Brisa Velasco had last been seen at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday along the 8700 block of Northwest 57th Street in Tamarac, authorities said.

Capt. Maximo Vazquez had been arrested last year after he was accused of attacking a colleague in June and calling 911 to report his wife had vanished.

Miami-Dade corrections booked Vazquez, 43, shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Vazquez, who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, walked out of his home “with a hammer,” approached his wife, who was in a parked 2026 dark gray Tesla sedan, and “threatened” to smash all of the windows, according to a deputy’s arrest report.

Vazquez placed several metal screws under the car’s tires, and when his wife got out of the car, he “grabbed” and “twisted her wrists, took her cell phones, and disabled the car’s start-up mechanism, according to the deputy’s arrest report.

Vazquez “continued drinking alcohol inside the residence, aggressively grabbed both of her arms, placed them against her chest, and pushed her ... began to slap her in the face ... butt headed [her], and proceeded to strike [her] in the head with his personal cellular phone ... proceeded to rip-off [her] clothing ... grabbed her by the hair,” a deputy wrote, according to the arrest report.

Someone called 911 anonymously, and when deputies responded to the house, the woman denied the domestic violence and said she did not need help, according to a deputy’s arrest report.

The woman left her home and went to the emergency room at the Jackson South Medical Center after suffering “a major headache,” according to deputies, who responded to the hospital.

“We have not been in contact with the individual. Once contact is established, the department will initiate a thorough internal investigation in accordance with our policies and procedures,” a Miami Fire Rescue Department spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Vazquez faced new charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery, strong-arm robbery, and false imprisonment.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michelle Ashby Delancy was set to preside over the new case.

Local 10 News Assignment Editors Carson Merlo and Mariana Ortiz contributed to this report.

Inmate record

Related reports

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Los bloqueos se han extendido a seis de las nueve regiones del país. La situación es más complicada en La Paz, la sede del gobierno, que lleva 30 aislada del resto del país con escaso suministro de alimentos y combustible y reservas mínimas de oxígeno en los hospitales.

La protesta ha polarizado al país y es una de las más largas desde la convulsión social que derivó en 2019 en la renuncia del entonces presidente Evo Morales (2006-2019) tras unas elecciones denunciadas de fraudulentas. Su sucesor Luis Arce (2020-2025) enfrentó un paro de 36 días.

La Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), que lidera las protestas junto a sindicatos campesinos y juntas vecinales de la ciudad de El Alto, rechazaron negociar con el gobierno, pero anunciaron el domingo la apertura de corredores humanitarios para el paso de suministros esenciales. El gobierno retiró las demandas de detención contra los líderes de las manifestaciones, pero esto no ayudó a abrir negociaciones.

“Hemos decidido mantener las medidas de presión y ratificamos nuestro pedido de renuncia de Rodrigo Paz. No hay nada más que negociar”, dijo el dirigente Severo Marca tras una reunión el domingo en la noche. “La COB va a continuar con las medidas de presión, hemos descartado el diálogo”, agregó el dirigente José Luis Álvarez. “La única salida es el diálogo y seguiremos insistiendo”, señaló por separado el obispo católico de la ciudad de El Alto Giovanni Arana, uno de los mediadores.

Por el momento el gobierno descartó utilizar a los militares para despejar las rutas ante el temor de incidentes que podrían agravar el conflicto y tampoco ha decretado el estado de excepción a pesar de una reciente ley que lo faculta a aplicar ese recurso.

La Defensoría del Pueblo registró hasta la semana pasada siete fallecidos —la mayoría por falta de atención médica por los cortes de rutas—, 23 heridos y 321 detenidos.

El lunes La Paz amaneció con escaso transporte público y protestas de choferes por la escasez de combustible. Según la petrolera estatal cientos de camiones cisterna están varados en las carreteras.

Un centenar de seguidores de Morales están reforzando las protestas en La Paz, según los sindicatos. El gobierno acusó al exmandatario de alentar las protestas y éste ha sugerido convocar nuevas elecciones.

“Esta es una movilización convocada por el hambre y el desempleo… la movilización ya es contra el Estado neoliberal”, dijo Morales el domingo en la radio de los cocaleros del Chapare, donde resiste una investigación judicial por el supuesto abuso de una menor cuando era mandatario.

“No veo al gobierno usando la fuerza, lo veo frágil. Los sindicatos quieren preservar el modelo que dominó por 20 años con Morales y Arce. Ese es el pulso en este momento”, opinó el analista Gonzalo Mendieta en la radio católica Fides.

Paz sostiene que el modelo estatista de Morales y Arce dejó al país “en la quiebra”.

En 2019, el gobierno cubano modificó su constitución para permitir la inversión extranjera. Sin embargo, no cambió sus leyes para proteger dichas inversiones.

Por lo tanto, los riesgos de invertir en Cuba siguen siendo mayores que las oportunidades.

El Dr. Andy S. Gomez es el analista de Cuba de Local 10. Gomez es considerado uno de los principales estudiosos sobre Cuba. Trabajó en educación superior durante 32 años antes de retirarse de la Universidad de Miami en 2012.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has accepted a wild card invitation to play doubles at the upcoming Queen’s Club grass-court tournament, the WTA Tour announced Monday.

The Queen’s Club tournament starts June 8

Williams has not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, Williams said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis.

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

The study, by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, compared occupations that can be done remotely — such as software development — with those that are done in person, such as nursing. The study finds that the unemployment rate among young college graduates in “remotable” jobs rose by about 1 percentage point from 2017-2019 to 2022-2024.

Yet for older workers in those fields — those aged 29 and over — the jobless rate declined slightly, leading to a notably higher unemployment rate for college graduates 28 or younger in remotable occupations compared with older ones.

Yet in non-remotable jobs, there has been little gap in the unemployment rates between older and younger college grads, the study finds. A similar pattern exists for those without college degrees, the study found.

The study, led by New York Fed research economist Natalia Emanuel, concludes that businesses are reluctant to hire new college grads into remote work because it is harder to train and mentor them if they work outside of the office. The authors of the study calculate that remote work is responsible for nearly two-thirds of the rise in the unemployment rate for young college graduates since the pandemic.

“Remote work has weakened incentives to hire young workers by impeding on-the-job training,” the study said. “Employers may not want to hire fresh graduates onto distributed teams because it is more difficult to teach them the requisite skills from afar."

The study notes that the rise in unemployment among young college grads pre-dates the development of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT. And when the authors looked at the exposure different occupations had to AI, it found that AI had little impact on youth unemployment.

The unemployment rate for college grads under 29 rose 20% from before the pandemic to 3.7%, on average, in 2022-2025, the New York Fed said. For college grads aged 22 through 27, unemployment reached 5.8% last year, the highest outside the pandemic since 2012.

The study's findings are consistent with the low-hire, low-fire state of the job market, where layoffs are low and the unemployment rate is mostly stable, but those out of work are struggling to find new jobs.

The New York Fed study also looked at detailed data from an unnamed Fortune 500 tech company and found that its hiring patterns mirrored what they had seen in the broader data.

When the company's offices were closed and staff worked remotely, “the firm hired fewer inexperienced workers and more experienced workers, who might need less mentorship to do their jobs well."

“Once its offices reopened, the company shifted back to hiring younger workers,” the study said. But even after the reopening, the company favored more experienced workers for teams that included remote work.

Nearly all major seasonal forecast groups ― including Colorado State University that issued its first forecast in early April and NOAA, the parent agency of the National Weather Service ― are predicting below-average seasonal hurricane activity for the Atlantic basin in 2026.

El Niño takes center stage

The 800-pound gorilla this hurricane season will be the fast-building El Niño ― abnormally warm waters around the equator in the eastern Pacific Ocean ― expected to be officially declared in the next month or two.

Over the past two weeks, waters have averaged around a degree Celsius above average in the main El Niño monitoring region (called the Niño 3.4 region), which is significant, especially for the time of year. NOAA looks for waters in this main monitoring region to hit at least half a degree Celsius above average over a three-month period before declaring El Niño conditions, so their thresholds take a little longer to reach.

Nevertheless, we’re well on our way to what models forecast will be a blockbuster El Niño later this year and into early 2027 (El Niño conditions typically peak from November to January). Forecast models indicate a near certainty (greater than 90% chance) of a strong to very strong El Niño by the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season (August-September-October), and a greater than 80% chance of a so-called “Super El Niño” during what’s traditionally the most active part of the season this fall.

El Niño conditions affect the Atlantic hurricane season in several ways, but most consequentially they sharply increase storm-busting wind shear in the areas normally favored for hurricane development. During strong to very strong El Niños like the one forecast, wind shear is especially strong in the western part of the Atlantic and across the Caribbean Sea.

It’s worth noting that during the last strong El Niño in 2023, hurricane activity wasn’t reduced due to a ridiculously warm tropical Atlantic which counteracted El Niños usual influence. This is something we discussed in detail and forecast could happen at the time. This isn’t expected to be in the case in 2026, with waters running near average across the main development region of the Atlantic.

Down but not out

Less hurricane activity doesn’t mean no hurricane activity. Although U.S. landfalls tend to be reduced during El Niño years, it doesn’t eliminate the risk altogether.

Even during strong El Niños we’ve seen big hurricane hits, like in 1965 with Hurricane Betsy taking an unconventional loop-the-loop east of Florida before clocking South Florida and making a final hit on South Louisiana, causing extensive flooding in the New Orleans metro and becoming the costliest Atlantic hurricane on record at the time (and the first billion dollar U.S. disaster, unadjusted for inflation).

As Betsy showed and as the wind shear anomaly map above suggests, storms that develop in the subtropics (the region just north of the main tropical belt and east of Florida) have a better shot of evading the amped up subtropical jet stream and organizing during El Niño years. Here in southeast Florida we’ll want to keep an eye to the east ― especially come August and September ― for storms that might thread the needle.

No organized activity expected this week

The first full week of the 2026 hurricane season should be mostly quiet. Rich tropical air will remain over the Gulf this week, but plentiful wind shear will keep the Gulf closed for now.

A potent cold front will usher in drier air to much of Florida and the eastern Gulf by late this week and the weekend (though only a brief relief for us in southeast Florida). We’ll keep an eye out early to mid- next week for this stalled front that’ll be draped across Florida into the western Atlantic. These stalled fronts can be a source of early season tropical mischief, but for now long-range models aren’t suggesting anything to be concerned about.

El destino del controvertido centro de detención migratoria está en el aire.

Proveedores confirmaron a Local 10 que les han comunicado que las operaciones en la instalación terminarán el lunes, casi un año después de la célebre visita del presidente Donald Trump el día en que abrió.

La instalación fue construida en menos de dos semanas, pero un nuevo capítulo para el centro de detención está tomando forma.

Sky 10 sobrevoló Alligator Alcatraz en días recientes mientras un número creciente de detenidos dentro de la instalación llaman a Local 10 afirmando que ven las operaciones cerrando.

Múltiples fuentes dijeron que el número de detenidos está bajando drásticamente.

“Se supone que es para efectuar la deportación, no para tenerlos allí indefinidamente”, dijo el abogado de inmigración Sammy Aliferis.

El alto costo de operar la instalación podría ser un factor en la decisión de cerrarla, ya que el dinero proviene del fondo de emergencia de Florida.

El congresista demócrata Maxwell Frost, que representa al Distrito 10 de Florida, opinó al respecto.

“Gastaron casi mil millones de dólares del dinero de los contribuyentes en este fallido proyecto de sufrimiento humano”, dijo.

Se supone que más de $600 millones serán reembolsados por el gobierno federal, pero el calendario para el pago completo no está claro.

“Es irrelevante si el estado está siendo reembolsado o no; de todas formas están siendo reembolsados con nuestro dinero como contribuyentes”, dijo Frost.

El gobernador Ron DeSantis defendió sus acciones de apoyo al controvertido centro de detención, pero no niega el reciente reporte del New York Times de que el gobierno federal lo cerrará definitivamente.

Cepeda, aliado del actual presidente Gustavo Petro, había liderado en los últimos meses gran parte de las encuestas y parecía confiado en que podría ganar en primera vuelta, un hito que nadie ha conseguido en casi dos décadas.

Pero los resultados del domingo, que corresponden a un conteo preliminar, le dieron la ventaja a De la Espriella con 43,74% de los votos frente a 40,90% de Cepeda, lo que los llevará al balotaje el 21 de junio.

Petro no aceptó los resultados y dijo que esperará a que los jueces electorales realicen el escrutinio, resuelvan eventuales reclamos sobre irregularidades y declaren formalmente la elección. En la misma línea se pronunció Cepeda.

Un golpe al progresismo

La primera vuelta presidencial era para los analistas un medidor de la aceptación o rechazo a la agenda política de Petro, quien no se puede reelegir.

Mientras Cepeda promete profundizar los programas sociales para los más vulnerables y continuar los diálogos de paz con los grupos armados, De la Espriella ha dicho que dará un vuelco total y reducirá el tamaño del Estado, beneficiará a empresarios y presionará con operaciones militares a los grupos ilegales.

“Hay una polarización enorme en el país, lo que los votantes en su gran mayoría sugirieron es que no quieren una continuidad al gobierno Petro”, aseguró a The Associated Press el analista político Sergio Guzmán. “De la Espriella ganó la primera vuelta, eso es un golpe de opinión muy difícil de derrotar”, explicó.

De la Espriella calificó a su contrincante de “bandido aliado de narcoterroristas”, mientras Cepeda lo tildó de buscar regresar al país a un pasado “mafioso y corrupto”.

Con una diferencia de más de 673.000 votos, De la Espriella y Cepeda lucharán por mantener a su electorado y conquistar a los votantes que en primera vuelta apoyaron a los otros nueve aspirantes. Cepeda retó el lunes a De la Espriella a un primer debate público para medir propuestas.

De la Espriella se autodefine independiente y se postuló sin el apoyo explícito de partidos tradicionales. Sin embargo, tras los resultados del domingo comenzaron a tejerse alianzas políticas. La candidata Paloma Valencia —quien se ubicó en tercer lugar con 6,9% de los votos— y su padrino político, el expresidente Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), anunciaron su apoyo al conservador, así como el exmandatario Iván Duque (2018-2022) y el partido Cambio Radical.

Por su parte, el expresidente Ernesto Samper (1994-1998) renovó su respaldo a Cepeda y se sumó el exembajador en el Reino Unido y candidato en primera vuelta Roy Barreras, quien no obtuvo ni 1% de los votos.

Subirse a la ola conservadora

De la Espriella es un abogado conocido en Colombia por sus clientes de alto perfil como Uribe, así como de figuras controvertidas como Alex Saab, un estrecho aliado del derrocado presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro que enfrenta cargos en Estados Unidos.

Se hace llamar “El Tigre” y dice que con la ferocidad de ese felino enfrentará a los grupos armados. Es vocal en su simpatía por el presidente salvadoreño Nayib Bukele y el argentino Javier Milei, de quienes dice que tomaría algunas de sus políticas como referencia.

“Me gusta mucho el tema de las cárceles y la seguridad del presidente Bukele, haciendo la salvedad de que son dos países muy distintos, con conflictos y situaciones muy diferentes”, explicó De la Espriella a AP antes de la primera vuelta. “Me gustan del presidente Milei algunos de sus manejos económicos; ha reducido sustancialmente la inflación”, agregó.

De la Espriella se une a un número creciente de líderes regionales, desde Chile hasta Honduras, que buscan adoptar el “modelo Bukele” a medida que los votantes latinoamericanos abandonan a los políticos con ideas progresistas destinadas a abordar las causas del conflicto como la falta de oportunidades, la pobreza y la corrupción.

“Es una marca política que, por así decirlo, llegó a Colombia. No creo que De la Espriella inventara nada”, aseguró Guzmán.

El candidato también es seguidor del presidente Donald Trump y miembro del Partido Republicano. Ha prometido que, de llegar al poder, estrechará la relación con Estados Unidos y dará resultados en la disminución de cultivos de hoja de coca, la materia prima de la cocaína.

El nombre más conocido de la lista fue Steak ‘n Shake en Sunrise, cerrado tras hallarse evidencia de actividad de roedores. Los inspectores documentaron aproximadamente 8 excrementos de roedor alrededor del tanque de CO2 en el área de almacenamiento seco.

También en Sunrise, Luv’n Oven Ale House fue clausurado tras detectarse cucarachas vivas bajo los fregaderos de la cocina, cucarachas muertas en el área de refrigeración y acumulación de moho negro en el interior de la máquina de hielo.

En Miami, Mi Lindo Ecuador fue cerrado con 37 violaciones, la cifra más alta de la semana. Los inspectores encontraron más de 10 cucarachas vivas bajo las mesas de preparación, tres dentro del horno y cucarachas rastreando sobre utensilios en el fregadero. También se documentaron alimentos fuera de temperatura, pisos con acumulación de grasa y empleados que manipularon superficies sucias sin lavarse las manos.

Miami Cafe en Miami Beach fue clausurado por aguas residuales que se filtraban a través de los desagües del piso mientras el establecimiento seguía abierto y sirviendo comida al público.

Por su parte, el Denny’s en Coral Gables fue cerrado tras una inspección por queja que reveló más de 25 insectos voladores muertos en las ventanas del local, techos dañados y paredes con acumulación de grasa, todos ellos señalados como violaciones repetidas.

Todos los establecimientos fueron autorizados a reabrir tras una limpieza ordenada y una reinspección. Ningún local de los Cayos de Florida fue clausurado.

Según la policía de Hollywood, los agentes respondieron a la escuela, ubicada en 1901 N Federal Highway, tras una “preocupación de seguridad” y despejaron el campus mientras investigaban lo ocurrido.

La policía confirmó posteriormente que un estudiante había sido detenido y que todos los estudiantes y miembros del personal estaban a salvo.

Según un par de estudiantes de último año de la escuela que hablaron con Local 10, un compañero pasaba por seguridad pero no quiso ser cacheado y corrió hacia el interior de la escuela.

Dijeron que el campus fue puesto en cierre de emergencia mientras los agentes buscaban al estudiante.

La policía dijo que el cierre de emergencia fue levantado y que el día escolar se reanudó con normalidad.

After six days of early voting and election day on Sunday, 216,105 Colombians voted for a presidential and vice presidential candidate at precincts in the U.S., including South Florida.

There were 155,816 who voted for de la Espriella, 47, who has also expressed a deep admiration for Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s aggressive security policies and a plan to build 10 mega-prisons.

There were 32,324 who voted for Iván Cepeda, a left-wing socialist who plans to continue President Gustavo Petro’s policies and diplomatic negotiations with the remaining Marxist guerrilla fighters.

There were 17,507 who voted for Paloma Valencia, a center-right Democrat who lost on Sunday night, and expressed support for de la Espriella’s pro-business and law-and-order policies.

There were 7,525 who voted for Sergio Fajardo, the former mayor of Medellin. There were 1,267 who voted for Claudia López, the former mayor of Bogotá.

De la Espriella, who has been campaigning as “The Tiger,” had 54% of the votes at consulates around the world. After Espriella won 44% of Colombians’ votes, Cepeda, who won 41%, and Petro demanded an audit.

“Only when the vote-counting commissions have fully clarified what happened will we comment on tonight’s results,” Cepeda said in Spanish before a crowd of supporters in Bogotá.

Cepeda and de la Espriella both delivered speeches attacking each other as supporters of narcotraffickers and criminals.

“Let the United States of America and democratic parties monitor this runoff election. I will lead this battle,” de la Espriella said during his speech in Spanish in Barranquilla. “I will be Colombia’s best warrior.”

build 10 mega-prisons, echoing the war on gangs policy of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, which has driven down homicide rates but fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

“Today’s election isn’t just important for us, it’s important for all of Latin America,” said Juan Acevedo, a 62-year-old sociologist walking out of a voting station in Colombia’s capital on Sunday morning. “Whoever wins here will suggest to the region if progressive policies will continue or if things are going to return to the right.”

Report from Bogotá

Report from Coral Gables

Sweeney, the associate head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, will remain with that team through the conclusion of the NBA Finals. The Magic will introduce Sweeney at some point after the finals between the Spurs and New York Knicks.

“We’re excited to welcome Sean to the Orlando Magic family,” Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman said. “Sean brings a tremendous work ethic and a high degree of intensity that set the tone for everything he does. Sean’s attention to detail and his ability to communicate and teach the game clearly stands out. He’s grounded in competitiveness and accountability, while also embracing a modern, creative approach to coaching.”

The 41-year-old Sweeney will replace Jamahl Mosley, who was let go by the Magic after five seasons and three consecutive first-round playoff exits. Mosley has since been hired as coach of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Sweeney is a defensive guru, widely considered one of the brightest young coaches in the league on that side of the ball. In his lone season with the Spurs, he turned what was a porous defense a year ago into one of the league’s most airtight — his scheme centered around Victor Wembanyama, the unanimous winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award this season.

Sweeney will join the Magic after one season with the Spurs. He spent the previous four seasons as an assistant in Dallas, and had past stints on the staffs of Detroit, Milwaukee and Brooklyn — actually starting with the Nets as a video coordinator when the team was in New Jersey.

The Minnesota native played one season at Green Bay before transferring to the University of St. Thomas, where he was a three-year starter.

“Happy for Orlando, and happy for us as he’s in the Eastern Conference,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said last week.

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

Berry, who later coached the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX, died May 25, the Pro Football Hall of Fame said Monday.

His family said in a statement that Berry died peacefully at home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, surrounded by family, including his wife of 65 years, Sally.

“In NFL history, there are only a handful of players who we can say truly changed the sport. Raymond Berry is one of the few names on that list,” Indianapolis Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon said. “As a player during a historic era of Colts football, Raymond redefined the standard for what a wide receiver could and should be. ... Simply put, not only was Raymond Berry one the greatest players in the history of the Colts, but he was one of the most influential and foundational players of the modern NFL.”

A 20th-round draft pick out of SMU in 1954, the Texas native became a model for the virtues of hard work and determination. He had average speed, legs of different length, a bad back, imperfect eyesight and oversized feet that in high school gave him the nickname “Skis.” But he willed himself into a superstar through exhaustive preparation and study, whether using Silly Putty to strengthen his fingers or simulating entire games on the practice field.

He was among the most reliable receivers in league history, rarely dropping a pass and fumbling only twice, according to the Pro Football Reference website. By his own count, he developed 88 separate routes to get open, his discipline so unyielding that even his coach, Weeb Ewbank, tried to intervene.

“One of his drills was to throw nothing but bad balls to him,” Ewbank told the Los Angeles Times in 1986. “I used to have to run John (Unitas) off — ‘John, you’ve had enough throwing today’ — and he’d say, ‘Yeah, talk to that guy out there.’”

Over 13 seasons, Berry caught a then-record 631 passes (Jerry Rice is now the all-time leader, with 1,549) for 68 touchdowns, led the NFL in receptions three times and played in six Pro Bowls. A mainstay of one of the league’s top offenses, featuring Unitas, running back Lenny Moore and offensive lineman Jim Parker, Berry played on championship teams in 1958 and 1959 and a runner-up in 1964.

Berry was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1973, and was voted on to the league’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams. The Colts retired his uniform number, 82. SMU retired his number from college, 87.

A performance for the ages

Berry was at his peak during a signature day in NFL history: the 1958 finale against the Giants at Yankee Stadium, an overtime classic known by many as “The Greatest Game Ever Played." It was nationally televised and often cited as the starting point for the league’s rise over the following decades.

Playing against the NFL’s toughest defense, Berry caught 12 passes for 178 yards and one touchdown, including three consecutive receptions during the 86-yard drive that tied the game 17-17 in regulation, and two crucial grabs during the 80-yard drive that gave the Colts a 23-17 win. The league’s first championship to finish in overtime helped make Unitas a hero and Berry his ideal target.

“We worked and got to know each other and developed timing you just can’t get any other way,” Berry later told the radio program Sports & Torts. “He (Unitas) knew I was going to be there when I was supposed to be there and he knew I was going to catch it.”

A fight for drug testing

After retiring in 1967, Berry was a wide receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots, and head coach of the Pats from 1984-89. He finished 48-39 with New England, including an 11-5 season in 1985 and a trip to Super Bowl XX. The Patriots were crushed 46-10 by the Chicago Bears in that game.

“Raymond Berry holds a special place in Patriots history,” team owner Robert Kraft said. “He led our franchise to its first Super Bowl appearance following a remarkable playoff run, a milestone that was the greatest achievement in team history at the time.”

Kraft said Raymond left a lasting impact on the Patriots and the NFL.

Soon after the Super Bowl against the Bears, the Boston Globe revealed that several New England players had drug problems. Berry had been a source for the Globe story and his push for the team to agree to drug testing was forcefully opposed by the NFL players union.

Berry, a deeply religious man who didn’t drink or smoke, had personal reasons for supporting drug treatment. His former Colts teammate, All-Pro defensive tackle Gene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb, had struggled with addiction.

“They didn’t help him, they just cut him,” Berry told The Patriot Ledger in 1986. “Three years later, he was dead.”

His Texas roots

Berry married fellow Texan Sally Crook in 1960. They had three children.

He was born in Corpus Christi in 1933 and would credit some of his success to his high school coach, his father, Mark Raymond Berry, who taught his son the basics of football even if he didn’t play him much. He attended Schreiner College in Kerrville for a year before transferring to SMU, where during one crucial game he fumbled twice, mistakes he vowed not to commit in the pros.

With the Colts, he caught only 13 passes in his rookie season, but the following year the team signed a free agent quarterback cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers — Unitas. The two soon began practicing together.

“I didn’t know my butt from first base about how to run pass routes,” Berry told Sports & Torts. “If you saw both of us in training camp in 1956, you may have gone away sobbing. We were two pitiful football players, good grief.”

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

Piker, a liberal political commentator who is frequently critical of U.S. President Donald Trump, Israel and the war in Gaza, has 2.8 million followers on Twitch.

The Home Office said that the electronic travel authorization, or ETA, for Piker and Cenk Uygur, who hosts the “Young Turks” online political talk show and is reportedly Piker’s uncle, were canceled “on the grounds that their presence in the U.K. may not be conducive to the public good.”

“Decisions to refuse or cancel an ETA on these grounds are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to U.K. society,” the Home Office said.

Piker and Uygur were due to speak at SXSW London, a culture, technology and creativity festival, this month. Uygur was also expected to give a speech at the Oxford Union, the prestigious student debating society.

“A sad state of affairs where obviously the interests of Israel take the highest priority,” Piker said on his YouTube channel.

Uygur said on X that he had been banned “for criticizing Israel. Are we free any more?”

Piker has faced criticism over some of his comments, including those in favor of the Hamas militant group, which is considered a terrorist organization in the U.K. and the U.S., among other countries.

Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, in an attack that triggered the war in Gaza.

David Taylor, a Labour lawmaker who called for Piker to be blocked, said that “there is no reason we should open our doors to those who seek to spread hate and division, especially someone who’s supported a proscribed terror group.”

But Green Party leader Zack Polanski said that the government was “doing everything possible to silence criticism of the Israeli government.”

In April, the U.K. government barred the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, from entering the country, where he was scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in London in July, after a backlash over his history of antisemitic remarks.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the time that his government “stands firmly with the Jewish community, and we will not stop in our fight to confront and defeat the poison of antisemitism."

According to Hollywood police, officers responded to the school, located at 1901 N Federal Highway, following a “security concern” and cleared the campus as they investigated what occurred.

Police later confirmed that a student had been detained and all students and staff members were safe.

According to a couple of seniors at the school who spoke with Local 10, a fellow student was going through security but didn’t want to be patted down so he ran into the school.

They said the campus was placed on lockdown as officers searched for the student.

Police said the lockdown has since been lifted and the school day is resuming as normal.

“There was such a sense of there being a power greater than us, not necessarily in a spiritual sense, but in the communing with the audience each night,” said guitarist and keyboardist Dave Depper. “It was so concentrated and on such an epic scale … It felt important to be able to tap into that energy and somehow transfer it into the feeling of this next record.”

On Friday, the band will release “I Built You a Tower,” their 11th studio album and second with producer John Congleton. But this is not simply another full-length offering from artists in their veterancy. It is one at an unusual crossroads: A band looking to continue harnessing the enthusiasm of their nostalgic listenership, and one simultaneously experiencing grief.

“I spent a lot of 2023 going through this very painful experience of a separation and eventual divorce,” said frontman and lyricist Ben Gibbard. That informed the record — and happened right as they were embarking on the “Transatlanticism” tour, a run where Gibbard did double-duty, performing two sets. It was also a celebration of his side project the Postal Service, marking the 20th anniversary of that group's sole album, “Give Up.”

Navigating all those realities was a challenge. “I was doing a lot of context switching and in order to do that context switching, certainly as it pertained to my personal life, I had to put all that stuff in a building, as it were, and just lock the door,” he said. “I started to write a lot about how we contextualize, compartmentalize, specifically our grief.”

And a record was born.

The construction behind ‘I Built You a Tower’

Gibbard credits the anniversary tours with reinvigorating his writing.

“I have come to the conclusion over the years that the fans are always right. The records that they think are the best ones are the best records,” he said. “I didn’t want to write 'Transatlanticism 2,' but I wanted it to really build on the spirit of that tour.”

He asked himself: What is it about those songs that continue to connect? “My best work are the pieces that are very emotionally honest, earnest and open,” he said. “I think a lot of my songs that are the best ones are the ones that are very detail oriented. … They kind of sing like real tiny movies.”

There are modern examples of that across “I Built You a Tower,” like in the single “Punching the Flowers,” which takes the image of a toddler stomping on plants and uses it as a metaphor for fatalist frustrations.

And sonically, there are echoes of Death Cab's most beloved albums — found in the staccato rhythms of drummer Jason McGerr on a track like “How Heavenly a State,” for example — or the vocal performance of “Stone Over Water” or “Pep Talk,” while avoiding self-imitation.

A new direction

Gibbard and Depper credit Congleton for pushing them to avoid perfectionist tendencies, reminding them that flaws give life to songs.

“Perfection is the enemy of good rock music, of good guitar music. It really is the push and pull between the instruments. It’s the fact that guitar is a little bit out of tune against the other one. It’s that the drummer rushes a little in the chorus. The vocal is just a little out of the tune or the harmony just kind of wavers a bit against the lead vocal. All of our favorite records sound like that,” said Gibbard.

“A big part of why we love those records is because we hear the humanity and collective fallibility of that. And that’s been wiped away, you know, in this age of AI, more than ever,” agreed Depper. So they endeavored to make an album full of heart — not a glossy, mechanized product.

The band started writing the album in 2023 and 2024, between tours. Through that process, Gibbard eventually felt as if he was able to remove himself enough from the subject matter of “I Built You a Tower”: his divorce. “I was giving enough distance where I felt I could write about it in a manner that was internal and also hopefully lacking in any bitterness,” he said.

Then they recorded it in three weeks in September of last year, and this summer, they'll play hit the road with “I Built You a Tower” — their first time touring noncatalog music since 2022.

“All the love for the records that we lovingly presented,” Depper joked, “but it is very nice to be playing some new material again.”

The most recognizable name on the list was Steak ‘n Shake in Sunrise, which was closed after inspectors found evidence of rodent activity.

Also in Sunrise, Luv’n Oven Ale House was shut down after inspectors documented roach activity and sanitation issues.

In Miami, Mi Lindo Ecuador was ordered closed with 37 violations, the highest total on this week’s list.

Miami Cafe in Miami Beach was shut down because of a sewage backup, while Denny’s in Coral Gables was ordered closed following a complaint inspection that uncovered multiple sanitation concerns.

All of the establishments were allowed to re-open after an ordered cleanup and re-inspection. No places in the Florida Keys were ordered shut.

**STEAK N’ SHAKE

12541 WEST SUNRISE BLVD.

SUNRISE

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 5/18

3 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Approximately 8 rodent droppings around CO2 tank on left corner of dry storage area next to office away from kitchen.”

**LUV’N OVEN ALE HOUSE

10033 SUNSET STRIP

SUNRISE

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 5/19

6 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Approximately 3 live roaches around pipe under triple sinks in kitchen.”

“Dead roaches on premises. 1) 2 Dead roaches in container under continental reach in cooler in kitchen.”

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

**MI LINDO ECUADOR

8726 NW 26TH ST.

MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 5/27

37 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed at hand wash sink located in dish washing area 2 live roaches crawling on utensils stored inside hand sink. . Observed approximately 10 + live roaches underneath shelf of food preparation tables all around kitchen area. Observed 3 live roaches inside oven. Observed one live roach on floor behind stove. Observed approximately 10 + live roaches on wooden Dollie’s used to store boxes of to go containers located inside kitchen.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 10 + dead roaches all around kitchen area floors under cooking equipment.”

“Buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles. Observed oven soiled, inside and outside, handles soiled.”

“Floor and wall junctures not coved in food ware washing areas or bathroom. Observed some areas of the kitchen missing the molding.”

“Floor not cleaned when the least amount of food is exposed. Observed floor underneath cooking equipment soiled with accumulated grease.”

“Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. Shelves soiled with grease. Observed blender soiled.”

“Chlorine sanitizer used to sanitize clean in place equipment not at proper minimum strength. Do not use equipment not properly sanitized. Observed at bucket in the kitchen.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food, other than whole meat roast, hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed at prep table the following items out of temperature: White rice 70 F, beef 70 F, plantain 77F.”

“Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit based upon minimum required cooking temperature. Observed in chest freezer several raw items like meat, fish, vegetables next to each other in contact.”

“Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. Observed employee touching different soiled surfaces in the kitchen area and did not washed hands after.”

“Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing. Observed at hand wash sink a tray with utensils stored inside.”

**MIAMI CAFE

1201 WASHINGTON AVE.

MIAMI BEACH

ORDERED SHUT 5/18

14 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drains. Observed establishment open and serving food to the public while sewage backing up through floor drains at kitchen.”

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

“No proof of required state approved employee training provided for any employees.”

**DENNY’S

1150 S. DIXIE HIGHWAY

CORAL GABLES

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 5/18

8 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Dead flying insects on premises. Observed at lobby of establishment along all windows approximately 25+ dead flying insects on window sills/ledge of interior windows. Observed at cook line hood filter system, approximately 15+ dead flying insects attached to hood system.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Observed at kitchen prep area and dry storage area behind shelves and fixed equipment. Repeat Violation.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tile shows damage or is in disrepair. Observed throughout kitchen area ceiling tiles drooping and peeling. Repeat Violation.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed at cook line soiled with grease build up. Repeat Violation.”

Not just fly, but also fight and hang upside-down, 60 feet off the stage. Not just that but also make it effortless, like gliding. And, of course, completely safely, despite darkness and haze and props whizzing by.

Making “The Lost Boys” soar was a little like a real-life game of Tetris, the couple say. And for creating some of the best visuals of the season, the couple has earned their first Tony Award nomination.

“You just have to break it down slowly and bit by bit, build one block and then you just keep adding so that no one’s going to get hurt or feel too chaotic. Because gravity is going to gravity," says Yalango-Grant. "As much as Elphaba taught us you can defy it, you cannot.”

From screen to stage

“The Lost Boys,” an adaptation of a 1987 teen movie vampire thriller starring Jason Patric and Corey Haim, follows a pair of brothers who tangle with a gang of young vampires who have taken over a California beach town.

It became a cult hit due to its stylish neck-biters on motorcycles, with feathered hair, earrings, leather jackets and gloves. That meant the stage flying had to be awesome.

“They have to look cool, effortless, a little bit sexy, a little dangerous, but they don’t have to try too hard because they’re vampires — they’re all powerful, right?” says Yalango-Grant. “So, we worked really hard on just this effortless cool, laid-back kind of vibe, not circus-y, not a lot of tricks.”

She and her husband choreographed flying for the four Lost Boys and two other characters, all who wore harnesses with thin wires covered in a black paint that absorbs light. The couple coordinated with the lighting team to ensure the wires never get a blast of light, making them almost impossible to detect from the seats.

Credit also goes to the company Flying by Foy, a leading specialist in aerial effects, for the rigging, tracks and winches, and aerial designers Gwyneth Larsen and Billy Mulholland.

“It took so much fine-tuning to get to where we are,” says Yalango-Grant. “And I’m just so proud of the work of all of us because it took every single person to make this look how it looks now.”

‘We’re the OG vamps’

Grant and Yalango-Grant began their careers as dancers, met while auditioning for the same dance company, Pilobolus, and then toured for eight years. They're married and have a 5-year-old daughter.

It made sense that if they were going to ask performers to put on harnesses and soar 60 feet up, they'd do it first. “We’re the OG vamps,” says Yalango-Grant, laughing.

“I think, as dancers, we already have this intuitive nature of understanding how our bodies operate and move, and then just applying that in a different way to flying wasn’t that much more difficult,” says Grant.

None of the performers had any aerial skills so the choreographers had to start with the basics: Each was assigned a X taped on the stage where they needed to stand before their flights and ensure their wires were hanging perfectly vertical. Eating a full meal before a performance turns out to be a bad idea.

Each flight is carefully coordinated with music, sets and lighting cues and run by stage managers using computers. Producers gave the teams one of the most valuable resources to get it right: time.

“You can rehearse all you want. You can talk about it all you want. But until you’re in the harness in the air, you just don’t know. So they allowed us to start training with the guys early on,” says Yalango-Grant.

Harnesses and quick-releases

Speaking of harnesses, fliers put on a base layer like compression shorts to protect from rubbing, and costume designer Ryan Park designed clothes to hide and accommodate the harnesses. He also designed a quick-release way to detach from the wire, leaving audiences amazed.

“They have to unclip with their pointer finger and their thumb and we just drilled it. We drilled it so it became muscle memory and as easy as brushing your hair behind your ear,” says Yalango-Grant. “It’s like a magic trick. It’s a sleight of hand.”

The harnesses aren't that comfortable, but the actors aren't in them all night. The musical has been mapped out to allow each actor time to put them on, get checked, fly and then remove the harness.

Ali Louis Bourzgui, who earned a Tony nomination as the leader of the vampires, says it took a while to condition his body to fly, requiring strength training and months of practice.

“It’s just a totally different movement pattern,” he says. “Your hips suddenly become your axis point of how you turn and how you move.”

He and his fellow vampires have become best buds, and there are times during performances when he looks over and really believes they're all flying.

“It is kind of a magical experience,” he says. “It’s pretty fun for us for the most part. The harnesses that we’re wearing, not so fun.”

High temperatures today will be near 90°. Cooler air will move in starting Wednesday with below average temperatures in the middle 80s. It will still be humid, but a hair lower than the humidity we’re feeling out there today.

In 2019, the Cuban government amended their constitution to allow foreign investment. However, they did not change their laws to protect the investments.

Therefore, the risks to invest in Cuba remain greater than the opportunities.

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.

Republicans hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress. Montana has not been at the top of the list of seats Democrats hope to flip to regain control of either body, but the retirements do creak open the door for a candidate to possibly take advantage of the state’s independent streak.

Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is not seeking a third term. He has endorsed former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme to replace him. Daines’ late withdrawal from the race in March and the launch of Alme’s candidacy, both timed to occur just before the filing deadline, appeared to be carefully choreographed. President Donald Trump seemed to confirm as much in his endorsement of Alme.

“In fact, if Kurt didn’t have the highest level of aptitude and talent, Steve would have remained exactly where he is….” Trump said in a social media post.

Alme also has endorsements from the state’s other top Republicans, U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy and Gov. Greg Gianforte. He faces Republicans Lee Calhoun and Charles Walking Child for the nomination.

The Democratic field includes former state Rep. Reilly Neill, whose fundraising is five times the combined haul of her four primary rivals.

The winners of both primaries will face former University of Montana president Seth Bodnar, who is running as an independent. As of mid-May, Bodnar had outraised the entire field of candidates, regardless of party. Bodnar is one of a handful of independent candidates who have opted to bypass the party primary process and could complicate the general election for some Republican incumbents.

In the 1st Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke is not seeking a fourth full term, citing health concerns. He, Trump, Sheehy and Gianforte have endorsed talk radio host and former Zinke congressional staffer Aaron Flint over Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, former state Sen. Al Olszewski and former high school government teacher Ray Curtis. The Democratic field includes former gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse and union organizer Sam Forstag.

In the state Legislature, several primaries expose an ongoing rift within the ranks of Montana Republicans.

At the start of the 2025 legislative session, nine Republican state senators bucked the party on a variety of key floor measures, essentially handing control of the chamber to Democrats.

State Sen. Shelley Vance of District 34 is the only one of the maverick lawmakers, dubbed the “Nasty Nine” by the Montana GOP, up for reelection in 2026. Two others, state Sens. Jason Ellsworth and Bruce Gillespie, opted instead to run for the state House in Districts 34 and 18, respectively. The other six are either term-limited, retiring or not up this cycle.

In response to the revolt within the Republican caucus, the Montana Republican Party released a list of state legislative candidates it supports, including some who are challenging Republican incumbents in the state House. But some of the state party’s picks put the committee at odds with Gianforte, who has released a series of social media videos appearing with four state House incumbents targeted by the party.

The governor offered words of support for state House Speaker Brandon Ler and state Reps. Valerie Moore and Ken Walsh, who are all running for reelection, and for state Rep. Eric Albus, who is running in state Senate District 14. Gianforte does not explicitly endorse the lawmakers in the videos, but he called one a “great partner” and said he was “proud of the work” he’d done with another.

Half of the state’s 50 state Senate seats and all 100 state House seats are up for election in 2026.

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

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. MT, which is 10 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Public Service Commission, state Senate and state House.

Who gets to vote?

Any eligible voter may participate in any party’s primary.

How many voters are there?

As of May 25, there were about 791,000 registered voters in Montana. Voters do not register by party.

How many people actually vote?

About 190,000 Republican primary votes and about 108,000 Democratic primary votes were cast in the 2024 U.S. Senate primaries.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

About 68% of the 2024 primary vote was cast before primary day.

As of Friday, about 166,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Counties vary in how they release votes. In previous elections, results from absentee voting mostly were released along with in-person Election Day voting throughout the night. About two-thirds of Montana’s 56 counties tend to release all or almost all of their mail and in-person early voting results in the first vote update of the night, often along with results from in-person Election Day voting. About half the counties tend to release all or almost all their in-person Election Day results in the first vote report.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2024 U.S. Senate primary, the AP first reported results at 10:26 p.m. ET, or 26 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 4:06 a.m. ET with about 84% of total votes counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

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

How do recounts work?

Montana requires an automatic recount only in the event of a tie vote. A candidate may request a recount if the margin is less than 0.5% of the total vote, but the state will only pay for it if the margin is 0.25% or less. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 154 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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

Runways fill with internationally acclaimed designers, celebrities, influencers, and models — all showcasing the season’s latest looks against the backdrop of South Beach.

Behind many of those polished runway appearances this year was celebrity hairstylist Sean Donaldson, whose decades-long career has taken him from Scotland to some of America’s most stylish cities before ultimately finding a home in South Florida.

Donaldson’s passion for beauty and fashion began early.

“I think my passion for hair came from magazines and what I was seeing in fashion in the mid-to-late ’80s,” he said. “I wanted to be a part of that.”

He launched his career in Scotland, where he trained under some of the industry’s most respected names, including the late Vidal Sassoon. The experience laid the foundation for what would become a successful international beauty career.

Eventually, however, warmer weather — and new opportunities — called.

After working in cities including Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Donaldson relocated to South Florida, where he has spent decades building a reputation as one of the region’s premier hair and makeup artists. Today, he owns two salons, one in Miami Beach and another in Brickell.

Donaldson says Miami’s beauty scene stands apart from anywhere else in the country.

“What I love about Miami and style and beauty is that it is somewhat unique,” he explained. “We have great style, we have great stores. We have everything that everyone else has. We stand alone because we have this more relaxed look, this relaxed vision, this relaxed aesthetic.”

That effortless aesthetic was front and center during Swim Week, where Donaldson and his team created looks inspired by both glamour and the beach lifestyle synonymous with Miami.

“This year, it’s going to be more glassy looks,” Donaldson said. “The skin’s very radiant, slightly sun-kissed, pastel hues.”

For hair, the trend focused less on heavily textured “just out of the ocean” styles and more on softness and shine.

“It’s going to be relaxed, it’s going to be soft, wavy, but well-conditioned,” he said. “In the past there would be a lot of salt-spray looks where the hair would look like it had just stepped out of the ocean.”

Technology also played a role in bringing those visions to life before models even sat in the styling chair. Donaldson highlighted a new app called “Look Beauty,” which allows users to preview different beauty transformations digitally.

“You’ll be able to change your hair color, your texture, your style — everything about your aesthetic,” he said. “(It) even includes your makeup.”

For Donaldson, the real reward comes once hair, makeup, and fashion come together to help clients feel confident and empowered.

“When you couple hair with makeup and then fashion, you create an image for someone that they want to be,” he said. “That to me is exciting, it’s rewarding, it’s empowering. And it’s great to be on that journey with someone.”

The fate of the embattled immigration detention center is in flux.

Vendors have confirmed to Local 10 that they’ve been told operations at the facility will end by Monday, nearly one year after President Donald Trump’s famed visit on the day gates opened.

The facility was built in less than two weeks, but a new chapter for the detention center is taking shape.

Sky 10 was above Alligator Alcatraz in recent days as a growing number of detainees inside the facility are calling Local 10, claiming they’re seeing operations shutting down.

Multiple sources said the number of detainees is dropping drastically.

“It’s supposed to be to effectuate the removal, not to have them there indefinitely,” immigration attorney Sammy Aliferis said.

The high cost to run the facility could be a factor in the decision to shut it down as the money comes from Florida’s emergency fund.

U.S. Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost, who represents District 10 in Florida, weighed in.

“They spent nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer dollars on this failed project of human suffering,” he said.

More than $600 million is supposed to be reimbursed by the federal government, but the timeline for complete repayment is unclear.

“It’s irrelevant whether the state’s being reimbursed or not – they’re being reimbursed with our taxpayer money regardless," Frost said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his actions to support the controversial detention center, but he does not deny the recent New York Times report that the federal government is closing it for good.

Their contest on Court Suzanne-Lenglen stretched to almost three hours after Potapova failed to serve out the match twice in the decider and Kalinskaya overturned a 4-1 deficit in the super tiebreak.

It will be 22nd-ranked Kalinskaya's second quarterfinal at a major after she advanced that deep at the 2024 Australian Open.

Despite pre-tournament men’s favorite Jannik Sinner losing in the second round, Italian fans will have at least one player in the quarterfinals.

Tenth-seeded Flavio Cobolli advanced to the second Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career — and also his first here — after beating American Zachary Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5).

His next opponent will be the winner of a fourth-round match later Monday between No. 4 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and unseeded Alejandro Tabilo.

Big-serving Matteo Berrettini, the other Italian left in the men's and in the women's draw, faces Juan Manuel Cerundolo later Monday.

Also later, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, last year's runner-up, takes on Naomi Osaka in a match between four-time Grand Slam winners. It is the first women’s night match at the French Open in three years.

___

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

Also on the ballot is a long list of state and local contests, including a Los Angeles mayoral race where the Democratic incumbent mayor faces more than a dozen challengers. Among them is a former reality TV personality whose candidacy has caught the eye of another former reality TV personality, President Donald Trump.

California’s top-two primary format, where all candidates run on the same ballot regardless of party, has complicated the campaign calculus in several high-profile races, including the one to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. While Democratic candidates often welcome the opportunity to run head-to-head against a Republican in the dark blue state, the number of well-known Democrats in the race threatens to split the vote and inadvertently clear the path for two Republicans to advance to the general election, which would guarantee a Republican governor.

The Democratic field includes former U.S. health secretary Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, billionaire 2020 presidential candidate Tom Steyer and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Republicans vying for the seat include Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton, who has Trump’s endorsement.

Democrats Eric Swalwell and former state Controller Betty Yee will also appear on the ballot, although both have withdrawn from the race. Swalwell was a top contender in the campaign but withdrew on April 12 following sexual assault allegations he has denied. He resigned from Congress two days later.

In the race for control of the narrowly divided U.S. House, a new congressional map favorable to Democrats has complicated the reelection bids of several Republican House incumbents. Voters approved the new district boundaries in a Nov. 2025 referendum, which was a response to Trump’s initiative in Texas and other states to maximize the number of GOP seats heading into the fall midterm election.

In the 6th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley considered his limited options and left the Republican Party in March to run for reelection as an independent.

Republican U.S. Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim are competing against each other in the 40th Congressional District. Democrat Esther Kim Varet is one of several challengers hoping to snag one of two spots in the general election.

Also on the ballot is a special election in the 1st Congressional District to complete the term of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who died in January. The five-person field pits the Democratic state Senate President against the Republican state Assembly Minority Leader. If no candidate receives a vote majority, the top two finishers will compete one-on-one on Aug. 4. The winner will serve under the current district boundaries, not the new map going into effect in the next Congress.

A special election to fill Swalwell's vacant 14th Congressional District seat will be held June 16, also under the current boundaries.

In the race for Los Angeles mayor, Democrat Karen Bass seeks a second term in the nonpartisan office against tech entrepreneur Adam Miller, former MTV reality show cast member Spencer Pratt, City Councilmember Nithya Raman and others. Trump recently said of Pratt, “I’d like to see him do well.”

Democrats have a significant advantage over Republicans in statewide races based on their overwhelming support in the populous areas surrounding Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego. Republicans tend to perform best in the more sparsely populated areas of northern California and the Central Valley, while running competitively in Southern California suburbs outside of Los Angeles and San Diego. A Republican has not won statewide office in California since 2006.

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

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. PT, which is 11 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in contested races for U.S. House, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, controller, treasurer, attorney general, insurance commissioner, state school superintendent, Board of Equalization, state Senate, State House, mayor of Long Beach, mayor of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County sheriff.

Who gets to vote?

Any registered voter in California may participate in the state primary.

How many voters are there?

As of April 3, there were about 23.1 million registered voters in California, including about 10.4 million Democrats, about 5.8 million Republicans and about 5.3 million not registered with any party.

How many people actually vote?

About 7.3 million votes were cast in the U.S. Senate primary in 2024, roughly a third of registered voters.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

About 89% of vote in the 2024 U.S. Senate primary was cast before primary day.

As of Thursday, about 2.6 million ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

When are early and absentee votes released?

About four out of every five California counties release some or most of their results from mail voting in the first vote report of the night, usually before any in-person Election Day results are released. Almost half the counties release most or all of their in-person early voting results in the first vote report.

Since mail voting tends to favor Democrats and in-person Election Day voting tends to favor Republicans, the release of mail voting results at the start of the night could result in an early lead for Democratic candidates, while Republican candidates may narrow the gap as more Election Day results are counted.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2024 primaries, the AP first reported results at 11:08 p.m. ET, or eight minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 6:01 a.m. ET with about 52% of total votes counted. The count reached 99% of total votes about two weeks later on March 20 at 7:47 p.m. ET.

When will the AP declare a winner?

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

How do recounts work?

There are no automatic recounts in California. Any registered voter may request and pay for a recount. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 14 days until the June 16 special primary in Congressional District 14, 63 days until the Aug. 4 special general election in Congressional District 1, 77 days until the Aug. 18 special general election in Congressional District 14 and 154 days until the Nov. 3 general election.

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

Also, the United States said Monday that it bombed radar and drone sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American drone over the weekend. Iran then said it launched a strike of its own, and Kuwait reported incoming fire.

The nominal ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. has been repeatedly tested with such back-and-forth attacks, even as officials from both countries try to negotiate an end to the war.

Here's the latest:

Colorado elections clerk released from prison after governor commutes sentence

Tina Peters, the former clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Trump, was released from prison Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence.

Peters’ release was confirmed by the Colorado Department of Corrections. The state agency said it would have no more information about the 70-year-old inmate. Her sentence was shortened by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last month after Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against the governor and his state.

Colorado elections clerk set to be released from prison based on her sentence commutation

Former Colorado elections clerk and conspiracy theorist Tina Peters is scheduled to be released from prison Monday after serving less than a quarter of a nine-year sentence for her role in a scheme to copy her county’s election system.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, commuted Peters’ sentence last month following pressure from President Trump.

The Colorado Department of Corrections would not confirm the time of Peters’ release, and a representative for her attorney said Peters would not speak to the media when she’s freed.

Peters was the first local election official to be charged with breaching security after the 2020 election. She snuck in an outside computer expert affiliated with My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell — who himself denied that Trump lost the White House in 2020 — and the person copied the county’s Dominion Voting Systems computer server as it was updated in 2021.

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Crude oil prices rise after latest US-Iran fighting, and US stocks slip

Oil prices are rising following the latest fighting to threaten the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, but Wall Street isn’t very worried.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% early Monday, falling a bit below the record it set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 166 points, and the Nasdaq composite was little changed.

Brent crude climbed 4.7%, and Treasury yields moved higher in the bond market. Tech stocks held up better than the rest of the market.

Science Applications International Corp. soared after becoming the latest U.S. company to report bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

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Tensions linger between Republicans and White House over the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

A standoff between the White House and the Senate remains unresolved after Republican senators defiantly left town 10 days ago without passing legislation to fund President Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies.

Senate Republicans who are returning to Washington on Monday say they won’t have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on the new $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies. But Trump has shown little interest in doing so, even after a judge temporarily halted any payouts.

It’s unclear how they’ll settle the dispute.

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Jerome Powell uses JFK award speech to warn against political pressure on Fed, courts and schools

Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell used one of his first major public appearances since leaving office to defend independent institutions while accepting an award Sunday honoring his efforts to preserve the central bank’s independence.

Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library overlooking Boston Harbor, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank “the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy” and argued that the Fed’s independence was a “priceless asset” that must be protected.

It was one of his most direct defenses of Fed independence, warning that a single administration’s decision to remove bank officials over policy differences would open the way for future elected officials to follow suit, ultimately undermining the credibility that the Fed has spent decades building.

Powell, who frequently clashed with Trump during his eight years as chair, stepped down as his term expired in May. He was succeeded by Kevin Warsh, whom Trump selected to lead the central bank.

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Trump vents about judge who blocked the Kennedy Center renovation and fumes over his legal setbacks

Trump on Saturday branded the federal judge who blocked his renovation of the Kennedy Center as “an anti Trump Hater” and predicted that the nation’s premier performing arts center, which he wanted to shutter for a two-year overhaul, will “soon be closed, probably never to open again.”

In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, Trump fumed about the Friday decision from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who also ordered Trump’s name removed from the center. Clearly angered by his latest legal setback, he said it was “impossible for me to be treated fairly,” tying Cooper’s ruling to earlier losses, including the Supreme Court’s rejection in February of his sweeping tariffs.

His post aimed to make the case for the project even as he says he’s giving up on it. Hours after Cooper’s decision, Trump said he was backing away from the renovations and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president’s second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

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Trump set to headline ‘Great American State Fair’ for nation’s 250th anniversary after artists drop out

An upcoming celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, “The Great American State Fair,” recently had several musical guests back out partly over the event’s ties to President Trump. Now, Trump himself is slated to headline the festivities, the organizers said Saturday.

“I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance,” Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social Saturday, adding that he was thinking of bringing “the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists.’”

The group organizing the June fair on Washington’s National Mall, Freedom 250, confirmed the billing in a statement, writing, “We are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24.”

Freedom 250 is billed as nonpartisan, but was launched last year by Trump and is led by a former State Department appointee from Trump’s first term. Several artists, including Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride dropped out last week.

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US bombs Iranian military sites and Kuwait is hit by drone and missile fire

The United States said Monday that it bombed radar and drone sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American drone over the weekend. Iran then said it launched a strike of its own, and Kuwait reported incoming fire.

The nominal ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. has been repeatedly tested with such back-and-forth attacks, even as officials from both countries try to negotiate an end to the war. It’s not clear how close they are to a deal — and there is always the risk that an attack could derail those talks.

In the meantime, Iran has maintained its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies and driving up the price of fuel around the world, with far-reaching consequences.

Fighting has also escalated between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, despite their nominal ceasefire. Israel has extended its occupation deep into Lebanon, and Hezbollah — which joined the war in support of its main backer, Iran — continues to launch drones into Israel.

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Trump is facing a new inflation warning from the bond market, adding to his midterm challenges

The world is getting more uptight about lending money to President Donald Trump’s government — causing interest rates to climb in ways that are worsening affordability pressures, hampering economic growth and creating a new risk for Republicans in November’s midterm elections.

The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto sales are slumping.

The challenge is global in scale, as interest rates have risen for multiple countries as the world has been adjusting to the prospect of higher inflation, mounting questions about the sustainability of government debt and a dramatic surge in investment in artificial intelligence.

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The winners will compete in November’s critical midterm elections, in which Iowa’s U.S. Senate and House seats could determine control of the narrowly divided chambers. The next governor could also play a pivotal role in the 2028 election, given the state’s long history of making or breaking presidential hopefuls.

Two Republicans and two Democrats are competing in primaries to replace Ernst, who announced in 2025 that she would not seek a third term. U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson faces former state Sen. Jim Carlin in the Republican primary, while state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls compete for the Democratic nomination. Carlin ran for Iowa’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2022, receiving about 27% of the primary vote against U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Reynolds also announced in 2025 that she would not seek a third term. Vying for the GOP nomination are state Rep. Eddie Andrews, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, entrepreneur and private school co-founder Zach Lahn, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former state administrative services director Adam Steen. President Donald Trump has endorsed Feenstra.

The winner will face Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand, who is unopposed in his primary. Sand is Iowa’s only Democrat in elected statewide office.

Hinson’s and Feenstra’s statewide campaigns have created open seat contests in the state’s 2nd and 4th Congressional Districts, respectively. Feenstra’s district is heavily Republican and is unlikely to play a major role in determining control of the chamber. Hinson’s district is more competitive, although she won reelection in 2024 with 57% of the vote.

In Iowa’s most competitive congressional seats, Republican U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of the 1st District and Zach Nunn of the 3rd District are both seeking reelection. Miller-Meeks faces a rematch with her 2024 primary opponent, advertising executive David Pautsch, who received about 44% of the vote. The Democratic field includes former state Rep. Christina Bohannan, who came within 1 percentage point of defeating Miller-Meeks in one of the closest U.S. House races of 2024.

In the 3rd Congressional District, both Nunn and his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, are unopposed in their primaries.

Trump received roughly 54% of the 2024 presidential vote in both the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts and about 52% of the 3rd District vote.

Polk, Linn and Scott counties are Iowa’s most populous, and all three play major roles in both Republican and Democratic statewide primaries. Johnson County is the fourth largest, but as home to Iowa City and the University of Iowa it is an overwhelming Democratic stronghold and tends to exert much less influence in Republican primaries.

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

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. CT, which is 9 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, auditor, state Senate and state House.

Who gets to vote?

Only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party’s primary. However, voters may change their party affiliations at the polls on the day of the primary.

How many voters are there?

As of May 4, there were about 2.1 million registered voters in Iowa, including about 692,000 registered Republicans, about 496,000 registered Democrats and about 589,000 voters not registered with any party.

How many people actually vote?

About 196,000 Republican primary votes and about 157,000 Democratic primary votes were cast in the 2022 U.S. Senate primaries.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

About 16% of the Republican primary vote and about 25% of the Democratic primary vote in the 2022 U.S. Senate primaries was cast before primary day.

As of Friday, about 48,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, roughly 30,000 in the Democratic primary and more than 18,000 in the Republican primary.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Nearly all counties release the results of absentee-by-mail voting at the start of the night. However, counties vary in terms of when they release in-person absentee voting results.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the last contested state primary in 2022, the AP first reported results at 9:12 p.m. ET, or 12 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 2:29 a.m. ET, with more than 99% of total votes counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

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

How do recounts work?

Iowa does not have an automatic recount law, but candidates may request and pay for a recount. Candidates do not have to pay for recounts when the margin is less than 1% of the total vote or fewer than 50 votes, whichever is larger. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 154 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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

Miami’s football team just played for the national championship earlier this year. The men’s basketball program went to a Final Four, then rebuilt, then returned to the NCAA tournament. The women’s basketball program isn’t far removed from an Elite Eight run. Baseball was a win away from the College World Series last year. The diving, track and tennis programs have all delivered national championships on his watch.

But the story that Radakovich might enjoy telling most as he enters retirement Monday is about the rowing team.

“That sport, wow, that might have been as dysfunctional a program as a lot of people have ever been around 4 1/2 years ago,” Radakovich said. “I mean, it was just not really good because it was an afterthought here. It had to be.”

This is what Radakovich did as an athletic director for more than two decades at American, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Miami. He solved problems, big and small. He got stadiums built, he got others refurbished, he invested in the things that get on national television — like football and basketball.

And, quietly, he did things like find a home for Miami’s rowing team. He helped arrange for the university to turn a church that it owns — yes, a church — into the training facility. The team was so moved that it gave Radakovich probably its highest honor, putting his name on one of its boats. It might be fitting that the last result to celebrate in the Radakovich era at Miami came Sunday, when the rowing team finished 13th in its first trip to the NCAA championship.

“We gave them their own place,” Radakovich said. “And they’ve just flourished from there.”

It’s not just rowing, obviously. Miami — like all schools with big-time college athletics — has had to find ways to not just be competitive in the NIL era, but flourish. Radakovich has dealt with change after change after change in recent years, though insisted it wasn’t the roller coaster of college athletics that made him decide to retire. He enjoyed the challenges, constant as they were.

“Everybody who you would listen to while growing up in this business says, ‘The only constant is change.’ They would waggle the finger at you say it,” Radakovich said. ”And you just sit there and say you’ll be ready. Well, I don’t think any of the people who stood up on those podiums and talked to us have gone through the last five years. From COVID, to NIL, it hasn’t just been change. It’s been upheaval.”

Dealing with all that, and more, will fall to someone else now. Radakovich’s retirement is set to become official, although it seems likely he will remain linked to the university in some capacity moving forward.

Miami is searching for its next athletic director, someone who’ll be tasked with working alongside not just coaches and student-athletes but also the university’s leadership. President Joe Echevarria is regularly in attendance at all sorts of Miami games and contests, and many other top school officials and Board of Trustees members are hands-on as well.

“We’re extremely blessed to have someone like Joe heading up the university, and of course Dan Radakovich has done a great job,” football coach Mario Cristobal said. “We grind. Very appreciative of them and all they do.”

For Radakovich, though, the time to grind is slowing.

He began thinking about retirement earlier this year. His sons and a grandchild live in Atlanta, he and his wife, Marcie, have been snowbirds — keeping a residence in South Carolina while he was at Miami. Radakovich would go back and forth, in Miami for the bulk of the time and then going back to South Carolina when his schedule allowed.

So, for the last few days, there were moving boxes on the floor of Radakovich’s soon-to-be former office. A few photos were wrapped up, a few items of sports memorabilia were placed near the door, his desk and shelves were largely cleared off.

It’s fitting: Radakovich got his start in athletics in 1983 as Miami’s athletic business manager, and his last official act was with the Hurricanes as well.

“You know when it’s time,” Radakovich said. “It’s time.”

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Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

State lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee for a special session to consider proposals that could lower or even eliminate property taxes for homeowners.

DeSantis’ proposal would ask voters to begin phasing out property taxes on homesteaded properties. The plan would raise the homestead exemption to $150,000 and then to $250,000 by 2028. It would also allow lawmakers to eventually eliminate property taxes for homeowners altogether.

“I’m very concerned about the non-ad valorem, which I think will end up with some people paying more,” Jeff Brandes, president of the Florida Policy Project, said on “This Week in South Florida” with Local 10’s Glenna Milberg.

Brandes said many questions remain unanswered about the governor’s proposal.

“Is this a tax cut or tax shift? If it is a tax shift, who is it being shifted onto?” Brandes said.

He added that any shift in tax revenue could result in higher costs for renters or increases in sales taxes, water bills or electric bills.

Property appraisers across South Florida are also raising concerns about the potential impact on local governments that rely on property tax revenue.

“The Broward County Commission will lose about $200 million, the School Board will lose about $300 million and all the cities will lose revenue based on the amount of homestead they have,” Broward County Property Appraiser Marty Kiar said on “This Week in South Florida” Sunday.

Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado said the financial impact would be significant but manageable for larger municipalities.

“The hit to Miami-Dade County as a whole will be big but not the last straw,” Regalado said on TWISF. “There will be small municipalities that will have hardship dealing with this, but not Miami, Hialeah.”

The proposal marks what could be DeSantis’ final major initiative before the end of his last term in office.

The next step rests with state lawmakers, who must decide whether to place the measure before voters in November.

“There’s so much that goes into this, and I’m hoping if something is put on the ballot, which is so important, I really hope they do their research. This will be the most consequential vote they’ll ever take,” Kiar said.

The proposal would need approval from 60% of both the House and Senate to make it onto the ballot. If approved, voters would have the final say in November.

The outcome dealt a political blow to second-place finisher, progressive Sen. Iván Cepeda, and his ally, President Gustavo Petro. Both questioned the results of the election Sunday night, without providing evidence.

De la Espriella rapidly gained traction in the lead-up to Sunday’s election, winning nearly 44% of the vote, and surpassing Cepeda, who had consistently led polling throughout the campaign and won less than 41% of the vote.

The two are slated to continue to a runoff election on June 21, where de la Espriella is expected to scoop up additional votes from Colombians who supported other conservative candidates in the first round.

Cepeda will face an uphill battle in the runoff, said Sergio Guzmán, a political analyst. “Abelardo de la Espriella won the first round. In other words, that’s a shift in public opinion that is very difficult to overcome. So now Abelardo is emerging as the likely favorite to win.”

Joining a political shift in the Americas

De la Espriella, known as “El Tigre” or “The Tiger,” has never held office in Colombia and prided himself on living a luxurious life in Italy before deciding to run for president. He pitched himself as an outsider who would cozy up to U.S. President Donald Trump and follow El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's war on gangs, which has driven down homicide rates but fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

“I will wipe out narcoterrorism and those who I've declared a military target like cockroaches, like rats. I will unleash upon them the wrath of God never seen before,” de la Espriella said in an interview with The Associated Press in the final stretch of the campaign, where he promised to open 10 mega-prisons to fight crime.

He joins a growing number of leaders across Latin America — from Chile to Honduras — seeking to latch onto the “Bukele model” as voters across Latin America are increasingly ditching leaders that pitched progressive policies aimed at addressing the root issues of conflict, such as lack of opportunities for young people and corruption.

De la Espriella's supporters come from a wide range of backgrounds. Yolanda Peréz, a 64-year-old woman serving coffee in the downtown of Colombia's capital, Bogotá, said with a wink the day before the election: “I'm thinking of voting for El Tigre.”

Miguel Maheca, a 20-year-old first-time voter, flashed his voting ballot to his mother as he strolled out of the polling station on Sunday, saying with a grin, “Love isn't what's going to make us safe in Colombia."

But experts say El Salvador's security successes will be nearly impossible to replicate in a country like Colombia, which is more than 50 times larger than the Central American nation and has many more armed groups fighting for territory.

The polarized vote comes as the Trump administration is playing a more aggressive role in Latin America than any U.S. government in decades, placing mounting pressure on countries like Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador to crack down on crime.

De la Espriella, 47, made a name for himself as a lawyer defending high-profile clients such as former President Álvaro Uribe, as well as controversial figures like Alex Saab, a close ally of Venezuela’s ousted president Nicolás Maduro who faces legal issues in the U.S. and whom he stopped representing about seven years ago.

A blow to Cepeda

De la Espriella's rise as a presidential candidate spells trouble for progressive Cepeda, who consistently led polls in the lead up to Sunday's election, though his competitor quickly gained speed in the weeks ahead of the vote.

Cepeda is a progressive senator who has promised to carry on his ally Petro's fraught plan to achieve “total peace” by negotiating peace pacts with guerrillas and criminal gangs.

Their political movement was born from a fierce rejection by many Colombians of a militarized offensive by Uribe in decades past used to beat back the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which ended in thousands of civilians being killed by Colombian forces in a scandal known as “false positives.”

De la Espriella “represents a return to the paramilitary politics and drug-trafficking — a mafia-run, plutocratic and corrupt past that the country experienced during Álvaro Uribe’s two administrations,” Cepeda said on Sunday.

On Monday, Cepeda called on de la Espriella to debate him ahead of the second round of elections.

Petro, a former rebel, won Colombia's presidency in 2022 in a historic election that ended decades of right-wing domination by leaders from Uribe's political movement. He gained massive support from rural-dwelling, Indigenous and poorer Colombians who felt they had never been directly spoken to by Colombian leaders.

Now, that movement is backed into a corner.

“This is de la Espriella’s election to lose,” wrote Renata Segura, director of International Crisis Group's Latin America and the Caribbean Program. “Cepeda thought he could win appealing squarely to the left, and that proved to be a massive mistake. How he pivots in the next month will determine if he has any chance to win.”

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

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This version corrects the spelling of the first name of the leading candidate to Abelardo.

Republicans hold a narrow House majority but face a tough midterm environment in which the party holding the White House typically loses congressional seats. Although Republicans may see gains from mid-decade redistricting in several states and from a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling threatening Democratic-held majority-Black districts across the South, winning competitive seats like New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District remains central to both parties’ strategies to hold or retake the chamber.

U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. is running for a third term in the 7th District and is unopposed for the Republican nomination. His father, Thomas Kean Sr., served two terms as New Jersey’s Republican governor in the 1980s.

He will face the winner of a competitive Democratic primary featuring former healthcare executive Rebecca Bennett, former Small Business Administration official Michael Roth, physician Tina Shah and entrepreneur and business owner Brian Varela. Bennett leads the Democratic field in fundraising and had the most campaign funds available heading into the final stretch of the campaign.

Kean’s whereabouts have been a question on the campaign trail and in the halls of Congress. On April 27, he released a statement saying that he was addressing “a personal medical issue” and that he expected to return “very soon.” As of Monday, he had not voted on any legislation since March 5, missing more than 100 consecutive votes.

The 7th Congressional District in northern New Jersey stretches from Staten Island to the Pennsylvania border. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump narrowly carried the district in 2024, edging Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, 49.6% to 48.5%.

Also on the ballot is U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who faces no primary opposition in his bid for a third full term. The Republicans hoping to challenge him in November are physician Robert Lebovics, former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy, Army veteran and former state trooper Richard Tabor and former local TV news reporter Alex Zdan.

Bergen and Middlesex counties in the greater New York City area are among the most populous in the state and are important battlegrounds in both Democratic and Republican statewide primaries. Essex County, which is home to Newark, is also a major population center, but its heavily Democratic electorate makes it less influential in Republican primaries. The counties that contribute the most votes in statewide Republican primaries tend to be Ocean, Monmouth and Morris.

Union County comprises the largest share of the 7th Congressional District vote, followed by Somerset and Hunterdon counties.

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

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate and U.S. House.

Who gets to vote?

Registered party members may vote only in their own party’s primary. In other words, Democrats can’t vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may participate in either primary, but voting in a party’s primary will enroll them in that party.

How many voters are there?

As of May 1, there were about 6.7 million registered voters in New Jersey, including about 2.5 million registered Democrats, about 1.7 million registered Republicans and about 2.4 million voters not affiliated with any party.

How many people actually vote?

About 841,000 Democratic primary votes and about 466,000 Republican primary votes were cast in the 2025 gubernatorial primary. That was higher than the turnout for the 2024 U.S. Senate primaries, when about 525,000 and 318,000 votes were cast in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

About 46% of the Democratic primary vote and about 31% of the Republican primary vote in the 2025 gubernatorial primaries was cast before primary day.

As of Wednesday, about 285,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, about 79% from Democrats and about 20% from Republicans.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Counties in New Jersey typically release results from mail and in-person early voting before releasing results from in-person Election Day voting. Counties tend to release all or almost all of their mail and early voting results in the first vote report of the night, before any in-person Election Day results are released.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2025 gubernatorial primaries, the AP first reported results at 8:03 p.m. ET, or three minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 11:43 p.m. ET, with about 93% of total votes counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

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

How do recounts work?

Recounts are rare in New Jersey. The state does not have automatic recounts, but candidates and voters may request and pay for them, with the cost refunded if the outcome changes. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 154 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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

“Food has the ability to bring us to places that nothing else can,” said Mutra owner and chef Raz Shabtai.

Within seconds of stepping into Mutra, you can see the unique culinary passion Shabtai has for crafting meals.

“It’s like to win an Oscar,” he said of being awarded a Michelin Star. “It’s like to win an Emmy. It’s like to get a Grammy.”

Shabtai said his passion for cooking started in Jerusalem with his grandmother, who he named the restaurant after.

“She taught me how to cook, she taught me how to be a person, how to be a human,” he said.

Shabtai carefully created meals, providing more than just nourishment to those he served.

“When I used to eat the food, I felt something that says more than I just love you,” he said. “I felt something hugging me in a way that nobody physically could give.”

It’s that love that he carried when introducing South Floridians to his take on Middle Eastern cuisine.

“First of all, I feel extremely honored and blessed that God gave me the ability to do something that I can combine cultures together,” said Shabtai. “It doesn’t matter your political views or your religion or something. Food is holy.”

Shabtai says his success is also thanks to his dedicated team, with his secret ingredient coming from a woman he says is looking down on him.

“Bragging and saying that’s my grandchild,” he said.

The menu at Mutra is rotated every three months, and after receiving the Michelin Star, they’re already working on a new menu that is coming out on Monday.

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Soccer fans from across the globe are expected in town as the world’s biggest soccer tournament kicks off in just a couple short weeks.

For those who are planning to attend games at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, it’s important to have your parking plans in place well before heading to the match.

According to FIFA, all parking must be purchased using their official parking platform, and parking passes can only be purchased up to 24 hours before each match begins.

FIFA stressed that there will be no parking for sale on the day of games.

Additionally, those purchasing parking passes must use the email address associated with their ticket purchase made on FIFA’s official website.

Fans parking at games will be required to present their game ticket and parking pass before being granted access to stadium grounds, and at Hard Rock Stadium, fans are required to print their parking pass and place it on their windshield to access the roads around the venue.

For more information on attending World Cup games, check out FIFA’s official matchday guide for South Florida.

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Local 10 News cameras captured a crew flipping over the Blue Sky Aviation aircraft after the crash.

“Shortly after it took off, it experienced engine failure,” said Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo.

Around 11:30 a.m. Friday, the Cessna 172 plunged from the sky moments after departing North Perry Airport.

“Didn’t have the altitude, hit a tree, went into a ditch here and flipped over,” Castillo said. “It’s a good thing for that because it was headed right for a building where patients receiving mental health and medical care live.”

Sky 10 flew above the crash site, showing the downed aircraft mangled and appearing to be in pieces. The pilot and passenger both survived.

“These kind of occurrences are happening over and over and over and I’ve had it,” Castillo said.

The aircraft nearly crashed into a South Florida state hospital.

The incident is far from the first crash connected to North Perry Airport, which is home to a handful of flight schools.

“In the last five years, we’ve had over 35 accidents with aircraft taking off from North Perry Airport,” attorney Zach Gorwitz said.

The seemingly growing number of incidents has many questioning the safety of the flight schools.

“We’re calling on Broward County to do what they have to do to make this place safe. If they can’t make it safe then they need to close it the hell down and go put it somewhere else where those planes don’t threaten people,” Castillo said.

The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

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It went down behind a home located along the 12000 block of Cyprus Road in North Miami.

According to authorities, the people who were aboard the boat were able to get to safety before it went under water.

No injuries were reported.

An investigation is ongoing into what caused the boat to sink.

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It happened around 3:30 p.m. in the area of Northwest 79th Street and 22nd Avenue.

According to authorities, deputies responded to the scene and found two vehicles that had been involved in the crash.

There were several people in both vehicles, deputies said.

Two people were taken by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to nearby hospitals with injuries that deputies described as ranging from minor to serious.

An investigation remains open into the cause of the crash.

French rapper Ferapth is speaking out about conditions on the island through a new bilingual hip-hop song dedicated to the struggle for freedom in Cuba.

“Libertad, libertad,” the song declares.

Ferapth said his connection to Cuba began through boxing.

“So, I went to Cuba for the first time because of boxing,” he said in French.

What he experienced there surprised him and led him to explore beyond Havana.

He visited places including Campo Florido and Guanabo, where he saw poverty and challenges that many tourists do not encounter.

“When you see the situation they live in and the way they welcome foreigners, I found it to be something very, very profound on their part,” he said.

The experience inspired him to write music.

The result is a bilingual music video that takes a direct look at shortages, closures and the country’s broader struggles while calling for freedom.

“Gritamos libertad! No mas mentira,” the song says, which translates to “We shout, Freedom! No more lies!”

Ferapth said he felt the crisis was receiving little attention in his home country.

“I said to myself, in France, no one is talking about this. And it would be good if I used my art to alert France to the situation in Cuba,” he said.

The song combines Spanish and French lyrics while highlighting the hardships many Cubans face.

“As for the current situation now, it’s true that it’s a bit complicated,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Ferapth said he hopes conditions improve for Cubans both on and off the island.

“I simply hope that the exiled Cuban people and those on the island will be able to live better in the very near future,” he said.

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It happened around 3:56 a.m. Sunday near an IHOP restaurant located at 18860 block of S. Dixie Highway.

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, responding deputies arrived to the scene to find a man and woman who had been shot.

Both were taken by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to Jackson South Medical Center in critical condition.

Following an investigation, deputies said the man was involved in a verbal altercation with an unknown subject, who ultimately shot both victims.

MDSO has not said whether they are seeking any suspects or persons of interest.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

“Not everyone will be happy with the result,” voter Gabriel Villaroel said. “The violence is something that the country has not agreed on how to manage.”

Sen. Iván Cepeda, 63, cast his vote just before noon. Cepeda has pushed for more negotiations with armed groups as a solution to the country’s surging violence.

Cepeda leads the polls. A former member of the Communist Party, he is seen as even more left-wing than his predecessor, current President Gustavo Petro.

Asked for a message to the hundreds of thousands of Colombians living in South Florida, Cepeda spoke directly to the community.

“With all my affection and appreciation for the community over in Miami, may they vote in a manner that respects democracy,” he said in Spanish.

Outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, meanwhile, has called for a heavy-handed crackdown on crime, including building new prisons in the jungle to house criminals.

He has portrayed himself as a far-right, Trumpian figure who is not affiliated with the political elite.

“I think there is a change, and God is giving us an opportunity to move forward,” voter Leonel Sánchez said in Spanish.

Another voter said she is worried about violence and sees de la Espriella as an opportunity sent by God.

With more than 25% of Colombians still undecided going into Election Day, Sen. Paloma Valencia hoped those voters would break in her favor.

The center-right establishment candidate has portrayed herself as a more moderate and safer choice than de la Espriella.

A thriving economy has helped boost the Cepeda campaign.

With his party in power, poverty has dropped and living standards have improved.

“Colombia’s economy is better than ever. If anyone has benefited, it’s the guilds, businesspeople and trade associations,” said Camilo Romero in Spanish, a leader of the Historic Pact coalition.

Romero said Colombia’s economy is better than ever, arguing that unions and businesses are thriving and that ordinary people are also feeling the improvement.

But overspending has led to a growing deficit that many fear could create economic troubles in the future.

“A subsidy only lasts for a moment, and paying people for their vote only lasts for a moment,” voter Sandra Silva said in Spanish.

Silva argued that a subsidy only lasts a moment and encouraged Colombians to think about the future.

The first round of voting was expected to narrow the field, with two polar opposites likely to advance.

“This division doesn’t benefit anyone,” voter Daniel Felipe Ramírez said. “One way or another I hope we will discover that it’s better if we work together than divided.”

Polls have closed and results are beginning to come in. A final result could come at any moment. If no candidate reaches 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a second round in two weeks.

Deputies responded to the crash around 7 p.m. in the 13000 block of Monroe Street.

A preliminary investigation found that two vehicles were involved in the collision. One of the vehicles was redirected into a nearby residence, causing damage to the property.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene and transported multiple people to local hospitals. Authorities said the injuries ranged from stable to critical.

No additional information was immediately available.

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South Florida is home to some of the largest voting centers for Colombians living abroad.

Hundreds were seen at Miami Dade College’s Kendall campus, which was one of many polling locations that included Hialeah, Weston, Coral Springs and Coral Gables, where some people lined up as early as 5 a.m.

Sunday could be the day Colombian voters decide who will become their next president, but this election is also about the future direction of the country.

Voters are weighing major issues including security, economic policy, and how the government should handle negotiations with guerrilla and other armed groups.

There are 14 different candidates offering different platforms for the country.

According to recent polls in Colombia, there is a strong possibility the election could head to a second-round runoff later this month.

That would happen if no candidate receives more than 50% of the ballots cast.

Polls in South Florida closed at 4 p.m.

Preliminary results indicated the race will advance to a runoff between right-wing outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, a supporter of President Donald Trump, and progressive Sen. Iván Cepeda.

Supporters of Cepeda gathered outside the Coral Gables consulate Sunday evening, expressing disappointment with the first-round results but saying they were not entirely unexpected.

“We saw that coming. We had to be more realistic, but we couldn’t help being optimistic at some point,” said Jeison, a Cepeda supporter.

Videos shared by voters showed large crowds at polling locations across South Florida, including a voting center in Weston.

Carlos Naranjo, co-director of Semillas Colombia, said the region’s sizable Colombian population makes participation in the election particularly significant.

“It’s important because there are many Colombian Americans in this country,” Naranjo said. “There’s about a million Colombian Americans just in the state of Florida. It’s super important for that. It’s also important because of the region.”

ELECTION DAY PRECINCTS

There are three precincts in Miami-Dade County: The Colombian consulate at 280 Aragon Ave., in Coral Gables, Miami Dade College Kendall Campus’s gymnasium at 11011 SW 104 St., and the Milander Center for Arts and Entertainment, at 4800 Palm Ave. in Hialeah.

There are two precincts in Broward County: Cypress Bay High School’s gymnasium at 18600 Vista Park Blvd., in Weston, and Coral Springs High School at 7201 West Sample Road.

There are also precincts at Palm Beach State College’s Public Safety Conference Center at 4200 S Congress Ave., in Lake Worth Beach.

For information about a voter’s assigned precinct in Florida, Colombia has a national database online.

Here's a virtual tour of author-owned bookstores across the U.S.

Judy Blume: Books & Books, Florida

Judy Blume and her husband, George Cooper, are longtime residents of Key West, Florida, and have become fixtures in the local culture. Cooper helped restore an old movie theater into a multiplex venue and Blume and Cooper helped found the nonprofit Books & Books — an outpost of the Miami-based sellers that opened in 2016 — located just off the town’s main road. Blume may be known worldwide for such novels as “Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret,” but on a given day you can find her ringing up a sale at the register, or helping a customer choose a book. Or you can see her greet the many fans who have traveled far to meet the author they say changed their lives.

Louise Erdrich: Birchbark Books & Native Arts, Minnesota

Founded by Louise Erdrich in 2001, Birchbark is based in Minneapolis and has a mission tied closely to the author’s Ojibwe background (she’s an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians). Her store specializes in Indigenous literature and bills itself as a meeting point for “literate Indigenous people who have survived over half a millennium on this continent.” Birchbark even served as a muse for Erdrich’s 2021 novel, “The Sentence,” narrated by a bookstore employee whose boss just happens to be a woman named Louise. “I guess I have some things in common with her,” the author confided to GMToday.com.

Lauren Groff: The Lynx Books, Florida

Lauren Groff’s store in Gainesville, Florida, isn’t just a member of the author-owned circle but part of a wave of stores opened in recent years that have a larger social mission. Based in a state that ranks among the country’s leading book banners, The Lynx is a general-interest bookstore that Groff and husband/co-owner Clay Kallman opened in 2024 and emphasizes books forbidden in schools and libraries. “One of the purposes is to create a lighthouse, sort of showing that the rest of the country and world that Florida is not an intolerant backwater,” Groff, author of National Book Award finalist “Fates and Furies,” told the Southern Literary Review in 2025. “It is full of good people who work very hard to allow for the freedom of expression, tolerance, and love of all people.”

Jeff Kinney: An Unlikely Story, Ma

ssachusetts

Local stores are expected to be modest in scale, but the blockbuster sales for the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series expanded the ambitions of author-owner Jeff Kinney to superstore heights. He didn’t simply reconfigure an existing building, but had a new one built from scratch, with all the trimmings. An Unlikely Story is a bookstore housed in a colonial-influenced, 3-story building in downtown Plainville, Massachusetts that also includes a cafe, event space and writing-drawing quarters for the author. Kinney, who opened his store in 2015, recently said he is planning to add a restaurant, beer garden and park to the downtown area.

George R.R. Martin: Beastly Books, New Mexico

Like the stores run by Groff and Erdrich, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Beastly Books is very much an extension of the worldview of its owner, “A Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin. It is a “cozy den” for speculative fiction, according to the store’s homepage, and a haven for banned books, locally written works and rare first editions. Founded in 2019, Beastly Books is located close to another Martin outpost, the Jean Cocteau Cinema, and is named in part for Cocteau’s classic film adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast.”

Ann Patchett: Parnassus Books, Tennessee

Not every bookstore opening leads to a guest appearance with Stephen Colbert, but a year after the launch of Parnassus, Ann Patchett found herself on “The Colbert Report,” whose host likened her venture to the Nora Ephron comedy “You've Got Mail,” in which Meg Ryan plays an independent store owner driven out of business by a nearby chain. The Nashville-based Parnassus has since become one of the country's signature independent sellers, visited by “You've Got Mail” co-star Tom Hanks among others, and a platform for Patchett to champion fellow authors.

Emma Straub: Books Are Magic, New York

Like Patchett, Emma Straub became a bookstore owner in the aftermath of a local absence: BookCourt, where the author once worked, had closed. She and her husband, Michael Fusco-Straub, opened Books Are Magic in 2017 in Brooklyn. The store with the pink murals in front became a local hit and gained national recognition, cited as a personal favorite by Jenna Bush Hager of the “Today” show. Straub and her husband have since opened a second Books Are Magic location in the borough.

Senate Republicans who are returning to Washington on Monday say they won’t have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on a new $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies. But Trump has shown little interest in doing so, even after a judge temporarily halted any payouts.

It’s unclear how they will settle the dispute.

The Trump administration is “going to have to come up with some suggestions and ideas,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said before the Senate left town on May 21. Thune, of South Dakota, said that the settlement money — some of which could potentially go to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — “just makes everything way harder than it should be.”

The impasse over the “anti-weaponization” fund could be an inflection point as Republicans try to keep their majority in this year’s elections and advance their agenda. Trump’s campaign year push to defeat GOP lawmakers who he sees as disloyal, including some of Thune’s most reliable Republican votes in the narrow 53-47 Senate, has only added to the tension.

Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas both lost reelection in May after Trump endorsed their primary opponents, and it is unclear how supportive they will be of the president’s agenda going forward. And a growing number of GOP senators have become frustrated with the president as he ignores what they see as their political needs.

“I think it’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in the political atmosphere around us,” Thune said.

Democrats have said they plan to offer several amendments to the immigration bill to scale back or eliminate the settlement. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a letter to colleagues Monday morning that Democrats will launch “a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door.”

“No matter what Republicans do, we will force them to vote on it,” he wrote.

As anger among Senate Republicans swelled, Trump made clear that he wasn’t highly concerned.

“I don’t care about the midterms,” Trump said last week in a discussion about the Iran war.

Senate Republicans draw lines on settlement fund

At a closed-door meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche before they left town, Republican senators gave an ultimatum of sorts — put some limits on the settlement or we will do it for you.

GOP senators had been discussing several ways that they could curb the fund, including limiting who can receive payouts, changing the makeup of the commission in charge of settlement decisions, adding some sort of judicial review for applicants or scrapping the fund altogether. Republicans have discussed adding parameters on the settlement to the unrelated immigration enforcement measure but would prefer that the White House make changes on its own.

There were few sings of progress over the Memorial Day recess.

Sen. Todd Young of Indiana told The Associated Press last week that he hadn’t seen any indications “that would suggest they sent us a plan that our leadership thought was acceptable.”

“It’s in their court,” Young said of the White House.

Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said on Fox New Channel's “Fox News Sunday” that there are discussions underway “to get to something that’s going to work.”

“I think there were just more details and more questions last week that needed to be resolved,” Hagerty said, adding that “I’m looking forward to seeing the details this coming week.”

Acting attorney general spars with the Senate

Blanche told the AP in an interview Thursday that “a lot of the questions will be answered in the short term.” But he would not elaborate, saying that “talking in hypotheticals is something that I don’t think is fair to the process.”

The acting attorney general’s meeting with senators before they left town was “angry,” according to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who described it on his podcast. Cruz said that of around 45 Senate Republicans who attended, “at least half of them were blasting the attorney general.”

The Senate had planned to stay in session late that night to vote on the immigration spending bill, but leaders canceled votes and sent everyone home. Cruz said Republican senators were “yelling” and told Blanche that the fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, “feels like self-dealing" and "feels like Trump cut a deal with himself.”

Cruz, who said he supports the fund, noted that Democrats had said they would offer amendments to kill it. Republicans "would have lost every vote” if they had stayed in session, he said.

He predicted that “we will see the administration announcing at a minimum a modification of this, because if they don’t, they’ve got a full-on revolt in the Senate.”

Jan. 6 defendants could get settlements

Cruz said that there were a lot of questions from senators about the Jan. 6 defendants and that Blanche reassured them that no one who committed an act of violence or assaulted law enforcement would get a payout. But Blanche has repeatedly declined to say that publicly, telling the AP that “there is no limit to who can apply.”

Asked about people who were violent on Jan. 6, Blanche suggested that might be too hard to define.

“Who is it? I mean, you tell me, right?” Blanche said. “You have to define something and then stick to it. So that’s something I’ve been hesitant to try to do because it’s very fact intensive.”

Trump has pardoned more than 1,500 defendants who were charged and prosecuted in the 2021 attack, including hundreds who were convicted for violently beating and injuring police as they broke into the Capitol.

Unity on immigration enforcement derailed by other issues

The divide over the fund comes after Republicans already abandoned $1 billion in security funding for the White House, including for Trump’s new ballroom, as Democrats and some Republicans questioned using taxpayer money for the massive project at a time of economic hardship. Besides the settlement, Democrats had planned to force Republican senators to vote for or against the ballroom money.

Left in the legislation is funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked for months in protest of the administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

Republicans are using a complicated budget maneuver called reconciliation to fund the agencies through the end of Trump’s term without Democratic support. Still, success requires GOP unity and Trump’s eventual signature.

Democrats say they hope that their Republican colleagues continue to stand up to the White House. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said last week that he thinks the settlement fund is ”probably one of the most corrupt things that we’ve ever seen an American president do.”

It is “a bridge too far for some of my Republican Senate colleagues,” Peters said. "I hope they realize that what was done is simply unacceptable and that they’ll stand firm.”

___

Associated Press writers Steven Sloan and Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.

“The new Liz Strout book is the best,” she says of Elizabeth Strout's “The Things We Never Say.” “You know, every single book she publishes, you just think, ‘Oh, well, she can’t possibly do that again.’ And then she comes out with another book and it’s even better.”

At 62, Patchett is the rare and fortunate writer whose words resonate among friends and strangers alike. She owns one of the country's signature independent bookstores, Parnassus Books, with customers ranging from Nashville's book lovers to Tom Hanks. She's also a popular and prize-winning novelist whose new books are inevitably among the year's most anticipated, and whose older ones, including the acclaimed “Bel Canto,” continue to sell. In 2021, she received a National Humanities Medal for “putting into words the beauty, pain, and complexity of human nature.”

Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages, but her home is in Nashville, where she spent part of her childhood and now lives with her husband, physician Karl VanDevender. Patchett spoke at Parnassus with The Associated Press on a sunny weekday morning, shortly before opening time. She also met with staff members gathered at the center of the 4,800-square-foot store to discuss upcoming events, and indulged the occasional interruption by one of the employee-owned “shop dogs” who hurry about like bargain-seeking customers.

The new book is called ‘Whistler’

Patchett is here early to talk about “Whistler,” which comes out Tuesday. Like “Bel Canto,” “State of Wonder” and other Patchett novels, it's a story of improbable meetings and deepening bonds. In this case, 53-year-old Daphne Fuller and her husband encounter an elderly man, Eddie Triplett, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and realize he was briefly her stepfather when she was a girl. Daphne and Eddie form a close friendship as they recall their times together, including a serious car accident followed by the breakup of Eddie's marriage to her mother.

Patchett doesn't write with any message in mind, but “Whistler” can be read as an ode to decency and benevolence. The title refers to a story-fable about a horse that runs away, only to turn up at a time of crisis. In the aftermath of the crash, as Daphne wonders if it's safe to leave and seek help, Eddie assures her, “I swear to you, it's mostly good people out there, with a few bad people around the edges.”

“The people that I interact with every single day are good people,” Patchett says. “It is vanishingly rare when I meet someone who’s not nice. Now, if you watch the news and read the news, it seems like everyone’s terrible and murderous. But it’s the difference between primary and secondary sources. So if I’m just operating off primary sources, what I see is goodness. I completely understand that there is incredible horror and cruelty in the world, but I also feel like incredible horror and cruelty is very well represented (in art). And what I actually experience in my daily life is not as well represented in art.”

“I don’t set out to write books about nice people,” she adds, “but I like people.”

Honored by PEN America

Patchett's sense of citizenship was recognized recently by PEN America, which at its annual May gala in Manhattan presented her with its Literary Service Award. In introducing her to a gathering of hundreds at the American Museum of Natural History, author Patrick Ryan cited her wide range of contributions, whether working “to get books into the hands of children in underserved communities,” supporting emerging writers or inspiring readers “who recognize themselves in her novels.”

Patchett has a well-lived appreciation of connections, and how they can be broken by discord or ended by death.

A native of Los Angeles, she was in early childhood when her parents divorced and she moved east with her mother, events drawn upon for her novel “Commonwealth." She has also written memorials for departed loved ones. In the memoir “Truth & Beauty,” she remembered her close friend Lucy Grealy, a poet and memoir writer who suffered from a rare form of cancer and endured multiple surgeries before dying at 39. In the title essay from her 2004 collection “These Precious Days,” Patchett honors the late Sooki Raphael, a Hanks assistant with whom the author became close while Raphael battled terminal cancer.

“Whistler” is dedicated to her friend Jim Fox, a former head legal counsel at HarperCollins who died in 2024 and is the inspiration for Eddie (and the namesake for a character in “State of Wonder”).

“He was brilliant, and a great reader,” she says. “Jim isn’t Eddie and I’m not Daphne, and certainly the circumstances aren’t the same, but the huge love that Eddie and Daphne shared is the huge love Jim and I shared.”

A bookseller who inspires

Patchett, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, remembers telling stories even before she could read, a gap she says only intensified her appreciation of the printed word. Raised before the rise of “young adult” books, she started out reading such children's favorites as “Charlotte's Web” and “The Little House on the Prairie” series, and ascended directly to the literary giants who became her formative influences: Saul Bellow, Philip Roth and John Updike.

By her early 20s, Patchett was accomplished enough to have a story published in The Paris Review. Patchett's debut novel, “The Patron Saint of Liars,” came out before she had turned 30. She has since published nine other works of fiction, including “Whistler,” along with four nonfiction books and three picture books, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser.

“I was at my cousins' house a few months ago and they had boxes of old papers of mine,” Patchett says. “And they were from grade school, middle school, high school — notebook after notebook, poetry and stories. I was shocked by the extent I was practicing my craft at age 10.”

Patchett's life as a bookseller began around 2010, when the closing of two Nashville stores seemed to mirror a nationwide decline brought about in part by Amazon's rise. Patchett and business partner Karen Hayes came up with a seemingly wild plan: open a new store — a decision met with some skepticism at the time, but now a sign of the changing fortunes of independent sellers.

Membership in the American Booksellers Association has more than doubled over the past decade — including such author-run stores as Straub's Books Are Magic in New York City and Jeff Kinney's An Unlikely Story in Plainville, Massachusetts. Straub says that when she was thinking of opening her store, she spoke with various friends who owned small businesses.

“They all told me not to do it, but when I talked to Ann, she said ‘Do it,’” Straub says. “She's my hero. I think the friends who were telling me not to do it were speaking practically. But I didn't want to hear practical advice. I wanted to hear inspiration.”

In Florida, the average price for regular gas is $4.47. With summer travel on the horizon, Local 10 and Tropical Financial Credit Union are teaming up to bring drivers some relief.

“Right now, a lot of people across South Florida are feeling the pressure of everyday expenses, and even something as routine as filling up the gas tank can create real stress,” said Richard Shaw, Tropical Financial Credit Union President & CEO. “We wanted to do something simple but meaningful to help lighten the load, which is why we partnered with Local 10 on this gas card giveaway.”

All you have to do to sign up is complete the contest form below to be eligible to win a $100 fuel gift card. The deadline to enter is Sunday, May 31, at 11:59 p.m.

From June 1 through June 5, we will give away $2,500 in fuel gift cards to 25 Local 10 viewers. The winners will be chosen at random and five will be announced each day during our 6 a.m. newscast.

Sign up today for a chance to receive your “Prize at the Pump.”

“Even a little relief can make a difference, and we want people to know we’re here for them,” added Shaw.

June 1 winners:

• Bernard Hardge
• Dawn Cochran
• Alicia Gomez
• Nathaniel Jackson
• Carolina Guerrero

The deal, struck in 2022 by Starmer’s predecessor, Rishi Sunak, involved sending migrants who arrive in the U.K. as stowaways or in boats to the East African country. It included arrangements for payments to Rwanda to help cover costs. Starmer’s home secretary at the time the deal was scrapped, Yvette Cooper, called it the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen.”

The Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected two Rwandan claims, each for 50 million pounds ($67 million), linked to funding for the canceled deal. The decision was dated May 15, but formally announced by the Hague-based panel on Monday. It also rejected two other Rwandan claims linked to alleged breaches by the U.K. of the pact.

In a 76-page ruling, the panel said that written diplomatic exchanges between the two countries after Starmer scrapped the deal amounted to an agreement that the U.K. would not make the two 50 million-pound payments, due in April of 2025 and 2026, to cover costs of migrant relocations.

Under the deal, migrants were to be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed and, if successful, they would stay. Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that the policy was unlawful because Rwanda is not a safe third country for migrants sent there.

The British government said in a statement: “The U.K. robustly defended its position, and the tribunal has now ruled in favor of the U.K. on all grounds."

It added that Starmer's under-fire government is "now focused on delivering vital reforms to restore order and control to our borders, including removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain and scaling up removals of those with no right to be here.”

Rwandan Government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said Rwanda “respects the tribunal’s award and considers the matter concluded,” but she also noted a dissenting opinion by one of the arbitrators that she said “shows that the issues before the tribunal were complex and open to different legal conclusions.”

"Rwanda will continue to work constructively with international partners, guided by international norms and mutually beneficial cooperation,” she added.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London and Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali, Rwanda, contributed.

While Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia has already been massively successful in supplying high-end chips for data centers riding the worldwide AI demand boom, it is plotting different plans to expand its presence across AI systems and products.

Jensen Huang, the Taiwanese-American founder and CEO of Nvidia, made the announcement in Taipei at the annual Nvidia GTC event. Microsoft and Nvidia “are going to reinvent the PC (personal computer),” he said in his keynote speech.

“This is going to be the new PC,” Huang said as he unveiled Nvidia’s RTX Spark superchip — which combines CPU, or central processing unit, and GPU, or graphics processing unit, capabilities — that would power new Windows laptop and desktop computer models in what the company called “AI personal computers,” expected to debut in the fall of this year.

Nvidia is already the world’s most valuable company, ahead of Apple, Google’s parent Alphabet and Microsoft. Its new superchips for PCs will challenge chipmaking rivals including Intel and AMD. Nvidia's shares were up nearly 4% in early U.S. trading, while Intel and AMD both fell more than 3%.

The company said it will be “reinventing the personal computer” for creating and gaming. “When it has an autonomous (AI) agent, an agent that’s helping you, that understands you, you could talk to it. It could look at you. You could ask it to read files, go help you do some research. It could do a lot more,” Huang said.

Microsoft said in a separate statement that the personal computers running on Nvidia’s RTX Spark superchips would be able to support “highly capable AI models” and complex workloads. With the new superchips, these personal computers can run AI agents locally, Nvidia said.

“This is the first across the lineup of PC reinvention for 40 years,” said Huang.

Nvidia’s move is significant at a time when demand is growing for the use of personal AI agents, said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia.

“For consumers, it means more choices, which is always a good thing,” Su said.

Neil Shah, analyst and co-founder of Counterpoint Research, described Nvidia’s announcement as a move that’s “revolutionizing how PCs would look like in the next 10 years.”

The new laptops and desktop computers “will drive agentic AI applications in every home,” Shah said, with an aim of having an “AI supercomputer” in each household.

Also during Monday’s speech, Nvidia’s Huang said its new Vera CPUs for data centers are in full production and are “going to be our new major growth driver” on the boom of AI agents, with early customers including Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceXAI.

Huang also revealed a humanoid robot reference design that could act as a blueprint for future research, especially within the higher education sector. Nvidia said its “Isaac GR00T” stands nearly six feet tall and has the humanoid chassis of Chinese robot maker Unitree’s H2. It is equipped with five-fingered dexterous hands, made by Singapore-based robotics startup Sharpa, that are capable of finely controlled movements.

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Chan reported from Hong Kong.

The outbreak remains focused in eastern Ituri province, where 264 cases have been confirmed, the health ministry said. Congo has reported over 1,000 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo virus, the species of Ebola that was confirmed weeks after the outbreak quietly began.

The outbreak has spread to 22 health zones across three eastern provinces, government data shows, even as the World Health Organization has sought to highlight signs of progress like new deliveries of supplies to deeply under-resourced health centers.

Congo's health ministry says the main challenges in containing the outbreak in the remote region include early detection and rapid isolation of cases, rigorous contact tracing, safe and dignified burials and strengthening infection prevention and control in health facilities.

Meanwhile, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations said Monday it would commit up to $62 million to accelerate development of three experimental vaccines targeting Bundibugyo. The three in development are from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Moderna and the University of Oxford.

Health workers have been at high risk. The WHO honored five of them as survivors over the weekend during a visit by Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as he opened a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, capital of Ituri province.

Baraka Bulambulu, a nurse, said he was overjoyed after the final Ebola tests on him returned negative.

“Coming out of this illness alive is an indescribable joy," Bulambulu said with a wide grin.

Ezo Étienne, another nurse who recovered, said he had started feeling dizzy as he checked on patients.

“I called the team and told them, ‘Something’s wrong here,'" he recalled, adding, "I decided to rest for a bit, and a few minutes later I started vomiting.”

The virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. Treatment has mostly targeted patients' symptoms, the WHO has said.

“Your courage gives hope and your living story that this outbreak can be stopped,” Tedros told the health workers on Sunday.

Despite challenges that include threats by armed groups and anger against health workers by some wary residents, the recoveries are “a victory worth celebrating,” said Dr. Dieudonne Mwamba Kazadi, director-general of Congo’s National Institute of Public Health.

“It’s a strong message that it is possible to recover from Ebola when seeking care early in a dedicated health facility,” he added.

Neighboring Uganda has reported nine cases of Ebola in this outbreak and closed its border with Congo seeking to limit its spread. Although more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have taken place in Congo and Uganda, the Bundibugyo virus has been rare.

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Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.

A joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the orders to attack targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs followed what they called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah and “attacks against our cities and citizens.”

Hezbollah agreed to halt attacks on Israel when the ceasefire was signed in mid-April, but the militant group resumed the assaults after Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterized as self-defense.

After Monday's warning, large numbers of people were seen fleeing the area known in Arabic as Dahiyeh, jamming roads leading out of the suburb, where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.

Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire overnight

Israeli airstrikes overnight on southern Lebanon left six people dead, including a Syrian citizen in a village near the city of Nabatiyeh, the state-run National News Agency said. Israel struck other towns and villages near the major city, close to the strategic Beaufort Castle and other towns the Israeli military captured in recent days.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its air force had intercepted two projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, as well as a suspicious aerial target in the area where Israeli soldiers operate in southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported, the military said.

Hezbollah said it carried out rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel on Sunday. It said early Monday it attacked Israeli troops in Zawtar al-Sharqieh, just north of the Litani River, and struck what they said was Israeli military infrastructure in Tiberius, a few dozen miles south of the border.

Israel and Lebanon set to hold talks in Washington

The latest attacks came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and just before Lebanon and Israel hold their next round of direct talks in Washington starting Tuesday. Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran, which has demanded an end to the war in Lebanon in its talks with Washington.

The talks between officials from Israel and Lebanon, which began in April in Washington, were the first in more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations.

Lebanese officials have been scrambling in diplomatic calls, including with Washington, in a desperate bid to push back Israel’s military escalation after Netanyahu’s announcement, a Lebanese diplomatic official said. Beirut is still committed to holding talks to end the conflict despite the boiling tensions, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserted Monday that any ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran is a “ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon."

“Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts," Iran's top diplomat said in a post on X.

Beirut, the Lebanese capital, has been mostly spared from airstrikes since the ceasefire went into effect, apart from two targeted attacks on the city's southern suburbs in May.

The German development minister, Reem Alabali Radovan, had planned to visit Beirut on Monday to meet with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and other officials, but she called off the visit while traveling to the city, citing the possibility of Israeli strikes in the suburbs.

Rubio proposes a fresh path to continue talks

A U.S. official said late Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Aoun and Netanyahu to propose a fresh path to continue ongoing negotiations, as President Donald Trump weighs a tentative ceasefire extension with Iran.

Under the proposal, Hezbollah would halt all attacks on Israel, and Israel would refrain from escalating military operations in Beirut, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations.

The official said Aoun was open to the idea but that Lebanese parliament chief Nabih Berri had responded by demanding that Israel first stop all military action.

The official said the Trump administration does not expect Israel to give up retaliating for Hezbollah strikes on its territory.

Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, said in a statement Sunday that he can guarantee the militant group’s “full, comprehensive and immediate commitment to a ceasefire.” Berri added: “But who will force Israel to stop its aggression?”

Aoun on Monday said in comments released by his office that Lebanon faces "a fierce and condemned Israeli aggression.” Aoun added that his government continues work to end “the suffering of the Lebanese in general and the southerners in particular.”

Later, the president issued a statement reiterating Beirut's commitment to negotiations, saying it is “safer” than war."

“It will not solve the problem within moments, but it is a process that needs time," he said. “And we have no other choice.”

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,412 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people.

Israel’s military said a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon overnight in a drone attack by Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.

According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 26 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.

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Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

The protests come two days after Kenya’s High Court suspended the establishment of the facility and the arrival of any foreign patients pending the hearing of a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya and a constitutional watchdog.

The two organizations cited Kenya’s fragile health system as the reason why foreign Ebola patients should not be quarantined in the country.

U.S. officials said Thursday that the United States was planning to send Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s plans. They said the facility would be at Laikipia Air Base and would be operational with 50 quarantine beds by Friday.

On Monday, hundreds of youths marched to the gates of the air base, chanting anti-Ebola slogans.

Health Minister Aden Duale on Sunday said the quarantine center was for “everyone” and not exclusively for U.S. nationals.

The U.S. government intends to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Local leaders, including Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu, had told journalists that they were opposed to the establishment of an Ebola quarantine center.

“This will expose our people to Ebola,” he said, adding that many locals work inside the air base and could be exposed.

A resident, Malin Ndegwa, said Kenya should not be exposed to the virus by hosting foreigners when it is not the epicenter of the outbreak.

“Why are they not doing it in the DRC (Congo)? Why are they not doing it in Uganda? Why must they bring it here? So we are saying, we categorically, no negotiations, no public participation, we want nothing. We want that facility taken out of our town, we want it taken out of Kenya,” he said.

Kenya has not recorded Ebola cases, but neighboring Uganda has reported nine and closed its border with Congo.

At least 282 confirmed cases have been reported in Congo with over 1,000 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine.

Jóvenes y mayores, dirigentes del partido gobernante y propagandistas lo gritan por igual en actos oficiales, manifestaciones callejeras y en la televisión estatal, levantando el puño para mostrar lealtad al gobierno autoproclamado socialista y su tradicional antipatía hacia Estados Unidos. Incluso cuando se enfrentan a verdades abrumadoras que desmienten esa fanfarronería, la diversa coalición de militares, ideólogos y oportunistas que se han acercado a las esferas de poder ha actuado al unísono.

Pero han surgido grietas en esa unidad tras la impactante operación militar de Estados Unidos que capturó al entonces presidente Nicolás Maduro en enero. Personas que fueron leales durante mucho tiempo están ventilando desacuerdos con el gobierno de la presidenta encargada, Delcy Rodríguez, e incluso comentan públicamente rumores de que una traición desde dentro ayudó a Estados Unidos a deponer a Maduro.

Una relación más cordial con EEUU despierta críticas

Rodríguez ha eliminado algunas de las políticas de Chávez, ha cumplido exigencias de Estados Unidos y ha reordenado el gobierno a su gusto, destituyendo ministros, impulsando leyes en la Asamblea Nacional para reformar la industria petrolera del país y liberando a presos políticos.

Los partidarios del chavismo hacen notar su desaprobación. Muchos critican el acercamiento entre el gobierno de Rodríguez y la Casa Blanca, a cuyo ocupante, sin importar el partido, el chavismo ha visto históricamente como su principal adversario.

La deportación en mayo de un exministro para enfrentar investigaciones penales en Estados Unidos y la reciente autorización de Rodríguez para que el ejército de Estados Unidos realizara un ejercicio de entrenamiento en la capital de Venezuela dejaron al descubierto divisiones internas.

Mario Silva pasó años difundiendo propaganda progubernamental como presentador de un programa en la televisión estatal antes de ser sacado del aire tras la captura de Maduro. Silva cuestionó la legalidad de la deportación de Alex Saab, un aliado cercano de Maduro, al sostener que violó una prohibición constitucional.

Afirmó que Rodríguez no gobierna con libertad, ya que algunas decisiones “Se están tomando en la embajada norteamericana”.

“El imperialismo no negocia. El imperialismo conquista, busca, hurga, hasta que revienta nuestro país”, dijo Silva en una transmisión en vivo. “Nadie en este momento está a salvo. Y eso es un hecho concreto, terriblemente peligroso”.

Unas pocas decenas de personas protestaron en Caracas el 23 de mayo contra las maniobras, durante la cual dos aeronaves Osprey del Cuerpo de Marines aterrizaron en la embajada de Estados Unidos. Sostuvieron una bandera venezolana con el mensaje “No al simulacro yanki” escrito encima. La participación fue mínima, algo que llamó la atención en una ciudad acostumbrada a manifestaciones frecuentes con asistencia de miles de personas.

Elías Jaua, quien fue vicepresidente de Chávez y formó parte del gabinete de Maduro en sus primeros años en el cargo, repudió el ejercicio en redes sociales. Más tarde dijo a The Associated Press que alzaba la voz para concienciar a los venezolanos sobre la situación “humillante” que enfrenta el país.

“En esta etapa lo más importante es evitar que se naturalice esta ocupación y esta administración colonial a la que está siendo sometida una nación como Venezuela”, expresó Jaua.

Chávez y Maduro —así como Rodríguez, en sus anteriores funciones como vicepresidenta y ministra de Comunicación y de Relaciones Exteriores— habían vaticinado durante mucho tiempo que Washington usaría la fuerza para tomar el control de la industria petrolera de Venezuela, que se ha abierto al capital privado tras la captura de Maduro. El gobierno del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, supervisa las ventas de petróleo y administra los ingresos como parte de su plan por etapas para encarrilar al atribulado país sudamericano.

La salida de Maduro desata una lucha de poder

La crisis social, política y económica que se afianzó cuando Maduro se convirtió en presidente en 2013 llevó a más de 7,7 millones de personas a abandonar Venezuela y empujó a millones más a la pobreza. También derivó en rondas de protestas antigubernamentales y sanciones económicas de Estados Unidos, dos cosas que el partido gobernante logró resistir.

Los incondicionales del partido celebraron una victoria de Maduro en unas elecciones de 2024 pese a pruebas abrumadoras de que había perdido. También repitieron la negación de la dirigencia partidaria sobre un aumento de la migración. Su lealtad a menudo era recompensada, ya fuera con alimentos y bienes básicos para los pobres o con contratos multimillonarios y escoltas para los más acomodados.

Andrés Izarra, ministro de Comunicación con Chávez y ministro de Turismo con Maduro, dijo que las fracturas no se basan en la ideología ni en una defensa del chavismo, que, a su juicio, terminó cuando su fundador murió en 2013. El interés de Maduro, sostuvo, era enriquecerse y mantenerse en el poder a toda costa.

El interés personal, señaló, está creando división.

“Como no hay sustrato ideológico, es simplemente una pugna por poder y por dinero y por posiciones y por supervivencia. ¿Tú crees que él estuviera protestando si a él le hubieran dejado los escoltas o le hubieran dejado el sueldito o la cuota de poder?", dijo Izarra, quien vive en el exilio desde que se convirtió en blanco del gobierno la década pasada, en alusión a un crítico de los cambios bajo Delcy. "Si tuvieran interés ideológico, hubieran tenido la discusión mucho antes”.

Los leales hablan de una posible traición a Maduro

Las críticas incluso se emitieron en la televisión estatal el mes pasado, cuando un dirigente izquierdista colombiano sentado entre el público del programa del ministro del Interior, Diosdado Cabello, se puso de pie y cuestionó los esfuerzos de Venezuela por liberar a Maduro y a la primera dama, Cilia Flores, de la custodia de Estados Unidos.

“Hemos visto muy débil la campaña por la libertad de Cilia y Nicolas.”, dijo Manuel Caicedo ante un Cabello visiblemente atónito.

Otra chavista devota, la diputada Iris Varela, le dijo a un podcaster que creía que alguien dentro del gobierno había ayudado a Estados Unidos a sacar a Maduro del poder. La idea ha circulado ampliamente desde que el presidente Trump anunció que el líder autoritario había sido capturado el 3 de enero, pero no han surgido pruebas.

“Por supuesto que hay una traición”, dijo Varela. “Yo digo que todo Cristo tiene un Judas. Si nuestro Señor Jesucristo sabía que lo iban a traicionar y aun así dejó que Judas lo besara en la mejilla (...), ¿no va a surgir un traidor para Maduro?”.

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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.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the interception in a post Monday on X, saying the Tagor was boarded on Sunday in the Atlantic. Soldiers descended on a rope one after another from a French navy helicopter, video released to The Associated Press by the French military showed. It is the latest in a series of French naval interceptions of tankers suspected of links to Russia.

“It is unacceptable that boats skirt international sanctions, violate the law of the sea and finance the war that Russia has been waging for more than 4 years against Ukraine,” Macron wrote. “These ships, that don’t respect the most elementary rules of maritime navigation, are also a threat to the environment and everyone’s security.”

Oil revenue is a key part of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the war effort against Ukraine without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.

Russia is believed to be using a fleet of hundreds of ships to evade international sanctions imposed over the war. France and other countries have vowed to crack down on the sanction-busting so-called “shadow fleet.”

Responding to the latest French interception, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia “considers such actions illegal.”

“They border on piracy,” he said Monday. “We absolutely disagree that they are being carried out in full compliance with international law.”

French maritime authorities said the tanker was intercepted more than 400 nautical miles west of France, in international waters in the Atlantic. It was traveling from the northwestern Russian port of Murmansk, according to the authorities’ statement.

It said the tanker is suspected of operating under a false flag and that the French navy is now escorting it to an anchorage for more checks.

The captain says he is Russian, French prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger, overseeing the investigation from Brest in western France, said in a statement to AP.

The captain repeatedly refused to comply with French navy instructions, “making it necessary to take control of the vessel," Kellenberger said.

He said his office has opened a criminal investigation on charges of failure to provide proof of a vessel’s nationality, navigating without a flag and refusal to comply with orders.

Tankers previously intercepted by France include the Deyna, boarded in the Mediterranean Sea in March. Another tanker, the Grinch, intercepted in the Mediterranean in January, was released in February after paying a multimillion-euro penalty.

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Associated Press writer Elise Morton in London contributed.

The young, the old, ruling party leaders and propagandists alike shout it at official events, street demonstrations and on state television, pumping their fists to show loyalty to the self-described socialist government — and its traditional antipathy toward the United States. Even when confronted with overwhelming truths that defy such bravado, the diverse coalition of military, ideological and opportunistic hangers-on has acted in lockstep.

But cracks in that unity have emerged after the stunning U.S. military operation that captured then- President Nicolás Maduro in January. Longtime loyalists are airing disagreements with the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez and even discussing publicly rumors that an insider’s betrayal helped the U.S. depose Maduro.

A warming relationship with the US draws criticism

Rodríguez, has done away with some of Chávez’s policies, complied with U.S. demands and shuffled the government to her liking, removing ministers, pushing legislation through the National Assembly to overhaul the nation's oil industry and releasing political prisoners.

Supporters of Chavismo are making their disapproval known. Many criticize the warming relationship between Rodríguez’s government and the White House, whose occupant, regardless of party, Chavismo has historically seen as its main adversary.

May’s deportation of a former minister to face criminal investigations in the U.S. and Rodríguez’s recent authorization for the U.S. military to conduct a training exercise in Venezuela’s capital laid bare internal divisions.

Mario Silva spent years spreading pro-government propaganda as the host of a program on state TV before being removed from the airwaves after Maduro’s capture. Silva questioned the legality of the deportation of Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro's, arguing that it violated a constitutional ban.

He contended that Rodríguez is not governing freely, as some decisions “are being made in the U.S. Embassy.”

“The imperialists don’t negotiate. They conquer, test and probe — until our country shatters,” Silva said in a livestream. “Nobody is safe right now. And that is a concrete, terribly dangerous fact.”

On May 23, a few dozen people in Caracas protested the training that saw two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft land at the U.S. Embassy. They held a Venezuelan flag with the message, “No to the Yankee drill” written over it. Participation was minimal, which stood out in a city used to frequent demonstrations with attendance in the thousands.

Elías Jaua, who served as Chávez’s vice president and in Maduro’s cabinet in his first years in office, repudiated the exercise on social media. He later told The Associated Press he was speaking up to raise awareness among Venezuelans of the “humiliating” situation facing the country.

“At this stage, the most important thing is to prevent this occupation and this colonial administration to which a nation like Venezuela is being subjected from becoming normalized,” Jaua said.

Chávez and Maduro — as well as Rodríguez, in her previous roles as vice president and communications and foreign affairs minister — had long prophesied that the U.S. would use force to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry, which has opened up to private capital after Maduro's capture. The Trump administration oversees oil sales and administers revenues as part of its phased plan to turn the troubled South American country around.

Maduro's ouster prompts power struggle

The social, political and economic crisis that took hold when Maduro became president in 2013 drove more than 7.7 million people to leave Venezuela and pushed millions of others into poverty. It also led to rounds of anti-government protests and U.S. economic sanctions, both of which the ruling party survived.

Party stalwarts celebrated a Maduro victory in a 2024 election despite overwhelming evidence showing he had lost. They also echoed the party leadership's denial of a surge of migration. Their loyalty was often rewarded, be it with food and basic goods for the poor or multimillion-dollar contracts and bodyguards for the better-off.

Andrés Izarra, a communications minister under Chávez and tourism minister under Maduro, said the fractures are not based in ideology or a defense of Chavismo, which he believes ended when its founder died in 2013. Maduro's interest, he said, was in enriching himself and remaining in power at all costs..

Self-interest, he said, is creating division.

“Since there is no ideological foundation, it is simply a struggle for power, money, positions, and survival. Do you think (he) would be protesting if he’d kept his bodyguards, or if they’d kept his little salary, or his share of power?” Izarra, who lives in exile since becoming a government target last decade, said of one critic of change under Delcy. “If they had an ideological interest, they would have spoken much earlier.”

Loyalists discuss possible betrayal of Maduro

Criticism even aired on state television last month, when a Colombian leftist leader sitting in the audience of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello's show stood up and questioned Venezuela's efforts to free Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores from U.S. custody.

“We’ve seen a very weak campaign for Cilia and Nicolás’s freedom,” Manuel Caicedo said before a visibly stunned Cabello.

Another devout Chavista, lawmaker Iris Varela, told a podcaster she believed a government insider had helped the U.S. oust Maduro. The idea has widely rumored since President Donald Trump announced that the authoritarian leader had been captured on Jan. 3, but no evidence has emerged.

Of course there’s a betrayal,” Varela said. "I say that every Christ has a Judas. If our Lord Jesus Christ knew he was going to be betrayed and yet he let Judas kiss him on the cheek, ... won’t a traitor emerge for Maduro?”

The special Sandiganbayan anti-graft court had initially issued a warrant for Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s arrest Friday on a graft charge that was bailable. He then surrendered and was released on bail and again denied any wrongdoing.

Estrada, 63, has strongly denied allegations mainly by a former government public works engineer that he received more than 570 million pesos ($9.3 million) in kickbacks from flood control projects.

Before leaving the Senate to surrender, Estrada suggested that the corruption cases he was facing and his arrest were a result of his being aligned with the camp of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte, a former ally but now an arch political rival of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“I will not yield to threats. I will not be intimidated,” Estrada said at the Senate.

“I will not be pressured into surrendering my independence of judgement,” he said.

The senator was an actor like his father, former President Joseph Estrada. Both have been previously detained on other corruption-related charges.

Several other senators and members of the House of Representatives have been implicated in the flood control anomalies in a poverty-stricken Asian archipelago that is among the most vulnerable to deadly floods and typhoons.

With Jinggoy Estrada’s looming arrest, two senators in the 24-member chamber would now be effectively sidelined by legal troubles.

Another senator, Ronald dela Rosa, has gone into hiding after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest for an alleged crime against humanity.

Dela Rosa was a former national police chief who enforced a brutal anti-drugs crackdown under then-President Rodrigo Duterte that left thousands of mostly low-level suspects dead. The unprecedentedly large numbers of killings alarmed Western governments.

Duterte, who stepped down in 2022 after his stormy six-year term, was arrested last year on orders of the ICC and flown to the Netherlands, where he was detained and will face trial for alleged crimes against humanity starting in November over some of the killings.

Duterte and dela Rosa have denied any wrongdoing but Duterte had repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death.

The two people remain unaccounted for since a search and rescue operation began last month in a rugged area of Xaisomboun province, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane. Five of the seven people initially trapped inside the cave have been rescued.

Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie, who is involved in the operation, said workers were pumping water out of the cave.

“We will go into the suspected area to continue the search if the water level is lowered,” he told The Associated Press.

Another team of rescuers is also looking around the other side of the cave in hopes of finding a dry passage that could provide access to the area where the missing people are believed to be trapped, he said.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand have been working together for more than a week. They were joined by divers from countries including Finland, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, France and Australia.

Several of the rescuers previously took part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand that saved 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave.

Laos's Rescue Volunteer for People group posted on its Facebook page that heavy rain caused “massive amounts of water” to flow down into the area, forcing them to suspend operations on Sunday night.

Kengkaj Bongkawong, head of the Thai group Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin, said workers are also looking for air shafts from above that may provide access into the cave.

“The team and I have used a radar scanner and satellite images and many other things as a basis for our navigation of the mountain,” he said.

In remarks on his Facebook page, Kengkaj warned that even if a suitable alternative entrance is found, “it's going to be a very tough job,” with access difficult and the constant problem of continuing rain flooding the cave.

It would require not only pumping water out, but also installing equipment to keep ventilating the cave's air supply, he said.

Rescuers believe the two missing people are trapped deeper inside the cave than the location where the five survivors were originally found on Wednesday. But the passage into that area is said to be very narrow and heavily flooded.

The villagers reportedly entered the cave nearly two weeks ago to look for valuable minerals such as gold before being trapped by a flash flood that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped and alerted the authorities.

The first man was safely extracted on Friday, guided through a narrow flooded passage by an expert diver. The remaining four left the cave on Saturday after the water receded enough for them to walk out on their own, rescuers said.

El 7 de junio, los peruanos concurrirán nuevamente a las urnas para definir quién gobernará los próximos cinco años un país que ha visto desfilar ocho gobernantes en casi una década.

Fujimori, candidata de Fuerza Popular, se impuso en la primera vuelta con un 17,19% de votos válidos, seguida de Sánchez, de Juntos por el Perú, con el 12,03%, según los resultados oficiales.

Durante dos horas desde un centro de convenciones en Lima, los postulantes intercambiaron posiciones y propuestas sobre cuatro ejes: seguridad, democracia y derechos humanos, educación y salud; y economía, empleo y reducción de la pobreza.

En el arranque, el nacionalista Sánchez aseguró conocer “los problemas y las necesidades” del pueblo peruano al que ofreció no defraudar. “Hay que acabar con la dictadura congresal del gobierno que dirige Keiko Fujimori para recuperar la democracia y la justica”, fustigó.

En respuesta, la conservadora Fujimori aseveró que Perú enfrenta “un momento crítico” que, dijo, solo admite dos caminos: “O hacemos algo ahora para arreglar nuestro país o repetimos la misma receta que ya fracasó en 2021”, en alusión al gobierno del expresidente Pedro Castillo, de quien su rival fue ministro.

Seguridad

En un país agobiado por la criminalidad, con 2.400 homicidios al cierre de 2025, un promedio de siete asesinatos por día, según cifras oficiales, y extorsiones que superaron las 25.000, Fujimori ratificó que aplicará desde el primer día una política de “mano dura”.

La candidata de Fuerza Popular ofreció implementar plataformas para rastreo de extorsiones, militarizar las fronteras y presencia de policías y militares en zonas de riesgo para transportistas y pasajeros. Los presos deberán trabajar y “reparar a la sociedad”. También se reforzará el sistema de inteligencia y equipará la policía, añadió.

Sánchez enfatizó que luchar contra la criminalidad e inseguridad requiere “recuperar la democracia” y encaró su contrincante y excongresista sobre leyes que calificó de “procrimen”. Ofreció combatir la corrupción dentro de la policía y promover reformas que viabilicen el apoyo de fuerza militares en seguridad ciudadana.

Fortalecimiento del estado democrático y derechos humanos

Para fortalecer la democracia, Sánchez dijo que se debe “plantear un estado que restablezca el equilibrio de poderes”, un estado inclusivo y consolidar el sistema interamericano de derechos humanos para dar justicia a las “víctimas” del poder estatal.

“Los derechos humanos no se defienden sólo mirando al pasado”, respondió Fujimori, quien llamó a mirar al presente y al futuro impulsando, según su propuesta, proyectos de acceso a “obras que nos permitan vivir con dignidad”.

Educación y salud

Para solucionar las deficiencias de la salud púbica, la aspirante de derecha prometió implementar la telemedicina y fortalecer un fondo para asistir enfermedades de alto costo. En educación, propiciará la construcción y repotenciación de 5.000 colegios y un programa de kits escolares con participación de pequeños emprendimientos.

El postulante de Juntos por Perú aseguró que el acceso a la universidad debe ser libre y será un derecho universal, también ofreció la transferencia de recursos para la alimentación escolar y atender la salud mental.

Economía, empleo y reducción de la pobreza

Para Sánchez la pobreza “ya no sólo está en las zonas rurales, se ha movido a la ciudad” y propuso elevar la remuneración vital de 1.130 soles (332 dólares) a 1.814 soles (533 dólares) en su eventual gobierno. Alentará el empleo, “crédito barato” y asistencia para negocios y emprendedores.

“La pobreza no se reduce con discurso, se reduce con empleo”, reprochó Fujimori. La candidata dijo que en su gobierno la economía crecerá del 3% en la actualidad al 6% al cierre de su gestión. También prometió un fondo para la estabilización del precio de los combustibles.

La hija del fallecido exmandatario Alberto Fujimori llega por cuarta vez a un balotaje presidencial en Perú. Fue la primera dama durante el gobierno de su padre (1990-2000) y excongresista.

Sánchez fue ministro de Comercio Exterior del sentenciado expresidente Pedro Castillo (2021-2022) a quien ha prometido lealtad.

Then she listened to a song from a faith youth group that felt as if God were speaking to her. She joined the group, and now in addition to its weekly adoration with music sessions, Cabral is excitedly preparing to attend Pope Leo XIV ’s Mass in Gran Canaria with her friends.

“You get a restlessness about an emptiness that you don’t know how to fill,” Cabral, 26, says of her embrace of Catholicism. “God is the one looking for you first, but you need to go meet him.”

On trips to Spain this month and France in September, Leo will find thousands of young people like her in these traditionally Catholic but now staunchly secular countries, where historic churches are abundant and Mass attendance is sparse.

Church leaders and some experts see the success of youth movements and the surge in adult baptisms as signs that some young people are showing new interest in the church, while also challenging it to embrace a more inclusive message.

“They are drawing near with a look of surprise,” said the Rev. Josetxo Vera, spokesperson for Spain’s Catholic Bishops Conference. “It’s an excellent opportunity that bursts forth from heaven, not from the church.”

A drop in faith practice creates a blank slate

Vera has seen many teens “scare” their atheist parents by asking to be baptized after becoming aware of, and attracted to, Christian messages spread in popular culture — like Catalan pop star Rosalía and her recent, spirituality-infused album Lux.

They’re approaching faith in a drastically different environment than their parents and grandparents.

Until 1975, Spain was ruled by dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, who aligned with a deeply traditional Catholic Church still reeling from the anticlerical violence of Spain’s civil war. Becoming a democracy, the country saw “a kind of divorce between popular piety and the church’s religious culture,” said Mónica Cornejo Valle, a religion professor at Complutense University in Madrid.

Wildly popular religious processions and feasts have continued to be held in most Spanish regions and it’s hard to find a neighborhood or hamlet without some visible vestige of Spain’s outsized importance in the global history of the spread of Catholicism.

There are nearly 23,000 active Catholic parishes — but new priestly ordinations haven't started to bounce back. Most Spanish adults, 80%, were raised Catholic but only 47% currently identify as such, including a meager 2% who joined the faith from non-Catholic upbringings, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2024.

Only about 16% of Spanish Catholics go to Mass at least weekly, according to the 2024 Pew survey, even though it’s an obligation for those practicing the faith.

One of Cabral’s friends in Gran Canaria, José María Marrero, remembers attending Mass with his mother as a child, “and all you met were the old folks.” His wife, a teacher who was baptized in her early 20s, told him some of her students on a recent trip saw a picture of Jesus and asked, “Miss, that’s the Catholic one, right?”

In this overall environment, scholars like Cornejo Valle warn that a supposed revival in religiosity might amount to a “publicity effect” driven by a savvy use of media and popular culture.

But youth movement and church leaders see opportunity in this blank slate — especially if they “transmit Jesus’ message with happiness, a message that’s easy to understand,” as Cabral puts it.

Youth movements grow with appeals to belonging, solidarity

That’s the case for the group Cabral and some 35,000 other youth belong to, Hakuna, which started in the early 2010s in a Madrid parish when a group of college students set up a weekly hour of Eucharistic adoration, preceded by a short lecture and followed by a meetup at a local bar.

The movement became an official lay organization of the Spanish church in 2017, and has grown into volunteer trips and concerts, with seven records launched of Christian music, said its spokeswoman, Maca Torres.

“It’s the Holy Spirit, we’re the first to be surprised” by the success, Torres said, adding that most members are people who had stopped practicing, though there are a few converts.

In Catholicism, infants are baptized — but more than 13,300 baptisms of people older than 7 were counted in the latest annual report from Spain’s Catholic bishops conference.

And in France, a country whose approach to secularism is increasingly contested because of its strict regulation of religion in public life, some 13,000 adults were baptized at the Easter Vigil this year — 42% of them ages 18 to 25. That's according to the country's Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said that amounts to a tripling of such baptisms compared to 10 years ago.

Last summer at the Vatican, Leo encouraged a gathering of baptism candidates and newly baptized from France to share their experience of faith with others and let it guide their daily life.

“What a joy to see young people who are engaging with faith and want to give a sense to their life, by letting themselves by guided by Christ and his Gospel,” Leo told them.

The appeal for young people, experts say, seems to be twofold — a disenchantment with other institutions and with the growing loneliness of life lived on social media, together with a church that, starting with Pope Francis, has focused less on doctrine and more on social justice.

On June 6, the first day of his trip to Spain, Leo will hold a prayer vigil with youth in a vast Madrid public square — but he’s also later visiting a migrant center in the Canary Islands and a prison near Barcelona, outreach initiatives that tend to appeal to progressive youth.

“We don’t think that the number of Catholic young people has grown by a lot, but we do see that in general the profile of the Catholic youth is more committed than before,” Cornejo Valle said.

A quest for meaning that leads to the pews

María Salazar, 23, leads a Barcelona outpost of the global Catholic youth movement Effetá. She says many of her peers are looking for different forms of spirituality, within and outside the church.

“More than looking for faith, we look for a feeling of peace,” Salazar said. “We live in a microwave society — everything has to be immediate — but the Lord doesn’t work this way.”

She said there’s been “a boom of youth” in her parish, which also happens to be one of the most visited monuments in Europe — the Sagrada Familia, modernist architect Antoni Gaudí’s unfinished masterpiece.

About 120 of them engage in adoration and weekend-long spiritual retreats, the first of which saw organizers and the basilica’s rector stay up to prepare the church until well past midnight.

They also volunteer to help with the elderly going to Mass in the crypt and the international tourists flocking to worship services in the grand temple above it, where the pope will celebrate Mass on June 10 and inaugurate the new tower of Jesus Christ.

“We’re going to have him here at home,” Salazar gushed. “I see the tower from afar and I see the home that God gave us.”

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Associated Press journalist Nicole Winfield at the Vatican contributed to this report.

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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.

Seattle has been under .500 for most of the season, but now the Mariners (31-29) lead the division after six straight victories. They've made this run without slugger Cal Raleigh, who was hitting .161 when he went on the injured list over two weeks ago.

It doesn't take much to shake up the standings in the AL West. The Mariners' streak included a three-game sweep this past week over the Athletics. The A's were in first place, but have lost seven of their last nine. Houston has won eight of its last 12 to pull back into contention, just 4 1/2 games out of first place. The whole division is separated by 8 games, the top three teams by 2 1/2.

Despite Raleigh's absence, the Mariners are fourth in the American League in home runs, but pitching is what has driven this recent run. Seattle has held opponents to two runs or fewer in five of its last six games.

The same five starters have made 57 of Seattle's 60 starts. Bryan Woo (3.44), Logan Gilbert (3.69), George Kirby (3.77) and Emerson Hancock (2.78) all have ERAs among the top 25 in the AL. Luis Castillo (5.53) lags behind the other four starters, but lately Seattle has been using him in sort of a tag team with Bryce Miller, with one starting and the other coming out of the bullpen.

In a 9-2 win over the Athletics, Castillo pitched four scoreless innings and then Miller threw the last five. On Sunday against Arizona, Miller started and went five innings, then Castillo worked the last five and Seattle won 3-2 in 10.

Trivia time

The New York Yankees scored 13 runs in the third inning Sunday in their 13-8 victory over the Athletics. The Yankees actually went hitless in the other eight innings.

Anthony Volpe became the third player in the last 50 years to have two hits, two runs and two steals in an inning. Who were the other two?

Bonus question: Volpe nearly got to bat three times in the inning, but he was on deck when the third out came. Who was the last player with three plate appearances in an inning.

Performance of the week

Jacob Misiorowski struck out 12 in seven two-hit innings — throwing 57 pitches of at least 100 mph — as the Milwaukee Brewers beat St. Louis 5-1 last Monday. Milwaukee went on to sweep three straight from the Cardinals, and the Brewers now lead the NL Central by 4 1/2 games over St. Louis.

Comeback of the week

The Orioles trailed by four with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth Saturday. Toronto never got another out, with Jeff Hoffman allowing the next six hitters to reach base before Connor Seabold issued a bases-loaded walk to Adley Rutschman that tied the game. Pete Alonso followed with a single to give Baltimore a 6-5 win.

Toronto's win probability was 99.3%, according to Baseball Savant, before Hoffman hit a batter and allowed a triple, a single, a double and two walks.

The Orioles went 7-3 on their homestand against Detroit, Tampa Bay and Toronto. That included a walk-off win over each of those teams and a three-game sweep of the AL East-leading Rays.

Trivia answer

Detroit's Alan Trammell had two hits, two runs and two steals in the bottom of the first on Sept. 20, 1983, against Baltimore. Seattle's Mike Cameron pulled it off in the top of the seventh on May 16, 2002, against Toronto.

Bonus answer: Boston's Johnny Damon had three plate appearances in the bottom of the first on June 27, 2003, against Florida. He had a single, a double and a triple as the Red Sox scored 14 runs in the first.

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

Tyler Robinson’s defense has asked Judge Tony Graf to restrict access to the preliminary hearing on July 6-10, when prosecutors must show they have enough evidence to warrant a trial. It will mark the most significant presentation of evidence to date in a case that has so far focused on matters of media access.

Defense attorneys also have requested to seal dozens of exhibits that prosecutors plan to introduce at the July hearing, arguing they could taint the jury pool before a possible trial.

Robinson's lawyers have tried to guard against media coverage that they say sometimes misrepresents their client as his case has drawn tremendous public attention. The 23-year-old from southwestern Utah is charged with crimes including aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted. He has not yet entered a plea.

Prosecutors have argued that the preliminary hearing should remain open, but they agreed that media should be restricted from viewing or copying some exhibits that could be used in a future trial. They plan to introduce forensic analyses, surveillance video, recordings of witness statements, autopsy findings and alleged messages from Robinson admitting to the crime.

Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle used to kill Kirk, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle. Prosecutors also have said Robinson left a note for his romantic partner that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged from its all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 102 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was flat. Both are also coming off records.

Some of the sharpest losses hit companies with big fuel bills hurt by the rise in oil prices. United Airlines lost 2.9%, and cruise-operator Carnival fell 2.7% after the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 6.7% to $97.22. That clawed back a chunk of its loss from last week and means it's still well above its price of roughly $70 from before the war.

Expensive oil has already sent inflation around the world higher, which not only increases bills for households but also pushes up bond yields. High yields worldwide recently have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments.

Some of the hardest hit by high interest rates are smaller companies, which have a tougher time borrowing to grow when loans are more expensive to repay. The Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks sank 1%, much more than the rest of the market.

But hope seems to be remaining on Wall Street that the United States and Iran will ultimately reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, allow deliveries of oil to resume from the Persian Gulf and ease the upward pressure on inflation.

Strength from several market heavyweights also helped to overshadow such fears.

Nvidia was the strongest force pushing upward the market and rose 4.8% after CEO Jensen Huang announced several product updates at a conference. Among them, he said the company’s next-generation artificial-intelligence platform, Vera Rubin, is ramping into full production. That helped calm some investor concerns about potential delays, analysts said.

What Nvidia does matters immensely for the U.S. stock market because it’s the biggest in terms of overall market value. That means the movements for its stock carry more weight on the S&P 500 than any other’s.

And Wall Street’s biggest companies have been growing so much that they’re dominating the market. The top 10 stocks control nearly half the S&P 500’s total market value, a 40-year high, according to Thomas Carroll, equity market strategist at Stifel.

That worked well as those Big Tech companies shot higher thanks to exuberance around AI. But it could also weigh on the index if the market’s leadership broadens, Carroll warns. Even if most stocks end up rising in such a rotation, stagnation or declines for Big Tech heavyweights could drag on S&P 500 index funds.

And a key indicator Carroll follows about market breadth “is signaling a rotation is coming,” he wrote in a report.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Science Applications International Corp. jumped 12.8% after becoming the latest U.S. company to report bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. SAIC also raised forecasts for upcoming financial results after winning several contracts from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, army and other agencies.

A cavalcade of such profit reports has helped the U.S. stock market push to records despite the war with Iran.

Berkshire Hathaway slipped 0.4% after it said it would buy Taylor Morrison Home for $6.8 billion. It’s one of the first big acquisitions announced by the company under Greg Abel’s leadership following famed investor Warren Buffett. Taylor Morrison Home jumped 22.5%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose with oil prices and after a report said growth in U.S. manufacturing accelerated by more last month than economists expected. The yield for the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.50% from 4.45% late Friday.

High yields have already forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level in nine months, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9%, and South Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.7% to hit records led by technology-related stocks, as investors continued to see growth in AI and other advanced technologies.

In South Korea, the Kospi index jumped 3.7% to a record. Samsung Electronics, its biggest company, soared 10.1%. Official data on Monday showed that South Korea’s exports surged 53% year-on-year in May, buoyed by global demand for semiconductors.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.

Peters’ release was confirmed by the Colorado Department of Corrections. The state agency said it would have no more information about the 70-year-old inmate. Her sentence was shortened by Gov. Jared Polis last month after Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against the governor and his state.

Peters served less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence.

Peters was the first local election official to be charged with breaching security after the 2020 election. She snuck in an outside computer expert affiliated with My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell — who himself denied that Trump lost the White House in 2020 — and the person copied the county's Dominion Voting Systems computer server as it was updated in 2021.

Peters then joined Lindell onstage at a “cybersymposium” that promised to reveal proof that the election was rigged. Video and photos of the computer system upgrade, including passwords, were posted online. The move stoked false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.

Peters was convicted in 2024 of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty and other crimes by jurors in Mesa County, a Republican stronghold that supported Trump. An appeals court upheld her conviction in April, but ordered Peters to be resentenced because it said the judge who sent her to prison wrongly punished her for speaking out about election fraud.

Trump had championed Peters' case, but because she was convicted under state law, he did not have the power to pardon her. Instead, the president pressured Polis to do so, lambasting him on social media and disinviting him to a White House meeting with other governors. The Trump administration also announced plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and relocated the U.S. Space Command to Alabama.

Polis commuted Peters' sentence on May 15. In a letter, he wrote that although Peters was convicted of serious crimes and deserved to spend time in prison, the sentence was “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a first-time non-violent offender.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, called the move a “dark day for democracy” and said it amounted to ”selling out our state’s justice system for Trump.”

In the governor's race, former Fox News TV host and British political adviser Steve Hilton is urging Republicans to unite behind him as he fights for one of two spots in the November election alongside two Democrats, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer and former state attorney general Xavier Becerra.

In the Los Angeles race for mayor, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt is hoping to turn his insurgent campaign into a surprise upset of Democratic Mayor Karen Bass. The two are tightly clustered with Nithya Raman, a progressive city council member running to Bass' political left.

“We can't give up on LA,” Pratt told applauding supporters at a block party Sunday. “We've got to fight.”

Democrats once feared that the party’s large field of gubernatorial candidates could open a path for two Republicans to advance to November. But now, in the campaign’s closing days, Hilton is warning the opposite could happen — what he called a “doomsday scenario” in which only Democrats advance.

Hilton is pleading with his chief Republican rival, county Sheriff Chad Bianco, to pull out of the contest, fearing an all-Democratic ticket would dampen GOP turnout across the state and reorder races for Congress and the Legislature.

Becerra and Steyer locking out a Republican from the November ballot would be “a disaster for California, it means no change. It’s a disaster for everyone who’s running as a Republican up and down the ballot,” Hilton said on the social platform X.

Mail voting began in early May, but just 15% of voters had returned their ballots as of Sunday. That's left the candidates seeing room for a last-minute shake-up in the race's closing days.

A vulnerable mayor looks for second term in LA

In heavily Democratic Los Angeles, Bass' shaky first term has left her vulnerable. She points to a drop in homelessness, though encampments and rows of rusting RVs remain a common sight in many neighborhoods. Meanwhile, she's still trying to overcome lingering fallout from the 2025 Palisades Fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. Bass was in Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the flames ignited. Pratt lost his home in the blaze and has made the fire and the city's recovery a foundation of his campaign.

At Pratt's block party, Vivian Escalante, a historian who lives in the heavily Hispanic Boyle Heights neighborhood adjacent to downtown, said the quality of life has been sliding for years — dirtier streets, more homeless encampments and a lack of pride in the neighborhood she's called home all her life.

“It's gotten completely worse,” Escalante said, with a Pratt cap perched on her head. The Democratic Party, she said, has “completely abandoned us.”

The LA race is officially nonpartisan, but Bass is a Democrat, as is Raman, who made a last-minute decision to challenge her one-time ally and is among the top group of contenders.

Pratt, who rose to fame alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, on “The Hills,” is a registered Republican who has received a nod of approval — if not an outright formal endorsement — from President Donald Trump. He has sought to distance himself from national politics, saying his concerns are strictly within city limits.

A University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times, found Bass tightly clustered with Raman and Pratt, with other candidates trailing. The poll of 1,351 likely voters conducted between May 19 and May 24 gave no candidate a statistically significant edge.

The city is at a difficult juncture.

Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years for cheaper filming locations. A downtown renaissance was crushed by extended pandemic closures and many office buildings remain desperate for tenants. The city has long struggled to provide basic services, whether paving buckled streets and fixing sidewalks or keeping streetlights on.

A crowded governor's race with no clear leader

The governor's race has been the most wide open in a generation. More than 50 names are on the ballot.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is banned by law from seeking a third term. Other candidates seeking to replace him include former Democratic U.S. Rep. Katie Porter,Democrat Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, and Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff.

Rebecca Katz, a strategist with Steyer’s campaign, said Sunday that they are “feeling pretty good” but emphasized how close the race was with a sporting reference, “It’s three candidates for two spots, every possession counts.”

Steyer, a former hedge fund manager turned liberal activist, has set spending records hoping to advance to the November contest. Hilton, a former Fox News host who has been endorsed by Trump, has promised to bring down costs in a state with some of the nation's highest gas prices, utility costs and taxes. Becerra has been stressing his experience in arguing he's best prepared to lead the nation's second most populous state, having served as the Biden administration's health secretary, a former U.S. House member and state attorney general.

Broadly, Republicans in the race are promising drastic change after years of Democratic governance — Democrats haven't lost a statewide race in two decades and Republicans last elected a Los Angeles mayor in 1997. Democrats, though in charge for years, are promising to bring down costs and continue to fend off the Trump administration in its numerous conflicts with Democratic California.

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Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

The nominal ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. has been repeatedly tested with such back-and-forth attacks, even as officials from both countries try to negotiate an end to the war. It’s not clear how close they are to a deal — and there is always the risk that an attack could derail those talks.

In the meantime, Iran has maintained its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies and driving up the price of fuel around the world, with far-reaching consequences. A cargo ship came under attack off Iraq Monday afternoon, the British military said.

Fighting has also escalated between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, despite their nominal ceasefire. Israel has extended its occupation deep into Lebanon, and Hezbollah — which joined the war in support of its main backer, Iran — continues to launch drones into Israel.

US military attacks Iran

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it carried out the strikes in Iran on Saturday and Sunday around the city of Geruk and on Qeshm Island, hitting air defenses, a ground control station and two attack drones it said threatened ships in the region.

“The measured and deliberate strikes occurred ... in response to aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” Central Command said.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is at a trickle compared to before the war, with ship owners deterred by the risk of an Iranian attack. Only 36 ships transited the waterway in the seven days leading up to to Friday, a third of them carrying crude oil or petroleum products, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. That compares to an average of more than 130 ships per day before the war began.

Kuwait reports incoming fire

Kuwait said its air defenses opened fire early Monday morning to intercept incoming drone and missile fire.

Around the same time, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it responded to an American attack without saying where, likely referring to the attack on Kuwait. In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, the Guard said that U.S. forces had targeted a telecommunications tower.

Kuwait is home to U.S. Army Central, the Mideast forward command for the Army.

Iranian state television shared footage of the ballistic missile launch, including a close-up showing a sticker on its body depicting a bruised U.S. President Donald Trump overlaid on a “closed” Strait of Hormuz with the caption: “Until the last American soldier leaves the region.”

Central Command said U.S. forces shot down two ballistic missiles Iran launched toward bases home to American troops. No Americans were hurt, it added.

Attacks rattle ceasefire talks

The attacks represent the latest escalation between the U.S. and Iran. Over the weekend, the U.S. fired a missile into the engine room of a Gambia-flagged cargo ship trying to break its blockade of Iranian ports.

On Monday, a cargo ship off Umm Qasr, Iraq, was struck by a projectile that caused a “large explosion,” the British military said. It offered no other details and no one claimed the attack, though Iran previously has attacked ships off Iraq.

A trickle of ships has made it out of the strait, through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed, but pressure continues on global energy supplies, as well as on chemical fertilizer. That has led to fears of food shortages. The Gulf region produces 30% of globally traded chemical fertilizers.

Trump met with advisers on Friday but has yet to decide on whether to move ahead with a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait. Iran has said the deal had not been finalized.

The U.S. and Israel launched the war with strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Trump has offered shifting goals for the conflict, although preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon is among them. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, though it has enough highly enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested last week that negotiators are trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on Monday again accused the U.S. of “constantly” changing its positions.

“From the beginning, we knew — and we continue to know — that we are negotiating in an atmosphere of mistrust," Baghaei told journalists.

Trump expressed optimism about the talks in a post on his Truth Social platform early Monday in Washington.

“Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us,” he wrote. “Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end — It always does!”

A heavy military presence was observed in the capital, Addis Ababa, as watchdogs called for a peaceful vote in the country that is Africa’s second most populous and host of the African Union.

The head of the electoral commission, Melatework Hailu, said security incidents were reported at polling stations in two volatile regions, Oromia and Amhara. Voting resumed at some but did not at 143 others, and it was not clear whether voters would have another chance to cast ballots.

No details were given about the insecurity. Voting in 50,000 other polling stations proceeded as Ethiopians choose more than 500 members of the House of Representatives, who will vote to select the prime minister.

More than 50 million people, out of Ethiopia’s estimated population of 130 million, are registered to vote. Voters are also electing members of local government councils. Results were expected later Monday.

But the Tigray region again was not taking part in the election, denying it a voice in parliament and further pushing it to the margins after years of friction with the federal government, including armed conflict. The region has not had federal representation for six years.

Elsewhere, opposition parties have raised concerns over what they describe as a shrinking political space, alleging that they were prevented from campaigning. Ethiopia has also faced criticism over reported human rights abuses targeting government critics and journalists.

A human rights defender, Noah Yesuf, called the election illegitimate "from the beginning."

“The fairness of an election is judged by whether there is a level playing field for the opposition and a conducive environment for citizens to freely participate,” he told The Associated Press.

There was an element of voter apathy as some citizens said they felt let down by politicians.

But Senait Dereje, a 37-year-old shopkeeper, said she was certain her vote matters.

“I am not sure if my vote will bring the change that I want and that will help change my livelihood,” Dereje told the AP. “I know many friends refuse to vote as they have given up on the politicians, but I have not and I see it as a referendum-like vote on the mixed record of the government."

This year’s election themes highlight national reconciliation due to fighting in regions including Tigray, Oromia and Amhara.

The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto sales are slumping.

The challenge is global in scale, as interest rates have risen for multiple countries as the world has been adjusting to the prospect of higher inflation, mounting questions about the sustainability of government debt and a dramatic surge in investment in artificial intelligence.

Trump has tried to assure Americans that he has a plan to trim the roughly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit. In the past, he has pointed to revenue from tariffs, payments from foreigners for his “Gold Card” visa, spending cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, and faster economic growth. Last week, he said the fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance would be the key to unlocking massive savings.

“If he does really great, we’ll have a balanced budget without having to do anything,” Trump said.

Economists say this is probably unrealistic

Economists say Trump’s strategies to meaningfully curb the deficit are unlikely to deliver the promised results.

The cost of servicing the national debt has tripled since 2021 to more than $1 trillion annually, said Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“President Trump signed a tax cut bill that will likely add $5 trillion to 10-year deficits — and tariffs are offsetting only a small fraction of those costs,” she said. “Budget deficits are still projected to soar past $4 trillion annually within a decade under current policies.”

Deficits are expected to grow over the next decade as the costs of Social Security and Medicare outstrip tax revenues.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury rate climbed as high as 4.67% in the middle of May and has since eased as negotiations over the Iran ceasefire continued — just as rates initially climbed in 2025 because of Trump's “Liberation Day” tariffs and then began to decline once Trump backed off the most extreme increases.

When Kent Smetters, faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, broke down the math tied to rising 30-year Treasury yields, he estimated that 60% of the increase had come from the expectation that America will continue its outsized borrowing and the other 40% was tied to the inflation driven by the Iran war and Trump’s tariffs.

Glenn Hubbard, a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the George W. Bush administration, worries that the U.S. may no longer have the same borrowing capacity as before to effectively combat an economic crisis, such as the 2008 crash or the coronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t think we have the space that we had in 2008 or 2020 to deal with it,” said Hubbard, now a professor at Columbia University's Business School. “Washington doesn’t seem to be full of ideas — good or bad — to solve it.”

Interest rates are a concern for voters

Higher interest rates are giving Democratic candidates in the races to determine control of the House and Senate another line of attack at a time when voters are concerned about high costs for food and gasoline.

In Colorado’s fifth congressional district, Democrat Jessica Killin is leaning into the message that the persistent deficits and higher interest rates make it harder to buy or renovate a home, afford a new car or manage credit card debt.

“Things are already expensive,” said Killin, an Army veteran who was a top aide to Doug Emhoff, the former second gentleman. “We can already talk about gas, but the cost of borrowing only makes that worse.”

Joe Reagan, an Army veteran also seeking the Democratic nomination, said in an email that he is talking “a lot about fiscal stewardship” in his campaign. “Every dollar spent paying interest is a dollar that isn’t being invested in infrastructure, education, veterans’ services, or economic growth," he said.

They are challenging Republican Rep. Jeff Crank in a district that their party views as a potential pickup. Killin said the deficit is an example of how “Trump says one thing and does the opposite.”

In his March 2025 address to Congress, Trump declared that “in the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget. We’re going to balance it.”

Crank, the Republican incumbent, did not reply to requests for comment.

Cutting fraud is the new deficit strategy

The administration maintains that it is going to steadily reduce budget deficits. As a share of the overall economy, the deficit last year was lower than it was in 2024, though that drop depended in part on tariff revenues that are subject to refunds after the Supreme Court ruled them to be illegal.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week cited a report showing that there was as much as $500 billion annually in fraudulent government spending that could be eliminated, “so that would reduce the deficit substantially.”

Bessent appeared to draw that conclusion from a 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office that estimated there had been between $233 billion to $521 billion each year in fraudulent spending. But those numbers were drawn in part from the pandemic era when the government borrowed heavily to stabilize the economy.

The White House and Treasury did not respond to questions about the source of Bessent’s claims.

On deficits, Bessent told reporters at the White House that the administration was essentially dealt a bad hand from former President Joe Biden, a Democrat. “We inherited the worst budget deficit in history — in history — when we were not in a recession or not at war,” Bessent said.

Bessent had previously announced that the administration would aim to reduce the annual deficit to 3% of overall U.S. gross domestic product. It’s roughly double that percentage currently and Bessent did not directly answer a question about the timeline for hitting his target.

As of now, investors continue to buy shares in U.S. companies, causing the stock market to increase in value in a sign of confidence in America’s economic potential. But the increase in interest rates also suggests that investors view the national debt as a vulnerability for the U.S.

The financial markets might be able to inflict enough pain with higher rates in order to compel political leaders to address the systemic imbalances. Multiple economists said they expected that markets would force the deficit issue before voters would.

Hubbard emphasized that the whole bond market system rests on the trust that the debt will be repaid. He noted that the word “credit” is linked to a Latin term that is also the root of the word creed about a system of beliefs.

“That is what debt is about: I believe you will pay me back,” Hubbard said. “That works until it doesn’t.”

A defense lawyer for Rayann El Houli said expert evidence would be produced in court that her views had changed.

“She renounces ISIS and violent jihad,” Peter Morrissey said, using an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. “She wants nothing to do with it: not now directly or indirectly. Not in the future. Not for herself. Not for the people she loves and specifically not for the children."

El Houli, 34, applied for release on bail in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on charges that she joined a terrorist organization and entered and remained in Raqqa, Syria, more than a decade ago when it was the stronghold of the IS so-called caliphate.

Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan outlined allegations within the prosecution’s summary of evidence that she wanted Morrissey to address in the bail hearing.

El Houli allegedly traveled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 with the intention of joining IS fighters.

“The accused expressed radicalized views while in Syria, including support for terrorist acts. She supported acts of martyrdom whilst in Syria. She repeatedly expressed views that supported the killing or serious injury of non-believers,” Hannan said.

She tried to indoctrinate her children and invited people living in Australia go to Syria for the “purposes of following a life and making decisions based on IS or other extremist ideology,” Hannan said.

El Houli left Raqqa in 2019 “when the caliphate was defeated and not as a result of her changing views,” the magistrate said.

The bail application was adjourned to a date that will be set later.

Each charge against El Houli carries a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years. People charged with terrorism offenses can only be released on bail in exceptional circumstances.

Hannan said she wanted to hear details of how El Houli escaped from the al-Hol camp for displaced people in eastern Syria and was smuggled into Lebanon.

She returned to Australia from Lebanon last year and was arrested in Melbourne last week.

Three other women also linked to IS who have returned to Australia recently were charged with slavery and terrorism offenses on arrival and remain in custody, and others remain under police investigation.

Un mes después de que se dieron a conocer las acusaciones contra el gobernador del estado de Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, y otros nueve funcionarios, Sheinbaum asumió una postura más frontal y aprovechó un evento ante decenas de miles de seguidores en el centro de la capital mexicana para insinuar que el objetivo de ese proceso sería el de afectar los comicios regionales y legislativos del 2027.

“Cuando desde el exterior se dicta quién es culpable y quién no. Cuando se busca presionar a nuestras instituciones desde fuera. Cuando se normaliza la idea de que otro país puede intervenir en asuntos que sólo corresponden a los mexicanos, ya no estamos hablando de cooperación, estamos hablando de injerencia”, expresó la mandataria ante una multitud que se concentró en el emblemático Monumento a la Revolución para escuchar su mensaje al país a casi dos años de su victoria electoral del 2 de junio del 2024.

La fiscalía de Nueva York acusó en abril a Rocha Moya, al alcalde de la capital de Sinaloa, Juan de Dios Gámez, y a otros ocho funcionarios activos y retirados de cooperar con el Cártel de Sinaloa, solicitando su detención preventiva con fines de extradición.

La Fiscalía General de México supeditó las detenciones de los 10 funcionarios a que Estados Unidos entregue evidencias que respalden las acusaciones y abrió una investigación que no ha tenido mayores avances.

En medio de ese proceso, Rocha Moya y Gámez —ambos militantes del partido gobernante Morena— se separaron temporalmente de sus cargos para facilitar la investigación, mientras que los exsecretarios de Seguridad y de Finanzas del gobierno del estado, Gerardo Mérida y Enrique Díaz, se entregaron a las autoridades estadounidenses a mediados de este mes.

Dudas e injerencia

Al insistir en que no había pruebas contra Rocha Moya y los demás funcionarios, Sheinbaum señaló que era “legítimo dudar del verdadero interés de los juicios de extradición”, y añadió que este tipo de acciones no tenía precedentes en las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y México.

“Primero vienen por unos, luego por otros, hasta que las oficinas de justicia se vuelven el principal elector de México. Eso no lo podemos permitir”, comentó la mandataria, y dijo en tono desafiante: “México, que se oiga claro y que se oiga fuerte, no acepta injerencias”.

Al abundar sobre los intereses que podrían estar detrás de este proceso judicial, Sheinbaum le preguntó a los asistentes “¿es realmente interés legítimo, genuino, por ayudar a México?”, y agregó “¿o quizá estamos viendo como sectores de la derecha estadounidense utilizan a nuestro país para posicionarse rumbo a sus elecciones de 2026, o acaso pretenden influir en la elección de 2027 en nuestro país?".

Desde que el presidente Donald Trump inició su segundo mandato en 2025, las relaciones entre Washington y México han tenido varios momentos de tensión debido a las recurrentes críticas a las acciones de las autoridades mexicanas para enfrentar a los cárteles del narcotráfico y las políticas arancelarias que han afectado a sectores clave de México como la industria automotriz, el acero, el aluminio y el cobre.

A pesar de las fricciones, Sheinbaum ha logrado sortear la situación y mantener una relación cordial con su vecino y principal socio comercial.

Al presentar un balance de los 20 meses de su administración, Sheinbaum aseguró que su gobierno ha sido objeto de una “ofensiva mediática” y de “campañas en redes sociales” promovidas por “sectores conservadores nacionales e internacionales”.

Agregó que la campaña contra su gobierno se intensificó luego del incidente del pasado 19 de abril en el estado de Chihuahua, limítrofe con Texas, donde murieron dos agentes de la CIA junto a dos funcionarios de la fiscalía estatal en un accidente automovilístico. Los fallecimientos ocurrieron luego de un operativo donde se desmanteló un laboratorio clandestino de drogas sintéticas.

El caso de los dos estadounidenses generó tensiones entre Estados Unidos y México, que protestó la presencia de los agentes en territorio mexicano sin autorización.

With no candidate taking an outright majority of the vote, the election will head to a second round in June.

But Cepeda and Petro sowed doubt in the results of the first round, claiming without evidence that hundreds of thousands of votes were manipulated and that foreign actors manipulated the results of the election.

Cepeda said he was waiting for electoral authorities to scrutinize the results before accepting the election.

“Only when the vote-counting commissions have fully clarified what happened will we comment on tonight’s results,” Cepeda said, though he acknowledged the vote was likely going to a second round.

Cepeda won 41% of the vote, while de la Espriella won 44% of the votes, with 99.98% of the results counted by electoral authorities.

Cepeda is a progressive senator who has promised to carry on a fraught plan to achieve “total peace” by negotiating peace pacts with guerrillas and criminal gangs. He was consistently leading polls in the run up to the Sunday vote, but in the weeks leading up to the election de la Espriella rapidly gained support with a promise that he would crack down on armed groups.

The neck-and-neck results likely spell trouble for Cepeda in the run-off election, as de la Espriella is expected to scoop up support from voters who threw their support behind another conservative candidate in the first round.

De la Espriella — a newcomer known as El Tigre, or “The Tiger” — has sought to portray himself as a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Let the United States of America and democratic parties monitor this runoff election. I will lead this battle; I will be Colombia’s best warrior,” de la Espriella said in an impassioned speech Sunday night, pounding his chest behind bullet-proof glass in front of supporters.

Colombian voters are weighing peace deals or a crackdown

Voters across Latin America are increasingly ditching leaders that pitched progressive policies aimed at addressing the root issues of conflict, such as lack of opportunities for young people and corruption. Instead, voters have increasingly turned to candidates promising heavy-handed security crackdowns.

The polarized vote comes as the Trump administration is playing a more aggressive role in Latin America than any U.S. government in decades, placing mounting pressure on countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Ecuador to crack down on crime.

The election has also underscored two sharply diverging visions for the future of peace in a country marked by years of conflict.

On one side, Cepeda has promised to continue Petro’s progressive agenda and a largely failed effort to negotiate peace pacts with armed groups, following a plan that’s likely to sharply contrast with Trump’s vision for Latin America.

On the other side, de la Espriella has promised to fiercely crack down on criminal groups and build 10 mega-prisons, echoing the war on gangs policy of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, which has driven down homicide rates but fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

“Today’s election isn’t just important for us, it’s important for all of Latin America,” said Juan Acevedo, a 62-year-old sociologist walking out of a voting station in Colombia’s capital on Sunday morning. “Whoever wins here will suggest to the region if progressive policies will continue or if things are going to return to the right.”

Vote is seen as a referendum on Petro

The election — 10 years after Colombia signed an historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC — as seen as a referendum on Petro’s policies.

The deal a decade ago had offered hope to break the nation’s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government. But violence has since roared back, in part because armed groups have taken advantage of peace negotiations with Petro’s government to make territorial gains.

That came to a head in the lead-up to the election. Criminal groups have increasingly launched drone strikes, armed attacks have plagued the race and last June, 39-year-old politician and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was fatally shot at a political rally. Still, Cepeda and Petro have maintained strong support among many because of progressive policies pushed forward under Petro, such as boosting the minimum wage.

Both de la Espriella and Valencia have touted their affinity for Trump, though Valencia’s electoral loss dealt another blow to a once powerful political current known as Uribismo.

Colombians are divided on the way forward

Maria Eugenia, a 57-year-old seamstress on Friday in downtown Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, said she welcomed an all-out offensive on an expanding slate of criminal groups, regardless of the human cost.

While she approved of Petro’s pushes to improve the country’s medical infrastructure, she said she was voting for de la Espriella because violence in rural areas of the country has gotten out of hand. She said negotiating peace pacts was effectively rewarding armed groups.

“Of course, whenever you come down with a heavy hand, there’s always going to be debate,” she said. “But some people are going to have to fall to clean up what needs to be cleaned up.”

Others, like Acevedo, the sociologist, said a security crackdown such as the one promoted by de la Espriella meant a return to past military campaigns that he said only reinforced Colombia’s cycle of violence.

He said he supports Cepeda, adding that while the government hasn’t done a perfect job — failing to pass ambitious reforms and follow through on promises to reduce violence — it was better to continue pushing forward with their political coalition’s efforts to take a different approach in addressing the country’s violence.

He added that his main critique of Petro’s administration was the power grabs made by criminal groups as they negotiated with the government. He said he hoped that if Cepeda won, he would strike a better balance between negotiating peace and maintaining control over those groups.

“We’re a country that has lived through 60 years of conflict,” Acevedo said. “The danger here is that we return to the times where everyone is saying that the only way to solve our problems is with bullets and more war.”

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

Social media platforms with at least 8 million users in Malaysia, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, must implement age-verification systems and block users under 16 from creating accounts.

Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission said age verification for existing users will be rolled out over the next six months. Users identified as under 16 will have a month to download or transfer data, including photos and videos, before restrictions or other actions are applied.

Companies that fail to comply could face penalties of up to 10 million ringgit ($2.5 million). Parents whose children manage to bypass the law will not be penalized.

The government said the measures are aimed at protecting children from harmful content, cyberbullying and platform features designed to encourage excessive use.

Countries including Australia,Brazil and Indonesia have introduced or announced age-based restrictions or requirements for children’s access to social media. Others including Britain, France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea are studying or developing similar approaches.

Malaysia's regulator said the rules are not intended to prevent children from accessing digital technology. Platforms are required to improve user safety, discourage excessive use and take action against underage accounts and harmful content.

Technology companies have yet to describe how they will comply.

Clara Koh, Meta’s director of public policy for Southeast Asia, has cautioned that Malaysia's under-16 ban could backfire by driving teenagers away from protected apps and into unregulated corners of the internet.

Governments around the world face pressure to address concerns about social media’s impact on children’s mental health and online safety. In March, a U.S. jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay millions of dollars in damages in a case alleging that platform design features contributed to harm suffered by a young user.

Malaysian families have varying views

In Kuala Lumpur, Saravanan Ganasan and Jayaradha Veerasamy, whose children are 12 and 15, said they approve of the changes. They already had banned their kids from using social media, believing minors lack the psychological capacity to cope with it.

Devices are kept out of bedrooms, screen time is limited to common areas and their son is not allowed to lock his phone with a password.

“Exposure is what we fear,” Saravanan said. “The wrong kind of exposure will do damage to the mind.”

Aadhavan Saravanan, 15, said he believes he would be addicted to social media if allowed full freedom. “Social media is, like, a luxury and it’s not a necessity,” he said.

The couple said the restrictions have forced their children to develop offline life skills. Aadhavan reads books in a backyard mango tree and repairs broken household appliances, while their daughter cooks and does crafts.

“A lot of parents are very scared that children get bored,” Jayaradha said. “But boredom is actually very good because they start thinking out of the box.”

But Shaun Hew, in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Cheras, said the new restrictions go too far.

Hew believes social media allow his kids to spend time productively, as long as there is proper adult oversight. His 11-year-old son uses platforms to learn cooking and his daughter, 14, uses YouTube for exam preparation.

He worries a sudden cutoff could cause teenagers to rebel and find unregulated ways to bypass internet blocks.

Some express concerns over privacy and safety

Some critics said Malaysia’s decision could increase the risks of data privacy breaches and expand state surveillance.

“It is very much following the trend, but in a way that is raising alarms due to requiring a government ID for age verification,” said Benjamin Loh, social science lecturer at Monash University in Malaysia. He said social media companies could end up storing sensitive personal data without sufficient safeguards.

Loh said the decision also could unintentionally affect stateless individuals, undocumented residents and members of marginalized communities including LGBTQ+ people who rely on anonymity online for safety.

Without penalties on parents, families can easily bypass the law by creating accounts for their children, he added.

“This is a major gap that, unless regulators are willing to fix, will result in the law having little effect in stopping children from using social media,” he said.

With no fanfare other than a social media post, the NBA announced Sunday that the image of the Larry O'Brien Trophy — the one given to the winner of the finals — will be painted at midcourt for games at both the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio and Madison Square Garden in New York for this season's title series.

Also back: the script logo for “The Finals" — to be on either side of the court. The series between the Spurs and Knicks starts Wednesday in San Antonio.

It's the first time since the 2009 finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic that the title series will feature the trophy logo at midcourt. The finals wordmark and logo last appeared on the court during the 2014 finals between the Spurs and the Miami Heat.

The league started using the finals wordmark on the court for the title round in 1989, went to a combined wordmark and trophy in 2004, then had the prominent trophy logo at midcourt from 2005 through 2009.

Fans had turned to social media in recent years to complain that the court lacked the finals flair. The league commissions alternate courts for events like NBA Cup games, and some fans wondered aloud about the lack of consistency — special courts for the in-season tournament, but no special markings for the finals.

This year's version comes with a new twist: the center court trophy logo will be integrated with the participating team's own branding.

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

Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library overlooking Boston Harbor, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank “the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy” and argued that the Fed’s independence was a “priceless asset” that must be protected.

It was one of his most direct defenses of Fed independence, warning that a single administration’s decision to remove bank officials over policy differences would open the way for future elected officials to follow suit, ultimately undermining the credibility that the Fed has spent decades building.

Powell, who frequently clashed with Trump during his eight years as chair, stepped down as his term expired in May. He was succeeded by Kevin Warsh, whom Trump selected to lead the central bank.

After stepping down as chair, Powell took the unusual step of keeping his seat on the Fed’s governing board, which he has until January 2028. By doing so, he has deprived the Trump administration of an opportunity to appoint another member of the board.

The Trump administration has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, which would open an additional seat on the rate-setting committee the president could fill. Yet Cook sued and the courts have so far let her keep her seat.

While Powell never mentioned Trump by name Sunday, he repeatedly returned to the importance of protecting institutions from political pressure and preserving public trust in their independence.

“Like many other institutions, the Fed has been undergoing a stress test," he said. “Congress wisely chose to insulate monetary policy decisions from political pressure. All other advanced economy nations have done the same.”

Since 1989, the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award has recognized public servants who make what the foundation describes as courageous decisions of conscience despite personal or professional consequences.

Previous recipients include former Presidents Barack Obama and George H. W. Bush, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former Vice President Mike Pence.

In March, the foundation said it was awarding Powell for protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve “despite years of personal attacks and threats from the highest levels of government.”

Trump harshly criticized Powell throughout his tenure as chair, frequently attacking the Fed’s interest-rate decisions and urging the central bank to cut borrowing costs more aggressively.

Beyond the Federal Reserve, Powell defended U.S. universities and research institutions, the Constitution, Congress and the court system.

“The United States has long been the leader of the world’s freedom-seeking people — the indispensable nation. Other countries know us as a nation built on integrity, and that integrity must be maintained,” he said.

In his remarks, Powell indirectly acknowledged mistakes as chair. The Fed is legally required to seek stable prices, but inflation surged amid the pandemic’s supply chain crunch. Many economists believe the central bank should have raised interest rates more quickly in response.

“At the Fed, we are, of course, human and thus imperfect,” Powell said. “When we make mistakes, we acknowledge them and change course.”

Powell was honored alongside residents of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, who received the award for what the Kennedy Foundation described as acts of courage during a federal immigration crackdown that led to thousands of arrests and the deaths of Minneapolis mother Renée Good and nurse Alex Pretti, both of whom were killed while observing or documenting enforcement activity.

“It’s wonderful just to be invited, honoring Renée,” Good’s father, Tim Granger, said as he entered the library with family members.

Kennedy’s only surviving child, Caroline Kennedy, and her son, Jack Schlossberg, said in a statement that without people like Powell and those in Minnesota “willing to put their lives on the line to hold America to its promises, our democracy can’t survive.”

Attendee U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor of Minnesota next year, reflected that the award was unusual because it recognized ordinary residents rather than elected officials.

“This didn’t go to an elected leader for a reason,” Klobuchar said. “It’s because the people stood up. They stood up by marching 50,000 strong. They stood by bringing kids they didn’t even know — strangers’ kids — to school, by bringing them groceries and they didn’t blink. And that’s what this award is about. It’s about courage.”

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AP journalist Christopher Rugaber contributed from Washington.

“It doesn’t matter which one wins,” Ossoff told an exuberant crowd at The Tabernacle, a downtown Atlanta concert venue. “They’re both Trump puppets.”

Ossoff campaigned with Democratic candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, in what their advisers described as the first of many joint rallies intended to showcase them as a team. The Democrats spoke behind a lectern decked with a placard that read “United for Georgia.”

It was a contrast to Republicans, who are still battling amongst themselves to determine their party's nominees for Senate and governor. Hours before Ossoff and Bottoms appeared together, Collins and Dooley spent the afternoon going after each other on the debate stage ahead of their June 16 runoff.

They pledged their fealty to the president while rarely mentioning Ossoff, who they describe as too liberal for a state that Trump carried in two out of his three campaigns.

The competing events, held miles apart in Atlanta, highlight the head start Ossoff and Georgia Democrats have in a midterm campaign that could reshape the final two years of Trump’s presidency and mold the statehouse of this critical battleground state.

Like Ossoff, Bottoms awaits the winner of a Republican runoff after she trounced her Democratic primary rivals on May 19. And much like Ossoff, she painted potential opponents Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire businessman Rick Jackson with the same brush.

“They don’t see Trump’s reckless policies as a problem, they see them as a playbook,” she said, emphasizing inflation, especially for gas and groceries. “We already know we’re running against Trump’s do-boys.”

Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024, and holding his seat is critical to Democrats' chances to flip control of the chamber. Bottoms is trying to become the first Democrat since 1998 to be elected Georgia governor.

In the governor's race, Trump has endorsed Jones, who assisted the president's failed effort to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden with false claims of voter fraud. The president has not taken a side between Collins and Dooley.

Republicans spar over ethics and experience

With Trump’s firm grip on the Republican Party, Collins and Dooley showed only slight policy differences as each sought to carve out reasons they’d be the better option to defeat Ossoff and bolster the president’s agenda.

Dooley played up his status as a first-time candidate and, despite Republicans controlling the House, Senate and White House, hit Collins as being part of a do-nothing government.

“Congress is out of control,” he said. “There’s too much careerism, corruption, nothing’s getting done, Congress is not working for the people the way it should.”

Yet even as he framed himself as an outsider, Dooley touted the endorsement from two-term Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and his own family roots. Dooley’s late father, Vince, was the legendary University of Georgia football coach and longtime athletics director.

“I grew up in a football family in Athens,” said Dooley, who was briefly a lawyer before following his father’s career path in college football and the NFL.

Dooley’s hardest hits on Collins centered on an ethics investigation into whether the congressman abused taxpayer funds by hiring the girlfriend of his former chief of staff for work that the woman allegedly did not perform.

Collins insisted the issue is simply a “complaint” with no merit, not an actual House ethics case. A “nothing burger,” the congressman called it.

The Office of Congressional Conduct, after an initial inquiry, has nonetheless referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee, and Dooley noted that Republicans were among those recommending the inquiry continue.

Collins, the son of a congressman, slapped back at Dooley’s characterization of Capitol Hill. He described himself as “a conservative workhorse” and blamed any gridlock specifically on “a broken Senate” — where Ossoff serves. He touted his sponsorship of the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 immigration law that, among other provisions, requires immigrants accused of certain crimes to be held without bond.

Dooley and Collins each offered support for Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran. While Collins has previously co-sponsored legislation that would effectively ban abortion nationwide, Dooley said states should determine abortion access.

Ossoff wraps Trump and both Republicans together

Ossoff dismissed Trump as “a failed president and a national disgrace.” He held up Trump as the worst offender of a corrupt political system, highlighting his family’s profits from cryptocurrency and foreign real estate deals. And he lumped Collins and Dooley in with him.

“They’re both corrupt political insiders, and they’re both pro-war, pro-tariff, and pro-cutting your health care,” he said.

Ossoff hit Collins for the same ethics case that Dooley mentioned. He accused Dooley of benefiting from his brother’s business dealings with government.

“The coach’s family got tens of millions of your tax dollars courtesy of Gov. Kemp, and then poured cash into the governor’s pack to prop up the coach’s campaign,” Ossoff insisted.

He was alluding to Daniel Dooley being the founder of CENTEGIX, a firm that manufacturers and installs school security hardware, including so-called “panic buttons” that contact law enforcement directly. As governor, Kemp authorized grants for local systems to bolster security and later signed a law requiring Georgia classrooms to have direct contact to police.

CENTEGIX has secured contracts with school systems throughout Georgia, and Daniel Dooley has donated more than $150,000 to Kemp’s federal PAC that is backing his brother's Senate campaign. But Dooley and Kemp advisers note that CENTEGIX has contracts in 47 states besides Georgia, and other firms compete for Georgia schools’ business.

Connor Whitney, a Dooley campaign spokesman, said Ossoff “is already lying about Derek Dooley” because he “knows Dooley is the candidate who will send him to the bench this fall."

We’re taking you inside Jamaica for a firsthand look at the devastation left behind by Hurricane Melissa, plus showing you how artificial intelligence is playing a role in forecasting this season, and -- 100 years later -- we look back at the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 -- the storm that changed South Florida forever.

Join hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry, Local 10 chief certified meteorologist Betty Davis and the entire Weather Authority team for “It Only Takes One,” airing at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Clouds will linger overnight, keeping temperatures warm. Lows will fall into the upper 70s. Monday will start dry, with afternoon thunderstorms developing once again. It will also be hot, with a high near 92 degrees, just shy of the record high of 93 degrees. Deep tropical moisture will make it feel like temperatures are in the triple digits.

He said nothing on his radio, instead paying the penalty by going to the back of the field. Then he drove his way back to the front where he outraced Christopher Bell over the last four thrilling laps off a final restart to win at the Nashville Superspeedway.

“Man, what an unbelievable day,” Hamlin said. “Starting first, going to last and back to first.”

This was Hamlin's second win this year and 62nd of his career, and he wound up leading a race-high 57 laps including the one that mattered most.

The 45-year-old Hamlin wound up racing side-by-side with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Chase Briscoe making it three-wide before Hamlin took the lead down the backstretch to win by 0.115 seconds in his No. 11 Toyota.

“Well, that’s why on the last lap, I committed to just run the bottom," Hamlin said.

Team co-owner Heather Gibbs said watching the teammates race so hard was like kids on a family vacation swatting at each other in the backseat. But she said they raced cleanly.

“We want them to race for the win," Heather Gibbs said. "That’s what they do, and it makes us proud.”

Hamlin, who won at Las Vegas and also the All-Star race at Dover, pulled within 97 points of Tyler Reddick in the season standings. Reddick finished sixth.

The race started 80 minutes late after rain delayed NASCAR’s Cup Series for a second straight week. The wait was worth it with a record 31 lead changes among a record 15 leaders. The race also featured 12 cautions at the 1.33-mile, D-shaped oval that is NASCAR’s largest concrete track.

Bell finished second for a second straight race ahead of Briscoe. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, and Shane Van Gisbergen rounded out the top five.

“I had the best car on the race track ... and we had the lead on the restart,” Bell said. “I got a great push from Denny on the restart, and I didn’t win the race.”

One win closer to Busch

Hamlin now is one Cup victory away from matching his one-time teammate Kyle Busch, who died May 22 at 41. Busch is ninth all-time with his 63 Cup victories, and Hamlin said he certainly aspires to get there.

“It just shows how good he was for so long,” Hamlin said. “I saw the stats online where we ran together 500 and some races, and he finished ahead of me 10 more times than I beat him in the same equipment.”

Long time coming

Ryan Blaney, trying to repeat as champ at this track, led the restart trying to hold off AJ Allmendinger on a one-lap shootout for the first stage. Allmendinger took the lead on the backstretch, then held off Kyle Larson to take stage one for his first stage victory since 2024.

Stage 2 win

Suarez took the second stage after staying out during a caution and took the lead on the restart on lap 182. Then Corey Heim drove his No. 67 Toyota into the back of Todd Gilliland’s No. 34 Ford, sending him backward into the Turn 1 wall. That brought out the seventh caution with Cole Custer spinning out in the crash.

Lots of rotor woes

Rookie Connor Zilisch had the right rotor explode on his No. 88 Chevrolet sending him into the wall and smashing the right side on Turn 1 of lap 72. Zilisch got the Trackhouse Racing car into the garage with some flames coming out from under the right tire, which was stuck and nearly sideway.

He had been running 24th after starting 38th on the last row.

Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain had his own rotor issue on lap 82 sending him into the wall between Turns 1 and 2. Michael McDowell spun trying to avoid Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet. Zilisch called the rotor problems a surprise when both he and Chastain had been moving up.

“Just unfortunate circumstances,” Zilisch said. “Yeah, we’ll learn from it.”

Van Gisbergen is the third member of Trackhouse Racing. His crew told him not to worry with his No. 97 Chevrolet running a completely different brake package. Ryan Preece went to the garage with no water in his No. 60 Ford, and his crew found a piece of rotor broken off into the radiator before he got back on the track.

Then Allmendinger, who was third, had the rotor spark and flame before his No. 16 Chevrolet hit the Turn 1 wall on lap 173 — with 12 laps left in Stage 2.

Chris Buescher was running 17th with 12 laps left when his right rotor went as he entered Turn 3.

Up next

The series will be at Michigan International Speedway next week where Hamlin will be trying to win for a second straight year and continue his winning streak.

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

Fueled by a fiery pep talk from captain Aaron Judge, the Yankees scored 13 runs in the third and beat the Athletics 13-8 — finishing one run shy of the largest inning in the storied history of the franchise.

“Remarkable,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Glad we were able to make it stand up. Obviously, a lot of really good things offensively. ... I don’t think the prettiest game on either side, necessarily. But we were able to make a really outstanding inning stand up.”

The game began well for A's starter Jacob Lopez, who retired all six New York batters in the first two innings. That led to a heated message from Judge to his teammates that they needed to wake up.

“I just felt like we were a little asleep there that first two innings. I expect more out of the guys and I know they expect more of themselves. A couple of choice words there just to get it going. The boys responded,” Judge said.

They sure did.

Lopez failed to retire any of the seven hitters he faced in the third, starting with a single by Anthony Volpe.

The totals in the inning were staggering as the Yankees had 11 hits, four walks and four stolen bases. They sent 18 batters to the plate and faced 75 pitches during their most productive inning since scoring 13 runs in the eighth against Tampa Bay on June 21, 2005. It was one off the franchise record for an inning set July 6, 1920, against the Washington Senators.

Lopez walked two batters after Volpe's hit and then failed to cover the bag on Paul Goldschmidt's bases-loaded grounder to first, allowing a run to score on an infield single. Ben Rice followed with a two-run double, Judge blooped a single to center and Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to knock out Lopez.

The next five batters also reached safely against reliever Michael Kelly, marking the first time in 17 seasons that a team started an inning with 12 straight batters reaching safely, according to Sportradar. The Boston Red Sox were the previous team to do it on May 7, 2009, against Cleveland.

This marked the first time the Yankees had 12 consecutive batters reach safely in an inning since the first game of a doubleheader on Sept. 11, 1949, against Washington. It was just two batters off the record since 1920 that came when Detroit had 14 straight reach in the sixth inning against the Yankees on June 17, 1925, with Hall of Famer Ty Cobb hitting a home run in that inning.

The Yankees scored 10 runs before the first out was recorded when Goldschmidt struck out. Rice followed with a two-run triple, giving him two multi-run extra-base hits in one inning.

“To bat around with no outs, it’s incredible,” Judge said. “That’s what this team is capable of doing. We got our backs up against the wall, find a way to dig ourselves out of it and to continue to keep the pressure on them. We needed all 13 of those runs.”

Bellinger capped the scoring with an RBI single, marking the first time since 1950 that the A's allowed at least 13 runs in an inning. They gave up 14 in the first inning of the second game of a June 18 doubleheader that season.

“I really don’t know how to describe that inning,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Obviosuly, the two walks became an issue right away. Hit after hit, really. At some point you figure the ball’s going to go at someone, and it never did.”

In all, eight of the nine Yankees batters had at least one hit and one RBI in the inning, with Austin Wells the lone exception with two walks. All nine batters scored a run, with Volpe becoming the third player in the last 50 years to have two hits, two runs and two steals in an inning.

It lasted so long that he was in the on-deck circle when the rally ended, hoping for a third at-bat in the inning.

“I was getting ready to go hit again,” Volpe said. “It was crazy. It felt like I would run the bases and then I’d get up and I’d have to put my stuff back on. It was a cool feeling.”

The inning took so long — 43 minutes — that Yankees starter Will Warren went to the bullpen to get loose. The right-hander said he threw about seven pitches in the bullpen late in the inning before returning to the mound.

“When they took the second mound visit, I ran to the bullpen,” Warren said. "Just staying loose. A lot of time sitting there. I just wanted to make sure I was sharp to get back out there after the boys put up 13."

The rest of the day wasn’t as productive at the plate for the Yankees. In the other eight innings, their only baserunner came when Bellinger walked leading off the sixth only to get erased on an inning-ending double play.

“I had a few gray hairs today, but obviously a great way to finish a really good road trip,” Boone said.

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

Pulisic set up Sergiño Dest’s opener in the seventh minute, then made it 2-0 off a Ricardo Pepi pass in the 20th. Pulisic took a touch, rounded goalkeeper Mory Diaw and slotted into an open net from a tight angle for his 33rd goal in 85 international appearances.

The top American player, Pulisic had finished his AC Milan season scoreless in a career-high 19 club games since Dec. 28 and was without a goal in eight straight U.S. matches. Pulisic ran to a corner flag, dropped to his knees and repeatedly pumped his fists.

Sadio Mané scored twice following American mistakes, extending his Senegal record with 54 international goals. He beat goalkeeper Matt Turner at the far post in the 44th off a Habib Diarra pass that followed Antonee Robinson’s giveaway, then tapped the ball into the net in the 52nd after Nicolas Jackson had lifted it over onrushing goalkeeper Chris Brady.

Brady entered among 10 U.S. changes at the start of the second half in his international debut.

Balogun, another second-half sub, had a goal disallowed for offside in the 49th, then got his ninth international goal in the 63rd after Tim Weah’s cross deflected off a foot of Moustapha Mbow.

The No. 16 U.S. plays 10th-ranked Germany on June 6, six days before the Americans open the tournament against Paraguay. No. 14 Senegal faces Saudi Arabia in a June 9 friendly and start against France on June 16.

The American starting lineup averaged 44 international appearances, the team’s highest since the October 2017 loss at Trinidad and Tobago that ended the U.S. streak of seven straight World Cup appearances, according to Opta.

Turner, the American starting goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup, made just his second U.S. appearance since a 4-0 loss to Switzerland last June.

In the absence of Chris Richards, sidelined by an ankle injury, the U.S. started Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie and captain Tim Ream in a three center back formation. Gio Reyna made his first start for club or country since Dec. 19.

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

Soo Bin Joo, the 22-year-old South Korean going for her first LPGA Tour title, lost her four-shot lead at the turn and then fell behind for good on the 13th hole, the same hole where earlier Boutier had taken the lead with a 30-foot birdie putt.

Joo missed another fairway to the right into a clumpy lie, pitched back to the fairway, sent her wedge over the green with a front pin, chipped 8 feet by the hole and missed the putt, taking a double bogey to fall three shots behind.

Boutier kept hitting solid shots, rarely getting in trouble. She missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the final hole to post at 9-under 204, and no one could catch her.

“To have a chance to win today is definitely something very special,” said Boutier, the 32-year-old French player who won the ShopRite LPGA five years ago. “I think it’s great tournament, very special for me, so really excited to be able to have another win here.”

Yubol, who was penalized one shot in the second round Saturday for going over her maximum time, birdied the last two holes for a 66. It was her second runner-up finish of the year, having finished four shots behind Nelly Korda in Mexico.

Lauren Walsh (67) finished third, followed by Joo among four players who tied for fourth.

“It was so fun. It was my first time leading the tournament, and I think I did my best out there as much as I can and I prepared well and I'm very proud of myself,” Joo said. “I was trying to do my best to stay mentally calm, and I think I still got to work on that a little more.”

Chizzy Iwai, who also started four shots behind, had two birdies in three holes, but then closed with 15 straight pars.

Boutier finished the front nine with two straight birdies to reach 7 under, and that gave her a share of the lead when Joo made bogey on the par-4 eighth. Boutier then hit her approach to 4 feet for birdie on 10th. Joo caught her with a birdie on the ninth but couldn't keep up the rest of the way.

The ShopRite LPGA is one of two 54-hole events on the schedule, and the field was particularly weak this year — one player from the top 10 — because of timing. The U.S. Women's Open is next week across the country in Los Angeles, held at Riviera for the first time.

Boutier now has seven career LPGA title and 12 worldwide. She has struggled to start this year, with a tie for ninth her best finish among 10 tournaments.

“I feel like my game has turned around the last few weeks. I could see it coming together, and I definitely did not expect it to come together this week and today,” she said. “But I’m super excited to be back in the winner’s circle.”

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

And the Oklahoma City Thunder spent Day 1 of the offseason making clear that they support him.

If the ballyhooed matchup in the West finals was Holmgren vs. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, then it was a one-sided one. Wembanyama had the superior numbers in the series and the Spurs wound up prevailing, while Holmgren was barely a factor offensively with the Thunder season on the line Saturday night.

"Every minute Chet Holmgren’s been on the team, we’ve been the 1 seed in the Western Conference," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Sunday, when the team gathered for end-of-season meetings. “And it wasn’t the case before Chet was healthy.”

Holmgren had likely his best season, with career-highs of 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He made All-NBA for the first time, All-Defensive for the first time as well, got his first All-Star nod, plus was second in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting.

He finished second in that voting behind Wembanyama — just like he did for Rookie of the Year in 2024, and just like the Thunder did in these West finals.

“We need Chet. We need Chet Holmgren,” Thunder guard and back-to-back reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Before Chet was here, we weren’t who we are today. We didn’t have the success we had today. When he’s the best version of himself, we’re the best version of ourselves and it’s no secret.”

It's easy to envision the West finals matchup — Thunder vs. Spurs — becoming a rivalry for years to come. Both teams have young, obviously highly talented corps, and now they have the ingredient that all rivalries truly need, that being a playoff matchup, to help provide fuel.

“I definitely think that they’re different in terms of I don’t think there’s another team that has their play style, their personnel,” Holmgren said. “They're unique in that way. You can’t just kind of play like a base normal, ‘this is what we kind of do on an average Tuesday night’ type of thing.”

And while the outside world might have looked at Holmgren as one of the reasons why Game 7 didn't go Oklahoma City's way, the rest of the Thunder disagreed.

Gilgeous-Alexander, for example, pointed to himself — and that was after he had a brilliant 35-point effort in the deciding game against San Antonio. He even went as far as to describe a second straight MVP season as “a failure.”

“I failed at my goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve, but through my experiences, I learned the most about myself and I make the greatest amount of increases I have in my career when I fail at my goal and don’t get what I want. And I look at this no different. I didn’t get where I wanted to go this season. There’s a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again.”

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

That wait is at 53 years and it can only end now by beating the Spurs again.

Nearly a week after clinching their first NBA Finals berth since 1999, the Knicks were at last able to practice Sunday while knowing who they were practicing for, after Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs knocked off Oklahoma City on Saturday night in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.

“I mean, they’re a special team,” Knicks guard Deuce McBride said. “Obviously they have the Defensive Player of the Year, obviously a great organization and they’ve got a lot of great young guys, so we’re just excited for this matchup.”

It's the same one as the last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals, when the Spurs beat them 27 years ago to leave New York without a title since 1973.

The Knicks believed they were going to have a good shot at ending the drought this year and got a test run at chasing a championship back in December, when they beat San Antonio in Las Vegas to win the NBA Cup.

The Knicks then passed on joining the Lakers and Milwaukee, the previous winners of the in-season tournament, in raising a banner at Madison Square Garden to acknowledge it. They aren't putting much stock in that victory six months later, knowing how different both teams are.

“Obviously there was good energy around that, but I don’t think that’s really going to be any equivalent to what the atmosphere or the energy is going to be like at their place, or obviously at the Garden," Knicks forward Josh Hart said.

"So technically that game didn’t happen, so I don’t think there’s anything that we can learn from,” Hart added, poking fun at the fact that the Cup final, an 83rd game for the two teams, doesn't count in the standings or statistics.

The teams split the two games that did matter, with San Antonio's victory on New Year's Eve starting a midseason spiral for a Knicks club that arrived with a 23-9 record. Then, after the Spurs went undefeated in February, New York snapped their 11-game winning streak with a 114-89 home victory on March 1.

Game 1 is Wednesday at San Antonio. More than Wembanyama and the Spurs, the Knicks' biggest problem might be their lack of playing rhythm.

Because they are rolling through the postseason with an 11-game winning streak, that will be just the 10th game in a 35-day span for the Knicks, starting with the April 30 clincher against Atlanta in Game 6 of the first round.

They then swept Philadelphia and had more than a week off before opening the Eastern Conference finals against Cleveland. Their inactivity clearly showed after that extended rest, as they were 4 for 23 on 3-pointers through three quarters and fell behind by 22 points early in the fourth before rallying to win in overtime.

“We understand what happened last time we had a layoff like this, so we’re just trying to be better than we were last time,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said.

That was the only trouble the Knicks had with the Cavaliers, easily taking the next three games and ending the series last Monday. They have outscored opponents by 262 points during the winning streak, the largest margin for any 11-game stretch in NBA history.

The Knicks don't expect anything so easy against the Spurs, whose victory in the 1999 matchup was their first of five NBA titles. New York coach Mike Brown was on the bench for one of them as an assistant to Gregg Popovich, and was the losing coach in another when the Spurs swept Cleveland in 2007.

“I got ties to San Antonio and you appreciate the people, you appreciate the journey and all that other stuff,” said Brown, who has family still living in San Antonio. “But at the end of the day, just like they want to beat you, you definitely want to beat them.”

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

El gobierno nicaragüense emitió el domingo un comunicado en el que informó que Rivera falleció por una infección bacteriana después de que su salud se deterioró tras un caso de COVID-19.

Activistas y organizaciones de derechos humanos de todo el mundo denunciaron su muerte y un comunicado que el gobierno difundió el sábado en el que lo llamaban “Hermano”, asegurando que estaban rezando por él.

“Se lo llevaron con vida y, después de negarse a decirle a su familia, a su abogado, al mundo, cualquier cosa sobre su paradero, entonces lo llaman hermano”, dijo Reed Brody, abogado estadounidense de derechos humanos y miembro de un grupo de expertos de la ONU sobre Nicaragua. “Un cinismo inconcebible por parte del gobierno para hacer parecer que estaban tratando de ayudarlo”, señaló.

Estados Unidos había pedido el viernes su liberación después de que el gobierno nicaragüense publicó fotos de Rivera mientras se encontraba hospitalizado en estado crítico.

El Centro Interamericano para la Asistencia Legal en Derechos Humanos, con sede en Argentina, también denunció la muerte de Rivera.

Los responsables de la muerte del legislador indígena “deberían rendir cuentas penalmente”, escribió en X.

Rivera lideraba al pueblo miskito, que vive a lo largo de la costa noreste de Nicaragua y lleva mucho tiempo peleando por conservar sus tierras.

Durante décadas, Rivera luchó contra el gobierno sandinista y ayudó a establecer la zona a lo largo de la costa noreste como una región autónoma. Es rica en oro, plata y otros recursos, y se considera una zona clave para la administración de los copresidentes Daniel Ortega y su esposa Rosario Murillo para atraer inversión extranjera.

La lucha de Rivera por la defensa de los pueblos indígenas de Nicaragua comenzó en la década de 1960. Después de oponerse al gobierno sandinista de Ortega a finales de la década de 1970, se exilió temporalmente en la vecina Costa Rica.

Más tarde regresó a Nicaragua, donde sobrevivió a un ataque de las fuerzas sandinistas que lo obligó nuevamente a buscar seguridad en otro país, esta vez en Colombia.

A finales de la década de 1980 fundó el grupo conocido como Yatama, la Organización de los Pueblos de la Madre Tierra. Desempeñó un papel clave para asegurar una autonomía limitada para los pueblos indígenas tras las negociaciones de paz con los sandinistas.

“Ha estado luchando de una forma u otra por sus derechos”, dijo Brody. “Luchó por la tierra, luchó por la autonomía”.

Los pueblos indígenas de Nicaragua operaron de manera autónoma hasta que fueron anexados en 1905.

“Desde entonces, han abogado por el reconocimiento de sus derechos y por el respeto de su identidad”, señaló un grupo de expertos de la ONU en un informe publicado en septiembre de 2024.

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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.

Also among the points of emphasis for referees and officials: a commitment to issuing red cards to any player who covers his mouth while talking to an opponent in a “confrontational situation," FIFA said.

“We are continuing on trying to achieve an objective, which is to eliminate from matches — as much as possible — the disruption of the tempo of the match," said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA chief refereeing officer and chair of the referees committee.

Other issues that referees will be mindful of during the tournament:

— If a player leaves the field of play after being angered by an official's decision, a red card can be issued.

— To speed up play, referees can institute a five-second visual countdown on goal kicks and throw-ins. If the goal kick is not taken before the end of that countdown, a corner kick will be awarded to the opposing team. If the throw-in is not executed by the end of the five-second count, a throw-in for the opponents will be the reward. It's along the same lines of the so-called eight-second goalkeeper rule that has been in place for some time to release the ball after making a save.

— Players getting subbed off must leave the field within 10 seconds, except for special situations such as ones involving injuries or a security issue.

— The protocol for Video Assistant Referee, or VAR, is being clarified in certain areas. VAR can be used to check when red cards are issued following a clearly incorrect second yellow card, or when cards are issued in the case of mistaken identity. Incorrectly awarded corner kicks can also be checked by VAR, FIFA said.

Players covering their mouth with a hand, arm or shirt will be given red cards if referees deem it not to be a friendly conversation, FIFA said. Conversations that are not confrontational but still have players shielding their mouths from public view will continue to be permitted without penalty.

“Confrontational ... a completely different story,” Collina said.

There has also been a clarification on VAR protocol “regarding clear offenses committed by the attacking team before the ball is in play at a corner kick or free kick” that directly impacts goals, penalty kicks or sanctions.

VAR can be used in those moments and “if the referee determines that an offense occurred before the ball was in play, the appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.”

But all the emphasis on speedy play won't necessarily mean quicker matches. There will be three-minute water breaks midway through each half of every match, FIFA said.

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

The Nicaraguan government issued a statement Sunday saying that Rivera died from a bacterial infection after his health had declined following a case of COVID-19, which led to his physical and neurological deterioration.

Human rights activists and groups worldwide denounced his death and an earlier statement by the government in which they referred to Rivera as “Brother” and said they were praying for him.

“They took him alive, and after refusing to tell his family, his lawyer, the world anything about his fate, then they call him brother,” said Reed Brody, an American human rights lawyer and member of a group of U.N. experts on Nicaragua. “Unconscionable cynicism on the part of the government to make it seem like they were trying to help him.”

The U.S. had called for his release on Friday after the Nicaraguan government published photos of him in the hospital in critical condition.

“This is just complete neglect,” said Manuel Orozco, director of the migration, remittances and development program at the Inter-American Dialogue. “His death represents the magnitude of repression."

The Argentina-based Inter-American Center for Legal Assistance in Human Rights also denounced Rivera’s death. Those responsible for the death of the Indigenous lawmaker "should be held criminally accountable,” it wrote on X.

Albert R. Ramdin, secretary general of the Organization of American States, said he was “deeply concerned” about reports of Rivera's death.

“His death demands an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation,” Ramdin wrote Sunday on X. “The rights to life, personal integrity, and due process must be guaranteed. My condolences to his family and the Miskito people. We continue to demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners unjustly detained by the Nicaraguan regime.”

A fight for land and autonomy

Rivera led the Miskito people, who live along Nicaragua’s northeast coast and have long fought to retain their lands.

For decades, he fought the ruling Sandinista government and helped establish the area along the northeast coast as an autonomous region. It is rich in gold, silver and other resources, and it is considered a key area for the administration of co-Presidents Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo to attract foreign investment.

Rivera’s fight for Nicaragua’s Indigenous people began in the 1960s. After opposing Ortega’s Sandinista’s government in the late 1970s, he temporarily went into exile in nearby Costa Rica in 1980.

He later returned to Nicaragua, where he survived an attack by Sandinista forces, forcing him once again to seek safety elsewhere, this time, in Colombia.

In the late 1980s, he founded the group known as Yatama, the Organization of the Peoples of Mother Earth. It played a key role in securing limited autonomy for Indigenous people following peace negotiations with the Sandinistas.

“He has been fighting in one way or another for their rights,” Brody said. “He fought for land, he fought for autonomy.”

Nicaragua’s Indigenous people operated autonomously until they were annexed into the country in 1905.

“Since then, they have advocated for the recognition of their rights and for respect for their identity,” stated a September 2024 report published by the group of U.N. experts.

First official sign of life since the 2023 arrest

In April 2023, Rivera traveled to Geneva to participate in a U.N. forum on Indigenous people, where he spoke out against the Nicaraguan government.

Shortly afterward, Ortega and Murillo banned him from returning to the country, but he slipped in anyway and lived in hiding until September 2023, when he was arrested and accused of terrorism.

“Nobody heard from him since then,” Brody said in a phone interview, adding that he and other U.N. experts wrote the government requesting that it provide some sign of life. “The government never gave any indication. He was a disappeared person.”

It wasn’t until late last week that the government published pictures of Rivera in the hospital.

Rivera was not only respected by his supporters, but by political opponents as well, Orozco said in a phone interview, noting he had known Rivera for decades.

“It’s disheartening how this dynasty is just getting rid of people, back and forth, left and right and getting away with it," he said.

Ever since his arrest and that of his second-in-command, Rivera’s party has gone into hiding, Orozco said.

“This is a big blow,” he said. “They have been basically dispersed, not organized. They keep a certain level of communication, of political engagement underground, but mostly with people in the exile.”

Condolences for Rivera poured in online, with one person writing on Facebook: "He was a father to our generation; he taught us, guided us, and led us with actions, not words."

Brody noted that the U.N. group of experts has documented 124 cases of arbitrary detention of Indigenous people in Nicaragua since 2018, and 46 deaths following violence incidents.

He noted that at least six political prisoners have died in custody since 2019, including two last August.

“Brooklyn Rivera spent 40 years fighting for his people,” he said, “and hopefully the international community will finally pay attention.”

The question, a few minutes after he and the San Antonio Spurs won the Western Conference title and earned the right to go to this year's NBA Finals to face the New York Knicks, was about his relationship with former coach Gregg Popovich and what this playoff run likely means to the winningest coach in league history.

And Wembanyama paused, clearly emotional, before starting his answer.

“I don’t know what it means for him,” Wembanyama said. “That’s a guy who’s got more experience as a coach than almost anybody and has been through so many things in his career and so many things right now as ‘El Jefe.’ He goes through some things we can’t even imagine. So, I need to call him. I need to see him. I need to talk to him because there’s no way I can understand right now how he feels.”

The official title for the 77-year-old Popovich is President of Spurs Basketball. Unofficially, the Basketball Hall of Famer may as well be coach emeritus — still regularly seen at practices in San Antonio, still seen at games, sometimes walking with the assistance of a cane. He's still in the ears of players and coaches, even visiting the locker room after the Spurs lost Game 3 of the West finals to Oklahoma City for a bit of a pep talk and bit of a chewing out, depending on perspective.

But really, he's El Jefe. The boss. It's what he announced himself as when he retired last year, speaking publicly for the first time since the November 2024 stroke that essentially ended his coaching career and led to Mitch Johnson getting the job on basically a couple hours' notice. He came out for that event in a jacket, then opened it to display the shirt with “El Jefe” on the front.

“You talk about the greatest coach pretty much of all time to be able to sit here and tell you the experiences that they went through or that he’s been through or that he sees," Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “I mean, it’s second to none, honestly. He helps out. He helps out a lot. ... He just has so much wisdom and stuff that you can’t take for granted.”

Game 1 of the Knicks-Spurs series is Wednesday in San Antonio.

Knicks coach Mike Brown saw first-hand how Popovich operated the Spurs; he spent three years as an assistant coach under him in San Antonio.

Brown still has family members living in San Antonio — causing him to joke a few days ago that a Knicks-Spurs matchup in the NBA Finals would save him a little bit of money because he wouldn't have to fly as many people in to see games.

“He still has a huge presence. He will always have a presence," Brown said of Popovich. “The job that he’s done, not only on the court with that team or that organization but off the court too, is going to be imprinted for as long as the game of basketball exists. His presence is very, very much felt all the time and I’ve got a lot of respect for the organization for a lot of different reasons.”

And Popovich still commands that respect, even now.

Popovich met the Spurs at the airport after they flew home from Games 3 and 4 of their West semifinal series against Minnesota a couple weeks ago — for a purpose. Wembanyama was ejected from Game 4 for a flagrant elbow he threw at Timberwolves forward Naz Reid. When Wembanyama got off the plane, Popovich was waiting. Cameras caught the exchange and it was pretty clear that Popovich was doing the talking and Wembanyama was doing the listening.

“He gives feedback and talks to us regularly,” Wembanyama said, without disclosing what Popovich's message was that afternoon.

Popovich was also at the airport in the wee hours of Sunday morning, when the Spurs returned home from Oklahoma City — on a night in which thousands of fans, both there and in the city's streets, celebrated the win.

Popovich won five NBA championships as San Antonio's coach, the first of those coming in 1999 when the Spurs beat the Knicks. The next era of Spurs basketball is here, with Johnson coaching, and it's an interesting coincidence that his first finals as Spurs coach is against the Knicks.

“I’m fortunate my old boss is still around, and has been through this a few times,” Johnson said. “Coach Pop has been a resource.”

And in the immediate aftermath of his biggest win yet — the one that got him to his first of what he hopes is many NBA Finals — Wembanyama simply could not wait to talk to El Jefe.

When I talk to him, it’s going to be only stored in my head — except if I record it in secret," Wembanyama said. “But I need to talk to him, so quick.”

There are more lessons to learn. There are four more wins to get. And Wembanyama knows that if anyone truly knows the way to those wins, it's Popovich.

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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in Greenburgh, New York, contributed.

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

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Exclusive surveillance footage shows two people pulling up to a home, loading a large package into the trunk of a gray Ford F-150 and driving away.

“Why do you need to steal from somebody else in broad daylight in the middle of the week, when people are coming home especially. No fear at that point,” said Zoe Lazcano.

Lazcano has been a swimwear designer for more than a decade. Her brand, Zoe All Over, has tens of thousands of followers on Instagram. She sells bikinis and swim trunks with designs she creates herself.

“I only make 50 of everything and I don’t restock anything so it’s very exclusive and they’re all designed by me,” Lazcano said.

Lazcano said she had been waiting months for a bulk order that arrived around 2:30 p.m. Friday, just in time for summer.

About two hours later, surveillance video shows a gray Ford F-150 pulling up and backing into her driveway.

Two people got out, walked up to the porch and took a large box containing dozens of items.

“It’s a big blow, delay. This is gonna set me back for months,” Lazcano said.

The thieves also took another package.

“There was a small box which happened to be a case of Celsius. That they also took,” she said with a laugh.

The theft happened in a neighborhood near the intersection of Davie Boulevard and State Road 7.

One of the suspects is seen wearing a scarf around their head, while the other appears to have their face covered.

“Definitely dressed in a way that they do this often to kind of cover up and not show too much skin,” Lazcano said.

Fort Lauderdale police confirmed they are investigating.

Lazcano said she plans to monitor whether any of the stolen merchandise is resold online. She hopes someone recognizes the people seen in the video.

“That would be a miracle. But I also really wanna hold these people accountable cause now it’s like a safety concern, now I’m wondering, are they casing my neighborhood?” she said.

Anyone with information or who recognizes the people in the surveillance footage is asked to contact Fort Lauderdale police.

Para quienes planean asistir a los partidos en el Hard Rock Stadium en Miami Gardens, es importante tener el plan de estacionamiento listo con anticipación.

Según la FIFA, todo el estacionamiento debe adquirirse a través de su plataforma oficial, y los pases de estacionamiento solo pueden comprarse hasta 24 horas antes del inicio de cada partido.

La FIFA subrayó que no habrá estacionamiento disponible para la venta el día de los partidos.

Además, quienes compren pases de estacionamiento deben usar la dirección de correo electrónico asociada a la compra de sus boletos en el sitio web oficial de la FIFA.

Los aficionados que estacionen en los partidos deberán presentar su boleto del partido y su pase de estacionamiento antes de que se les permita el acceso a los terrenos del estadio. En el Hard Rock Stadium, los aficionados deben imprimir su pase de estacionamiento y colocarlo en el parabrisas para acceder a las vías alrededor del estadio.

Para más información sobre cómo asistir a los partidos de la Copa Mundial, consulte la guía oficial de día de partido de la FIFA para el sur de Florida.

Roland Garros organizers have been criticized for scheduling only men’s matches under the lights in recent years, with organizers saying they are under pressure from TV broadcasters and that women’s best-of-three set matches are too short compared to the best-of-five format for men.

It will be only the fifth women’s match in the five years since the night sessions were introduced in Paris.

The last women’s match at night also involved Sabalenka, when she beat Sloane Stephens in 2023.

“YOLO,” Osaka said when asked on Saturday if her match against Sabalenka deserved to be held at night, using the abbreviation for “You only live once.”

Osaka has been putting on a fashion show for her walk-ons before each match of the tournament.

Sabalenka leads 2-1 in career meetings with Osaka, who has reached the fourth round in Paris for the first time.

“I’m just ready for the fight,” Sabalenka said. “It’s great to see her back on her level. … I really enjoy our battles. It’s high-level matches, and I really enjoy when somebody push me to the limit.”

The match is scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. local time.

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

El incidente ocurrió alrededor de las 3:56 a.m. del domingo cerca de un restaurante IHOP ubicado en el bloque 18860 de S. Dixie Highway.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, los agentes que respondieron al lugar encontraron a un hombre y una mujer que habían sido baleados.

Ambos fueron trasladados por Miami-Dade Fire Rescue al Jackson South Medical Center en condición crítica.

Tras la investigación, los agentes dijeron que el hombre había tenido una discusión verbal con un sujeto desconocido, quien terminó disparándole a ambas víctimas.

El MDSO no ha indicado si busca a algún sospechoso o persona de interés.

Cualquier persona con información puede comunicarse con Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-TIPS.

The 11-hour flight covering more than 5,500 miles from Ezeiza International Airport touched down in Missouri just after 11 a.m. local time. The flight number for the Aerolineas Argentinas charter was 1978, an homage to the 1978 World Cup that Argentina won as the host nation over the Netherlands before more than 71,000 fans at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires.

The plane itself, an Airbus A330, also celebrated the Argentine squad with special livery. The No. 10 of Lionel Messi was featured on the tail amid the national team's iconic blue and white stripes, while three gold stars represented its three World Cup titles.

Argentina is the first of four national teams making their World Cup home base in the Kansas City metro to arrive.

The Netherlands, England and Algeria — which will be at the University of Kansas in nearby Lawrence — are due to arrive this week.

Most of the Argentina squad arrived on its charter, though some players will arrive from clubs elsewhere in the world. After stepping off the plane, players and staff walked across the tarmac to waiting charter buses for the trip to the team hotel.

Messi and Co. will be staying at the Origin Hotel near downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Fences have been built around the property and extra security provided for the team, while inside the relatively new hotel, signage, posters and other nods to the team known as La Albiceleste are ever-present, including huge images of some of the team's biggest stars on the outside of the building.

The team planned to spend Sunday doing light training in the hotel gym while awaiting the arrival of the rest of its players. Its first full workout is set for Monday at the Compass Minerals National Performance Center, the home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City.

Argentina plays Honduras in a friendly on Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, the home of Texas A&M. Its final tuneup is three days later against Iceland at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Alabama, the home of another SEC football team, Auburn.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni revealed his 26-man World Cup roster on Thursday. It is headlined by Messi, who turns 39 in less than a month, and features 17 players that were part of the team that triumphed four years ago against France in the final in Qatar.

Several players were in doubt because of injuries of varying severity ahead of the June 1 deadline set by FIFA for finalizing all World Cup squads. Among them was Messi, who is suffering from muscle fatigue and a mild strain in his left hamstring.

The club has said that his recovery time will depend on “his clinical and functional progress.” Messi will be playing in his sixth World Cup, having previously participated in Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar.

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

Vingegaard, who rides for Team Visma-Lease a Bike, ended the three-week race with an overall advantage of 5 minutes, 22 seconds over second-place Felix Gall. Jai Hindley finished third, 6:25 behind.

Vingegaard won the Tour de France in 2022 and ’23 and last year clinched his first Spanish Vuelta title. It was his first Giro.

“It’s amazing. It’s something I’ve dreamt of my whole life and to now be able to do it, it’s something special,” an emotional Vingegaard said in his first interview as Giro winner. "I’m lost for words.

“It was a really special day, with so many people on the side of the road, so many spectators, it was really incredible. To get the honor to wear the maglia rosa in the streets of Rome is something special. With these last three weeks, it’s just such a nice way to end this race.”

After crossing the line in Rome, the 29-year-old Vingegaard embraced his wife and two children, who were wearing replicas of his maglia rosa — the leader's pink jersey.

“Yeah, that’s even nicer, it also gives me tears in my eyes, they’re always there for me,” said Vingegaard, who has celebrated his five stage wins at the Giro by kissing the photo of his family that is on the handlebar of his bicycle, before kissing his wedding ring.

Vingegaard also carried his children with him to the podium, where he was presented with the Trofeo Senza Fine (Trophy With No End).

Having dominated his first Giro — living up to his billing as pre-race favorite — Vingegaard will turn his attention to the Tour de France as he attempts to become the ninth man to complete the Giro-Tour double in the same year.

However, there he will face cycling’s top talent Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian, who skipped the Giro to focus on adding to his four Tour titles, became the first man in 26 years to do the Giro-Tour double when he achieved the feat in 2024.

Sunday's largely processional final Giro stage, that ended with eight laps through Rome, was won by sprint specialist Jonathan Milan.

The 131-kilometer route started in Rome and then went out the sea before returning to the Italian capital for the finishing circuit.

So relaxed were the riders that they were all seen sharing a box of sweets as they started the stage, before also being given glasses of Prosecco. They also all posed for team photos during the ride out to the sea.

Milan, who had seen other bids for stage wins end in disappointment earlier in the race, finally got his victory. The Italian edged out compatriot Giovanni Lonardi and French cyclist Paul Penhoët in a bunch sprint.

“I’m super happy to end this Giro in this way,” Milan said. “It’s beautiful. After three weeks that we were looking for this, winning the last stage in Rome means that we were keeping the head there, we never give up, we always keep fighting for the victory, we were always believing in it, we always believe in each other.”

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

The Buffalo Sabres' Konsta Helenius scored the gold-winning goal 10:42 into overtime. The 20-year-old Helenius netted from the right circle, beating Switzerland goaltender Leonardo Genoni with his team's 28th shot on goal.

Finland netminder Justus Annunen shut out Switzerland with 22 saves.

“We have a strong culture, you leave your ego outside the locker room, and that’s why it’s so awesome to come and play for Finland,” defenseman Olli Maatta said.

Finland also won in 1995, 2011, 2019 and 2022.

Switzerland wasted a two-minute, 5-on-3 advantage that started six seconds before the end of the opening period.

The final was a rematch of the two teams from their last group stage game, which the Swiss won 4-2.

That was the only loss for the Finns, who finished second in their preliminary group behind the Swiss. They went on to eliminate the Czechs 4-1 in the quarterfinals and upset tournament favorite Canada 4-2 in the semifinals.

Finland was led by captain Aleksander Barkov, who missed the entirety of the Florida Panthers’ season because of a major knee injury suffered 20 minutes into his first practice of training camp. The tournament was his first action in competitive games since the Panthers won their second consecutive Stanley Cup last June.

Barkov powered the Finns with three goals and eight assists from 10 games at the worlds.

Swiss disappointment

After finishing runner-up in the previous two years, host Switzerland hoped for more this time in front of its home crowd in Zurich.

Home fans clapped, chanted and cheered tirelessly throughout the tournament.

“It’s a huge disappointment, but, it’s hockey,” Switzerland forward Denis Malgin said. “It was a 0-0 game. We had our chances, and in OT it can go either way.”

Switzerland failed to score a single goal in the three finals.

The Swiss lost to the Czechs 2-0 in 2024, and were defeated by the U.S. 1-0 in overtime last year. They also finished second in 2018 and 2013 when they were defeated by rival Sweden.

Switzerland also finished second back in 1935.

No medal for Canada

Norway stunned Canada 3-2 in overtime of the bronze medal game to capture its first ice hockey world championship medal.

Noah Steen scored the winner 3:32 into overtime. The previous best result for Norway was a fourth-place finish in 1951.

In a wild ending, Canada was 2-0 down when it pulled netminder Jet Greaves. Robert Thomas then scored from the slot to reduce the deficit with 1:16 remaining in the final period with an unassisted goal.

With eight seconds to go, captain Macklin Celebrini and Ryan O’Reilly set up Thomas for his second to tie it at 2-2, forcing overtime.

Earlier, Emilio Pettersen gave Norway a 1-0 lead in the opening period and Stian Solberg added another with a deflected shot in the second. Goaltender Henrik Haukeland stopped 44 shots.

Greaves made 21 saves for Canada.

The Canadians have come up short at the worlds since they won their last and record 28th title in 2023.

They finished fourth in 2024 and were stunned 2-1 by Denmark in the quarterfinals last year.

The worlds ended in disappointment for Canada again this year despite a lineup that included teenage sensation Celebrini as captain and NHL great Sidney Crosby in addition to several established NHL stars, including O’Reilly, John Tavares and Mark Scheifele.

Canada managed to win all of its group games, including a 6-5 victory over Norway in overtime, and eliminated defending champion U.S. in the quarterfinals.

But Finland, led by Barkov, proved too good in the semifinals.

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

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

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

Bengaluru reached 161-5 in 18 overs after winning the toss and restricting Gujarat to 155-8 in its 20 overs.

Kohli smashed nine fours and three sixes in his 42-ball 75 not out. It was his sixth 50-plus score of the season and, along with Venkatesh Iyer’s 32 runs off 16 balls, helped Bengaluru make quick work of an under-par target.

“It is the stuff you dream of. I have thought of this moment many times, to win the IPL and stand here (unbeaten in the chase)," Kohli said. "The kind of team we have, it gives you confidence to face any situation. There is enough depth in our side. We had clarity – Venkatesh (Iyer) and I wanted to finish off the chase in the powerplay itself.”

With its first title in 2025, Bengaluru became only the third side to win successive IPL titles. Chennai Super Kings (2010 and 2011) and Mumbai Indians (2019 and 2020) previously achieved this feat.

Kohli finished with 675 runs in 16 matches, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 28 wickets this season.

Kumar took 2-29 on Sunday, sharing four wickets with Josh Hazlewood (2-37), and restricted Gujarat at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Washington Sundar finished on 50 not out, hitting five fours in his 37-ball innings. No other Gujarat batter topped 20. Medium pacer Rasikh Salam Dar took 3-27 in his four overs.

Gujarat’s Kagiso Rabada was the season’s highest wicket-taker – 29 in 17 matches.

Rajasthan Royals’ 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryanshi was the highest run-getter with 776 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 237.

Bengaluru pacers strike hard before Kohli’s chase

Gujarat never really gained any batting momentum and was down to 99-5 at the start of the 15th over. Openers Sai Sudharsan (12) and Shubman Gill (10) were out cheaply.

Krunal Pandya had Jos Buttler (19) stumped and, despite Sundar’s knock, the Titans didn't look comfortable.

Iyer hit two sixes and four fours in his rapid 32 for Bengaluru. Kohli and Iyer contributed 62 off 27 balls for the opening wicket.

Kohli got his half-century off 25 balls, his quickest in the IPL, and he finished the match in style with a six against Arshad Khan – a year after Bengaluru had won the title at the same venue.

The final was a rematch of the first playoff on Tuesday when Bengaluru beat Gujarat by 92 runs in Dharamsala. Gujarat won the IPL in 2022.

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

Jacob Daniel Baker was charged with counts of first- and second-degree murder Saturday, the Hawaii Police Department said in a news release.

Baker remained jailed without bond Sunday and police said his first court appearance was scheduled for Monday. It was not immediately known if Baker had an attorney who could speak for him.

Charges in the killings came two days after police apprehended Baker following a manhunt on Hawaii's Big Island, where the three victims were found in the rural Puna community known for its tropical landscape and free-spirited residents.

Robert Shine, 69, was found dead Monday partially submerged in a cement pond, according to police. The second victim, a 79-year-old man, was discovered Tuesday a few hundred feet away. Friends identified him as Chitta Morse.

Police found the third victim, 69-year-old John Carse, late Tuesday at a property 19 miles (31 kilometers) from where the other two bodies were located.

Police have not given a suspected motive for the killings. Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna has said investigators found no connections among the victims other than that two of them lived near each other.

In addition to the murder charges, Baker also faces counts of burglary, auto theft and criminal damage to property.

The killings left residents on edge in Puna, a community set amid lush jungle and barren lava fields where people seeking to live off-grid commonly trade work for lodging.

Puna resident Stephen Shaffer said that Baker had worked for his ex-wife, climbing coconut trees on land where she grows fruit, in exchange for a place to live. After several months, Shaffer said, his ex-wife sought a restraining order against Baker, saying she felt threatened by him.

Donald Hyatt, a friend of Shaffer's ex-wife and of two of the men killed, said Baker left the cabin where he had been living months ago. Hyatt said that Baker recently returned claiming “squatter's rights” and threatened Shaffer's ex.

Just days before the killings, two women had requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them, according to court records. A judge denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment.

Court records showed Baker named in 20 other cases in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. In most of those cases, Baker had no attorney and represented himself.

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

The flight departed around 6 p.m. for Palma de Mallorca, Spain, but landed back at Newark at 9:37 p.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The airline said there were 190 passengers and 12 crew members on board the Boeing 767 aircraft.

According to air traffic control audio, security came to inspect the aircraft after someone named their Bluetooth device a “certain four-letter word.” A passenger posting on social media said crew members repeatedly asked passengers to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two devices remained on. The flight turned around after communicating with the airline’s headquarters in Chicago.

Passengers had to evacuate as the aircraft was swept by Port Authority police, and passengers were rescreened by TSA and Customs and Border Patrol before reboarding. The airline declined to provide specifics on the cause of the incident.

Passengers boarded a replacement flight with a new crew, which took off early Sunday morning and landed in Palma in the afternoon.

This was the latest incident with a United Airlines flight this month. On Friday, a domestic flight was diverted because of a security concern with an unruly passenger. Earlier this month, a United flight landing at Newark airport struck a semitrailer truck and a light pole, though no one was injured.

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