That's because California Democrats sliced Kiley's district six ways as payback for Republican redistricting in Texas and elsewhere. The chunk of the district that Smull, who identifies as a conservative, lives in is now grafted onto an overwhelmingly Democratic seat based in the state's wine country.

During a recent lunch at a cafe in Lincoln, a onetime agricultural town that has morphed into a bedroom community on the edge of Sacramento's exurban sprawl, Smull was heartbroken to hear she can no longer vote for Kiley.

“He believes in the same things I do,” Smull said. “It feels sneaky and underhanded.”

Republicans started the redistricting competition. Democrats might finish it

Democratic voters in several other states know how Smull feels.

President Donald Trump last year told GOP-controlled states to redraw their maps before this year's midterm elections to increase the number of winnable seats for Republicans in order to help the party hold onto the U.S. House. The effort was turbocharged by a U.S. Supreme Court decision this spring that neutralized a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for Republicans to redraw more seats across the South that had elected Black Democrats.

Democratic-leaning and heavily minority communities from Texas to Tennessee have been split into multiple congressional districts that dilute the Democratic vote by stretching deep into conservative areas.

In the future, it is likely that more Republican voters in other states will go through what Smull and other conservatives in Northern California are facing. Democrats in Maryland, New York, Illinois and other strongholds have pledged to retaliate in time for the 2028 elections and split Republican-leaning districts the way their California counterparts did Kiley's.

Democrats have been hindered nationally by stricter rules against partisan line-drawing in their states, but California showed a way around that. California Democrats won voter approval last year to redraw the state's congressional map, originally made by an independent commission, and formed five new Democratic-leaning seats.

‘We have zero voice,’ says voter angry at the Democratic drive for a new political map

Kiley's is one of them. The reworked political lines led the two-term congressman to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent in the slightly Democratic-leaning district that now includes his home.

He spoke out against partisan gerrymandering, even unsuccessfully trying to force the Republican-led House to allow a vote on a bill to ban mid-decade redistricting.

“We've seen partisan divisions really spin out of control in really harmful ways, and I think exhibit number one is the redistricting wars,” Kiley recently told a group of voters in the suburb of Citrus Heights.

Democrats contend Kiley's party switch is purely a political trick to survive in a more liberal district. They note he still caucuses with House Republicans, has voted for many of the GOP's priorities, including Trump's sweeping budget and tax cut bill last year, and that political organizations run by House Republicans are spending money to back his reelection.

Even some of Kiley's supporters think the election was a factor in the congressman's decision to become an independent.

“My original thinking was he did it because of redistricting — maybe it'd help him get reelected,” said John Coburn, a 68-year-old retired business owner, at the Citrus Heights event.

Coburn is furious at the Democrats’ redistricting and hopes Kiley wins. Coburn does not care that they did it in retaliation for Texas, where Republicans at Trump's directive revised that state's map to carve out up to five new winnable conservative seats.

“I don't care about Texas, I live in California,” Coburn said, adding that “40% of the state is Republican, and we have zero voice. Zero. It's not how our Founding Fathers intended.”

For Democrats in the district, a rare political opportunity

In an interview, Kiley said his switch to independent was no political gambit. If he wanted to stay in the House, he argued, he could have had an easier time staying in the GOP, moving to a more conservative district that included parts of his old one and running in a Republican primary there.

"I could have gone there and run and played the same game these other politicians are playing,” he said.

Kiley said he is caucusing with Republicans to avoid losing his seats on committees and that in the next Congress he will try to change rules so independent members do not lose committee seats because they do not caucus with one of the two major parties.

Among his backers, he noted, is onetime Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang, a former technology entrepreneur who co-founded a centrist party for independents.

The Democrat running against Kiley, former state Sen. Richard Pan, scoffs at his rival's newfound independent status.

“He was a MAGA champion when he first ran for Congress, and now he's trying to say ‘I’m not,'” Pan told a crowd at a senior community in Roseville, referring to Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement.

Earlier that day, Pan swung by the Placer County Democratic Party office, tucked away on the second story of a brick shopping arcade in Lincoln's compact downtown.

Placer is a Republican county that stretches from the Sacramento suburbs to the northwestern shores of Lake Tahoe. The entire county is in Kiley's current district, but it will be divided among three districts in the new map.

Kathleen Crawford, chair of the county Democratic Party, was enthusiastic about the county getting carved up.

“It's worth it, because we have an opportunity to get Democratic representation, which has been missing from our county,” Crawford said. “I've been here 15 years, and this is my first real opportunity to elect a Democrat.”

A never-ending cycle that cuts out ‘the little people’

Lincoln's downtown is flanked by fruit, vegetable and flower farms, as well as new subdivisions. The community and its neighboring suburbs have become a destination for people fleeing the San Francisco Bay Area's housing prices. That has helped change the once solidly conservative area into a political battleground where skilled mapmakers can draw winnable seats for Democrats.

Ed Church, a 61-year-old risk manager, was eating lunch at Simple Pleasures cafe in Lincoln when he contemplated Kiley's shift. A Democrat, Church has not been a Kiley fan and he was bemused by the congressman's move.

“If that's how he'd been initially and not so MAGA, I probably could have supported him,” Church said of Kiley's independent status. Now Church, as a Lincoln resident, is in a purely Democratic district and will not have a say in Kiley's fate in November. His main criteria in the election will be “who's going to stand up to Trump?”

Across the street at a gun store, Wesley Johnson, 43, who considers himself a conservative independent, said he was dispirited by the state's redistricting.

“I feel Northern California is not represented fairly,” Johnson said. “San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles control everything.”

He acknowledged Republicans were doing the same thing in states they controlled and said he did not know how it could stop.

“You're just cutting out the little people,” Johnson said.

William Franklin was buried at the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church following his death in 1813, more than three decades after he was forced to leave America because of his service to the country his father fought so hard to win independence from.

His burial in the capital of what was then the British Empire is a reminder that the Revolution was as much a civil war as it was the founding act of the United States of America. It is also, historians say, a reminder that the conflict that destroyed friendships and ripped apart families 250 years ago continues today.

“Now especially, I think it is important for people to understand that American history is 250 years of everybody disagreeing with each other,” said James Taub, associate curator at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

“The American Revolution is an ongoing event. We are living it, right still to this day,” he said. “And we’re all taking part in it in one way or another.”

America's creation story is anything but simple

After President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair in Washington, after the band concerts and barbecues and fireworks that marked Independence Day celebrations across the U.S., the country is still faced with the task of forming a more perfect union out of the anger and confrontation that have filled the period since the Republican returned to the White House in January 2025.

It is a messy process that started amid the wreckage of the Revolution.

Often simplified as the tale of the plucky patriots who banded together to defeat the mighty British Empire, the revolution was more accurately an eight-year war fought by people who once saw themselves as British against the armies of their former sovereign.

As much as one-third of the population remained loyal to King George III and at times during the war loyalist Americans were the biggest contingent of troops in the British forces. Enslaved Black people fought on both sides of the conflict, as did Indigenous people.

People based their allegiances on who they thought was more likely to deliver freedom and justice.

That complicated reality played out in the Franklin family.

A revolution for the colonies and a tear in the Franklin family's unity

When Ben Franklin flew a kite into a thunderstorm in 1752 to demonstrate that lightning was essentially a massive electrical spark, young William Franklin was by his side.

Five years later, father and son traveled to London together after Ben Franklin was sent to the capital of the British Empire to represent Pennsylvania’s colonial government. As Ben Franklin settled into his home at 36 Craven St., which today serves as a museum of the Founding Father’s life in London, William studied law and married. Both enjoyed London's culture and nightlife.

William Franklin returned to America and became governor of New Jersey in 1763, a post he would hold for the next 13 years.

But father and son came into increasing conflict when Ben Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1775. While the elder Franklin backed growing calls for independence as a member of the Continental Congress, William rejected the authority of Congress and continued to represent the king.

William Franklin was arrested by the emerging American government's forces as “an enemy of the country’s liberty” in January 1776 and imprisoned until October 1778, much of the time in solitary confinement. After his release in a prisoner exchange, he became a leader of the loyalist community in the British stronghold of New York City.

Following the defeat of British forces, William Franklin sailed for London in 1782. He is believed to have had only one brief meeting with his father between his arrest and Ben Franklin’s death in 1790.

Franklin warned his son about the risk from the royal ties

The bitter split came about even though Ben Franklin repeatedly warned his son that if he did not step down as royal governor, the new government would arrest him, said Daniel Mark Epstein, who chronicled the relationship in his book “The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin’s House.” But William Franklin would not relent.

“He was absolutely not gonna budge,” Epstein said. “He was the last governor to leave his office, and he had to be dragged away literally in irons.”

Epstein sees the Franklin story as cautionary tale for the angry citizens of 21st-century America, a country marked by easy access to guns and falling educational standards. By contrast, colonial America was a highly literate society where 90% of the population could read and people were more likely to argue out their problems than resort to violence.

Yet still the colonies’ differences with Britain descended into war.

“Our educational system has failed us here,” Epstein said. “We’re really in a terrible crisis in terms of education. People find it very, very difficult to have rational arguments because they don’t have the language and yet there’s this crazy availability of weapons.”

Taub takes a broader view, seeing echoes of the conflicts that ignited the Revolution in the tensions of today.

He said Americans need to understand the complexities of the Revolutionary era so they can see how unique the Declaration of Independence was in 1776 and why so many other countries have since modeled their founding documents on it.

“It makes me feel better about us today,” he said. “And I think it will show that we’re just part of 250 years of an ongoing story and 250 years of an ongoing mission that was laid down, a cause that was laid down by people in 1776.”

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Part of a series of stories exploring life in the United States as the country marks its 250th anniversary. Click here for more. Take a look at some of the objects that have come to define America here.

The thieves bypassed alarm and security systems Saturday evening at the MuMe regional museum to make off with three of the five surviving panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych, dated from 1473, as well as the double-sided panel depicting the Virgin Mary and dead Christ in Pietà, which was removed from an armored display case, LaPresse reported.

“We are devastated by what happened. They were two of Antonello da Messina’s most important and best-known works. It is a tremendous loss for the museum, the city, the community and the art world,” MuMe director Marisa Mercurio told the ANSA news agency. She said the theft occurred just before 10 p.m.

The Italian government in March bought a devotional painting titled “Ecce Homo” by da Messina for $14.9 million from Sotheby's auction house in New York — raising the profile of the early Renaissance painter.

Lynda Albertson, an art-crime analyst, said the works are instantly recognizable, impeding any effort to sell them through reputable channels.

"Stealing an Antonello may be far easier than selling one. If these are ordinary thieves, they will soon discover that — to their cost,” Albertson, who is the chief executive of the ARCA art crimes research association, told the Italian daily La Repubblica. She said such famous artworks often pass from one criminal to another, serving as collateral for other illicit activity.

The museum was closed Sunday while investigators gathered evidence. Neither museum officials nor the Carabinieri could immediately be reached for comment.

The Ferragosto holiday, which marks the feast of the Assumption of Mary, marks the height of the Italian summer holiday season.

The theft comes just days after police in the northern Italian city of Parma announced that they had recovered three stolen artworks by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth about 10 million euros ($11.5 million). Five people have been detained in the March 22-23 theft from the Magnani Rocca Foundation located in the Parma province.

Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia this year, with long-range missiles and swarms of drones targeting military industries and energy facilities. It has also increasingly pummeled giant Wildberries depots, burning billions of dollars’ worth of merchandise belonging to the Russian online retail giant. Those attacks have brought the war home to the Russian public nearly 4½ years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine also came under Russian attack, with drone strikes destroying homes and torching Kyiv's landmark book market.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Some 600 drones were detected headed toward the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with a third of those destroyed over the Moscow region itself.

An 83-year-old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone hit a private home in the Moscow region, local Gov. Andrey Vorobyov said. He also confirmed that a Ukrainian attack had sparked a blaze at a Wildberries warehouse in the town of Podolsk.

A drone attack targeted three towns in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, killing five people, local Gov. Yury Slyusar said. The attack, with more than 150 drones, damaged several homes and a railway station and sparked a forest fire.

Russian strikes kill 5 in Ukraine

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih killed two people and wounded 14 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media Sunday. He also said that one more person had been killed in the city of Sumy.

Elsewhere, a man and a woman died when their home was hit by a Russian strike in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, said Ivan Fedorov, the head of the local military administration.

Russian attacks also sparked fires throughout the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounding six people. A blaze took hold at one of the city's largest book markets, tearing through kiosks huddled close to the Pochaina metro station. Firefighters fought back the flames, which sent plumes of black smoke across the capital, and picked their way through rubble where the market's crowded pavilions once stood.

“Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it had targeted a metallurgical plant in Kryvyi Rih and several military-industrial sites in Kyiv, including a manufacturing facility for Ukraine's Flamingo missiles.

The domestically produced missiles are increasingly key to Ukraine's long-range attacks on Russia, with Zelenskyy announcing Saturday that Kyiv had used the weapons to attack a rocket research and production center in Samara approximately 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

NATO jet downs drone in Romanian airspace

Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said Sunday that a Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace.

The drone’s entry into the NATO member’s airspace was detected by surveillance systems at 4:44 a.m., the ministry said, about 24 kilometers (14.9 miles) north of the eastern city of Galati near the border with neighboring Moldova. Moldova is a landlocked country between Ukraine and Romania.

A Spanish F-18 aircraft that was performing air policing duties “made radar contact with the target and received engagement approval,” the ministry said. “The drone was safely shot down by the F-18 aircraft at 05:01.”

The ministry later said that drone debris was reported in the Black Sea around 10 a.m. on Sunday, about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) from the coastal city of Constanta.

Officials did not specify the drone’s origin.

The incident comes weeks after Romanian pilots shot down three drones over three days as Russia intensified attacks against Ukraine near the border. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Romania has reported dozens of drone incidents, including some that have crashed and exploded on its territory.

Acting Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said in a post on X that the Spanish deployment in Romania was scaled up “at the request of Romania and NATO to bolster the Eastern Flank following prior drone incidents,” and that it was Spain’s fourth such deployment.

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

Ocho días después de la suspensión temporal de las exportaciones de aguacate desde el estado occidental de Michoacán hacia ese país y del despliegue de más tropas en la región, las autoridades estadounidenses levantaron por completo la alerta de seguridad que motivó el paro y para el fin de semana, las huertas ya recuperaban su actividad, las empacadoras trabajaban a toda máquina y los inspectores agrícolas volvían a certificar la fruta para asegurar que no tenían plagas antes de cruzar la frontera.

En Michoacán, principal productor de aguacates de México y una región donde operan cuatro cárteles designados como terroristas por el gobierno de Donald Trump, unos estaban contentos por recuperar sus jornales diarios; otros esperanzados ante la posibilidad de que baje la violencia y las extorsiones, y algunos temían que la tranquilidad solo fuera pasajera.

“Vamos a estar seguros un rato hasta ver qué más ocurre”, comentaba Valentín Rodríguez, un empresario veterano del sector.

Muchas amenazas posibles en un estado violento

La alerta estadounidense agarró a Isidro subido a un árbol de una huerta de Santa Ana Zirosto, una zona de cerros bajos y verdes de alta actividad delictiva al oeste del estado. No hubo explicaciones, solo el grito del capataz para que pararan el corte.

El jornalero, de 39 años y dos décadas como cortador, sabía que eso significaba empezar a buscar otro trabajo hasta que la situación se normalizara o mantener a la familia sólo con lo que sacaba su esposa de una pequeña tienda.

En una empacadora a más de 150 km (90 millas) de allí, en Tacámbaro, el ingeniero de turno recibió el mensaje de madrugada. La planta quedaba desde ese momento en una especie de cuarentena. Todos sus accesos precintados.

Unas 200.000 personas que emplea el sector aguacatero en Michoacán se quedaron en vilo.

Las autoridades no aclararon qué amenaza detonó la alerta, pero en un estado donde operan numerosos cárteles locales que, además de la droga, tienen en la extorsión uno de sus principales negocios, las posibilidades son muchas.

Algunos empresarios asumen las extorsiones como parte obligada de sus costes de producción. Uno de ellos contaba recientemente a AP que paga al crimen organizado un peso por kilo exportado y vende cada día a Estados Unidos unas 90 toneladas, es decir, pagos diarios de más de 5.000 dólares.

Solo en marzo, México vendió diariamente a Estados Unidos casi 4.800 toneladas.

También hay robos de camiones llenos de aguacate en las carreteras del oeste del estado. E incluso algunos jornaleros se han visto detenidos y golpeados por hombres armados sin saber la razón en una zona limítrofe con Jalisco, contó uno de ellos que pidió el anonimato por miedo.

La industria del aguacate en manos de EEUU

En el pasado, los inspectores han sufrido agresiones y hasta retenciones temporales que provocaron parones similares al de la semana pasada. En alguna ocasión las amenazas surgieron cuando detectaban una plaga para que no la denunciaran, dijo un funcionario conocedor de la actividad de los técnicos y que pidió el anonimato por seguridad. La embajada no suele ofrecer detalles.

Ahora los inspectores tienen menos presencia en las huertas – cerros aislados por donde los hombres armados campan a sus anchas— y concentran la mayor parte de su actividad en las empacadoras.

“Si dice Estados Unidos que por temas de seguridad nos niegan los servicios técnicos, imposible exportar; si dice que ahora no es seguridad, que es un tema fitosanitario, igual", explica Rodríguez, que produce, empaca y comercializa. “Estamos a lo que el mercado y el gobierno de Estados Unidos quieran hacer con la industria".

No falta el matiz político, agregó el empresario. México tuvo prohibido exportar aguacates a Estados Unidos durante ocho décadas "por un famoso gusano que encontraron en 1914 en un hueso”, recordó. El veto se levantó en 1997 cuando su producción nacional no podía ya abastecer la creciente demanda.

Una esquema de certificación seguido al milímetro

Estados Unidos compra más del 80% de los aguacates mexicanos para la exportación, lo que significa que miles de toneladas viajan cada día hacia el norte, sobre todo a principios de año cuando el consumo de guacamole crece en vísperas del Super Bowl. Para que ese volumen se mueva la palabra clave es “certificación”.

Isidro es un cortador “certificado”, que sabe como desinfectar los utensilios de corte antes de usarlos, manipular el aguacate con rapidez y delicadeza y alertar de cualquier mancha o daño en la fruta. Lo es también su cuadrilla y las huertas en las que trabaja que, entre otras cosas, deben tener comedor y baño para los jornaleros.

Jesús Méndez, su supervisor, revisa las cajas —todas con los datos necesarios para poder rastrearlas— antes de subirlas al camión, que esperará a que todos los de la zona estén listos para salir en convoy hacia el empaque con patrullas acompañándolos para evitar robos.

Al llegar a las plantas empacadoras, las verificaciones continúan —de calidad, de pulpa, de plagas— antes de que los aguacates empiecen a correr por las cadenas mecanizadas que los separan por tamaños hasta que decenas de manos los acomodan en cajas.

Una vez completamente etiquetados y precintados, los camiones salen camino de la frontera. A la menor alerta, todos los lugares por los que pasó esa fruta quedan paralizados.

Siguen los miedos pese al regreso de actividades

El aumento de más de 1.500 militares para vigilar la franja aguacatera y una docena de arrestos en el estado aliviaron al sector, pero sólo a medias.

Luis Manuel Soto, productor y empacador de 36 años del oeste de Michoacán, confía en que haya mejoras pero, de momento, no las siente.

Contó que en 2024 hombres armados le sacaron de su vehículo amenazando con matarle si no les pagaba y quitaba una denuncia por extorsión e intento de despojo de sus huertas. En julio de este año las amenazas regresaron aunque una persona involucrada en el caso previo está ya condenada.

“Me dejaron la cruz fúnebre y… un mensaje textual que decía que tenía los días contados”, explicó desde una localidad cercana a Morelia, la capital michoacana. Las amenazas continuaron vía telefónica y ahora su vida trascurre entre la atención esporádica a sus huertas, la gestión a distancia de sus negocios y proyectos sociales y las visitas a la fiscalía pidiendo protección.

En Santa Ana Zirosto y sus alrededores, la población celebraba el refuerzo militar.

“Tanto nos tranquiliza como nos da un poquito de susto (por) si eso pueda traer algunas confrontaciones con alguno de los grupos pero ojalá sea para bien”, dijo Méndez que todavía recuerda un día que tuvo que dejar el trabajo porque las balas cruzaban de un cerro a otro por encima de la huerta en la que estaba.

De momento, tras la reactivación de actividades, las bromas y risas corrían entre sus trabajadores encaramados en las copas de los árboles de aguacate.

Back on the job the morning after the alert was lifted, Isidro threw a rope over an avocado tree about 20 feet (6 meters) high and climbed up. Fifteen minutes later, he had filled a box with avocados bound for the United States.

“Thank God ... and now we’re getting paid!” he shouted happily after several days without work.

Eight days after the alert affecting Michoacán state and the deployment of more Mexican troops in the region, U.S. authorities fully lifted the restrictions that spurred producers to shut down operations, and exports resumed. Michoacán is Mexico’s main avocado-producing state and a region where four cartels designated by the Trump administration as terrorist organizations operate.

By the weekend, orchards were operating again, packing plants were running at full speed and U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors had returned to certify the fruit and ensure it was free of pests before entering the United States.

The workers were happy to get their daily wages back. Some producers hoped the increased security would reduce violence and extortion. Others feared the calm would not last long.

“We’ll be safe for a while, we’ll see what happens next,” said Valentín Rodríguez, a longtime avocado industry businessperson.

Many threats are possible in a violent state

The U.S. alert caught Isidro high in a tree in an orchard in Santa Ana Zirosto, an area of green, low hills in western Michoacán where criminal groups are very active. There were no explanations, just the foreman’s shout to stop cutting.

Isidro, 39 years old and with two decades of experience as a harvester, knew that this meant either starting to look for another job until the situation returned to normal — since they’re paid by the day — or supporting his family solely on what his wife earned from a small store.

More than 90 miles (145 kilometers) away, in the town of Tacámbaro, an engineer at an avocado packing plant received the alert in the early hours of the morning: The facility should be kept sealed and under quarantine.

Some 200,000 people employed by Michoacán’s avocado industry were left in limbo.

Authorities did not say what threat triggered the alert. But in a state where numerous local cartels make money not only from drugs but also from extortion, there are plenty of possibilities.

Some growers have come to consider extortion an unavoidable production cost. A producer from Michoacán told The Associated Press recently that he pays 1 peso per kilo exported in extortion fees and exports about 90 metric tons a day, which amounts to more than $5,000 in daily payments.

In March alone, Mexico shipped nearly 4,800 tons of avocados a day to the United States.

Trucks loaded with avocados are also sometimes robbed on roads in western Michoacán. And some farmworkers have been stopped and beaten by armed men near the border with Jalisco without being told why, according to one worker who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Mexican avocado production is US-controlled

U.S. inspectors have been assaulted and temporarily detained in the past, triggering similar export suspensions. On some occasions, threats arose after inspectors detected pests and were pressured not to report them, said an official familiar with their work who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The U.S. Embassy does not usually provide details about the incidents.

Inspectors now have less of a presence in the orchards, which are located in isolated hills where armed groups operate with little interference, and concentrate on packing plants.

“If the United States says that it is suspending technical services for security reasons, it’s impossible to export. If it's for a plant health, it’s the same,” said Rodríguez, who grows, packs and sells avocados. “We are at the mercy of whatever the U.S. market and government decide to do with the industry.”

There is also a political dimension, he said, adding that Mexico didn't export avocados to the United States for eight decades after a worm was found in an avocado pit in 1914. The U.S. ban was lifted in 1997 as domestic production could no longer meet growing demand.

Exports rely on inspection and certification

More than 80% of Mexican avocados are sold to the U.S. Thousands of tons of avocados travel daily to the United States, especially at the beginning of the year, when demand for guacamole surges ahead of the Super Bowl. To keep that volume moving, certification is key.

Isidro is a “certified” picker. He knows how to disinfect cutting tools before using them, handle the fruit quickly and carefully, and report any spots or damage. The orchards where he works are also certified, providing dining and bathroom facilities for workers.

Jesús Méndez, his supervisor, inspected the boxes before they were loaded onto a truck with the tracking details. The trucks wait until all those in the area are ready before traveling in convoys to packing plants, accompanied by police patrols to prevent robberies.

At the packing plants, inspections continue, checking quality, the fruit’s flesh and possible pests. The avocados then move along mechanical lines that sort them by size before workers place them into boxes.

Once labeled and sealed, the trailers head for the U.S. border. At the slightest security alert, every point along the route can be brought to a standstill.

Fears remain despite the return to work

The deployment of more than 1,500 soldiers to protect Michoacán’s avocado-growing region and recent arrests of people allegedly involved in extortion have eased concerns, but only partially.

Luis Manuel Soto, a 36-year-old grower and packer from western Michoacán, hopes the increased security will bring improvements. So far, he says, he has not felt them.

In 2024, he said, armed men pulled him from his vehicle and threatened to kill him unless he paid them and withdrew a complaint over extortion and an attempt to seize his orchards. The threats returned last July, even though one person involved in the earlier case has been convicted.

“They left me a funeral cross and ... a written message saying I had only days left,” Soto said from a town near Morelia, Michoacán’s capital.

The threats have continued by phone. Now he divides his time between occasional visits to his orchards, managing his businesses and social projects remotely, and going to prosecutors’ offices to request protection.

In Santa Ana Zirosto and surrounding communities, residents welcome the military presence.

“It gives us some peace, but it also scares us a little because it could lead to confrontations with some of the groups,” said Méndez.

Athens’ U-shaped Panathenaic Stadium — made entirely of white marble — is getting its first systematic cleaning in more than a century.

Rebuilt for the first modern Olympics in 1896, the site is the ceremonial send-off point for the Olympic flame, including for Los Angeles 2028.

A fresh look in Athens ahead of LA 2028

The stadium is made of the same glittering marble used on the Acropolis, making the cleanup job delicate.

The work is revealing a monument changed by time, weather and millions of visitors. Cleaners in white and blue overalls move across the stadium’s 47 steep tiers with thin spray lances, using clean water at carefully controlled, low pressure. Machines vacuum up the runoff as they go.

“The goal of cleaning is not to make everything white. It’s to remove the dirt and the first layers of organic material that are deposited on the surface,” said Dimitris Selemis, a senior conservator at the site.

“The idea is to clean all the material that (contains) dirt from the surface, so we have a better understanding of the monument,” he said, noting that there is more weed growth and dirt in areas that receive less direct sunlight.

Dealing with chewing gum, high heels and soft-drink stains

Crews are also using steam to remove blotches of chewing gum, which have turned black over time. Stadium officials say chewing gum, high heels and soft-drink stains are among the main culprits that stain the marble.

Now slowly being revealed, the original gleaming look of the venue earned it the widely used Greek nickname “Kallimarmaro,” or beautiful marble.

“We call it Kallimarmaro because it is made of the finest marble, the best that was ever produced ... We are very proud of it,” Isidoros Kouvelos, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press in an interview.

“It needed to be cleaned of everything that has accumulated over all these years," he said. "This way the Panathenaic Stadium will show all its brilliance and will once again be the foremost monument of humanity for the Olympic Movement.”

Built into a natural ravine, the stadium’s site was used for ancient Greek athletic contests and later Roman spectacles before falling into centuries of disuse.

An African celebration planned in Athens

Since its 1896 revival, it has staged fashion shows, rock concerts, boxing matches and national celebrations — as well as lavish patriotic ceremonies ordered by a military dictatorship in the 1960s.

Today, it’s a popular draw for tourists. Apart from the cleanup, the Kallimarmaro is also getting a new track, upgraded lighting and fresh support facilities. The project is privately funded by a shipping company and overseen by the Hellenic Olympic Committee with guidance from Culture Ministry experts.

The work will continue through 2026 but is currently concentrated on the stadium’s “sling,” or curved end, in time for the next torch-passing ceremony on Sept. 10.

That will be for the Dakar Youth Olympics, scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 13 in Senegal, which will be the first Olympic competition ever hosted in Africa.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a swimming gold medal winner from Zimbabwe, is due to attend the Sept. 10 ceremony, Kouvelos said.

The historic gem designed by a Cuban refugee was the backdrop of Elvis Presley’s 1967 film “Clambake” and a beloved venue of Gloria Estefan and the late Jimmy Buffett, who performed on a movable, floating stage.

But since closing in 1992 after suffering serious damage during Hurricane Andrew, the 6,500-seat venue has fallen into disarray and today is fenced off and covered in graffiti despite being listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to allow the city to partner with a private company to return the unique stadium situated on Virginia Key across the water from downtown Miami to its former glory.

President Richard Nixon and Sammy Davis Jr. appeared together at the stadium during a 1972 campaign rally to support Nixon's reelection bid. And residents would gather for Easter sunrise services, as well as celebrate Our Lady of Charity, a representation of the Virgin Mary honored by many Cubans and Cuban Americans.

“It encapsulated a time period in Miami that’s incredibly unique with an incredible story that touches all Miamians,” Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo said. “So this is really a place that connects with Miami at a very deep and personal level.”

The stadium has a rich history in Miami

Hilario Candela was in his late 20s and a recent refugee from the Cuban Revolution when he designed the structure. He spent decades designing buildings around Miami and led community efforts to restore the marine stadium until his death in 2022.

When it was added to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places in 2018, then-Secretary of State Ken Detzner called the stadium “one of the state of Florida’s most unique architectural and historic resources,” and “an ambitious example of mid-century Modernist architecture” that represented the “multi-cultural influences evolving in the city of Miami during the 1960s.”

The year before his 2023 passing, Buffett wrote a letter to Miami officials, urging them to save the “little cathedral of musical fun.” The Mayor of Margaritaville described a 1985 concert at the marine stadium that ended with him jumping off the floating stage into the surrounding water, joining cheering swimmers and boaters.

“Those were the ‘Miami Vice’ days, and Don Johnson introduced us,” Buffett wrote of the actor in the popular 1980s television crime drama. “WITCO Desperadoes from Trinidad opened the show, and the Coral Reefer Band finished the night with what I think was one of the most fun shows, for band and fans, that I have ever done.”

Buffett's daughter, Savannah, continues to work with Restore Miami Marine Stadium. The group's co-founder, Donald Worth, began a mission to save the stadium in 2008, shortly after city officials at the time announced plans to tear it down.

“The architecture gives it the wow, the history gives it its soul,” Worth said. “It’s just a special, magical place, and so many people in Miami have had such memorable experiences there.”

Voters will help decide the stadium’s future

Breakwater Hospitality Group co-founder Emi Guerra, who's working with the company selected to partner with the city, said the stadium’s view of the city skyline and its location right off Biscayne Bay could make it an entertainment destination that rivals Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, an open-air venue built into the side of a mountain.

“There’s just something here that can’t be duplicated, and that’s the view,” Guerra said of the marine stadium.

Guerra said he can understand the cynicism felt by some voters, but he points out that this isn’t a developer land grab to build more condos. The city of Miami will retain complete ownership of the stadium and surrounding area, and the management company will be stewards of the city’s vision, Guerra said.

“When it’s something that’s historic, you have two options: restore it or let it rot,” Guerra said.

Ernesto Cuesta, head of the Brickell Homeowners Association, sees another option.

He said the group supports the preservation of a historical landmark, but members are worried about how noise and traffic from a large-scale event space will affect residents across the bay and nearby wildlife. He said he’d prefer a park with more green spaces.

Restoration plans aim to honor the stadium’s past

Despite sitting unused for more than three decades, multiple studies have shown that the stadium remains structurally safe.

Project architect Richard Heisenbottle, who has previously worked to restore other Miami landmarks, said he hopes reviving the marine stadium will honor its original architect.

He said renovations will have to include modern amenities and accessibility requirements, but the galvanized steel rebar used to reinforce the concrete during its original construction has protected the stadium from serious deterioration. Completed construction documents for the restorations have already been permitted by the city of Miami, he said.

Miami Commissioner Pardo said a significant hurdle to reopening the stadium previously has been the city government simply not having the capacity to properly run a major event space.

The referendum going before Miami voters on Tuesday would allow the city to enter into a management agreement.

The private company would develop the stadium’s large parking area into a flex park that includes public recreational facilities and a special events space. The city would collect revenue from events to fund the stadium repairs and upgrades, while paying the company a management fee. The total cost of the project hasn’t been determined, but Pardo insisted it will not be borne by taxpayers at all.

“It’s the right time to finally do this,” Pardo said.

Un portavoz de la Administración Federal de Aviación (FAA) informó que el helicóptero, un Robinson R22 con matrícula N8316N, terminó volcado de lado después de aterrizar cerca del Aeropuerto Opa-locka West alrededor de las 7:45 a.m.

Las autoridades dijeron que el piloto y otra persona viajaban a bordo y que, hasta el momento, no se han reportado lesiones. Funcionarios de Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue señalaron que ambas personas podían caminar por sus propios medios. Sus identidades no han sido reveladas.

Equipos de Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue y Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue acudieron al lugar.

Las autoridades indicaron que los rescatistas trabajaban para acceder al helicóptero con apoyo de unidades aéreas y del equipo de rastreo de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, debido a las dificultades del terreno.

También advirtieron que los conductores podrían enfrentar afectaciones al tránsito en la zona mientras continúan las labores de respuesta.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre el incidente.

El accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 12:30 p.m. en la cuadra 2300 de Southwest 173rd Avenue, según el Departamento de Policía de Miramar.

La policía informó que una madre y sus dos hijos viajaban en el vehículo. El bebé de 4 meses sufrió heridas graves y fue trasladado en helicóptero al Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.

La madre fue trasladada al Memorial Regional Hospital, en Hollywood, con lesiones menores, según los investigadores. El otro menor no resultó herido.

La Unidad de Investigaciones de Homicidios de Tránsito del Departamento de Policía de Miramar investiga las circunstancias del accidente.

Por el momento no se dieron a conocer más detalles sobre el incidente.

He may not have looked the part, yet Makhachev was again a winner — all while toppling one of UFC's most enduring records.

Makhachev set the UFC record with his 17th straight victory, reaching the milestone with a unanimous decision over Ian Machado Garry to successfully defend his 170-pound championship in the main event of UFC 330 on Saturday night.

Makhachev won 49-46 on two scorecards and 48-47 on the third in a competitive five-round fight that never rose to the level of greatness.

“He gave me a hard time," Makhachev said, "but I still prove it every fight.”

Makhachev (29-1) was tied with UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva with 16 straight victories and has not lost since UFC 192 in 2015. Makhachev won the welterweight crown in his first attempt when he beat Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 in November 2025.

He took his share of head kicks in his first title defense, notably in the third round that did most of the cosmetic damage, yet bested a record set by Silva that had stood for 13 years.

“If he keeps going like he says he's going to keep going, it might never be beaten,” UFC CEO Dana White said.

The 34-year-old Makhachev nearly ended the fight in the second when he threw his left foot and caught Machado Garry flush with a headkick that dropped the challenger to his rear end. Makhachev pounced with a series of punches that had the sellout crowd of 19,238 fans roaring in anticipation of a quick finish, only for Machado Garry — serenaded throughout with obscenity-laced chants — to hold on and finish the round.

Machado Garry (17-2) won the third round on all three scorecards and rallied in the fifth round with seven significant strikes landed to none for Makhachev.

Yet it wasn’t enough to topple one of UFC’s great fighters.

“I believed in my heart and soul I was better than him tonight, and he won," Machado Garry said. “No complaints, no excuses. I’m 28, I have a decade of domination already. This man won tonight.”

Makhachev — who held the lightweight championship and has seven total wins in title fights — continues to dominate no matter the weight class.

Dern defends 115-pound title on first try

Mackenzie Dern successfully defended the 115-pound championship in her first title defense with a unanimous decision victory over Gillian Robertson that could set her up for a fight with division great Zhang Weili.

Dern (17-5) won the vacant strawweight belt in her last fight at UFC 321 and won a lopsided and lackluster first defense against Robertson.

Dern won 49-46 on two scorecards and 48-47 on the third in the five-round fight.

“I wanted to get the submission with Gillian," Dern said. "I definitely wanted to submit her. That was the goal.”

Dern nearly made Robertson (17-9) tap in the first round with a choke hold that about turned the challenger’s face as pinkish-red as her braided hair. Dern might have won the bout had it stretched even another 30 seconds, but Robertson was saved by the bell.

Too bad the fight didn't end there.

The next four rounds were relatively uneventful, and the title match slowed to a near complete stop as they mostly locked up on the canvas with barely a strike thrown.

Dern's 7-year-old daughter peered her head over the barricade from her front row seat and shouted encouragement each time mom got close to her side of the cage. The little girl could be heard well over a rowdy crowd that had about been lulled into passiveness — and eventually, boos in the fifth round — in the humdrum title fight.

Barboza calls it a career after loss at UFC 330

Edson Barboza left his fight gloves on the mat and choked back tears as he retired following a lightweight loss on the main card to Esteben Ribovics.

The 40-year-old Barboza received a standing ovation and was flanked by his family as he officially called it quits after an MMA career that began in 2009. He made his UFC debut a year later and won multiple Fight of the Night honors. He lost the last four fights of his career.

“Every single fight, I promise I did my best,” Barboza said from inside the cage.

Barboza dropped to his knees and bowed his head as he lay down his gloves and was consoled by UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer as he made the final walk back to the locker room.

Different kind of Broad Street Bullies usher in UFC’s return to Philadelphia

UFC held only its third numbered card in Philadelphia and first fight event overall in the city since 2019.

UFC 101 was held in August 2009, and UFC 133 was in August 2011.

Philly fight fans were in the mood to make up for lost time and about packed the arena and were wild for the punishing action the preliminary fights delivered hours before the main card was set to start.

It’s a perfect fit for a city that loves their bullies.

The fans got an early reward when 39-year-old Philly fighter Jeremiah Wells — who was booed on his walkout — won via submission on the card's opening night and won over the inhospitable fans.

Tresean Gore won his middleweight fight, but lost his teeth in a unanimous decision victory over Vicente Luque.

Gore took a knee to his mouth and lost most of his bottom front teeth. They littered the cage and the fight official picked at least one up with his gloved hand. Gore pulled down his lower lip to show the bloody results as he talked to fight announcer Joe Rogan.

Charles Johnson celebrated his submission victory by leading the crowd in an off-key rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.” It helps to pander. He walked out of the cage to a big ovation.

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

“He’s understanding how his breaking stuff moves and what he can do with it on any particular day,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.

Misiorowski allowed one run on five hits in six innings, needing an expanded arsenal of pitches to get out of the fifth unscathed after the bottom of the Dodgers' order had three consecutive singles to bring up Ohtani with one out. The two superstars had already faced off twice, with Misiorowski throwing six straight fastballs over 102 mph to retire him on a popup leading off the game.

Misiorowski needed three pitches to fan Ohtani, and only one was a fastball. Instead, catcher William Contreras called for a curveball and slider to bookend that 102.4 mph heater.

“William took control and saw something, and we readjusted,” said Misiorowski, who improved to 12-5 while lowering his ERA to 1.75 with his 13th start this season allowing one or zero runs.

Misiorowski carried over the momentum to get Freeman swinging on five pitches, executing another slider to end the inning.

“I was trying to throw sliders down to get Shohei to bounce something, but, no, I got swings and misses. Kind of took that same approach into the Freddie Freeman at-bat, and was trying to get the same outcome, and it worked out,” Misiorowski said.

For Murphy, a growing repertoire of pitches is another indication of the 24-year-old Misiorowski's development.

“Proved to everyone out there thinking, like, ‘Hey, this guy can pitch. Is he just a heater?’ He executed pitches,” Murphy said.

Ohtani drove in the Dodgers' only run with a triple in the third inning, sending a choppy ground ball bouncing over first baseman Gary Sánchez into the right-field corner, but Murphy refused to call it a mistake by Misiorowski.

“You want Ohtani to hit one into the ground, you know what I mean?” Murphy said.

Misiorowski relished the challenge of facing Ohtani at Dodger Stadium for a national TV audience again, having done so in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series last October. He took the loss in a 3-1 defeat after allowing one run in five innings as the Dodgers went on to sweep the Brewers before claiming a second straight World Series title.

“That was fun. Being in the postseason, it was a different animal,” Misiorowski said. “Just gave me more confidence going into this year.”

It would not be a surprise if the Dodgers and Brewers meet up again this fall. Milwaukee is assured to come out of the four-game series with a better record that Los Angeles by having won two of the first three in the showdown of division leaders, a crucial result as they jockey for home-field advantage.

Having seen Misiorowski rise to the occasion on an August afternoon, Murphy expects his burgeoning ace will be ready should the teams face off again with greater stakes.

“Miz is very, very capable, and he's mentally ready for these challenges,” Murphy said.

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

The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful earthquake hit the Flores region in East Nusa Tenggara province, at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) at 5:58 a.m. local time. Residents fled in panic as tsunami warnings were issued and later lifted.

Authorities have since recorded 995 aftershocks, but only 46 were felt by residents, said Abdul Muhari, the National Disaster Management Agency’s chief for disaster prevention, adding that 135 people were injured.

Rescuers on Sunday dug through debris looking for people feared buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake across six regencies on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in Muslim-majority Indonesia. They focused on three regencies that remained inaccessible after the earthquake: the hardest-hit Manggarai, East Manggarai and Nagekeo.

“We have cleared most landslides and reopened roads to previously isolated villages, although communication disruptions and power outages continue to hamper search efforts,” said Fathur Rahman, head of the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka regency.

The agency said more than 900 homes were destroyed and 450 more damaged in East Nusa Tenggara province, forcing about 5,000 people into temporary shelters. At least 241 homes were damaged in Flores region alone, Muhari said.

Many residents at Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo National Park, one of Indonesia’s best-known tourist destinations, spent the night outdoors, fearing strong aftershocks.

“The shaking was terrifying, so intense that my house nearly collapsed,” said Anastasia Imad, a farmer, speaking from a makeshift green tent beside her damaged home. “We feared the aftershocks would bring it down on us while we slept.”

Landslides blocked sections of the Trans-Flores Highway, a roughly 700-kilometer (435-mile) road linking communities across the mountainous island.

Meanwhile, relief workers distributed rice, ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, blankets and medicine, while emergency shelters were being set up for displaced residents. Authorities said restoring electricity and communications, as well as delivering aid to remote villages isolated by landslides, remained among the biggest challenges.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped arc of seismic faults and volcanoes.

Flores has experienced some of the country’s deadliest disasters. A powerful earthquake and tsunami in 1992 killed about 2,500 people on the island.

In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on Sulawesi that killed more than 4,400 people. In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

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Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

Candidates are even casting ballots themselves during early voting Saturday and making the case they deserve your vote.

As the clock ticks, there are just days left until Florida’s primary elections, with candidates appearing across South Florida Saturday.

That includes the race for U.S. Senate.

It’s been a competitive race for the Democratic nomination.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, who gained national attention as a witness in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019, rallied supporters in Wilton Manors as he looks to keep momentum to the finish line.

“It’s about making sure we’re funding Medicare. It’s about making sure working families aren’t working paycheck to paycheck. Have a little bit of an easier go, and it’s about taking care of the next generation of young people,” Vindman said.

His competitor, state Rep. Angie Nixon, led a walk through Little Havana as her campaign aims to turn out the vote.

“I actually care about people. And I show up. I know what Floridians are facing because I’ve been facing it with them for my entire life, I’ve been born and raised here,” Nixon said.

The winner of that primary will very likely take on incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.

Local 10 caught up with Moody at an early voting location at a Hialeah library.

“Three days out from a primary election you can really feel the energy, folks are excited and I just hope that everybody is looking and seeing where this polling place is for Tuesday and get out to vote,” Moody said.

In Coral Gables, chief financial officer candidate Annette Laddéo cast her ballot alongside Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

“Frankly like most Floridians we are fed up. And we can no longer afford to live here, it’s getting just crazy how expensive it is,” Laddéo said.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who’s running for governor, joined supporters at early voting in Pembroke Pines.

Asked how he’d be different from Gov. Ron DeSantis, Collins mentioned his longtime service in the Army Special Forces as a Green Beret.

“We’re very similar, I don’t think you can really isolate one thing versus the other, but I think it’s important to point out where my background’s different. Because my story’s the American story. And that itself is inspiring to many but it matters now more than ever because we are one people,” Collins said.

Congressman Byron Donalds has led polling and fundraising in that governor’s race.

Businessman James Fishback and former House Speaker Paul Renner are also running in that race.

Pallister was under world-record pace for much of the race and touched in 8 minutes, 6.10 seconds to erase Ledecky's championship record from 2018.

“I was just so locked in and I've been really focused on what I want," Pallister said. “The 800 is my favorite event.”

Ledecky took silver in a season-best 8:07.26.

“That was definitely my best swim of the week, so I’m actually pretty happy with it,” she said. “If I was going to get second tonight, I wanted to make it a good one. Just wanted to make it hard for Lani.”

Ledecky is the four-time Olympic champion in her signature event. The American's lone previous defeat in an 800 free final since 2010 came in a small domestic meet in February 2024 against Summer McIntosh of Canada.

“Katie's such a dominant force,” a breathless Pallister said after the race.

Kate Douglass lowered her own world record in the 50 free for the second time Saturday, winning the final in 23.19 — one of three events on the final night.

“I was doubting myself, questioning my ability to do the triple,” she said. “My coaches and my teammates just really had a lot of faith in me and they really gave me a lot of energy.”

In the morning preliminaries, the 24-year-old American swam 23.49 to take the mark away from teammate Gretchen Walsh, who finished second in the evening final in 23.74.

Douglass returned 25 minutes later to finish second in the 200 breaststroke. She rallied from third down the stretch but couldn’t catch Alexanne Lepage of Canada, who led the entire race and touched in a lifetime best of 2:21.73. Douglass finished in 2:22.57.

“I feel like I’m just a little bit shocked,” Lepage said.

Walsh had owned the 50 free record of 23.55 since setting it in June at an international meet in Rome.

It’s the third time Douglass has lowered the world mark in the sprint race. She first did it on June 19 at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis, posting a time of 23.59. Nine days later, Walsh lowered it again.

Fourteen minutes after climbing out of the pool, Douglass appeared on the medals podium in her cap and goggles to accept her gold. The other medalists were dressed in their usual team sweats. Eleven minutes after that, Douglass dived in for the 200 breast final.

Douglass capped a busy night by anchoring the U.S. women to a dominant victory in the 4 x 100 medley relay. Their time of 3:50.43 was a championship record. Australia was second in 3:55.09.

Douglass is a five-time Olympic medalist. She earned silver in the 50 free at the 2024 world championships but didn’t compete in the event at the 2024 Paris Games.

Her 50 free was the second individual world record set at the meet that includes swimmers from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan and China, among others.

The U.S. men also topped Australia in the 4 x 100 medley relay. Will Modglin, Van Mathias, Luca Urlando and anchor Jack Alexy swam a championship-record time of 3:29.06.

Sam Short of Australia won the 1,500 free to go with his earlier titles in the 400 and 800 free events. His time of 14:33.97 was the sixth-fastest in history and broke Grant Hackett’s 24-year-old championship record.

“That was actually so much fun,” Short said.

Kazushi Imafuku of Japan took silver in 14:42.59 and two-time defending Olympic champion Bobby Finke earned bronze in 14:44.26 on the same day he lost his world record to Johannes Liebmann of Germany at the European championships.

The men’s 50 free was won by Jamie Jack of Australia in a championship record of 21.35. American Jack Alexy took silver in 21.42.

Yu Yiting of China defeated a strong field including world record-holder McIntosh to win the 200 individual medley.

Yu was under world-record pace on the opening butterfly leg before American Regan Smith took over the lead on the backstroke. Yu moved back in front on the breaststroke and held off McIntosh in the closing meters. Yu’s time of 2:07.45 set a championship record in the outdoor pool in Irvine.

McIntosh, the Canadian star whose lone individual victory of the week was in the 400 IM, took silver in 2:07.47. American Alex Walsh, the older sister of Gretchen Walsh, earned bronze in 2:07.66. Smith finished fourth.

McIntosh claimed silver in the 200 freestyle and bronze in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay. She surprisingly failed to qualify for the 400 free championship final, but finished first in the ‘B’ final.

“It wasn’t a horrible swim, but getting touched out is something that is never a good thing to feel,” she said. “Overall, the meet didn’t go the way I wanted it to, so there’ll definitely be a lot of reflection.”

Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia went from fourth to first in the 200 breast, winning in 2:08.09. American Josh Matheny earned silver. Shin Ohashi, who led until the final 15 meters, took bronze.

In the men’s 200 IM, Tomoyuki Matushita of Japan won in 1:56.02 over American Carson Foster.

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

The Marlins improved to 53-13 when scoring four or more runs. They had scored three or fewer runs in 10 of their previous 16 games.

The Marlins trailed 4-3 in the eighth.

Graham Pauley’s sacrifice fly tied it. Heriberto Hernandez singled with the bases loaded off Sam Moll, driving in two runs to put the Marlins ahead 6-4. Griffin Conine made it 7-4 with an RBI single.

Pauley drove in the Marlins’ eighth run with an RBI double in the ninth.

Four Marlins relievers combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Tyler Zuber (2-1) got the win. TJ Antone (2-1) took the loss for Cincinnati.

Marsee homered on Brady Singer’s first offering in the third to put the Marlins ahead 1-0. It was his first homer since July 30 and seventh of the season.

A dropped fly ball by Marlins right fielder Esteury Ruiz sparked a Reds’ rally in the third. Sal Stewart’s two-run single put the Reds ahead 2-1 giving him 91 RBIs on the season.

Mack homered on Singer’s first pitch with one out in the fourth to tie it at 2. It was Mack’s 12th homer of the season. It was the 24th homer allowed by Singer this season, a career high.

Singer allowed three earned runs on eight hits in six innings.

The Reds hit back-to-back homers off Ryan Gusto to regain the lead in the fifth. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit his fifth and McLain his 11th to put Cincinnati ahead 4-3.

Gusto allowed four runs — two earned — on six hits in 4 2/3 innings with no walks and six strikeouts. The two homers he allowed tied a season-high.

Up next

Marlins RHP Eury Pérez (6-9, 3.39) was set to face Reds LHP Nick Lodolo on Sunday in the series finale.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

“Don’t let the boys get hot,” the driver of Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford said after fending off a late charge by Chase Briscoe to earn his 39th career win by 0.392 seconds. “We’re pretty strong right now. It’s awesome to see the speed in the 22 again.”

After falling as low as 20th in the points standings at the season's halfway mark, the three-time Cup Series champion is surging toward the NASCAR Chase. Two races remain until the title run featuring the top 16 drivers.

With two victories in the past four races (after only one win in his previous 56 starts), Logano has jumped to ninth in the points standings and established himself as a championship contender again.

It’s no surprise given that it’s the 2026 season. Since 2014, Logano has either won the Cup title or advanced to the championship round in every even-numbered year, and he typically does it with a late-season spree. In his last title run, the 36-year-old won three of the final 10 races.

“We’ve seen it a lot over the years once he gets that confidence,” crew chief Paul Wolfe said. “He’s very good under pressure situations.”

Logano scored his third Richmond win Saturday but his first in nine years at the track.

“Gosh, it was a great car,” he said. “We’ve had a great car here the last five races, and we haven’t been able to capitalize on the win. We’ve been so close, but it was sweet redemption today.”

Logano capitalized on the final strategy call by Wolfe, who pitted his driver just after taking the lead from Briscoe with 39 laps remaining. Logano needed only 15 laps to retake the lead from Christopher Bell, who was trying to stretch his tires to the finish on Richmond’s abrasive surface over the last 57 laps.

Briscoe led a race-high 171 of 400 laps. He had a best finish of 11th in nine previous starts at Richmond, one of only three active tracks where he had yet to score a top 10. After qualifying second, he passed pole-sitter Ryan Blaney on the first lap to lead the first lap of his career on the 0.75-mile oval.

“This place has been a real struggle to me,” said Briscoe, who clinched a spot in the Chase with his sixth top 10 in the past seven races. “To get close and not get it done is so frustrating. We had a great points night, but just frustrating to say the least to have one slip away like that at the end.”

Austin Cindric finished third and credited his teammate Logano with providing the advice that helped him score his best result since an April 2025 win at Talladega Superspeedway.

“This is a racetrack that I feel like Joey Logano could finish top five in my rental car,” said Cindric, who. “It’s a place where I study him so much.”

Denny Hamlin took fourth, followed by Chase Elliott, who notched his first top five since winning at Texas Motor Speedway three months ago.

Hamlin family dedication

In an emotional ceremony Friday morning, Richmond Raceway dedicated the grandstand seats where Hamlin’s parents sat for years watching NASCAR races long before their son became a 64-time winner in the Cup Series. Hamlin’s father, Dennis, died in a house fire last December.

The track’s tribute was among the highlights of a homecoming weekend for Hamlin, who grew up about 20 minutes from the track.

“It’s really the time I get to see my brother and sister that still live up here,” said Hamlin, who lives in the Charlotte, N.C., area. “I’ve got lots of high school friends that have their own campsite here. It will be amazing if they don’t get arrested.”

Mirror driving

In an appearance on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast this week, Ty Gibbs lobbied for removing the digital rearview camera that NASCAR implemented four years ago. Gibbs joked that some Cup drivers would be out of the series without the high-tech device that makes blocking easier by anticipating an opponent’s move. He’s gotten no feedback from NASCAR but hopes a change could be made in the offseason.

“I didn’t hear anything on it, but I thought I’d recommend it,” Gibbs said. “I just think everybody probably agrees to it, too. I mean, a lot of people do, so I thought I’d say it. I think it could happen. They took windshield wipers off, and we run in the rain still, so I think it could happen.”

Another sellout

Richmond Raceway announced its grandstands were full for the second consecutive year, marking the 11th sellout in 24 Cup Series races this season. Many of those tracks have reduced seating capacities in the past 15 years, and Richmond is among the most notable. The track’s capacity is roughly half of its 112,000-seat peak in the mid-2000s.

Up next

The NASCAR Cup Series will make its annual stop at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a 301-lap race Aug. 23 at the 1.058-mile oval. Ryan Blaney is the defending race winner at the track.

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

“We’re literally trying to utilize every single inch,” one of the pilots said.

A doctor donated his plane for the mission, while the pilots donated their time.

EmbassAir also donated 800 gallons of fuel and hangar services to help make the humanitarian mission a success.

Jose Ecarri with the Miami Pilots Association said he helped connect the group with the plane’s Colombian owner.

“I used to fly this plane — I’m a pilot too. I got in contact with the owner — he’s Colombian — I said, ‘Hey, I need a plane to fly,’” Ecarri said.

Ender Urdaneta with Help Land Foundation said the supplies were being sent to Cali specifically for rescue teams.

“This one is for Cali — only for rescue teams. Not sending any water or any food. We’re concentrating on saving lives right now,” Urdaneta said.

Since the 7.5-magnitude earthquake shook Colombia’s western region Monday morning, rescue teams have continued searching for missing people.

In one neighborhood, Colombians were seen supporting one another.

“We are still in shock. The neighbors, the friends, those who saw us born, those who saw us grow. You look at the faces and you see sadness, disappointment. Just a hug, and wherever you look, there are tears, tears of pain, tears of sadness,” said Robinson Montoya, a resident of the Belalcazar neighborhood.

Meanwhile, five days after the earthquake, Pope Leo offered his thoughts and prayers for those affected.

“I continue to pray these days for the Colombian population who is suffering because of the earthquake,” Pope Leo said.

The sport has given so much to them, culminating with enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

Parker carried a ball up to the podium for her speech as part of the 2026 class that also included the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, Chamique Holdsclaw, NBA player Amar’e Stoudemire, longtime NBA official Joey Crawford, NBA coaches Doc Rivers and Mike D’Antoni, and Gonzaga coach Mark Few.

“It felt weird to walk on the stage without the reason I’m here today,' Parker said, talking to the ball. ”We did a lot together: dunk on UConn at UConn, shimmied over our right shoulder and hit that sick fadeway, had our own signature shoe, first woman to grace the cover of NBA2K. ... We stand on this podium as first-ballot Hall of Famers."

Parker, who won three WNBA titles, two MVPs, a pair of championships at Tennessee and two Olympic gold medals, then broke down while closing her speech, saying that “we were meant to be a love story that began 27 years ago.”

Delle Donne also used her speech as a love letter to the game with all the ups and downs she faced in her career. But she always kept life in perspective, thanks to her older sister Lizzie, who is blind and deaf.

“She never played in front of thousands of people, never had a standing ovation. never been interviewed after a big win. Yet I’ve never met anyone stronger,” Delle Donne said, choking up. “Thank you all for keeping me going.”

Delle Donne won MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot more than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the free-throw line.

She started off her speech giving a shoutout to actor Larry David, who was in the audience. She told him that she hoped her speech was “pretty, pretty, pretty good.” using David's signature line. Delle Donne was introduced to him before the ceremony by Rivers.

Rivers, who won 1,194 regular-season games as an NBA coach, which is the sixth most in league history. He was emotional while talking about his brother Grady, who inspired him to be a better player.

Holdsclaw thanked all of her former teammates and coaches in her acceptance speech. She was best known for helping Tennessee win three straight titles from 1996-98, the first team to accomplish that, under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.

Summitt died in 2016 following a battle with Alzheimer’s.

“One person that I wish was here as my presenter was my demanding and wonderfully supporting college coach, Pat Summitt,” Holdsclaw said. “The one and only. coach Summitt allowed me to grow as a player and person. I miss her dearly.”

Holdsclaw’s 1998 team was Tennessee’s first undefeated season at 39–0 and the Lady Vols also set an NCAA record for the most wins in a season at that time. Holdsclaw went on to have an 11-year WNBA career.

She also thanked the 1996 Olympic team, saying she had posters of their players on her wall when she was in high school.

That team helped start the Americans’ 30-year Olympic dominance that has seen the U.S. win eight straight gold medals.

Few has been Gonzaga’s coach since 1999 and has led the team to the NCAA Tournament every year. He’s won numerous West Coast Conference championships and reached the NCAA title game twice.

“What a crazy, surreal moment for me,” Few said. “The town I grew up in had a population of 1,500 people and had one stoplight. To be standing where I am today is absolutely mind boggling.”

Crawford officiated more than 2,500 regular-season games in the NBA, nearly 400 more in the postseason and 50 of those were in the NBA Finals during his 39-year career. He said he first dreamed of officiating in the NBA when he was a teenager and did everything he could to make that possible.

D’Antoni really came into his own as a player and coach in Italy before he returned to the NBA. He developed a fast-paced style with the Phoenix Suns led by fellow inductee Stoudemire.

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AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg contributed to this story.

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Scheffler is trying to break a streak of five runner-up finishes and five other top 4s since his lone victory this year in his first tournament of 2026.

He was at 13-under 197 and will be in the final group with Burns, his closest friend in golf, who got back into the mix with a 62. His year has been marked by close calls in the U.S. Open and British Open, but Burns has no victories to show for it.

This will be the first time they are paired together in the final group.

“It's always a little weird just because I want him to have success so much and I think he wants the same for me,” Scheffler said. "Tomorrow we'll go out there and play our game and see where things finish up at the end of the day. It will be competition like normal.

“It will be fun being out there with your friend but it’s also a bit weird at the same time.”

And it's not just the two of them. Im shot 67 and was tied with Burns at 11-under 199. The next closest to Scheffler was FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Jake Knapp (67), both five shots behind.

Jordan Spieth took another step back and gave himself another Sunday at the TPC Southwind filled with high stress. Spieth is at No. 54 in the FedEx Cup, and only the top 50 advance to the BMW Championship next week in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The top 50 is the magic number this week because those players are assured to getting into all the $20 million signature events next year. Spieth, who opened with a 65, didn't make a birdie until the 11th hole in his round of 72 that dropped him from a tie for fifth to a tie for 19th, which is projected to leave him out of the top 50.

He's not alone. Brian Harman came in at No. 65 and shot 69. He was in a tie for sixth, needing to move up a few spots to advance.

“That signature series, it's where you want to be,” Harman said. “It's where the best golf is played. I'd love to have a chance.”

He at least is in all the majors next year from his 2023 British Open victory at Hoylake.

Going into the final day, Im is the only player projected to move into the top 50 — he started at No. 53 and held his own in the final group Saturday with Scheffler.

“I just want to focus on each shot,” Im said. “Every shot matters.”

Scheffler only hit one green in regulation through the opening five holes. He was in the right rough on the par-5 third and had a clean enough lie to try to reach the green or at least advance it close. But it hit a tree right above him and dropped straight down. He pulled his short iron out of mangled rough to the side of a bunker and still had 111 yards. He hit that to 12 feet and made the par putt.

He bogeyed the next from behind the green, didn't get a birdie until the par-3 eighth and then ran off consecutive birdies early on the back nine that restored his lead. He also made a 12-foot par save on the 15th hole.

“Any time you’re holing those 10- to 15-footers, it’s really nice to keep the round going,” Scheffler said. “I holed a few of those today. It was definitely important to keep the momentum in the round.”

The heat index topped 100 degrees, and towels soaked in ice water were available on every tee. Keith Mitchell looked utterly exhausted walking out of scoring, from the heat and from the stress of projections that keep him right at No. 49 with one round remaining.

He was tied for 22nd, along with Maverick McNealy, who was projected at No. 50.

Burns is thinking only about winning, and that starts with making up a two-shot deficit on the No. 1 player in the world. The only other time they've played together on a Sunday was the 2021 Tour Championship — both out of contention — though Burns did beat Scheffler with a long birdie putt in a playoff at Colonial in 2022.

“Scottie is obviously playing great, as he always does. He’s not going to lay down,” Burns said. “He’s going to play great tomorrow. So you’re going to have to go out there and put a really good round together and see if you can catch him.”

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

Rainfall will be hard to come by all week long. Temperatures will continue to run high, and we could tie a record Tuesday. Drought conditions could worsen as well.

“There was a calmness and a smile, like, ‘I’m here,’” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s rare for me to pick my head up to enjoy parts of it. He didn’t exactly give us an option but to actually take a step back and enjoy the heck out of what was going on there.”

There has never been a show quite like it.

Báez became the first player to hit a home run in each of his first three at-bats in the majors, leading the Cardinals to an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

Called up from Triple-A Memphis before the game, Báez had 30 members of his family in attendance at Wrigley Field. The traveling party, which included his mother, Yris, gathered on the field for photos afterward in spite of rain.

“It’s just unreal,” the 23-year-old Báez said. “To not only get a hit, but three home runs? It’s crazy.”

He did it with flair, too. The first came on the first pitch he saw from Matthew Boyd and landed an estimated 449 feet away in the bleachers in left-center. The left fielder's next at-bat ended with a solo shot down the left-field line and the third, on his ensuing at-bat, went the opposite way, giving him five RBIs.

Major League Baseball said Báez was the first player in modern baseball history to hit three home runs in his debut. The league cannot say with certainty whether the feat happened before 1901 due to a lack of game logs.

“He hit three different pitches for home runs. He had a great game. He beat us for sure,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

Báez showed plenty of power in the minors this season. When he was called up, he was leading all Triple-A hitters with 34 home runs, including four multihomer games.

He’s the ninth player to make his major league debut for the Cardinals this season.

Báez also is the 11th St. Louis player to homer in his first career at-bat (the last was Lane Thomas in 2019) and sixth in club history to homer on the first pitch. Former pitcher Adam Wainwright last did it in 2006.

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The 24-time major champion fell to Thiago Agustin Tirante 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in a match that took 2 hours, 44 minutes in hot and humid conditions.

A 25-year-old from Argentina, Tirante is ranked No. 50 in the world. Djokovic — a three-time Cincinnati champion and No. 5 in the rankings — was playing for the first time since his loss to top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Up next for Djokovic is the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 30 in New York.

Djokovic appeared to struggle physically in the heat and had his 10-match winning streak in Cincinnati snapped. The 39-year-old told reporters that an unspecified health condition made it difficult for him to play in hot and humid weather.

“It’s just a condition that I have, health-wise, that has been bothering me for the past couple of years,” Djokovic said. “A lot of issues, especially when it is humid and it is hot. I did anticipate it (would be humid), but there are all these things, like nerves and everything involved that make it worse, and that’s what happened.”

Djokovic has had plenty of success in Cincinnati, with a 45-13 record and titles in 2018, 2020 and 2023. But he wasn't sure he would return.

“I certainly hope so, but it looks more likely not, unfortunately,” Djokovic said. “But let’s see what the future brings.”

Djokovic saved 13 of the 15 break points he faced. Tirante broke Djokovic's serve in the ninth game of the final set and then served it out.

“I think this is the best win of my career,” Tirante said. “I think I really did a good job inside the court. I managed very well the nerves of playing against a legend like Novak.”

Eala and Pegula win in women's draw

On the women's side, Alexandra Eala of the Philippines continued her run of strong play with a victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who lost the first set and stopped playing in the second with an ankle injury. Eala — who is No. 20 in the rankings — won her first WTA singles title in Washington earlier this month and has won eight of her last nine matches.

American Jessica Pegula beat Simona Waltert 6-3, 6-2, improving her record to 25-6 on hard courts in 2026. The third-ranked Pegula won the title in Cincinnati in 2024.

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The crash happened in the 2300 block of Southwest 173rd Avenue at about 12:30 p.m., according to the Miramar Police Department.

Police said a mother and her two children were involved in the crash. They said the 4-month-old sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.

The mother was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood with minor injuries, according to investigators. The second child was not injured.

Authorities said MPD’s Traffic Homicide Investigations Unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

No other details about the crash or the individuals involved were immediately released.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company also continued to pare its stake in financial companies and a number of other stocks in the April-June quarter, according to a regulatory filing filed late Friday.

CEO Greg Abel, who took over from Warren Buffett at the start of the year, agreed in June to make a $10 billion stock investment in Alphabet, expanding on the stake that Berkshire started to build last fall.

In the second quarter, Berkshire picked up roughly 48.1 million shares in Alphabet, bringing its total shares in the tech giant to roughly 106 million. That stake was valued at about $37.76 billion as of June 30, according to the filing. As recently as the end of December, Berkshire held only 17.8 million Alphabet shares worth $5.6 billion.

Alphabet has said it plans to raise $80 billion to pay for the computing infrastructure needed to power its AI offerings.

Beyond tech, Berkshire continued to boost its investments in the U.S. homebuilding sector. Its stake in homebuilder Lennar increased nearly 30% in the second quarter. Berkshire also established a small new stake in D.R. Horton that was worth $580,504 at the end of June.

In July, Berkshire completed a $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison.

Berkshire also sharply increased its shares in Delta Air Lines and Macy's in the second quarter. The stakes were worth about $5.37 billion and $173 million, respectively, as of June 30.

Berkshire also pruned its investment portfolio in the second quarter, reducing its stake in several companies relative to where they stood in the first quarter, including supermarket operator Kroger, steel manufacturer Nucor and dialysis giant DaVita.

The company also dumped all its holdings — 632,890 shares — in beverage company Constellation Brands.

Berkshire also pared its shares in several financial companies. Its stakes in Bank of America and Ally Financial declined by around 6% and 6.9%, respectively, and it slashed its shares in Capital One Financial by 58%.

Many investors have followed Berkshire’s portfolio closely over the years because they liked to copy Buffett’s moves. He remains the company's chairman and largest shareholder.

But Berkshire, which owns dozens of businesses including major insurers like Geico and BNSF railroad, never comments on the moves it makes to its stock portfolio from quarter to quarter because it doesn’t want to discuss what it is buying and selling.

The 23-year-old left fielder, called up from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day, hit the first pitch he saw into the Wrigley Field bleachers, then homered in his next two at-bats. He also drove in five runs.

Blaze Jordan and Alec Burleson added solo home runs to help the Cardinals win a day after dropping the opener of the three-game series.

Báez is the first St. Louis player to homer in his first career plate appearance since Lane Thomas in June 2019.

Michael Conforto hit a three-run homer for the Cubs, who had won nine of 11.

Michael McGreevy (5-9) allowed three runs — all unearned — on five hits and two walks while striking out six in the first six innings to win for the first time since July 8.

Báez tagged Matthew Boyd (8-2) for all three homers. He drove his first, a two-run shot, deep into the left-center field bleachers in the first inning.

Conforto’s home run tied the game at 3-all in the second, but Báez led off the fourth and sent a full-count pitch down the left-field line, then went down the opposite side in the sixth for another two-run homer.

Jordan’s home run was the end of day for Boyd, who allowed seven runs on five hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out two.

Burleson homered off Colin Rea in the eighth.

Up next

The series ends Sunday afternoon when the Cardinals send Hunter Dobbins (2-3, 3.40 ERA) against fellow right-hander Edward Cabrera (5-4, 5.10). Cabrera (left hamstring strain) will be making his first start since June 23.

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The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract, which would make Witherspoon the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, hasn’t been finalized. In a television interview during Saturday's preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys, Witherspoon said he was grateful.

“It feels good,” Witherspoon said. “Long time coming, but we had to get it done, though. I’m thankful. All glory to God. Shoutout to (general manager John Schneider) and all the people that are upstairs for making this happen.”

The Seahawks exercised their fifth-year option on Witherspoon back in March. They finalized his long-term deal on the same day they began their preseason.

Witherspoon, 25, was selected No. 5 overall by the Seahawks in the 2023 NFL draft. In the same round of that draft, the Seahawks took wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who in March agreed to a four-year, $168.8 million contract with $120 million guaranteed.

Witherspoon has been selected for the Pro Bowl in each of his three seasons. He was a second-team All-Pro and helped the Seahawks win the Super Bowl last season.

Witherspoon appeared in all three of Seattle’s playoff games during its Super Bowl run, making 17 tackles and defending four passes.

In 43 regular-season games, Witherspoon has 249 tackles, 32 passes defended, 16 tackles for loss, 4 1/2 sacks and two interceptions. Now he's ready to show he's worth what the Seahawks are paying him.

“Can you be consistent in what you do? That’s what defines greatness to me,” Witherspoon said. “That’s what I’m chasing right there.”

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The Democratic National Committee, gathered for a summer meeting, also signed off on a raft of policy positions, including one that calls for “concrete reforms” of ICE and another for abolishing the agency that's been at the center of several fatal encounters.

ICE has been at the heart of a progressive rallying cry since 2018 during the first Trump administration, and has been renewed among some in the party after two recent fatal shootings by the agency in July.

Saturday’s vote isn't binding and doesn't set the party's platform, which will be determined at the 2028 convention, but it reflects the party's differing views on a major issue. Candidates and lawmakers will continue to determine their own positions on the issue.

Michele Johnson, a DNC member from Louisiana who proposed the measure to abolish ICE, said it's time for Democrats to take a stand and pointed to the dissolution of ICE's predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as a precedent.

“I think one of the reasons why people are not trusting the party is because we sound so academic," she said. “We sound focus group tested, we sound poll tested because we’re worried about saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing and not just like, just stand on business, like take a position.”

Not every DNC member was convinced, though. Yvonne Reeves-Chong voted against the measure, saying it would only gain support from a part of the party's base, while drawing “fire” from another group of voters.

“I would strongly suggest we get to the business of winning races so we can make the policies that make a difference,” she said.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin, who's from Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot amid the immigration crackdown earlier this year, said in an interview that the takeaway is that Democrats find the administration’s handling of immigration, including by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, unacceptable.

“Clearly, the one thing that unites Democrats, regardless of their position on reform versus abolish or whatever other ways to change what’s happening, is people believe that what ICE is doing right now — and CBP and the federal government — should stop,” he said. “There has to be a better way.”

Immigration remained a stronger issue for Trump than the economy or Iran, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released this month, even after three people were killed in encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the span of under a week in July.

Overall, the survey found that only 39% of U.S. adults approve of his performance on immigration, down from 49% at the beginning of his second term.

Chad Hickman, 39, was found dead after a wide search in Missaukee County, police said. Police released the ages and genders of the victims on Saturday but did not specify whether they were related to each other or the suspect.

Officers responded Friday morning to reports of a shooting at a home about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, where they found the bodies of a 16-year-old boy, a 45-year-old man and 40-year-old woman, and a 13-year-old girl in critical condition, Michigan State Police said.

Authorities say Hickman fled that scene, leading to a large-scale search. Police found the body of a 53-year-old man at a second home, and then a 29-year-old woman, dead alongside Hickman, in the woods. All the victims died of gunshot wounds, police said.

“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Lt. Ashley Miller said in a Friday statement. Miller said Saturday the investigation is ongoing.

Hickman was convicted in 2024 of misdemeanor fourth-degree child abuse, according to court records. He was sentenced to one year in jail. In the same case, the court dismissed felony assault and criminal sexual conduct charges.

Tim Penrose, who lives on the street where the 53-year-old was found dead, said Hickman lived in that home. Penrose said he heard shots but didn’t think much of it until police arrived because he lives in a rural area where gunfire is not uncommon. Penrose said Hickman frequently harassed him and his wife, though he didn't provide more details.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday that she was monitoring the situation. “My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community,” she said.

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Associated Press writer Hallie Golden contributed. GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

“Just part of the ramp-up to baseball activity,” manager Aaron Boone said of Judge before Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays in Toronto. “Hopefully he’ll continue to progress through this week. We’ll see what else gets introduced.”

Judge hasn’t played since May 31, but the three-time AL MVP and eight-time All-Star has said he intends to return this season. He was cleared to begin light workout activity on Aug. 5.

Boone spoke to Judge and said the slugger responded well to throwing for the first time in his rehab. However, Boone didn’t know when Judge might be ready to rejoin the Yankees.

“We expect him back, but we’re in the early stages of baseball activity,” Boone said. “Hopefully things continue to go well.”

Judge is hitting .248 with 17 home runs, 38 RBIs and a .907 OPS. He had just one homer in his final 18 games before going on the IL.

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El estado ha sido azotado durante la última semana por fuertes lluvias, lo que provocó que los ríos alcanzaran niveles récord y obligó a los residentes a buscar terrenos más altos. Más de una docena de condados han declarado desastres locales, y gran parte de los daños más recientes se concentran a lo largo de corredores fluviales desde el condado de Hamilton hacia los suburbios del norte de Indianápolis.

El gobernador Mike Braun confirmó el sábado que el presidente Donald Trump tiene la intención de aprobar su solicitud de recursos federales para ayudar en la respuesta a las inundaciones y en la recuperación.

Residentes evacuan mientras sube el agua

El alcalde de Indianápolis, Joe Hogsett, dijo que la ciudad experimentaba sus inundaciones más severas en más de 30 años, y señaló que las condiciones cambiaban rápidamente. Cientos de viviendas en vecindarios ubicados entre el río y canales paralelos fueron evacuadas el sábado, mientras equipos de emergencia usaban botes para rescatar a personas que ya estaban varadas.

Rita Reith, portavoz del Departamento de Bomberos de Indianápolis, situó el número de rescates en 95 personas y 45 mascotas hasta las últimas horas de la tarde. Los despachadores habían recibido cientos de llamadas de servicio a lo largo del día.

La oficina del gobernador informó que se han producido más de 350 evacuaciones en el condado Delaware y que una comunidad de casas móviles para personas mayores en el condado Tipton estaba siendo evacuada. También se realizaban rescates y verificaciones de bienestar en el condado Fayette.

Las autoridades de Indiana dijeron el sábado que al menos cinco personas han muerto como resultado del clima severo durante la última semana. Entre ellas está un niño que murió cuando un árbol cayó sobre su casa, una mujer que fue arrastrada después de conducir hacia aguas de inundación y un adolescente que fue reportado como desaparecido después de saltar a un río el miércoles.

“Mi corazón está con las familias y seres queridos de los cinco habitantes de Indiana que hemos perdido y con cada familia cuya vida ha cambiado por estas tormentas”, dijo Braun en un comunicado emitido el sábado. “Por favor, sigan tomando en serio las inundaciones y manténganse alejados de las aguas de inundación”.

Ríos y arroyos se desbordan tras días de lluvia

“Esta es una de esas inundaciones que ocurren una vez en la vida”, dijo a The Associated Press Jacob Spence, director de la Gestión de Emergencias del condado Marion.

“Se trata de un evento sin precedentes y, lamentablemente, estamos estableciendo algunos nuevos récords”, añadió.

El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional informó que en algunas zonas cayeron más de 28 centímetros (11 pulgadas) de lluvia durante un periodo de dos días. El río White alcanzó su nivel máximo a más de 7,32 metros (24 pies) en las comunidades de Anderson y Noblesville, superando récords establecidos en 1913.

Mientras una parte de las aguas de inundación retrocedía al norte de Indianápolis, el sábado seguían vigentes advertencias y vigilancias por inundaciones repentinas en una franja del centro de Indiana.

Se prevé que el río White alcance su punto máximo el sábado por la noche en el área de Indianápolis, donde vehículos de la Guardia Nacional figuraban entre los que ayudaban en las labores de rescate. Rita Reith, portavoz del Departamento de Bomberos de Indianápolis, situó el número de rescates en 95 personas y 45 mascotas hasta última hora de la tarde.

A principios de esta semana, tormentas severas causaron estragos en otras partes de la región centro-norte, con tornados, fuertes lluvias e inundaciones repentinas. Se reportaron daños por tormentas desde el área de Chicago hasta el oeste de Pensilvania. Aún no se había restablecido la electricidad para algunos residentes en otras partes de Indiana.

Comienza la limpieza para comunidades río arriba

Varios residentes publicaron videos en redes sociales donde mostraban casas sumergidas, vehículos varados en aguas altas, un poste de electricidad derribado por la corriente y carreteras arrasadas.

Había nubes ominosas sobre Noblesville el sábado por la mañana, pero el río ya había alcanzado su nivel histórico la noche anterior, dejando casas en el agua, estacionamientos inundados y campos de maíz saturados. El histórico puente cubierto de la comunidad —Potter’s Bridge— seguía en pie.

“Esto es una locura para todos nosotros”, dijo Matt Doudt, el fotógrafo de la ciudad, quien salió temprano para documentar las secuelas. Señaló un área común de césped que normalmente alberga el mercado de agricultores y conciertos. Estaba completamente bajo el agua. También lo estaban un monumento completamente nuevo y un jardín de flores recientemente instalados por la ciudad.

Dijo que Noblesville, con su encanto histórico y sus calles de ladrillo, no recibió mucha lluvia en los últimos días, pero que las inundaciones fueron causadas por los aguaceros que ocurrieron en comunidades río arriba. Toda esa agua no tenía a dónde ir, por lo que corrió hacia Noblesville, y ahora Indianápolis, dijo.

Aun así, Doudt y otros están agradecidos.

“Tenemos muchos daños”, dijo, “pero no perdimos ninguna vida y todos fueron rescatados y nuestra ciudad está cuidando bastante bien de la gente”.

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Montoya Bryan reportó desde Albuquerque, Nuevo México.

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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.

In the morning preliminaries, she swam 23.49 to take the mark away from teammate Gretchen Walsh, who finished second in the evening final in 23.74.

Walsh had owned the record of 23.55 since June when she set the mark at an international meet in Rome.

It’s the third time Douglass has lowered the world mark in the sprint race. She first did it on June 19 at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis, posting a time of 23.59. Nine days later, Walsh lowered it again.

Douglass, 24, is a five-time Olympic medalist. She earned silver in the 50 free at the 2024 world championships but didn't compete in the event at the 2024 Paris Games.

It was the second individual world record set at the meet that includes swimmers from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan and China, among others.

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

The state has been hammered over the past week by heavy rains, resulting in rivers reaching record levels and sending residents in search of higher ground. More than a dozen counties have declared local disasters, with much of the latest damage concentrated along river corridors from Hamilton County heading into the northern Indianapolis suburbs.

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for Indiana, and federal disaster assistance is available to the state, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Saturday.

Residents evacuate as water rises

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the city was experiencing its most severe flooding in more than 30 years, noting that conditions were shifting rapidly. Hundreds of homes in neighborhoods that were located between the river and parallel canals were evacuated Saturday, as first responders used boats to rescue people who were already stranded.

Rita Reith, a spokesperson with the Indianapolis Fire Department, put the number of rescues at 95 people and 45 pets as of late afternoon. Dispatchers had received hundreds of calls for service throughout the day.

The governor’s office reported more than 350 evacuations have occurred in Delaware County and that a senior mobile home community in Tipton County was being evacuated. Rescues and welfare checks also were happening in Fayette County.

Indiana authorities said Saturday at least five people have died as a result of the severe weather over the past week. That includes a boy killed when a tree fell on his home, a woman who was swept away after driving into floodwaters and a teen who was reported missing after jumping in to a river on Wednesday.

“My heart is with the families and loved ones of the five Hoosiers we have lost and every family whose life has been changed by these storms,” Braun said in a statement issued Saturday. “Please continue to take flooding seriously and stay away from floodwaters.”

Rivers and creeks surge after days of rain

Jacob Spence, director of Marion County Emergency Management, called it a once-in-a-lifetime type flood.

“This is an unprecedented event, and unfortunately we’re setting some new records,” he told The Associated Press.

The National Weather Service reported that more than 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain fell over a two-day period in some areas. The White River crested at more than 24 feet (7.32 meters) in the communities of Anderson and Noblesville, surpassing records set in 1913.

While some floodwaters were receding north of Indianapolis, flash-flood warnings and watches remained in place Saturday across a swath of central Indiana.

Forecasters expected the White River to crest Saturday evening in the Indianapolis area, where National Guard vehicles were among those helping with the rescue efforts. Rita Reith, a spokesperson with the Indianapolis Fire Department, put the number of rescues at 95 people and 45 pets as of late afternoon.

Earlier this week, severe storms wreaked havoc across other parts of the Midwest, causing tornadoes, heavy rains and flash flooding. Storm damage was reported from the Chicago area all the way to western Pennsylvania. Power had yet to be restored for some residents in other parts of Indiana.

Cleanup begins for upstream communities

Residents posted videos on social media that showed submerged homes, vehicles stranded in high water, a power pole being toppled by rushing water and roads being washed away.

There were ominous clouds over Noblesville on Saturday morning, but the river already had marked its historic crest the night before, leaving homes standing in water, parking lots flooded and corn fields saturated. The community's historic covered bridge — Potter's Bridge — was still standing.

“This is crazy for all of us,” said Matt Doudt, the city's photographer, who was out early to document the aftermath. He pointed to a grassy commons area that usually hosts farmers' market and concerts. That was under water. So was a brand new memorial and flower garden recently installed by the city.

He said Noblesville, with its historic charm and brick streets, didn't get much rain in recent days but that the flooding was caused by the downpours that happened in communities upstream. All that water had no where to go but rush down to Noblesville — and now Indianapolis, he said.

Still, Doudt and others are thankful.

“We have a lot of damage,” he said, “But we didn’t lose any lives and everybody got rescued and our city is taking care of people pretty well.”

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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

It happened near the university’s Quad Annexes, where campus police and Chesterfield County officers discovered five people suffering from gunshot wounds outside campus dormitories. Officers responded just before 1:30 a.m. and the lockdown was lifted at about 9 a.m., county police said.

The shooting happened as Virginia State’s academic year begins. According to the university’s website, residence halls opened for students a week ago, and classes resume on Monday. Many students had just completed the university’s “New Trojans Experience” for incoming students.

Police and university officials have not identified any of the victims nor said if they are connected to the university.

The five were transported to hospitals, and one initially listed as having life-threatening injuries has been upgraded to critical condition, county police said. The others sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The university said in a statement that the shooting involves “multiple suspects.” The statement asked people to avoid the immediate area on Saturday morning.

“A significant law enforcement presence remains on campus as the investigation into this morning’s shooting continues,” the university said after the lockdown was lifted.

The campus had a large law enforcement presence on Saturday morning. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office were assisting, county police said.

Virginia State University is a historically Black university located in Ettrick, Virginia, about 24 miles south of the state capital of Richmond. The public university has about 5,700 students and was the first fully state-supported four-year college for Black Americans. Most of its students are undergraduates.

The university has grown in recent years while attempting to improve safety and retain its historic charm, said Arthur Fridrich, the university’s former director of distance education, who lives near the campus and visits regularly. A shooting like this just as students return for classes is heartbreaking for the community, he said.

“To start a new year with this event is very tragic. It casts a shadow in the minds of all students, and for some it will be difficult to rid their minds of this term,” Fridrich said. “For those that were shot, my heart bleeds. I hope that they all mend and somehow do not let this event define their lives.”

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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

“As synagogue security was escorting him out, he struck a member of the congregation, damaged synagogue property, and then spit at and head-butted a member of the security team,” a statement from Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

A police sergeant working as a paid security detail at the synagogue immediately took the man into custody and no one was seriously injured, Tisch said.

Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, faces two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, among other charges, Tisch said.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the assault during the livestreamed service “horrifying."

“Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence," he posted on social media.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer were among those who also condemned the attack.

Additional police security was added and Shabbat services continued Saturday.

“We might want to be focusing on the beauty of our liturgy and the sanctity of Shabbat, and somehow the feeling of the imperfect and cruel world keeps flooding in,” Rabbi Rebecca Thau told congregants.

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Officers with the Lauderhill Police Department said they responded around 7:45 a.m. to the 4400 block of Inverrary Boulevard after receiving reports that a cyclist had been struck.

Police said they found a man suffering from multiple injuries and performed CPR until fire rescue crews arrived.

They said the man, who has not been identified at this time, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators said the driver remained at the scene, and there were no initial signs of impairment.

LPD officials said their traffic homicide and crime scene investigators are investigating the crash.

Police said the information is preliminary and could change as more details become available.

No other details about the incident were immediately released.

Agentes del Departamento de Policía de Lauderhill acudieron alrededor de las 7:45 a.m. a la cuadra 4400 de Inverrary Boulevard, tras recibir reportes de que un ciclista había sido atropellado.

La policía informó que encontró a un hombre con múltiples lesiones y que los agentes le practicaron reanimación cardiopulmonar hasta la llegada de los equipos de bomberos y rescate.

El hombre, cuya identidad aún no ha sido revelada, fue trasladado al Broward Health Medical Center, donde fue declarado muerto.

Los investigadores señalaron que el conductor permaneció en el lugar y que inicialmente no había indicios de que estuviera bajo los efectos del alcohol o las drogas.

Funcionarios de la Policía de Lauderhill indicaron que detectives de la Unidad de Homicidios de Tránsito y especialistas de la escena del crimen investigan el accidente.

La policía advirtió que la información es preliminar y podría cambiar a medida que se conozcan más detalles.

No se dieron a conocer de inmediato otros detalles sobre el incidente.

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A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said the helicopter, a Robinson R22 with registration number N8316N, rolled onto its side after landing near Opa-locka West Airport at about 7:45 a.m.

Authorities said the pilot and another individual were on board, and no injuries have been reported at this time. Both individuals are “ambulatory,” according to Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue officials. They have not been identified at this time.

Officials said PPFR and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene.

They said crews were working to gain access to the helicopter using air rescue and the Broward Sheriff’s Office track unit because of terrain issues.

They said drivers should expect possible traffic impacts in the area as crews respond to the crash.

No other details about the crash were immediately released.

La Unidad Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos y Desastres (UNGRD) había anunciado horas antes un total de 294 fallecidos y 320 desaparecidos.

El director de la unidad, David Tamayo, explicó al finalizar la jornada que la discrepancia obedece a la modificación en los reportes diarios de los municipios, que se consolidan al concluir la jornada.

El devastador sismo con epicentro en San José del Palmar, en el departamento del Chocó, dejó hasta el momento 3.937 heridos y más de 117.000 personas afectadas, según la Unidad. Además, dejó 14.705 viviendas destruidas y daños en otras 81.536.

El Instituto de Medicina Legal también actualizó su reporte, señalando que ha logrado identificar a 279 víctimas, incluidos 21 menores de edad. Los cuerpos de 268 fallecidos ya han sido entregados a sus familiares, agregó.

En Cali, capital del departamento del Valle del Cauca, uno de los 15 afectados por el sismo, continúa la búsqueda de los más de 70 desaparecidos en esa localidad, sin que la esperanza se extinga.

“Los milagros existen” y pese a que han pasado más de 120 horas desde que ocurrió el sismo, “estamos trabajando donde sabemos que aún hay víctimas, estamos trabajando con la esperanza de recuperar personas con vida”, declaró el alcalde de Cali, Alejandro Eder, desde el puesto de mando unificado.

En el norte de Quibdó, que pertenece al departamento del Chocó, habitantes como Marisol Córdova, exigían ayuda mientras avanzaba la remoción de escombros. "Pedimos que nos reubiquen, no tenemos casas donde vivir”, aseveró al canal de Noticias Caracol.

El presidente de Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, afronta uno de los más grandes desafíos al inicio de su gobierno y ha declarado desastre nacional y la emergencia económica.

La medida da luz verde a la recaudación de impuestos temporales que se destinarán a la construcción de hospitales, centros educativos, inmuebles, vías y aeropuertos, han dicho las autoridades, tras uno de los peores desastres naturales en Colombia en la última década.

El vicepresidente del país, José Manuel Restrepo, recorría el sábado las comunidades rurales afectadas en el departamento de Risaralda, donde ratificó el acompañamiento para atender la crisis humanitaria y trabajar en su reconstrucción, dijo en un video difundido en X.

Ayuda internacional aumenta para Colombia

Equipos de rescatistas internacionales de países como Estados Unidos, Israel y Ecuador se han ido sumando a las brigadas colombianas para apoyar la búsqueda y rescate de personas, así como a la evaluación de estructuras afectadas.

El director de la UNGRD aseveró que la emergencia “no ha superado todavía la capacidad de respuesta del país” y que los equipos extranjeros que han sido aceptados están acreditados por Naciones Unidas, son autónomos “y pueden ofrecer soluciones”.

También han arribado seis vuelos con ayuda humanitaria desde México, informó la UNGRD, mientras que Paraguay envió 50 toneladas de medicamentos, insumos y otros productos.

De La Espriella dijo el sábado en la red social X que mantuvo un diálogo con el primer ministro israelí, Benjamin Netanyahu, a quien agradeció la ayuda y el equipo enviado a su país. Más tarde, dio a conocer que también se comunicó con el presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, quien le expresó sus condolencias por las víctimas. Añadió que le solicitó alivios comerciales como la suspensión temporal de aranceles, pero no precisó cuál fue la respuesta de Trump.

Durante la jornada, el ejército israelí señaló que ingenieros de su delegación “guían la retirada de escombros” en el Hospital Universitario de Cali para permitir el rescate de personas atrapadas y rehabilitar el área dañada, además de asesorar en la implementación de un sistema de gestión de datos que facilite la toma de decisiones.

La víspera, Estados Unidos anunció un aporte adicional para Colombia de 11 millones de dólares en ayuda humanitaria incrementando la contribución de la administración de Donald Trump a 26,5 millones de dólares. Esta incluye asistencia alimentaria, sanitaria, de protección y refugió, señaló el Departamento de Estado.

The Grammy-nominated Welsh pop star, beloved worldwide for her 1983 chart-topping power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart," died last month in a hospital in Portugal. She was 75.

Tyler was hospitalized in May in Faro, where she had a home, for emergency intestinal surgery.

Locals and fans from around the United Kingdom and beyond took to the streets of Mumbles, near the city of Swansea, to see the hearse, which carried her coffin, draped in a Welsh flag. Dozens waited outside the singer's former home or left floral tributes there.

“She was always coming home and making sure that she came back to her fans in Wales," said Carys Edwards, 18. “Her songs really did touch a lot of people here in Wales; we loved her a lot."

Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins, a coal miner’s daughter in public housing with an outside toilet in Skewen, Wales, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) outside Swansea. She grew up with three sisters and two brothers.

The singer earned three Grammy nods and in 2013 represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in 19th. She was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2022 for her services to music by Queen Elizabeth II, thanks mainly to “Total Eclipse of the Heart."

The ballad shot to the top of the charts in Britain and the United States and has had more than 1 billion streams, boosted by real eclipses in 2017, 2024 — and most recently during this week's solar eclipse.

She was also known for other hits including “It's a Heartache” and “Holding Out For a Hero," from the soundtrack of the film “Footloose.”

A celebration of Tyler’s life for family and friends will take place at a church in Swansea on Monday, before the singer makes a final journey through her hometown of Skewen.

The ongoing vitriol centered around race, gender and sexuality makes for daily headlines. They are part of an undertone to fouls and physicality that have come with the evolution of women's skills, all of which overshadow the impressive play that can be seen during the WNBA’s 30th year.

Hall of Famer Dawn Staley, who is getting inducted again Saturday with the 1996 Olympic women’s basketball team, sees a positive side to the negativity. Staley said there are similar parallels between what the WNBA is going through and what the NBA went through in the early stages of its growth.

“All the big pieces and all the things that are happening from a racial standpoint, from an officiating standpoint are great. They’re great because the NBA went through it — the NBA went through all of it,” she said. “So this is just badges of honor. Will we get through it? We will get through it.”

What the NBA had to deal with was who could play in the league. It was an all-white league when it was launched and there was resistance to integration. The WNBA has been hit lately with a narrative on whether transgender women — people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to play in the league. There has never been one.

There have been players in the league who were assigned female at birth and later came out as transgender or nonbinary.

Polarizing views have become a major topic of conversation.

WNBA players’ union president Nneka Ogwumike said she feels awful for the transgender fans who have supported the league for so many years.

“It really breaks my heart to think about how these conversations may be affecting people who have supported us for so long,” she said.

Using women's sports to make a point

WNBA players have used their platform to engage in social and political discussions, but Ogwumike believes there is an underlying agenda to the off-court questions players are constantly being asked about.

“It’s super unfortunate because we’re now in a time where I think there’s a lot of different agendas that are being used for something perhaps bigger and broader that people can’t see now that they’re using women’s sports for,” Ogwumike said. “It’s very concerning, but what I really do hate is that we are using a very nuanced conversation — and evolving conversation — to continue to marginalize these groups that we advocate for.”

Ogwumike understands the tough balance that’s going on with the news media and on social media.

"Even something as simple as you guys asking actual basketball questions. I think it’s very helpful,” she said. “I think it’s a very delicate line for me because it’s like, OK, you know, we want to act like your job is to cover this game, you know, and our job as athletes is to play it and to also give you what we can. But then it’s also like do I want to seem insensitive by not talking about the things that are going on?”

Staley agrees that it's unfortunate that all the great things happening on the court are put on the backburner in discussions.

“It’s an incredible product that we’re missing out on because we got distractions every time,” she said. “There’s something great happening, there are always distractions placed in your life, but you got to be able to handle them.”

Vitriol not new and now can't be ignored

There are so many more eyeballs on the WNBA now, with viewership 17% higher than last season’s record-setting year. Attendance is also strong again this season. Not all attention is good, though.

As the league continues to grow in popularity, social media attacks directed at players have skyrocketed and betting on the sport also has increased.

“I think it was more swept under the rug in the past, but now it’s not because you can’t,” Hall of Fame inductee Candace Parker said of the personal and threatening comments directed at players. “We can’t tell every player to just deal with it. That’s not how it works. I know I’m proud that some people think that they’re anonymous when they make comments online and they’re finding out that they’re not. There are going to be repercussions.

“Unfortunately, that’s the climate in our country right now, to be honest with you. And I think women always feel it more and it’s always been that way, from top to bottom.”

Chamique Holdsclaw said she had disagreements with teammates during her WNBA days from 1999-2010, but those were kept in the locker room and not brought out on social media, which was in its infancy.

“I’ve had teammates that I may not agree with their politics or beliefs," Holdsclaw said, "but we all know that as long as the locker room is good, we’re good.”

There isn't much kept in the locker room in today's WNBA, or any sports league, and leagues are coping with the repercussions of those public discussions.

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

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They say that landed Lianne Quintero, 30, behind bars on two felony charges on Thursday.

As investigators crack down on fake permits, authorities said they uncovered evidence that Quintero presented a fraudulent disabled parking application at Kendall Auto Tag, located at 13710 SW 56th St., on May 21, 2025.

The owner of Kendall Auto Tag told Local 10 News on Saturday that his company was not paid the $250 referenced in the arrest report.

But the doctor who supposedly signed the note saying that Quintero had a “permanent disability that limits or impairs her ability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest” had died on May 5, they said, “prior to the completion of fraudulent form.”

“The uncovered documents proved that the physician could not have completed the application for the defendants disabled person permit,” a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrest report states.

Additionally, deputies said the doctor’s purported signature on the parking placard application did not match the one on his driver’s license.

Authorities said went they went to Quintero’s home in the county’s rural Redland area, they told her they were there because of her placard, to which she replied, “I have a placard but do not use it.”

They said she then “voluntarily” gave up the placard and later admitted to the scheme, acknowledging that she is not disabled.

Deputies arrested Quintero on charges of providing a false statement on a handicapped permit application and uttering forged instruments.

As of Friday afternoon, records show she was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that Kendall Auto Tag was not paid the $250 referenced in the original version. According to the arrest report, a teller at the tag agency was presented with a fraudulent application for a disabled person parking placard.

Alrededor de las 8:26 p.m., operadores de emergencia de BSO recibieron un reporte sobre un atropello y fuga cerca de Southwest First Terrace y Third Court, según los investigadores.

Las autoridades dijeron que agentes y equipos de Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue acudieron al lugar y encontraron a un hombre con lesiones compatibles con haber sido atropellado por un vehículo.

Los paramédicos trasladaron a la víctima a un hospital local con heridas que ponen en riesgo su vida. No se dieron a conocer de inmediato más detalles sobre su edad o identidad.

Según los investigadores, el conductor de una camioneta negra huyó del lugar sin prestar ayuda.

Vecinos dijeron a Jeff Derderian, de Local 10, que desearían que el conductor se hubiera detenido para ayudar al hombre herido.

“Pudo haberse detenido. Yo bajé y traté de ayudarlo, pero había mucha sangre”, dijo Joanne Parish, amiga de la víctima. “La persona que le hizo esto tiene que entregarse. No atropellas a alguien en la calle y luego huyes”.

“Yo le hablaba y trataba de mantenerlo despierto”, dijo el testigo Gary Hubbard. “Estaba luchando por respirar. Este es el segundo atropello y fuga en tres semanas aquí”.

Las autoridades dijeron que detectives de la Unidad de Homicidios de Tránsito de BSO investigan las circunstancias del accidente.

Cualquier persona con información sobre el caso puede comunicarse con Broward Crime Stoppers al 954-493-8477.

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HSBC’s Cherie Wachter said Ghost is sweet, gentle and full of personality. She says Ghost previously lived with a cat, walks well on a leash and enjoys both going to the dog park and relaxing on the couch.

Wachter said Ghost would be a great fit for a family with children or someone looking for an active dog who also enjoys being a couch potato.

Ghost’s adoption fee will be half price Saturday for Local 10 viewers.

Those interested should mention they saw Ghost on Local 10 and visit the Humane Society of Broward’s website to complete a pre-adoption application.

HSBC’s adoption kennels open at 11 a.m.

Click here for more information on how you can adopt a pet.

Cherie Wachter, de la organización, dijo que Ghost es dulce, tranquila y tiene una gran personalidad. Señaló que anteriormente vivió con un gato, camina bien con correa y disfruta tanto ir al parque para perros como relajarse en el sofá.

Wachter dijo que Ghost podría adaptarse muy bien a una familia con niños o a una persona que busque una perrita activa, pero que también disfrute descansar en casa.

La tarifa de adopción de Ghost tendrá un descuento del 50% este sábado para los televidentes de Local 10.

Las personas interesadas deberán mencionar que vieron a Ghost en Local 10 y visitar el sitio web de la Sociedad Protectora de Animales del Condado de Broward para completar una solicitud previa de adopción.

Las instalaciones de adopción de la Sociedad Protectora de Animales del Condado de Broward abren a las 11 a.m.

Para obtener más información sobre cómo adoptar una mascota, visite el sitio web de la Sociedad Protectora de Animales del Condado de Broward.

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For some, mornings offer a quiet opportunity for meditation, journaling or simply easing into the day before the distractions begin.

Others prefer to unwind at night with a good book or some time on the couch.

Researchers say there is no universal answer, but most people tend to favor evening wind-down routines, even though psychological happiness tends to peak in the morning.

So, when do you prefer your “me time” — morning or night?

Para algunas personas, las mañanas ofrecen un momento de tranquilidad para meditar, escribir en un diario o simplemente comenzar el día con calma antes de que lleguen las distracciones.

Otras prefieren relajarse por la noche con un buen libro o simplemente descansando en el sofá.

Los investigadores señalan que no existe una respuesta que funcione para todos, aunque la mayoría de las personas tiende a preferir las rutinas de relajación por la noche, a pesar de que el bienestar psicológico suele alcanzar sus niveles más altos por la mañana.

Y tú, ¿cuándo prefieres dedicarte un momento para ti, por la mañana o por la noche?

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At approximately 8:26 p.m., BSO dispatchers received a report of a hit-and-run near Southwest First Terrace and Third Court, according to investigators.

Authorities said deputies and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene and found a man suffering from injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle.

They said paramedics transported the man to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. No other details about his age or identity were immediately released.

According to investigators, the driver of the black pickup truck fled the scene without rendering aid.

Neighbors told Local 10’s Jeff Derderian that they wish the driver would’ve stopped to help the injured man.

“He could’ve stopped. I went down there and tried to help him, but there was so much blood,” said Joanne Parish, a friend of the victim. “The person that did this to him needs to turn themselves in. You don’t hit a person in the road and run.”

“I was talking to him and trying to keep him awake,” said witness Gary Hubbard. “He was gagging for air.” That’s the second hit-and-run in three weeks here."

Authorities said BSO’s Traffic Homicide Unit detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

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The Florida chapter of the Association of Indians in America will host India Day at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts beginning at 11:30 a.m.

The free celebration will highlight India’s cultural diversity through live music and dance performances. Attendees also can experience Indian food, clothing and jewelry.

The event is part of celebrations marking India’s independence, giving members of South Florida’s Indian community an opportunity to honor their heritage and share its traditions with others.

Local 10’s Saira Anwer will serve as master of ceremonies.

Click here for more information on the event.

El capítulo de Florida de la Association of Indians in America organizará el India Day en el Broward Center for the Performing Arts a partir de las 11:30 a.m.

La celebración, de entrada gratuita, destacará la diversidad cultural de India mediante presentaciones en vivo de música y danza. Los asistentes también podrán disfrutar de comida india, ropa y joyería.

El evento forma parte de las celebraciones por la independencia de India y ofrece a los miembros de la comunidad india del sur de Florida la oportunidad de honrar sus raíces y compartir sus tradiciones con otras personas.

Saira Anwer, de Local 10, será la maestra de ceremonias.

Para obtener más información sobre el evento, visite el sitio web del Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

La posibilidad de que la isla presenciara su primer impacto directo de un huracán en 155 años se desvaneció cuando el ojo de la tormenta pasó por el extremo sur de la isla. No se espera que toque tierra en este momento, dijo el meteorólogo del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional Joseph Clark.

Sin embargo, se espera que los vientos con fuerza de huracán continúen durante las horas de la noche, con las ráfagas más fuertes probablemente en zonas de mayor altitud, indicó el Centro Nacional de Huracanes. La lluvia intensa hasta el domingo podría producir inundaciones y aludes de lodo, mientras poderosas olas golpean la costa, señaló la agencia.

Las advertencias de tormenta tropical permanecen vigentes para las islas de Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai y Niihau mientras la tormenta se desplaza hacia el oeste. La Isla Grande es la mayor del estado, con una población de aproximadamente 210.000 personas.

El oleaje con crestas blancas azotaba la costa sin parar, los vientos atronadores sacudían las copas de las palmeras y los cauces se llenaban con aguas rápidas durante una lluvia incesante que caía casi de lado.

El gobernador, Josh Green, dijo que al menos una persona murió en un accidente automovilístico en el área de South Point de la Isla Grande, mientras se perdieron 19 tejados y se pospusieron 190 vuelos. “Definitivamente quieren estar en casa, no estén en las carreteras”, dijo.

Los meteorólogos indicaron que las zonas de mayor altitud de la isla, dominadas por el imponente volcán Mauna Kea, podrían recibir hasta 63,5 centímetros (25 pulgadas) de lluvia. Eso podría provocar deslizamientos de lodo peligrosos en una zona montañosa donde la gente vive sin conexión a la red eléctrica en viviendas improvisadas.

El gobernador se refirió previamente al meteoro como una “tormenta enorme”, capaz de provocar inundaciones destructivas e incluso la posibilidad de incendios forestales avivados por los fuertes vientos en toda la cadena de islas.

Decenas de miles de viviendas se quedaron sin electricidad.

Residentes se preparan para lo peor

Bobby Camara, de 75 años, que ha vivido toda su vida en la Isla Grande, dijo que planeaba “aguantar, cruzar los dedos, esperar que no se vaya la luz” en un hogar de cuidados a las afueras de Hilo. Dijo que las gasolinerías se llenaron de gente que buscaba combustible para motosierras y vehículos.

“Creo que abastecerse es parte de la vida por aquí… Aprendes a ser autosuficiente”, afirmó Camara.

Mike Caputo, que vive en Keaau, cerca de la costa este de la Isla Grande, afirmó que su generador eléctrico estaba listo y que un tanque de agua doméstico de 37,8 kilolitros (10.000 galones) estaba lleno. Relató que la principal preocupación son las inundaciones repentinas y los árboles caídos, especialmente la albizia, un árbol común.

“No son muy resistentes, pero crecen extremadamente alto”, comentó Caputo, de 50 años, un capitán de bomberos local. “Pueden hacer que las carreteras sean intransitables”.

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Lala se intensificó de tormenta tropical a huracán temprano el sábado a medida que sus vientos máximos sostenidos aumentaron a 120 km/h (75 mph), informó el centro de huracanes, lo que le convertía en un huracán de categoría 1.

Un huracán tocó tierra por última vez en las islas en 1992, cuando el huracán Iniki — un huracán de categoría 4 — azotó Kauai.

“Causó daños por valor de 3.000 millones de dólares. Destruyó miles de viviendas y sí mató a seis personas”, relató Green, el gobernador. “Simplemente nunca podemos saber si una tormenta va a cambiar de rumbo”.

La Isla Grande fue golpeada directamente por última vez en 1871, cuando un huracán de categoría 3 alcanzó la esquina noreste, según una investigación realizada por un científico atmosférico de la Universidad de Hawai.

El sábado, se abrieron refugios, diversos eventos fueron cancelados y se instó a los ganaderos a dejar su ganado en los pastizales, en lugar de en estructuras que podrían colapsar.

Christine Matsuda, que vive en Waimea, en la parte norte de la isla, afirmó que “las grandes rachas de viento cada pocos minutos sacuden toda la casa”.

“Estamos encontrando goteras inesperadas en lugares donde no hay agua en condiciones normales”, señaló Matsuda.

El centro de huracanes pronosticó acumulados totales de lluvia de 20,3 a 30,5 centímetros (8 a 12 pulgadas) en Maui y en las zonas de menor altitud de la Isla Grande, y de 10,2 a 15,2 centímetros (4 a 6 pulgadas) en toda la cadena de islas.

Muchos residentes de Hawai aún lidian con las secuelas de las devastadoras inundaciones de marzo.

___

La periodista de The Associated Press Jennifer Sinco Kelleher en Honolulu contribuyó a este despacho.

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Esta historia ha atribuido correctamente la cita sobre los daños del huracán Iniki a comentarios del gobernador Josh Green, no Steven Businger .

___

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

In a booming music business, CDs were king, like Shakur's monumental “All Eyez on Me," which topped the Billboard album chart a few months earlier. It was the pinnacle of a brief hip-hop career whose legend would only grow in the following decades. His shooting was one of several momentous mid-1990s musical deaths, including those of Kurt Cobain and Shakur's archrival the Notorious B.I.G.

Starting Monday in Las Vegas, that September night will come under intense scrutiny again as 63-year-old Duane “Keffe D” Davis is tried in his killing. It is a moment that many fans and followers of the formerly cold case thought might never come.

Prosecutors allege Davis orchestrated Shakur’s shooting. They have charged him with one count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang.

Davis has pleaded not guilty. His defense attorneys argue there is no evidence he directed the shooting and the state is relying on witnesses who weren't there.

Here's a look at key elements of the trial that is expected to last about a month.

What happened on the night Tupac was shot

Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight were in Las Vegas to watch Mike Tyson knock out Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Just outside the fight, Shakur, Knight and their entourage got into a brawl with a group that included Davis' nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Authorities, authors and Davis himself say the shooting was an act of retaliation. Davis' 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend,” said the men had “crossed the line” when they beat up Anderson.

“We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that,” says the book, which along with Davis interviews revived the cold case and led to Davis being charged. The co-authored memoir will be essential to the trial. Davis’ defense fought unsuccessfully to get it excluded.

Later in the night, Shakur and Knight were heading to a nightclub where Shakur was scheduled to perform. At a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled up beside them, and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. Knight survived with minor injuries.

Prosecutors say Davis called for shooting that was fueled by long gang feud

The long, lingering question of who shot Tupac may stay unanswered. But prosecutors hope to prove that Davis was the shot caller and provided the weapon.

He was one of four men in the Cadillac, authorities said. The other three have all died in the years since. Authorities say neither the car nor the gun used in the shooting were recovered.

Grand jury testimony portrayed the shooting as a culmination of a longstanding feud between rival record labels — Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records — and rival gang sects Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips.

The key players at trial

The jury will consist of six men and 10 women who were seated Thursday. Four are alternates.

Attorney Michael Sanft will lead Davis' defense. He has said he took the case on a pro-bono basis. His previous high-profile clients include Michele Fiore, a Nevada politician convicted of wire fraud but pardoned by President Donald Trump before she was sentenced, and Andrew Cote, a former Las Vegas pastor found guilty of shooting and killing his 71-year-old neighbor and her 54-year-old boyfriend.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo will head the prosecution. He previously faced off with Sanft as the prosecutor in the Cote case.

Judge Carli Kierny was a public defender for 10 years in Clark County, Nevada, where she was elected as a judge in 2020. She is on the ballot again later this year.

Dozens of prosecution witnesses could include ‘Suge’ Knight

Prosecutors expect to call between 35 and 45 people to the stand. Along with police and technical witnesses, they are expected to include people who saw Shakur moments before he was shot and those who were associates of both Shakur and Davis at the time.

Knight, the West Coast hip-hop mogul who was once one of the most important and most feared men in music, is the only surviving eyewitness other than the defendant. He is on the witness list and may be summoned. He has said he wants no part in the trial. He is serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for running over and killing a Compton businessman in 2015.

Davis wrote in his book that moments before the shooting, he and Knight “looked each other dead in the eye” like “two rams locking horns.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs, Knight’s East Coast counterpart and fierce foe, will not be testifying.

The defense intends to call only a handful of witnesses. They have not said whether Davis will testify.

The three men who didn't live to take part in the trial

Law enforcement authorities long suspected that the gunman was Anderson, Davis' 12-years-younger nephew who was 22 at the time. He was sitting in the backseat of the Cadillac, behind his uncle. Anderson, who denied involvement in Shakur’s killing, died two years later in what police said was an unrelated shooting at a Compton car wash.

Deandrae “Freaky” Smith was in the backseat sitting next to Anderson. Denvonta Lee, a former associate of Smith who talked to him about the shooting soon after it happened, told a grand jury it was Smith who fired the shots but let Anderson take credit for Shakur's death. Smith died in 2004 at age 30 from what authorities said were natural causes.

Terry “Bubble Up” Brown was the driver of the Cadillac. He died in a 2015 shooting at a medical marijuana dispensary in Compton.

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Wilton Manors police identified the man as 57-year-old George Manuel Mandes.

According to the report, the incident began Thursday at about 4:19 p.m. when the Amazon delivery driver was making several deliveries at the Manor Grove Apartments in Wilton Manors.

Police said the driver delivered packages to different floors of the apartment complex, including one package that was left at Mandes’ home.

The driver told police he later realized the package had been delivered to the wrong apartment, just a few doors away. He returned to retrieve it and delivered it to the correct address, according to the report.

The report states the driver told police that after he returned to his delivery van, Mandes approached him and accused him of stealing his package.

According to the report, Mandes then pulled a “small black handgun” from his waistband and pointed it at the driver.

Police said Mandes then barricaded himself inside his home, prompting a large law enforcement response at the condominium complex.

Neighbor Paul Baker said he was stunned by what happened.

“I couldn’t believe it. He’s such a nice guy. He’s always been very friendly to me,” he said. “I wonder if I have it on camera.”

Police said they eventually arrested Mandes after he gave them consent to search his apartment, where they recovered a gun.

Jail records show Mandes is facing one count each of aggravated assault with a firearm without intent to kill and improper exhibition of a firearm.

Mandes posted bond and was no longer listed as an inmate in Broward County jail records as of Saturday morning.

Well, bad news: Bedbug infestations are increasing. This is the time of year when they tend to be at their worst. And some scientists think the reviled pests might be capable of spreading an antibiotic-resistant infection called MRSA.

For centuries, the bugs have horrified homeowners and occasionally panicked the public. That happened in New York City in 2018, when at least a half dozen city buses were taken out of service after reports of bedbugs crawling on seats. It happened again in Paris in 2023, when reports of bedbugs at a movie theater, on trains and on buses popped up in the lead-up to the 2024 Olympics.

“They certainly are out there,” said Christopher Hayes, a North Carolina State University assistant professor who has been bitten by bedbugs more than 50 times in the course of research. “And if you're unaware, if you're not on top of your game, it's easy to bring them into your home."

Bedbugs really do come out at night

Bedbugs are reddish-brown bloodsuckers about the size of an apple seed. Some researchers estimate they date back to the time of the dinosaurs, but they are best known for their unfortunate ability to live with — and prey on — humans.

They can hide in narrow crevices in furniture and lurk in clothes, linens and mattresses. They are hard to see but can be detected through the small dark excrement stains they leave.

The pests can be year-round problems but they have traditionally thrived in the summer. They tend to emerge at night, crawling onto people and using a beaklike body part to pierce human skin and suck blood for several minutes.

The bite itself is painless. Some people develop itchy red welts a day or so later, but others have no reaction.

That's a problem, because people unaware that they are repeatedly being bitten can quickly find themselves victims of an infestation.

One of the more gruesome stories about bedbugs and human health was detailed in a 2020 medical journal case report from France.

It told of a 70-year-old man who lived by himself in an apartment and fainted on the street one day. He was brought to a hospital emergency department in a Paris suburb where he was diagnosed with dementia — and with anemia caused by a longstanding loss of blood.

He also had bedbugs feeding on his neck, head and shoulder. An investigation of his apartment detected thousands of them in his bed and on the floor, walls and curtains of his home.

They aren't thought to spread disease, but one experiment raises questions

Some good news about bedbugs is there hasn't been clear evidence that they have spread diseases from one person to another. The bugs' digestion and anatomy seem to prevent germs from being passed on efficiently, said Chow-Yang Lee, an entomologist at the University of California at Riverside.

But University of South Dakota researchers in 2023 published the results of an experiment — using blood capsules with an artificial skin — that demonstrated bedbugs could acquire MRSA during one feeding and spread it during a later one.

Follow-up research is needed to really prove bedbugs actually are spreading MRSA to people, said one of the study's authors, Jose Pietri, who is now at Purdue University. But “it changes the perspective of what bedbugs do, in terms of public health,” Pietri said.

Bedbugs are more resistant to pesticides

Bedbug populations in developed countries were decimated after World War II due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the pesticide for most uses in 1972, citing evidence that it was harming animals and was a potential risk to people.

Bedbugs had already started to develop resistance to DDT by then, and they have only been getting stronger and more common, said Lee, noting that insecticide resistance has driven a continued resurgence in bedbugs in recent decades.

Exactly how much more common isn't clear. Pest control companies generate annual rankings of U.S. cities with the worst bedbug problems. (Orkin currently ranks Chicago at No. 1, while Terminix says Philadelphia has the biggest problem.) But those lists are based on how many calls each company receives in a year, not a rigorous survey.

Many bedbug infestations happen in low-income or public housing, which may not hire the big companies that compile those rankings, Lee said in an email.

How to protect yourself from the pests

The best thing you can do is never get them in the first place, experts say. That means not bringing them into your home.

Travelers can pick them up in hotel rooms. So before you unpack for your stay, check the room for signs of bedbugs by pulling back the covers and bedsheets to look for bugs or fecal spots.

Do not place luggage on beds or on the floor near beds, and consider placing your bags in a light-colored trash bag or even in the bathtub. When you get home, open the luggage outside and take laundry right to the washing machine and dryer.

Sometimes, bedbugs enter homes by hitching a ride on secondhand furniture or other products. Visually inspect those items and treat them before you take them into your home, Hayes advised. Some experts advise vacuuming, steaming or heating furniture, and quarantining it in a garage or storage unit for a few days before bringing it inside the house.

If it's clothes, wash them and put them through the dryer for an hour. Shoes or other items? Consider putting them in a freezer for a week “to make sure that everything in there that could be alive is taken care of,” Hayes said.

How to get rid of bedbugs if you have them

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers do-it-yourself guidance for getting rid of the pests, but it's labor-intensive, involving sealing hiding spaces and treating infested items.

It also contains many warnings of what not to do.

"You can't just blast random chemicals and expect it's going to work because there's a fairly high likelihood that they'll be resistant to some of the first-line insecticides,” Pietri said.

It makes sense to hire professional exterminators who are experienced in getting rid of bedbugs, Pietri and other experts said. But it can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Insecticides are not the only option.

Silica dust treatments, for example, absorb the bedbug’s body moisture, killing them.

Sustained dry heating works wonders, killing eggs as well as adult bedbugs. But it has to be at least 122 degrees (50 degrees Celsius) and can damage furniture, paintings and other personal possessions, so it must be done by professionals.

“I think the biggest piece of advice is just people shouldn't panic,” Hayes said. “They just need to take action. If you think you have bedbugs, don't wait to deal with it.”

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

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Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews continued assisting the Florida Forest Service as the “Radio Tower Fire” burned near Southwest Eighth Street and 177th Avenue.

There are no threats to nearby communities, officials said.

It’s the latest brush fire to burn across South Florida during a busy wildfire season that has already scorched hundreds of thousands of acres.

Smoke continued to fill the air over the area Saturday morning as the brush fire burned through the Everglades. Sky 10 captured clouds of smoke billowing over the trees Friday evening as flames moved through the land.

The flames moved close to Krome Avenue on Friday, prompting authorities to shut down the southbound lanes as crews worked to contain the blaze.

Krome Avenue has since reopened between Southwest Eighth Street and 88th Street. Road closures may be intermittent as conditions change, officials said.

Authorities said the smoke and haze could make it difficult for drivers to see, adding to the reason for the road closure.

“If you are sensitive to smoke, limit your time outdoors and set your home and vehicle air conditioning systems to recirculate to help reduce exposure to outdoor smoke,” MDFR officials said in a statement.

As of Saturday morning, the Radio Tower Fire is currently 188 acres and 50% contained, and the Trail Fire is 25 acres and 80% contained.

Viewers can FL511.com for the latest road closure information.

“I’d go home and I’d cry,” said Touzalin, an 18-year-old college student from Colorado. “I didn’t understand why all this weight was coming back or why my friends didn’t have to shave their faces and I had to.”

Touzalin and her mom, Anne Schultz, were finally diagnosed with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal condition affecting 1 in 8 women worldwide. But unlike her mom, Touzalin is beginning young adulthood with new hope after taking part in a study testing blockbuster GLP-1 drugs as a treatment.

A small but growing body of research shows that these obesity medications may also work for the disorder known as PMOS — not only by promoting weight loss but also by improving insulin resistance, hormone balance and ovulation. These things are key to the disease, which used to be called polycystic ovary syndrome but was renamed earlier this year to shift the focus away from ovaries and cysts.

“We need to do a better job taking care of it,” said Dr. Melanie Cree, who has led three studies testing GLP-1 drugs for PMOS including the one Touzalin joined. “We are finding them incredibly effective and really exciting for improving symptoms in women with this condition.”

PMOS is a mysterious and maddening disease

Touzalin and her mom's long, frustrating journey with PMOS is common.

Diagnosis often takes years because symptoms overlap with other conditions, vary widely and may be dismissed by doctors. The disorder tends to run in families, and many but not all women affected carry excess weight. But there’s no known cause or specific treatment, just symptom management such as taking birth control pills to regulate periods and keeping weight in check with diet and exercise.

Two hormones are key drivers of PMOS: insulin, which acts like a key to let blood sugar into cells, and testosterone, which among other things helps maintain sexual desire, bone density and muscle mass.

Most women with PMOS, regardless of their body size, have insulin resistance, which means this hormone doesn't work as well as it should, said Cree, PMOS clinic director at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In many women, the high insulin can go directly to the ovaries, spurring them to make more testosterone and leading to problems like skipped periods, severe acne and even beard growth.

Schultz, 43, didn’t even know the condition existed when she first began having irregular periods and bloating around age 18. In addition to struggling with the same symptoms as her daughter, she had problems with her ovaries and numerous miscarriages, which are more common with PMOS.

Schultz received various diagnoses before learning she had PMOS around the same time as her daughter, who faced a similar medical runaround.

Schultz recalled talking about Touzalin's symptoms with a pediatrician who was seeing her for what they thought was primarily an issue with binge eating and ADHD.

Schultz told the doctor: “There's gotta be something else going on here.”

Touzalin said she felt “heard for the first time” when a nurse practitioner began piecing things together a few years ago. Cree definitively diagnosed her last year.

“It was like a godsend,” said Schultz, tearing up. “We finally had an answer and some kind of a path for her.”

In Cree’s study, Touzalin gave herself shots of semaglutide weekly for 10 months. The abnormal hair growth slowed and her periods normalized. For the first time, she felt full after eating and stopped gaining weight constantly.

“I became a happier version of myself,” she said. “I felt like a normal person.”

While research on GLP-1s for PMOS continues, insurers put up barriers

Touzalin’s results weren’t unique. Early data from the study, published in June in the journal Fertility and Sterility, said eight of 11 participants completing the trial lost at least 10% of their body weight. The median weight loss among them was about 42 pounds; the median drop in testosterone was 52%. Six women had more periods and four of them went to monthly periods.

In all three of Cree’s studies, women on GLP-1s lost more weight than those in control groups, and levels of testosterone, blood sugar and insulin dropped. While the study involving Touzalin looks at semaglutide shots, the other studies examined semaglutide pills in one and exenatide shots in the other.

Other studies globally have shown similarly positive results. Although the studies are small, some researchers say GLP-1s are already showing promising potential for targeting metabolic issues in PMOS. Others say the evidence remains uncertain, and more studies are underway.

As research continues, more and more doctors are prescribing the drugs “off label” for PMOS and seeing improvements in their patients. But insurance coverage is often a problem because the drugs are not approved to treat the condition.

“I use these medicines a great deal,” said Dr. Rana Malek, an endocrinologist with the University of Maryland Medical System.

Among patients with insulin resistance, she said she usually uses them to help with weight loss.

Doctors stress that results vary. GLP-1s don’t work for everyone and can have side effects, like nausea and constipation. If people stop taking them, weight can return.

Still, they can help a lot of PMOS patients, Malek said, and it’s frustrating that many can’t get them because of insurance issues. Not only are they unapproved for PMOS, some insurers don’t cover them for weight loss.

Touzalin recently ran into this barrier herself. After finishing her study participation, she no longer gets free GLP-1s and had to go off them in June.

Schultz is determined to get her back on them. She’s fighting with her insurer and has a backup plan to get medications through a drug company program. She’d also like to try GLP-1s for her own PMOS, but said her daughter comes first.

Touzalin hopes for a day when any PMOS patient can get the treatment if she needs it.

“It’s something that could help a lot of other people,” she said.

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AP video journalist Brittany Peterson in Denver contributed to this story.

___

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

Jose Divine Fernandes Correeia, de 52 años, de Pembroke Pines, y Ruth Cristaldo, de 53 años, fueron detenidos mientras trabajaban en su turno nocturno en la instalación de UPS ubicada en 13350 NW 17th St. en Doral, según un informe de arresto.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que ambos sospechosos enfrentan un cargo cada uno de fraude organizado de $50,000 USD o más y hurto mayor en segundo grado de entre $20,000 USD y $100,000 USD.

Las autoridades indicaron que una investigación comenzó después de que la seguridad de UPS, que trabajaba con la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, recibiera reportes de dispositivos electrónicos desaparecidos, incluidos teléfonos Apple y Samsung, tabletas y computadoras portátiles.

Dijeron que Cristaldo trabajaba como empleada de “Overgoods” en la instalación, mientras que Fernandes Correeia era “package handler”. Ambos trabajaban en el turno nocturno de recarga.

Según un informe de arresto, los investigadores revisaron videos de vigilancia y vieron a Fernandes Correeia seleccionar paquetes que contenían dispositivos electrónicos, retirar sus etiquetas de envío originales y sacar los artículos de sus cajas.

Los agentes dijeron que Cristaldo luego colocaba los artículos en cajas nuevas y creaba nuevas etiquetas de envío de UPS para ellos.

Dijeron que los artículos recién empacados eran colocados en un área de descarga, donde eran procesados y enviados para su entrega a la mañana siguiente.

El martes, la seguridad de UPS revisó videos de vigilancia y observó a Fernandes Correeia seleccionando paquetes y retirando sus etiquetas de envío antes de llevar los artículos a Cristaldo, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que posteriormente encontraron uno de los paquetes y lo abrieron, descubriendo 10 computadoras portátiles Apple MacBook y tres audífonos Bose valorados en aproximadamente $10,000 USD.

Dijeron que el paquete estaba dirigido a Barnes & Noble y tenía programada su entrega para el miércoles. Los investigadores dijeron que el paquete fue entregado.

Al día siguiente, los investigadores dijeron que nuevamente observaron a la pareja presuntamente volver a empacar dispositivos electrónicos.

Esta vez, encontraron un paquete que contenía 40 iPhones de Apple, modelos 16 y 17, junto con dos teléfonos Samsung Galaxy. Los artículos estaban valorados en aproximadamente $45,000 USD, según el informe.

El paquete estaba dirigido a una empresa relacionada con Amazon en Northwest 33rd Street y tenía programada su entrega para el jueves, señala el informe.

Las autoridades indicaron que la seguridad de UPS interceptó el paquete del conductor antes de que fuera entregado.

Los investigadores dijeron que revisaron registros internos y determinaron que Cristaldo había creado más de 198 etiquetas de envío de UPS utilizando sus credenciales de acceso de Overgoods desde abril de 2025, según el informe.

Dijeron que las etiquetas presuntamente fueron utilizadas en paquetes enviados a dos direcciones en Northwest 33rd Street en Miami. El informe señala que utilizaron varios nombres de empresas, incluidos Barnes & Noble, Amazon, JC Electronics y JC Auto Parts.

La seguridad de UPS también encontró al menos 10 paquetes adicionales escondidos alrededor del área de Overgoods que aún no habían sido etiquetados, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que los dos empleados estaban involucrados en un esquema en curso en el que los dispositivos electrónicos eran retirados de sus cajas de envío originales, colocados en cajas nuevas y enviados utilizando etiquetas fraudulentas.

El informe señala que la seguridad de UPS cree que las pérdidas totales relacionadas con el presunto esquema superan los $100,000 USD.

Las autoridades indicaron que la Unidad de Delitos de Venta Minorista Organizados de MDSO arrestó a los dos sospechosos el jueves mientras trabajaban en la instalación de Doral.

Local 10 se comunicó con UPS para solicitar una declaración sobre los arrestos.

Hasta la tarde del viernes, Fernandes Correeia y Cristaldo permanecían detenidos en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, donde sus fianzas figuraban como “por determinar”.

Monique Jonell Williams, de 18 años, y los dos jóvenes de 16 años fueron detenidos el jueves.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Sunny Isles Beach, el robo ocurrió en The Brand Original, ubicada en 18090 Collins Ave., poco antes de las 12:30 p.m. del miércoles.

Un informe de arresto del SIBPD señala que uno de los adolescentes entró a la tienda alrededor de las 12:20 p.m., la “recorrió”, y luego regresó junto con Williams y el otro adolescente unos cinco minutos después.

La policía dijo que uno de los adolescentes tomó el bolso Hermes Birkin de $16,000 USD del estante, se subió a un Cadillac CT4 negro con placas de Louisiana y huyó.

Después de emitir una alerta para localizar el vehículo, las autoridades dijeron que la policía de Fort Lauderdale vio el sedán en una gasolinera Wawa ubicada en 2620 W. Broward Blvd. la tarde del jueves.

Las autoridades dijeron que vieron al trío cambiar de vehículo y subir a un Tesla gris, que los agentes detuvieron cerca de Northwest Fourth Street y 27th Avenue.

Dijeron que los tres posteriormente “confesaron el robo, señalándose a sí mismos en las imágenes de CCTV obtenidas de la escena”.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Williams permanecía detenida en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una fianza de $2,500 USD. La información de la cárcel sobre los adolescentes no estaba disponible de inmediato.

The possibility the island could witness its first direct hit from a hurricane in 155 years faded as the eye of the storm passed the island’s southern tip. Landfall is not expected at this point, said National Weather Service meteorologist Joseph Clark.

However, hurricane-force winds are expected to continue into the overnight hours, with the strongest wind gusts likely in areas of higher terrain, the National Hurricane Center said. Heavy rainfall into Sunday could produce flooding and mudslides, while powerful waves pound the coast, the agency said.

Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau as the storm moves west. The Big Island is the state's largest, with a population of about 210,000.

Whitecap surf slammed ashore nonstop, howling winds whipped the tops of palm trees and waterways swelled with fast-moving runoff from relentless rain that blew nearly sideways.

Gov. Josh Green said at least one person died in a car accident in the South Point area of the Big Island, while 19 roofs were lost and 190 flights were postponed. “You definitely want to be home, do not be out on the roads,” he said.

Forecasters said higher elevations on the island, dominated by the towering Mauna Kea volcano, could get as much as 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) of rain. That could cause life-threatening mudslides in a mountainous area where people live off the grid in improvised housing.

Earlier the governor called it an “enormous storm,” capable of destructive flooding and even the possibility of wildfires kicked up by strong winds across the island chain.

Tens of thousands of homes were without power.

Residents prepare for the worst

Bobby Camara, a 75-year-old lifelong resident, said he planned to “hunker down, cross my fingers, hope the lights don’t go out” at a care home just outside Hilo. He said gas stations were busy as people sought fuel for chain saws and vehicles.

“I think stocking up is part of life over here. ... You learn to be self-reliant,” Camara said.

Mike Caputo, who lives in Keaau, near the Big Island's east coast, said his power generator was ready and a 10,000-gallon (37.8 kiloliter) home water tank was full. He said the main concern was flash flooding and fallen trees, especially albizia, a common tree.

“They’re not very sturdy, but they grow extremely large,” said Caputo, 50, a local fire captain. “They can make roads impassable."

Warnings posted everywhere

Lala intensified from a tropical storm into a hurricane early Saturday as its maximum sustained winds increased to 75 mph (120 kph), the hurricane center reported, making it a Category 1 hurricane. The Big Island is Hawaii’s largest and has a population of about 210,000.

A hurricane last made landfall on the islands in 1992, when Hurricane Iniki — a Category 4 storm — lashed Kauai.

“It did $3 billion worth of damage. It destroyed thousands of homes, and it did kill six people,” said Green, the governor. “We just can never know if a storm is going to turn.”

The Big Island was last hit directly in 1871, when a Category 3 hurricane hit the northeast corner, according to research by a University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist.

On Saturday, shelters were opened, events were canceled and ranchers were urged to leave their cattle in pastures, rather than structures that might collapse.

Christine Matsuda, who lives in Waimea, on the northern side of the island, said “big gusts every few minutes rattle the whole house.”

“We're finding unexpected leaks in places that don't see water under normal conditions,” Matsuda said.

The hurricane center predicted 8 to 12 inches (20.3 to 30.5 centimeters) of total rainfall across Maui and the lower elevations of the Big Island, and 4 to 6 inches (10.2 to 15.2 centimeters) across the island chain.

Many Hawaii residents are still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in March.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed.

___

This story has been correctly attribute the quote about damage from Hurricane Iniki. It was said by Gov. Josh Green, not Steven Businger.

Reportada primero por el Tampa Bay Times, la nuevo título, “Aumento de la exención de vivienda; menor límite a los aumentos en las tasaciones de propiedades sin vivienda”, reemplaza a “Salvemos nuestros hogares de los impuestos excesivos a la propiedad”, que Frank calificó más como un eslogan político que como una descripción neutral.

La nueva versión también elimina las afirmaciones de que la enmienda “beneficia” a los contribuyentes, “protege a las pequeñas empresas”, “garantiza” los servicios esenciales y garantiza la “equidad” para los residentes de Florida.

En cambio, detalla cómo funcionaría.

La medida elevaría la exención de vivienda para los impuestos que no son escolares a $150,000 USD en 2027 y a $250,000 USD en 2028, con ajustes por inflación después de eso. El texto anterior solo mencionaba la exención de $250,000 USD, aunque esta no entraría en vigor hasta el segundo año.

La nueva versión también deja claro que no existe un calendario obligatorio para eliminar los impuestos a la propiedad de viviendas que no sean escolares. En su lugar, los legisladores crearían un proceso que permitiría a los gobiernos locales aumentar aún más la exención, potencialmente hasta el valor total tasado de una vivienda.

También señala que el límite anual al crecimiento de las tasaciones bajaría del 10% al 5% para todas las propiedades que no sean viviendas, incluidos alquileres, casas de vacaciones y edificios comerciales, no solo pequeñas empresas.

Los nuevos residentes de Florida recibirían la exención existente después de calificar para la exención de vivienda, pero no recibirían la exención mayor hasta su quinto año de solicitarla.

El ex senador estatal republicano Jeff Brandes, uno de los demandantes en uno de los desafíos consolidados, recibió con beneplácito la nueva versión.

“Finalmente, los abogados en ejercicio tomaron el control del lenguaje”, dijo Brandes en un mensaje de texto. “El texto es honesto sobre lo que hace la enmienda. Espero que los votantes de Florida profundicen, hagan preguntas difíciles y entiendan las consecuencias antes de decidir el resultado”.

Los opositores dicen que un lenguaje más claro no soluciona lo que consideran una propuesta defectuosa.

“El lenguaje revisado de la boleta electoral, en respuesta al fallo de la corte, representa con mayor precisión la política subyacente para los votantes”, dijo Sadaf Knight, directora ejecutiva del Florida Policy Institute. “Sin embargo, los posibles impactos perjudiciales de la enmienda siguen siendo los mismos”.

Analistas estatales estiman que la medida eventualmente reduciría los ingresos recurrentes por impuestos locales a la propiedad en casi $12,000 millones USD anuales. Los opositores advierten que eso podría significar recortes en los servicios o impuestos y tarifas más altos en otros lugares.

“El lenguaje en las boletas de los votantes puede haber cambiado, pero la Enmienda 3 sigue siendo una estafa y un traslado de impuestos”, dijo Jackson Peel, director de comunicaciones de Save Our Services–No on 3.

El gobernador Ron DeSantis, quien impulsó la propuesta, sostiene que los propietarios necesitan alivio ante el rápido aumento de la recaudación de impuestos locales a la propiedad y que los gobiernos locales pueden controlar el gasto.

La Enmienda 3 necesita al menos 60% de apoyo para ser aprobada en noviembre. Si es aprobada, entraría en vigor el 1 de enero de 2027.

Puedes leer la enmienda completa a continuación:

Grandes columnas de humo podían verse elevándose sobre los árboles la tarde del viernes, mientras Sky 10 captaba la intensidad de las llamas a medida que se extendían por la zona.

Se trata del incendio forestal más reciente registrado en el sur de Florida durante una temporada especialmente activa, que ya ha consumido cientos de miles de acres.

Las llamas también se acercaron a Krome Avenue, lo que mantuvo en alerta a los equipos de emergencia.

La policía cerró los carriles en dirección sur de Krome Avenue la tarde del viernes mientras los equipos trabajaban para contener el incendio.

Las autoridades advirtieron que el humo y la neblina podían dificultar la visibilidad de los conductores, lo que también motivó el cierre de la vía.

Aunque el incendio más reciente ha consumido hasta ahora solo unos cientos de acres, continúa teniendo un impacto importante en la zona.

Hasta la tarde del viernes, el incendio Radio Tower había afectado 188 acres y estaba contenido en un 50%, mientras que el Trail Fire había consumido 25 acres y estaba contenido en un 80%.

The USS George Washington is departing the Pacific and expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East amid growing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed carrier. The Lincoln has had its time at sea extended from its original May return date to support operations against Iran.

The lack of a U.S. carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived if the Navy deploys another in the next couple of months. But it shows how the open-ended operations with Iran are running some American sailors ragged, analysts say, while the Trump administration further retreats from the Asia-Pacific region and focuses on the Western Hemisphere.

“The administration says that the Pacific is supposed to be the most important behind the Western Hemisphere,” said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Instead, the U.S. is "doing the exact opposite" of its previously expressed goal of pulling out of the Middle East.

American allies in the Pacific are unsettled over the unpredictability of the Republican administration, Poling said, while Beijing “is quite happy with U.S. distraction, with the frustration of U.S. allies and partners."

China may take advantage of US carrier's absence

Beijing sees the U.S. military presence in the region as a threat to China’s rise and an obstacle to its ambition to seize Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims as its own. But the United States has argued that the Pacific region is too important economically to lose.

No one expects China to invade Taiwan because an American aircraft carrier has left the region. But the carrier's absence gives the Chinese another opportunity to show its strength, said Bryan Clark, a former Navy submariner who is a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute.

“They’re using this as part of the narrative to demonstrate to the Philippines, to Japan, to Indonesia and others that the U.S. is not the big dog in the western Pacific anymore,” Clark said. “They would just prefer that countries in the region decide that China is the bigger power and the U.S. is not able to guarantee their security anymore.”

China conducted naval exercises this week with Indonesia and recently has shown signs of aggression toward Japan and the Philippines, two key U.S. allies that also have territorial disputes with Beijing.

China carried out military drills this month near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Both China and the Philippines have claims over the shoal. Last month, a Chinese guided-missile destroyer conducted a live-fire exercise off Japan’s southernmost island of Okinotori.

Adm. Frank Bradley, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, has been trying to reassure regional allies of Washington’s commitment. He was in Manila on Thursday, telling his Filipino counterparts that U.S. special operations forces are ready to step up joint exercises to strengthen the countries' alliance. He also is expected to travel to Japan.

“We have the ability to project force, the United States, anywhere on the globe,” Bradley told The Associated Press. “And when the threat in the region of the Middle East has been attended to, we will redeploy and reorient and be able to project that force wherever else it might be required.”

“I also feel very confident in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ ability to protect their sovereignty here and for us to remain close with them,” he said.

Evan Sankey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute who focuses on U.S. policy toward China, said aircraft carriers provide psychological assurance to U.S. allies. The absence of carriers in the region, he said, “adds to the general sense that the U.S. is distracted by events in the Middle East.”

Trump has relied on aircraft carriers for military actions

Trump has relied heavily on aircraft carriers to support military operations during his second term. For example, the USS Gerald R. Ford returned home in mid-May after an 11-month deployment, the longest since the Vietnam War, during which it supported the U.S. fight against Iran and the capture of Venezuela's then-leader, Nicolás Maduro.

The Ford had experienced a fire in a laundry space that forced the carrier to turn around and return to the Mediterranean Sea for repairs and left hundreds of sailors without places to sleep. Meanwhile, the Lincoln has spent a record uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. Democratic lawmakers have been calling for investigations and greater visibility into conditions aboard the ship.

Warships and their crews can only handle so much, said Robert Farley, who teaches national security and diplomacy at the University of Kentucky and often writes about aircraft carriers.

“People don’t get enough rest. It's psychologically exhausting. And R&R is part of keeping the crew healthy,” Farley said. “Sometimes it’s framed as, ‘These people haven’t had a vacation.’ But we are dealing with well-known limits on the capacity of a crew to operate at top efficiency over time. And that just declines."

Clark, of the Hudson Institute, said the squeeze on the nation's aircraft carriers stems from the lack of preparation and planning for the Iran war.

“If we were going to mobilize to do this kind of conflict, and we anticipated it might go this long, we might have done some changes to the carrier schedule to make sure more would be available,” Clark said.

Clark said the Navy has 11 aircraft carriers and typically deploys two or three at a time. But it could soon deploy four if the USS Theodore Roosevelt leaves San Diego for the Middle East, allowing the Washington to return to Pacific.

But the massive warships will need maintenance, likely causing a bottleneck at the nation's only two carrier shipyards.

“We’ll end up with a maintenance debt that needs to be paid for the next few years,” Clark said. “We’ll probably have less carrier presence than we’ve had in the previous years because carriers will be lined up to get into the shipyard.”

There are questions about the use of aircraft carriers in modern warfare

Michael Swaine, a senior research fellow in the Quincy Institute’s East Asia Program, questions the future need for aircraft carriers as warfare rapidly changes.

Carriers can be more easily targeted with drones and missiles, particularly by an adversary such as China, Swaine said, while smaller ships and submarines can be as effective in striking targets as the fighter jets that launch off a carrier.

Top Navy officials have indicated a desire to move away from a heavy reliance on carriers. Adm. Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, told The Associated Press in February that he wants to convince commanders to use smaller, newer ships and other assets instead of consistently turning to huge aircraft carriers.

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Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

La policía de Wilton Manors identificó al hombre como George Manuel Mandes, de 57 años.

Según el informe, el incidente comenzó el jueves alrededor de las 4:19 p.m., cuando el repartidor de Amazon realizaba varias entregas en los apartamentos Manor Grove, en Wilton Manors.

La policía dijo que el conductor dejó paquetes en distintos pisos del complejo, incluido uno que fue entregado en la vivienda de Mandes.

El repartidor dijo a la policía que más tarde se dio cuenta de que el paquete había sido dejado en el apartamento equivocado, a solo unas puertas de distancia. Regresó para recogerlo y lo entregó en la dirección correcta, según el informe.

El reporte señala que, después de volver a su camioneta de reparto, Mandes se acercó a él y lo acusó de haber robado su paquete.

Según el informe, Mandes sacó entonces una “pequeña pistola negra” de la cintura y apuntó con ella al repartidor.

La policía dijo que Mandes posteriormente se atrincheró dentro de su vivienda, lo que provocó un amplio despliegue policial en el complejo de apartamentos.

El vecino Paul Baker dijo estar sorprendido por lo ocurrido.

“No podía creerlo. Es un tipo muy amable. Siempre ha sido muy cordial conmigo”, dijo. “Me pregunto si lo tengo grabado en cámara”.

La policía dijo que finalmente arrestó a Mandes después de que este diera su consentimiento para registrar el apartamento, donde los agentes recuperaron un arma de fuego.

Los registros carcelarios muestran que Mandes enfrenta un cargo de agresión agravada con arma de fuego sin intención de matar y otro por exhibición indebida de un arma de fuego.

Mandes pagó la fianza y ya no aparecía como detenido en los registros de la cárcel del condado de Broward hasta la mañana del sábado.

In Tuesday's primary, Wisconsin Democrats cast nearly 800,000 ballots, their highest total for a midterm in more than 20 years. That followed 1.5 million Democratic voters in Michigan the week before, a midterm record for the state.

The enthusiasm extends beyond the Midwest. Democratic turnout also surged earlier this year in Texas and Georgia, states that will have competitive Senate races in the fall. It is giving Democrats a string of strong showings heading into the midterms, when the president’s party is normally at a disadvantage. That is compounded this year by President Donald Trump’s weak approval ratings, persistent inflation and an unpopular war with Iran.

“The big news is that Democrats are getting huge turnouts,” said David Axelrod, who was a top adviser to Democratic President Barack Obama. “That’s been a steady story throughout this period.”

Competitive Democratic primaries have helped drive the surge, giving the party’s voters more reason to participate. Republican primary turnout remained closer to historic norms in Michigan, even with a competitive statewide contest.

Voter turnout in primary elections is an imperfect predictor of general election results, especially when one party has the more compelling early contests. Republicans say they are responding with a major effort to turn out their voters in the fall.

GOP leaders say they can energize voters by tapping into a major fundraising advantage over Democrats and sending Trump back out campaigning, including during a midterm convention in Texas next month.

“Primary turnout doesn’t win general elections,” said Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “House Republicans are entering November with the money, momentum, stronger candidates and a battle-tested operation built to turn out voters when it actually counts.”

Democratic turnout in some states is the highest in two decades

The scale of the Democratic turnout advantage varied across states, but the pattern extended across much of this year's competitive landscape for House, Senate or governor's races.

In Wisconsin, more than 790,000 people voted in the Democratic primary for governor, putting turnout at about 22% of registered voters. More than 1.5 million people voted in Michigan's recent Democratic Senate primary, which accounted for a little more than 18% of registered voters. It was the state's highest midterm turnout rate in a Democratic primary since at least 2002 — the same as in Wisconsin, according to an analysis of Associated Press election data.

In Minnesota, Democratic primary turnout was on par with the 2018 midterm election, with both years marking the state’s highest Democratic primary turnout in a midterm year so far this century.

For Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan, turnout in last week’s primary was in line with previous GOP midterm primaries in each state. In Michigan, turnout for the Republican governor’s race was about 11%. In Wisconsin’s Republican primary for governor, it is expected to be about 14%.

“Republicans in Michigan will close the enthusiasm gap by highlighting the massive differences between our nominees and the extreme, out-of-touch politicians the Democrats have nominated,” said Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for the Michigan GOP. “It's one thing to lead in enthusiasm before we know who is running. Now, the differences are clear.”

Other states that held elections earlier this year also saw significant Democratic primary turnout. In Georgia and Texas, the midterm turnout rate in the Democratic primaries was higher than it’s been since at least 2002. In Georgia, just over 1 million people voted in May in the Democratic governor’s race, a little more than 13% of registered voters. In Texas, about 2.3 million people voted in March in the Democratic Senate primary, a little more than 12%.

Competitive primaries fueled turnout. They may complicate Democratic unity

The robust primary turnout has been a “good sign for Democrats,” said Corwin Smidt, a political science professor at Michigan State University. But he cautioned that it is “not a very solid predictor” of how voters will break in November.

Smidt pointed to several factors behind the numbers, including high turnout in recent elections, which has created a larger pool of regular voters.

“Voting is a lot of habit-forming,” he said.

He also noted that many of the states with high turnout had what he described as “media spotlight candidacies.”

Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota all held marquee progressive versus moderate races in August that likely helped drive Democratic participation.

In Michigan, spending in the Democratic Senate primary topped $80 million, making it one of the most expensive races of the year so far, according to AdImpact. Progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens after a campaign that drew national attention and energized younger voters and university communities.

But Stevens carried Wayne County, the state’s largest source of Democratic votes, and some of the congresswoman's supporters said before the primary that they would not back El-Sayed if he became the nominee.

In Wisconsin, the governor’s primary was repeatedly reshaped as moderate Democrats left and reentered the race while democratic socialist Francesca Hong consolidated progressive support. Hong lost narrowly to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a more moderate candidate.

The races highlight how competitive primaries helped drive attention and also how the winning candidates have work to do to bring their party together for November. Both Wisconsin and Michigan Democrats held unity breakfasts in the days after the primaries.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who backed El-Sayed and Minnesota Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan but did not endorse Hong, said in an interview this week that he expects Democratic voters to bridge their differences for the general election.

“At the end of the day, when it comes to taking on Trump and creating a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, there is going to be unity, because I think everybody knows how important that is,” he said.

A favorable environment, but a difficult map

Democrats have reason to believe the primary enthusiasm could last. The president’s party has historically lost ground in midterm elections, and Trump enters the fall deeply unpopular amid economic unease and an unpopular war.

Some 33% of American adults approve of his job performance, according to the most recent polling by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs.

But a favorable national environment may not be enough. Democrats will need unusually strong turnout to overcome a congressional map that has become more favorable to Republicans.

The number of competitive House races has shrunk considerably this year after Republican-controlled states redrew congressional districts in their favor at Trump’s urging. Some Democratic-controlled states responded, but the new lines are expected to produce a net benefit for Republicans, who hold a slim House majority.

Republicans control the Senate 53-47, with Democrats needing to pick up four seats to win the majority. Democrats will have to generate energy similar to Republicans two years ago, Smidt said.

“If we have a national tide like we had in 2024, suddenly that opens the map a little more,” he said.

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Pamela Jo Martin and Samuel Jens of The Associated Press Election Services team contributed to this report from Washington.

Concerns about a weak economy and still-high inflation? His predecessor, Joe Biden, saddled him with that, he says, even though the Democrat has been out of office for 18-plus months and despite Trump once promising an immediate turnaround.

The problem-plagued revamp of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool? That was marred by vandalism, the Republican president insists, even though the office of a prosecutor he put in the job has said the damage was due to shoddy workmanship.

The increasingly unpopular war in Iran that has kept oil prices high, Trump’s approval rating low and sent shock waves through the global economy? Actually, this was Trump making up for timid earlier presidents who, he argues, squandered nearly 50 years of opportunities to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Pithy slogans aside, all modern presidents shift responsibility onto others to some degree, frequently blaming the commander-in-chief who preceded them, Congress — or both. But Trump has taken it to a new level, effectively embracing a de facto political strategy of being in charge of everything but responsible for nothing when things go badly.

“Taking responsibility being a characteristic of presidential leadership — or any kind of leadership — is absolutely true,” said Nicole Anslover, a history professor at Florida Atlantic University and author of “Harry S. Truman: The Coming of the Cold War.”

Trump’s tendency to point fingers at others is increasingly in the spotlight before November’s midterm elections, when Republicans are trying to retain control of Congress. His unwillingness to accept blame sometimes leads him to deny that there are problems at all, and could leave GOP leaders in tight races with little reassurance for voters that their concerns are being addressed.

The White House counters that Trump is working to correct long-festering challenges, not simply throwing up his hands and ignoring them.

The president is "rightfully addressing the failures of his predecessors while taking action to deliver big wins for the American people,” spokesperson Taylor Rogers said, pointing to a series of policies that she said Republicans can run on, including tax cuts, efforts to lower prescription drug prices, cracking down on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border, increasing domestic energy production and a strong stock market.

Ducking responsibility dates to Trump's first term

Truman famously kept a “The Buck Stops Here” sign on his desk as president. That came from “pass the buck,” which, according to Truman’s presidential library, dates to frontier times, when poker players would pass a buckhorn handle knife to the person whose turn it was to deal the cards.

“The president, whoever he is, has to decide,” Truman said during his farewell address in 1953. “He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”

The understanding of the phrase has broadened over the years to include taking responsibility for the outcome of tough decisions. Trump used to espouse similar beliefs, saying back in 2013 that in running a business, “Whatever happens, you’re responsible. If it doesn’t happen, you’re responsible.”

Accepting the 2016 presidential nomination, Trump said, “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” But as president, he has often suggested that the solution and blame rest elsewhere.

“The buck stops with everybody,” Trump said in 2019, during a lengthy government shutdown. In 2020, on the same day he declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, he said, “I don’t take responsibility at all" for a lack of COVID-19 testing.

Anslover said Truman took full responsibility for dropping atomic bombs on Japan even though he was not informed that the U.S. was developing such weapons until his predecessor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died.

John F. Kennedy saw his approval ratings rise after he acknowledged he was to blame for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Ronald Reagan said he was sorry for any involvement he may have had in the Iran-Contra scandal even while saying he wasn’t sure he was to blame. “The buck stops here with me,” he said then.

At his final news conference in early 2009, George W. Bush listed a series of mistakes he had made, including failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. His successor, Barack Obama, said, “I screwed up,” after his nominee for health chief, Tom Daschle, withdrew because of unpaid back taxes.

Presidents before Trump "really usually take accountability,” Anslover said.

‘We inherited a total catastrophe,’ Trump says

The president acknowledged in a recent Punchbowl interview that voters are angry, but he said they are not mad at him but at congressional Republicans.

Trump believes his party can hold its congressional majorities after November, but he was clear that if Republicans lose, it won't be his fault — echoing his comments before the 2018 midterms that he would not accept blame if his party lost control of the House, which it did.

Trump's approval rating on the economy, once seen as among his strongest issues, has fallen throughout his time in office, from 40% in March 2025 to 32% in July, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump’s economic policies have made economic conditions worse, according to Pew Research Center polling.

“The public certainly expects the president to be concerned about, and focused on, making life more affordable,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz said.

Trump instead points to Biden, under whom inflation hit a four-decade peak of 9.1% in 2022 as the pandemic was still roiling the world economy, before declining to 2.7% by November 2024. Last month, pressured by the Iran war, it was 3.4%.

“When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe,” Trump said at a recent rally, later adding, “I inherited those high prices, just so you understand."

Andrew Bates, a Democratic strategist and former Biden White House spokesperson, noted that Trump no longer mentions his campaign promise to “immediately end inflation” on Day One.

“He may not remember having made those promises, but swing voters sure as hell do,” Bates said.

Trump has shown the same pattern with Iran and the Reflecting Pool

The president has characterized the Iran war as “a little excursion" or “detour." To play down how long it has lasted, he frequently notes that U.S. wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan dragged on for years, though the Iran conflict — which he initially said would be over in four weeks to five weeks — is now in its sixth month with no clear end in sight.

Trump has sought to shift blame to the past on the Reflecting Pool, falsely suggesting that Biden and Obama spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” trying unsuccessfully to fix it.

But Trump's main defense has been vandalism. And, so far, at least four cases alleging that, including the most prominent case against an Olympic canoeist, have been dropped because of a lack of evidence.

Anslover said that, after 11-plus years in politics, Trump has proved he is not afraid to violate norms of presidential comportment. Lots of his core supporters do not seem bothered.

“For many Americans, it has either been a shift in how they view the presidency, or, like with so many things, they just feel empowered to say, ‘These are my priorities. My priority is not the facts,'" she said.

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Associated Press writer Amelia Thomson DeVeaux contributed to this report.

any fresh local white fish! 6 ounces per person

2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil

1 (1-inch piece) peeled ginger, grated on microplane

2 garlic cloves, grated on microplane

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar

1 cup chicken stock or water

2 mangos, peeled and sliced

optional: mint, basil and cilantro leaves

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the fish on one side until golden brown, remove the fish from the pan and set aside and continue to heat the same pan. Add the ginger and garlic stirring for 1 minute. Add all other ingredients just up to the chicken stock or water. Allow the sauce to simmer and begin to come together and thicken a little. Add the fish back into the pan and lower the heat to low. Cook the fish until it’s done, add the fresh mangos and top with the herbs if using.

Serve immediately.

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, diced

1 green mango, peeled, pitted, julienne (cut into thin strips) very thin

1 fresco or serrano, seeds removed, sliced thin

1 avocado, diced

1 jicama, peeled, cut into chunks

¼ red onion, julienne (cut into thin strips) very thin

picked mint leaves, torn into smaller pieces

basil leaves, torn into smaller pieces

Nuoc Cham Vinaigrette (recipe below)

½ cup roasted, salted peanuts, crushed

Combine ripe and green mangoes, Fresno or serrano chilies, avocado, jicama, red onion, mint and basil leaves. Dress with prepared nuoc cham vinaigrette as desired. Top with peanuts.

Nuoc Cham Vinaigrette:

5 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons palm (grated) or granulated sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed

2 tablespoons fish sauce or nuoc mam

1 garlic clove, minced

Combine all ingredients for the vinaigrette and whisk together until the sugar melts. Allow to macerate.

1 cup diced ripe mango

1 cup ice

2 ounces light rum

juice of 1 lime, freshly squeezed

2 tablespoons coconut cream

2 tablespoons cream of coconut

For garnish, coconut shavings

For serving, fun pina colada glass / hurricane glass

Shake both the can of coconut cream and cream of coconut well before removing the amount needed.

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

Pour into a fun glass, top with coconut shavings to garnish.

PSG announced the signing in a statement without giving financial details. Sports Daily L'Equipe said the club was paying the Spanish champion 50 million euros ($58 million) for Torres. The French team said he will wear the No. 9 jersey.

The 26-year-old Torres scored Spain's winning goal during extra time of the World Cup final against a robust and physical Argentina side. Brought on as a second-half substitute, he pounced on a bouncing ball and drove a left-foot shot under the crossbar.

It was his only goal of the competition and he said it was “scored by 47 million people,” referring to Spain’s population.

The transfer to PSG is his second big move. Barcelona signed Torres from Manchester City during the January 2022 transfer window for a reported fee of 55 million euros. Before joining City in 2020, he played for Valencia.

More of a roaming forward than a prolific scorer he netted 65 goals in 207 games for Barcelona, including a career-high 21 in all competitions last season. But his contract was set to expire next year and Barcelona reportedly had to pay a fee to City if he was to extend it.

Torres had played briefly alongside PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé when the France star was at Barça.

The move reunites Torres with Spanish coach Luis Enrique, who gave the player his international debut in 2020 when he was in charge of Spain. Luis Enrique took over at PSG in 2023 and has led the team to back-to-back Champions League titles as well as the French league title in each of his three seasons in charge.

PSG boasts attacking options

Luis Enrique has multiple options in attack, with Ballon d'Or winner Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola — who has been linked with a summer move to Liverpool — Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and new signing Maghnes Akliouche.

Dembélé set up Doué for PSG's winner against Aston Villa in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday after Kvaratskhelia had given PSG the lead in a 2-1 victory.

It’s the first of a possible six trophies this season for PSG, which became the first team to win back-to-back Super Cup titles since Real Madrid (2016 and ’17).

PSG faces French Cup winner Lens on Sunday in the Trophée des Champions, which is a match between last season’s league and cup winners.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

A top United Nations official, however, warned of a grave human rights crisis in Afghanistan, where girls over age 12 are barred from attending school.

The Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, 2021, as the U.S. and other NATO troops withdrew following a costly two-decade war. The U.S. withdrawal led to chaos at Kabul airport as crowds of people tried to flee the country in desperation.

Soon after taking power, the Taliban administration imposed a ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and later banned higher education for women, despite having pledged before the takeover that women would be allowed access to education, employment and public participation.

Women have also been banned from public spaces such as gyms and parks, from taking part in sports and traveling to distant locations without a male guardian.

Taliban hails ‘liberation’ from American forces

At the Loya Jirga, high-ranking officials were joined by some foreign representatives and thousands of ordinary citizens for speeches marking what they said was Afghanistan's liberation from American forces.

“We pray to Almighty God to forever protect our homeland from occupation, aggression, wars, and insecurity, and to enable our people to enjoy peace, tranquility, and prosperity under the auspices of the Sharia-based government,” the Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said during the ceremony.

Abdul Salam Hanafi, the deputy prime minister in charge of administrative affairs, said the Taliban rule ended an era of external interventions and internal strife in Afghanistan “over the past half-century,” restoring security.

“At least 300 Afghan youth were martyred or killed every day,” Hanafi said. “Three hundred sisters would become widows, several children would become orphans and 300 mothers would be grieving. Praise be to God, with the rule of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, this tragedy was removed from the Afghan nation.”

There were no women present at the ceremony.

Top Taliban official calls for more international engagement

Five years on, the Taliban government remains isolated internationally, with Russia being the only country to have recognized it formally.

Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said countries that have engaged with the administration have gained from doing so and called on others that have not established contacts to reconsider their approach.

“They should move towards a policy of engagement and mutual interaction,” he said.

Celebrations held under tight security

In Kabul, Afghans took to the squares carrying Taliban flags and chanting slogans in support of the government. Convoys of vehicles wound their way through the city, causing traffic jams.

Security was tight, with a heavy Taliban security force presence and several checkpoints on a main road leading to the Loya Jirga.

Celebrations were also held in provinces across Afghanistan, where Taliban flags and posters emblazoned with slogans in praise of the Taliban’s return to power were displayed along major roads and marketplaces.

UN warns of worsening human rights crisis

In a video message, Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, said the country was undergoing a deep human rights crisis.

“While the era of war has ended, it’s questionable whether there’s real peace, and the human rights situation has steadily deteriorated, most dramatically for women and girls,” Bennett said. “My mandate has concluded that this system amounts to the crime against humanity of gender persecution.”

“The crisis extends well beyond gender discrimination, even beyond gender apartheid,” he continued, noting that the U.N. continues to document arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and persecution of minorities in Afghanistan.

Bennett warned the international community against “normalizing” the Taliban’s policies, saying it would legitimize the discrimination and tell “victims their suffering is negotiable.”

In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this week, Molvi Hayatullah Mahajar Farahi, deputy minister in the Taliban government for broadcasting at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said despite “challenges and difficulties” the administration has in the past five years delivered security and infrastructure and created jobs.

2.4 million girls excluded from secondary education

Farahi, when asked, did not address the issue of the education of girls and women but said “the level of investment made in universities surpasses anything seen in the past."

The U.N. agency on education and culture, UNESCO, estimates that some 2.4 million girls have been excluded from secondary education. The U.N. World Food Program said child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces and is expected to worsen due to funding shortfalls.

U.N. Women said this week that women and girls are facing the harshest restrictions in the world and that the bans are damaging Afghanistan’s future, with the lack of teachers, doctors, nurses and midwives threatening the country’s social and economic foundations.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

Driver and Navarrette were among the new cast members announced Friday night at Disney's D23 convention by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, along with Driver's “Girls” castmate Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier and Maya Boyd as Storm. The film is slated for release in May 2028.

The announcements were the biggest news to emerge from Disney Entertainment's D23 presentation that also brought updates on its forthcoming “Star Wars” titles and a song-and-dance that went sideways from the stars of “Frozen 3.”

Driver's name was often rumored and often dismissed as an “X-Men” possibility. Many thought he'd be playing the antihero Magneto. The rest of the cast appeared on stage at the Honda Center arena in Anaheim, California, while Driver appeared on a big screen.

“Kevin and I had been talking for years about my joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I think we finally found the perfect film,” Driver told the crowd of 12,000 via video. “So I’m very excited to be playing the role of Maaagneto!” he said before pausing, taking it back and saying, “even better, Nathaniel Millbury,” an alias for Mister Sinister.

Also on stage were previously announced cast members Samara Weaving, who is playing Emma Frost; Kit Connor, who is playing Scott “Cyclops” Summers; and Sadie Sink, whose role as Jean Grey was revealed by her appearance in this summer’s Marvel megahit “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

The castmates were as new to each other as they were to the fans.

“They’ve just met backstage for the very first time,” Feige said.

Navarrette had also been heavily rumored to have a role after fast becoming one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors for her striking performance as a spellbound girlfriend in the indie horror hit “Obsessed” earlier this year.

The “X-Men” joining the MCU became possible with Disney's 2019 acquisition of Fox's film studio.

Director Jake Schreier is heading the reboot. and two writers from prestige TV — “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin and “The Bear” co-showrunner Joanna Calo — are working on the script.

Gosling cosplays as Kade Auberon in 'Star Wars' presentation.

Ryan Gosling and director Shawn Levy headlined the “Star Wars” part of the night with a presentation on their film “Star Wars: Starfighter,” which is getting a May, 2027 release.

Gosling's appearance on stage was preceded by clips of him as a child cast member of “The Mickey Mouse Club.”

“I owe a lot to Disney," Gosling said. "Had they not looked far and wide and come to my hometown I would not be here today. Now, 30 years later, I'm back, and it's changing my life again.”

Shawn Levy put on Gosling a leather jacket with his “Star Wars” character Kade Auberon's skull-and-bones symbol.

Gosling described Auberon as “a guy from the wrong side of the galaxy, whose fate is intertwined with the fastest starfighter ever built,” before showing clips from the film.

Disney announced earlier this summer at its San Diego Comic-Con presentation that Gosling will play the character Ghost Rider in the MCU, first in a “Black Panther” sequel, then in a “Ghost Rider” film that Levy will also direct. Both are set for release in 2028.

“Star Wars: Ahsoka” star Rosario Dawson also appeared to promote the Season 2 return of her Disney+ series, as did Hayden Christensen, who will return as a force-ghost version of her mentor Anakin Skywalker.

More Marvel with classic stars Downey, Evans, Atwell and Bettany

Marvel veterans also took the D23 stage as past and future “Avengers” stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Hayley Atwell introduced a new trailer for “Avengers: Doomsday,” to be released Dec. 18.

The footage shows Downey, now playing Dr. Doom having shed his Iron Man suit, beating back Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and his hammer, and shows Evans, who is returning as Captain America, holding a baby. And it shows Ian McKellan as a long-haired, haggard, struggling version of Magneto.

Hugh Jackman appeared on the big screen to tell Feige he's willing to appear in “Doomsday” as Wolverine. Whether he'll be in the movie has led to heated fan speculation. His answer wasn't definitive, but most bets are now switching to yes.

Fans also got a glimpse of the soon-to-drop Disney+ series “Visionquest.” Paul Bettany, who returns to his Marvel role as Vision, and James Spader, who returns to playing Ultron, showed a trailer with oddly human and ordinary versions of their cybernetic characters. Bettany said it’s been a pleasure to play multiple versions of Vision, who has “rather inconveniently died several times.” But, he said, “I'm told in the Marvel Universe that no one is ever really dead.”

“Frozen 3” stars serenade fans, sort of

Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel sang an eerie new arrangement of “Frozen Heart” from their first film playing princess sisters Elsa and Anna as they introduced the forthcoming “Frozen 3.”

Or they tried to, anyway. The segment was plagued with malfunctioning audio, video, and a set of doors that failed to open.

They ad-libbed their way through it like pros.

“Should we go back and try it again?” Menzel asked at the song's end.

Bell described for the crowd everything that was supposed to happen and said, “You guys were gonna freak out.”

They found their way back to the script.

“Doesn't it kind of feel like the world of Frozen is a bit different?” Bell said. Menzel added, “Maybe a little bit more mysterious?”

“Yes, OK, we're back on track,” Bell said, to big laughs.

Their castmate Josh Gad followed with a rendition of “Oooh, Samantha,” a love song his snowman character Olaf will sing in “Frozen 3.”

The night's other big musical set pieces included songs and dance from the cast of “The Greatest Showman,” the stage musical adaptation of the 2017 Jackman film that is premiering on London's West End next year.

___

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Inde Navarrette’s last name throughout the story and in headlines.

And in southern Lebanon, 11 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, some of the deadliest since a shaky truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went into effect on June 20.

Here’s a look at the latest developments on Saturday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Iran says Qatar is holding 3 of its pilots

Qatar's armed forces captured and were holding three pilots who went missing in March when their jets were downed, the Missing Persons Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff said. Qatar, however, denied it.

Until now, Tehran had said it had no information about their fate. This is the first known case in the war where Iran has said a regional country is holding its fighters. Qatar on March 2 said its air force shot down two Iranian bombers as Tehran lashed out against countries hosting U.S. military bases in the opening days of the war.

Saturday's statement alleged that Qatar had not allowed the pilots to meet or communicate with families or Iranian officials handling their cases. Iran asked the International Committee of the Red Cross president for help. The letter said a fourth pilot was killed while on the mission “targeting an enemy military base in Qatar," state media reported.

A spokesperson with Qatar's foreign ministry, Majed Al Ansari, later denied the claims and indicated on X that the pilots had been shot down and that Qatar's search and rescue teams found the remains of one. He said Iran was invited in April to visit and be briefed on those efforts, with no response.

A tanker is attacked in the Strait of Hormuz

The tanker owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC was attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the Emirati state-run WAM news agency said Saturday.

There were no injuries in the Friday evening attack, the agency reported. It was the third such attack on a vessel operated by ADNOC in the critical waterway in the last week. The United Arab Emirates in a statement called on Iran to stop the unprovoked strikes.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a bulk carrier was struck in the hull by an unknown projectile on Friday. It was not immediately clear if it was the same vessel.

Iran asserted control over the strait after the war started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. About one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf before then.

Talks between the U.S. and Iran have stalled while Iran is in discussions with Oman about how to manage the strait that runs between them and had been considered an international waterway.

Israeli strikes kill 11 in southern Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people Saturday.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said one strike targeted a home on the edge of the village of Ansar and killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17.

Israel's military said it killed a Hezbollah battalion commander and several other militants at a headquarters in southern Lebanon in response to the group’s actions against Israeli soldiers operating there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in a separate statement said three soldiers were seriously injured. The military blamed an explosive drone.

The military said the commander's family was with him, and that “it should be emphasized that the family members were not the target of the strike.” Both the military and Netanyahu's office alleged the commander used the family members as human shields.

It was one of the deadliest days since the Lebanese government and Israel announced a “framework agreement” laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament.

The militant group refused direct talks and was not part of the agreement.

Houthis in Yemen attack Red Sea port, killing at least 3

Yemen's military said the Houthis attacked the Red Sea port of Mokha under the control of the internationally recognized government. Port director Abdul-Malik al-Sharabi told journalists that Friday evening’s attack killed three people including two marines, and that port operations had been suspended.

Military spokesperson Col. Majed al-Nazili said in a statement that the Houthis fired six ballistic missiles.

The Houthis' attack was the latest on government-held areas and on neighboring Saudi Arabia, part of an escalation threatening to plunge Yemen back into civil war.

Analysts say the escalation reflects how Iran is scaling up pressure on the United States and its regional allies.

Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency said an airstrike that targeted a home on the edge of Ansar village killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two. The second, on the village of Deir al-Zahrani, killed four and wounded 17.

Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. It envisions steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the countries, which remain technically at war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.

Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the deal.

Prime minister says Israeli strikes undermine efforts at stability

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticized Israel's airstrikes on southern Lebanon, saying they intimidate “residents in their homes" and undermine efforts to stabilize the situation in the south.

“The seven martyrs of the Israeli airstrike on the town of Ansar are not military infrastructure and the children and women killed were not military targets,” Salam said on X. He added that it is the job of the Lebanese state to deal with any military infrastructure in the country.

President Joseph Aoun said in comments released by his office that the strikes are “a clear message to the negotiation track and to the American efforts aimed at implementing this agreement.”

Israel says it was responding to action against its soldiers

Intense Israeli airstrikes early Saturday also hit the strategic Ali Taher hill, which overlooks parts of the southern city of Nabatiyeh and main roads leading to it, NNA reported. Despite the truce, Israel’s military has continued near-daily attacks in the area north of the Litani River, with large areas to the south under Israeli military control.

The Israeli military said in a statement it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas of Ali Taher and Ansar in response to an action against Israeli soldiers in the area.

The office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah violated the ceasefire by attacking Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon, seriously wounding three. It said the military responded by striking the Hezbollah headquarters which ordered the attack, learning only later that Hezbollah “deliberately put civilians” in that military compound. Israel's military later said the soldiers were hurt by an explosive drone.

The Israeli military issued another statement later Saturday saying the strike on Ansar killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, whom it described as a battalion commander with Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force unit. The military said Haj Hassan’s family was with him and was harmed, but emphasized that the family was not targeted.

Hezbollah refuses to disarm

Hezbollah supporters posted photographs on social media of the commander, his wife, three sons and one daughter and said they were all killed in the strike.

A Hezbollah official did not immediately respond when asked for comment on whether they carried out any attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah called on the Lebanese state to find ways to halt “this aggression” rather than pursuing U.S.-sponsored direct talks with Israel, arguing that would be “free gifts for the enemy despite the crimes and aggression it is carrying out.”

“The American side is a partner of the Israeli enemy in its crimes and massacres,” Hezbollah added in the statement.

Earlier this month, two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon, the first Israeli deaths since the truce. Hezbollah has not commented on the blast.

Lebanon and Israel have held seven rounds of talks; the most recent took place in Rome earlier this month.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah has refused to disarm and accuses the Lebanese government of making too many concessions without guaranteeing an Israeli withdrawal.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets across the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran. More than 4,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since then, including hundreds of civilians. About 40 soldiers and three civilians — including a military contractor — have been killed on the Israeli side.

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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement comes as the Rohingya refugee crisis enters its ninth year, with hundreds of thousands of refugees still living in camps in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar in August 2017 when the military launched a crackdown following attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on guard posts in Rakhine.

The operation drove more than 700,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh, joining hundreds of thousands of others already living there for decades in the wake of waves of previous violence perpetrated by Myanmar’s military.

The scale, organization and ferocity of the operation led to accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide from the international community, including the U.N.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, does not recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s 135 lawful ethnic minorities, instead referring to them as Bengalis to imply they are natives from Bangladesh and are illegally settled in Myanmar.

Myanmar said it had verified 426,545 of the 828,824 refugees on a list provided by Bangladesh as of the end of July, and determined that 308,797 of those verified were former residents of Rakhine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 113,507 people could not be verified and that 4,241 people were found to have been involved in what it called terrorist activities.

The statement said it will continue working with Bangladesh to receive verified former residents when the security situation in Rakhine becomes more stable.

The ministry also rejected claims that more than 1 million people were displaced from Rakhine, saying that more than 540,000 people crossed into Bangladesh after the violence in 2017 while more than 200,000 remained in northern Rakhine.

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to a two-year repatriation process in 2018. However, security in Myanmar worsened following an army takeover in 2021 that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering widespread armed resistance. Plans to repatriate the refugees have not succeeded.

The renewed chaos brought about by fighting between the Rakhine-based ethnic Arakan Army group and the military over control of the region in 2023 forced more refugees to flee toward Bangladesh and elsewhere in a desperate move to save their lives. The Arakan Army controls much of Rakhine after capturing territory from the military in recent years.

In recent years, poor conditions in refugee camps, steep cuts to foreign aid and the lack of safe prospects for returning to Myanmar have led to an increasing number of Rohingya refugees attempting to make the dangerous ocean crossing to Malaysia and Indonesia on rickety boats.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in late July that Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya refugees currently living in Malaysia as part of a repatriation program.

However, an official from Myanmar's foreign ministry, Han Win Aung, told The Associated Press at the time that the repatriation program was focused solely on verified Myanmar nationals currently held in detention centers in Malaysia and rejected reports that the government would accept Rohingya.

In a stunning turn, Mangione pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a pair of stalking charges and admitted that he targeted and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as the executive walked to his company’s investor conference at a Manhattan hotel in 2024.

Neither Mangione nor his lawyers said why he pleaded guilty now, but they gave some clues.

Immediately after his plea, Mangione’s lawyers filed paperwork seeking to have the state case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds. That trial is scheduled to begin next month, but could be pushed back or canceled altogether depending on what the judge decides.

If it succeeds, Mangione’s defense team could concentrate on trying to convince the judge in his federal case, Margaret Garnett, to spare him from the life sentence that prosecutors say they intend to seek when he’s sentenced on Dec. 18.

Mangione was facing back-to-back trials and a pile of evidence

In their double jeopardy filing Friday, Mangione’s lawyers described him as a “pawn in parallel prosecutions," and defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo accused state and federal prosecutors of “trying to punish him twice for the exact conduct.”

Indeed, Mangione remains scheduled to go to trial on state murder charges beginning Sept. 8. His federal trial — now moot because of his guilty plea — was set for January.

Complicating matters, anything said in federal court — including Mangione's statements Friday admitting to killing Thompson — potentially could be used against him in state court, or vice versa.

But that's not all. Prosecutors say they have a trove of evidence that proves Mangione’s guilt, including: Video of him shooting Thompson and tailing him the day before; Mangione’s DNA and fingerprints on items at or near the crime scene; testimony from shooting witnesses; a 3D-printed 9mm pistol that police found in his backpack when he was arrested that authorities said matched the gun used to kill Thompson; and a notebook found with Mangione at the time of his arrest in which he expressed a willingness to kill a healthcare executive.

The defense previously argued all the items in Mangione's backpack were obtained in an unconstitutional search, but judges in both the federal and state cases disagreed.

Guilty plea allows defense to argue double jeopardy

Mangione's guilty plea, just three weeks before jury selection in his state murder trial, appeared to be part of a larger defense strategy to swiftly resolve both cases, minimize his legal consequences and, perhaps, give him a chance to live some of his life outside a prison cell. Earlier plea talks broke down in June.

Within minutes of his plea, Mangione’s lawyers petitioned the judge in the state case, Gregory Carro, to throw out those charges on double jeopardy grounds. Instead of two trials — and two potential sentences that could run back-to-back — they are fighting for just one and are sure to argue he deserves a far lesser sentence than life in prison.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which is prosecuting the state case, will have a chance to respond to the defense's double jeopardy motion before Carro rules. In a statement, the office said it would fight efforts to terminate the state case, in part because Mangione's sentence in the federal case isn't yet known. Thompson's family members, in a statement, suggested they are also looking forward to the state case going to trial. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in the state case.

Compared with federal law and that of other states, New York has uncommonly strong protections for defendants facing multiple prosecutions — though they are not guaranteed.

Bragg's office contends that the state charges, including murder and firearms offenses, involve different legal elements and criminal conduct than federal charges, which alleged Mangione traveled across state lines to stalk and kill Thompson.

However Carro rules, his decision will be subject to appeal, meaning a final answer on whether Mangione faces a state trial could take a while.

An opportunity to argue for less than a life sentence

Mangione’s lawyers previously fended off the government’s attempts to seek the death penalty. Now they're fighting for a sentence that's less than the life term U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said federal prosecutors intend to seek. Life is also the maximum punishment in Mangione's state case.

Unlike other defendants, Mangione doesn't have a plea deal with prosecutors. There were “no accommodations or concessions, and we are free to seek the maximum penalty under the law," McDonald said.

Still, Garnett noted in court that the government’s calculation of federal sentencing guidelines would call for a sentence of 24 to 30 years in prison. Mangione's lawyers can submit their own calculation and both sides can argue for greater or lesser punishment in submissions to the judge. Such filings typically chronicle the impact of a defendant's crimes, as well as his history, upbringing and other aggravating or mitigating factors.

Mangione will also be interviewed by probation officers, Garnett said, adding that the report they produce will factor heavily in her sentencing decision. Judges are free to ignore sentencing guidelines, which are intended to reduce disparities in punishments levied for the same crimes.

Garnett told Mangione she is obliged to determine what she thinks is the correct guideline range and “more importantly what I think the appropriate sentence is in your case.”

“No one, not your lawyers, not the government’s lawyers, no one can give you any assurance of what your sentence will be since I am the one who will decide your sentence,” the judge said, “and I’m not going to do that today.”

The primary lineup pushes Iowa from the traditional top spot and makes South Carolina the leadoff state, voting on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1. New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia round out the early states, throughout February, according to the plan endorsed by the Democratic National Committee at its meeting in Texas.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin said that to win the general election, “You have to be battle-tested in a way that you already have campaigned in front of and for the support of various communities throughout the country.” That is why the calendar designed by the party matters, he said in an interview.

Some potential candidates in what is expected to be a large field have visited early-voting states such as South Carolina. Party leaders have said the order give candidates the best shot at winning back the White House after Republican President Donald Trump's second term.

“They have to show that they can go to the South and talk to Black voters and rural voters, as well as out west, talking ranching and mining issues, to a border state, to union members,” said party strategist Karen Finney, who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “Whoever survives will be battle-tested.”

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, a onetime Vermont governor, recalled his tenure as national party chairman, when Democrats solidified Nevada and South Carolina as early states behind Iowa and New Hampshire. The latest change is even better, he said.

“These states look more like the country,” as a whole, he said, “whereas Iowa and New Hampshire don’t.”

Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said bypassing her state in the early going would sideline important voter voices and give a political edge to Republicans, who are expected to keep Iowa atop their calendar.

Nonwhite voters claim top billing

As the first-in-the-South primary, South Carolina was more decisive than Iowa and New Hampshire for nominees Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. All three dominated among South Carolina’s large Black population, which can yield more than half the state’s Democratic primary electorate.

With Nevada and New Mexico following, that will require candidates to court more Latino voters early in the process.

Shifting from Iowa and New Hampshire does not mean little-known candidates cannot catch fire, as Pete Buttigieg did in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020, when he was a 37-year-old former mayor. They just will not be able to do it with an almost entirely white audience.

“If you can’t go to every part of this country and make your case, you should not be running for president,” Finney said.

The progressive vs. establishment dynamics may shift

There is disagreement over how Democrats’ split between progressives and mainstream liberals may or may not surface in the nominating calendar.

“I think our primary voters up north are probably a little different than primary voters in South Carolina,” said Boyd Brown, a former DNC member from South Carolina. “It’s not the woke ideologies that we just can’t get away from” in other places.

Nina Smith, a former Buttigieg adviser who now works closely with progressive causes, disagreed. Smith said Black South Carolinians, especially, have gravitated to more moderate candidates – twice rejecting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in favor of Clinton and Biden.

But, she said, “Southern Black voters are more progressive than they’re given credit for” on policy but also “realists” about what is possible.

“Living through Jim Crow and other oppressive structures will force you to be take that approach,” she said.

Smith said that with South Carolina leading off and many Southern states following on Super Tuesday soon after the early lineup concludes, progressives will have to take the time to listen and then tailor their messages.

“A lot of Black voters don’t necessarily see themselves in the ideas and arguments that progressives put forward,” she said.

Unions will get a spotlight in the early-voting states

Nevada has the service industry unions because of Las Vegas; Michigan has the auto industry and associated manufacturing support industries; Virginia is home to more federal workers than any other state.

“Labor is still so important,” Dean said.

Beyond seeking the backing of organized labor, the campaigns and the party will look to unions for help in spreading Democrats' message to voters and getting people to the polls.

More scheduling efficiency for candidates

Campaigns struggle to balance many demands such as meeting voters in person, raising money and the logistics of travel. As a result, places such as Nevada have gotten short shrift in the past because candidates, most from the eastern part of the country, have concluded the investment of time is not worth it.

An expanded calendar offers more clustering opportunities.

A swing to the West could hit two early states — Nevada and New Mexico — and include a fundraising stop in California, full of Democratic donors. A South Carolina trip could mean fundraisers and public appearances in Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh, both in North Carolina. Virginia offers proximity to donors and national TV studios in Washington; the same options are available by adding a New York City stop on the way to New Hampshire.

Bre Maxwell is a DNC member from South Carolina who said the state’s smaller size and lower media costs are a financial equalizer, allowing not only the best-funded candidates to have an impact.

“They can campaign from the top to the bottom in a day,” Maxwell said.

It’s about primaries, with a clear look to November

Of the six early states, all but South Carolina have been competitive in general elections.

That means that even before Super Tuesday, the Democratic candidates will have spent significant time and resources in states worth a combined 43 Electoral College votes. That is not insignificant on the way to the 270 needed to win.

Television ads and news coverage can spill over, as well. Markets targeting parts of South Carolina also reach portions of North Carolina and Georgia.

After all, Brown said, the point is to put a Democrat in the White House.

“This is not a social or a debate club. It is a political party,” he said.

___

Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.

The Israeli military, which over the past three years has displayed staggering military and intelligence capabilities from Beirut to Tehran, has yet to fully remove the settlers from the area of the village, about an hour's drive from Tel Aviv.

The United States, which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, has issued a scathing rebuke, perhaps because one of the homeowners is a Palestinian American living in Ohio.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as “terrorists.” Israel's defense minister dismissed them as radical misfits — “boys on the hills.”

In reality, they are the tip of the spear for a much larger movement, supported by successive Israeli governments and supercharged under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that is aimed at cementing Israeli rule over the territory and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Settlements built over decades now house over 500,000

Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.

Since then, the Israeli government has built nearly 150 settlements that are home to well over 500,000 Jewish settlers. Many of the settlements resemble fully developed suburbs, with apartment blocks, shopping malls, parks and industrial zones.

Radical settlers have established hundreds of additional outposts without government authorization, while still enjoying protection from the Israeli military and often other public services.

Netanyahu's government, the most nationalist and religious in Israel's history, has boasted of establishing over 100 new settlements. On Thursday, as the army deployed in Qusra, members of his Cabinet celebrated the rebuilding of a settlement that had been dismantled in 2005 as part of the Gaza withdrawal.

Israel's current government and much of its political class view the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and see the settlements as key to maintaining security.

Most of the international community views all settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Separate laws for settlers and Palestinians

The roughly 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers. Israel's military operates in all parts of the territory, and Palestinians suspected of militancy can be held without charge for months or years under what's known as administrative detention.

The settlers are Israeli citizens, with law enforcement typically handled by Israeli police and civilian courts.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said in 2024 that Israelis would no longer be subject to administrative detention, which has also been used against settlers accused of violence. On Friday, he announced plans to fully transfer law enforcement among settlers to the Israeli police.

The military's role “is to fight Palestinian terrorism” and “focus on protecting the borders and settlements against threats,” he said in a statement. “Not chase after boys on the hills.”

That would cement the status quo of what are already largely separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, which major human rights groups say amounts to apartheid, something Israel denies.

Israel's police and military have been reluctant to confront the settlers

The Israeli police are overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, himself a hard-line settler who has been convicted eight times for offenses that include supporting a terrorist organization. He was a defense attorney for Jewish extremists before entering politics.

The Israeli military says the settlers' actions in Qusra are “illegal, reprehensible and unacceptable,” and that it tries to maintain law and order in the West Bank. It says it dismantled two outposts in the area of Qusra and detained one Israeli.

But rights groups say the military frequently turns a blind eye to settler violence, and that when it intervenes it often focuses on protecting the settlers. Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, says around 94% of investigations into settler violence since 2005 have ended without an indictment, with just 3% leading to full or partial convictions.

US pressure has had little impact, and has eased under Trump

Settler violence intensified after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war in Gaza. The following year, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on settlers and Israeli organizations accused of violence.

Other Western nations have announced sanctions against Ben Gvir and another hard-line Israeli Cabinet minister, Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of “inciting extremist violence” toward Palestinians.

The sanctions had little impact, as the settler community rallied around those targeted.

President Donald Trump rescinded the U.S. sanctions at the start of his second term and appointed Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israeli settlements, as his ambassador.

During his first term, Trump had upended decades of U.S. policy by moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem and supporting Israel's claims to other territories seized in war.

Netanyahu's opponents criticize the violence but support settlement growth

Netanyahu will need the backing of Ben Gvir, Smotrich and other settler supporters if he hopes to keep his job after October elections. He will also need to maintain good relations with the Trump administration.

His opponents have criticized what they characterize as the growing chaos in the West Bank. But most of Israel's political leaders — even critics of Netanyahu — support the growth of existing settlements and are opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former top general seen as Netanyahu's main opponent, criticized the government's handling of the events in Qusra, accusing it of undermining military commanders “in the face of anarchy and violent lawbreaking by an extremist minority.” He has also come out against plans to annex the West Bank.

But he has also told Israeli media that he has “never spoken about a Palestinian state,” and that he supports settlements that are “in line with Israel’s interests.”

Naftali Bennett, a staunch settlement supporter and another leading rival of Netanyahu, has condemned the violence, saying it amounts to “terrorism” by a minority.

“Precisely as someone who believes in our right to the land and in the settlement enterprise, we need to denounce this and eradicate the violence from within our own ranks — not wait for the Americans to tell us to do it,” he said in a recent interview with Israeli media.

When Bennett was prime minister, during the only brief period in the last 17 years that Netanyahu was out of office, his national unity government approved thousands of additional settler homes.

___

Associated Press writers Erin Cunningham in Jerusalem and Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel, contributed.

Caitlin Clark had 29 points and 10 assists in an entertaining duel with fellow No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers, and the Fever beat the Dallas Wings 98-87 on Friday night in a rare game that wasn't marred by on-court or off-court controversies.

“We love each other in that locker room and we know there are a lot of people out there that are trying to tear it apart,” White said, three days Indiana's coach denounced the “divisiveness” around the WNBA in a 2 1/2-minute pregame rant. “When we say we’re a family, we mean that. It doesn’t always mean we get along, It doesn’t mean we always agree. But at the end of the day, it means we circle are wagons and we have each other’s back.”

White had drawn the wrath of Fever fans — and even Indiana Lt. Gov Micah Beckwith — after what some saw as her downplaying a flagrant foul by Chicago's DiJonai Carrington on Indiana's Sophie Cunningham.

After White called the foul on Cunningham “egregious” during her table-pounding pregame speech on Tuesday and said she always backed her players, the Fever went out and beat the New York Liberty 106-92 as Clark and her teammates rallied around their coach.

All appeared to be forgiven on Friday as the Fever picked up their third straight win.

“I think our fans, you know the true Indiana Fever fans, are amazing. They’ve been incredible to me for a long time,” White said. “But more than anything, I’m thankful for this group of women and the men on our staff, and I’m thankful we can all lift each other up when need to be and they’ve been lifting me up. I’m happy about that.”

All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell continued scoring at a high clip, finishing with 23 points. All-Star center Aliyah Boston scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, and even Indiana’s oft-criticized defense played well through the first half and in the closing minutes.

Friday’s game and next week’s game in Dallas could be a playoff preview.

Indiana has won eight of 10 and finished the night as the league's fourth-place team, a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Dream — its opponent on Sunday. The Wings have lost seven of 10 to fall into a tie for seventh with Washington.

Bueckers matched Clark with 29 points, but it wasn't enough for Dallas.

“Obviously, she is an incredible player, makes it really hard on us defensively,” Clark said. “We tried to throw a lot of different things at her. She’s so good in the mid-range. I felt like we had a few miscommunications, especially in that third-quarter spurt where she was completely wide open. That’s on our group to figure it out.”

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Miami won the coin toss and elected to receive, but the opening drive began at the Dolphins 7-yard line after running back Jaylen Wright fumbled the kickoff and linebacker Tyrel Dodson was called for holding.

Quarterback Malik Willis settled in quickly, finding receiver Malik Washington for two catches, including one that went for a first down on the Dolphins’ opening possession. Running back De’Von Achane also broke loose for a first down behind a strong block from center Aaron Brewer.

The Dolphins capped their first drive with a highlight-reel catch and a touchdown.

Caleb Douglas, Miami’s third-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, made a spectacular one-handed, left-handed grab for 28 yards from Willis with a defender draped over him.

Later in the drive, Willis scrambled for a first down and drew a facemask penalty. Achane then powered into the end zone from 1 yard out to cap a 14-play, 93-yard drive and give Miami a 7-0 lead.

It was an encouraging opening for a Dolphins team looking for signs of progress heading into the regular season.

Miami’s starting defense also showed some fight on its first possession.

Dodson delivered a big hit on Commanders backup quarterback Marcus Mariota after a completion for a first down. Mariota left the game one play later after taking the hit.

Shortly after, Dolphins cornerback Marco Wilson recorded the game’s first turnover for Miami when a pass from third-string quarterback Sam Hartman sailed over the head of receiver Dyami Brown and into Wilson’s hands.

Washington responded with points after Miami quarterback Quinn Ewers threw an interception on a pass that sailed over his receiver and into the hands of Commanders safety Quan Martin. The Commanders turned the takeaway into a field goal.

Rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez had a productive night for Miami, making several tackles in traffic and batting down a pass from Hartman.

Defensive ends Max Llewellyn and David Ojabo combined for a sack of Hartman, while defensive tackle Jordan Phillips consistently clogged the middle. EDGE Cameron Goode added a sack of Athan Kaliakmanis, and undrafted rookie defensive end Mason Reiger also brought down Kaliakmanis in the fourth quarter.

However, Washington began to find success on the ground after Miami’s starters left the game. Running back Robert Henry Jr. broke free for a 22-yard touchdown on a misdirection run after Goode and Wilson were pinned, giving the Commanders a 10-7 lead.

Ewers struggled to find a rhythm behind Miami’s second-team offensive line. He finished 1 of 8 for 27 yards and an interception.

The Commanders extended their lead before halftime when running back Kaytron Allen powered in from 1 yard out and a successful extra point made it 17-7. Hartman connected several times with receiver Jaylin Lane, who finished the half with three catches for 31 yards, while Allen provided a spark on the ground.

Miami’s defense continued to produce some positive moments. Defensive back Major Burns made a strong open-field tackle on a Hartman scramble, and rookie inside linebacker Trey Moore helped force a three-and-out with pressure. Rookie tight end Seydou Traore also made a tackle on the punt-return unit, while cornerback Miles Battle helped the Dolphins get a stop on third and 13.

The Dolphins’ run defense, however, struggled once the starters were out of the game. Henry finished with 10 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Miami’s offense continued to struggle in the second half. Quarterback Cam Miller threw an interception when Commanders linebacker Ale Kaho stepped in front of a pass intended for receiver Tahj Washington. The Commanders turned the turnover into three more points on a 41-yard field goal by rookie Drew Stevens.

Miller later connected with AJ Henning on third and 16 for a 24-yard gain after Henning found a hole in the zone.

But Miller’s struggles continued as he threw his second interception of the game, the last one of the game to safety Malik Spencer.

The good

Willis finished his first appearance as a Dolphin 4 of 5 for 43 yards and added a 9-yard rushing attempt. Achane finished with seven carries for 39 yards and a touchdown.

Miami’s first-team offensive line provided another positive takeaway. First-round pick OL Kadyn Proctor generated good push alongside Patrick Paul, Brewer and Jonah Savaiinaea, who also opened running lanes at right guard.

Douglas’ spectacular catch was another highlight for the Dolphins. The 2026 third-round pick had flashed throughout training camp and delivered one of the game’s most memorable plays with his contested 28-yard grab.

The bad

Overall, the Dolphins’ starters looked sharp, but the team’s backups struggled for much of the night as Washington pulled away.

Ewers and Miller combined to go 4 of 19 for 66 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.

The Dolphins’ run defense also allowed more than 170 rushing yards on 41 carries.

Up next

Miami (0-1) will host the New York Giants (0-0) on Aug. 22 at Hard Rock Stadium.

One person was arrested and others were given trespass warnings during the recent police operation at a shopping center in the 2400 block of North Federal Highway.

But while the parking lot is now cleared, the underlying problem remains.

Where are people subject to Florida’s strict sex offender residency restrictions supposed to go when they have nowhere else they can legally stay?

That question is at the center of a complicated conflict between local police and property owners and the state supervision system.

Local 10 first investigated the parking lot in June after discovering registered sex offenders and sexual predators who had been released from prison and were under supervision staying there. The location had been approved by the Florida Department of Corrections as a place where some of those individuals could stay when they had no other approved housing option.

During the recent police sweep, an officer told one man sitting in a vehicle, “If you are not patronizing a business you cannot be on this property.”

In another encounter, an officer said police had observed a man sitting in his vehicle for an extended period and determined that he was a registered transient sexual predator. The man was issued a trespass warning.

In another encounter, officers ordered a man out of a vehicle and discovered he had an outstanding warrant. He was arrested.

The parking lot was cleared.

But the property owner did not want the men staying there, and Fort Lauderdale police did not want them on the property.

At the same time, the Florida Department of Corrections had approved the location for people under its supervision.

That conflict illustrates the larger problem.

Florida law restricts certain people convicted of specified sex offenses involving victims younger than 16 from living within 1,000 feet of schools, child care facilities, parks and playgrounds. A new state law also adds public swimming pools and public bathing places to the list for certain offenders and circumstances.

The new swimming pool restrictions took effect July 1, 2026, and apply according to the offense and supervision circumstances outlined in the law. The restrictions prohibit certain people from living within 1,000 feet of a public swimming pool, further reducing the number of locations that may qualify as legal residences.

Local governments can impose additional restrictions. In South Florida, those restrictions can include areas around school bus stops and, in some cases, bus benches.

For people with serious residency restrictions, finding an address that satisfies every requirement can become extremely difficult.

That is how a parking lot can become a place to stay.

Jeff Feldman, a former federal probation supervisory officer who now works as a consultant, has seen the problem from the supervision side.

“It’s the norm for transient sex offenders,” Feldman said. “They have nowhere to live and we have nowhere to put them.”

Feldman said the problem has been developing for decades.

“This has been going on since 1997,” he said. “It’s evolved into all of these legislative changes that restrict residency.”

Feldman said people who have been released from prison can find themselves with few legal housing options.

“They say, ‘Well, I can’t go home. Where can I go?’ Well, your options are limited,” he said.

That creates a difficult question for probation officers and the communities where these individuals end up.

Vanessa Fernandez, a licensed mental health counselor who treats people convicted of sex offenses, is vice president and clinical director of the Clinical and Forensic Institute.

Fernandez said unstable housing can interfere with treatment intended to reduce the risk of reoffending.

“Instead we’re working on basic life things, like where are you going to shower? How are you going to eat? Where can you keep food?” Fernandez said.

She said the constant struggle to find somewhere to sleep can take attention away from treatment.

“Unfortunately what it really does is that it doesn’t keep anybody safer,” Fernandez said. “The community’s not safer.”

Feldman made a similar argument from the perspective of supervision.

“As a probation officer, I would rather them live where I know they’re living, where I can come check on them, as opposed to go sleep in the parking lot and I have no idea where you are,” he said.

That is the central paradox exposed by the parking lot.

Local police can remove people from private property when they are not wanted there. Property owners can object to people staying on their property. But removing people from one location does not eliminate the residency restrictions that helped create the housing problem in the first place.

And Feldman said the problem is not limited to Fort Lauderdale.

“In Miami Dade, it’s just as bad,” he said.

The Florida Action Committee, an advocacy organization that supports changes to Florida’s sex offender laws, has been pushing the issue for years. Teresa Bond of the organization said officials have long been aware of the housing problem.

“They’ve known about it,” Bond said.

The organization also argues that the restrictions do not necessarily improve public safety.

“We have actually tried to even provide empirical data telling them that this is not public safety,” a Florida Action Committee representative said.

The group has now taken its argument to federal court.

In a lawsuit filed this week, the Florida Action Committee challenges Florida’s sex offender residency and other restrictions, arguing that the laws are unconstitutional and can contribute to homelessness and transient living.

The lawsuit cites state data that the group says shows as many as 34 percent of registered sex offenders in Miami Dade and Broward counties are homeless or transient.

That figure is an allegation and claim contained in the lawsuit, rather than an independent Local 10 analysis of the underlying data.

Local 10 News repeatedly contacted the governor’s office and the Florida Department of Corrections for comment and asked what the state intends to do about the housing problem and the conflict over approved locations.

Neither provided a response.

The people Local 10 found staying in the North Federal Highway parking lot are no longer there.

But that does not necessarily mean they have found permanent housing.

Fernandez said moving people from one location does not necessarily solve the underlying problem.

“That doesn’t mean they’re just in a different area doing the very same thing,” she said.

There is no simple answer.

Feldman believes one possible starting point would be changing some of the restrictions that have progressively narrowed the places where people under supervision can live.

“The solution is to roll back some of this restrictive legislation,” he said.

Fernandez also said changes to state laws and statutes would ultimately be necessary.

But changing those laws is politically difficult because the people affected are registered sex offenders and sexual predators.

“No one wants to look soft on these types of issues or inconsiderate of the severity of these actions,” Fernandez said.

That leaves local police with a problem they can address one parking lot at a time, while the larger housing problem remains.

The parking lot Local 10 investigated has been cleared.

The people who were staying there have been moved.

But the residency restrictions remain, the state has not offered an answer about where people with no other legal housing options are supposed to go, and there is no easy solution to the conflict between public safety, local property rights and the state’s system of supervising people who have been released from prison.

One of the men Local 10 spoke with, Ivan Jones, described what he believed his options had become.

“Sleep outside,” Jones said. “Make the best of it. That’s what they told me.”

At another point, he said, “I might as well go back to prison because I’m not going to do this.”

“I’m not going to stay out here,” he said.

Keyeon White, from North Carolina, was among the many visitors staying at the building.

“I’m celebrating my boy’s birthday,” White said.

He said the price was a big reason for choosing the property.

“The prices is really the price. It’s mad cheap,” White said.

Those deals are enticing out-of-towners to book short-term rentals at the condominium building. They’re also the target of a letter sent by the city manager’s office.

The letter, obtained by Local 10, states that the condominium association was under investigation following numerous complaints.

“It’s been absolutely awful. I’ve been a resident since 2008. Things got really bad with short-term rentals around the pandemic,” said homeowner Christina Lardon, who owns two units at the building.

“It’s an invasion. It’s literally a home invasion,” Lardon said.

According to the city letter, the property was approved in 2011 for 30 units to be used as short-term rentals.

However, a city investigation found there appeared to be more than 300 vacation rentals available among the building’s 643 units.

“They are crowding guests into rooms that are fit for three to four occupants. The whole point is the more guests you fit into a property, the more you can charge,” the letter states.

Assistant City Manager Barbie Hernandez wrote that the building is violating city codes with the excess of short-term rentals.

The letter orders the rentals to cease immediately and warns the property could face revocation of certificates and tax receipts, as well as possible legal action.

Oakley was handcuffed and arrested after an altercation with security while sitting near owner James Dolan during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Oakley initially brought a number of claims against MSG that were dismissed in February 2020. After appeal, Oakley's assault-and-battery claim remained.

But Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Southern District of New York ruled that Oakley “has produced no evidence to support his claim that he was assaulted by MSG security guards.”

MSG had pointed to video evidence and previous testimony that Oakley was not assaulted.

“For more than nine years, Mr. Oakley’s lawyers have pursued claims they knew were false. Those claims have now been dismissed by the Court in their entirety — for the third time,” MSG said in a statement. “We are pursuing legal action against Douglas Wigdor, and his unscrupulous law firm, to hold them accountable for years of frivolous litigation and their blatant abuse of the judicial system.”

Oakley was a beloved Knicks forward in the 1990s, and he remains one of the few former players who has remained absent from MSG during the team's recent playoff runs, culminating with this year's NBA championship.

His removal from the game was a jarring scene, but Sullivan ruled that Oakley hadn't proven it was done with excessive force.

“Ample evidence — including videos from multiple angles and the unanimous testimony of every witness (even, to some extent, Oakley himself) — shows that Oakley had a reasonable opportunity to depart the Garden, that he instead resorted to physical violence, and that he was never pushed to the ground,” Sullivan wrote.

The judge added that “no rational jury could conclude that Oakley reasonably feared himself at risk of wrongful physical contact — let alone that MSG intended to stir such an apprehension.”

Wigdor still hopes a jury will get a chance to rule.

“We are disappointed with the Court’s rulings,” he wrote in an email. “We believe there are conflicting accounts and only a jury can decide what exactly happened. We are hopeful that the Second Circuit will agree for a third time and remand the case for an immediate jury trial.”

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

El Ministerio de Comunicación e Información venezolano señaló en sus redes sociales que las excarcelaciones “fueron acordadas por los tribunales de la república, a petición del Ministerio Público”, luego de que el gubernamental Programa para la Paz y la Convivencia Democrática, creado por la mandataria en funciones Delcy Rodríguez, solicitó una evaluación de los casos.

El secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, destacó en X que la reciente liberación de más de 130 presos políticos en Venezuela representa “un paso crucial para el proceso de reconciliación del país. Desde el 3 de enero, 1.046 venezolanos han sido liberados”.

“A medida que seguimos avanzando en el plan de tres fases, Estados Unidos continúa supervisando de cerca el proceso de conversaciones presenciales con las autoridades interinas, liderado por Venezuela”, señaló Rubio.

Washington repetidamente ha dicho que mantiene el compromiso de apoyar un plan de tres fases del presidente Donald Trump para lograr la estabilización en Venezuela luego de la captura del entonces mandatario Nicolás Maduro a inicios de año, mediante las vías de la recuperación económica, la reconciliación política y una transición pacífica en el país.

Una ley de amnistía fue sancionada el 19 de febrero, apenas 20 días después de que la presidenta encargada Rodríguez la presentara en un intento de lograr la convivencia nacional. Rodríguez fue juramentada como presidenta en funciones el 5 de enero, dos días después de una audaz operación militar estadounidense que depuso y capturó a Maduro en Caracas y lo trasladó a Nueva York para que enfrentara cargos por narcotráfico.

Las liberaciones se producen en el marco de la Ley de Amnistía impulsada para la excarcelación masiva de dirigentes opositores, sindicalistas, periodistas, estudiantes, manifestantes y activistas de derechos humanos presos por motivos políticos. El gobierno niega que existan “presos políticos” y acusa a los detenidos de conspirar para desestabilizar a los gobiernos del ahora fallecido presidente Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) y su sucesor y heredero político, Maduro (2013-2026).

De acuerdo con Foro Penal, una prestigiosa organización civil que vigila los derechos de los privados de libertad en Venezuela, hasta el 10 de agosto 391 personas permanecían detenidas por motivaciones políticas.

Clark also had 10 assists while Boston had 12 rebounds. Kelsey Mitchell added 23 points, and Tyasha Harris — who hadn't made a field goal in the previous six games — was 5-of-5 shooting, all 3-pointers, to finish with 15 points.

Clark had her 20th career game with at least 20 points and 10 assists, the most in league history.

Mitchell scored at least 20 points for the 18th consecutive game to extend her WNBA single-season record, the second-longest streak in WNBA history (A’ja Wilson, 20 games).

The Fever won for the eighth time in 10 games and now hold a half-game lead over the Atlanta Dream for the No. 4 spot in the eight-team postseason field.

Paige Bueckers had 29 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the Wings, who have lost seven of 10. Arike Ogunbowale added 20 points.

The Wings slipped into a tie for seventh with the Washington Mystics and will meet the Fever for the final time this season Thursday in Dallas.

And for a change, the only drama Friday happened on the court.

Bueckers and Clark traded baskets throughout a classic third quarter in which neither team could pull away.

Indiana opened the fourth on a 15-2 run, capped by Clark's second 3 of the game to turn a three-point deficit into a 78-68 lead. Dallas closed the deficit to 78-73, but Indiana scored four straight to retake an 82-73 lead with 4:37 left and Dallas never recovered as Harris' late 3s sealed the victory.

Up next

Wings: Host Golden State on Monday.

Fever: Visit Atlanta on Sunday.

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

In a pointed letter to Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, a lawyer for the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said any effort to compel him to appear before a Senate subcommittee, after a contentious July 29 hearing, would be to "impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”

During the July hearing on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 100 times, prompting the Aug. 6 contempt vote and setting up a referral to the Justice Department for potential investigation over whether he had properly exercised his constitutional rights.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the committee chairman who pressed for the contempt finding, said the constitutional protection did not apply because Democratic President Joe Biden had issued a preemptive pardon to Fauci, and he did not need to be concerned about potential prosecution.

Paul has long accused Fauci of misleading the public during the pandemic and the July hearing was the latest episode in his highly publicized confrontations with him. Paul has repeatedly called for Fauci to be prosecuted and imprisoned.

Johnson, chairman of the subcommittee on investigations, had sought to open a parallel avenue of congressional investigation about Fauci's role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.

His family was planning to attend his wedding to his fiancée, Natalia Patiño, the mother of his two-year-old son, on Sunday in Bogotá.

On Friday, crews found the body of Giraldo, 24, a salesman of eyewear frames and glasses on a work trip, in the rubble of the hotel, Noticias Caracol reported. Relatives confirmed his death on social media.

“Forever and always in my heart,” Patiño wrote on Instagram after the news. “You were the most complete love I ever had. I love you forever.”

The groom-to-be’s father, Hernan Giraldo, traveled from Bogotá to Pereira to help search for him on Monday night. He told Reuters that his son was “exemplary” and he hoped for a miracle and a wedding.

Instead, there was grief.

Colombian officials reported on Friday that there were at least 287 dead, 3,975 injured, 378 people who had vanished, 354 had been rescued from the rubble, and 135,179 were affected.

Officials also reported that the earthquake caused damage in more than 400 cities, and most of the destruction was in Cali, Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, and Buenaventura.

On Friday, Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella returned to Chocó, where the earthquake’s epicenter was. The area was in need of temporary housing, food, and healthcare.

“My heart, my strength, and my spirit are with all the victims and with all these territories that have been forgotten and now devastated by nature,” De La Espriella said. “We must rebuild them. There is a great task ahead, and I am committed to it.”

The World Bank reported disbursing $200 million on Thursday and launching assistance to provide an early assessment ​of damages and economic losses.

The U.S. committed $15 million in emergency aid, a $1 billion security package, search-and-rescue teams, damage assessment, and other resources.

The United Arab Emirates pledged $10 million. The European Union pledged $2.4 million. China pledged $1 million, and Sweden pledged about half a million.

El Salvador sent two planes full of aid and deployed search-and-rescue teams. Other countries sending aid and crews include Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Israel.

Colombia’s first lady, Ana Lucía Pineda, deployed the “One Heart” campaign to collect emergency aid, and she was working on partnerships with the private sector to help with reconstruction.

Interview with Hernan Giraldo on Thursday in Spanish (Reuters)

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• In Spanish: “Lo perdimos todo”, qué viene para los miles de damnificados del terremoto en Colombia

His daughter, Amy Rydell, told The Hollywood Reporter that her father died Thursday of natural causes at a retirement community for the entertainment industry in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles.

“Hard to put into words how much I loved my dad,” she posted Friday on her Instagram account. "He was truly one of a kind. Funniest and most talented person I’ve ever known.”

‘On Golden Pond’ earned 10 Oscar nominations

“On Golden Pond,” which teamed Fonda with Hepburn and his daughter, Jane Fonda, was nominated for 10 Oscars. Henry Fonda and Hepburn won leading acting honors and the film won for screenplay, which Ernest Thompson adapted from his play of the same name. Rydell was nominated for directing but lost to Warren Beatty for “Reds.”

It earned over $119 million at the box office, making it the second-highest grossing film of 1981 behind “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

“On Golden Pond” was Henry Fonda’s final movie role. He starred as Norman Thayer, an emotionally brittle and distant father who becomes more accessible at the end of his life after his teenage grandson spends the summer with him and his wife, Ethel (played by Hepburn), at their cottage in New England. The film’s story resembled Fonda’s real-life relationship with daughter Jane, who said working on the movie together helped resolve some of their issues. The elder Fonda died at age 77 months after winning his only Oscar.

Rydell’s other Oscar-nominated films were “The Fox” in 1967, “The Reivers” with McQueen in 1969, “Cinderella Liberty” with James Caan and Marsha Mason in 1973, “The Rose” with Bette Midler in 1979, and “The River” with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek in 1984.

Born Mortimer Harold Rydell on March 23, 1929, in New York City, he studied with jazz pianist Teddy Wilson at the Julliard School of Music. During a stint in the Army, he spent two years in Japan developing entertainment for military personnel. He majored in English and philosophy at New York University.

Early acting career opposite Steiger, Cassavetes, Mineo

He turned to acting when he won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Among his early roles were on the CBS soap operas “The Edge of Night” and “As the World Turns.”

Rydell made his Broadway debut in “Seagulls Over Sorrento” with Rod Steiger. In 1956, he made his movie acting debut opposite John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo in Don Siegel’s “Crime In The Streets.”

Among his film acting credits were Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye” in 1973 and Woody Allen’s “Hollywood Ending” in 2002.

Rydell moved into directing television, helming episodes of “Mr. Novak,” “Ben Casey," “I Spy,” “The Wild Wild West,” “The Long, Hot Summer,” “The Fugitive” and “Gunsmoke.”

He made his feature-film directorial debut with 1967’s “The Fox” starring Sandy Dennis, and it was a hit.

Two years later, Rydell directed McQueen in the comedy-drama “The Reivers.”

Teaming with Sydney Pollack

Rydell and Sydney Pollack, who became friends during their acting days, formed Sanford Productions in 1971. Among their efforts were the films “Jeremiah Johnson” starring Robert Redford and “Scarecrow” with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, which won the Cannes Film Festival’s top honor, the Palme d’Or.

Rydell directed Wayne in 1972’s “The Cowboys.” He reunited with Caan for the 1976 flop “Harry and Walter Go to New York.”

He scored a major hit with 1979’s “The Rose,” with Midler in her Oscar-nominated role as a self-destructive rock star loosely based on Janis Joplin.

Rydell re-teamed with Caan and Midler in “For the Boys” in 1991, but it wasn’t successful.

“He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on The Rose and later on For The Boys,” Midler posted on Instagram. “Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories.”

TV movies and series among his credits

Rydell directed the pilot of the hit ABC drama “Family” in 1976.

Among his TV movie directing credits were “McBride and Groom,” “Crime of the Century” with Isabella Rossellini and Stephen Rea, and “James Dean,” which earned actor James Franco a Golden Globe award. Rydell also appeared in the movie as Warner Bros. chief Jack Warner.

He directed the movies “Intersection” in 1994 and “Even Money” in 2006.

In 2009, Rydell, Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau and screenwriter Lyle Kessler taught a film workshop at UCLA. Rydell and Landau were co-artistic directors of The Actors Studio West, teaching and coaching actors, writers and directors.

“All great art rests on telling the truth,” Rydell told UCLA’s student newspaper The Daily Bruin. “The real pursuit of an artist is to tell the truth.”

Besides his daughter, he is survived by son Christopher. The siblings who went into acting were from his first marriage to actor Joanne Linville. He had another son, Alexander, from his second marriage to producer Esther Rydell.

This is why psychologists are volunteering their time with survivors of the 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck on June 24 in northern Venezuela.

Some children experience nightmares and panic attacks. The experience has been difficult for 12-year-old Sofia Aldara and 11-year-old Miguel Ramos, who both deal with fear.

“I felt like the buildings near us were going to collapse,” Miguel said in Spanish.

Juan Manuel Maestre, a psychologist who is volunteering in La Guaira, said many of the children are grieving loved ones and have also lost their schools.

Daniel Rocha, a volunteer, said mental health is usually not a priority.

“A lot of times, they say, ‘This is the first time we are talking about what happened because since the earthquake, we are actually trying to survive.’ We are trying to help our brothers, our sisters,” Rocha said.

Andres Muskus, a psychologist who is volunteering, said breaking the ice is part of the process.

“We start playing with them, we start creating a confident and secure place, and in the middle of the play, we can start talking about how they feel,” Muskus said.

Daniel Rocha said mental health treatment is powerful when it comes to hope.

“They really need people with the skills to make them feel they can do better, they can work, they can have a future,” Rocha said.

Officials reported that the death toll of the earthquakes in Venezuela surpassed 5,300. There were about 16,740 injured, and the property damage was estimated at more than $19.6 billion.

“Really just a dream start,” Scheffler said. “Probably one of the best starts I’ve had on tour, to be honest with you. I couldn’t tell you a time where I’ve been lower early in the round.”

The top-ranked Scheffler had 11 birdies and two bogeys in 100-degree heat at TPC Southwind in the playoff opener. He had an 11-under 129 total.

“The tournament is halfway over,” Scheffler said. “I had two good rounds to start and hopefully continue that over the weekend.”

Scheffler tied the tournament course record.

“I wouldn’t say golf’s ever easy,” Scheffler. “I did some good things out there. I hit some iron shots in there close and was able to hole a few putts as well.”

He has played the TPC Southwind more times (seven) without winning than any other course on the PGA Tour.

Viktor Hovland and Sungjae Im were tied for second at 8 under. Hovland had a 64, and Im shot his second 66.

“It was really nice, really solid,” Hovland said. “Hit a lot of fairways, and I think that’s a big deal for my game, but also especially at this golf course. I think it’s really difficult to score if you’re missing fairways.”

Ludvig Aberg was 7 under after a 65.

Jordan Spieth shot 69 to get to 6 under. He was part of a four-way tie for the first-round lead. Spieth is outside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup who advance to the BMW Championship next week.

Scheffler entered the week with a 794-point lead over Matt Fitzpatrick in the FedExCup standings. Fitzpatrick was 3 under after a 67.

So much emphasis is on getting into the top 50 because that locks up all the $20 million signature events for next season.

Rory McIlroy played alongside Scheffler the first two days. He followed an opening 74 with a 70, leaving him tied for 60th at 4 over.

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

He co-founded The San Isidro Movement in Havana, and he helped lead the courageous group of artists, writers, and academics to protest Decree 349, a law that required state approval for all artistic expression.

The performance artist used the Cuban flag and was arrested on July 11, 2021. Cuban prosecutors filed charges of public disorder, contempt, and insulting national symbols. In 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.

“I went on more than five hunger strikes ... I am not going to offer a justification because I have nothing to justify,” the 38-year-old exiled dissident said on Friday in downtown Miami.

The Cuban government freed him from the maximum-security Guanajay prison on July 7. He was ordered to leave the island and arrived at Miami International Airport on July 18 on a humanitarian parole.

He was forced to leave his son behind on the island.

“It’s literally like being in a coma and then waking up,” he said.

Some of the art that he created while in prison in Cuba was framed and on display on Friday at the Freedom Tower. His installation was at the Freedom Hall. The exhibit, he said, was the reward.

“They are the impression of a suffering, of a state of mind,” he said about his artwork.

He said he hopes the communist regime will fall and Cubans will learn what it’s like to be free.

The Museum of Art and Design, or MOAD, at Miami Dade College presented “Luis Manuel Otero Alcántra: nos encontramos,” the exhibit.

“His journey of resilience and determination echoes in the halls of the Freedom Tower’s history,” Amy Galpin, MOAD’s executive director and chief curator, said in a statement.

Ernesto Fundora, the director of the “Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: Estamos conectados,” a documentary, was at the opening from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday at 600 Biscayne Boulevard.

Manager Blake Butera said Friday that Abrams has begun working out at second. He said the transition will be more “multiday than multiweek” and that Abrams will swap spots with second baseman Nasim Nuñez.

“Just thought this was the best thing for our team going forward,” Butera said. “We think with those two up the middle and Nasim playing more shortstop gives us the best chance.”

Butera said Abrams was amenable to the move while noting that shortstops take pride in playing the position — something Abrams also acknowledged.

“That’s just where I’ve been playing my whole life,” said Abrams, who led off and played shortstop Friday night against the New York Mets. “I believe I can be a great shortstop.”

Abrams, an NL All-Star starter, is having a career year offensively, with 28 homers, a major league-best 91 RBIs, a .284 average and an .898 OPS.

Abrams also leads NL shortstops with 19 errors, just three shy of his career high from 2023 and 2025. His .958 fielding percentage would also be a career worst.

“He said that a few times — like, look, the competitor in me wants to say I can do this at shortstop but also understand we have to do what’s best for the team and the organization going forward,” Butera said.

Nuñez has nine errors and a .965 fielding percentage at second base. He leads the majors in range factor at the position.

The Nationals also used first-round picks on shortstops Seaver King and Eli Willits in 2024 and 2025. Willits, selected first overall, is Washington’s no. 1 prospect, per MLB.com, while King ranks fourth.

“We’re thinking about all those things,” Butera said. “But ultimately, right now, what we’re trying to do is do what’s best for this team and this organization to win as many games as possible the rest of the year and also set ourselves up for next year.”

Abrams hasn’t played second base since his rookie season in 2022, when he made 13 appearances at the position for the San Diego Padres.

“It’s not too big of a change,” he said.

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Officers responded just before noon to reports of a shooting at a home in Missaukee County, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, and found three people dead and another in critical condition, Michigan State Police said in a statement. The wounded person was taken to a hospital.

Suspect Chad Hickman, 39, fled before they arrived at the home, according to police. As officers conducted a large-scale search for him, they found a fourth person dead at another home.

In a post on the social platform X, police warned that Hickman was armed and dangerous and told community members not to approach him.

Hickman's vehicle was later found in a wooded area near Whitlock Lake, and that led authorities to his body as well as that of another dead person.

“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” Lt. Ashley Miller said in a statement.

She added that investigators would work through the night to process each scene.

Police asked people to avoid the areas where the shootings took place.

The names and ages of the people killed were not immediately released, pending family notification.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation.

“My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the Missaukee community,” she said.

The Maryland Tax Court said the tax violates the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act as well as the First Amendment and the commerce and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The legal fight has been watched by other states that are considering taxes for online ads. Maryland estimated the tax, approved in 2021, could raise about $250 million a year to help pay for a sweeping K-12 education measure.

In Friday's decision, the tax court ordered the state to repay the tax money already collected by Apple, Google and Peacock TV.

The law taxed revenue that large companies make on digital advertisements shown in Maryland. Companies making more than $100 million in global annual gross revenues were taxed at a 2.5% rate. The rate increased for companies with larger revenues, topping out at a 10% rate for companies making $15 billion or more in global gross annual revenues.

Supporters of the law contended that Maryland needed to overhaul its tax methods in response to significant changes in how businesses advertise. But attorneys representing Big Tech companies including Meta and Amazon challenged the law in multiple legal venues, arguing in part that they were unfairly targeted.

Last year, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled part of the law violated the Constitution because it blocked Big Tech companies from telling customers about the tax. That, Judge Julius Richardson said, violated the right to free speech.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Pena-Melnyk, both Democrats, issued a statement saying they “respectfully disagree” with the tax court ruling and expect the legal process to continue.

They said the tax was enacted to keep the state's tax system in pace with a changing economy.

“We remain committed to ensuring that Maryland’s tax system is fair, sustainable, and reflects today’s economy,” they said. “We will continue working with the Attorney General and Comptroller as this matter proceeds through the courts.”

The tax court said Congress — not the state legislature — is tasked with regulating interstate commerce, and that the tax law was inappropriately based on global revenue rather than revenue from in-state advertising.

The federal Internet Tax Freedom Act bars the taxation of e-commerce if similar services are not taxed. At least for now, the tax court found, there isn't much of a difference between digital advertising and print or billboard ads, which means the bar on taxation applies.

Takaichi, however, did not mention her country’s wartime past in Asia or express remorse for it in a speech at the ceremony, and the defense minister and other political representatives visited the shrine.

The Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates over 2.4 million people who died in wars, became controversial after enshrining 14 convicted World War II Japanese war criminals. China and South Korea say visits by Japanese officials to the shrine show a lack of remorse over Japan's wartime atrocities.

Japan invaded and occupied large parts of Asia before and during World War II, committing atrocities that included mass killings, forced labor and the sexual enslavement of women. Millions died during Japan's wars and colonial rule.

Japan has embraced a pacifist ethos in the decades since its defeat. But memories of Japan's colonial rule and atrocities still run deep, and leaders and the public in China and South Korea closely watch how Japanese leaders confront the country’s past.

Japan's leaders say they uphold their commitment to peace

Takaichi mourned the victims of major devastation in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa, as well as those who perished in overseas battlefronts, and thanked them for their sacrifice as the “foundation of Japan's peace and prosperity today.”

“Japan, since the end of the war, has consistently contributed to global peace and prosperity. We will never let the tragedy of the war be repeated,” she said in her address at Nippon Budokan, located a short walk away from Yasukuni.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, three other Cabinet ministers and three executives from Takaichi’s governing Liberal Democratic Party visited the shrine earlier Saturday. A nonpartisan group of dozens of lawmakers also prayed there.

The secretary general of Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party, Shunichi Suzuki, said he prayed at Yasukuni on behalf of Takaichi and brought cash offerings that Takaichi made as party leader. He did not disclose the amount.

“I renewed my war-renouncing resolve and will continue to fulfill Japan’s postwar responsibility as a peace-loving nation," Koizumi, who has regularly visited the shrine, said on X after his visit Saturday. He is the son of a popular former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, who enraged China with a visit to Yasukuni on Aug. 15, 2006.

China and South Korea protest shrine visits

China’s Foreign Ministry protested the visits, saying the Japanese politicians’ true intentions were to “change the verdict on the war criminals, cover up Japan’s war crimes, distort the historical facts and pave the way for accelerating militarization.”

It urged Japan to do “serious soul searching” on history and make a clean break with militarism.

Tensions between Japan and China escalated in November when Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan requiring the use of force. The comments enraged Beijing.

South Korea's foreign ministry also criticized the Japanese politicians' visits and offerings as “an anachronistic act that disregards history." The ministry urged Japan to face its history and demonstrate remorse.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung struck a different tone in a speech Saturday marking the 81st anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. He stressed that his administration favors “pragmatic diplomacy."

“Korea-Japan cooperation is now more important than ever," he said.

Japanese emperors have shunned the shrine

Japanese emperors have shunned Yasukuni since its 1978 inclusion of war criminals as “martyrs,” and have expressed regrets over Japan’s wartime past, though in a nuanced way.

Emperor Naruhito, in an address Saturday at the ceremony, said he hopes the ravages of war will never be repeated while “reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse.”

Addressing concerns of fading memories of wartime history, Naruhito said he hoped the memories of the suffering during and after the war will be passed down to younger generations.

Pushback against remembering Japan's wartime history

Takaichi has resisted acknowledging Japan's wartime aggression. She has denied that coercion was used against Korean laborers and that women were held as sex slaves for Japanese troops. She was previously part of a campaign to remove references to wartime sexual slavery, known as “comfort women,” from school textbooks.

She has said she is from a postwar generation that bears no responsibility for Japan's past actions and has no intention of apologizing.

The country has faced revisionist pushback since the 2010s under nationalistic former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Takaichi says Abe is her political mentor.

Since 2013, Japanese prime ministers have stopped apologizing to Asian victims for wartime atrocities, under a precedent set by Abe.

People at Yasukuni remember relatives lost in the war

Descendants of the war dead also gathered at Yasukuni early Saturday to honor their fallen ancestors.

Mariko Shinoda, 56, whose grandfather died as a Kamikaze pilot, said she visited Yasukuni with her mother as a child every year on Aug. 15. Kamikaze pilots departed on their one-way missions saying, “Let’s meet at Yasukuni,” her mother told her.

“To me, Yasukuni is where every spirit gathers, and that’s where you get to see them on Aug. 15,” Shinoda said.

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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Authorities issued a tsunami warning and urged coastal residents to move to higher ground, but later lifted the warning when Indonesia’s meteorological agency said monitoring showed no significant sea-level changes that posed a threat to coastal communities. Some smaller tsunamis were reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit eastern Indonesia's Flores region at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) at 5:58 a.m. local time. Its epicenter was 68 km (42 miles) north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.

The quake triggers landslides and generates small tsunamis

The meteorological agency said the quake was followed by at least 235 aftershocks, with the largest recorded at magnitude 6.2.

The agency's sea-level monitoring stations acknowledged some small tsunamis reached coastal villages in Manggarai and East Manggarai regencies. Videos obtained by The Associated Press showed the coastal village of Riung in Ngada regency blanketed in mud and debris after what the agency described as a 1.61-meter (5.3 feet) tsunami. Fishing boats were stranded ashore, infrastructure damaged, and homes surrounded by sediment left by receding waters.

Waves measuring 0.94 meters (3.1 feet) were observed in Maurole, Ende Regency.

Tsunami waves exceeding 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) were detected in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, and Sape in Bima Regency.

A strong, land-based earthquake of 6.9 magnitude hit North Sumatra province in western Indonesia on Saturday afternoon, according to the USGS. It struck 172.5 kilometers (107 miles) beneath the earth’s surface, meaning it was too deep to cause significant damage or casualties, Indonesian authorities said.

The quake has caused buildings to collapse

East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Rudi Darmoko said power outages hampered the spread of information about the impact of the earthquake in cities and villages, complicating search and rescue efforts.

“We are continuing to collect reports of damage and casualties, but there are communication disruptions,” Darmoko said. He said quake-triggered landslides in Ende regency blocked the Trans-Flores highway, a roughly 700-kilometer (435-mile) paved mountain road spanning Flores Island, from Labuan Bajo to Larantuka.

The head of the National Disaster Management Agency, Suharyanto, said rescuers have recovered at least 47 bodies, mostly in Sikka, Manggarai and East Manggarai, and at least 50 people were taken to hospitals.

Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said the quake flattened at least 157 houses and damaged nearly 200 more, forcing about 2,000 villagers to abandon their homes and move to temporary shelters. The powerful temblor also destroyed more than 100 public facilities, including schools, medical centers and churches.

The death toll could rise because landslides triggered by the earthquake buried or cut off many remote villages across six regencies on Flores Island, said Fathur Rahman, who heads the Search and Rescue Office in Maumere, the capital of Sikka.

Some remote villages are completely buried, he said, and damaged infrastructure and a lack of heavy equipment were hindering rescue efforts.

Authorities deployed three helicopters and a rescue vessel to support logistics and emergency response operations, including potential evacuations. East Nusa Tenggara consists of numerous islands and presents significant transportation and access challenges.

Residents ran for their lives when the quake struck

The quake was felt across much of Flores island with initial reports indicating heavy damage.

Yohanna Embu, who lives in Sikka, said people ran in a panic to higher ground.

“Many buildings here were damaged ... I saw that the waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere had collapsed,” she said.

Students at St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka who were attending morning Mass fled when the roof of an assembly hall collapsed, said the Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, rector of the seminary, known locally as Ritapiret Seminary on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores.

“Our students and nuns ran out in panic beneath a collapsing roof,” Tanga said. “At least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from the second floor of a building during the quake.”

The quake also struck Labuan Bajo, a gateway town to eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, one of the country’s best-known attractions. Damage was reported in Bima, a city in neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province, and in parts of southern Sulawesi island.

Indonesian authorities initially issued a tsunami warning for parts of East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, and urged residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks. The agency located the shallow undersea quake near Flores island.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Most notably, a powerful earthquake caused a tsunami in 1992 that killed about 2,500 people on Flores, part of a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia, while in 2018, a magnitude 7.5 quake spawned a large localized tsunami that wiped out coastal areas, killing more than 4,400 people.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

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Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show Ngada is a regency, not a village.

Habló con Local 10 News un día después de que la Fiscalía Estatal de Miami-Dade retirara todos los cargos en su contra.

La madre de 29 años fue acusada de abuso sexual y de publicar en internet videos lascivos de su hijo de 4 años.

Ella dice: No es cierto.

“Siento que estoy soñando”, dijo Viana. “Como una pesadilla. En mi mente, nunca hice nada malo”.

Los registros policiales muestran que el gigante de las redes sociales TikTok señaló un video de su cuenta como “material de abuso sexual infantil”, en el que presuntamente aparecía el niño usando solo una camiseta y Viana tocándolo.

El 5 de agosto, la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade llegó a su casa en el suroeste de Miami-Dade.

“Yo dije: eso tiene que ser una broma”, dijo su primo, Raúl Salazar. “Nosotros dijimos: Ese no es el tipo de persona que ella es. Eso no es algo que ella haría”.

Los agentes dijeron que Viana accedió a que revisaran su teléfono.

Fue entonces cuando encontraron otro video de ella besando a su hijo. Viana sostiene que eran besos normales e inocentes entre una madre y su hijo.

En un memorando de cierre, los fiscales dicen que el estado “no puede proceder con cargos penales” y que “no hay evidencia de intención sexual” en ninguno de los dos videos.

Viana dice que ahora lo único que quiere es estar con su familia.

Su primo tiene este mensaje para las plataformas de redes sociales:

“Tienen que ser muy cuidadosos con las acusaciones que hacen antes de arruinar una reputación”, dijo Salazar.

The cats are being rescued from the former Luján Zoo, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, after years of uncertainty over their fate. Four Paws, the international animal-welfare organization overseeing the transfer, described it as one of the largest relocations of captive big cats in the world.

“We are putting everything into making this go as smoothly as possible so we can celebrate that 30 lives have improved because of this effort,” said Luciana D’Abramo, program director for Four Paws.

Once loaded into their crates and placed aboard cargo and passenger jets, nine tigers and six lions will be flown to Lionsrock, a Four Paws sanctuary in South Africa that houses more than 80 big cats across natural enclosures sprawling 60 hectares (148 acres). The remaining eight tigers and seven lions will travel to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, a vast refuge on the grasslands northeast of Denver where rescued lions, tigers and other animals roam expansive habitats.

But getting there is no easy feat: The big cats bound for Colorado will fly through Chile, while the others will travel to Johannesburg via Frankfurt or Amsterdam before a four-hour drive to Lionsrock.

The Four Paws handlers trained many of the lions and tigers to enter the crates voluntarily. But some of the big cats required sedation, including two tigers that veterinarians hoisted in canvas slings Friday and carried by hand to their transport crates.

Argentine authorities shut down the Lujan Zoo — famous for letting visitors handle and pose for pictures with tigers and lions — over safety and animal welfare concerns in 2020. D’Abramo said about 200 big cats were living there when it closed. Only 112 remained when Four Paws first arrived in 2023 seeking a solution.

By the time the organization was allowed to take over the site two years later, that number had fallen to 62. Some of the captive animals can barely walk because of obesity, muscle loss or poor nutrition. Others suffer from dental and kidney disease, complications from declawing and injuries that never healed properly.

“That alone shows the level of overcrowding and the conditions in which these animals have endured,” D’Abramo said.

The organization retrained longtime zoo employees in modern animal-welfare practices and began improving the cats’ diets and medical care. This transfer leaves more than 20 lions and tigers at Luján while Four Paws searches for their long-term homes.

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She spoke with Local 10 News a day after the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office dropped all charges against her.

The 29-year-old mom was accused of molestation and posting lewd videos of her 4-year-old son online.

She says: Not true.

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” Viana said. “Like a bad dream. In my mind, I never (did) anything wrong.”

Police records show it was social media giant TikTok that flagged one video from her account as “child sexual abuse material,” allegedly showing the boy only with a shirt on, naked otherwise, and Viana touching him.

On Aug. 5, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office would arrive at her house in southwest Miami-Dade.

“I was like, that has to be a joke,” her cousin, Raúl Salazar said. “We’re like, That’s not the kind of person she is. That’s not something that she would do.”

Deputies said Viana consented to having her phone searched.

That’s when they found another video of her kissing her son. Viana maintains they were normal, innocent pecks between mom and child.

In a closeout memo, prosecutors say the state “is unable to proceed with criminal charges” and that “there is no evidence of sexual intent” in either video.

Viana says all she wants now is to be with family.

Her cousin with this message for social media platforms

“They’ve got to be really mindful of the accusations they make before ruining a reputation,” Salazar said.

Dentro de ese contenedor especial al que ingresó el viernes, el enorme felino emprenderá un largo viaje hasta un santuario de Sudáfrica. El animal forma parte de un contingente de 30 tigres y leones rescatados del ex zoológico argentino que partirá el lunes hacia sus nuevos hogares; 15 irán a tierras africanas y el resto será enviado a otro santuario similar en Estados Unidos.

Esta treintena de tigres y leones dejará para siempre los pequeños recintos de hormigón en los que estuvieron confinados en ese establecimiento situado a unos 70 kilómetros al noroeste de Buenos Aires. El predio fue cerrado por las autoridades argentinas en 2020 debido a sus deficientes condiciones para el bienestar animal.

Gran rescate

En una ambiciosa iniciativa a nivel mundial, la organización internacional Four Paws inició el viernes los preparativos para este gran traslado de animales.

Luciana D’Abramo, directora de programas de Four Paws, resaltó a The Associated Press que este es "uno de los operativos más grandes” de reubicación de felinos a nivel mundial. “Estamos poniéndolo todo para que salga lo mejor posible y que podamos celebrar que 30 vidas han mejorado gracias a todo el esfuerzo”.

Tras recibir la autorización veterinaria definitiva, los animales serán trasladados en aviones de carga y en las bodegas de aviones de pasajeros. Nueve tigres y seis leones irán al santuario de Lionsrock, en Sudáfrica, que es gestionado por Four Paws. Esta organización se ha asociado a su vez con The Wild Animal Sanctuary, en Colorado, Estados Unidos, para reubicar a los otros ocho tigres y siete leones.

Previamente los felinos fueron sometidos a evaluaciones veterinarias en noviembre de 2025 que sentaron las bases para la misión de rescate.

El zoológico de Luján, que era privado, se hizo famoso por permitir el contacto cercano entre los visitantes y los grandes felinos. Desde que fue cerrado, los animales permanecieron en el recinto durante años en un entorno que estaba muy lejos de satisfacer sus necesidades básicas.

En 2025, Four Paws firmó un acuerdo con el gobierno argentino para poner fin a la tenencia privada y al comercio de grandes felinos en el país, así como para encontrar una solución a largo plazo para animales del ex zoológico.

“En 2020, cuando se cerró este lugar había alrededor de 200 grandes felinos. Cuando vinimos por primera vez en 2023 a tratar de buscar una solución, quedaban 112. Y cuando finalmente volvimos a ofrecer ayuda y se nos dejó tomar este espacio quedaban 62, así que eso ya demuestra el nivel de hacinamiento y las condiciones en las que estos animales han vivido”, relató D'Abramo.

Comenzó una tarea para mejorar las condiciones de animales con enfermedades o que no caminaban adecuadamente por sobrepeso, falta de músculo o mala alimentación. Y los cuidadores que habían trabajado durante años allí fueron entrenados con otros códigos de bienestar animal.

En febrero pasado, dos osos y una tigresa fueron llevados a santuarios de Bulgaria y Holanda, respectivamente, abriendo paso al actual proyecto de reubicación de los grandes felinos.

Jaulas especiales; vuelos con escalas

Los animales saldrán desde el aeropuerto internacional de las afueras de Buenos Aires. Los que se dirigen a Estados Unidos lo harán a través de Chile; en tanto, nueve de los tigres que van a Sudáfrica harán escala en Frankfurt y los otros seis viajarán vía Ámsterdam. Desde Johannesburgo, donde confluirán, les quedarán cuatro horas de transporte terrestre en camiones hasta llegar al santuario Lionsrock. Viajarán despiertos en sus cajas y con estrictas medidas de seguridad.

Muchos de los tigres y leones fueron entrenados para ingresar en las cajas voluntariamente. “Es el escenario ideal porque no hay necesidad de anestesiarlos; entran, ya conocen el espacio, están cómodos”, apuntó D'Abramo. En otros casos los felinos reciben una sedación de corta duración para ser instalados en esos recintos.

Ese fue el caso de dos tigres de algo más de diez años de edad que nacieron en el antiguo zoológico y el viernes fueron acomodados en sus jaulas de transporte. Su destino es Lionrock.

Santuarios; el nuevo hogar

En ese enorme predio africano, los espacios para los grandes felinos se extienden a lo largo de 60 hectáreas. Actualmente, 80 animales los habitan.

Entre los tigres y leones que serán reubicados en ambos santuarios hay grupos familiares y compañeros de toda la vida que permanecerán juntos. En sus nuevos alojamientos recibirán cuidados para enfermedades dentales y renales, complicaciones asociadas a la extirpación de las garras y lesiones mal curadas.

D'Abramo explicó que en los santuarios no hay reproducción de animales —están castrados— y no existe ningún contacto entre visitantes o cuidadores con los grandes felinos. Por otro lado, aunque los animales siguen en cautiverio, los grandes espacios que habitan les permiten elegir estar visibles o esconderse.

La organización apuesta a reubicar a los más de veinte felinos que quedarán en Luján.

Para hacerlo, Four Paws necesita tiempo y "encontrar la solución que sea la mejor para cada uno”, dijo D'Abramo. Una posibilidad, acotó, es encontrar un espacio en Argentina “que pueda volverse un ejemplo" de bienestar animal.