El Danubio, que atraviesa 10 países desde el suroeste de Alemania hasta el mar Negro, ha retrocedido a niveles nunca vistos a lo largo de gran parte de su curso, dejando al descubierto rocas, bancos de arena y antiguos pecios que rara vez se habían visto antes.

En Budapest, la capital de Hungría, la autoridad nacional del agua midió el nivel del Danubio en 23 centímetros (9 pulgadas) el miércoles por la mañana, muy por debajo del anterior mínimo histórico de 33 centímetros (13 pulgadas) registrado en 2018.

Se espera que el nivel del río siga bajando en los próximos días, sin lluvias significativas en el pronóstico y con temperaturas que se espera que superen los 38º Celsius (100º Fahrenheit) en toda la región.

La sequía altera el tráfico de embarcaciones

Cuando los niveles del Danubio cayeron a un nuevo mínimo el martes, el fotógrafo Gábor Kertész fue a la base del Puente Margarita de Budapest —que normalmente está sumergido, pero ahora es un banco de arena expuesto— para documentar la escena.

“Las rocas desnudas, los bancos de arena secos alrededor de los pilares del puente... es impactante ver cómo eran las cosas antes y cómo son ahora", comentó. "¿A dónde llevará esto? ¿Qué pasará? Todavía no lo sabemos, pero esto debe ser el resultado del cambio climático”.

Gran parte de Europa central ha sufrido una prolongada sequía durante la mayor parte del año, y las sucesivas olas de calor han acelerado la evaporación y han hecho que las vías fluviales se sequen.

Según el Servicio Meteorológico de Hungría, los totales de precipitaciones en los últimos 90 días son de entre 80 y 130 milímetros (3,1 a 5,1 pulgadas) inferiores en casi todo el país en comparación con los promedios plurianuales.

El bajo nivel del agua ha obligado a los populares cruceros, donde los pasajeros suelen desembarcar para hacer turismo en la capital, Budapest, a atracar mucho más arriba, mientras que los buques de carga han dejado de operar casi por completo, según el Ministerio de Transporte e Inversión húngaro.

En Bulgaria, donde el Danubio forma frontera con Rumania, la policía evacuó a 186 turistas el martes de un crucero que había encallado cerca de la ciudad portuaria de Vidin.

Los pasajeros del Viking Ullur se quedaron sin comida y agua después de que la embarcación, que tenía previsto abastecerse en Vidin, no pudiera llegar al puerto tras toparse con un banco de arena poco profundo, según la agencia estatal de noticias búlgara BTA. Los 52 miembros de la tripulación podrían tener que permanecer a bordo durante un largo periodo, dependiendo de las condiciones de navegación y de las opciones para reflotarlo, indicó la policía.

En Serbia, cientos de pequeñas embarcaciones y decenas de buques de carga quedaron varados en la ribera seca del río cerca de la ciudad de Novi Sad, en el norte.

Radovan Segrt, propietario de casa flotante y que realiza excursiones fluviales en su embarcación, contó a The Associated Press que el agua del Danubio se había retirado “unos 15 a 20 metros (50 a 65 pies) de su orilla”.

“La temporada de verano ya terminó, en lo que respecta a pasear en barco”, manifestó.

El bajo nivel de agua obliga a cerrar plantas nucleares

El retroceso también afecta a la producción de energía nuclear en numerosos países donde el agua del Danubio suele utilizarse para enfriar los reactores.

En Rumania, donde el caudal del Danubio había caído a 1.630 metros cúbicos por segundo, alrededor de un tercio de la media habitual para el mes de julio, las autoridades apagaron una unidad de reactor en la central de Cernavoda el martes por razones de seguridad y anunciaron que otra se apagaría poco después.

La central nuclear de Paks, en Hungría, que suministra casi la mitad de la electricidad del país, comenzó a reducir la potencia de un reactor el miércoles debido a restricciones en el suministro de agua de enfriamiento. La medida se tomó después de dos reducciones sucesivas en la producción de energía en dos reactores durante los dos días anteriores.

La sequía deja al descubierto tesoros y peligros

El lecho expuesto también puede suponer peligros. La semana pasada, las autoridades en Budapest cerraron el Puente Margarita después de que una bomba de la Segunda Guerra Mundial quedara al descubierto en su base por el retroceso del agua.

El buscador de tesoros Zsolt Horváth aprovechaba las condiciones extremas para sacar objetos metálicos de la orilla expuesta con un potente imán el martes. Dijo que le producía mucho placer encontrar cosas como un viejo amplificador de radio o casquillos de bala de las guerras mundiales.

Horváth señaló que, si bien “tener tan poca agua en el Danubio es una bendición para este tipo de actividad, por lo demás, es una maldición”.

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Los periodistas de Associated Press Stephen McGrath en Leamington Spa, Reino Unido; Veselin Toshkov en Sofía, Bulgaria; Béla Szandelszky en Budapest y Radul Radovanovic en Novi Sad, Serbia, contribuyeron a este despacho.

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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.

With moisture moving in from the Atlantic coast, national weather service Meteo France forecast light rain in the town of Lege-Cap Ferret, on a peninsula that's been a leading edge of the devastated region.

Local officials reported a “rather calm" night, with a fire that has not grown beyond the 42,000 hectares (about 162 sq. miles) already affected. Fire crews remained at “total mobilization” with 2,200 firefighters and over 20 aircraft.

Rain fell early Thursday in the city of Bordeaux to the east. But there were no early signs of enough rainfall in the hardest-hit areas that could douse the flames or dampen the sandy ground and brushy undergrowth of pine forests that have fueled the inferno.

Sophie Brocas, the prefect for the Gironde region, expressed some optimism that lower temperatures could help.

“If that's confirmed, we could foresee a return to a more normal life for residents, but also for businesses that need to work,” she told reporters late Wednesday.

Humidity reached 80% overnight but was expected to drop by midday, authorities said. Some rainfall was expected along the coast that “could reach the fire zone,” Gironde officials said in a morning note.

Temperatures that peaked around 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) a day earlier were set to drop Thursday, topping out at 27 C (80 F) along the coast. An “orange” heat wave alert — the second-highest level after “red” — was lifted shortly before dawn.

The fires in the Bordeaux wine-growing, forested and tourism-heavy region are among the blazes that have swept across pockets of southern Europe in recent weeks, including Spain and Greece.

On Wednesday, authorities said three firefighters had died on the Greek island on Crete, as the wildfire emergency stretched from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean.

At the peak of the evacuations, a third of a million people were driven from homes and vacation sites in France and Spain.

The attacks were the latest in a series of large-scale Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities that Russia has intensified over the summer, now occurring on a nearly weekly basis.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv and the surrounding region, along with the Dnipro, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, were attacked overnight, with dozens of homes, businesses and infrastructure facilities destroyed or damaged. He said Russia used more than 70 missiles in the strike, a significant number of them ballistic, along with more than 280 attack drones, of which more than 260 were intercepted.

“Given the critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things, demonstrating a very high level of professionalism,” he said. “This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people.”

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian forces carried out a mass attack that killed six people and wounded 10 and damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration.

Children were among the dead, he said on Telegram — a 6-year-old girl and boys aged 11 and 17 in the Kryvyi Rih area.

Zelenskyy specified in his post on X that the parents of the kids were killed as well in the same attack, but two more children were pulled alive from under the rubble.

“It was an ordinary home, blown into smithereens by a ballistic missile... ” he said. Ukrainian leader said untimely assistance and delays in the delivery of anti-ballistic missiles lead to the kind of destruction and casualties seen in the attack, adding that it is important to support the protection of life.

In the Poltava region, next to Dnipropetrovsk region in the west, a drone strike hit warehouses at a private enterprise, killing one person, said regional head Vitalii Diakivnych. He said a delivery hub also was attacked, sparking a fire at warehouses that was quickly extinguished by State Emergency Service units, with no injuries reported there.

In Lviv, the number of people injured in a Russian missile attack rose to 30 as a rescue operation continued, said Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration.

The city was struck at about 4:45 a.m., with the worst damage to two residential buildings, Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said. More than 20 residential buildings were damaged, along with a school and two kindergartens, he said, adding that children were among those injured, including one who was hospitalized.

In Kyiv, Russian forces struck the capital with ballistic missiles, killing a 31-year-old man and wounding two others, the National Police press service said. Residential buildings, a market, a garage cooperative, storage facilities and vehicles were damaged in the city, police said.

In the Kyiv region, five people were wounded in the Brovary district, including a minor and two women, acting regional administration head Ruslan Oliinyk said on Facebook.

In Moscow, the Defense Ministry said the Russian armed forces overnight launched a massive strike on air bases, arms factories and military telecommunications and logistics facilities in Kyiv, Lviv and in the Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

It said the military also hit a ship in the Pivdennyi port and two ships east and south of Odesa.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight. Penza Gov. Oleg Melnichenko said a depot belonging to Wildberries online retailer was set ablaze. He said one person was injured and 200 workers were evacuated.

Wildberries also reported that its warehouse in Sarapul in the region of Udmurtia was struck by a Ukrainian drone and set ablaze. It said the workers had been safely evacuated. The attacks were the latest in a series of Ukrainian strikes that hit depots belonging to Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer, causing massive damage.

“He ran into that water despite those conditions that are deadly. You have 10 foot waves; you have riptides and currents coming in,” Sumit Rai told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “It is not safe for him to go into that water. So he’s risking his own safety.”

Rai’s son Nathaniel was standing in shallow water when he lost his footing and was pulled into the ocean Saturday by powerful swells that suddenly came ashore at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, about 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) down the coast from San Francisco. Rai, who was in his home city of Dallas, said he heard about what happened when he spoke to his kids on the phone that evening.

“My son told me that he drowned and my son told me that he went unconscious,” he said. “He was very subdued, still in a state of shock.”

By the next morning, Rai had watched the video of the rescue that has since caught the attention of President Donald Trump.

Ryder Williams, 16, the lifeguard who saved Nathaniel, said he saw the boy lose his footing in ankle-deep water. He radioed in and then raced toward Nathaniel.

“After the first wave, I was unable to pull him out because he was limp and the waves were pushing so hard,” he said in a statement.

California State Parks, which employs the lifeguards at that beach, said the boy was swept about 15 yards (13.7 meters) into the ocean before the lifeguard made contact with him.

In the video, Williams can be seen diving into a coming wave while holding tight to the boy.

Another lifeguard jumped in to help, along with some bystanders, who Williams said he warned to go back to the shore.

“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to return the child to his family safely,” he said. “This is my job and I love what I do. I’m thankful to my fellow lifeguards who perform rescues just like this every day.”

The boy had no serious injuries, and after an medical evaluation he was released to his family, the California State Parks said in an emailed statement.

Rai said his son told him that he got sand in his lungs and was coughing it out after getting to the shore. Now his son, who is expected back from California in a few days, is dealing with the psychological effects of what happened.

“He’s still been thinking about it a lot. It’s on his mind,” he said. “It bothers him when he’s sleeping. So it’s obviously traumatizing.”

Rai has reached out to Williams and said he hopes to be able to thank him directly.

“What he did, I can never ever repay," he said. "I'm forever grateful.”

Los científicos afirman que el cambio climático, provocado principalmente por la quema de petróleo, carbón y gas, calienta el mar Mediterráneo y atrae a cientos de especies de peces nuevas e invasoras que diezman las poblaciones autóctonas.

A medida que disminuye la biodiversidad, las comunidades costeras tendrán dificultades para ganarse la vida de la forma en la que se ha hecho durante generaciones.

“El Mediterráneo de nuestros abuelos, de nuestros mayores, y de los griegos, de la antigua Grecia, se ha perdido para siempre. Muchos de esos cambios son irreversibles”, manifestó Ernesto Azzuro, biólogo marino del Instituto de Recursos Biológicos Marinos y Biotecnología del Consejo Nacional de Investigación de Italia.

El calor no puede disiparse en la cuenca del Mediterráneo

Los científicos han designado al Mediterráneo como un “punto crítico” del cambio climático, y se espera que sus aguas se calienten entre 2 y 6 grados Celsius (entre 3,6 y 10,8 grados Fahrenheit) para 2100. Es probable que las olas de calor se vuelvan más frecuentes y más extremas, según Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change, una red independiente de científicos.

Ronan McAdam, oceanógrafo del Centro Euromediterráneo sobre Cambio Climático, explicó que un factor clave del calentamiento es que el mar es una cuenca cerrada y el calor no puede disiparse como ocurre en la inmensidad de los océanos.

El calentamiento de sus aguas ha convertido al Mediterráneo en un nuevo y atractivo hogar para especies invasoras como el pez globo moteado, un depredador voraz y el “peor invasor”, señaló Azzuro.

Estas especies se dirigen ahora hacia Francia y España tras entrar al Mediterráneo por el canal de Suez.

La Comisión General de Pesca del Mediterráneo, de la agencia de Naciones Unidas para la alimentación y la agricultura, indicó que esas especies invasoras han estado presentes durante décadas, pero su propagación se aceleró a partir de los comienzos de la década de 2000, coincidiendo con el aumento de la temperatura del mar. Por ejemplo, el pez león se registró por primera vez en el Mediterráneo oriental en 2012 y se ha expandido rápidamente hacia el oeste.

“El Mediterráneo será aún más pobre, con aún menos especies, simplemente porque el cambio climático está haciendo que esta parte del Mediterráneo, especialmente la parte oriental, sea realmente inadecuada para las especies autóctonas”, explicó Azzuro.

Chipre, debido a su proximidad al canal de Suez, fue el primero en sentir el impacto de estos peces invasores. El pez león desplazó a poblaciones autóctonas como el salmonete rojo, para disgusto de los pescadores, que han visto disminuir en gran medida las variedades locales apreciadas por los clientes.

Además están los peces conejo, que pueden devorar algas del fondo marino, destruyendo el hábitat de muchas especies autóctonas.

“Sabemos lo que debería hacerse. Deberíamos reducir el uso de combustibles (fósiles)”, dijo Piero Genovesi Papik, zoólogo del Instituto Superior para la Protección e Investigación Ambiental de Italia. “Se trata, definitivamente, de un asunto urgente para la humanidad, y todos conocemos las soluciones, aunque, por supuesto, requieren una visión global y conjunta”.

Se han identificado unas 1.000 especies invasoras

Azzuro apuntó que se han identificado unas 1.000 especies invasoras en el Mediterráneo, y que 800 de ellas están firmemente establecidas.

Los cambios son drásticos. Azzuro indicó que las aguas poco profundas del Mediterráneo oriental han perdido el 93% de su población de moluscos. A lo largo de la costa adriática, antes abundante en mejillones, casi todos han muerto debido a la temperatura del agua, que en ocasiones han superado los 30º C (86º F).

Desde Venecia, en el norte, hasta Bari, en el sur, “la mortandad fue espectacular”, sostuvo. “A menos que… encontremos poblaciones capaces de sobrevivir a través de estos distintos climas, el futuro de los mejillones no es un futuro feliz, al menos en el mar Adriático”.

Azzuro dijo que su instituto y su socio lanzaron hace unos años la campaña “Cuidado con esos cuatro” para concienciar sobre los peligros que suponen las especies invasoras para la salud humana.

Por ejemplo, el pez globo es tóxico y potencialmente letal si lo consumen los humanos. Las espinas venenosas del pez león pueden causar lesiones graves a cualquiera que sea picado.

Expertos: la propagación de las invasoras no puede revertirse

Los científicos están debatiendo cómo pueden adaptarse a esta situación las comunidades costeras. Una forma es comercializar las especies invasoras que son comestibles. Otra es pagar a los pescadores para que capturen las no comestibles, como el pez globo, para que puedan ser incineradas.

Algunas especies, como el pez león, tienen “claros beneficios económicos porque se vende a precios muy altos, especialmente en algunos países”, comentó Azzuro. Pero los pescadores no han aprovechado otra especie invasora, el sigano nebuloso, cuya población ha crecido de manera significativa en aguas italianas.

Papik, el zoólogo, señaló que, aunque es “demasiado tarde” para revertir la propagación de las invasoras en el Mediterráneo, existen formas prácticas de mitigar su impacto.

La primera es impedir que sigan migrando mediante la aplicación de un tratado internacional que obligue a las autoridades nacionales a tratar las aguas de lastre de los barcos que lleguen a puerto y puedan transportar esas especies.

“Esto es algo técnicamente factible y puede reducir el número de… nuevas especies exóticas entre un 95% y un 99%”, explicó. Otra táctica es tratar los cascos de los barcos con una pintura especial que impide que polizones indeseados se adhieran a ellos.

Papik indicó también que se están modificando las políticas pesqueras para permitir que las especies autóctonas recuperen parte de su población, como el cultivo de moluscos menos susceptibles al cangrejo azul exótico.

“En los próximos años, creo que el desafío será restaurar, encontrar nuevas maneras de restaurar el medio ambiente”, agregó.

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

The United Arab Emirates-based app, which reports having 1 billion users worldwide, faces a fine of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars ($38 million) if convicted in the Australian Federal Court for “alleged failure to detect and remove pro-terror material,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said Thursday.

The civil action is a test of Australia's 2021 law requiring tech platforms to work to keep illegal and pro-terrorism material off their networks.

Telegram denied the claims. “We reject these allegations and will contest them in court,” a spokesperson said in a written statement sent on Telegram.

Regulator says app must take responsibility

The platform is one of the world's most popular messaging apps. The Australian regulator is taking issue with what's shared in group chats of up to 200 people and channels with unlimited reach.

“This case concerns content linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history, including material associated with the Christchurch and Buffalo terror attacks,” Inman Grant said in a statement.

“We allege that this content remained accessible on the service long after Telegram had been put on notice,” she said.

The crimes cited by Inman Grant were ideologically-driven massacres performed for online audiences. Years later, digital artifacts of the massacres are still confounding regulators, who fear the power of videos and so-called manifestos to radicalize others.

In Buffalo in 2022, an American white supremacist livestreamed on Twitch part of a shooting at a supermarket in which he killed 10 Black people. He cited among his motivations the crimes of an Australian white supremacist who in 2019 livestreamed on Facebook a shooting at two Christchurch mosques, where he murdered 51 Muslim worshippers.

Telegram channels established after these and other hate-fueled crimes were populated by users who endorsed the killers and shared videos and other content from the massacres. The Australian watchdog's claim, filed to the federal court Wednesday, said the unlimited broadcast size of Telegram channels meant the app must take responsibility for culling harmful material.

Telegram says it blocks 'terrorist-related communities'

The messaging app's statement said that the platform's “extensive anti-terrorism efforts are well-documented," adding a link to its published figures recording blocked content and channels. More than 150,000 “terrorist-related communities” have been blocked from the platform this year, according to the figures.

Inman Grant said eSafety began urging Telegram to comply with its own policies in March 2024, but the platform had been “non-responsive” for months.

The Australian official said that changed after France arrested Telegram’s Russian billionaire founder and CEO Pavel Durov in August 2024 over allegations that his platform was being used for illegal activity, including drug trafficking and the distribution of images of child sexual abuse. He was released after four days of questioning on bail of 5 million euros ($5.7 million).

Telegram had "become more compliant initially with us and with other regulators after France took action against the company,” Inman Grant said.

“They've still kept a permissive hosting environment for terrorist content,” she added.

The Australian court case also related to IS beheadings and other “horrific material used for propaganda and for radicalization,” she said.

“When platforms are alerted to terrorist content, they must act,” Inman Grant said.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Durov of aiding what it called terrorist activities. The service also said it was adding Durov’s name to international wanted lists.

Telegram said in its statement supplied to The Associated Press on Thursday that it is committed to protecting user privacy and human rights such as freedom of speech and assembly. It said it had played a prominent role in pro-democracy movements around the world, including in Iran, Russia, Belarus, Myanmar and Hong Kong.

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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.

Crude prices remain volatile after the U.S. said early Thursday it had conducted a “heavy wave” of strikes against Iran, responding to an attack on a U.S. base.

U.S. futures edged higher after losses on Wall Street.

In South Korea, recent drops in its benchmark Kospi, a big beneficiary of the global boom in AI, have been seen by some analysts as a reflection of broader doubts about massive investments by technology giants in expanding AI capacity.

The Kospi was swinging on Thursday and ended 1.2% lower at 5,593.56, after falling 10.8% on Tuesday and nearly 6% on Wednesday. The benchmark has fallen more than 38% from its all-time closing high of more than 9,100 in June, though it's still up nearly 30% so far this year.

Samsung Electronics fell 0.7%, even after the South Korean technology giant reported a record operating profit for the latest quarter, largely in line with estimates.

Chipmaker SK Hynix lost 5.6% after sinking more than 9% on Wednesday, when it also reported a record quarterly operating profit, which ballooned nearly sixfold. That was still lower than what analysts had expected and disappointed investors dumped its shares.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% to 61,867.43, recovering some of its losses after falling 1.5% a day earlier. Open-AI investor SoftBank Group fell 2.5%. But computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 4.5%. Memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings added 2.9%.

Taiwan’s Taiex, which was also lifted by the AI boom, closed 0.3% lower. Its leading chipmaker TSMC edged up 0.2%.

AI stocks including in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan have faced volatility over doubts about tech firms' massive spendings on AI infrastructure and if that can generate sustainable returns, said Chi Lo, senior market strategist of Asia-Pacific at BNP Paribas Asset Management, in a commentary Thursday.

The recent realization “of China’s AI as a serious competitor to the current AI market leaders has triggered (and) aggravated these concerns again,” he said.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.2% to 25,857.11. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.7% to 3,801.67.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.8% to 8,967.70.

India’s Sensex was less than 0.1% higher.

Oil prices were higher after falling earlier Thursday as the U.S. and Iran resumed exchanging attacks. U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran “very hard,” after it targeted a U.S. base in Jordan. Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil transport, remains limited, putting pressure on global supplies.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.6% to $88.60 per barrel. It was trading around $72 a barrel in late February, before the war began.

Benchmark U.S. crude was 0.3% higher at $84.70 per barrel.

In the U.S. on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 1.5% to 7,316.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.2% to 51.594.14, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.7% to 24,442.94.

Several chipmaking big names fell. Nvidia lost 3.6% and AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, shed 5.5%. Broadcom declined 2.8%.

The U.S. stocks traded lower also after the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady even as some members on the policymaking committee wanted to raise rates.

The Fed’s chairman, Kevin Warsh, reiterated his commitment to get inflation back to 2% following years of faster-than-hoped increases in prices, but he also stuck to his plan of giving financial markets fewer clues about what the Fed may do with interest rates in the near future.

With less guidance from the Fed, financial markets may be set for more volatile trading amid the uncertainty.

“Did the Fed take an explicit change in its policy rate today?” Warsh asked rhetorically in a news conference following the Fed’s decision. “No, but I think that’s the beginning of the story.”

In the bond market, the yield of the U.S. 10-year Treasury was at 4.68%, up from 4.61% late Tuesday.

In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 163.60 Japanese yen from 163.41 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1443, down from $1.1467.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

No casualties were reported from Jordan's interception of the missiles, the news agency quoted the spokesman for the country's armed forces as saying.

The U.S. Central Command said in a social media post that for over two hours the United States had struck “dozens” of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, including military command centers as well as missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites.

The new strikes came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after it targeted a base in Jordan that hosts U.S. troops.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm, which lies just off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers on Wednesday.

The flare-ups on multiple fronts after several days of relative calm raised the risk of a return to all-out war. It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans. The fighting was likely to add to concerns that the U.S. is further drawing down already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and allies.

Fires reported on two natural gas vessels in Egyptian port

Elsewhere, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a U.S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported.

Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry said a fire had broken out on two vessels in Damietta, without causing casualties. It did not specify what caused the fires, and did not mention any attack.

Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.

Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes on the natural gas vessels, Trump responded: “It’s a little more of the same.”

“In the meantime, we’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” he added.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iraq militias of targeting its oil facilities

Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while another Iran-backed group — the Houthi rebels in Yemen — said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met separately on Wednesday with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly about the private meetings.

They said the Saudi decision to join the U.S. attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that it wouldn’t tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure. At the same time, the defense minister underscored to Trump and Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations.

Before the latest eruption, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiating table. An interim agreement collapsed in recent weeks over renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies that Iranian attacks have again effectively closed.

A regional official said mediators are “still trying with both sides” to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track. He gave no details on whether progress was being made and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door diplomacy.

Attacks on Saudi oil facilities could worsen global energy crisis

Saudi Arabia is also locked in a renewed conflict with the Houthis. The rebels have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping that could choke off another crucial Middle East trade route, the Bab el-Mandeb strait from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden.

On Monday, the Houthis said they had launched drones targeting oil facilities used to transport oil across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, a key bypass for Saudi exports blocked by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

The rebels said the attack was in response to a Saudi drone they said had breached Yemen’s airspace.

Planet Labs satellite imagery from Monday analyzed by The Associated Press showed damage to Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil-processing facility. The massive facility is capable of processing approximately 7 million barrels of crude oil per day.

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Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Iraq, contributed.

The Danube River, which runs through 10 countries from southwestern Germany to the Black Sea, has receded to never-before-seen lows along much of its course, exposing rocks, sand bars and old shipwrecks that have rarely been seen before.

In Budapest, Hungary's capital, the national water authority measured the Danube's water level at 23 centimeters (9 inches) on Wednesday morning, well below the previous all-time low of 33 centimeters (13 inches) set in 2018.

The river is expected to further ebb in the coming days with no significant rain in the forecast and temperatures expected to rise to over 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) across the region.

Drought upends boat traffic

As Danube levels sank to a new low on Tuesday, photographer Gábor Kertész went to the base of Budapest’s Margaret Bridge — typically underwater but now an exposed shoal — to document the sight.

“The bare rocks, the dry sand bars around the bridge pillars ... it’s all shocking to see how things were before and how they are now,” he said. “Where will this lead, what will happen? We don’t know that yet, but this must be the result of climate change.”

Much of Central Europe has been under a prolonged drought for most of the year, and successive heat waves have accelerated evaporation and caused waterways to dry out.

According to the Hungarian Meteorological Service, 90-day precipitation totals are between 80-130 millimeters (3.1-5.1 inches) lower across nearly the entire country compared to multi-year averages.

The low water level has forced popular cruise ships, where passengers usually disembark for sightseeing in Budapest, to dock far upriver, while cargo ships have stopped operating nearly entirely, according to Hungary’s Ministry of Transport and Investment.

In Bulgaria, where the Danube forms a border with Romania, police on Tuesday evacuated 186 tourists from a cruise ship that had run aground near the port city of Vidin.

Passengers of the Viking Ullur ran out of food and water after the vessel, which had been scheduled to take on supplies in Vidin, was unable to reach the port after running into a shallow shoal, according to Bulgaria’s state news agency BTA. The ship's 52 crew members could have to remain onboard for an extended period depending on navigation conditions and refloating options, police said.

In Serbia, hundreds of small boats and dozens of cargo ships were marooned on the dried out river bank near the northern city of Novi Sad.

One house boat owner, Radovan Segrt, who runs river excursions on his vessel, told The Associated Press that the water in the Danube had withdrawn “some 15 to 20 meters (50 to 65 feet) from it's shore.”

“The summer season is over now, as far as boat riding is concerned,” he said.

Low water levels force nuclear plant shut downs

The receding waters are also affecting nuclear energy production in numerous countries where water from the Danube is typically used to cool reactors.

In Romania, where Danube water flow had fallen to 1,630 cubic meters per second, around a third of a typical July average, authorities shut down a reactor unit at the Cernavoda power plant on Tuesday for safety reasons and announced another would be shut down soon after.

Similarly, Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant, which supplies nearly half of the country's electricity, began powering down a reactor on Wednesday due to restricted cooling-water supplies. That came after two successive reductions in power output in two reactors over the previous two days.

Drought exposes treasures and dangers

The exposed river bed can also pose dangers. Last week, authorities in Budapest closed the Margaret Bridge after a bomb dating from World War II was exposed at its base by the receding water levels.

Treasure hunter Zsolt Horváth was using the extreme conditions to fish metal objects from the exposed bank with a powerful magnet on Tuesday. He said he got a lot of pleasure from finding things like an old radio amplifier or bullet casings from the World Wars.

Horváth said that while "having so little water in the Danube is a blessing for this kind of activity, otherwise, it’s a curse.”

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Associated Press writers Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, Béla Szandelszky in Budapest, Hungary and Radul Radovanovic in Novi Sad, Serbia contributed.

Smith's family said in a statement Wednesday that Smith died following a bout with CTE-caused dementia.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the loss of our beloved Billy Ray Smith Jr., who passed away peacefully surrounded by family,” the statement said. “Billy Ray faced his long journey with dementia caused by CTE with unmatched bravery, dignity, and strength. Billy Ray brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the world as a devoted father, husband, son, and loyal friend."

Smith played 10 seasons with the Chargers after being drafted with the No. 5 overall pick of the 1983 NFL draft out of Arkansas. He was named to the Chargers' 50th anniversary team after racking up 15 career interceptions, 14 fumble recoveries and 13 forced fumbles.

Smith became the sports director at the ABC affiliate in San Diego following his playing career and was co-host of a long-running radio show while covering college and professional football for national TV broadcast.

Smith was a two-time All-American at Arkansas and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. He starred at Plano Senior High School in Texas.

His father, Billy Ray Smith Sr., also played at Arkansas and in the NFL from 1957-70 with the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts.

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

Released on Thursday, the annual “State of Black America” report grimly describes Black Americans ' economic and political prospects as having worsened due to policy changes from President Donald Trump's administration, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The report contends that the challenges it highlights for Black communities are warning signs for the prosperity of all Americans.

“It may be the focus is us, but the impact is not just us,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “While they have targeted and focused on Black Americans, these attacks are going to impact broadly working Americans, poor Americans, aspirational middle-class Americans, and this is what this report points to.”

Tracing the arc of American history, the Urban League describes Black Americans' struggle for emancipation from slavery and equal economic and political rights as a gruesome but optimistic part of the American story.

Now, the report says, the Trump administration is at odds with the goals and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, citing the overhaul of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as the president’s focus on overhauling voting laws through the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, as examples of rollbacks of long-sought civil rights policies.

The report's authors offer policy and strategy recommendations for civil rights groups aiming to combat the Trump administration.

“The civil rights community must consolidate its legal resistance and turn courtroom wins into durable policy,” the report says. “The movement must build economic infrastructure that doesn’t depend on the goodwill of any one administration.”

Report contributors include potential Democratic presidential contender

This year’s report includes contributions from members of Congress, and policy and legal experts, as well as some media personalities.

U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Raphael Warnock all contributed to the report, as well as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey contributed a video message to the report.

Moore, who is widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, submitted an essay focused on closing the racial wealth gap and Black Americans' history of economic advancement in the face of adversity.

“With wisdom and grit, my mom was able to lift me and my family to a higher rung on the economic ladder. But too often wisdom and grit aren't enough,” Moore wrote.

He later called closing the racial wealth gap “a matter of moral clarity” but cautioned that “government alone cannot close the racial wealth gap. It's going to take all of us,” referencing the private sector and civil society.

Report blasts 'economic assault' on Black Americans

Whether corporate America and major nonprofits are still willing to participate is an open question. The report condemns the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back diversity initiatives and economic advancement projects in the private sector, and expressed frustration with companies that cooperated with an “economic assault" on Americans, especially Black Americans.

“This has been a campaign of coercion and oppression directed at these institutions who have been out here working hard to, if you will, change America,” Morial said. “The important thing about companies is that every company has not bent the knee. Some may have done some cosmetic changes. Some have been in full and complete retreat.”

The DEI rollbacks are a jarring reversal for the Urban League, which held sway in the Biden White House on economic and social policies. The report lauds President Joe Biden's administration for signing a sweeping COVID-19 stimulus package, as well as laws supporting minority small businesses and a bipartisan infrastructure bill.

“Not every promise was kept, and the current administration is pushing to roll our wins back, but these wins serve as a blueprint for what is possible through sustained advocacy and a clear vision,” the authors write. The agenda, the Urban League declares, was “the most consequential federal investments in Black America since the Great Society.”

The organization and its civil rights allies now find themselves in a strikingly different political environment under the Trump administration.

“Looking at our current political landscape, the calls for racial healing and righting of this nation’s wrongs in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd feel like a fever dream,” the report reads.

But the study also acknowledges that Black Americans have overcome more dire and discriminatory moments.

Latest Black America report is Urban League's 50th edition

The Urban League's inaugural 1976 report on the state of Black America was described by the New York Times at the time as “a profoundly depressing document” that laid out the persistent disparities between the economic outlooks of Black and white Americans, a decade after the Civil Rights Movement's crowning achievements were signed into law.

The report was established as a response to that year's State of the Union address by President Gerald R. Ford and the Democratic response, neither of which mentioned the economic outlooks for Black Americans. The report offered policy recommendations on crime, education housing, social services and general economic policy.

“It is a document that does not attempt to cover up the seriousness of the situation black people find themselves in,” the authors wrote at the time. Several of its recommendations were later taken up by President Jimmy Carter, who was elected to the White House months after the report’s release.

This year's 50th anniversary document echoes the frustration found in the inaugural report. While Morial acknowledged that the Urban League's assessments may lead to pessimism, he urged Americans concerned about civil rights and economic progress to respond at the ballot box and with their pocketbooks.

“We cannot be dejected. We cannot be cynical. We must act,” Morial said. “We have to fight to make sure that those that are really trying to kill the essence of the American dream don’t win.”

It’s also chance for some 2 million voters to pass judgment on the governing Labour Party, whose sagging popularity Burnham hopes to revive. Polling stations are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with vote-counting starting Friday morning.

Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester for nine years until he won a special election for a seat in Parliament last month with the intention of challenging then- Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.

Burnham’s momentum spurred Starmer to announce he would resign after just two years in office. Burnham was the only candidate in Labour’s leadership election, and he became prime minister on July 20.

He has established a branch of the prime minister’s office in the city, dubbed “No. 10 North,” to help fulfil his pledge to give local leaders more powers and spread economic growth around the country.

The Greater Manchester region has a population of about 3 million and includes the city of Manchester and surrounding towns. Burnham won three straight mayoral elections, in 2017, 2021 and 2024, and Labour candidate Bev Craig, the current leader of Manchester City Council, is hoping to retain the mayoralty for the party.

Burnham said serving as mayor had been an “immense privilege,” and he urged voters to back Craig to “build on the progress we’ve all made together.”

Craig faces six other candidates, including Sian Astley from the anti-immigration party Reform UK, which won big in many areas of Greater Manchester in local elections in May.

Labour has also lost voters to the Green Party, which won a special parliamentary election in the Gorton and Denton district of Greater Manchester in February, pushing Labour into third place and heightening concerns in the governing party about Starmer’s leadership. Those worries came to a head after the May election rout, leading to Starmer’s fall and Burnham’s rise.

Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester, said “Labour want a show of strength in a city region where the party has long been politically dominant.”

“A big win in his former stomping ground will provide a significant boost for Andy Burnham,” Ford wrote in a blog post for the U.K. in a Changing Europe think tank.

"All because of Trump,” he said.

It was a message the president repeated while touring a collection of new vehicles, predicting that "it’s amazing what tariffs will do for General Motors" before autographing a white Corvette commemorating America’s 250th anniversary. He later told a crowd of cheering supporters that “Michigan is thriving.”

That's not exactly true, at least according to many metrics. Tariffs have cost businesses in Michigan and across the country billions of dollars while helping to stoke inflation that has continued to run hot — despite Trump's assurances that his business background would wipe it out.

Many Americans believe tariffs have pushed prices higher and the war in Iran has also increased gasoline prices, hurting consumer confidence in the economy while keeping Trump's approval ratings low.

There are few places where contradictions between the president's boasts and the economic reality of his tariffs are more likely to collide ahead of November's midterm elections than in battleground Michigan, which holds its primary on Tuesday. Trump won the state in 2016 and then again in 2024, after it had flipped to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

During his rally in Milford, northwest of Detroit, the crowd was adoring. But even some of Trump's ardent supporters said prices are too high and tariffs had caused short-term economic pain — even as they still support the president overall.

Lisa Scherer, a 64-year-old who used to run a landscaping company and work as a bus driver and union steward, acknowledged that high gas prices are “hurting a lot” and it is “very rough” to afford things.

“But I’m just hoping, if we hang in there,” she said, emphasizing that she still thinks the president is doing a good job.

Michigan and Canada have deep trade ties

Though the Supreme Court struck down many of the tariffs Trump ordered upon first returning to the White House, the administration has launched new import taxes and recently invoked the Tariff Act of 1930 to accuse Canada of using discriminatory practices and plans to impose 50% tariffs on many imports from that country.

Michigan relies on supply chains that are heavily integrated with Canada after decades of policies that encouraged reducing bilateral trade barriers. That included the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement from Trump’s first term. Trump chose not to renew that trade pact, setting up years of negotiations.

GM said it was “honored to spend time showcasing our vehicles and facilities” for Trump. But automakers have long said that tariffs increase production costs — so much so that the president offered them a reprieve from his auto-part tariffs, extending in October what was supposed to have been a short-term rebate until 2030.

Veteran Michigan pollster Bernie Porn said Trump's rosy words can't hide how his tariffs are helping intensify voters' concerns about inflation and affordability.

“When I was listening to him, I said, ‘What planet are you on?’" Porn said.

Porn noted that some Republicans nationally are worried that their voters won't be motivated to turn out in November and “I doubt if Michigan is going to be very different."

“He is like an anchor around Republicans,” Porn said.

Trump's policies don't bother Joe Miskovich, the 57-year-old owner of an aerospace business from Fenton, Michigan, about 20 miles north of Milford. He said of tariffs that “the American public needs to look at the bigger picture."

People need to see, Miskovich said, that "yes, granted, there might be a little higher increase in price. But the long-term effect is going to be absolutely positive to the nation.”

Trump is helping decide next week's primaries

As he's done in key midterm primary races nationwide, the president has used endorsements to help ensure candidates he sees as most loyal or potentially helpful to his policies prevail. In Michigan's Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, Trump has endorsed Congressman John James over rival Perry Johnson.

Also speaking was former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is again running for Senate after narrowly losing to Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin two years ago.

More national attention has been focused on the state's Democratic Senate primary, which will decide if Rogers faces Rep. Haley Stevens or progressive favorite Abdul El-Sayed. But Rogers said Michigan needs a senator who promotes Trump's agenda, not someone who works to stymie it.

“This is the time that we will stand up and get Michigan up off of her knees,” he said at Trump's rally.

Scherer, who once ran the landscaping company, drove nearly five hours from her home in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, to see Trump's speech. She's nonetheless worried that the president has left behind some supporters like herself who helped get him back to the White House.

“I’m brutally honest, like Trump is, aren’t I? He’s forgot about the people on a fixed income,” said Scherer, who lives on Social Security benefits of $1,100 per month. “But I look at it like, I guess, No pain, no gain.”

Automakers plan to increase domestic production — eventually

Republican Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall praised tariffs at Trump’s rally, while also noting that the president last year announced a new fighter jet mission that secured the future of the state’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

“This is what putting Michigan first looks like,” he said.

Some auto companies have pledged to ramp up U.S. production, yet those benefits aren't being felt yet. GM announced in June 2025 that it planned to invest $4 billion to shift some vehicle production from Mexico to the U.S. starting next year.

Ford and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, have a similar timeline for expanding domestic operations.

Toyota also said it would invest $3.6 billion and relocate production of its Tacoma pickup from Mexico to Texas, but that will happen over roughly four years.

In the meantime, Michigan has seen only modest increases in auto sector job creation during Trump's second term, while jobs tied to auto parts manufacturing declined by about 4,000 statewide through June when compared to the same month last year.

Michigan has lost 8,300 manufacturing jobs since Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April of last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among some of Trump's base, economic worries show

Outwardly, the rally was a lovefest. When the president told of encountering a “beautiful” waitress in Las Vegas during the 2024 campaign, a man in the audience bellowed, “You're beautiful!”

Later, the crowd began chanting “10 more years!” when Trump talked about needing to leave office after January 2029.

“Trump is, like, No. 1. You know, he’s the best,” said Rose Stroud, 75, who attended the rally from Commerce, Michigan. “He thinks about the people, about what they need.”

Some attendees insisted that the president should get the benefit of the doubt — even as concerns about kitchen table issues tick up.

“There’s always a method to the madness, and people sometimes don’t understand or get it," said Roy Parks, 49, a self-employed handyman, photographer and videographer from Milford. “But there’s always a reason he’s doing things a certain way, and it may not make sense at first, but after six, twelve months, it all comes together."

He said the same goes for tariffs: "You may not like it at first, but it’s a short-term pinch, short-term pain, but long-term good. It works out in the end. It’s for the best.”

“When you rip off the Band-Aid right away, it stings," Parks added. "But, after a few minutes, there’s no pain. You have to go through a little bit of pain at first to get to long-term good.”

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Chef Creole owner Wilkinson Sejour said he recently lost four employees.

“I said, look, they extended it for three more days,” Sejour said. “They said, ‘Boss, the way this administration is doing business, they don’t care about the rule of law. They just care about their agenda. I’m not going to be embarrassed. I’m not going to be looking like a criminal in front of people,’ so they’re out of here. They’re gone.”

Sejour, who is Haitian American, said he empathizes with Haitian TPS holders who came to the United States for better opportunities as Haiti continues to deal with crime and instability.

“How do you get sent back to a country that the American embassy is saying, ‘Do not go over there?’” Sejour said. “This is very contradictory. I don’t understand it.”

Archbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he lobbied senators to pass a House bill that would extend TPS protections for Haitian nationals for three more years.

“They were not very optimistic about the possibilities of the Senate passing the bill that was referred to them from the House. But I told them, I said, ‘Listen, that bill that came out of the House of Representatives on a discharge petition was a minor miracle. And we’re here to ask them to help make a major miracle,’” Wenski said.

While Wenski continues to push for a legislative solution, Sejour says he is already preparing for the financial impact on his business.

Sejour owns seven Chef Creole locations across Miami. He said he is now looking to hire more workers to replace the employees he recently lost.

“My cost of labor is supposed to be at 23½%, and now it’s going to go to 27% or maybe 28%,” Sejour said. “So my net profit is going to be smaller. How am I going to mitigate that? My prices on my goods are going to have to go up. Everyone is going to feel it.”

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Police confirmed that a report was made Tuesday after the Frenchie was found dead at a home in the 6600 block of Atlanta Street.

The owners of the Frenchie named Prince said he was being watched by a pet sitter found on Rover.com when he was left in a crate outside in the summer heat. They said Prince was in good health prior to his death.

Prince’s owner, Kaylynn Ackeret, was heartbroken when she found out.

“I didn’t really know what to say,” she said. “I just started crying and I got off the phone.”

Ackeret said a friend went to pick up Princes body.

“They told me they left him in a kennel,” she said.

Hollywood police confirmed Wednesday that officers are at the home investigating what led to the dog’s death, and are also working with City of Hollywood Animal Control.

“We understand the concern from community members and are working to gather as much information as possible to determine exactly what occurred,” HPD posted on social media. “We remain committed to this investigation and will provide updates as soon as the information becomes available.”

Rover also released a statement to Local 10 News about Prince’s death.

“Most of us at Rover are pet parents ourselves, and we can only imagine the heartbreak and stress Prince’s family is experiencing,” the statement read. “Upon learning of this incident, our 24/7 Trust & Safety team launched a thorough investigation. The account of the sitter involved has been deactivated without the option to appeal, meaning they cannot communicate or book new stays with pet parents via Rover. We have also refunded Ms. Ackeret’s stay and offered to reimburse all eligible veterinary and aftercare costs through the Rover Guarantee.

“Safety incidents on our platform are extremely rare — over half a million stays have been booked by pet parents in the Miami area, with more than 98% of reviewed stays receiving five stars. Prince’s death is truly heartbreaking, and it’s one we’re handling with the seriousness it deserves."

U.S. Coast Guard crews surrounded the child on a gurney moments after emergency responders brought him to Miami from the island of Bimini.

The boy suffered multiple bite wounds to his legs, face, head and one of his arms, according to police in the Bahamas. The injuries were significant enough that he needed to be transferred to Miami for treatment.

Doctors and nurses at Jackson Memorial Hospital have been caring for the child, where he has reportedly undergone several hours of surgery.

Investigators say the attack happened in broad daylight on a beach in Bimini while the child was alone collecting sand.

A witness was able to scare the animals away, according to investigators.

The child then made his way back to the apartment where he and his parents were staying, leading to the first call for help.

Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan ’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tuesday.

The number of those missing was unclear. The quake left at least 63 people injured, five of them seriously, the Kumamoto prefectural government said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, speaking to reporters Thursday, gave a higher number for the death toll at 28. That came from a police tally, he said, which includes cases still under investigation. Some of those cases may later turn out to be unrelated to the earthquake.

Survivors spoke about coming home and desperately pulling family members out of the wreckage. Some had suffered injuries and were rushed to the hospital.

Thousands of people spent another night at evacuation centers set up throughout the area in gymnasiums and other big spaces. Some homes were still without water or electricity, while others were simply afraid to go back.

Nearly 23,000 homes were still without electricity and more than 10,000 people were staying in the roughly 400 shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Concerns were growing about illness, including from the sweltering heat. The Ministry of Environment sent out a heatstroke alert for the Kumamoto area, with temperatures expected to reach as high as 33 C (91 F) Thursday.

Some evacuees sleep in cars

In the town of Hikawa, one of the hardest-hit areas in Kumamoto, many residents are without water or electricity, or both, and some are staying inside their vehicles in parks or at the town hall parking lot.

At the front entrance of the town hall, officials delivered bottled water and packaged instant rice, while the Ground Self-Defense Force service members came with a trolley to provide fresh water.

Yoshiaki Nakashima, a 66-year-old resident who came with two bottles and his beloved pet dog to get water, said he is staying in a car because of his reluctance to stay at one of the three evacuation centers in the area. He also said he doesn’t want to sleep at home because aftershocks made him feel uneasy.

“It’s difficult to turn over while sleeping in a car,” he said, but that living at a shelter is even more difficult.

Akiko Inazaki, another resident in her 30s, is living in a tent set up in the yard of her home, which has been without water and electricity since the quake. Inazaki, who also came to get water, said she will use it little by little.

“Fresh water is so valuable,” she said. Inazaki said she drank so little that she almost had a heatstroke.

Risks of heatstroke are a major concern among officials.

Yutaka Kobayashi, a doctor dispatched from central Japan's Aichi prefecture, said he was touring evacuation centers Thursday to assess the condition of evacuees, especially elderly people and those with injuries as they cope with a harsh environment.

“We have to make sure elderly people are not developing heatstrokes or dehydration,” he said in Hikawa.

While the town parking lot was nearly packed the first night, some residents have moved to three public schools where air-conditioning is running, Hikawa officials said.

A town official, Yuzuru Tamura, said they are starting to run out of emergency food supply, such as canned bread and instant rice.

Families wait for word of those missing

The most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping center in the town of Kashima, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake struck in the late afternoon.

The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before the explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people.

As of early Thursday, six people were confirmed to have died at the mall site among the 11 people pulled out of the wreckage, according to Kumamoto authorities.

Family members of those still missing could be seen wandering helplessly near the wrecked mall, waiting for word, despite the sweltering weather.

In the Yatsushiro area, where a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries factory, 10 people were rescued, but eight others died, and one remained missing, according to the Kumamoto prefectural government disaster team.

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Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Extraordinary steps are now being taken to rescue some of the state’s most valuable and vulnerable coral before the worst of the heat arrives, including an urgent mission to safeguard the last remaining elkhorn coral in Florida.

Science teams from the University of Miami’s Lirman Coral Restoration Lab are racing to collect select elkhorn coral genotypes from ocean nurseries off the coast of Miami.

“Right now -- we’re seeing not only ocean temperatures warming at an alarming rate, but projections are kind of reminiscent of 2023, which was a historic bleaching event,” said Dalton Hesley, program director of Rescue a Reef at the University of Miami.

The team selected 30 decent-sized elkhorn coral pieces from the nurseries.

“They knew where to find these corals within our nurseries. They went around and they selected 30 decent-sized elkhorn pieces,” said Diego Lirman, associate professor of marine biology and ecology at the Rosenstiel School at the University of Miami.

The corals were carried ashore in coolers and moved to a University of Miami coral hatchery. The fragile corals represent the genetic diversity of Florida’s elkhorn coral and are being protected in anticipation of a possible bleaching event.

“They’re so important and they’re so critically endangered, that we decided that the moment temperatures got above a threshold, a bleaching high temperature threshold, we would act,” Lirman said.

Just two weeks ago, NOAA raised its coral bleaching alert level for parts of the Florida Reef Tract as ocean temperatures climbed to dangerous levels.

South Florida has now endured 46 consecutive days of triple-digit heat indices, and early signs of coral bleaching and paling are already appearing at Cheeca Rocks off the coast of Islamorada.

“What’s really concerning right now is we’re already hitting these alert levels this early on in July,” said Dr. Ian Enochs, lead scientist with NOAA’s AOML program.

As happened in 2023, Mote Marine Laboratory in the Florida Keys has launched an effort to rescue thousands of vulnerable corals from offshore nurseries. The Coral Restoration Foundation is awaiting regulatory approval to begin transferring vulnerable corals to Elbow Key, where cooler water and better flow could help protect them.

The goal is to preserve the genetic diversity that could one day help rebuild Florida’s reefs.

“We focus on the most vulnerable. We also have really good genetic tracking, so we know which ones we should prioritize,” Lirman said.

Scientists say these elkhorn corals are critical because they represent the original genetic diversity of elkhorn coral in the Florida Keys. Because of past bleaching events and disease, only about 100 of these original elkhorn corals remain in the wild. About 30 years ago, they numbered in the thousands.

“They’ve declined so much in Florida to the point that after the 2023 bleaching event, we lost more than 90% of all wild and restored colonies,” Lirman said.

Along with staghorn coral, elkhorn coral is one of the most important reef-building species in the Caribbean and Florida Keys. It creates essential habitat for countless marine species while helping protect coastlines from erosion and storm surge.

“We’ve had such drastic declines in the abundance of this particular species to the point where they’re now critically endangered and functionally extinct, which means they cannot recover by themselves if we don’t take care of them and propagate them,” Lirman said.

Scientists acknowledge moving the corals comes with risks because the process is stressful for them. But leaving the remaining elkhorn genotypes in the ocean to bleach and die is not an option.

So far, the rescue effort appears to be working.

“A week into this operation, I’m happy to see that these corals are happy themselves. Their polyps are extended. They’re feeding. They have good coloration. So the rescue operations were a success thus far,” Lirman said.

Scientists say rescue missions like this are not a long-term solution. As climate change continues to warm the ocean, coral reefs will keep disappearing unless meaningful action is taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have to act both locally, regionally, and globally to make sure that we slow down the impacts of climate change, so that we can give these last few survivors a chance to recover, and then use those survivors to restore our reefs,” Lirman said.

Scientists say coral bleaching may seem like an environmental issue, but it is also an economic one. Florida’s reefs support billions of dollars in tourism, fishing and recreation while helping protect coastlines from storms.

Even if you’ve never gone diving, scientists say the health of Florida’s reefs affects everyone.

Son scored two goals in a three-minute span in the first half off assists from Carles Gil to propel the MLS All-Stars past the LIGA MX All-Stars 4-3 in Wednesday night’s Major League Soccer All-Star Game.

The Los Angeles Football Club forward celebrated both goals with his signature “camera” celebration — mimicking holding an old-fashioned camera, framing the shot with his fingers and then pretending to snap a picture.

Son was named the game's MVP.

“I had great players, amazing players around me and that made my job easier,” said Son, who played for South Korea in the World Cup. “Scoring two goals makes the night really special.”

Chicago Fire’s Philip Zinckernagel and FC Cincinnati’s Evander da Silva Ferreira also scored for the MLS All-Stars in front of 35,197 at Bank of America Stadium.

Luis Gabriel Rey sent a running header off a free kick past Matt Freese, the United States men’s national team goalkeeper, 10 minutes into the game to give Liga MX a 1-0 lead.

Then Son took over.

The LAFC forward fielded a pass from Gil on the left side of the pitch, settled the ball and slid a well-placed shot past a diving Carlos Acevedo to even the score at the 20-minute mark.

Son gave MLS the lead for good just moments later when Gil hustled to stop the ball from going out of play and fired a pass back in front of the goal. Son buried the shot in the back of the net.

“He’s an unbelievable player,” said Hany Mukhtar, a midfielder for Nashville FC, said of Son. “He’s a world class player for a reason. He shows it every week, and we all know how good he is. We see it in training, and I’m not surprised at what he did.”

Zinckernagel made it 3-1 MLS in the 42nd minute when he scored off a rebound.

Liga MX got to within 3-2 early in the second half on a goal by Salomon Rondon, before Ferreira’s goal in the 58th minute gave MLS some cushion. Jose Pardela added a late goal in extra time for LIGA MX to make it 4-3.

Messi sits out after Argentina’s deep run in World Cup

MLS’ biggest star, Lionel Messi of Inter Miami, did not play.

Messi was not at the game after Argentina made a deep run in the World Cup before falling to Spain in the finals. Messi has 12 goals and eight assists for Inter Miami at the All-Star break.

He and teammate Rodrigo De Paul received an excused absence from Major League Soccer.

Charlotte hopes ASG is a precursor to 2031 World Cup

Charlotte is hoping that hosting the MLS All-Star Game serves as a precursor to being selected as a host city for the 2031 Women's FIFA World Cup.

The city has strongly supported its Charlotte FC team, and the stadium also drew rave reviews from the USMNT team after its friendly against Senegal, which was well attended.

Bank of America Stadium is undergoing a $1.3 billion renovation project that should be completed by 2030.

___

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

Deputies and Oakland Park Fire Rescue responded around 6:35 p.m. to the intersection of Northwest 44th Street and Northwest 31st Avenue following reports of a two-vehicle crash.

Investigators said the crash involved two cars with one person in each vehicle. The female driver of one of the vehicles died at the scene.

The male driver of the other vehicle was taken to Broward Health treatment of his injuries.

Detectives with BSO’s Traffic Homicide Unit are investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash. The investigation remains ongoing.

Andrew Friedman downplayed Ohtani's right biceps soreness, too.

“If it weren't for the knee, he would be pitching right now,” Friedman said Wednesday. “We didn't want to put him in a position where he was altering his mechanics to try to protect the knee in any way.”

The team's president of baseball operations said Ohtani is keeping his right arm active with plyometric throws using a medicine ball that takes the strain off constantly landing on his left leg.

“It keeps getting better,” Friedman said. “Does he feel 100% in his arm? No, but neither does any pitcher in late July.”

The team wants Ohtani's knee to feel as good as possible before he begins a throwing program on flat ground or off a mound.

“I feel confident that relatively soon he’s going to start getting out and start ramping up for catch-play and bullpens and getting him back,” Friedman said.

That belief is based on the progress Ohtani says he's felt so far and an MRI done on his knee during the All-Star break that came back clear. That's also when he had a lubricant injection in his knee.

In the meantime, Ohtani will continue serving as the designated hitter. He has said his knee doesn't bother him when he's hitting.

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

Friedman said Ohtani's current unavailability on the mound hasn't created an acute need to add pitching with the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaching. The Dodgers have been mentioned as a possible destination for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal of Detroit.

“We’re always open-minded to different things,” Friedman said, “but the biggest thing for us is to do everything we can in the offseason to not put ourselves in a position in July where you absolutely have to do something because it is far and away the worst time to acquire a player.”

Ohtani is 8-2 on the mound with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts over 85 2/3 innings.

The four-time MVP hasn't pitched since July 3. His form didn't look the same in his handful of starts before the All-Star break due to the sore knee that first flared up on June 11 and led to him overcompensating with his upper body, creating tightness in his right biceps.

“The stuff was still in a really good place, execution was a little bit off from what we’ve typically seen from him,” Friedman said. “I'll bet on him to execute.”

___

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

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday in Washington, D.C., for the government's petition to deport Nazira Haji Zada, of Fort Worth, Texas. Nazira was arrested earlier this week.

An FBI memo dated July 15 said it “developed information” that Nazira is an Islamic State supporter who had her children pledge their loyalty to the terrorist group. Nazira “supported" a plot by relatives to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack in the U.S., the memo says.

Court filings identify Nazira as the mother and mother-in-law of two Afghan men who were convicted in Oklahoma for their roles in the 2024 Election Day plot. Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, was sentenced last November to 15 years in prison and court records show he previously agreed to be removed from the U.S. after he is released from prison.

Her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, previously worked as a security guard for an American military installation in Afghanistan. He pleaded guilty to conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, and prosecutors have said he took steps to advance his attack plans by ordering AK-47 rifles, liquidating his family’s assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established in 1996 but had never received a petition until this month, when the Justice Department filed an application seeking Nazira’s removal. Documents in support of that application were unsealed Wednesday night ahead of a scheduled hearing Thursday.

The long-dormant court has a specific authority to conduct deportation proceedings for individuals whom the Justice Department classifies as “alien terrorists.”

The court is comprised of five federal judges from different districts across the country who are appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, with all proceedings, at least for now, taking place at the federal courthouse in Washington.

“Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court three decades ago to remove from the United States alien terrorists who never should have been here in the first place,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

“The allegations in this case show the matriarch of an ISIS-sympathizing family aiding in a plot to launch a mass casualty attack on American voters on Election Day. The Department’s application in this court makes clear that terrorists have no place in the United States of America,” Blanche added.

Au is the first publicly known arrest under Macao’s national security law since its 2009 enactment and critics say his case signals Beijing’s emphasis on security and intolerance of dissenting voices, even though Macao’s pro-democracy activism has never been as influential as the movement in neighboring Hong Kong.

Au is accused of providing false information to anti-China organizations overseas to incite hatred against Beijing and the government in Macao, which has become a Chinese casino hub.

He has faced several restrictions since his arrest including the choice of a lawyer, raising concerns over the fairness of a future trial.

Au's daughter in London, Au Hon I, said a lawyer found by the family was not allowed to see him in prison and authorities seized books from his home linked to the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.

“For almost a year my family could not speak with my father as he was kept in cruel incommunicado detention,” she said. “Now we are still unable to speak to him about his case nor provide him with a lawyer so he can properly fight his case.”

The family learned through a court statement that the 69-year-old had a preliminary proceeding on July 2, she said. The statement said his lawyer was appointed by the court and approved by Au.

“He always believed in the justice system of Macao,” his daughter said. “He believed it so much that he feels that he will be protected by the very own justice system that is putting him in where he is right now.”

The Macao government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Au accused of assisting anti-China groups

Macao is a former Portuguese colony that has operated, like Hong Kong, as a special administrative region since its return to Chinese rule in 1999. Au served as a lawmaker in the legislature dominated by Beijing loyalists before stepping down in 2021.

Prior to his arrest, Au remained a rare voice who regularly criticized government measures and political development on Facebook and in interviews, although many considered his critiques to be mild.

When he was arrested, police alleged Au had colluded with an unspecified anti-China group outside the city and provided false and seditious materials for public display online or abroad. He also was accused of maintaining long-term contact with multiple entities beyond Macao that oppose China and repeatedly providing false information to them or their media outlets.

A court upheld the indictment on July 2, ruling Au was the “perpetrator” in multiple offenses including subverting state power, breach of confidentiality and establishing contact with organizations, groups or people outside Macao to commit acts endangering national security.

A defendant convicted on multiple charges could face up to 30 years in prison.

The judge also approved the appointment of Au's lawyer, citing the need to protect national security interests and a binding opinion issued by the city's national security committee, which is led by Macao Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai.

The court said Au's rights were ensured by law. The prosecution office website said this kind of preliminary hearing is not open to the public.

There was no indication whether the trial would be public and a date was not announced. Macao law allows judges to hold proceedings behind closed doors when the court and the security committee decide hearing a case publicly could harm national security.

Macao's treatment of Au differs from Hong Kong cases

While Au's case has no precedent in Macao, Hong Kong has made over 400 arrests linked to acts alleged to endanger national security and convicted more than 180 people under a yearslong crackdown that began after Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.

Critics say Au's situation, in some ways, is even more difficult than Hong Kong cases.

Former media mogul and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai was arrested in 2020. But even Lai, who received the harshest sentence of 20 years imprisonment, could receive visits in jail from his family shortly after he was locked up. While a British lawyer was blocked from representing Lai, he was able to hire other lawyers of his choice.

“It’s much worse than Hong Kong,” Au Hon I said of her father's case.

Michael Polak, a barrister who represents Au overseas, said the Portuguese consulate requested but was denied access to Au, who also is a Portuguese citizen. That situation is similar to Lai, a British citizen denied U.K. consular access because China does not recognize dual nationality.

Polak called on Portugal and the European Union to speak up about Au's case. The Portuguese consulate did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The EU said in a statement that denial of judicial due process violates Au’s rights and it continues to raise concerns directly with Macao authorities.

Macao and Hong Kong have distinct legal landscapes

Macao lawyers need approval from designated judges to participate in proceedings considered necessary for national security protection and the requests are vetted by the security committee.

Jorge Menezes, a Portuguese lawyer who practices in Macao, said while Hong Kong’s security law was implemented more forcefully, the former British colony's courts still have a strong tradition of separation of powers.

Lawyers in Macao typically don’t fight for civil rights in the same way as their peers in Hong Kong and judges are less independent, he said.

“The trial itself will be a farce,” Menezes said. “It’s a politically conducted trial.”

Hong Kong has a more influential legal community, while Macao is “the land of silence” where complaints are less likely, he said.

Urania Chiu, a lecturer in law at Oxford Brookes University in England, said clear comparisons between Hong Kong and Macao are difficult because Au is the first person arrested under the casino city's security law.

Still, Chiu pointed to the inability of journalists to learn details of Au's case and his family's difficulties in contacting him, noting “the complete secrecy that all of these procedures have been conducted in.”

Au's case takes a toll on his family

Au Hon I said she was saddened to see her father portrayed as “a villain” even though he had spent much of his life putting the needs of others above his own.

“Seeing all that, like kind of like swept away, it’s really heartbreaking,” she said.

Before his arrest, her father told Au not to mind him and “live your life” if he encountered trouble. She isn't leaving him alone, but that comes with a cost.

“I don’t think it would be wise for me to set foot in Macao again, which is also very sad because I don't know when I could ever see my dad again,” Au said as she wept.

Despite their soaring profits, the companies’ shares have fallen sharply this week in South Korea’s volatile stock market, where retail investors often drive sharp swings in share prices, as concerns grow over their plans to spend massively on increasing manufacturing capacity and the prospects of intensifying competition from China.

Samsung’s second-quarter operating profit was a more than 19-fold increase from a year earlier, and nearly all of it came from its semiconductor business, which benefited from rising chip prices driven by demand for AI servers and increased shipments of advanced high-bandwidth memory chips used to power AI applications. That outweighed an operating loss in its mobile, TV and home appliances division, partly due to higher component costs.

Samsung’s quarterly revenue of 171.5 trillion won ($119 billion) was also an all-time high. The company said it expects demand for its memory products to remain strong in the second half of the year, driven by continued expansion of AI infrastructure and broader adoption of agentic AI. Demand for server chips is expected to accelerate further, keeping the market undersupplied, it said in a statement.

Samsung’s report came a day after SK Hynix also reported a record second-quarter revenue of 60.5 trillion won ($42 billion). However, SK Hynx’s profit was still below the loftier market expectations and the company’s shares declined by more than 9% on Wednesday. Samsung’s share prices have also declined this week.

Kim Jaejune, an executive of Samsung’s memory chip division, said the company expects the gap between chip supply and demand to widen further in 2027. He said Samsung plans to begin construction of its second semiconductor fab in Taylor, Texas, before the end of this year, with the goal of starting production by 2030.

Kim said Samsung has secured long-term chip supply contracts with what he called the “five major global data center clients” — a possible reference to Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta, Oracle and Microsoft –- and is in talks with other major technology companies as demand for AI infrastructure surges.

“Despite our efforts to increase production, demand growth is outpacing our efforts,” he said in a conference call.

Samsung and SK Hynix together produce about two-thirds of the world’s memory chips. While the companies have embarked on major investments in semiconductor manufacturing facilities and data centers as South Korea expands its AI ambitions, some analysts say there are growing concerns about whether such massive spending will ultimately generate sufficient returns.

Shares of South Korean chipmakers have also been pressured by concerns over intensifying competition from China, with reports that a state-owned Chinese company had begun mass-producing domestically developed immersion deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, a key technology for advanced chipmaking. Investor concerns were also heightened by the strong stock market debut of Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies, some analysts say.

Samsung and SK Hynix last month announced plans to invest a combined 800 trillion won ($554 billion) in a new chipmaking hub in the country’s southwest to capitalize on surging AI-driven demand.

The chiefs of Samsung, SK and South Korean automaker Hyundai joined President Lee Jae Myung on his San Francisco trip last week, where they announced hundreds of billions of dollars in planned cooperation with major U.S. technology companies, including AI firms OpenAI and Anthropic and chip designers Nvidia and Broadcom. The agreements span chip technologies, data centers and other AI infrastructure.

In a roundtable with foreign media last week, Kim Yong-beom, Lee’s chief policy adviser, said the initiatives reflect how global technology companies are rushing to secure long-term partnerships with South Korean chipmakers as they seek reliable supplies of memory chips for AI.

However, the volatility of the companies’ stock prices, along with those of other global tech firms, shows that investors are shifting their focus from short-term earnings to long-term sustainability, Son In-joon, a semiconductor analyst at South Korea’s Eugene Securities, said in a report this week.

El acto protocolario que en el pasado se ha realizado en Bogotá, usualmente en la icónica Plaza de Bolívar que reúne los poderes públicos, será trasladado a la ciudad de Cali, capital del departamento del Valle del Cauca, uno de los más convulsos del país con alta presencia de grupos armados ilegales.

El cambio solicitado por el conservador De la Espriella, que centra su política en la seguridad, generó en el país un intenso debate sobre su simbolismo.

The Associated Press explica cómo será y qué implicaciones traería:

¿Qué cambiará en la juramentación?

Según la Constitución colombiana, el presidente debe tomar posesión ante el Congreso o, en caso excepcional, ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia o dos testigos. El Congreso sesiona en Bogotá, por lo que tradicionalmente los presidentes juran en la capital de país.

Sin embargo, el Senado aprobó el miércoles el traslado temporal a Cali para el acto protocolario y la Cámara de Representantes lo aprobó la víspera.

¿Por qué ha generado polémica?

Sectores de oposición riñen con la idea de que los 285 congresistas se trasladen a Cali para atender la solicitud de De la Espriella por lo que consideran un “espectáculo” innecesario que no resultaría coherente con la promesa de austeridad estatal que hizo el mandatario electo.

“No entiendo cómo es acercarse al pueblo no yendo a la plaza de Bolívar de Bogotá donde queda la sede del Congreso y en cambio sí, llevar el Congreso a un sitio de espectáculos”, cuestionó el martes en la red social X el presidente saliente Gustavo Petro, opositor de De la Espriella.

La solicitud también generó debate porque al inicio contempló que la juramentación se realizara en una guarnición militar. Sin embargo, Petro negó el permiso para alistar el acto protocolario en ese lugar por considerar que los civiles deben posesionarse “ante el pueblo” y no ante militares.

De la Espriella no ha confirmado el lugar de la toma de posesión, sin embargo, se contempla el auditorio de una universidad.

El mensaje a los ilegales

De la Espriella ha dicho que tras posesionarse en Cali hará un consejo de seguridad en una base aérea de la ciudad por ser un “símbolo de la resistencia de nuestros héroes y punto estratégico para recuperar la seguridad del suroccidente del país”.

La base aérea fue atacada con explosivos el año pasado por las disidencias de la extinta guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), que no se acogieron al acuerdo de paz firmado con el Estado en una década.

Con su posesión en Cali, De la Espriella pretendería dar un mensaje a los grupos ilegales a los que ha prometido combatir con mano dura, mientras que acaba con las mesas de negociación que adelantó Petro en su cuestionada política de paz.

Manuel Camilo González, profesor del Departamento de Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Javeriana, explicó a la AP que De la Espriella quiere mostrar que la seguridad es la bandera de su gobierno.

Escoger al suroeste del país implica para González enviar una advertencia a alias “Iván Mordisco”, uno de los más buscados en Colombia y jefe de la facción más fuerte de las disidencias. En el departamento también operan la guerrilla Ejército de Liberación Nacional y el cártel Clan del Golfo.

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

El reto de la seguridad

González advirtió que hay riesgos de seguridad a tener en cuenta tanto para De la Espriella, quien ha denunciado amenazas en su contra, como para los invitados que incluyen delegaciones de otros países, al ser una zona con presencia de grupos armados ilegales.

El alcalde de Cali, Alejandro Eder, ha dicho que están preparando el dispositivo de seguridad para la posesión presidencial y ofreció una recompensa de hasta 157.000 dólares por información que ayude a prevenir posibles ataques.

Colombia registró un atentado en 2002 durante la investidura presidencial del conservador Álvaro Uribe Vélez, quien gobernó entre 2002 y 2010, con el lanzamiento de cohetes y explosivos en el centro de Bogotá, en una acción de las entonces FARC que dejó más de una decena de muertos.

Karl Geissler responded, and “Aileen” later disclosed that she was born in Singapore and lived in Los Angeles. They messaged back and forth for a long time, and she earned his trust.

“She would talk about herself a little bit, and I talked about myself,” Geissler told WPBF. “We kind of got a little relationship going.”

Geissler is trying to recover from a cruel fraud that federal authorities now refer to as “pig butchering,” a type of gradual confidence and investment scam.

Geissler said “Aileen” eventually disclosed that her wealthy aunt worked with a team of gold market analysts and had investment opportunities.

Geissler started with $500 and was hooked on the returns. He eventually sold a home he had inherited from his parents and his car. Now he lives in a hotel and rides a bicycle. He lost $700,000.

“I’ve always been a hard worker,” Geissler said. “I go out there earning money in the old-fashioned way. Just go out there and work and don’t complain.”

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Office of Inspector General has issued alerts warning that scammers gradually lure victims into making “increasing monetary contributions, generally in the form of cryptocurrency, to a seemingly sound investment before the scammer disappears with the contributed monies.”

Geissler filed a report with the Jupiter Police Department and shared his story to warn others and to ask the public for help.

How this type of scam targets consumers:

• The perpetrators might contact you randomly by way of text messages, dating apps, social media platforms, and then later switch to VOIP chat applications.
• They will try to develop meaningful relationships with you, gain your trust, and offer you high-yield investment opportunities in virtual assets, such as cryptocurrency.
• They will tell you to open accounts on online investment websites and instruct you to deposit money via wire transfer to shell companies, or direct transfers on legitimate virtual asset service providers (VASPs) or cryptocurrency exchanges.
• They will pressure you to invest more money, or your relationship with them will end.
• If the scam works, you will most likely be duped and the fraud will end.
• When you attempt to withdraw money, websites may demand that you pay additional fees to do so; or you may be locked out of the account and never hear back from the perpetrator. Perpetrators disappear with all of your funds. 

Source: FDIC

The All-Pro receiver loves — and needs — the day-to-day grind of football too much to step away from it, even for financial purposes.

Nacua also realizes his standing with the Rams isn't quite as rock-solid as it was a year ago, and the best way to repair it after a winter of missteps is with a good summer.

“I think the game of football is a safe place for me, and I enjoy that,” Nacua said Wednesday after showing off his connection with Matthew Stafford repeatedly during the Rams' fourth practice at Loyola Marymount.

Nacua says he has taken responsibility for the distractions he created last winter for the Rams, who advanced to the NFC championship game while he led the league in receptions.

After Nacua issued a public apology last December for unwittingly performing a gesture that plays upon antisemitic tropes while appearing on an internet livestream, he was subsequently sued in March by a woman who claims he made an antisemitic statement and bit her on the shoulder while partying on New Year's Eve.

Nacua could face a league suspension in the upcoming season, but he says his conversations with the Rams and the NFL have been nothing compared to the tough talks with his family.

“There have been things that happened this offseason that haven’t been the truest reflection of the person I feel like I am, and how my mother raised me,” Nacua said. “There’s definitely been conversations with her to apologize, but also for her to say that she supports me. Also, my brothers are, I think, my biggest critics as well, so there were some intense conversations, but also loving conversations in order to see improvement.”

Nacua's public mistakes occurred at an inopportune time for somebody in line to become one of the NFL's highest-paid position players after three prolific seasons with the Rams. His upcoming payday will be the first contract for Nacua, whose four-year rookie deal was worth just over $4 million as a fifth-round pick in 2023.

But that's only one reason Nacua rejected any notion of a holdout.

“Coming out here and seeing that jersey, No. 12, hung up in my locker is something that I don’t take for granted,” Nacua said. “Being around this group of guys, I think of all the guys that have reached out in this offseason to be there by my side, and then when we’re here in the meeting rooms, the level of connection I feel like I have with the guys out there, it never crossed my mind that I don’t want to be out there with those guys.”

Nacua says the Rams and his camp “haven’t had too many conversations” about the current state of negotiations for a new deal. Coach Sean McVay refused to make a connection between Nacua's future behavior and the ultimate contract talks.

“I don’t think you want to dangle a carrot that way,” McVay said. “I think he’s inspired to do right because his heart is right, and then I think the contract will take care of itself because he’s an incredible player, and he’s continuing to mature as a man. I love him. I love his heart, and I love the growth that he’s had, and we’re with him every step of the way.”

The Rams have been publicly vague about their urgency to get a deal done with Nacua or their four additional starters from the 2023 draft class — pass rusher Byron Young, nose tackle Kobie Turner, left guard Steve Avila and right tackle Warren McClendon — who have all showed up to camp instead of holding out.

“We'll see what the future holds, but I would love to be able to keep all of them,” McVay said. “I've been really impressed with how they've handled it, and I love this team and I'm grateful that those guys have taken this approach.”

___

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

Rescuers pulled out the frail 2-year-old French poodle named Beyli to give him water before recovering the body of his owner, 44-year-old Ismely Omaira Guillén Cortesía, from the dust of the apartment building in the Páez community’s Bloque 3.

Beyli surfaced on July 23 after surviving 29 days under the rubble.

“Because it is a miracle from God; I never thought he could be alive,” said Guillén’s 11-year-old daughter, Victoria Isabella Rengel, who wasn’t home and survived the earthquakes on June 24.

Victoria’s father, Jairo Rengel, said his daughter was visiting a relative when the 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes destroyed the apartment where she lived with her mother in a 14-story building.

“He was very attached to my mom,” Victoria said.

The earthquake’s official death toll surpassed 5,545 people this week. Victoria was also grieving her maternal grandmother and was among the newly homeless in La Guaira.

A veterinarian in Playa Grande treated Beyli and reported that he suffered severe dehydration and ulcers in both eyes, but his condition was stable, and he had a good prognosis.

“He was malnourished,” Victoria said about Beily.

Jairo Rengel said Beyli also survived a fire that broke out amid the devastation. He said he also survived the ongoing movement of heavy machinery.

“It’s a miracle,” he said in Spanish next to his daughter. “It really is a miracle.”

Related social media posts

@victoriarengel31

rescatado 29dias después debajo de los escombros un milagro de Dios, Sígueme para que veas su recuperacion

♬ sonido original - 𝓛𝓲𝔁_𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬❤️‍🩹

@victoriarengel31 Hoy le doy gracias a DIOS y a estos hombres y mujeres que trabajaron duro para sacar a mi perro con vida después de 29 días del terremoto cuando los rescatistas de otros países dieron a todos por fallecidos mi perro seguía con vida . gracias DIOS por este milagro que hicistes para mí aunque no lograron sacar a mi madre y mi abuela con vida . hoy tengo a mi perro conmigo sano en pronta recuperación ❤️‍🩹#terremoto #catialamar #esperanza#fe#nuevasoportunidades ♬ sonido original - Victoria Isabella ❣️

@victoriarengel31

sobreviviente del terremoto despues de estar 29 días bajo los escombros lo sacaron hoy 23 de julio quién me pueda ayudar 04127006219

♬ original sound - Victoria Isabella ❣️

@ismelyguillen

♬ original sound - Miri

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Torres contributed to this report from Miami.

Lettuce prices rose sharply in the first half of 2026 due to hot weather in Arizona, where about one-third of America’s lettuce is grown. Now, restaurants are dealing with the fallout from a cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded lettuce that has sickened thousands of Americans.

Taco Bell will likely see the biggest sales impact from the outbreak, which began in late June. Federal health officials first tied the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Later, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said customers in Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were also affected.

Taco Bell said on July 17 that it had voluntarily removed shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms from its U.S. restaurants. But its customer volume has suffered. As of July 23, Taco Bell visits were 21% lower than average across the U.S., according to Placer.ai, a market research company.

Cases have continued to grow, however, and it’s becoming clear that Taco Bell wasn’t the outbreak's sole source, said Craig Hedberg, a food safety researcher at the University of Minnesota. As the FDA investigation progresses, officials should get a better understanding of which illnesses are connected and “how complex this outbreak actually has become.”

In the meantime, consumers remain cautious. Foot traffic at Chopt, a salad-focused chain with 105 locations, was down 12% as of July 23, according to Placer.ai. M Science, another market research firm, found that weekly spending at the salad chain Sweetgreen dropped 10 percentage points compared to last year during the first half of July.

Chopt didn't respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Sweetgreen, which has 285 U.S. locations, did not confirm a drop in sales and said in a statement that its food hasn’t been connected to the current cyclospora outbreak.

“We follow rigorous food safety standards and can trace our ingredients from restaurant to farm,” the company said.

The outbreak came on top of an already difficult year for the lettuce industry and people who love eating salads. The retail price of a pound of iceberg lettuce jumped nearly 20% between January and June of this year, according to government data. Consumers paid an average of 33% more last month for all fresh lettuce compared to a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

Lettuce prices advertised by major grocery stores last week averaged $1.86 for a head of iceberg, 25 cents more than the same week a year earlier, according to the USDA. A head of red leaf lettuce cost 52 cents more at $1.66, and a bunch of romaine had an advertised price of $2.49 — $1.55 higher, the department reported.

Shoppers caught a break with some types of salad mixes, though, which stores advertised at prices 7 to 24 cents cheaper than a year prior, the USDA said.

Elizabeth Canales, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, said unusually hot weather in Arizona early in the year caused crops to mature too early. That caused big supply gaps until California production began in late April.

Fuel costs, which increased after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran and Iran blocked most oil tankers from leaving the Persian Gulf, have also been an issue, according to Canales. Lettuce is especially perishable and requires energy for cooling from the time it's picked to the time it's sold, Canales said.

“The cold chain needs to be maintained. Cooling and transporting it is very important,” Canales said.

Lettuce has been linked to multiple food poisoning outbreaks in the past, including two in 2018 involving E. coli linked to romaine lettuce grown in Arizona and California.

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Associated Press Writer Mike Stobbe contributed from New York.

For years, there was demand for their signature waffled grilled cheese at the New York Grilled Cheese restaurants in Wilton Manors and Boca Raton.

Rising rents changed that, and they transitioned to NYGC EXPRESS, a delivery-only operation at the FTL Food Hub, a restaurant cooperative in Fort Lauderdale.

“Think of it, you know, as a warehouse type of operation,” Benny Barak said.

NYGC EXPRESS has a fast-paced system that relies on digital applications and third-party services to connect with customers.

The FTL Food Hub’s behind-the-scenes team picks up the order from the commercial kitchens and places it in a designated locker. Drivers with UberEats, DoorDash, and Grubhub rush in and out regularly.

Walk-ins at the FTL Food Hub, at 1115 NE 9th Ave., can also use tablets to place their orders. For more about NYGC Express, visit this site.

Morales (2006-2019) ya tenía otra orden de detención por ausentarse en un juicio en un presunto caso de abuso a una menor de 15 años durante su mandato. Las autoridades han sido cuestionadas por no haber dado cumplimiento a esa medida judicial.

El fiscal del caso Brayan Melgar emitió la actual orden contra el exmandatario al que señala también de los presuntos delitos de instigación pública para delinquir, alzamientos armados contra la seguridad y soberanía del Estado por supuestamente alentar semanas de protestas que ocasionaron escasez de alimentos y medicamentos en ciudades como La Paz y El Alto.

“No nos van a intimidar”, afirmó Morales el miércoles en su cuenta de X, al tiempo en que rechazó la acusación y culpó al gobierno de una persecución política con el fin de “ocultar el verdadero drama que vive Bolivia: una profunda crisis económica y social, fruto de un modelo que ha abandonado al pueblo y protege la corrupción”.

Morales, de 66 años, ha eludido a la justicia desde 2024 refugiándose en su feudo cocalero en el Chapare, al centro del país, sobre un caso de presunto abuso a una menor. El exgobernante ha negado el caso.

En tanto, el fiscal general Roger Mariaca en conferencia de prensa manifestó la disposición de dar cumplimiento a las dos órdenes de detención y señaló que la última está siendo entregada a la policía.

“Evidentemente ello deberá realizarse contando con las garantías de seguridad correspondientes para acudir al lugar que sea necesario”, señaló Mariaca.

El presidente Rodrigo Paz, quien asumió el 8 de noviembre dejando atrás casi 20 años de gobiernos de izquierda con Morales y Luis Arce (2020-2025) en medio de una crisis económica, enfrentó en mayo y junio protestas de sindicatos campesinos y obreros que exigieron su renuncia con cortes de rutas prolongados que dejaron más de 15 fallecidos en su mayoría por falta de atención médica, desabastecimientos de alimentos, oxígeno medicinal y combustible.

El gobierno culpó a Morales de promover las protestas. Luego que el gobierno de Paz decretó un estado de excepción en junio en un esfuerzo por terminar con los bloqueos, el expresidente llamó a dar una pausa a las protestas.

Arriba misión de la OEA en respaldo a Paz

El anuncio de esa orden contra Morales coincidió con el arribo al país de una delegación de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), encabezada por su secretario general, Albert Ramdin, a invitación del gobierno boliviano en cumplimiento de una resolución de la Asamblea General del organismo el mes pasado surgida tras las prolongadas protestas.

En conferencia de prensa, Ramdin dijo que se reunieron con diferentes actores políticos y sociales para escuchar distintos puntos de vista y respaldar sus esfuerzos por restablecer la paz y garantizar el orden constitucional.

A su vez, la delegación rechazó los “actos de violencia” y llamó a las partes involucradas a fortalecer el diálogo, al tiempo que expresó su apoyo al gobierno del presidente Paz, según un informe de las actividades del miércoles en La Paz que leyó el canciller de Panamá, Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez.

La delegación continuará el jueves reuniones en la región oriental de Santa Cruz y se espera que en unos diez días se discuta el reporte que presentará con recomendaciones.

The teen repeatedly shot an untraceable ghost gun into a crowd, police said, and the King County prosecutor’s office filed charges of first-degree assault with a firearm and unlawful possession of a handgun.

In a statement supporting the charges, police said preliminary testing of bullets recovered from the two bystanders killed showed they did not match that weapon.

The shooting in the waning hours of the Bite of Seattle festival near the Space Needle left three people dead, including a 19-year-old suspect, and at least four bystanders injured, including a toddler. Police believe it was gang-related, and they continue searching for others who might have been involved.

Police Chief Shon Barnes had previously said there was possibly another person with a gunshot wound that investigators were looking to speak with, but the department said Wednesday there was no eighth victim.

Testing on shell casings found at the scene suggest four weapons were fired, the statement said. Police said they recovered three guns, but only two of them had been fired, which means two weapons involved in the gunbattle were not found at the scene. It isn’t clear which weapon or weapons fired the bullets that hit the festival attendees.

Dozens of officers were at Seattle Center, a sprawling park, providing security for the event, when the shooting began. Some heard the gunshots, and one officer saw the 15-year-old firing, police said.

A witness told investigators that he heard gunshots and saw the people around him duck, Detective Matt Blackburn wrote in the statement. The witness saw a man in a light blue top who started running; the witness believed that was where the first shots came from.

The witness reported that he then saw the 15-year-old unzip a bag that was strapped around his torso and pull out a gun with an extended magazine. The teen shot multiple times toward the other suspect, Blackburn wrote. Two shell casings from the teen’s ghost gun were found at the scene.

The teen surrendered when confronted by an officer. As police escorted him past the dead 19-year-old's body, he said, “Love you bro,” Blackburn wrote.

Prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to move the case to adult court, a decision that can take months after the judge considers arguments from both sides. The teen's public defender, Hong Tran, said in an email Wednesday the teen would contest the effort to try him as an adult.

If the teen is convicted as an adult, the charges would carry a sentencing range of about eight to 10 years in prison, plus possibly another five years for the firearm enhancement. However, judges in Washington may also choose to sentence juveniles as juveniles even if they are convicted in adult court.

In juvenile court, the charges would carry a sentencing range of two to 2 1/2 years. It was not immediately clear whether the firearm enhancement might add additional time in juvenile detention.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the dead bystanders as Carlos Israel Sanchez Villalba, 44, and Ashley Whitehead, 56. The suspect killed was Junior Cee Niko Semo, 19.

Villalba was a husband and father of three known for his kindness and willingness to help others, according to a GoFundMe campaign launched Monday to help his family with funeral expenses.

Whitehead had just moved to Washington from Alabama a year ago and was enjoying the festival with one of her adult daughters when she was shot, her cousin Michelle Whitehead told The Associated Press. She was taken to the hospital and died in surgery, she said.

The police department opened an online portal on Wednesday for the public to share video and photos from the shooting.

The indictment against Cloth, 60, was unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Cloth was arrested the same day in Los Angeles, where he made his first court appearance, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said.

The indictment alleges Cloth solicited money from investors, telling them the funds would be used for a film or a video game platform. Instead, the indictment alleges, he used the money for other projects like a Canadian real estate development and to pay off earlier investors.

Court records do not reveal if Cloth has obtained an attorney in the criminal case. Several attorneys representing Cloth in lawsuits in Florida and California did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The indictment says Cloth operated a Canada-based company called Creative Wealth Media Finance Corp., and that starting in 2019 he solicited money from several clients to invest in film and entertainment projects. The indictment says he got more than $100 million from one investment adviser in Illinois, the adviser's clients and others, and that he lied to the investors about the value of their investments.

He's charged with seven counts of wire fraud, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Cloth is also being asked to forfeit more than $12 million. The FBI asked that anyone who believes they might have been a victim contact the agency's Chicago office by filling out an online form.

It's not the first time the film financier has faced allegations of financial misdeeds. He's been named in several lawsuits from investors in recent years, including a class-action lawsuit alleging film-funding fraud in Chicago, a Florida lawsuit from an investor who says Cloth's company breached contracts for several entertainment loans, and a lawsuit from investors in New York that was later dismissed. Cloth has fought the claims in Chicago and Florida, and those cases are ongoing.

Last year the Ontario Securities Commission started an enforcement proceeding against Cloth and his company, bringing allegations that are similar to the Illinois indictment. The commission alleges Cloth and his company raised more than $500 million from investors for various film and television projects, and then diverted $70 million of the funds to other uses, like repaying earlier investors. That case is ongoing.

___ Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

The Cape Verde goalkeeper was scheduled to be with Colo Colo by Wednesday, but Chile’s biggest and most successful club says Vozinha's trip has been delayed because of paperwork. They're hopeful of a Thursday arrival.

Vozinha was still able to wear a jersey Wednesday though — by donning Spider-Man gear as part of a Sony Pictures Brazil campaign promoting “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” On Instagram, Vozinha encouraged his 29.6 million followers — up from under 50,000 before the World Cup — to go see the film.

Meanwhile, Colo Colo is also racing to resolve some issues regarding Vozinha.

The most pressing concern is the name that will appear on the goalkeeper’s jersey. Regulations from the Chilean National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) require players to use their surname. This means that Vozinha — whose real name is Josimar José Évora Dias — would not be allowed to use the nickname that made him famous around the world.

That would be a setback not only for the player — whose moniker means “grandma” in Portuguese, a tribute to the woman who raised him — but also to the personal brand he has built worldwide.

According to ANFP regulations, “nicknames, appellations, or sobriquets will not be permitted” in the domestic competition. Players who fail to comply face an administrative yellow card, while their clubs can be fined up to $875.

Colo Colo has requested an exemption from the Council of Presidents, the body comprised of the top executives of Chilean clubs. The board is expected to vote on the matter Friday, and the decision must be unanimous for Vozinha to wear his nickname.

Another challenge will be deciding which jersey number the Cape Verdean will wear, as the traditional goalkeeper numbers are already assigned, with Argentine goalkeeper Fernando de Paul wearing No. 1.

World Cup star energizes Chile

Vozinha emerged as one of the breakout stars of the World Cup by leading debutant Cape Verde on a remarkable run. He kept a clean sheet against eventual champion Spain in the team’s opening match before producing a series of spectacular saves against Argentina in the round of 32, where Cape Verde lost 3-2.

His move to South America has generated enormous interest in Chile, where the national team failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup after finishing last in the qualifiers.

Vozinha’s signing is also expected to boost the profile of both Colo Colo and Chilean football while creating significant commercial opportunities.

As his social media following soared, Vozinha has become the face of several advertising campaigns.

Across Chile, meanwhile, the “Vozinha effect” is already being felt. Since announcing the signing, Colo Colo has gained nearly 70,000 followers across its social media platforms, many of them from overseas.

“The whole world is getting to know Colo Colo better,” supporter Héctor Hermosilla said. “The world’s cameras will be on Vozinha and that’s going to be good for the club."

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

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego was one of three men riding in a work van July 7 being driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot by an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Salgado Araujo was shot after the van was stopped by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles. Rojas Pliego has disputed the Trump administration's account of the shooting in court documents, calling it a “lie.”

A federal judge this week ordered Rojas Pliego's release and previously instructed the government not to deport him.

Rojas Pliego has lived in the U.S. for several decades and does not have legal status, according to his stepdaughter Griselda Silva. She said that the family could not afford to pay the legal fees to try to adjust his status.

Around the time Rojas Pliego walked out of the detention center Wednesday, federal prosecutors asked for a stay of his release pending an appeal, arguing that U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison’s ruling on Monday conflicted with decisions in other immigration cases.

Wearing an ankle monitor, Rojas Pliego visited the curbside memorial commemorating his former boss on Monday and recalled when the group was followed by ICE agents.

“We were on our way to work when they took Lorenzo Salgado’s life," he said in Spanish. "Instead of giving him first aid right away, they handcuffed him and pushed him to the ground. That’s not right. I want justice for Lorenzo Salgado, my boss.”

The Department of Homeland Security said shortly after the shooting that Salgado Araujo had “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” and that the officer had fired in self-defense. But Rojas Pliego and another passenger wrote in statements submitted in court that the officers were on the sides of the van, never in front of or behind it.

Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father of three, had been living in the U.S. for 35 years and was close to obtaining legal status, according to his family. He had no criminal record.

His death is one of at least 10 during immigration enforcement operations since the start of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, sparking widespread protests in Houston and calls for an independent investigation.

At the memorial site, Rojas Pliego played a song over his phone on speaker and told reporters that he missed Salgado Araujo. “I worked alongside him through thick and thin. My whole life,” he said, describing him as a “good boss.”

“Rest in peace," he said. "I couldn’t be present at your funeral, but you have me here now."

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Associated Press reporter Valerie Gonzalez contributed from McAllen, Texas.

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Wilder 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.

Garcia said he had been called to bring luggage for one of two friends he said were detained there.

“So he signed the papers,” Garcia said. “Somebody called me from here to bring the luggage. Maybe today he has to go back to our country, Chile.”

Garcia said one of his friends was picked up during a traffic stop Monday.

#VoicesfromtheField: Javier Garcia and his grandchild arrived at an ICE Field Office in Miramar, FL with his friend’s suitcase in tow. He said two of his friends, one married to a U.S. Citizen, were detained following a traffic infraction. “Police stop and called ICE.” pic.twitter.com/9zi2RhsUPc

— Christina Boomer Vazquez, M.S. (@CBoomerVazquez) July 29, 2026

“He stopped for a traffic situation,” Garcia said. “We think he was going too fast.”

Garcia said police stopped his friend and called ICE. The other friend, Garcia said, is married to a U.S. citizen.

“He is married to an American person, has three American kids,” Garcia said. “Maybe he has a process. Maybe he has a court. We don’t know nothing because when you come here, (you) don’t get any information.”

Advocates say facility is overcrowded

Community activists who gathered at the facility said it is now operating as an overcrowded short-term detention facility.

Yareliz Mendez Zamora, policy coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, asked, “How many children are going to sleep tonight not knowing or not if they are going to see their parents tomorrow, especially as (Temporary Protected Status) for Haitians comes to an end?”

Garcia said his detained friends told him they had not been able to shower or brush their teeth.

“They both say the only thing: No let take a shower,” Garcia said. “Say, ‘I can’t brush my mouth. I feel so dirty,’ because they had been coming from work, so don’t have clothes, don’t have showers. All we can do is sit or sleep.”

Earlier this month, Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the Miramar facility “is supposed to be an administrative check-in facility but is now functioning as a short-term detention site, holding detainees in crowded areas for 72 hours or more without the same humane detention standards that other ICE facilities are required to meet.”

According to a news release from Wasserman Schultz’s office, there were approximately 150 detainees held at the facility when she inspected the site.

Maria Bilbao, campaign coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, said advocates are seeing more detentions involving people with pending immigration cases or temporary protections.

“We are seeing people being detained that have asylum process,” Bilbao said. “We have seen people with TPS being detained, in gas stations, when buying food outside of the store, in parking spaces in Home Depot.”

Shift in asylum processing rules

It comes as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a rule change to the asylum system that the Department of Homeland Security said is intended to reduce a backlog by allowing USCIS to refer asylum applications to immigration judges without first interviewing applicants.

Immigration attorney Lourna Rosembert-Joseph said she does not believe the system “has the capacity for that.”

Before the change, she said, someone would file for asylum, USCIS would process the application and the applicant would go through biometrics before having an interview with an officer.

“So there are certain qualifications that you have to meet to qualify for asylum,” Rosembert-Joseph said. “If the officer sees everything and these are individuals who are doing this all day, if the officer sees that you have the credible fear, you show the evidence for that, then they could approve it.”

If not, she said, the case would be denied and sent back to an immigration judge.

“They’re working for the government that was essentially going through the applications, doing what they have to do and approving it so that we don’t have to burden or backlog the immigration judges,” Rosembert-Joseph said. “Now it’s just we’re throwing everything in one way, and they’ll make the decision.”

Some immigration court analysts say the change could speed up deportations of asylum seekers who will now be fast-track funneled into the immigration court pipeline before having a chance to make their case in an interview.

“So it’s going to be a mess is what it’s going to do,” Rosembert-Joseph said.

Rosembert-Joseph said the new rule removes the USCIS officer’s decision on whether someone qualifies for asylum.

“So now you have to prove to the judge and they make that decision,” she said. “You’re putting, essentially, these individuals in limbo, honestly.”

Attorney: Judges already have packed dockets

Rosembert-Joseph said the previous setup helped curb the backlog because judges did not have to decide every case.

“So this rule just makes it even more difficult, in essence,” Rosembert-Joseph said. “The issue is that now the judges, their dockets are ramped up. It’s already backlogged now, and it always has been, since I’ve known.”

Rosembert-Joseph said the change may be more efficient for USCIS, but it could create another backlog in immigration courts, which she said already have an issue. She said immigration judges are already handling heavy caseloads.

“I haven’t spoken to them, but you can see the shift as far as mannerisms, attitudes,” she said. “They don’t have time to sit there and ask these questions because a master hearing is like five minutes.”

She said that volume can take a toll.

“So if I have to go through 500 cases and do this five-minute, it’s a lot of toll on them,” Rosembert-Joseph said. “So I don’t think it’s efficient and maybe efficient on USCIS’s part, but not for the immigration judges, because now they’re going to see an influx in a lot of cases that you have to decide now.”

Rosembert-Joseph said her fear as an attorney is that some cases may not receive the attention they need.

“Not to say that the judge is not going to look at it or anything, but it’s just, it’s a lot, it’s a lot on anyone,” she said. “So if we’re overworking them and putting all this on them, how do we expect them to make these sound decisions?”

Angie Rodríguez, directora del Departamento Administrativo de la Presidencia (DAPRE) hasta enero y actual gerente del Fondo Adaptación, denunció la presunta presión de Petro para que trasladara “sin justificación” dineros de la entidad que dirige y “maltrato psicológico”.

La funcionaria ha denunciado en los últimos días que los desacuerdos con el mandatario saliente se dieron desde que se opuso al nombramiento de Juliana Guerrero como viceministra de Juventudes por no cumplir los requisitos, un caso que está siendo investigado por la fiscalía, en la época que ejercía como directora del DAPRE y era la mano derecha de Petro.

“En su relato Angie menciona que existía un grupo de mujeres muy cercanas al presidente Gustavo Petro que seguían sus instrucciones y abordaban las entidades para obtener favores económicos y contratos”, indica la demanda presentada ante la la Comisión de Investigación y Acusación de la Cámara de Representantes, encargada de investigar al presidente y otros aforados.

Petro acusó a Rodríguez de ataques “calumniosos” en su contra y la víspera anunció que la demandaría penalmente, mientras que la señaló de colaborar con “sectores venidos del paramilitarismo, contra el que he actuado durante toda mi vida”, sin mostrar pruebas.

Ante la comisión, Rodríguez advirtió que ha recibido amenazas de muerte, como llamadas intimidantes al parecer de estructuras criminales que “buscan silenciarla para que no continúe denunciando públicamente lo sucedido al interior" del palacio presidencial.

El presidente electo Abelardo de la Espriella dijo que le brindará protección a Rodríguez para que continúe denunciando tan pronto se poseione el 7 de agosto. “La corrupción tendrá en mí a su principal enemigo: no más tolerancia con los corruptos”, indicó en la red social X el domingo.

Wilson Ruiz Orejuela, abogado defensor de Rodríguez y exministro de Justicia, aseguró en X que la demanda fue presentada porque “nadie está por encima de la Constitución y la Ley, ni siquiera el presidente de la república”.

La Comisión de Investigación y Acusación debe decidir si archivan las causas o si presentan un proyecto de acusación contra el presidente ante el pleno de la Cámara de Representantes, donde de ser aprobada se traslada al Senado, que se encarga de enjuiciarlo.

“Those conversations are ongoing,” said one of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Cruz and co-sponsor Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., are pushing to bring the Protect College Sports Act to a vote before Aug. 7, the last day the Senate meets before going on break. Senators return for the second half of September, before breaking for all of October -- leaving little time remaining before the November midterms.

A pair of documents outlining concessions the lawmakers have made in the negotiations were headlined by a $20 million-plus “retention pool” that schools could use to keep players from leaving. It would amount to a doubling of the revenue-sharing “salary cap," which is currently set at $21.3 million for this school year.

The conferences are seeking answers on whether the increase in revenue share would impact rules governing third-party payments to players, the likes of which are largely blamed for spiraling roster costs.

There's also the question of whether such an increase would comport with the House settlement — the $2.8 billion lawsuit settlement that dictates rules around revenue sharing. Jeffrey Kessler, the plaintiffs' attorney, has said he would need to see the language before weighing in on whether it impacts the settlement.

Absent from the documents was any mention of rewrites regarding antitrust protection or preemption of state laws. Those have been core requests surrounding legislation from virtually all the conferences and NCAA since Congress began this process.

Earlier this month, the SEC and Big Ten put out a paper outlining 10 “Common Sense Improvements” for the PCSA. The first two— and three of the 10 — entries on their list dealt with those two issues.

Other topics have been addressed in the negotiations, including adding flexibility to requirements over how many Olympic and women's sports programs some schools should have and relaxing language over conference expansion to allow leagues to grow to up to 19 teams.

There has also been language designed to prohibit private equity investors from paying schools to form a super league, though the conferences could seek more refining to that language.

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Pells reported from Denver.

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

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The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the 2026 recreational sport season runs Wednesday through Thursday, giving recreational harvesters an opportunity to catch spiny lobster ahead of the regular season, which begins Aug. 6 and continues through March 31, 2027.

Before heading onto the water, the FWC reminded participants that they must have a valid Florida saltwater fishing license, a spiny lobster permit, and be familiar with the state’s lobster harvesting regulations.

Local 10 News was in Key Biscayne early Wednesday to speak with some of the boaters who headed out just after midnight to catch their hauls.

“It was good, man,” Christian Gonzalez said. “I mean, they were running through the flats pretty good. We were able to limit it out in less than an hour, so it was pretty decent. I mean, pretty good night overall.”

Lobsters often hide in reefs, under rock ledges.

“You see a big ol’ rock and you just go down and there is usually about 10 to 20 of them under each rock,” diver Sebastian Rementeria said.

Some folks told Local 10 News that it seems there are less lobsters under the sea this year, but they still pulled a decent haul.

“The waves weren’t bad at all, the weather’s nice, it’s kind of smooth, but like I said, there’s not a lot of lobsters right now,” one boater identified only as Jayden said.

The annual event is a time-honored tradition and family event for many people, young and old.

“(In) 15 minutes, we got our first limit, and then probably within the next 30 minutes, we got our other two limits,” a man named David said.

Bag limits vary by location

During the two-day sport season, recreational harvesters are limited to:

• 6 lobsters per person, per day in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park waters.
• 12 lobsters per person, per day in all other Florida waters.

The FWC said bag limits apply only to properly licensed individuals, or those exempt from licensing, who are actively harvesting. People who are not harvesting cannot be counted toward another person’s daily limit.

Harvest rules

State wildlife officials also reminded lobster hunters to follow several key regulations during the season.

Harvesters may only keep lobsters with a carapace measuring more than 3 inches, and the measurement must be taken while the lobster is still in the water. A measuring device must be carried at all times.

Egg-bearing female lobsters may not be harvested, and lobsters must remain whole. Removing the tail from the body while on the water is prohibited.

The FWC also said it is illegal to use any device that punctures, penetrates or crushes a lobster’s shell.

FWC spokesperson George Reynaud said violators of the regulations could face fines and jail time.

Bonus lobster available for Lionfish Challenge participants

Participants in the 2026 Lionfish Challenge may qualify to harvest one additional lobster per day during the sport season.

To qualify, recreational participants must harvest and report at least 25 lionfish, while commercial participants must harvest 50 pounds or more of lionfish. Eligible harvesters must carry their 2026 FWC-issued Lionfish Challenge coin while lobstering.

Boating and diving safety

The FWC is urging boaters and divers to put safety first.

Officials recommend wearing a life jacket whenever a boat is underway and remind operators that boating under the influence of alcohol is illegal.

Divers must remain within 300 feet of a properly displayed divers-down flag in open water and within 100 feet when diving near an inlet or navigation channel. Boaters approaching a divers-down flag are required to slow to idle speed within those distances.

FWC officials said one diver drifted too far from a divers-down flag Wednesday morning, prompting a report of a missing diver. They confirmed the diver was later located safely.

“Often times, with the wind or the current, people can drift away, and that is when we get the distress call of a missing diver, and thankfully, this one was able to be recovered with no issue,” Reynaud said.

For those using bully nets during the sport season, the FWC is also asking harvesters to be courteous by directing lights toward the water, avoiding shining lights at homes or people, and keeping noise to a minimum.

For more information about Florida’s spiny lobster regulations, click here.

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Investigators said Matthew Holloway is wanted on charges of first-degree murder and multiple counts of attempted first-degree murder in the May 8 shooting near the 7900 block of Southwest Seventh Court.

According to BSO, deputies responded to reports of a shooting around 1 a.m. and found 19-year-old O’Mari Doe inside a 2020 Ford Mustang suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Authorities said he was airlifted to Broward Health North, where he was later pronounced dead. They also confirmed that 20-year-old Maurice Vorroto was found outside the vehicle with a gunshot wound. His injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Investigators said Doe, Vorroto and two other people were sitting inside the Mustang when five suspects arrived in a black Honda Accord. They said witnesses told detectives the suspects got out armed with handguns and fired multiple shots into the Mustang before fleeing.

Authorities previously arrested Aamir Adams, Anthony Adams and two minor suspects after they said a Fort Lauderdale police officer spotted the Honda Accord, leading to a pursuit that ended when the suspects bailed out near the 900 block of Southwest 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale.

Detectives said their investigation later identified Holloway as the fifth suspect involved in the shooting, and a warrant has since been issued for his arrest.

Anyone with information on Holloway’s whereabouts is urged to contact BSO Homicide Detective Andres Lopez at 954-321-4200 or submit a tip through the SaferWatch app.

Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact Broward Crime Stoppers. Tips leading to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.

Los investigadores informaron que Matthew Holloway es buscado por cargos de asesinato en primer grado y múltiples cargos de intento de asesinato en primer grado por la balacera ocurrida el 8 de mayo cerca de la cuadra 7900 de Southwest Seventh Court.

Según la BSO, los agentes respondieron a reportes de una balacera alrededor de la 1 a.m. y encontraron a O’Mari Doe, de 19 años, dentro de un Ford Mustang modelo 2020 con múltiples heridas de bala.

Las autoridades informaron que fue trasladado en helicóptero a Broward Health North, donde posteriormente fue declarado muerto. También confirmaron que Maurice Vorroto, de 20 años, fue encontrado fuera del vehículo con una herida de bala. Sus lesiones no ponían en peligro su vida.

Los investigadores informaron que Doe, Vorroto y otras dos personas estaban sentados dentro del Mustang cuando cinco sospechosos llegaron en un Honda Accord negro. Indicaron que los testigos dijeron a los detectives que los sospechosos bajaron del vehículo armados con pistolas y dispararon múltiples veces contra el Mustang antes de huir.

Las autoridades arrestaron previamente a Aamir Adams, Anthony Adams y dos sospechosos menores de edad después de que, según informaron, un oficial de la Policía de Fort Lauderdale detectó el Honda Accord, lo que dio inicio a una persecución que terminó cuando los sospechosos abandonaron el vehículo cerca de la cuadra 900 de Southwest 13th Street, en Fort Lauderdale.

Los detectives informaron que la investigación permitió identificar posteriormente a Holloway como el quinto sospechoso involucrado en la balacera y que desde entonces se emitió una orden de arresto en su contra.

Cualquier persona que tenga información sobre el paradero de Holloway debe comunicarse con el detective de Homicidios de la BSO, Andrés López, al 954-321-4200 o enviar información a través de la aplicación SaferWatch.

Quienes deseen permanecer en el anonimato pueden comunicarse con Broward Crime Stoppers. La información que conduzca a un arresto puede ser elegible para una recompensa de hasta $5,000 USD.

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With a new coaching staff and front office in place, competition is wide open as players battle for starting jobs and roster spots.

Running back De’Von Achane said it felt good to be back on the field with his teammates, calling the first day a “good start” as the team begins building chemistry in the new system.

“It was fun to get back out here with my brothers,” Achane said. “We was off a little bit but it’s exciting to get back on the field, especially just to hurry up and build that connection with each other.

One thing that stood out after practice was the effort.

Local 10’s Clay Ferraro said even after the session ended, several players stayed on the field getting extra work in, a sign of the competitive culture Hafley is trying to establish.

The rookies made a strong first impression.

Rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, a second round pick from Texas Tech, broke up two passes, including a diving pass breakup over the middle, while showing impressive range in coverage, according to Dolphins reporter Travis Wingfeld.

Wide receivers Caleb Douglas and Kevin Coleman Jr. each came away with explosive plays from Malik Willis. Douglas turned a short catch into a long gain with his speed and also hauled in a tough third-down reception despite tight coverage. Coleman picked up a big gain after hauling in a strike from quarterback Willis.

One of Willis’ best throws of the day came on a deep post pattern completed to South Florida native Tutu Atwell that connected for 50+ yards.

Wingfeld said Willis had a solid first day overall, connecting on several throws while working behind good pass protection. He had a few off-target passes and one tipped at the line, but looked comfortable for most of the practice. Tight ends Greg Dulcich and Ben Sims were both involved in the passing game.

On defense, cornerback Chris Johnson, who was drafted with the Dolphins’ second first round selection, flashed throughout practice with his athleticism and ability to make plays.

The defense also produced several takeaways, highlighted by linebacker Willie Gay Jr.’s pick-six after jumping a pass. Rookie safety Michael Taaffe added an interception that was thrown by Quinn Ewers, and linebacker David Ojabo forced a fumble during a running play.

That guy Taaffe 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/zdu19LFtfW

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) July 29, 2026

Veteran players said the intensity was evident from the opening practice.

“The energy is always there, especially day one, right?” said Dolphins defensive lineman Zach Sieler. “It’s hard to get a heartbeat on the whole team in one day, but the guys, they just want to be there. There’s no pride. No one’s mad about whatever. You take corrections.”

EDGE Chop Robinson said the urgency has increased as the regular season approaches.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely more urgency compared to OTAs in camp, obviously, because we’re getting, we’re competing every day,” he said. “We’re getting close to the season and stuff like that in the real game. So everybody was just fired up and just competing out there.”

The defensive front also made its presence felt against the run. Defensive tackles Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips and Zeek Biggers each recorded stops, while linebacker Jordyn Brooks consistently found the football, including a tackle for loss on Achane.

Safety Dante Trader also made a quick read to shut down a running lane on the first team play of practice.

The first practice open to the public is set for Sunday. Read the Dolphins’ full training camp schedule by clicking here.

Incumbent Adam Cervera is facing four opponents in this election.

Cervera, an attorney by trade, was appointed to by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2025.

District 6 includes Cooper City, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise and Weston.

“We have to restore fiscal sanity and fiscal responsibility to this board,” said Cervera. “I’ve been happy to lead the charge on a lot of these things, from cancelling leases for millions of dollars that we didn’t need.”

Candidate Jessie Bastos is a Broward County District 6 graduate.

“I have 22 years of outside business experience that I think is needed on the board to make better decisions with our $5.4 billion a year budget,” said Bastos.

Camp Wannadoo owner Lester Wilks Jr. also has his eyes on the District 6 seat.

“The district has been declining for the past five years,” he said. “I’m listening to what teachers are saying, I’m listening to what administrators are saying. I hear the concerns of the parents.”

Candidate Roberto Fernandez has been a teacher for 21 years and now hopes to help lead the district.

“We have a lot of applications that we spend a lot of money on and the kids do not find them effective or helpful,” Fernandez said. “If we just go back to the basics and really focus on reading writing and arithmetic, I think we will see students who are more competitive.”

Makai Henry is hoping to lead the district he graduated from just three years ago by tackling declining enrollment.

“It’s to create value-add programs that keep people in our schools,” he said. “If students and families don’t have value-add programs that make them want to stay in our schools, they’re going to go to charter and private schools.”

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

Election day is Aug. 18.

According to police, officers responded to Convenience World, located at 3038 Johnson St., on Sunday night after receiving reports of a woman in the drive-thru who appeared to have fainted.

Officers arrived to find Julia Pilkington, 35, inside a black Jeep Grand Cherokee “in actual physical control of the vehicle,” that also included a young child in a car seat in the back row of the Jeep, according to official documents.

Police said Pilkington, who was conscious and breathing, would not cooperate despite officers telling her they were only there to check on her wellbeing.

When an officer attempted to reach inside the vehicle and unlock the doors, police said Pilkington put the Jeep into drive and took off at a high rate of speed.

According to authorities, Pilkington drove westbound in the eastbound lanes of Johnson Street, going through a construction zone before moving “into the lane of oncoming traffic, failing to maintain control of her vehicle resulting in a head-on collision” with a responding officer in a marked police cruiser.

She was then taken into custody and is facing charges of child neglect without great bodily harm, resisting an officer without violence and reckless driving.

“He has his Heisman trophies right here,” Byrd said. “So this is a young man that had a future and once that accident happened, everything went away.”

Demetrius Byrd, once a standout football player at Miami Central who helped lead LSU to a national championship in 2005, is now in jail, accused of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Byrd’s mother blames a head injury from a car crash, just before he was set to be drafted into the NFL, for triggering mental illness.

“Everybody is against him, everybody wants to hurt my son, in his mind,” Byrd said. “Everyone wants to hurt him.”

Byrd, 40, appeared before a judge Tuesday to answer to the charge.

“He had a silver multi-tool in his right pocket,” the judge said.

Police said it was on Monday when the 40-year-old was on a Miami-Dade Transit bus in Miami Beach, causing a disruption near Abbot Avenue and Island Creek Drive.

They said a male passenger tried to calm Byrd down, but that only escalated the confrontation.

“He opened his multi-tool to a blade and asked the victim if he wanted to die and walked towards him with a blade in his hand,” the judge said.

The bus driver called police, which led to Byrd’s arrest.

“My son don’t need jail, he needs help mentally,” Byrd’s mother said.

Despite her plea for help, Byrd’s mother said she is not giving up on her son.

“There’s nothing vicious about him and anyone who knows him will tell you that. That’s not my son,” she said.

The Storm didn't elaborate on the nature of the incident and didn't say which Storm co-owner was involved.

“We are aware one of our co-owners made comments to two fans in attendance at last night’s game. We apologize that this happened,” Storm majority owner Ginny Gilder said in the statement released Wednesday. “Everyone who attends a Storm game deserves to feel welcome, and we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment where every fan is treated with respect."

The incident occurred Tuesday night during an evening that began with a demonstration outside Climate Pledge Arena. The team didn't say if the exchange was related to the protest.

Ahead of the game, a crowd of a few dozen gathered to both support Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and to promote a statewide ballot initiative, IL26-638, that would bar transgender students from participating in girls’ athletics at Washington schools.

Some members of the group carried signs in support of Cunningham or wore T-shirts depicting the XX and XY chromosomes. Some of them were also inside the arena during the game.

Cunningham voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports in an ESPN article published last week. Cunningham was booed by Storm fans when she checked into Tuesday’s game, as well as when attempting her first free throws of the night.

Cunningham was not made available to answer postgame questions.

Kelsey Mitchell and Monique Billings addressed the media instead, alongside head coach Stephanie White.

When White was asked about the rally and Cunningham’s recent comments, a Fever public relations representative intervened with the following statement:

“Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers,” the statement said. “Our only goal as a team, whether at home or away, is to win basketball games and make Fever fans for life, and we are united in that mission.”

Storm head coach Sonia Raman also briefly addressed a question about the pregame protest following her team’s seventh consecutive loss.

“Seattle and this organization and Climate Pledge, we always want to be an area where people feel welcome coming into this building,” Raman said. “I think we’ve always done a really good job with that. So, I know our organization was working closely with Climate Pledge and the security just to make sure that everybody feels safe and included and welcome when they walk in this door.

“From what I understand, that was successful.”

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

En un comunicado, la oficina del primer ministro Luis Galarreta indicó que se revisó un acuerdo ministerial que solicita facultades legislativas al Congreso para dotar al gobierno de herramientas para enfrentar la delincuencia, así como una intervención en el sistema de las cárceles para “recuperar el control”.

Según la normativa peruana, en caso que el Congreso apruebe el pedido, recién el Ejecutivo queda habilitado para emitir decretos legislativos pero sólo de los temas solicitados y en un plazo determinado.

La víspera Fujimori anunció en su discurso de investidura que en los estados de emergencia que decrete, las fuerzas armadas “asumirán el liderazgo de las operaciones de seguridad y del control del orden interno” en coordinación con la policía. Añadió que modernizará la tecnología policial para “anticipar y mapear el delito”.

Fujimori nombró como ministro del Interior a un senador fujimorista, el retirado general del Ejército César Astudillo y como ministro de Defensa al excandidato presidencial Rafael Belaunde. Ambos no cuentan con experiencia en la lucha contra el crimen organizado.

La principal preocupación de los peruanos es la lucha contra la delincuencia, en especial las extorsiones que se han expandido por casi todo Perú y afecta a miles de pequeños empresarios. Las denuncias por este delito pasaron de 2.421 en 2019 a 26.734 en 2025, según datos oficiales.

Las propuestas que privilegian la mano dura han sido criticadas por expertos. El exministro del Interior, Rubén Vargas, indicó al diario local Trome que “a las extorsiones no se les enfrenta con tanquetas, ni con fuerzas especiales, sino con inteligencia humana y electrónica”.

Otros han indicado que el gobierno necesita financiar a las 70 unidades investigadoras policiales para vencer al crimen, las cuales hace un quinquenio tenían un presupuesto de 29.000 dólares mensuales cada una, pero ahora carecen de ese presupuesto.

La mandataria fue reconocida durante la jornada como la jefa suprema de las fuerzas armadas y policiales, luego asistió a un desfile tradicional donde marchan los militares y policías pero también los civiles y que se realiza un día después de la fiesta nacional.

Una encuesta nacional de la firma Ipsos Perú publicada en el diario Perú21 indicó que 39% de los peruanos sienten preocupación ante la elección de Keiko Fujimori como presidenta, otro 37% siente optimismo, 16% indiferencia y 8% no precisa. El sondeo se realizó entre el 16 y 19 de julio entre 1.205 personas, con un margen de error de 2,8%.

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Family, school officials and community supporters gathered as Headquarter Toyota Chief Operating Officer and CFO Judy L. Farcus Serra presented Johnson with the keys, honoring his leadership at Liberty City Elementary School.

Johnson has spent more than 18 years with Miami-Dade County Public Schools as a teacher, math instructional coach and administrator, according to a news release from Headquarter Toyota.

During his five years as principal, Liberty City Elementary School improved from a “C” school to an “A” school for the first time in more than a decade, with gains in student achievement and attendance.

“I am humbled and deeply grateful to Headquarter Toyota for this incredible gift,” said Johnson. “Our success isn’t mine alone. It’s built on empowered teachers who collaborate, lead boldly, and drive results. When students feel supported, challenged, and celebrated, they thrive.”

Familiares, funcionarios escolares y miembros de la comunidad se reunieron mientras la directora de Operaciones y directora Financiera de Headquarter Toyota, Judy L. Farcus Serra, entregó las llaves a Johnson en reconocimiento a su liderazgo en Liberty City Elementary School.

Según un comunicado de Headquarter Toyota, Johnson ha trabajado durante más de 18 años en las Escuelas Públicas del condado Miami-Dade como maestro, entrenador de instrucción de matemáticas y administrador.

Durante sus cinco años como director, Liberty City Elementary School pasó de ser una escuela con calificación “C” a obtener una calificación “A” por primera vez en más de una década, con mejoras en el rendimiento académico y la asistencia de los estudiantes.

“Me siento honrado y profundamente agradecido con Headquarter Toyota por este increíble regalo”, dijo Johnson. “Nuestro éxito no es solo mío. Se basa en maestros empoderados que colaboran, lideran con decisión y generan resultados. Cuando los estudiantes se sienten apoyados, desafiados y valorados, prosperan”.

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Jacob Melvin Hart, 46, of San Juan Capistrano, California, was sentenced by a Miami federal judge “for sexually exploiting children by secretly recording minors through spyware installed on laptop computers and directing children overseas to produce child sexual abuse material.”

Hart, then 45, was arrested at Miami International Airport on June 21, 2025 after customs officers found child sexual abuse videos on his phone. He was going through a border checkpoint after arriving on an Eastern Air Express flight from Cap-Haïtien, Haiti on a Christian mission trip.

Authorities said they found 33 illicit videos in a “hidden, password-protected folder” of his iPhone showing girls as young as 10, “including images and videos that he had directed minor children in Russia to create at his request.”

“Law enforcement also observed what appeared to be over approximately 160 artificial intelligence (AI) images and videos depicting nude prepubescent and minor females,” the complaint states.

Hart had been previously convicted in 2006 for “for placing a hidden camera in the girls’ bathroom/shower room at a Christian camp” in Oregon, authorities said.

But prosecutors said he later managed to find work at a church in Southern California in spite of that.

Court documents state that law enforcement learned that while he working an an information technology consultant at Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, where prosecutors said that “provided laptops equipped with spyware to several children, allowing him to remotely activate the computers’ cameras without the children’s knowledge.”

“Using the spyware, Hart secretly recorded at least eight minor victims and possessed sexually explicit depictions of those children,” prosecutors said.

According to the Orange County Register, that church is now being sued, with victims alleging that “Crossline Community Church officials were aware Hart had been convicted in Oregon,” yet hired him anyway.

Hart’s attorneys, in a memorandum seeking the mandatory minimum 30-year sentence following his guilty plea, tried to paint him as “a thoroughly broken man” and past victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a neighbor, triggering an “illicit addiction.”

But prosecutors, in a news release, said a judge “described the scope of Hart’s conduct as ‘extraordinary’” while handing down the 40-year sentence.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quinones said the sentence means that Hart “will likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison.”

“It protects children from a calculated predator and demonstrates that we will pursue those who produce and solicit child sexual abuse material, whether their victims are here at home or across the world,” he said in part.

Records show a restitution hearing is scheduled in Miami federal court for Sept. 1.

Jacob Melvin Hart, de 46 años y residente de San Juan Capistrano, California, fue sentenciado por un juez federal de Miami “por explotar sexualmente a menores al grabarlos en secreto mediante un programa espía instalado en computadoras portátiles y dirigir a menores en el extranjero para producir material de abuso sexual infantil”.

Hart, entonces de 45 años, fue arrestado en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami (MIA) el 21 de junio de 2025 después de que agentes de Aduanas encontraron videos de abuso sexual infantil en su teléfono. Había pasado por un punto de control fronterizo tras llegar en un vuelo de Eastern Air Express procedente de Cap-Haïtien, Haití, luego de un viaje de misión cristiana.

Las autoridades informaron que encontraron 33 videos ilícitos en una “carpeta oculta protegida con contraseña” de su iPhone que mostraban a niñas de tan solo 10 años, “incluyendo imágenes y videos que él había dirigido a menores en Rusia a crear a petición suya”.

“Las autoridades también observaron aproximadamente más de 160 imágenes y videos generados con inteligencia artificial (IA) que mostraban a niñas menores de edad y preadolescentes desnudas”, señala la denuncia.

Las autoridades informaron que Hart ya había sido condenado en 2006 “por colocar una cámara oculta en el baño y la ducha de niñas en un campamento cristiano” en Oregón.

Sin embargo, los fiscales dijeron que posteriormente logró conseguir trabajo en una iglesia del sur de California a pesar de ese antecedente.

Los documentos judiciales indican que las autoridades descubrieron que, mientras trabajaba como consultor de tecnología de la información en Crossline Community Church, en Laguna Hills, California, “proporcionó computadoras portátiles equipadas con programas espía a varios menores, lo que le permitía activar de forma remota las cámaras de los equipos sin que los niños lo supieran”.

“Utilizando el programa espía, Hart grabó en secreto al menos a ocho víctimas menores de edad y poseía imágenes sexualmente explícitas de esos niños”, dijeron los fiscales.

Según el Orange County Register, esa iglesia enfrenta ahora una demanda en la que las víctimas alegan que “los directivos de Crossline Community Church sabían que Hart había sido condenado en Oregón”, pero aun así lo contrataron.

Los abogados de Hart, en un memorando en el que solicitaron la pena mínima obligatoria de 30 años tras su declaración de culpabilidad, intentaron presentarlo como “un hombre completamente destrozado” y una víctima de abuso sexual por parte de un vecino, lo que desencadenó una “adicción ilícita”.

Sin embargo, los fiscales señalaron en un comunicado que el juez “describió el alcance de la conducta de Hart como “extraordinaria”” al imponer la condena de 40 años.

En un comunicado, el fiscal federal Jason Reding Quinones dijo que la sentencia significa que Hart “probablemente pasará el resto de su vida en una prisión federal”.

“Protege a los niños de un depredador calculador y demuestra que perseguiremos a quienes producen y solicitan material de abuso sexual infantil, ya sea que sus víctimas estén aquí en nuestro país o en cualquier parte del mundo”, dijo, en parte.

Los registros muestran que una audiencia para determinar la restitución está programada en el tribunal federal de Miami para el 1 de septiembre.

The Redmond, Washington, company earned $90 billion, or $4.81 per share, in the April-June quarter. That is up 18% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had expected the company to earn $4.24 per share on revenue of $87.62 billion this quarter.

Microsoft Cloud revenue was $59.3 billion this quarter, up 27% year-over-year. That growth reflects the demand across Microsoft's cloud computing platform Azure, as well as its first-party AI applications and services. Azure and other cloud services revenue increased 43%.

For the full fiscal year, which closed out at the end of June, the company brought in $331.8 billion in revenue.

“This year, Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats, reflecting the confidence customers are placing in us to power their AI transformation,” CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement Wednesday.

The concurrent Azure and Copilot growth indicate that Microsoft is “winning on both fronts,” Michael J. Wolf, founder and CEO of Activate Consulting said in a statement. Microsoft is doing so by “supplying the cloud infrastructure for enterprise AI while monetizing the AI tools embedded in the products workers use every day.”

Investors had been looking for evidence that Azure and Copilot, Microsoft's flagship AI assistant, could eventually produce returns as concerns about high AI spending have steadily grown across the industry.

Chief financial officer Amy Hood told investors on a call that the company’s capital expenditures and investment expectations remain unchanged for the 2026 calendar year. An accounting change will bring that guidance closer to approximately $175 billion, Hood said, but in practice, the expectations remain “unchanged.” This move marks a break from competitors that have been steadily increasing their spending forecasts.

Hood said earlier this year that the company expects to invest $190 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, a figure that includes approximately $25 billion from the impact of higher component pricing. Microsoft's capital expenditures were $41 billion this quarter.

Bryan Hayes, an investment strategist at Zacks Investment Research, said in a statement that “for the first time in three quarters, the market appears willing to grant that the spending is buying something real.”

“We remain very confident in the long-term return on these investments, given these strong demand signals, the increasing product usage we’ve seen and the efficiencies that we’re driving across the platform,” said Danielle Criste, Microsoft's director of investor relations, in an interview.

Microsoft’s shares rose about 9% to $426.03 in after-hours trading.

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Last year, August brought us Category 5 Hurricane Erin. The year prior, Hurricane Debby struck Florida on August 5^th, the first of five U.S. hurricane landfalls that season. In 2023, Idalia rapidly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane in the 24 hours leading up to its end-of-August landfall in Florida’s Big Bend.

August can give us a pass – like in 2022 when August ended without a single tropical depression, storm, or hurricane, only the second August in 60 years to do so – but that’s a rare treat when it happens.

That said, if ever you were betting on a sluggish open to the August portion of the hurricane season, it’s this August. As we’ve covered extensively in the newsletter this season, the Atlantic basin – including the Gulf and Caribbean – is squarely on the struggle bus. Waters in the tropical Atlantic are as tepid as they’ve been in four years, wind shear is as high as we’ve ever seen it to start August, and sinking air is weighing heavy on disturbances that might otherwise try to grow.

That knockout one-two combo of high wind shear and sinking air is firmly in place and doesn’t look to be retreating anytime soon. Perhaps the most telling chart is the one below which shows the positioning of rising and sinking air across the globe and what’s forecast into the first few weeks of September.

The long band of oranges and reds squared over the Indian Ocean next to the long band of greens and blues stuck over the Pacific is a so-called standing wave configuration that promotes high wind shear and stable air across the Atlantic, both significant deterrents to tropical activity. It’s rare to see such a strong signal in global velocity potential anomalies, but this striking pattern reflects just how much of a toll the historic El Niño is taking on the atmosphere.

I’m not bold enough – even in a year like this one – to suggest we’ll see the Atlantic completely shutdown this August (especially deeper into August), but we should certainly expect it’ll be much quieter than usual. With a configuration like the one shown, we should probably look north of the traditional tropical belt into the subtropics, something we’ve covered in previous newsletters, which could open periodic windows which might favor development.

For now, however, we’re not seeing any such development windows in the near future and forecast models show little to nothing through at least the first week or two of August.

Wilkinson Sejour, dueño de Chef Creole, dijo que recientemente perdió a cuatro empleados.

“Les dije: “Miren, lo extendieron por tres días más”. Ellos me respondieron: “Jefe, por la forma en que esta administración está manejando las cosas, no les importa el estado de derecho. Solo les importa su agenda. No voy a pasar vergüenza. No voy a parecer un criminal frente a la gente”, así que se fueron. Ya no están aquí”, dijo Sejour.

Sejour, quien es haitiano-estadounidense, dijo que comprende a los beneficiarios haitianos del TPS que llegaron a Estados Unidos en busca de mejores oportunidades mientras Haití continúa enfrentando la delincuencia y la inestabilidad.

“¿Cómo pueden enviar de regreso a alguien a un país al que la embajada de Estados Unidos está diciendo: “No vayan allí”? Esto es muy contradictorio. No lo entiendo”, dijo Sejour.

Sejour es propietario de siete restaurantes Chef Creole en Miami. Dijo que ahora está buscando contratar más trabajadores para reemplazar a los empleados que perdió recientemente.

“Mi costo laboral debería ser del 23.5%, y ahora va a subir al 27% o quizás al 28%”, dijo Sejour. “Así que mi ganancia neta será menor. ¿Cómo voy a compensar eso? Tendré que aumentar los precios de mis productos. Todos lo van a sentir”.

La Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC) informó que la temporada recreativa de 2026 se desarrolla desde el miércoles hasta el jueves, brindando a los pescadores recreativos la oportunidad de capturar langosta espinosa antes de que la temporada regular comience el 6 de agosto y se extienda hasta el 31 de marzo de 2027.

Antes de salir al agua, la FWC recordó a los participantes que deben contar con una licencia válida de pesca en aguas saladas de Florida, un permiso para capturar langosta espinosa y conocer las regulaciones estatales para la captura de langosta.

Local 10 News estuvo la madrugada del miércoles en Key Biscayne para conversar con algunos de los navegantes que salieron poco después de la medianoche para realizar sus capturas.

“Estuvo muy bien. Quiero decir, había muchas en las zonas poco profundas. Pudimos alcanzar el límite en menos de una hora, así que estuvo bastante bien. En general, fue una muy buena noche”, dijo Christian Gonzalez.

Las langostas suelen esconderse en los arrecifes y debajo de salientes rocosas.

Algunas personas dijeron a Local 10 News que este año parece haber menos langostas en el mar, aunque aun así lograron una captura considerable.

“Las olas no estaban fuertes, el clima está agradable, el mar está tranquilo, pero, como dije, ahora mismo no hay muchas langostas”, comentó un navegante identificado únicamente como Jayden.

El evento anual es una tradición muy arraigada y una actividad familiar para personas de todas las edades.

“En 15 minutos alcanzamos nuestro primer límite y luego, probablemente en los siguientes 30 minutos, conseguimos nuestros otros dos límites”, dijo un hombre llamado David.

Los límites de captura varían según la ubicación

Durante la temporada recreativa de dos días, los pescadores recreativos tienen permitido capturar:

• Seis langostas por persona por día en las aguas del condado Monroe y del Parque Nacional Biscayne.
• Doce langostas por persona por día en todas las demás aguas de Florida.

La FWC indicó que los límites de captura solo se aplican a las personas con la licencia correspondiente o a quienes estén exentos del requisito y participen activamente en la captura. Las personas que no estén capturando langostas no pueden ser contabilizadas para el límite diario de otra persona.

Reglas para la captura

Los funcionarios estatales de vida silvestre también recordaron a quienes participan en la captura de langostas que deben cumplir varias regulaciones durante la temporada.

Solo pueden conservarse langostas cuyo caparazón mida más de tres pulgadas, y esa medición debe realizarse mientras la langosta aún está en el agua. Además, es obligatorio llevar un medidor en todo momento.

No está permitido capturar hembras con huevos, y las langostas deben permanecer enteras. Está prohibido separar la cola del cuerpo mientras se está en el agua.

La FWC también recordó que es ilegal utilizar cualquier dispositivo que perfore, penetre o aplaste el caparazón de una langosta.

Langosta adicional para participantes del Lionfish Challenge

Los participantes del Lionfish Challenge 2026 pueden calificar para capturar una langosta adicional por día durante la temporada recreativa.

Para calificar, los participantes recreativos deben capturar y reportar al menos 25 peces león, mientras que los participantes comerciales deben capturar 50 libras o más de pez león. Los pescadores elegibles deben portar la moneda oficial del Lionfish Challenge 2026 emitida por la FWC mientras capturan langostas.

Seguridad para navegantes y buzos

La FWC exhorta a navegantes y buzos a poner la seguridad en primer lugar.

Los funcionarios recomiendan usar un chaleco salvavidas siempre que la embarcación esté en movimiento y recuerdan que navegar bajo los efectos del alcohol es ilegal.

Los buzos deben permanecer a no más de 300 pies de una bandera de buzo correctamente colocada en aguas abiertas y a no más de 100 pies cuando buceen cerca de una entrada o un canal de navegación. Las embarcaciones que se acerquen a una bandera de buzo deben reducir la velocidad al mínimo dentro de esas distancias.

Para quienes utilicen redes tipo bully net durante la temporada recreativa, la FWC también solicita actuar con cortesía, dirigiendo las luces hacia el agua, evitando iluminarlas hacia viviendas o personas y manteniendo el ruido al mínimo.

Para obtener más información sobre las regulaciones para la captura de langosta espinosa en Florida, haga clic aquí.

The Seattle company said global same-store sales in its fiscal third quarter rose 7.9%, which was well above the 5.7% increase Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Same-store sales also were up 7.9% in the U.S. during the April-June period, the company said.

Starbucks said it now expects global same-store sales to grow 6% for its full fiscal year, which ends Sept. 28. The company previously forecast same-store sales to grow 5% for the year. The company also expects full-year earnings per share of $2.55 to $2.65, up from $2.25 to $2.45 previously.

Starbucks shares were up more than 5% in after-hours trading Wednesday.

Starbucks said its business grew across customer income levels and in the morning as well as the afternoon. Customers spent more per visit, partly due to growth in delivery orders but also due to innovative drinks, the company said.

S’mores Cold Brew, which features marshmallow syrup, marshmallow cream cold foam and a graham cracker topping, was particularly popular with Generation Z customers and is one of the company’s strongest limited-time summer offerings in years, Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said.

Niccol said Starbucks' fruity Refreshers also continued to see strong demand despite growing competition. McDonald's added fruity drinks to its U.S. menu in May, for example.

Niccol said Starbucks' redesign of stores to give them a cozier, coffeehouse feel helped in improving sales.

“People just feel better about, you know, even doing their mobile order pickup when they go to a coffeehouse versus a place that maybe wasn’t up to our Starbucks standards,” Niccol said Wednesday during a conference call with investors.

Starbucks has revamped more than 1,000 stores across North America so far and plans to complete another 500 before the end of its fiscal year.

Revenue fell 1% to $9.3 billion for the quarter, which also beat analysts’ forecast of $9.2 billion. Part of the drop in revenue was due to Starbucks' sale of a stake in its China business, a transaction that was completed in April.

Starbucks said its results also got a boost from a tariff refund it applied for and received during its fiscal third quarter. The refund largely offset tariffs that Starbucks paid in the first three quarters of its fiscal year, the company said.

Starbucks said its net income rose 87% to $1 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned 85 cents per share, which surpassed analysts' forecast of 66 cents.

Despite several days of relative calm, both sides carried out military strikes in the last 24 hours that once again risk a return to all-out war — and further expansion in the region — while little is clear about what strategy, if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward.

While President Donald Trump and his allies have spent recent days arguing that Iran is begging to return to the negotiating table, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that his country has made no requests to restart the diplomatic track in more than two weeks.

Following a thwarted attack on the U.S. base in Jordan, Trump turned back to threats Wednesday even while sustaining the prospect of continued talks.

“They’ve already apologized, but, you know, we got to smack them a little bit,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. He added: “It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point. But we’re going to hit them very hard.”

Hours later, the strikes followed as the U.S. military said it launched a “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East” in a social media post. It did not immediately disclose the targets of the attack.

There's a sense of déjà vu as the Republican president has vacillated for the past several months between insisting a deal was near to end the war and Tehran's nuclear program and then using vulgarities and threats to get Iran to capitulate to U.S. demands — to no avail.

The stakes for continued U.S. military action have never been higher for Trump and his party as the conflict, unpopular among many Americans, has jolted the world economy just months before critical midterm elections in November. The renewed fighting also has killed and injured more American troops and been complicated by concerns that the U.S. is further drawing down stockpiles of key air defense systems needed to defend its bases and allies.

In the past day, Iran said it fired ballistic missiles at Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a key U.S. military hub for the region, which Trump said were intercepted. And Saudi Arabia joined the U.S. in striking multiple logistics and weapons sites used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.

The first publicly announced joint U.S.-Saudi strikes followed drone attacks on the kingdom, complicating a conflict that now includes nearly every country in the region. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military operations, said the two attacks were not connected.

Saudi defense minister makes White House visit

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met separately Wednesday with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly about the private meeting.

The defense minister conveyed the view of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto leader, that Iran has lost leverage in Syria and Lebanon but is still managing to provide support to the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq, according to one of the people familiar with Prince Khalid’s talks with Trump and Vance.

The Iran-aligned Houthi group earlier this week said it fired ballistic missiles at a Saudi oil tanker, days after declaring it was imposing a naval blockade on Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.

The Saudi decision to join the U.S. attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that it wouldn’t tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure, the person added.

At the same time, the defense minister underscored to Trump and Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and want Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations.

Drone strikes also ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at a port in Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator that is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared from direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.

The U.S.-Saudi strikes came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed his first meeting with Trump since they launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28.

An Israeli official briefed on the meeting Tuesday at the White House said Netanyahu assured Trump that it is the U.S., not Israel, that is in the driver's seat with Iran, attempting to push back on the notion that he’s increasingly out of step with his closest ally on the way ahead.

Yet, Israeli officials also have privately expressed concern that Trump, with midterm elections looming, is trying to “keep this war on a low flame,” according to a person familiar with Netanyahu's government’s internal deliberations. The person and the Israeli official were not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The person added that Israeli officials have become increasingly concerned about Trump’s sensitivity to surging oil prices as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to global energy shipments and about the growing trepidation among some in the U.S. administration about the burn rate of critical missile interceptors.

The recent fighting with Iran used up more of the U.S. military’s already diminished stockpiles of Patriot and THAAD interceptors, potentially putting American troops at more risk if hostilities resume, according to an analysis released this week from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has told Trump that the state of the munitions stockpile could have an impact on military operations in Iran, according to another U.S. official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations, said the message was delivered as part of Caine’s regular duties of providing military advice and options to Trump.

A history of failed diplomacy plagues US-Iran prospects

The Trump administration does not seem to have a strategy to resume negotiations with Iran over ending the conflict.

Despite efforts by some mediators to get talks restarted — or at least find a point at which they could begin again — the administration is not actively pursuing talks at the moment, a senior U.S. official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the latest developments in the region suggested that any resumption in direct diplomacy was not imminent.

Analysts called the uncertainty and lack of strategy a result of deep, growing mistrust between Washington and Tehran, especially after an interim ceasefire proposal signed in mid-June collapsed in recent weeks.

Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said senior Iranian officials were nearly unanimous in their decision to approve that memorandum of understanding with the U.S.

“But now none of them believe that Trump is a reliable negotiating partner,” he said. "The problem, I think, is that Trump also has now the same impression about the Iranians."

In some respects, the on-again, off-again nature of talks and back-and-forth military attacks should not be surprising.

The history of U.S. negotiations with Iran after 1979 is littered with failure, false starts and stops, and military actions that have nonetheless stopped short of the kind of conflict the two countries are now in.

Despite its flaws, the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran secured by the Obama administration was the first major agreement between the two countries since the Algiers Accords in 1981 that ended the American hostage crisis and laid a patchwork path for the resolution of other issues, including the unfreezing of Shah-era Iranian assets seized by the U.S. after the Islamic Revolution.

However, even from the beginning, both sides accused each other of violating the terms of these deals.

Accusations of violations of the Algiers Accords, which led to a period of great animosity, including U.S. support for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, became the norm.

Despite the semi-rapprochement around the 2015 nuclear deal, Trump’s withdrawal from it in 2018 during his first term, his imposition of a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Tehran, and the U.S. assassination of Iran’s top military leader Qassem Soleimani in early 2020, sent the relationship to new lows.

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Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

Este miércoles, los dos candidatos finalistas para el cargo de superintendente de las Escuelas Públicas de Miami-Dade trabajaron para convencer a la Junta Escolar de que son la mejor opción para el puesto.

Se trata de Ernie Lozano, director de Recursos Humanos de las Escuelas Públicas del Condado Broward, y Rafael Villalobos, superintendente de la Región Sur del Distrito Escolar de Miami-Dade.

Tras escuchar a ambos candidatos, los miembros de la Junta Escolar votaron por unanimidad para elegir a Villalobos como el próximo superintendente del condado.

Las entrevistas públicas formaron parte del proceso de selección y nombramiento.

La decisión tiene una gran importancia, ya que quien resulte seleccionado deberá afrontar de inmediato los importantes desafíos del distrito, entre ellos la disminución de la matrícula estudiantil y un presupuesto cada vez más ajustado.

Las preguntas de la entrevista fueron presentadas por la oficina del asesor jurídico general, y los miembros de la Junta Escolar se turnaron para leer una pregunta a cada candidato.

Un finalista debía recibir al menos cinco votos afirmativos de los miembros de la Junta Escolar para avanzar en el proceso de nombramiento.

Authorities did not say who they suspected in the contamination of tomatoes from farms neighboring the Amboseli National Park. In the past farmers have been suspected of deliberately poisoning elephants to prevent them from eating crops.

The park in southern Kenya borders an area where farming and the raising of livestock are prevalent.

Kenya Wildlife Service Director General Erustus Kanga said preliminary laboratory tests detected cyanide. “Cyanide is a highly toxic chemical, particularly for elephants,” Kanga told local media.

The Kenya Wildlife Service warned that the contamination could have wider consequences because livestock also graze in the area.

“Other than the elephants and the wildlife that may be feeding in those fields, we have the local livestock. We have the goats. We have the cattle that are there. Eventually, if this is truly what is in the system, then we are going to see a bigger impact,” Kanga said.

Wildlife authorities said the toxic substances found in the deceased elephants pose no immediate threat to human health.

After just a couple of hours of deliberations, a jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.

Rushdie, who was about to speak on writers’ safety, was slashed 15 times on an amphitheater stage in 2022. He was gravely wounded and lost the sight in his right eye.

Prosecutors asserted that Matar was motivated by the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ’s 1989 call for Rushdie’s death because of “The Satanic Verses.”

“His brutal attack on Mr. Rushdie during a peaceful speaking event is a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said in a statement after the verdict, adding that “justice has been done.” Iran’s government has denied involvement in the attack.

Matar’s defense: No evidence of his state of mind

Messages seeking comment on the verdict were sent to Matar's attorneys and Rushdie's assistant. During the trial, defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone said the government had no proof of what was in Matar’s head.

Matar himself declined to testify. Rushdie did, telling jurors: “I can’t say what his ambitions or his aim was, but the wounds were dispersed across my body.”

Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence on an attempted murder conviction in the stabbing. His federal sentencing is set for Nov. 3, when he faces a potential life term.

Rushdie won Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize for his 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children,” about his native India. “The Satanic Verses,” a novel of magical realism about the lives and dreams of two actors who survive a plane explosion, followed in 1988.

It drew critical acclaim in the United Kingdom but engendered protests around the Muslim world over what some believers saw as blasphemous suggestions about Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, particularly in a dream sequence. Over the ensuing years, at least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, a Japanese translator was stabbed to death, and an Italian translator and Norwegian publisher were attacked.

Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim family, has said the dream sequence was just that. But he went into hiding for years, gradually emerging after Iran’s government distanced itself in 1998 from Khomeini’s fatwa, or religious edict.

“For two decades or more, I led a public life without a hint of trouble,” Rushdie testified at the trial in Buffalo, New York.

Yet the fatwa was never rescinded; indeed, Khomenei’s successor, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, indicated in 2017 that it remained in effect. An Iranian foundation has offered a more than $3 million bounty for killing Rushdie.

Prosecutors: Matar’s messages showed him zeroing in on Rushdie

Matar broached the fatwa with contacts in messaging apps in 2021 and 2022, according to exhibits shown in court. The messages showed Matar fuming that he felt Rushdie had attacked Islam and, by surviving, emboldened others to insult the faith. Matar alluded to a 2006 comment along those lines by the late Hezbollah militant group leader Hassan Nasrallah, the messages showed.

Born in the U.S., Matar also holds citizenship in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based. Prosecutors said that photos in Matar’s New Jersey bedroom and on his computer indicated his support for Hezbollah, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.

Matar “spent months planning and preparing to carry out what he hoped would be the execution of Salman Rushdie,” U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said in a statement Wednesday.

The messages showed Matar initially talked about wanting to “expose” Rushdie, then about taking his life. In a private note to himself, he wrote: “We need to kill him ASAP,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch said in an opening statement on July 22. The prosecutor said Matar framed the planned killing as part of what he considered a jihad, or holy war.

By spring 2022, the electronic chats showed, Matar wrote that he had discerned where Rushdie lived and was tracking his public appearances, eventually pointing out his scheduled August 2022 talk at the Chautauqua Institution, a western New York arts and intellectual center.

As Rushdie was being introduced, his attacker climbed on stage behind him, then stabbed him as the audience gasped. Spectators and another speaker, Henry Reese, scrambled to aid Rushdie. Law enforcement officers, assigned to the event, arrested the attacker — soon identified as Matar — after civilians restrained him.

Rushdie published a 2024 memoir about the attack, then returned to fiction with last year’s “The Eleventh Hour.” The author, who was knighted by Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II, received a Dayton Literary Peace Prize lifetime achievement award in November.

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Associated Press writer John Wawrow contributed from Buffalo, New York.

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The search was for a “turnkey” detention facility within 50 driving miles of the Miami Field Office at 865 SW 78 Ave., in Plantation, records show.

According to a July 10 request for information by ICE, the contract needed to include housing, transportation, and health, guard, and food services for “male and female detainees” of low and medium “custody levels,” adding that “high” level was “preferred.”

The request also included at least 1,800 detention beds in the Philadelphia area, at least 1,500 in the Seattle area, and at least 1,500 in the Denver area.

Earlier this month, ICE detainees held at the Federal Detention Facility Miami, at 33 NE 4th St., in downtown, and their relatives told Local 10 News that they did not have air conditioning or access to drinking water.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which oversees FDC Miami, told Local 10 News that there was a temporary AC malfunction, and inmates had access to bottles of water.

Some of the ICE detainees at FDC Miami reported they were transferred out of the South Florida Detention Facility, also known as the state-run Alligator Alcatraz, at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.

Detainees at Alligator Alcatraz had also complained of poor living conditions that included mosquitoes, broken air conditioning, sewage backups, food with maggots, and restricted access to legal counsel.

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

Related documents

ICE Request For Information, July 10, 2026 by Andrea Torres

ICE Request for Information Evaluation Factors, July 2026 by Andrea Torres

ICE Performance Work Statement Detention Services (Non-IHSC-Staffed Facility), June 2026 by Andrea Torres

Related stories

• Nun speaks out for first time about being detained by ICE while walking to Mass in Texas
• ICE extends no-bid contract for major detention center in Texas, rejecting calls for closure
• Sons of man shot and killed by ICE in Houston demand accountability at congressional hearing

Related link: ICE database of detention facilities

Location: Field office in Plantation

The Facebook and Instagram parent company earned $15.85 billion, or $6.18 per share, in the April-June period. That's down 14% from $18.34 billion, or $7.14 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue grew 28% to $60.8 billion from $47.52 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $7.19 per share on revenue of $60.22 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

“AI is accelerating our core business today, powering our next generation of products, and opening the door to entirely new enterprise opportunities,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement. “The results are already showing, and I’m optimistic about the potential ahead.”

Meta said the number of daily active users on its “family of apps” — Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp and Threads — grew 3% from a year earlier to $3.6 billion. Zuckerberg said Instagram reached the 2 billion daily users milestone during the quarter, while Threads has 500 million monthly active users.

The Menlo Park, California-based company had 75,472 employees as of June 30, a decrease of 1% year-over-year. This still includes the roughly 8,000 workers the company said it would lay off. Meta said its third-quarter earnings report will have the updated figure.

“Earnings come just as Meta pushes out an ad campaign and media blitz that aim to clarify Meta’s stance and goals regarding AI. It’s not surprising that Zuckerberg wants to come out with a more cohesive message around the company’s AI ambitions, especially as Meta tries to carve out its own lane,” said Emarketer analyst Minda Smiley. Zuckerberg wrote a glowing op-ed about AI's future in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, arguing that AI may soon deliver "personal superintelligence to everyone.”

But Smiley said the "optimistic, positive tone he’s striking stands in stark contrast to the negative sentiment that’s building toward social media companies over claims that they’ve harmed and addicted kids. This juxtaposition could make it more difficult for Meta to build credibility in an area where it’s already a laggard.”

For the current quarter, Meta is forecasting revenue in the range of $61 billion to $64 billion, the midpoint of which is lower than the $63.14 billion that analysts are expecting.

Meta also raised the lower end of its expense outlook to incorporate the $2.4 billion in legal expenses. It now expects total 2026 expenses to be in the range of $165 billion to $169 billion.

Expenses for the second quarter were $42.03 billion, an increase of 55% year-over-year. Meta said this includes $2.40 billion of charges related to legal proceedings and $1.18 billion of severance expenses in connection with the layoffs announced in May.

The company's free cash flow — money left over after paying operating costs and capital expenditures — dropped 91% to $784 million from $8.55 billion a year earlier.

Meta's shares fell $24.76, or 4.2%, to $560.85 in after-hours trading after the results came out.

Linebacker Jonathon Cooper, who faces an Aug. 31 arraignment on several domestic violence charges following two arrests last month, returned to the field Wednesday when the Broncos began their acclimation period ahead of the start of training camp this weekend.

Also back was Michael Wilhoite, who was recently rehired as a defensive assistant 16 months after being fired as Denver’s outside linebackers coach following an incident at the Denver International Airport where he was accused of punching a police officer.

As for Cooper, who was held out of the Broncos' mandatory minicamp last month following his second arrest in a week's span, coach Sean Payton said: "Well, we're staying the course with the league protocol, club protocol relative to what we're advised to do. He's been fantastic working away from the building and will continue to do that and (we'll) monitor it.

“We're supportive and yet very much aware of the seriousness of these types of things,” Payton added. "But, pretty much what I said in the spring: there's a schedule and a course to this that we have to follow.”

The NFL is investigating Cooper's situation and the sixth-year pro could face a lengthy suspension under the league's domestic violence policy.

Payton insisted Cooper's situation isn't a distraction: “No, not at all.”

Cooper, who has started 52 consecutive games for the Broncos, is a key member of a defense that has led the league in sacks each of the last two seasons. He was told to stay away from the Broncos’ mandatory minicamp in June following his second arrest.

Payton intimated that Cooper received counseling over the summer break, saying, “We're proud of the work he did over the last call it month and a half. It wasn't easy. And it'll continue to be a challenge and we'll see where it goes. But (we're) fully supportive of him right now as we gather all the information and we go from there.”

Cooper, 28, was originally arrested June 4 by police in Parker along with his girlfriend following an argument and physical confrontation after she accused him of infidelity, according to a police affidavit. Later that week, prosecutors dropped charges against her and added charges against Cooper, including a felony charge of second-degree assault by strangulation, while also granting her a protection order.

The new charges stemmed from a forensic nurse’s examination of Cooper’s girlfriend at a hospital during which the nurse wrote that the woman experienced an injury from being choked that led to a “substantial risk of death” or substantial risk of injury, including the possibility of a traumatic brain injury, according to court records.

Cooper was later arrested a second time on multiple charges that he violated the protection order. Cooper was accused of sending 20 messages and making two unanswered phone calls to his girlfriend before going to her apartment and knocking on her door, according to the arrest affidavit. He left when she called 911.

Asked if he'd read what the forensic nurse wrote, Payton said, “Yeah, I've read all of it and, listen, I don't have any comment on the specifics because I think, yeah, when it's finally finished, we'll all have a better feel. So, it's unfair for me to answer any of those questions right now without having the totality of it finalized.”

Payton, meanwhile, recently rehired Wilhoite as a defensive assistant 16 months after he was fired for the airport incident.

Felony charges were later downgraded to misdemeanor charges of obstructing a peace officer and criminal mischief before being dropped altogether last month after Wilhoite was accepted into a diversion program.

That cleared the way for Wilhoite to return to the NFL.

“He's obviously been away for a little bit over a year and a half, I'm a huge fan and he, too, went through a long and lengthy process, was cleared and met with all of us, we felt real good," Payton said. “And I'm excited to have him back.”

Also back is quarterback Bo Nix, who was fully cleared for camp following offseason ankle surgery and a follow-up procedure to remove bone spurs that limited his work during the spring.

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

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On Wednesday, the two final candidates for Miami-Dade Schools superintendent are working to convince the school board that they’re the best person for the job.

They are Ernie Lozano, the Broward County Public Schools Chief Human Resources Officer, and Rafael Villalobos, the Miami-Dade School District’s South Region Superintendent.

After hearing from both candidates, the eight board members unanimously voted Villalobos to be the county’s next superintendent.

“He is steadfast, he is not afraid to make a tough call, he is not afraid to have a tough conversation, he is not afraid to disagree,” said board member Mary Blanco.

Rained with praise for his grit, determination, and experience, Villalobos was chosen to lead the more than 330,000 students who are part of Miami-Dade’s public school system.

He spoke about the first challenges he plans to tackle.

“I think the greatest issue is lower enrollment, and making sure that parents understand that we are your best choice, that they understand that the programs that we have, the teachers that love children and the entire staff are here for them, and that undeniably we have the better programs,” said Villalobos. “They have to entrust in us, they have to know that we are ready to serve them and serve their children.”

He also spoke about taking a close look at the budget to see if he can increase the percentage of funding going toward teacher salaries.

Villalobos began his career as a teacher at South Dade Senior High School in 1994. He later became an assistant principal and then served as principal at four different public schools through 2010.

After spending several years in the private sector, he returned to Miami-Dade County Public Schools in 2015, where he has served in different leadership roles.

Wednesday’s public interviews were part of the selection and appointment process.

Interview questions were submitted by the office of the general counsel, with board members each taking a turn reading a question to the candidates.

A finalist was required to receive five affirmative votes from school board members in order to move forward in the appointment process.

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Alina Garcia, the supervisor, and Juan C. Mendieta, the deputy supervisor, participated in the test at 2700 NW 87 Ave. ahead of the Aug. 18 primary elections.

“Transparency is critical to maintaining public confidence in our elections,” Garcia said in a statement.

The Logic and Accuracy test includes casting test ballots with a predetermined set of results to verify that the equipment correctly captures and reports each vote, according to Mendieta.

Attorney Eduardo Vidal, of the watchgroup Election Integrity Brigade of Miami-Dade County, was among the witnesses.

“We always keep an eye on the super of elections. We have done that for several years,” Vidal said. “It’s not that we don’t trust them, but as Reagan said, ‘Trust but verify.’”

In a digital world, Vidal said it’s important to keep a tangible record.

“You can have the pictures, but you need to keep the paper,” Vidal said. “The paper is what provides the real evidence.”

With Florida’s redistricting, Garcia said her team’s tasks also included notifications to voters.

“We send them mail, we send them e-mail, we send them texts,” Garcia said.

Related story: Trump administration urges Supreme Court to allow order targeting mail-in voting before midterms

Related links

• Official testing announcement
• Florida Division of Elections guidelines
• U.S. Election Assistance Commission
• DS300 System & Software

Alina García, supervisora de Elecciones, y Juan C. Mendieta, supervisor adjunto, participaron en la prueba realizada en el 2700 de NW 87 Ave. como preparación para las elecciones primarias del 18 de agosto.

“La transparencia es fundamental para mantener la confianza del público en nuestras elecciones”, dijo García en un comunicado.

La prueba de Lógica y Precisión consiste en emitir boletas de prueba con un conjunto predeterminado de resultados para verificar que los equipos registren y reporten correctamente cada voto, según Mendieta.

Enlaces relacionados

• Anuncio oficial de las pruebas
• Directrices de la División de Elecciones de Florida
• Comisión de Asistencia Electoral de los Estados Unidos
• Sistema y software DS300

La Policía de Miami arrestó a Matthew Grant, de 25 años y residente de Pembroke Pines, la noche del martes por cuatro cargos graves, después de que la persecución terminó poco después de las 8:30 p.m. en el vecindario de Little Havana.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Miami (MPD), un agente vio a Grant conduciendo un Hyundai cuando se pasó una señal de alto y un semáforo en rojo en el área de Southwest 24th Avenue y Eighth Street. El agente no logró alcanzarlo antes de que chocara contra otro vehículo en Southwest 21st Avenue y Sixth Street y continuara conduciendo en sentido contrario.

La Policía informó que el otro conductor involucrado en ese choque tuvo que ser hospitalizado.

El informe de arresto del MPD señala que el agente activó las luces de la patrulla y persiguió a Grant, quien finalmente llegó a Southwest 17th Avenue, donde chocó por detrás a una camioneta detenida en un semáforo en rojo cerca de Seventh Street. Según la Policía, Grant “intentaba cruzar el separador central, que estaba lleno de arbustos”.

Las autoridades informaron que Grant salió corriendo del Hyundai y finalmente “se rindió” mientras el agente lo perseguía.

La Policía indicó que otro agente encontró el bolso negro Louis Vuitton, que contenía “una pipa para metanfetamina con presuntos residuos de metanfetamina cristalina, un encendedor y una bolsa con presunta metanfetamina cristalina”.

“También había un biberón y una botella de Sprite con presunta codeína y prometazina dentro del vehículo”, señala el informe.

Esa mezcla de jarabe para la tos es conocida comúnmente en la calle como “purple drank”.

Los agentes arrestaron a Grant por dos cargos graves relacionados con drogas, además de los cargos graves de huir y evadir a la Policía y abandonar la escena de un accidente sin causar lesiones graves.

También enfrenta cargos menores por resistirse al arresto y por posesión de parafernalia de drogas con intención de usarla.

Hasta la tarde del miércoles, Grant permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza de $11,000 USD.

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Miami police arrested Matthew Grant, 25, of Pembroke Pines, on four felony charges on Tuesday evening after the chase came to an end a little after 8:30 p.m. in the city’s Little Havana neighborhood.

According to the Miami Police Department, an officer saw Grant driving a Hyundai when he ran the stop sign and red light in the area of Southwest 24th Avenue and Eighth Street and couldn’t catch up to him before he crashed into another vehicle at Southwest 21st Avenue and Sixth Street and kept driving, going the wrong way.

The other driver in that crash had to be hospitalized, police said.

The MPD arrest report states that the officer turned on his or her lights and chased Grant, who eventually made it to Southwest 17th Avenue, where he rear-ended a pickup truck stopped at a red light near Seventh Street. Grant, police said, was “attempting to go over the median, which was full of shrubbery.”

Authorities said Grant ran out of the Hyundai and eventually “gave up” as the officer chased him.

Police said another officer found the black Louis Vuitton bag, containing “a crystal meth pipe with suspected crystal meth residue, a lighter and a bag of suspected crystal meth.”

“There was also a baby bottle and a Sprite bottle with suspected codeine and promethazine inside the car,” the report states.

That cough syrup concoction is commonly known by the street name “purple drank.”

Officers arrested Grant on two felony drug charges, along with felony counts of fleeing and eluding and hit-and-run without serious injury.

He also faces misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to use.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Grant was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on an $11,000 bond.

The ruling resolves a long-running legal dispute known as the “Minor Issue,” which has affected thousands of ancestry-based citizenship cases involving families who left Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, experts say.

The ruling — dated Sunday but published Wednesday — was made by the Court of Cassation's highest-level panel for resolving conflicting legal interpretations.

At the center of the dispute was whether children automatically lost Italian citizenship when an Italian parent later acquired a foreign nationality while the children were still minors.

Under a restrictive interpretation adopted in a series of court decisions beginning in 2023, many applications by later generations were rejected because authorities considered the line of citizenship transmission to have been interrupted.

What the court decided

In its new ruling, the court said that under Italy’s historical citizenship laws, children who were already Italian citizens by birth under the principle of “iure sanguinis,” or citizenship by bloodline, did not automatically lose their Italian citizenship when a parent became a citizen of another country.

The court clarified that children born in countries that automatically grant citizenship at birth — including the United States — retained their Italian citizenship even if their parents later naturalized there. Because they remained Italian citizens, they could pass that citizenship on to subsequent generations.

The ruling represents a reversal of recent practice

Lawyer Marco Mellone, who represented applicants in the case, explained that the ruling reversed a restrictive interpretation that had blocked citizenship claims in recent years, many by U.S. citizens.

“The Supreme Court of Cassation has completely changed its position and gone back, confirming that all these Italian-American families — and, more generally, families in all countries where this situation existed — regain the right to Italian citizenship by descent,” Mellone told The Associated Press.

What the decision means for people of Italian ancestry

The decision could have broad implications for descendants of Italian emigrants, particularly in North and South America, where large Italian diaspora communities have ancestral ties to Italy. Mellone estimated that several hundred thousand families may have been affected by the restrictive interpretation adopted in recent years.

Legal experts say the judgment is likely to strengthen the position of applicants whose claims were rejected solely because of the Minor Issue and provide authoritative guidance to judges handling pending cases. The ruling could also influence how Italian administrative authorities and consulates assess future citizenship applications.

Whether the Interior Ministry and Italian consulates formally adjust their practices to reflect the court’s interpretation remains unclear. However, decisions issued by the panel — known as the “Sezioni Unite” or United Sections — carry particular weight because they are intended to resolve conflicting interpretations of the law.

Mellone noted that “there's no one above” the panel, which has only very rarely reversed decisions.

The ruling comes as Italy faces growing demand for citizenship by descent and legal disputes over the scope of ancestry-based citizenship rights.

Separately, a law championed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani that restricts citizenship transmission through more distant generations has been referred to the European Union’s Court of Justice, with proceedings expected next year.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., didn't rule from the bench on the inmates' request to return them to general population at women's prisons and block more transfers into the segregated unit. But the judge expressed concern that the transfers violate a preliminary injunction that he issued last month.

“You're violating my order, aren't you?” Lamberth asked Justice Department attorney Jared Littman.

“No, your honor,” Littman said. “Based on the words of your order, there was no violation.”

Lamberth, however, said it appears that the government has violated his previous order “on its face” by segregating the plaintiffs and depriving them of “all of their privileges" from when they were housed in women's facilities.

Ten transgender women are currently segregated in the same unit at a prison in Fort Worth, Texas. Eight of them are plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging an executive order that President Donald Trump signed last year, directing the federal Bureau of Prisons to house inmates based on their biological sex and to halt gender-affirming care.

Lamberth, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan, ruled on June 7 that officials must house the lawsuit's plaintiffs in women’s prisons or women’s halfway houses. The judge enjoined prison officials from enforcing part of Trump's executive order.

Plaintiffs' attorney Alexander Shalom argued that housing the plaintiffs in a segregated unit violates their constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment.

“This is a backdoor attempt to implement the executive order,” Shalom told the judge. “The conditions are not in any way comparable to a women's facility.”

Shalom said the transfers have exacerbated plaintiffs' gender dysphoria, which is the distress that a person feels because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match. The medical condition has been linked to depression and suicidal thoughts.

“Defendants minimize this harm, but they can't deny it's occurring,” he said.

Government attorneys argue that the transfers don't violate the injunction because the judge didn't require the plaintiffs to be housed alongside cisgender female inmates or share common spaces with them. They also claim it's premature for the plaintiffs to challenge the transfers in court before utilizing the prison system's administrative complaint process.

“The plaintiffs don't get to jump right into court and air their grievances,” Littman said.

What happened after Skubal left made it all the more likely this was indeed goodbye.

Skubal was cheered at every opportunity by a crowd of 34,406 while taking a shutout into the seventh inning against Baltimore, but then the Orioles rallied from a 7-0 deficit to beat Detroit 10-9 in 12 innings. The loss leaves the Tigers 51-58 and well outside playoff position in the final year they have Skubal under contract.

The vibes were great early. Skubal got first standing ovation came when he struck out leadoff hitter Taylor Ward on a 3-2 changeup to record his 1,000th career strikeout.

“For some reason, strikeout marks hit differently for me,” he said. “Reaching 200 strikeouts for the first time was a huge milestone for me, and as I was getting close to 1,000, it just felt really cool.”

He reached the mark in 857 innings, breaking Max Scherzer's franchise-best mark of 944 2/3 innings.

He got another ovation when Tigers manager A.J. Hinch removed him after Leody Tavares' RBI single with two out in the seventh.

“It is always special when our fans get to their feet and give you a pretty good ovation,” he said. “Hopefully, they feel like I've given everything to the team and the city, because I truly have.”

The Tigers led 7-1 when Skubal came out and appeared to be well on their way to a win over a team they could be battling for a wild-card spot in September. Instead, the Orioles turned one seventh-inning run into five, tied the game with two in the eighth, then got three more in extra innings.

“Obviously, this was a tough one,” Skubal said. “We were up 7-0 and end up losing. ... I don't even know what the final score was, but this one hurts.”

The Tigers seem increasingly likely to deal their ace ahead of next Monday’s trade deadline. Skubal is eligible for free agency after the World Series. He has a $32 million salary, a record total in arbitration, after the team offered $19 million, and is expected to sign a massive contract in the offseason.

“I'm just trying to live in the moment,” he said. “There are a lot of things going on around me that I can't control.”

Hinch feels the same way.

“I just can't think in hypotheticals — I just can't,” he said when asked about the possibility of Skubal leaving. “I'll have a ton to say when and if and where and whenever, but it's just a waste of my time talking hypotheticals.”

The 29-year-old lefty said earlier this month that it was his preference is to finish the season with the Tigers to compete for a World Series championship, which has eluded the franchise since 1984.

“Going into spring training and the whole offseason, I’ve never been more motivated to try and win a World Series for this city, the team that drafted me and helped develop me,” he said on July 23.

Skubal had experimental surgery on May 6 to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow and returned to pitch on June 13.

“The way the surgery went is exactly how it was supposed to go,” he said in July. “I don’t know if remarkable is the word I would use.”

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

The ruling deals a blow to Democrats, who filed a lawsuit seeking to give voters a do-over because of a chaotic party primary in the governor’s race.

More than 117,000 absentee ballots had been returned by Wednesday. Democrats were concerned that many of those might have been cast for Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who had been seen as a Democratic frontrunner before she dropped out on July 17 amid a campaign finance scandal. A day later, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had bowed out on July 8, reentered the race.

Rodriguez’s name remains on the ballot, along with former state economic development director Missy Hughes, who dropped out in June.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 4-2 on July 9 to distribute guidance to clerks saying absentee voters cannot change their ballot after it has been returned. The rarely used process is known as ballot spoiling.

Democrats objected and supported the lawsuit filed by three voters, arguing that state law allows voters who have submitted absentee ballots to change their mind before those ballots are counted on Election Day.

“Voters across Wisconsin will be disenfranchised” if not allowed to do that, attorney Eduardo Castro argued in court on Tuesday.

But Dane County Circuit Judge David Conway disagreed, ruling on Wednesday that “the unambiguous language of the statute does not allow a voter to spoil an absentee ballot after it is returned.” He said the guidance issued by the elections commission to the roughly 2,000 clerks who run elections at the local level was consistent with the law.

The judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order sought by Democrats. They had wanted the judge to order the state elections commission to rescind its guidance.

“The judge got it right,” said Don Millis, the Republican chair of the elections commission. “The law is clear. Once a voter returns an absentee ballot to the clerk, the voter cannot decide to change his or her vote. The law does not permit do-overs.”

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker said the ruling was wrong, but didn't say if the party would appeal.

The Republican National Committee opposed the effort to allow for revoting.

Ballot spoiling was the subject of a 2022 lawsuit brought by a Republican group. In that case, a Waukesha County judge agreed that the elections commission must rescind its guidance that allowed voters to cast a second ballot. But the state appeals court earlier this year vacated that ruling on technical grounds and did not rule on the merits.

The winner of the Democratic primary will advance to November’s general election, most likely against Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who has only token opposition in his party’s primary. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is not seeking a third term.

Democrats hope to keep the governor’s office and flip both chambers of the Legislature to gain full control of state government for the first time since 2010.

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This story corrects the spelling in a second reference to 'Rodriguez.’

“Es un programa de financiamiento por tres años, pero que tiene cuatro años y medio de periodo de gracia, es decir, Bolivia no va a pagar un peso hasta los próximos años” y con una de las tasa de interés "más bajas en el mercado (4,4% y 4,5%), aseguró el ministro de Economía, José Gabriel Espinoza, en rueda de prensa el miércoles.

Por su parte, el FMI indicó en un comunicado que el acuerdo a nivel técnico sobre un nuevo mecanismo del Servicio Ampliado del Fondo (SAF) está sujeto a “la aprobación del directorio ejecutivo” del organismo. El acuerdo también debe ser avalado por la Asamblea Legislativa de Bolivia.

Las negociaciones de las autoridades bolivianas y el equipo técnico del FMI, encabezado por Joana Pereira, se realizaron entre mayo y julio.

Pereira dijo que se espera que el programa respaldado por el FMI contribuya a “catalizar financiamiento adicional del Banco Mundial, el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo y otros socios para el desarrollo, lo que permitirá conformar un paquete de financiamiento más amplio de más de 5.000 millones de dólares durante el periodo del programa”.

Espinoza destacó que el “acuerdo técnico” es muy importante, que espera que en los próximos meses llegue esa inyección económica de todos los organismos y que entre las metas está "reducir el déficit fiscal este año cerca del 9% del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB)”.

El analista económico Gonzalo Chávez dijo en declaraciones a lo medios locales que el acuerdo dará tranquilidad al gobierno porque estaba “llegando con el agua al cuello”. Mencionó que la administración de Paz tuvo que aceptar “ciertas condiciones” para acceder a ese financiamiento, como levantar la subvención de los combustibles, una medida que impulsó el gobernante en diciembre un mes después de asumir en un esfuerzo por bajar el gasto del Estado en momentos de iliquidez en la economía. La medida duplicó el precio y ocasionó protestas.

El acuerdo también tiene lugar en medio de una escalada del dólar luego de que el gobierno impulsó el tipo de cambio flotante que depende de la oferta y la demanda después de 15 años en los que se mantuvo fijo.

La nación andina arrastra una larga y profunda crisis económica debido en buena parte a la caída de la producción de gas —el cual fue principal producto de exportación— y que se agravó con protestas y bloqueos antigubernamentales por más de 50 días en mayo y junio.

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Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Christopher Chiofalo at 10:40 p.m. on Tuesday at 27329 South Dixie Highway, in the Naranja neighborhood, according to a police report.

The deputies took Chiofalo to the Homestead Police Department, where police officers showed him the video of a burglary on July 25 at Soriano Brothers Cuban Cuisine at 80 NE 15 St., according to the report.

“Oh, yeah! I broke into the business a while back ... looked familiar ... Yeah, that’s me ... You got me,” Chiofalo told a police officer, according to the police arrest report.

Court records show prosecutors filed a dozen cases against Chiofalo from 2011 to 2013 and six from 2015 to 2021, and about half were alleged burglaries and robberies.

A police officer estimated the total loss for the business burglarized on July 25, “including stolen cash, property damage, and replacement costs,” was about $5,200, according to the police report.

Miami-Dade corrections booked Chiofalo shortly after 4:15 a.m. on Wednesday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center near Doral, according to inmate records.

Chiofalo faced three charges: Armed burglary, third-degree grand theft, and criminal mischief of $1,000 0r more.

Police: Surveillance video

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

La Policía confirmó que el martes se presentó un informe después de que el bulldog francés fue encontrado muerto en una vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 6600 de Atlanta Street.

Los dueños del bulldog francés, llamado Prince, dijeron que estaba al cuidado de una cuidadora de mascotas contratada a través de Rover.com cuando fue dejado en una jaula al aire libre bajo el calor del verano. Aseguraron que Prince gozaba de buena salud antes de su muerte.

La Policía de Hollywood confirmó el miércoles que los agentes se encuentran en la vivienda investigando qué provocó la muerte del perro y que también trabajan junto con el Departamento de Control Animal de la Ciudad de Hollywood.

“Entendemos la preocupación de los miembros de la comunidad y estamos trabajando para reunir la mayor cantidad de información posible para determinar exactamente lo que ocurrió”, publicó el Departamento de Policía de Hollywood (HPD) en redes sociales. “Seguimos comprometidos con esta investigación y proporcionaremos actualizaciones tan pronto como la información esté disponible”.

Rover también emitió un comunicado a Local 10 News sobre la muerte de Prince.

“La mayoría de nosotros en Rover también somos dueños de mascotas y solo podemos imaginar el dolor y el estrés que está viviendo la familia de Prince”, señala el comunicado. “Al enterarnos de este incidente, nuestro equipo de Confianza y Seguridad, disponible las 24 horas, inició una investigación exhaustiva. La cuenta de la cuidadora involucrada fue desactivada sin opción de apelar, lo que significa que no podrá comunicarse ni aceptar nuevas reservas con dueños de mascotas a través de Rover. También reembolsamos la estadía de la señora Ackeret y ofrecimos cubrir todos los gastos veterinarios y de cuidados posteriores que sean elegibles a través de la Garantía Rover.

“Los incidentes relacionados con la seguridad en nuestra plataforma son extremadamente poco frecuentes. Los dueños de mascotas han reservado más de medio millón de estadías en el área de Miami y más del 98% de las estadías evaluadas recibieron cinco estrellas. La muerte de Prince es realmente desgarradora y la estamos manejando con la seriedad que merece”.

The researchers detected about 450 cases in Atlanta-area hospitals over five years. About a third of the patients died in the hospital.

The findings, published this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come from an attempt to better gauge how common these kinds of illnesses are. The government does not require doctors to report the illnesses.

“It's kind of the first time we've had an estimate like this," said the CDC's Dr. Jeremy Gold, the study's senior author.

And it's important to understand it now, because the problem may grow in the future, he added. Mold exposure is a recurring problem in the wake of hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters influenced by climate change, researchers have found.

“I agree that the frequency of fungal infections will likely increase with climate change,” said Dr. Jeffrey Jenks, an infectious disease researcher at Duke University.

Meanwhile, there’s a growing population of older people who are more susceptible to such illnesses, Gold said.

Invasive mold diseases are rare infections caused by certain species. Most people who get infected inhale mold spores, but they can also enter the body through cuts or wounds or from contaminated medical equipment.

The spores don't cause health problems for most people, but they can be life-threatening to some, including the elderly, cancer patients and others with weakened immune systems.

Previously, CDC researchers estimated more than 15,000 hospitalizations a year could be tied to invasive mold disease.

To better understand how common cases might be at a local level, the research team worked with four Atlanta-area hospitals and their affiliated outpatient clinics to look for potential cases from 2020 to 2024.

They initially identified nearly 1,000 potential cases, but winnowed the number down to about 450 by ruling out patients who may have had signs of exposure but didn't qualify as having invasive mold disease.

The researchers found that hospitals can expect to see 3 to 5 cases per year for every 100 inpatient beds. The rates were higher at larger academic hospitals that tend to see more complicated illnesses.

Most patients had impaired immune systems or — in a number of cases — were weakened after falling sick from COVID-19.

Mold exposures can occur in hospitals or other healthcare facilities, but the study did not try to determine where each patient was first exposed, Gold said.

It's hard to generalize what was seen in the Atlanta area to other parts of the country where mold may be more or less of a problem, he said. But it should give hospital administrators at least a rough idea about whether the number of cases they see is what might be expected or whether it's an outbreak, Gold added.

Jenks called the study's findings "valuable," but said “seeing results from similar studies done in different parts of the United States would be helpful.”

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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.

La búsqueda era para un centro de detención “llave en mano” ubicado a no más de 50 millas por carretera de la oficina de campo de Miami, en el 865 de SW 78 Ave., en Plantation, según muestran los registros.

De acuerdo con una solicitud de información emitida por ICE el 10 de julio, el contrato debía incluir alojamiento, transporte y servicios de salud, seguridad y alimentación para “detenidos hombres y mujeres” con niveles de custodia “bajo” y “medio”, aunque se indicó que el nivel “alto” era el preferido.

La solicitud también incluía al menos 1,800 camas de detención en el área de Filadelfia, al menos 1,500 en el área de Seattle y al menos 1,500 en el área de Denver.

A principios de este mes, detenidos de ICE recluidos en el Centro Federal de Detención de Miami (FDC Miami), ubicado en el 33 de NE 4 St., en el centro de la ciudad, y sus familiares dijeron a Local 10 News que no tenían aire acondicionado ni acceso a agua potable.

Un portavoz de la Oficina Federal de Prisiones, que supervisa el FDC Miami, dijo a Local 10 News que hubo una falla temporal en el sistema de aire acondicionado y que los reclusos tuvieron acceso a botellas de agua.

Algunos de los detenidos de ICE en el FDC Miami informaron que fueron trasladados desde el Centro de Detención del Sur de Florida, también conocido como el Alligator Alcatraz administrado por el estado, ubicado en el Aeropuerto de Entrenamiento y Transición Dade-Collier.

Los detenidos en Alligator Alcatraz también se habían quejado de malas condiciones de vida, que incluían mosquitos, aire acondicionado averiado, desbordamientos de aguas residuales, alimentos con gusanos y acceso restringido a asesoría legal.

El editor de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Carson Merlo, contribuyó a este informe.

Enlace relacionado: Base de datos de centros de detención de ICE

Ubicación: Oficina de campo en Plantation

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The winning Quick Pick ticket matched all six numbers Tuesday night.

According to Florida Lottery officials, the ticket was sold at a Wawa, located at 14510 State Road 70 East in Bradenton.

The winning numbers from Tuesday night’s drawing were 34, 48, 49, 59 and 70, with a Mega Ball of 12.

According to the Mega Millions website, the jackpot winner will receive $344.2 million if they choose to receive a one-time, cash lump sum payment.

“To elect the one-time, lump-sum cash payment option, the claim must be filed within 60 days after the drawing date,” Lottery officials said.

The next drawing is at 11 p.m. Friday with an estimated jackpot of $50 million.

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The agency announced Wednesday that the new update is to better serve the community and improve communication. The new phone number is 305-SHERIFF (305-743-7433) and is replacing 305-4-POLICE.

MDSO said residents of the county should save this number and use it for issues such as noise complaints, minor traffic accidents, or general inquiries.

“For emergencies requiring immediate police, fire, or medical response, please call 911” MDSO said in a news release.

La agencia anunció el miércoles que la actualización busca brindar un mejor servicio a la comunidad y mejorar la comunicación. El nuevo número de teléfono es 305-SHERIFF (305-743-7433) y reemplaza al 305-4-POLICE.

La MDSO indicó que los residentes del condado deben guardar este número y utilizarlo para situaciones como quejas por ruido, accidentes de tránsito menores o consultas generales.

“Para emergencias que requieran respuesta inmediata de la Policía, los bomberos o los servicios médicos, llame al 911”, indicó la MDSO en un comunicado de prensa.

Según la Policía de Lauderhill, el accidente fue reportado alrededor de la 1:30 a.m. en la cuadra 1100 de Northwest 43rd Terrace.

El impacto fue tan fuerte que la camioneta entró por un lado de la vivienda y salió por el otro.

Al parecer, la camioneta impactó un garaje techado que había sido convertido en una habitación adicional.

La Policía informó que la vivienda estaba desocupada al momento del accidente y que no se reportaron personas heridas.

Según la Policía, el conductor, Walter Dryden, de 62 años, permaneció en el lugar después del accidente, presentaba signos de estar bajo los efectos del alcohol y fue detenido por conducir bajo la influencia del alcohol.

“Es triste que muchas personas estén bebiendo y no sean capaces de controlarse”, dijo la vecina Nadia Gordon.

Gordon vive al lado de la vivienda contra la que se estrelló la camioneta. Dijo que se siente afortunada de que el conductor aparentemente giró en el último segundo y por poco no impactó su casa.

“Esto es un milagro para mí”, dijo. “Que haya pasado por ahí y terminara allá, realmente es una bendición”.

La Policía informó que el incidente continúa bajo investigación.

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According to Lauderhill police, the crash was reported at about 1:30 a.m. in the 1100 block of Northwest 43^rd Terrace.

The impact was so great, the truck went in one side, and came out the other.

The truck appeared to have struck a carport that was converted into an extra room.

Police said the home was vacant at the time of the crash and no injuries were reported.

According to police, the driver, Walter Dryden, 62, who remained at the scene after the crash, was impaired and was taken into custody for driving under the influence of alcohol.

“It is sad that a lot of our people are drinking, and they’re not able to control themselves,” neighbor Nadia Gordon said.

Gordon lives next door to the home the truck crashed into. She said she feels fortunate that the driver appears to have swerved at the last second, narrowly missing her home.

“This is a miracle for me,” she said. “Cause for him to have passed through there and go there, it’s really a blessing.”

Police said the incident remains under investigation.

Interlochen Center for the Arts operates a summer camp and performing arts school that draws students from around the world. It hired a law firm in 2024 to investigate reports of sexual abuse by faculty and staff. Subsequently, it expanded the work to include information about Epstein, the 66-year-old financier who killed himself in jail in 2019.

Interlochen removed Epstein's name from a lodge after he was convicted of sex offenses in Florida in 2008. The building, renamed the Green Lake Lodge, was recently demolished after the U.S. Justice Department released millions of pages about him that had been compiled over the years.

Sanghavi Law Office says it collected 70 accounts from alumni alleging “physical conduct of a sexual nature” by 47 faculty and staff members affiliated with Interlochen from the 1950s through the 2010s, most before 2000.

“The information gathered during this investigation is, simply, devastating,” the 97-page report says, noting that alumni reported grooming, flirting, sexual touching and sex.

Interlochen said it has provided names of people accused of misconduct to Grand Traverse County authorities in northern Michigan to determine what steps, if any, might be taken. None are currently employed there, and more than a third are dead.

“We are deeply sorry for the harm experienced by members of our community and extend our apologies to those impacted by abuse at Interlochen,” president Trey Davey and board chair Barrett Rollins said in a letter to the community posted online.

“While the vast majority of the incidents described in the investigation took place many decades ago, and reports of abuse at Interlochen have significantly decreased over the past 25 years, the passage of time does not diminish the experiences of our alumni,” they said. “Sexual abuse committed by an adult in a position of power or trust against a student is wrong, then and now.”

Interlochen today “is fundamentally different from the institution described in this report,” Davey and Rollins wrote, with comprehensive safety policies and a changed culture.

Epstein, who played the bassoon, was an Interlochen camper in 1967. He donated more than $400,000 to the school between 1990 and 2003.

Two women told investigators that Epstein engaged in conduct of a sexual nature with them, one of them at the Interlochen lodge that bore his name.

He brushed against her body “over her clothes, in a manner in which he indicated was accidental,” according to the report.

Epstein also paid for her to visit him in New York while she was a student. She said “every time he was ‘handsy’ with her, she would freeze until he would stop,” the report states.

The other woman said she gave Epstein a massage at his home, according to the report, and he may have asked her to remove her top. She never had any further contact with Epstein or his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Outside of the school investigation, at least two Interlochen alumnae made allegations of grooming and abuse against Epstein and Maxwell, according to federal records and media reports. Their identities were not made public.

One testified against Maxwell in 2021 when she was convicted of sex trafficking. It’s unclear whether those women spoke to the law firm hired for the Interlochen investigation.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the workout that Mia Bieniemy had been released from the intensive care unit, where she was being treated for multiple gunshot wounds. But there was no timetable for when Eric Bieniemy would be back with the team.

“She's making progress,” Reid said, “so we're happy about that.”

Elijah Zion Bieniemy, the 27-year-old son of the couple, was arrested in connection with the late-Sunday shooting. He was charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and discharge of a firearm inside a dwelling, and was being held without bond Wednesday at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

Elijah Bieniemy has a court date to hear motions scheduled for Thursday. His preliminary hearing date is Aug. 31.

Eric Bieniemy returned earlier this year to the Chiefs, where he experienced his greatest success as an assistant. He was instrumental in Kansas City reaching three Super Bowls and winning two of them before departing for the Washington Commanders in 2023, where he had wanted to build upon his resume in the hopes of landing a head coaching job.

Bieniemy was part of Ron Rivera's staff that was let go following that season, though. He spent one season as offensive coordinator at UCLA before spending last season coaching the running backs with the Chicago Bears.

However long he misses training camp is noteworthy, given Bieniemy is trying to get up to speed with any changes to Reid's playbook over the past few years. But the Chiefs are uniquely suited to press on without him during an important part of training camp.

Not only do they have continuity on their coaching staff but have veteran leaders on the offensive side of the ball.

Pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier, who has been with the Chiefs for the past decade and is widely considered a rising star in the profession, has assumed many of Bieniemy's responsibilities. Others have fallen upon veteran offensive line coach Andy Heck, who has held that job ever since Reid's initial Kansas City coaching staff was put together following the 2012 season.

There's also the fact that Reid has a heavy hand in running the Chiefs offense. He receives plenty of input from his coordinators, but it is ultimately Reid who calls the plays on gameday, and who has the ear of quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

As for the two-time MVP, who is coming off reconstructive surgery on his left knee, Mahomes knows the Kansas City offense as well as anybody besides his head coach. And when you add in veterans such as tight end Travis Kelce, offensive linemen Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith, and wide receivers Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy, there is plenty of experience out on the field.

“We’ll be able to keep it moving here,” Reid said.

Meanwhile, Mahomes looked sharp in his first 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 work of camp Wednesday, even though the Chiefs won't have pads on for several more days. At one point, he zipped a pass between two defenders to Kelce for a nice gain in the red zone.

“I feel stronger than I've ever felt as far as strength and lifting and stuff like that,” Mahomes said, "so now it's just about getting that quarterback stuff down, the stuff moving in the pocket quick — making those quick movements — reacting and doing stuff like that.

“I feel like I wasn't playing my best football at the end of last year before I got hurt,” he added. “I've got to find ways to get better, kind of navigating the pocket, run the offense better, getting the ball out of my hands and letting guys make plays. So I think this injury has kind of helped me focus on those little things as I kind of get back to who I am.”

Notes: DE Ethan Downs had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee and was placed on injured reserve. ... Rice (knee) and CB L'Jarius Snead (knee) participated in about half the practice before spending the rest of the time with the training staff. “That was the plan,” Reid said. ... First-round CB Mansoor Delane (shoulder) participated in most of practice in a yellow no-contact jersey.

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

So Jordan Davis, one of the biggest offseason beneficiaries of a contract extension, cut to the chase Wednesday and got straight to the topic of the day.

“I will be asking the questions,” Davis said with laugh as he took his seat for a news conference.

“How we feeling about LeBron being in town?”

Yes, in a sports city that each time this summer turns as green in team colors as the cash spent on Davis and fellow defensive tackle Jalen Carter, the Eagles have been overshadowed by the arrival of the most famous active American athlete in LeBron James.

An image of the NBA’s career leading scorer could be seen on the video board outside the Philadelphia 76ers' arena across the street from the Eagles’ practice facility. The newest Sixers superstar had no immediate plans to travel to Philadelphia, but if he does, the Eagles will roll out the red carpet on the green grass for James.

“He can come out to practice any time he wants,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said.

The Eagles welcomed him to Philly with arms as wide open as they are for James' pregame chalk toss.

Super Bowl MVP-winning quarterback Jalen Hurts and 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley both rank somewhere on the short list of most accomplished and most famous Philadelphia athletes. Even they turned into wide-eyed fans much like the rest of Philadelphia when they found out the 41-year-old James had indeed signed a two-year contract with the Sixers.

“I think for what he represents in sports and sports culture,” Hurts said, “it’s huge. And I think it’s huge for the city of Philadelphia. It’ll be exciting to have a figure like that in the city. What’s he done. One of the greatest to ever do it. I’m excited to be a part of that.”

James could do worse than duplicate Barkley's free-agent results when he left the New York Giants after six seasons and signed with the Eagles ahead of the 2024 season. He rushed for a franchise-record 2,005 yards and won a Super Bowl in his first try with the Eagles.

Barkley pitched James at his youth football camp earlier this month on the appeal of playing in Philadelphia.

“If you want to go out with a bang,” Barkley said, "I feel like a great spot would be in Philly, and bringing a championship to Philadelphia, you’d be remembered forever.”

James already had the “remembered forever” stamp in sports thank to his peerless resume in the NBA.

Barkley — who played golf with former President Barack Obama and also invited James on social media to “ tee it up ” — demurred when pressed on his influence in James signing with the Sixers.

Playing with All-Stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown surely swayed James more than Barkley. The running back didn't care much how exactly James made his Philly decision, or if James was even aware of his endorsement. He's just thrilled James has joined Philly's star-studded athlete roster.

“I think the city of Philadelphia is a super cool place to be for sports, with how involved the fans are,” Barkley said at training camp. “Having LeBron here is just great for the culture.”

Barkley, Hurts and other Eagles players still on the roster from two seasons ago are among the relatively few in Philadelphia sports history with championship rings. The Eagles won their only two Super Bowls in the last 10 years. The Flyers haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1975 and the Phillies since 2008.

James joins a 76ers franchise that has not won an NBA title since 1983.

He's not here for second place.

The Eagles say, go get 'em.

“Looks like the Sixers are trying to go win one,” said Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith, a Boston Celtics fan. “Can't be mad at that.”

Injury update for linebacker Jonathan Greenard

The Eagles placed linebacker Jonathan Greenard on the physically unable to perform list with a pectoral strain. The Eagles acquired the Pro Bowl edge rusher in an April trade with Minnesota. He subsequently agreed to a four-year, $100 million contract extension including $50 million in fully guaranteed money.

Roseman said Greenard should be ready for the Sept. 13 opener against Washington.

“This is not a long-term injury,” Roseman said. “This is nothing we are concerned about."

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

Musk's company sued Monday in federal court, days before the law is set to take effect Saturday and make Minnesota the first state to try to outlaw the increasingly proliferating technology that lets people use AI to to create fake nude images of real people. The law was signed in May.

In the 38-page lawsuit, xAI — whose AI model chatbot and image generator Grok is available on the social media platform known as X, formerly Twitter, and elsewhere — said it does not contest the state's interest in banning the distribution of AI-generated nude images of real people without their consent. But it said Minnesota's law “extends far beyond that goal,” banning many constitutionally protected images and video and subjecting the company to a penalty of $500,000 per violation.

The lawsuit argues there is no “safe harbor” provision for companies that make good-faith efforts to prevent such images from being created by users, and that it covers images that were consented to by the depicted person, or even created by that person.

It also says the law’s definition of “intimate part” is overly broad, covering body parts that are routinely displayed in public.

In a statement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office had not been served with the lawsuit yet or seen it.

“But I know that using AI to generate nude images of people against their will is appalling. There are plenty of worthy debates to have about AI policy. This is not one of them. AI nudification robs the target of their dignity and can cause immense harm on an emotional, personal, and professional level,” Ellison said.

State laws over election deepfakes have had mixed results in courts. California's law was blocked over First Amendment speech protections. Minnesota's law has thus far survived a 2025 court challenge by Musk's company.

The law is distinct from state and federal laws that outlaw deepfakes, AI-generated sexually explicit images of people without their consent. Those laws typically penalize the people who use the tools to make these images, not the makers of the tools themselves. The federal Take it Down Act, passed last year, also requires websites and apps to implement a process to remove those images.

Texas last year took on nudification in a slightly different way. It made a website or app owner liable to civil damages from a person depicted in a nudified image — and potentially criminal penalties — if the website or app owner knew the person hadn't given consent to its creation or fails to take it down promptly when told about it.

In the lawsuit, xAI said the terms of service for using Grok prohibit using it for “any illegal, harmful, or abusive activities" that violate someone's privacy, including altering their image to nudify them or depict them in a sexually explicit image. It said it enforces those rules against violators through account suspensions or terminations, and by reporting suspected child sexual abuse content.

XAI also said earlier this year that it has “zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content.”

After a global backlash over sexualized images of women and children, Grok said in January it will geoblock content if it violates laws in a particular place, preventing people from editing photos of real people in revealing clothing in places where that is illegal. Grok’s “spicy mode” had allowed users to create explicit content, leading to a backlash from governments worldwide.

“We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis, underwear and other revealing attire,” xAI said in a January statement.

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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter.

As part of the Fifth Amendment, the right against self-incrimination is well known to the general public thanks to years of legal and police procedural shows on television as well as instances of high-profile use in real life. The amendment also includes a right to due process and protects against being prosecuted twice for the same offense.

It has seeped into the culture, too. “Pleading the Fifth” has become an idiom in the United States, used jokingly in casual conversation as a way to get out of answering a possibly uncomfortable question.

It's not a uniquely American principle

The general principle is not a uniquely American one. Its roots include English common law dating back to the 17th century.

At the time the Constitution was being written, it was enshrined along with other amendments to put limits on the newly created federal government. The Fifth Amendment and a handful of others were focused on criminal justice issues, with other amendments including things like the right to a lawyer and a speedy jury trial, and a prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

One of the core tenets of the U.S. criminal justice system is that people are innocent until proven guilty, and that it's up to the prosecuting power to prove guilt. Without a right to avoid self-incrimination, people could be put in the position of having to prove their own innocence rather than being shown as guilty.

It can be used in a number of circumstances

Over the course of U.S. history, the Fifth Amendment has expanded beyond federal criminal cases to the state court level, and to civil cases as well. There's a difference, though.

In criminal cases, if someone on trial invokes the amendment and refuses to testify, the jurors must be told that they can't assume that silence equals guilt. In civil cases, drawing a negative inference from a refusal to testify can be allowed.

Of course, even in criminal cases, if jurors are told it doesn't mean a defendant is guilty, they could still believe that not testifying correlates to having done what they are accused of. Witnesses can also plead the Fifth, but they can answer other questions — as opposed to defendants, for whom it's all or nothing in regards to testifying.

The Fifth Amendment's use has also shown up in hearings before Congress, when those who have been subpoenaed to testify under oath reference it out of concerns that something they say could then be used in some kind of criminal proceeding.

High-profile figures have invoked it

In a hearing before a Republican-led Senate committee about how he handled the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci turned to the Fifth in declining to answer questions. It drew scorn from Republicans, while Democrats supported him.

In 2022, when he was out of the White House after his first term as president, Donald Trump used the Fifth repeatedly in a deposition for a civil case against the Trump Organization in New York.

In the 1950s, when Sen. Joe McCarthy held anticommunist hearings, some witnesses used the amendment when being questioned. Even though they had the right, McCarthy condemned them for it, and they faced consequences that included public censure and blacklisting.

“I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false,” Leto, 54, said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The BBC documentary “Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret,” released Wednesday, details allegations including those from four women who accused the actor of sexual misconduct and assault between 2002 and 2016, when they were teenagers and Leto was an adult. One said she was 17 when she was sexually assaulted, while another accused Leto of statutory rape as she was also 17. One woman said she was 19 when Leto threatened her with sexual assault and another said she was 16 when Leto made sexually explicit phone calls and propositioned her.

The BBC says it corroborated the women's accounts, which could not be independently verified by the AP. The documentary does not identify the women by their full names. The BBC said Leto did not respond to its attempts to seek comment for its documentary. The AP sent an emailed request for comment to the BBC on Wednesday seeking a response to Leto's denial.

Leto was also accused of misconduct by nine women who spoke to Air Mail for a story published last year. A representative for Leto denied those allegations at the time.

Leto, an Oscar winner for his supporting role in “Dallas Buyers Club,” is also the frontman of the band Thirty Seconds to Mars. He recently starred as Skeletor in “Masters of the Universe.”

In place of the people movers, the airport will add a new U-shaped passenger train, a central walking tunnel, more moving walkways and new concourses. An above-ground parking garage closer to the main terminal with space for 32,000 vehicles is also in the offing, according to Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

The airport makeover would add to a long list of renovation projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave a lasting mark on the Washington region after his term ends in January 2029. Among other undertakings, he is building a new White House ballroom and wants to build a towering triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial.

But of all the construction projects Trump is pursuing, the renovations at Dulles could prove to be his most popular and benefit the greatest number of people. The airport, the area’s primary international airport, served roughly 29 million passengers over the past year, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

“This transformation is another step in our ongoing efforts to make Washington, D.C., safe and beautiful again,” Trump said. “We’re doing something with Dulles that’s going to make it the top anywhere in the world.”

Trump says Dulles modernization is ‘sorely needed’

Trump, who used a laser pointer to explain the renovations displayed on renderings, said the “crazy distances” travelers must walk to get from place to place make Dulles “the worst airport.”

Congress would need to approve some aspects of the renovation plan, Trump said. Construction could start next spring, Duffy said. The plan does not call for expanding Dulles' runways or adding new ones.

Officials said the airlines and the airport authority that operates Dulles would pay for the project with municipal bonds, but they did not spell out how much of the cost might be passed on to travelers through higher fees or ticket prices when flying out of the airport.

John Potter, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Dulles, said his agency, United Airlines and other airlines operating there have agreed “to fund this thing.” Dulles is one of United's hubs.

“So this is not requiring federal dollars,” Potter said at the Oval Office event. “This is going to be airport-generated dollars, airline contributions, which is phenomenal."

Dulles, located in northern Virginia, is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from downtown Washington. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is located in Arlington, Virginia, which is closer to downtown, making it popular with members of Congress and local residents.

The president, a former real estate developer, said in December that Dulles was “incorrectly designed.” He nonetheless praised Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American architect and designer of the airport's main terminal. Trump and Duffy said the president reviewed presentations from about 30 architects before Trump settled on the redesign he announced Wednesday.

Some costs might eventually be shared by taxpayers and travelers

Even if the project is largely paid for by the airlines, industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said taxpayers might be asked to cover upgrades to the runways and safety measures as well as new customs and security facilities. The president of Atmosphere Research Group said he also wouldn't be surprised to see a passenger facility fee added eventually.

“I’m not taking the statement that they are not going to use taxpayer money at face value,” Harteveldt said.

The reason United and other airlines are willing to invest in Dulles, he said, is that they believe it will help them expand by adding more flights and passengers, boosting their revenue. But this could also contribute to higher ticket prices.

“United is going to try to charge as much for its tickets as it can. Other airlines will do the same,” Harteveldt said. “I think part of the statement that no tax money will be used could be something to placate the public right now.”

Dulles has relied on people movers since it opened in 1962

Designed by Chrysler Corp., the people movers shuttle passengers between the terminal and aircraft. The airport operates a fleet of 19 mobile lounges, each capable of carrying up to 102 passengers, according to its website.

When Dulles debuted, the airport touted the system as a major convenience. Passengers, it said, “had to walk only 200 feet once they entered the terminal until they were seated in a mobile lounge for the short trip directly to their aircraft,” a service it described as unique to Dulles.

But they have become one of passengers' least favorite aspects of transiting through Dulles, with travelers — and Trump — complaining that the system is outdated, balky and slow. At times, planes have to wait for a people mover to cross and vice versa, which slows operations at the airport.

One of the lounges crashed in November, sending 18 people to the hospital.

Dulles began a multibillion-dollar construction program in 2000 to begin to address future passenger demand. Major projects included two new parking garages, a fourth runway, a new concourse, a new Air Traffic Control tower, pedestrian walkways, and an airport train system, according to the airport authority’s website.

The airport authority says significant modernization work is already underway at Dulles. Later this year, the first segment of the new Concourse E will open with 14 additional United gates that will help the airline expand its international network, provide direct access to the airport’s AeroTrain system and debut new and enhanced concessions options and passenger lounges.

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Associated Press writers Rio Yamat in Las Vegas and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

La Policía informó que Christopher Triana fue visto por última vez el domingo en el vecindario de Little Havana, en la ciudad de Miami. Vestía una sudadera con capucha azul oscuro, pantalón azul y sandalias negras con rojo.

Mide 5 pies con 9 pulgadas de estatura, pesa aproximadamente 160 libras y tiene cabello castaño y ojos marrones.

La Policía pidió a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre el paradero de Triana que llame a la Unidad de Víctimas Especiales al 305-603-6300 o al 305-579-6111. También pueden enviar información por correo electrónico a svu@miami-police.org.

Leer en español

Police said Christopher Triana was last seen Sunday in the city’s Little Havana neighborhood wearing a dark blue hoodie with blue pants and black/red sandals.

He is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighs about 160 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes.

Police asked anyone with information about Triana’s whereabouts to call the police department’s Special Victims Unit at 305-603-6300 or 305-579-6111. Tipsters may also email svu@miami-police.org.

Colbert was among the recipients of the 47th annual American Book Awards. They were announced Wednesday by the Before Columbus Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California, that champions diversity in U.S. literature and culture.

CBS ended Colbert's program in May, removing a high-profile platform for one of Trump's most prominent critics. The network cited economic reasons for its decision. Colbert and others have questioned that explanation.

The foundation also honored a wide range of literary releases, from Nicholas Boggs' “Baldwin,” a biography of James Baldwin; to John Fugelsang's religious critique “Separation of Church and Hate” to the poetry collection “Variations in Blue,” by Adela Najarro. Novelist-playwright Karen Tei Yamashita received a lifetime achievement prize.

Colbert shares his anti-censorship prize with one of the country's top independent booksellers, Mitchell Kaplan, founder of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida. Longtime Grove/Atlantic publisher Morgan Entrekin, as well as Roger Malina, executive editor of the academic journal Leonardo, received editor/publisher awards.

"The American Book Awards were created to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community," the foundation's announcement reads in part. “The award winners range from well-known and established writers to under-recognized authors and first works. There are no quotas for diversity; the winners list simply reflects it as a natural process.”

Según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Hialeah, el incidente ocurrió el 23 de mayo en el Walmart ubicado en 400 W. 49th St.

La policía identificó al sospechoso como Christian Jose Salgado, residente de Miami Gardens.

Los investigadores indicaron que el incidente comenzó cuando Salgado ingresó al estacionamiento y estacionó su vehículo directamente detrás del automóvil de la víctima, impidiéndole salir.

Las autoridades informaron que la víctima se encontraba dentro del vehículo junto a su novia, quien tenía ocho meses de embarazo, y un menor de edad.

Según los investigadores, Salgado salió de su vehículo para acercarse a la víctima y la golpeó en el rostro, iniciando una pelea.

Las autoridades indicaron que Salgado luego sujetó a la víctima por la cintura, la levantó en el aire y la azotó contra el suelo.

Según el informe, la víctima sufrió múltiples lesiones, incluidas fracturas en el cráneo, cuello, parte baja de la espalda, costillas y esternón. Las autoridades informaron que fue trasladada de urgencia al hospital, donde fue sometida a una cirugía de emergencia, lo que le dejó una gran cicatriz en el cuero cabelludo y puntos de sutura en una oreja.

Salgado fue arrestado por un cargo de agresión agravada. El informe de arresto no menciona el motivo del presunto ataque.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, los registros de la cárcel en línea indicaban que su fianza estaba “pendiente de ser fijada”.

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According to an arrest report from the Hialeah Police Department, the incident happened May 23 at the Walmart located at 400 W. 49th St.

Police identified the suspect as Christian Jose Salgado, of Miami Gardens.

Investigators say the incident began when Salgado drove into the parking lot and parked directly behind the victim’s vehicle, blocking it from leaving.

The victim was inside the vehicle with his pregnant girlfriend of 8 months and a young child, authorities said.

According to investigators, Salgado exited his vehicle to approach the victim and punched the man in the face, starting a fight.

Authorities said Salgado then grabbed the victim from his waist, lifted him in the air, and slammed him against the ground.

According to the report, the victim suffered multiple injuries, including fractures to his skull, neck, lower back, ribs and sternum. The victim was rushed to the hospital and received emergency surgery, leading to a large scar on his scalp and stitches on his ear, authorities said.

Salgado was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery. A motive for the alleged attack was not mentioned in the arrest report.

As of Wednesday morning, online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”

A list of disciplinary cases opened by FIFA against Argentina also include “discriminatory chants and gestures” by fans, alleged assault by an assistant coach after the final and “throwing of objects by spectators in relation to several matches” at the World Cup.

Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes faces three charges of assault in the post-game clashes after Spain’s 1-0 win on July 19, defender Nahuel Molina faces two charges and coach Roberto Ayala one.

Molina and Thiago Almada also are charged with unsporting behavior, with the same charge leveled against Spain player Gavi.

Argentina’s players carried a banner with the slogan “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” — “The Malvinas are Argentine” — after beating England 2-1 in the semifinals.

Argentina refers to the Falkland Islands as Islas Malvinas. They were invaded in 1982 under orders from Argentina’s then-military dictatorship, triggering a 10-week war won by Britain.

British government officials urged FIFA to investigate, and the soccer body said Wednesday the formal charge was “using a sports event for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature.”

FIFA said all the people charged “have now been provided with the opportunity to present their position, following which a decision will be issued by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee in due course.”

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

Detectives de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade arrestaron a Christopher Chiofalo a las 10:40 p.m. del martes en el 27329 de South Dixie Highway, en el vecindario de Naranja, según un informe policial.

Los agentes llevaron a Chiofalo al Departamento de Policía de Homestead, donde oficiales de policía le mostraron el video de un robo ocurrido el 25 de julio en Soriano Brothers Cuban Cuisine, ubicado en el 80 de NE 15 St., según el informe.

“¡Oh, sí! Entré al negocio hace un tiempo… se me hacía conocido… Sí, ese soy yo… Me atraparon”, le dijo Chiofalo a un oficial de policía, según el informe de arresto.

Los registros judiciales muestran que los fiscales presentaron 12 casos contra Chiofalo entre 2011 y 2013, y seis entre 2015 y 2021. Aproximadamente la mitad correspondían a presuntos robos a negocios y robos.

Un oficial de policía estimó que la pérdida total para el negocio afectado por el robo del 25 de julio, “incluyendo dinero en efectivo robado, daños a la propiedad y costos de reemplazo”, fue de aproximadamente $5,200 USD, según el informe policial.

El Departamento Correccional de Miami-Dade ingresó a Chiofalo poco después de las 4:15 a.m. del miércoles en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, cerca de Doral, según los registros de reclusos.

Chiofalo enfrenta tres cargos: robo a mano armada a un negocio, hurto mayor en tercer grado y daños criminales por $1,000 USD o más.

Con un nuevo cuerpo técnico y una nueva directiva, la competencia está completamente abierta mientras los jugadores luchan por puestos como titulares y un lugar en el roster.

El corredor De’Von Achane dijo que fue bueno volver al campo junto a sus compañeros y calificó el primer día como “un buen comienzo”, mientras el equipo comienza a desarrollar química dentro del nuevo sistema.

“Fue divertido volver al campo con mis compañeros”, dijo Achane. “Estuvimos un poco fuera de ritmo, pero es emocionante regresar al campo, especialmente para empezar a crear esa conexión entre nosotros”.

Uno de los aspectos que más destacó tras la práctica fue el esfuerzo.

Clay Ferraro, de Local 10, señaló que incluso después de terminar la sesión, varios jugadores permanecieron en el campo realizando trabajo adicional, una señal de la cultura competitiva que Hafley intenta establecer.

Los novatos causaron una buena primera impresión.

El apoyador novato Jacob Rodríguez, seleccionado en la segunda ronda procedente de Texas Tech, desvió dos pases, incluido uno lanzándose al centro del campo, además de mostrar un impresionante alcance en cobertura, según el reportero de los Dolphins Travis Wingfield.

Los receptores abiertos Caleb Douglas y Kevin Coleman Jr. protagonizaron jugadas explosivas tras recibir pases de Malik Willis. Douglas convirtió una recepción corta en una larga ganancia gracias a su velocidad y también atrapó un complicado pase en tercera oportunidad pese a una cobertura cerrada. Coleman consiguió una gran ganancia tras recibir un preciso envío del mariscal de campo Willis.

Uno de los mejores pases de Willis durante la jornada fue un envío profundo por el centro del campo completado al receptor Tutu Atwell, oriundo del sur de Florida, para una ganancia de más de 50 yardas.

Wingfield indicó que Willis tuvo, en general, un sólido primer día, completando varios pases mientras contó con buena protección ofensiva. Tuvo algunos envíos imprecisos y otro fue desviado en la línea de golpeo, pero lució cómodo durante la mayor parte de la práctica. Los alas cerradas Greg Dulcich y Ben Sims también participaron activamente en el juego aéreo.

En la defensa, el esquinero Chris Johnson, seleccionado por los Dolphins con su segunda elección de primera ronda del Draft, destacó durante toda la práctica por su atletismo y capacidad para realizar jugadas.

La defensa también provocó varias pérdidas de balón, destacándose la intercepción devuelta para touchdown de Willie Gay Jr. tras anticipar un pase. El profundo novato Michael Taaffe agregó otra intercepción a un pase lanzado por Quinn Ewers, mientras que el apoyador David Ojabo forzó un balón suelto durante una jugada terrestre.

That guy Taaffe 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/zdu19LFtfW

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) July 29, 2026

La línea defensiva también hizo sentir su presencia contra el juego terrestre. Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips y Zeek Biggers registraron detenciones, mientras que Jordyn Brooks encontró constantemente el balón, incluido un tackle para pérdida de yardas sobre Achane.

El profundo Dante Trader también reaccionó rápidamente para cerrar un carril de carrera en la primera jugada del primer equipo durante la práctica.

La primera práctica abierta al público está programada para el domingo. Consulte el calendario completo del campamento de entrenamiento de los Dolphins haciendo clic aquí.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said he did not have an update on talks.

“You guys know how we feel about Gibbs,” Campbell said.

A message seeking comment was left with Gibbs' agent, Todd France.

“This is both sides working through something,” Campbell said.

The Lions have signed many of their top players to contract extensions, including linebacker Jack Campbell in May.

Gibbs, who has been a Pro Bowl player in each of his first three NFL seasons, seems to be next in line.

His contract calls for him to make a little more than $1 million in base salary with a $2 million-plus roster bonus this season. The Lions picked up the fifth season of Gibbs' contract in April and he is scheduled to make $14.29 million in 2027.

Since Detroit drafted the former Alabama star at No. 12 overall in 2023, he has run for 3,580 yards with 39 touchdowns and has 181 receptions for 1,449 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Gibbs is the one of four players in league history to gain at least 4,500 yards from scrimmage and score 45-plus touchdowns through three seasons, joining Hall of Famers Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson and Barry Sanders, a former Lions star.

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The Senate Judiciary Committee had been expected to vote Thursday on whether to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full chamber. But resistance from two Republican senators on the committee who could block Blanche's nomination threw his confirmation into doubt.

A spokesperson for the committee said in a statement Wednesday night that the vote would be postponed “as work continues to secure sufficient support.” The delay came after hours of negotiations between the Justice Department and Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis over the controversial settlement that afforded Trump and members of his family protection from tax audits.

At the center of the fight is the resolution of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. It included a deal to drop tax claims against the president and a now-scrapped plan to create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who believe they were wronged by the Justice Department. The department said in June that it was no longer moving forward with the “Anti-Weaponization Fund" amid bipartisan outrage, but officials have said the audit immunity agreement remains in place.

Cornyn and Tillis have demanded additional assurances in writing that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is dead and have pressed for clarification on the scope of the tax immunity deal. Cornyn has said he wants the administration to modify that piece of the settlement to make clear that it covers only existing audits and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.

Cornyn, who recently lost the Republican primary in Texas, accused the Justice Department earlier Wednesday of “stonewalling" and said “the ball is in Blanche’s court."

“We’re been trying to help them get to a conclusion here and they won’t let us. It’s befuddling to me,” Cornyn told reporters.

Blanche didn’t answer shouted questions from reporters as he left Capitol Hill, where he had been meeting with senators Wednesday. The Justice Department sent Cornyn and Tillis new language Wednesday evening in an effort to satisfy their demands, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions surrounding Blanche’s confirmation.

After the vote was postponed, the department said in a statement that it looks “forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns.”

Trump on Wednesday downplayed any concerns about Blanche's path to confirmation, calling his attorney general pick and former personal attorney “outstanding."

“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters in response to questions about the senator's requests.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the state's Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, easily defeating Cornyn. Trump had endorsed Paxton.

Some lawmakers have questioned whether the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” could be resurrected absent a commitment in writing from the Trump administration that it is not moving forward, especially since Trump has expressed continued support for the idea. Blanche had previously resisted requests for a formal written retraction, though he told senators at his confirmation hearing earlier this month that the administration would be willing to help craft legislation to bar the creation of the fund.

The settlement resulting from Trump's lawsuit over his leaked tax returns has drawn intense scrutiny both in Congress and in court. The judge handling the case said in a scathing ruling earlier this month that Trump had effectively engaged in self-dealing through the lawsuit and that she was troubled Blanche had signed the settlement, given his prior representation of Trump.

Blanche has said he disagrees “with the judge’s insinuations" about him.

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Associated Press reporters Seung Min Kim and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

Los incendios forestales, que han quemado una superficie cuatro veces mayor que París y han obligado a 220.000 personas a abandonar sus hogares y algunas de las atracciones turísticas de la región, prometen asestar un duro golpe a la economía francesa, ya de por sí asfixiada.

“Es un apocalipsis físico cuando ves todos estos lugares donde no queda nada salvo casas y bosques quemados, y luego está el apocalipsis económico”, afirmó Patrick Seguin, presidente de la cámara regional de comercio, con la voz quebrada por la emoción en una entrevista telefónica.

Esto “va a ser una puñalada por la espalda para lo que queda de nuestra economía”.

Le Grix de la Salle es uno de los empresarios que se preparan para el golpe. Los llamamientos del gobierno francés para que la gente evite la región causan consternación.

“Es increíble que hayan dicho algo así, sobre todo en un momento en que el turismo del vino se vuelve cada vez más importante”, señaló.

El consumo del legendario vino de Burdeos se ha desplomado debido a que los jóvenes se inclinan por otras bebidas y la competencia de viñedos en el extranjero es mayor. Los aranceles del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, han provocado una resaca adicional entre los viticultores y en buena parte de la economía mundial.

“El negocio del vino lleva varios años en crisis y está empeorando con los problemas geopolíticos, las dificultades ya generalizadas de la inflación y el hecho de que el vino está pasando de moda entre los jóvenes”, afirmó Le Grix de la Salle.

“En realidad, el turismo era la única parte dinámica del negocio que seguía creciendo, para nosotros y, en general, para los vinos de Burdeos”, añadió. “Y ahora esto llega como un freno”.

La finca vinícola Grand Verdus de su familia está a unos 35 kilómetros (20 millas) de los incendios que arden desde la semana pasada al otro lado del río Garona, que atraviesa Burdeos. La región de Gironda, donde se encuentra Burdeos, es la más grande de la Francia continental por superficie y los incendios solo han afectado a un pequeño porcentaje de ella. Pero la marca en su reputación es considerable.

“¿Cómo no pensaron en proteger ese sector?”, se preguntó Le Grix de la Salle. “Y el sector cultural también. Hay tanto que visitar en Burdeos. Hay tantos museos, hay fincas vinícolas. Es increíble”.

La región del suroeste de Francia está repleta de lugares vacacionales para turistas atraídos por playas de arena fina, fincas vinícolas, algunos de los mayores bosques de pinos de Francia y la histórica ciudad de Burdeos, declarada Patrimonio Mundial por la UNESCO. La bahía de Arcachon, rica en ostras, atrae a los amantes de la gastronomía. Pero el fuego y las evacuaciones han vaciado algunos de los sitios más concurridos.

La cámara de comercio afirma que 39.000 empresas se han visto afectadas en la región, que es un polo de las industrias de defensa y aeroespacial, entre las que se encuentran Airbus, Dassault y Thales.

Incluso antes de los incendios, la cámara de comercio indicó que el aumento de los costos de la energía reducía las ganancias. Alrededor del 94% de las empresas que respondieron a una encuesta de compañías regionales a mediados de julio dijeron que enfrentan dificultades.

“Recibimos cada vez más llamadas de responsables de pequeñas y medianas empresas, microempresas y negocios artesanales que piden ayuda y dicen: ‘¿Qué voy a hacer mañana?’”, manifestó Seguin.

Dos tribunales mercantiles en las ciudades de Burdeos y Libourne informaron de un aumento del 37% en las liquidaciones de empresas desde junio de 2025 hasta el mismo mes de este año, señaló.

El alcalde de Burdeos, Thomas Cazenave, dijo que algunos restauradores le han contado que las reservas se han desplomado. Se opone a las peticiones de otros funcionarios para que la gente evite la región. Ha señalado repetidamente que la ciudad no ha sido evacuada y no está cerrada a la actividad económica.

“Los museos están abiertos, los cafés y los restaurantes están abiertos”, afirmó. “La vida también continúa en nuestra hermosa ciudad”.

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Keaten informó desde Lyon, Francia, y Leicester informó desde París.

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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.