cabeza y que el menor sufrió una abrasión en el rostro.

Ambas víctimas fueron trasladadas al Broward Health Medical Center. Se informó que sus lesiones no ponen en peligro sus vidas.

El reportero de Local 10 Roy Ramos habló con la madre después del ataque, quien dijo que estaba caminando con su hijo, quien tiene necesidades especiales, hacia una parada de autobús para llevarlo a la escuela cuando fueron atacados.

La madre también dijo a Local 10 News que ella y su hijo se habían mudado a su apartamento hacía menos de una semana.

Contó que un hombre golpeó a su hijo con un objeto similar a un mazo y luego comenzó a golpearla a ella con el mismo objeto cuando intervino para proteger a su hijo.

“Un tipo simplemente viene detrás de nosotros, de la nada. Mi hijo no habla, tiene una discapacidad”, dijo la mujer identificada únicamente como Chrissy, agregando que su hijo tiene autismo.

Chrissy dijo que el sospechoso parecía llevar un objeto pesado similar a un mazo.

“Parecía un mazo, algún tipo de objeto, pero era muy pesado por la fuerza con la que me golpeó en la cabeza. Aun así, tenía que mantenerme con vida para protegerlo”, dijo.

Chrissy afirmó que su hijo también sufrió lesiones internas en uno de sus ojos, pero no perdió la vista.

También expresó su frustración porque los testigos no detuvieron al sospechoso.

“No les importó. “No sé, no vi nada”, por supuesto”, dijo.

Chrissy también envió este mensaje al atacante:

“Atacaste a un niño y a una mujer y no mostraste ningún remordimiento. Estabas a punto de volver a atacarnos si yo no te hubiera detenido”, dijo.

Hagerty indicó que el sospechoso huyó del lugar antes de que llegaran los agentes.

Cualquier persona con información sobre la identidad del sospechoso debe comunicarse con el Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale o con Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

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The Miami Marlins infielder was named an All-Star for the first time this past weekend after a breakout season in which he has emerged as one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball.

Lopez, 27, entered the Marlins’ home stand against the Seattle Mariners batting .346, the highest average in the majors. He also leads baseball with 123 hits.

His path to an All-Star season was far from easy.

The Toronto Blue Jays designated Lopez for assignment in 2024 before he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for cash considerations. A month later, the Giants designated him for assignment again, and the Marlins claimed him off waivers in April 2024.

Now, more than two years later, Lopez is an All-Star.

“All the work that I mean in the past of my career, like I didn’t know that I was going to be an all-star,” Lopez said. “Of course, all the work it’s meant for something and at that moment, I just think I would just work harder just for that moment.”

Lopez reflected on the challenges he faced before reaching this point.

“I would say all the things that I’ve been through, the, the teams got down, they threw me away, I would say,” he said. “And being a star now, like, it means a lot.”

Lopez told Local 10’s Will Manso that he will share the All-Star experience with his parents, wife and young daughter.

After wondering if his baseball career might be over just a few years ago, Lopez now gets to represent the Marlins on one of baseball’s biggest stages.

The Marlins (49-42) will host the Seattle Mariners (47-44) at loanDepot Park at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday.

El jugador de cuadro de los Miami Marlins fue nombrado All-Star por primera vez este pasado fin de semana después de una temporada destacada en la que se ha convertido en uno de los mejores bateadores de las Grandes Ligas.

Lopez, de 27 años, llegó a la serie como local de los Marlins contra los Seattle Mariners bateando para .346, el promedio más alto de las Grandes Ligas. También lidera el béisbol con 123 hits.

Su camino hacia una temporada como All-Star estuvo lejos de ser fácil.

Los Toronto Blue Jays designaron a Lopez para asignación en 2024 antes de ser cambiado a los San Francisco Giants por consideraciones económicas. Un mes después, los Giants lo designaron nuevamente para asignación, y los Marlins lo reclamaron de la lista de waivers en abril de 2024.

Ahora, más de dos años después, Lopez es un All-Star.

“Todo el trabajo que, quiero decir, hice en el pasado de mi carrera, como que no sabía que iba a ser un All-Star”, dijo Lopez. “Por supuesto, todo el trabajo significó algo y en ese momento, solo pensé que trabajaría más duro para ese momento”.

Lopez reflexionó sobre los desafíos que enfrentó antes de llegar a este punto.

“Diría que todas las cosas por las que he pasado, los equipos se vinieron abajo, me desecharon, diría”, dijo. “Y ser una estrella ahora, como que significa mucho”.

Lopez le dijo a Will Manso de Local 10 que compartirá la experiencia del All-Star con sus padres, esposa e hija pequeña.

Después de preguntarse hace unos años si su carrera en el béisbol podría haber terminado, Lopez ahora tiene la oportunidad de representar a los Marlins en uno de los escenarios más importantes del béisbol.

Los Marlins (49-42) recibirán a los Seattle Mariners (47-44) en el loanDepot Park a las 6:40 p.m. del martes.

Por un lado, un desarrollador propone un edificio de ocho pisos con casi 200 unidades residenciales.

En la planta baja del edificio habrá una nueva sede para Crystal Academy, una escuela dedicada a atender a niños con autismo.

Pero para muchos de los residentes cercanos al lugar, el problema no es la escuela, sino el tamaño de todo lo demás que incluye el proyecto.

Los vecinos aseguran que sus calles ya están congestionadas y les preocupa que cientos de nuevos residentes solo empeoren el tráfico, además de ejercer aún más presión sobre las vías y la infraestructura de la ciudad.

Sin embargo, muchos de los partidarios del proyecto destacan que el desarrollo proporcionará una sede permanente para Crystal Academy, con un contrato de arrendamiento de 99 años, libre de renta, ya que sus instalaciones actuales son antiguas y están casi inutilizables.

Tras horas de discusión, comentarios del público y los esfuerzos de los comisionados de Coral Gables por encontrar un punto medio con los planes de diseño, votaron a favor del edificio.

Los desarrolladores dijeron posteriormente que están listos para comenzar las obras, mientras que quienes se oponen al proyecto indicaron que su lucha aún no ha terminado.

El conservacionista Don Worth llevó a Local 10 News al interior de la histórica estructura el martes, mostrando tanto su belleza como las décadas de desgaste que ha soportado.

“La mejor vista de Miami, absolutamente increíble”, dijo Worth. “Lo especial del estadio es que todos los que vienen aquí son VIP. Todos tienen un asiento con vista al agua”.

Construido en 1963, el Miami Marine Stadium fue diseñado por el arquitecto Hilario Candela y se hizo conocido por su diseño único, con una parte de la estructura construida sobre la bahía Biscayne.

“Candela era de La Habana, llegó aquí como un joven arquitecto. Tenía 28 años en ese momento”, dijo Ricardo López, director de RJ Heisenbottle Architects.

El estadio se convirtió en un destino para carreras de lanchas, conciertos y grandes eventos, incluida una memorable presentación del fallecido Jimmy Buffett.

“Todos con los que he hablado y que pudieron regresar aquí se divirtieron mucho, así que yo también estoy lista para divertirme mucho aquí”, dijo Savannah Buffett, hija de Jimmy Buffett y residente de Miami.

La ciudad cerró el estadio tras el impacto del huracán Andrew en 1992, y el edificio pasó décadas sin una restauración importante.

“Lo interesante es que, después de que el estadio cerró en 1992, los artistas se apropiaron del lugar y, en cierto sentido, lo mantuvieron con vida”, dijo Worth.

Ahora, los votantes de Miami decidirán en una elección especial en agosto si la ciudad debe firmar un acuerdo de administración con un operador de eventos en el adyacente Flex Park.

Los líderes de la ciudad y los defensores de la preservación aseguran que ese acuerdo sería el primer paso para restaurar eventualmente el estadio.

“La idea es que, después de que los ingresos se estabilicen durante un par de años, la ciudad pueda emitir un bono respaldado por ingresos”, dijo el comisionado de Miami, Damian Pardo. “Ese bono financiaría la restauración completa del Miami Marine Stadium, cuyo costo se proyecta en aproximadamente $65,000,000 USD”.

Pardo dijo que la restauración ayudará a preservar una parte de la historia de Miami.

“Esta es la experiencia de Miami. No hay nada igual en el mundo”, dijo. “No solo es un lugar icónico frente al agua, sino que representará a nuestra ciudad ante el mundo”.

Los partidarios afirman que restaurar el estadio devolvería este emblemático lugar a la vida cívica y social de Miami.

“Es un edificio monumental frente a nuestro mayor tesoro, la bahía Biscayne”, dijo López. “Estamos muy entusiasmados con la oportunidad de que, ojalá, llegue el día en que este lugar pueda volver a abrir al público”.

Christine Rupp, directora ejecutiva de Dade Heritage Trust, dijo que la preservación cobra cada vez más importancia a medida que Miami continúa creciendo.

“Creo que, a medida que Miami crece a un ritmo sin precedentes, la gente entiende que preservar estos íconos es sumamente importante”, dijo Rupp.

Los votantes pueden revisar la boleta de muestra de la elección especial de Miami y la pregunta del referéndum antes de acudir a las urnas.

The move is the latest in the national battle over partisan redistricting, which has reshaped the U.S. House map ahead of this year's midterms and in states including Maryland could carry into the 2028 election cycle.

The Democratic-led Maryland General Assembly will meet beginning Aug. 3, legislative leaders said, to consider sending a constitutional amendment to voters this November intended to help clear the way later for a potential 8-0 congressional map. Democrats already hold a 7-1 advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation; Rep. Andy Harris is the only GOP member.

Legislative leaders didn't include the language of the proposed amendment in their news release. But they said it would “clarify” the state constitution as it relates to a 2022 court ruling that struck down a previous map, which also would have made Harris’s district easier for a Democrat to win.

If approved by a three-fifths vote of both chambers, the amendment would go before voters in the Nov. 3 general election. If approved there, lawmakers could eventually revisit the congressional maps for a future election cycle under the constitution's new parameters.

"Maryland needs a durable, transparent constitutional framework for congressional redistricting that reflects the evolving legal landscape,” said House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk said in a statement. “This special session gives the General Assembly the opportunity to respond thoughtfully to recent court decisions while ensuring that Maryland voters have the final say on any proposed constitutional changes.”

Maryland Republicans blasted the move as a power grab.

“One Republican Congressman represents hundreds of thousands of Marylanders who deserve a voice in Washington. This special session is designed to erase that voice and hand national Democrats another seat in the U.S. House,” Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready said in a statement.

Voting districts are typically redrawn once a decade after a census to account for population changes. But Trump urged Republicans last year to redraw districts mid-decade to try to prevent midterm losses, and Democrats responded by pursuing their own partisan redistricting.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision in late April then weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act, offering new grounds for Republicans to reconfigure districts in Southern states with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

Republicans think they could net up to 10 additional House seats under the new districts this year.

Maryland initially took up the issue earlier this year. The state House approved a new map that would have made it easier for Democrats to win all eight congressional seats. But that plan was left to die in the state Senate, where Senate President Bill Ferguson argued the move could backfire under judicial review.

Democratic Gov. Wes Moore has been vocal in his support for a renewed redistricting effort and said Tuesday in a statement that he appreciated lawmakers’ “agreement to come back to finish the work.”

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FBI agents are offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Khalid Ahmed Satary.

According to FBI officials, Satary is wanted for his alleged involvement in a $547 million health care fraud conspiracy that occurred between 2016 and 2019.

Authorities say during that time, Satary owned and operated several laboratories throughout the U.S. that are accused of billing expensive and medically unnecessary genetic tests to Medicare.

“Satary allegedly conspired with dozens of patient recruiters, telemarketing call centers, and telemedicine companies to utilize deceptive marketing campaigns and illegal kickbacks and bribes to generate cancer genetic test samples that reimbursed between $10,000 to $20,000 per sample,” the FBI said in a press release.

FBI officials say that Satary billed Medicare for a total of over $547 million while allegedly paying millions for illegal kickbacks and bribes to doctors and patient recruiters.

FBI supervisor Freddy Ortiz spoke about Satary on Tuesday in Miami.

“Satary has ties to Florida, Georgia, Texas and also the area of Israel and Palestine, Jordan and Dubai,” he said. “Any information you have, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI.”

Ortiz added that they do not believe Satary poses a threat to public safety.

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According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, 33-year-old Antonio Nieves was arrested Monday after investigators linked him to a burglary that occurred on June 30 at a home near the 4200 block of Northwest 32nd Street in the county’s Brownsville area.

Deputies said the 78-year-old victim reported that someone forced open her rear kitchen door, causing about $300 in damage, before the home was “ransacked.”

The report states the suspects also broke a hole in a wall and stole approximately $33,000 in cash, two LG televisions and a gold necklace with a pendant.

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage from inside the home and saw a person they later identified as Nieves “partially enter” the home before he “backed out when he noticed the interior security cameras,” according to the report.

The report states that moments later, surveillance footage captured that same person back inside the home covering his face with a white cloth while he was accompanied by an “unknown Black male.”

The report states investigators also found surveillance video showing a cream-colored, early 2000s four-door pickup truck used in the burglary.

Detectives said the truck matched a GMC Canyon registered to Nieves that had “specific markings and aftermarket insignias” on it.

They said Nieves was also seen at a jewelry store about an hour and a half before the burglary, where he completed a “pawn/sale transaction.”

According to the report, security footage from the store showed Nieves wearing the same clothing investigators say he wore during the burglary and driving the same vehicle.

Police arrested Nieves Monday near Northwest 17th Avenue and 44th Street after a Miami police sergeant spotted him driving the GMC Canyon and conducted a traffic stop, the report states.

Jail records show Nieves is facing one count each of burglary of an occupied dwelling, second-degree grand theft between $20,000 and $100,000, and criminal mischief.

Investigators requested a Nebbia hold “due to the amount stolen from the 78-year-old widow victim.” A Nebbia hold allows a judge to require a defendant to show the source of funds being used for bond if there are concerns the money may have come from illegal activity.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Nieves was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim.

Anyone with information about the identity of the second suspect is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), Antonio Nieves, de 33 años, fue arrestado el lunes después de que los investigadores lo vincularan con un robo ocurrido el 30 de junio en una vivienda ubicada cerca de la cuadra 4200 de la calle 32 del noroeste, en el área de Brownsville.

Los Agentes informaron que la víctima, una mujer de 78 años, denunció que alguien forzó la puerta trasera de la cocina, causando unos $300 USD en daños, antes de que la vivienda fuera “saqueada”.

El informe señala que los sospechosos también abrieron un agujero en una pared y robaron aproximadamente $33,000 USD en efectivo, dos televisores LG y un collar de oro con un colgante.

Los investigadores revisaron las cámaras de vigilancia del interior de la vivienda y observaron a una persona que posteriormente identificaron como Nieves “entrando parcialmente” a la casa antes de que “retrocediera al notar las cámaras de seguridad interiores”, según el informe.

El informe indica que, momentos después, las cámaras captaron a esa misma persona nuevamente dentro de la vivienda cubriéndose el rostro con un paño blanco mientras estaba acompañada por un “hombre negro no identificado”.

El informe también señala que los investigadores encontraron videos de vigilancia que mostraban una camioneta pickup color crema, de cuatro puertas y de principios de la década del 2000, utilizada durante el robo.

Los detectives dijeron que el vehículo coincidía con una GMC Canyon registrada a nombre de Nieves, la cual tenía “marcas específicas e insignias instaladas posteriormente”.

También informaron que Nieves fue visto en una joyería aproximadamente una hora y media antes del robo, donde realizó una “transacción de empeño/venta”.

Según el informe, las cámaras de seguridad del establecimiento mostraban a Nieves usando la misma ropa que, según los investigadores, vestía durante el robo y conduciendo el mismo vehículo.

La Policía arrestó a Nieves el lunes cerca de la avenida 17 del noroeste y la calle 44, después de que un sargento de la Policía de Miami lo viera conduciendo la GMC Canyon y realizara una parada de tránsito, señala el informe.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Nieves enfrenta un cargo de robo a una vivienda ocupada, uno de hurto mayor en segundo grado por un monto entre $20,000 USD y $100,000 USD, y uno de daños criminales.

Los investigadores solicitaron una retención Nebbia “debido a la cantidad robada a la víctima, una viuda de 78 años”. Una retención Nebbia permite que un juez exija al acusado demostrar el origen del dinero utilizado para pagar la fianza cuando existen preocupaciones de que provenga de actividades ilegales.

Hasta la tarde del martes, Nieves permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight. También recibió la orden de mantenerse alejado de la víctima.

Cualquier persona con información sobre la identidad del segundo sospechoso debe comunicarse con Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

The NBA Finals MVP is expected to resume basketball activities later this summer, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because there was no announcement about Brunson's procedure.

Brunson's surgery was first reported by SNY.

Brunson, who is left-handed, didn't let the wrist injury slow him down on the Knicks' run to their first championship since 1973. He scored 45 points when the Knicks won the title in Game 5 in San Antonio, after finishing with 36 when they made a record-setting comeback from a 29-point deficit in Game 4. The point guard averaged 32.6 points in the finals.

___

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

Detectives del Departamento de Policía de Miami Beach informaron que realizaban una operación encubierta mientras intentaban localizar a personas involucradas en la trata de personas.

En total, realizaron seis arrestos, incluida Angely Cordero Cabrera de 21 años, de Dallas, Texas.

Según la Policía, los detectives encontraron un anuncio en internet y llamaron al número publicado. Un agente encubierto fue enviado al Miami Princess Hotel, ubicado en el 4251 de la calle 11 del noroeste, en Miami, después de preguntar si la joven anunciada estaba disponible.

Una vez en el lugar, la Policía detuvo a dos mujeres. Se trataba de Cordero Cabrera y de una adolescente de 16 años, informaron las autoridades.

Según los funcionarios, los arrestos se realizaron bajo la fuerza de tarea del Mundial FIFA creada por la Fiscalía Estatal de Miami-Dade, y la investigación continúa activa y en curso.

La Policía indicó que, cuando se celebran grandes eventos deportivos en la ciudad, aumentan los casos de trata de personas.

Este es solo el caso más reciente de trata de personas en el que las agencias del orden del sur de Florida han intensificado su lucha contra los delitos sexuales.

La semana pasada, Local 10 News informó sobre el arresto de seis hombres después de que los investigadores aseguraran que acordaron pagar dinero por tener relaciones sexuales con quienes creían que eran una o dos adolescentes de 14 y 15 años.

Trump also criticized NATO’s abilities to function without American leadership and power, expressing disappointment at the refusal of some NATO allies to join the Iran war he launched alongside Israel without consulting them. And he insisted again that Greenland should be “controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.” Of all of his threats to NATO and its member countries, this has posed the greatest danger to the organization.

Alliance leaders meanwhile are trying to show increased military capabilities as the American focus shifts from defending Europe. The two-day summit will showcase military projects worth billions of dollars aimed at persuading Trump they’re making a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO.

The Latest:

Four NATO allies could face strife over defense spending

Slovenia, Belgium, Spain and the Czech Republic could be in hot water with the Trump administration after new NATO defense spending figures showed they’re struggling to meet the organization’s old target.

NATO leaders agreed last year to invest 5% of GDP on defense by 2035 — 3.5% on core defense requirements and 1.5% on upgrading security related infrastructure like roads, bridges, ports and airports.

The Trump administration is expecting a “first report card” to be handed in by European allies and Canada to demonstrate progress. It’s threatened to take unspecified action against those lacking a solid plan to make the grade.

Some are still struggling to meet NATO’s old target of 2% of GDP. Slovenia is expected to fall short, with just 1.6%. Belgium, Spain and the Czech Republic are forecast to barely make 2%.

How will Netanyahu react?

Rahm Emanuel’s remarks could prompt a similarly fiery response from Benjamin Netanyahu, who famously once called the Democrat who had ambitions of being the first Jewish speaker of the U.S. House a “self-hating Jew.”

The prime minister faces his own battle for reelection in October, and may try to use a confrontation with Emanuel for political gain by appearing to stand strong in the face of international criticism.

As for Democrats, Emanuel’s speed represents a particularly frontal strategy for possible presidential contenders gauging how to address the fallout from Israel’s war in Gaza and Netanyahu’s perceived tilt toward Trump ’s Republican Party.

Emanuel, a longtime Israel supporter, tells AP he has a blunt message for Netanyahu

Rahm Emanuel told The Associated Press in an interview from Tel Aviv ahead of his speech on Wednesday that he’s avoiding interactions with elected officials so as to not interfere with upcoming elections. Instead he’s visiting a hospital serving Israelis and Palestinians and meeting with the family of an Oct. 7 hostage.

Emanuel said Israel’s continued military response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has been “reckless and careless in the treatment of Palestinian life — not only the military campaign but using food and medicine as an instrument of your military goals.”

Asked whether Israel had committed genocide, the stalwart of Democratic centrists said the question should not be considered in isolation without also examining conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan.

“I’m ready to have that discussion,” he said, “but I don’t think it should be politicized, and then dilute the power of what genocide means.”

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What is NATO’s Article 5?

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, left, receives applause from NATO members including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, center, and U.S. President Joe Biden during a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at the level of Heads of State and Government, with Sweden, at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Wednesday, July, 12, 2023. (Doug Mills/Pool via AP)

Article 5 is at the heart of the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all members.

That security guarantee is the reason previously neutral Finland and Sweden sought to join NATO and why Ukraine and other countries in Europe also want in. It has only been invoked once, in the wake of the Sept.11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.

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Turkey’s opposition leader criticizes Trump for not visiting Ataturk tomb

Ozgur Ozel said Trump would be the only visiting U.S. president not to pay his respects at the mausoleum of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

He said every visiting U.S. president since Eisenhower in 1959 had gone to the monument to honor Ataturk, who remains a revered figure in Turkey.

Talking about Trump’s welcome, Ozel said the president should be greeted by children “holding pictures of the 165 girls killed in Iran” – a reference to an airstrike on a school at the start of the Iran war.

Ozel was removed as head of the Republican People’s Party by court order last May. However, many believe the ruling was politically motivated and still consider him the de facto opposition leader.

Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden did not visit Turkey but he did lay a wreath at Ataturk’s tomb as vice-president in 2011.

Explosions rock Damascus as France’s Macron visits Syria

The explosions in Syria’s capital on Tuesday injured at least 18 people, the interior ministry said, as France’s president met with his counterpart in a landmark visit. Both leaders later announced the reappointment of ambassadors, marking a major restoration of diplomatic ties after years of civil war.

It was the second attack in Damascus in a week and a setback for President Ahmad al-Sharaa as he welcomed the first major Western leader to visit since the ouster of longtime dictator Bashar Assad in late 2024. But French President Emmanuel Macron was safe in the presidential palace when the explosions happened, and voiced support for the country’s new direction.

“Nothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic, and united Syria,” Macron said on X hours later. Both he and Al-Sharaa will next appear in Ankara, Turkey for the NATO summit.

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Three tankers hit in the Strait of Hormuz, British military says

The British military now says three tankers were struck Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a third ship was hit by a drone in the critical oil-shipping waterway, where two other tankers had been attacked earlier in the day.

The third ship sustained minor damage, with no one injured, and continued on its way, the UKMTO said.

Iran and the United States agreed as part of an interim deal to allow ships to pass without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran insisted it must control the routes and later charge fees, which would upend decades of practice in the waterway.

The U.S. and many Gulf Arab states say they will not agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait. An effort by Oman and a United Nations agency to launch a new route near Oman’s shore earlier sparked attacks across the Mideast.

Security is tight in the Turkish capital

Air defenses are on alert, and tens of thousands of police will be on duty.

Neighborhoods around the summit site are closed to traffic, and some state workers have been given time off to help keep roads unclogged.

Public gatherings are banned; however, Turkish police detained more than 20 protestors at a demonstration in central Ankara against the NATO summit on Tuesday.

Erdogan’s government has prioritized security, and authorities have carried out raids on people allegedly linked to extremist groups ahead of the summit.

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Trump says US will lift sanctions that prevented sales of F-35 jets to Turkey

Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. will lift sanctions on Turkey that were issued after Ankara purchased a Russian missile defense system that led to the country being kicked out of the F-35 fighter jet program.

There are still a number of legal hurdles before Turkey could be fully admitted back to the U.S. program, but the removal of the sanctions — issued under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act — would help ease the process for Ankara to regain access to the F-35s, a top goal of Erdogan.

“We’re going to be taking the sanctions off, OK?” Trump said in response to a question at the presidential palace in Ankara. He said Cabinet officials were working on the matter.

Earlier, he said that the possibility of selling the F-35s to Turkey is “certainly something we will consider.”

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Erdogan hopeful over US defense sales

Erdogan expressed hope that the U.S. will sell F-35 planes to Turkey, saying the U.S. president always stands by his word.

At a joint news conference with Trump, Erdogan also said the two leaders would take up the issue of the sale of jet engines to power Turkey’s domestically-produced KAAN fighter planes.

He said Turkey expects Trump to “repeat the positive news” he previously gave about supporting Turkey’s defense projects.

Trump repeats his insistence that the US should control Greenland

Trump says the semiautonomous island, which is part of NATO ally Denmark, is “an important part for the United States,” and that he does not intend to let Greenland be threatened by China and Russia. He repeated the false claim that it’s surrounded by Chinese and Russian ships.

“That should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Erdogan.

Of all Trump’s threats to NATO and its member countries, Trump’s repeated insistence that the U.S. should acquire Greenland has posed the greatest danger to the organization. NATO is founded on the principle that its 32 members will defend each other’s territory and not threaten to seize it.

The British military says a second ship has been hit in the Strait of Hormuz

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center made the announcement Tuesday, hours after it said a tanker traveling off the coast of Oman in the strait was struck by a projectile and caught fire.

Iranian state television reported on the earlier attack, saying the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings, while not directly claiming responsibility. Tehran has repeatedly declared that only its approved route through the strait is safe, and is suspected of attacking other ships that have tried to transit the strait close to the Omani shore.

Talks between Iran and the U.S. appeared to be on hold until after the burial of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the initial attacks by the U.S. and Israel that launched the war. Iranian mourners have called for the death of Trump.

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NATO official dismisses fears of a Russian attack on alliance members

A senior NATO official speaking on the sidelines of the summit in Ankara Tuesday said that despite some “reckless” actions by Russia, including airspace violations over Poland, Romania and Estonia, he believes the alliance has been successful in deterring Russia from any potential attack on a member country.

“I see absolutely no indications whatsoever that Russia is interested in any sort of conflict with NATO,” the official said.

He said Moscow is overstretched by its war in Ukraine and knows NATO would respond to any attack on a member.

“I would say now that Russia is deterred, but Russia is deterred because of the actions that we are taking,” he said.

Rahm Emanuel will assail Netanyahu in Tel Aviv speech as American politics shift against Israel

While Trump is in Turkey demanding loyalty from NATO allies, a leading Democrat will be in Tel Aviv, directly accusing the president’s military partner of driving Israel into a “dead end.”

Potential presidential candidate Rahm Emanuel plans to denounce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and call for an end to U.S. subsidies of Israel’s defense budget in a speech Wednesday at Tel Aviv University.

“You’ve lost Europe,” Emanuel will say, according to remarks obtained by The Associated Press. Castigating Netanyahu for doing little to end the Iran war, he’ll note that “support for Israel is plummeting around the world.”

About 58% of Democrats now say the U.S. is “too supportive” of Israel, according to a new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, up from 45% in January 2024. Roughly half of Democrats believe Israel’s government has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza, an accusation leveled by some human rights organizations and vehemently denied by Israel and the U.S. government.

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Trump says he thinks Russia-Ukraine war will be settled ‘hopefully soon’

The U.S. leader was asked about his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy scheduled for Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit, and responded by saying he’s had great recent phone conversations with both the Ukrainian president and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“They both want to get it settled now,” he said.

He added later that Erdogan is “helping us get it settled.”

Trump refreshes complaints against European allies

At his bilateral meeting with Erdogan, Trump said he was testing European allies when he asked for their help with the Iran war.

“Italy turned us down and Germany turned us down and France turned us down,” Trump said. “And that’s OK. But, you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and they’re not there for us?”

The complaint has been a central point of conflict between Trump and NATO, which he has described as a “paper tiger.”

Trump says he has great chemistry with Erdogan

As they sat down for a bilateral meeting, Trump showered praise on Erdogan, saying they have a “very special relationship” that benefits both countries.

Asked about what makes their relationship so strong, Trump said there’s “a chemistry that works between us.”

“Sometimes you get along with the toughest people, like him,” Trump said, gesturing to Erdogan. “Sometimes you don’t get along with the weakest, most pathetic people.”

Trump says he’s going to consider selling F-35 jets to Turkey

The president was asked by a reporter as he met with Erdogan whether he’ll allow the sale of the American fighter jets to Turkey, which had been banned from the program after purchasing Russian missile defense systems.

“It’s certainly something we will consider,” Trump said as he sat with his Turkish counterpart.

He said that “Turkey has been in many ways much more loyal than other countries.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly urged the U.S. not to sell the jets to Turkey, saying it would upset the balance of power in the Middle East.

FIFA praises World Cup referee who Trump claimed was ‘suspect’ after red card for Balogun

FIFA has defended the reputation of World Cup referee Raphael Claus in rare pushback on comments by Trump, who questioned his integrity for sending off Folarin Balogun.

Trump suggested on Monday at the White House, without elaborating, that the 46-year-old Brazilian referee was “a little bit suspect if you check his past.”

Trump set off a furor by successfully intervening with FIFA to ensure the United States forward could play against Belgium despite his red-card penalty. FIFA praised Claus, now working at his second World Cup, in a statement published before the U.S. lost 4-1 Monday night.

“Throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated the highest standards of professionalism and integrity,” FIFA said, calling Claus “one of the world’s leading professional referees and a valued member” of its team of World Cup match officials.

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Zelenskyy reiterates call for Ukraine to join NATO

Zelenskyy made a fresh appeal for Ukraine to be allowed to join NATO, saying that his country’s armed forces are highly experienced and resilient would only boost the alliance’s defense capabilities.

“Ukraine belongs in NATO,” Zelenskyy said at a defense industry forum, near where NATO leaders were due to gather later on Tuesday.

Zelenskyy highlighted Ukraine’s adaptability and its ability to strike deep inside Russia, hit oil refineries and other energy targets. He said that Ukraine’s armed forces are “eliminating” on average 30,000 Russian troops every month.

“Do you believe it would be right to live outside NATO, a country and a people with this level of defense capability?” he said.

Ukraine seeks continued funding in war

Another top agenda item is continued support to Ukraine, now in a fifth year of full-scale war with Russia. European allies and Canada are funding most of Ukraine’s needs, including paying for about 90% of the country’s air defenses.

With European countries fearing what Moscow’s territorial ambitions might lie beyond Ukraine, leaders have described Kyiv as a bulwark against Russian advances.

Trump is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.

The Netherlands announces more and smarter defense spending

The Dutch defense ministry says it is investing together with the United Kingdom in new amphibious transport vessels and with other NATO allies in replacing aging AWACS surveillance planes.

The government announced the plans on the first day of the NATO summit in Ankara to underscore its commitment to ramping up defense spending.

The ministry says the Dutch also are playing a leading role in a European initiative to co-produce and maintain American arms such as Stinger, Amraam, and PAC-3 missiles.

Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius says the Netherlands and European allies “are investing much more in strengthening European defense” with extra money “but also by working together smarter.”

German leader wants ‘signal of strength and unity’ in Ankara

Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed before leaving Berlin that his country has doubled its defense spending since 2022.

He said that “we are not making this effort to do anyone a favor; we are making this effort because it is necessary for our defense, for our security.”

Merz said that “Russia remains a serious threat” and is “testing our determination every day.” He added that “it is all the more important that we send a signal of strength and unity in Ankara.”

Merz said: “This summit should send the message that we are building a more European NATO so that NATO can remain trans-Atlantic.”

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Preservationist Don Worth took Local 10 News inside the historic structure on Tuesday, showing both its beauty and the decades of wear it has endured.

“Best view of Miami, absolutely incredible,” Worth said. “The thing about the stadium is that everyone who comes here is a VIP. Everybody has a Waterbury seat.”

Built in 1963, the Miami Marine Stadium was designed by architect Hilario Candela and became known for its unique design, with a portion of the structure built over Biscayne Bay.

“Candela was from Havana, came here as a young architect. He was 28 years old at the time,” said Ricardo Lopez, principal of RJ Heisenbottle Architects.

The stadium became a destination for boat races, concerts and major events, including a memorable performance by the late Jimmy Buffett.

“Everyone I got to talk to that got to come back here had a lot of fun, so I am ready to have a lot of fun here,” said Savannah Buffett, Jimmy Buffett’s daughter and a Miami resident.

The city closed the stadium following the impact of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and the building spent decades without major restoration.

“What is interesting is after the stadium closed in 1992, the creatives took it over and, in a certain sense, they kept it alive,” Worth said.

Now, Miami voters will decide in an August special election whether the city should enter into a management agreement with a venue operator at the adjacent Flex Park.

Under the proposed agreement, the city would receive 93% of gross event revenue after a $33,333 monthly management fee is deducted, 85% of sponsorship revenue and up to $10 million from Global Spectrum toward restoring the historic stadium.

City leaders and preservationists say that agreement would be a first step toward eventually restoring the stadium.

“The idea is after revenues are stabilized for a couple of years, the city can go out and issue a revenue bond,” said Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo. “That revenue bond would pay for the full restoration of the Miami Marine Stadium, which is projected roughly at $65 million.”

Pardo said it could take about five years before the project generates enough revenue for the city to move to the next phase of renovating the stadium itself.

“This is the Miami experience. There is nothing like it in the world,” he said. “It is not just an iconic venue on the water, it will represent our city to the globe.”

Supporters say restoring the stadium would bring the landmark back into Miami’s civic and social life.

“It is a monument of a building in front of our greatest asset here — Biscayne Bay,” Lopez said. “We are really excited at the opportunity to hopefully see the day when this place can be open for the public again.”

Christine Rupp, executive director of Dade Heritage Trust, said preservation is becoming increasingly important as Miami continues to grow.

“I think as Miami grows at an unprecedented rate, they understand preserving these icons are super important,” Rupp said.

Voters can review the Miami special election sample ballot and the referendum question before heading to the polls.

After a scoreless draw, Ruben Vargas converted the decisive penalty and Switzerland advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals, beating Colombia 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday.

Switzerland will face defending champion Argentina on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Argentina defeated Egypt 3-2 earlier in the day.

Switzerland had not reached the quarterfinals of a World Cup since hosting the tournament in 1954. And the Swiss were short-handed Tuesday without young midfielder Johan Manzambi, who was injured in training on Monday.

Vargas, who has scored two goals in the World Cup, also left Monday’s training early but came on in stoppage time at the end of regulation.

In the shootout, Colombia defender Davinson Sánchez's penalty attempt hit the crossbar and Switzerland goalkeeper Gregor Kobel saved an attempt by Cucho Hernández.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, a Swiss citizen, was among those at BC Place, where the sellout crowd of 52,497 was overwhelmingly clad in yellow in support of Colombia.

“They had the crowd on their side, so it was a tough game for us,” Kobel said. “We know we had some stretches of the game where we had to defend and stay strong mentally. Obviously we had a few players missing so, yeah, it was a big challenge for us.”

Colombia failed to qualify for the last World Cup in 2022. Los Cafeteros made the quarterfinals at the 2014 tournament in Brazil, defeating Uruguay in the round of 16 before losing to the host country 2-1.

“The dream was enormous,” Colombia midfielder Jhon Arias said. “The country showed us that it believed in us, that it lived every moment with us, and I think that only makes the pain even greater.”

The Swiss reached the round of 16 at the past three World Cups but failed to advance with a smaller field of 32 teams.

“We worked very hard, and now we have this opportunity,” Switzerland coach Murat Yakin said. “This is going to be a very interesting matchup from our point of view. We will try to compete against the reigning champions and it’s going to be amazing. Switzerland against Argentina in a quarterfinal. I am so excited. I think that I need maybe a couple of hours more or another day to process what just happened, and then tomorrow we will start focusing on Argentina.”

The match was tightly contested by two teams with contrasting styles, the Swiss with a more organized and methodical approach and Colombia more attack-oriented and physical. Switzerland had a slight edge in possession.

Manzambi, a 20-year-old midfielder who plays for German club Freiburg, has three goals in the World Cup, becoming one of the tournament’s breakout stars. The Swiss were also without Luca Jaquez and midfielder Michel Aebischer.

Gustavo Puerta had the first good chance for Colombia with a shot from distance in the 21st minute that was pushed away by Kobel.

The Swiss got one of their best opportunities in the 30th with Fabian Rieder’s blast at goalkeeper Camilo Vargas, who punched the ball down. Minutes later, Vargas smothered another attempt from Dan Ndoye.

The Swiss had a free kick in the 52nd minute, but Rieder’s attempt curled around the wall and went into the side netting.

In the first extra time period, Jhon Lucumi’s header hit the crossbar and caromed away as Colombia put pressure on Kobel.

“I don’t think you can overstate what a huge success this is — for us, for this team, for Switzerland, for such a small country. To be among the top eight teams in the world is incredible,” Kobel said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. I’m incredibly proud.”

Colombia and Switzerland also met in the group stage at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, with Los Cafeteros winning 2-0.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

After the Knicks’ first NBA championship in more than 50 years, Taylor Swift’s wedding at Madison Square Garden and the World Cup final to be played just across the Hudson River, it looks like another circus is coming to town.

To the Flushing Meadows section of Queens, to be precise.

All indications point to the 44-year-old Williams playing the U.S. Open next month for the first time in four years.

“Her intention is to keep playing; the U.S. Open as well,” Rennae Stubbs, one of Williams’ coaches, said at Wimbledon on Tuesday — a week after Williams lost in her first singles match since 2022.

Williams injured her right knee midway through a three-set loss to Maya Joint at the All England Club and withdrew from a doubles match with older sister Venus on Saturday.

Williams shared an Instagram update over the weekend that included images of four syringes filled with fluid drained from her knee.

“As long as physically she can go — and I’m hoping in a few weeks that’s the case — to get her back on the court and hitting balls,” Stubbs said.

Main draw singles play at the U.S. Open starts Aug. 30.

“All I can say,” Serena said after her loss, “is stay tuned to a city near you.”

‘It will be huge’

James Blake, the Yonkers, New York, native who reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals twice, knows just what Williams will bring to the tournament.

“It will be huge and it’s deserved because she’s the greatest of all time on the women’s side — and an American,” Blake said of the 23-time Grand Slam champion. “She’s an idol for so many young girls.”

Blake is now the Miami Open tournament director and a tennis commentator for ESPN.

“She’s been through this for the last 20 years so she knows what a circus it will be and she’s willing to put herself through that,” Blake told The Associated Press. “That shows how much she loves the game and she loves the competition.”

Added doubles great Bob Bryan: “Serena is a legend. Everyone wants to see her on the court again. It’s a great story.”

Williams practiced at Bryan's club in Florida earlier this year.

“She wasn’t giving away too much information but she was getting 12 rackets strung. ... So we knew she was serious,” Bryan said. “Hopefully she gets healthy and can make a run this summer. She’s going to win again for sure. She’s a champion.”

Warmup tournaments

Williams played only two doubles matches — but no singles — before Wimbledon. Expect her to play more singles before the U.S. Open.

If she desires, Williams should have no problem obtaining wild-card invitations from tournament organizers at U.S. Open warmups in Toronto and Cincinnati, Ohio.

“I know that for her, trying to play certainly something before the U.S. Open will be something she would like to do,” Stubbs said. “But at the same time it’s going to depend on how physically she’s doing.”

Knee issue

In Williams’ social media post about her injury, she said “the good news is my knee shouldn’t swell or collect that much fluid again.”

Still, it was more of a factor against Joint than many people thought, according to Stubbs.

“She did whisper to me, ‘I would have won if I had a good knee,’” Stubbs said. “Leading up to the tournament, she was playing practice sets (and) beating players that are still in the tournament. I won’t mention which ones because I don’t want to embarrass them but she was playing well.”

Despite being away for so long, Williams still hit serves beyond 120 mph and showed off her same old heavy groundstrokes, which landed within inches of the baseline.

The only real issue was her movement.

“Considering how bad the knee was it’s pretty miraculous really that she went as long as she did in the match,” Stubbs said. “She was rubbing her legs every change of end. … So I could see that there was something going on that was a little unusual for her.

“But the fact that she got through, walked off the court and nobody even really knew was pretty miraculous. And it also shows how high her pain tolerance is.”

Hard courts

After the grass of Wimbledon, the hard courts of the U.S. Open — which she has won six times in singles — could be more favorable for Williams.

“Everybody saw her standard was still pretty good and so once she gets on the hard courts she’s going to have better stability,” Stubbs said. “We all know how well she plays on hard courts so it’s just a matter of getting her body back in into the shape she wants.”

Added retired player Caroline Wozniacki, one of Williams’ best friends: “I thought she moved well already on the grass. … She didn’t win the more important points in the match, but she did a good job. I would expect her to just keep doing better as this comeback progresses.”

Match toughness

Williams was broken only once as she lost the opening set to Joint. Then she won the second in a tiebreaker and didn’t really fade away until midway through the third.

“I’m sure just playing a few matches will get her more precise,” Blake said. “She missed one easy ball and then things unraveled a little bit. When she’s at her best that turns into one point instead of a game or two games or three games. She’ll get back to being match-tough.

“If she plays three or four matches before the U.S. Open,” Blake added, “it will be — not an entirely different player — but quite an improvement by the U.S. Open.”

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