El acusado César Jáuregui está en prisión preventiva en una cárcel de máxima seguridad por presuntamente autorizar la participación de los estadounidenses en esa acción que, según la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum, su gobierno no autorizó ni de la que fue informado.

Un juez estatal determinará este jueves si inicia un juicio en su contra por ejercicio ilegal del servicio público y otro decidirá el sábado si lo procesa por el delito de traición.

Analistas afirman que la acusación de traición tiene un claro componente político. La muerte de los estadounidenses avivó las especulaciones tanto sobre el alcance de las acciones del gobierno de Donald Trump en territorio mexicano como sobre la férrea defensa de la soberanía nacional hecha por Sheinbaum, quien se niega a detener a un exgobernador de su partido acusado de narcotráfico por Estados Unidos.

Según Héctor Villasana, uno de los abogados defensores del exfiscal, el planteamiento del Ministerio Público fue que si no había un castigo ejemplar contra Jáuregui, “ Estados Unidos podría llevar a cabo una acción como la que llevaron en Venezuela al momento de extraer al presidente (Nicolás) Maduro".

El Departamento de Estado dijo el jueves a The Associated Press que está al corriente del caso contra el exfiscal de Chihuahua y que lo sigue de cerca, pero no lo vincula con las muertes de los agentes estadounidenses.

Aquí algunas claves de cómo un accidente de tráfico en las montañas de Chihuahua llevó a una acusación por traición, delito por el que México no ha procesado a nadie en décadas.

¿Por qué se acusa al exfiscal de traición a la patria?

Según la fiscalía federal, por poner en peligro la seguridad nacional y presuntamente autorizar la participación de los estadounidenses en el operativo cuando sólo el gobierno federal puede hacerlo. De acuerdo con expertos y abogados, por cuestiones políticas ante las elecciones intermedias mexicanas de 2027.

El delito de traición podría conllevar una condena a cinco a 40 años de prisión y es muy difícil de probar.

Carlos Pérez Ricart, profesor de la universidad mexicana Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), explicó que aunque el caso acabe desestimándose su impacto público es enorme porque ocurre cuando Trump insiste en que México no hace suficiente para combatir al narcotráfico y la discusión en México versa sobre si el oficialismo hace bien en defender la soberanía o si hay un “narcogobierno”, como dicen los opositores del Partido de Acción Nacional —que gobierna Chihuahua—.

Samuel González, exfiscal jefe contra el crimen organizado y analista, señaló que Jáuregui pudo haber incumplido obligaciones al no informar al gobierno federal o permitir que los agentes llevaran armas, pero “ni aunque así hubiera sido, habría traición a la patria”.

Luis Villegas, coordinador de la defensa del exfiscal, consideró inadmisible que la fiscalía equiparara en una audiencia la presencia de los estadounidenses con una “invasión” extranjera a México.

¿Qué pasó en el operativo de la sierra Tarahumara?

La fiscalía de Chihuahua informó el 19 de abril del desmantelamiento de un laboratorio de drogas sintéticas en el municipio de Morelos, en las montañas de ese estado. En el camino de regreso, un vehículo del convoy se salió de la carretera y cayó a un barranco. Murieron dos agentes de la fiscalía estatal y dos estadounidenses.

El Gabinete de Seguridad federal informó el desmantelamiento del laboratorio en una acción conjunta de la fiscalía estatal y el ejército sin dar detalles.

Jáuregui explicó ese día que los extranjeros fallecidos eran “oficiales instructores” de la embajada que murieron al regresar de una operación que llevaba tiempo preparándose y que acabó sin detenciones porque los delincuentes huyeron.

Al día siguiente, Sheinbaum dijo desconocer la acción y Jáuregui aclaró que los estadounidenses no habían participado en la acción sino que se incorporaron al grupo después.

El abogado Villegas dijo que eran funcionarios de capacitación sobre inteligencia y drones y el embajador estadounidense Ronald Johnson afirmó que eran “personal de la embajada”. Posteriormente AP confirmó que eran agentes de la CIA.

Según la defensa de Jáuregui, tenían una relación cercana con el jefe investigador de la fiscalía de Chihuahua, quien dirigía el operativo en el terreno y uno de los dos mexicanos que murieron.

Ese día había otros dos estadounidenses que iban en otro vehículo y luego fueron expulsados del país. La presidenta dijo que todos estaban sin permiso para operar en México y que los militares desconocían la presencia de extranjeros.

¿Cómo operan las agencias estadounidenses en México?

Su presencia ha sido una constante desde hace décadas aunque el expresidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) puso límites a su actuación y Sheinbaum cambió la Constitución para prohibir intervenciones extranjeras sin la autorización y colaboración expresa del Estado mexicano. La ley no permite que vayan armados.

Pérez Ricart explicó que al margen de las relaciones oficiales, siempre ha habido y habrá agentes antidrogas en operativos de este tipo "muchas veces sin que el gobierno federal lo sepa” porque esas acciones se basan en la confianza de Estados Unidos con funcionarios locales, aunque pueden conllevar abusos al no tener reglas claras.

—-

El periodista de AP Matthew Lee contribuyó a esta nota desde Washington.

Según la policía, las imágenes de seguridad captadas en una gasolinera de Miramar muestran a Michael Polanco, de 32 años, y a la niña.

En el video, se observa a Polanco intentando llevarse a la niña de la gasolinera, ubicada en 2840 S. State Road 7.

“Tenemos a una niña caminando hacia su casa y, de repente, un hombre intenta llevársela por la fuerza”, dijo el jefe de policía de Miramar, Delrish Moss.

El video muestra a la niña luchando para escapar, lo que finalmente logró, provocando que un testigo llamara al 911.

“Fue muy inteligente”, dijo Moss. “Se defendió, hizo un escándalo, corrió hacia otras personas para ponerse a salvo y, gracias a eso, pudimos obtener no solo una descripción, sino también atraparlo bastante rápido, a solo unas cuadras de distancia”.

Polanco compareció ante un tribunal del condado Broward a principios de esta semana y se ordenó que permaneciera detenido sin derecho a fianza.

Las autoridades indicaron que Polanco tiene un extenso historial criminal que incluye robo, robo por arrebato, allanamiento de morada, agresión grave y alteración del orden público, entre muchos otros cargos anteriores.

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First responders rushed to the scene, located along the 15400 block of Southwest 148th Street in the county’s Country Walk area.

Sky 10 was over the scene around 11:30 a.m. and observed several law enforcement vehicles outside a home.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said the call was received as reports of a shooting.

Crews later said that one adult was being taken as a trauma alert to Jackson South Medical Center for treatment.

Deputies have yet to confirm anything about the incident.

La decisión del gobierno argentino, que fue publicada el jueves en el Boletín Oficial, se produjo al mes siguiente de que creciera a un total de 21 el número de grupos criminales de la región calificados como organizaciones terroristas extranjeras por la administración de Donald Trump.

La resolución argentina incluye, además del cártel mexicano, a la Nueva Familia Michoacana, también de México, y al grupo ecuatoriano Los Tiguerones. Todos integran la lista del gobierno de Trump.

La medida de Milei alcanza asimismo a la guerrilla colombiana Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) y a las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP), que son las disidencias de las extintas FARC que no se acogieron al acuerdo de paz firmado en Colombia hace una década y continúan alzadas en armas. Los dos grupos fueron declarados organizaciones terroristas extranjeras por Estados Unidos años atrás.

Un comunicado de la Oficina del Presidente difundido el miércoles por la noche argumentó que los cinco grupos designados como terroristas están vinculados con el narcotráfico y el crimen organizado.

El gobierno del mandatario libertario describió al Cártel de Sinaloa como una organización transnacional dedicada al narcotráfico y los secuestros extorsivos. A su vez señaló que las FARC-EP y el ELN son organizaciones insurgentes de extrema izquierda basadas en los principios del marxismo-leninismo y de la revolución armada. En tanto, consideró a Los Tiguerones, al que vinculó con el sicariato y el tráfico de drogas, uno de los grupos criminales más violentos de la región.

La decisión se conoce dos semanas después de que el gobierno de Milei anunciara que Estados Unidos creó en Argentina una unidad regional de la Oficina de Asuntos Internacionales de Narcóticos y Aplicación de la Ley (INL, por sus siglas en inglés). Con esos fines, el gobierno de Trump aprobó un fondo de 13,35 millones de dólares para fortalecer la lucha contra el narcotráfico y el crimen organizado.

En meses previos el gobierno de Milei declaró a otras organizaciones como terroristas y las incorporó al Registro Público de Personas y Entidades vinculadas a Actos de Terrorismo y su Financiamiento. La medida alcanzó al Cártel de los Soles, originado en Venezuela, al Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación de México y a tres ramas de la Hermandad Musulmana, entre otros grupos.

——

En esta nota colaboró la periodista de AP Astrid Suárez desde Bogotá.

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Maynor Jose Jarquin, 22, of Flagami, was originally arrested on 16 felony charges on Oct. 1. Police tacked on even more on Wednesday.

According to the Miami Police Department, the investigation into Jarquin began on Sept. 29 after an 11-year-old boy’s mother said she was “alarmed” by messages between her son and a man named “Maynor” on the boy’s phone, including one in which Jarquin told “her son about them making a deal and asking the child what the child would do for him if he lost the deal.”

Authorities said Jarquin’s mother briefly posed as her son and messaged him but then got police involved.

Detectives said the boy told them that he had met Jarquin at a park “and has seen him approximately 10 times.”

Jarquin, police said, “initially asked the child victim to follow him on social media” and “then gifted the victim a jersey and socks.”

The conversation then shifted to text messages, where police said Jarquin “made a deal with the child victim that he could get him tickets to a sporting event if the child won the deal, but if he lost, he would need something in return from the child.”

“(Jarquin) continued to tell the child the same thing over the course of a couple of days and the victim stated that he felt pressured by the defendant,” the report states.

Detectives said they also saw messages where Jarquin asked the boy how old he was and, after replying that he was 11, Jarquin told him, “I thought you were older. I thought you were 12 or 13.”

“I’m in the sixth grade,” police said the boy replied, to which they said Jarquin replied, “Okay.”

An MPD detective then posed as the boy and documented a litany of explicit messages, according to the arrest report. They said Jarquin sought sexual photos from the boy and offered to send him sexual photos of himself.

Police said he later asked the boy about a video game and told him, in Spanish, “If you behave good and stop being so shy i can give it to you as a gift,” telling him “to stop being embarrassed about sending the picture and that he would have to earn the video game.”

They said Jarquin also sought to have the boy come to his home, telling him, “When you come to my house, I will teach you a lot.”

Authorities would take him into custody at an “undisclosed” location on Oct. 1 and said he later “admitted to having explicit conversations with the child victim and understood it was wrong.”

He was booked on 16 felony charges, including a child trafficking charge carrying a possible life sentence.

According to Jarquin’s latest arrest report, detectives also found chats showing that he was trading child sexual abuse videos online.

In graphic detail, authorities described 15 of the files they said he had on his phone of boys being victimized.

Police said they also found recordings in a hidden folder in which they said Jarquin exposed himself while on video calls with boys who appeared to be 12 to 16 years old.

Authorities said he encouraged the young boys to expose themselves as well.

“Based on the recordings, it appears that these unidentified children reside in countries like Mexico, Cuba and Spain,” the report states.

Jarquin now faces 15 additional felony charges related to the possession of child sexual abuse material, bringing his total to 31.

Besides having no bond, the Nicaraguan national also remained locked up in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on an immigration hold as of Thursday morning.

According to police, the security footage taken from a Miramar gas station shows Michael Polanco, 32, and the girl.

In video footage, Polanco is seen trying to usher the girl away from the gas station, which is located at 2840 S. State Road 7.

“You have a child walking home and suddenly some guy is trying to grab her away,” said Miramar Police Chief Delrish Moss.

The video shows the girl fighting to get away, which she did, prompting a witness to all 911.

“She was very smart,” said Moss. “She put up a fight, she made a ruckus, she ran to people for safety, and because of that, we were able to get not only a description, but we were able to catch him in rather quick fashion just a few blocks away.”

Polanco appeared in a Broward County courtroom earlier this week and was ordered to be held without bond.

Authorities said Polanco has a lengthy criminal history that includes robbery, sudden and snatching burglary, felony battery and disorderly conduct, among many of his previous charges.

Maynor Jose Jarquin, de 22 años, residente de Flagami, fue arrestado inicialmente el 1 de octubre por 16 cargos graves. La policía le presentó cargos adicionales el miércoles.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Miami, la investigación contra Jarquin comenzó el 29 de septiembre, después de que la madre de un niño de 11 años dijera estar “alarmada” por los mensajes entre su hijo y un hombre llamado “Maynor” en el teléfono del menor, incluido uno en el que Jarquin le hablaba “a su hijo sobre hacer un trato y le preguntaba al niño qué haría por él si perdía el trato”.

Las autoridades indicaron que la madre de Jarquin se hizo pasar brevemente por su hijo y le envió mensajes, pero luego involucró a la policía.

Los detectives señalaron que el niño les dijo que había conocido a Jarquin en un parque “y que lo había visto aproximadamente 10 veces”.

Según la policía, Jarquin “inicialmente le pidió al menor víctima que lo siguiera en las redes sociales” y “luego le regaló una camiseta deportiva y calcetines”.

La conversación pasó entonces a mensajes de texto, donde, según la policía, Jarquin “hizo un trato con el menor víctima en el que podía conseguirle entradas para un evento deportivo si el niño ganaba el trato, pero si perdía, necesitaría algo a cambio del menor”.

“(Jarquin) continuó diciéndole lo mismo al niño durante un par de días y la víctima declaró que se sintió presionada por el acusado”, señala el informe.

Los detectives indicaron que también encontraron mensajes en los que Jarquin le preguntaba al niño cuántos años tenía y, después de que este respondiera que tenía 11, Jarquin le dijo: “Pensé que eras mayor. Pensé que tenías 12 o 13”.

“Estoy en sexto grado”, respondió el niño, según la policía, a lo que Jarquin contestó: “Está bien”.

Un detective del Departamento de Policía de Miami se hizo pasar entonces por el niño y documentó una gran cantidad de mensajes explícitos, según el informe de arresto. Los investigadores indicaron que Jarquin solicitó fotografías sexuales del menor y se ofreció a enviarle fotografías sexuales de sí mismo.

La policía señaló que posteriormente le preguntó al niño sobre un videojuego y le dijo, en español: “Si te portas bien y dejas de ser tan tímido, te lo puedo regalar”, indicándole “que dejara de sentir vergüenza por enviar la fotografía y que tendría que ganarse el videojuego”.

También señalaron que Jarquin intentó que el niño fuera a su casa, diciéndole: “Cuando vengas a mi casa, te enseñaré muchas cosas”.

Las autoridades lo detuvieron en un lugar “no revelado” el 1 de octubre e indicaron que posteriormente “admitió haber mantenido conversaciones explícitas con el menor víctima y comprendía que estaba mal”.

Fue ingresado a la cárcel por 16 cargos graves, incluido un cargo de tráfico de menores que podría conllevar una sentencia de cadena perpetua.

Según el informe de arresto más reciente de Jarquin, los detectives también encontraron conversaciones que mostraban que intercambiaba videos de abuso sexual infantil por internet.

Las autoridades describieron con detalles gráficos 15 de los archivos que, según indicaron, tenía en su teléfono y que mostraban a niños siendo víctimas de abuso.

La policía señaló que también encontró grabaciones en una carpeta oculta en las que Jarquin se exhibía sexualmente durante videollamadas con niños que aparentaban tener entre 12 y 16 años.

Las autoridades indicaron que también alentaba a los menores a exhibirse.

“Según las grabaciones, parece que estos menores no identificados residen en países como México, Cuba y España”, señala el informe.

Jarquin ahora enfrenta 15 cargos graves adicionales relacionados con la posesión de material de abuso sexual infantil, lo que eleva el total a 31.

Además de permanecer detenido sin derecho a fianza, el ciudadano nicaragüense continuaba recluido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight bajo una orden de retención migratoria hasta la mañana del jueves.

They were joined by Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes, Texas forward Madison Booker and Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo.

Strong earned 30 votes from the 31-member national media panel that chooses the AP Top 25 each week. Hidalgo and Booker each received 28 votes. Blakes had 27 and Watkins 26. It's the third consecutive year that Hidalgo and Booker were honored as preseason picks.

Strong, the reigning AP Player of the Year, averaged 18.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and shot 58.2% from the field as a sophomore forward to help the Huskies reach the Final Four a year after they won their 12th national championship.

“She was national player of the year, you know, and it’s pretty hard to get that much better," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “But it’s not that hard to get better at some things that she wants to get better at. And I think what we’ll see is a much more aggressive Sarah, much more intentional, much more understanding.”

Watkins is coming back after missing last year while recovering from an ACL tear in her right knee that she suffered in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The talented guard earned AP Player of the Year honors that season as a sophomore. Watkins is healthy and ready to go.

“We are obviously excited for JuJu to be back on the court,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “She has worked so hard both on and off the court, and the joy and talent she brings to college basketball is a great thing not only for our team, but for anyone who is a fan of the game.”

Hidalgo has been a fixture on the All-America team and is coming off another fantastic season. The Notre Dame senior guard averaged 25.3 points — third best in the country — and 5.6 steals last season.

“I don’t focus on the numbers ever,” Hidalgo said. “All the numbers I put up last year was never about me saying, ‘OK, I’m going to get this amount of points and this amount of steals.’ I go out every single game and play every game like it’s my last, and the numbers just come with how I play.”

Blakes led the nation in scoring with 27 points per game and was even better in Southeastern Conference play (30.5). She knows the more confidence she helps her teammates build keeps her from being the focal point.

“My role is going to change,” Blakes said. “We have a lot of good scorers this year and really a lot of good players. So I feel like doing whatever the team needs me to do and continue to read defenses really well.”

Booker averaged 18.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists last season to help the Longhorns reach the Final Four for a second straight season.

“In my mind, Madison Booker is the best player in the country," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "Every night when we take the floor, I feel pretty good about that.”

Strong, Blakes and Booker were all first-team All-Americans last spring while Hidalgo was on the second team. The AP began releasing a preseason All-America team before the 1994-95 season.

___

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Los equipos de emergencia acudieron rápidamente al lugar, ubicado en la cuadra 15400 de Southwest 148th Street, en el área de Country Walk del condado.

Sky 10 sobrevoló la escena alrededor de las 11:30 a.m. y observó varios vehículos policiales frente a una vivienda.

Los Bomberos de Miami-Dade informaron que recibieron la llamada como un reporte de balacera.

Posteriormente, los equipos de rescate indicaron que un adulto estaba siendo trasladado al Jackson South Medical Center para recibir tratamiento bajo una alerta de trauma.

Los agentes del sheriff aún no han confirmado detalles sobre el incidente.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 7.32% from 7.40% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.19%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also eased this week. That average rate slipped to 6.68% from 6.71% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.44%.

Rates on home loans are influenced by inflation, Federal Reserve policy and bond-market investors’ expectations for the economy, among other factors. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

Mortgage rates have been climbing since late February, when the U.S. war with Iran began, pushing up the price of oil and driving inflation higher. The run-up in rates also reflects heightened bond market volatility, which has pushed up yields on U.S. Treasurys.

The 10-year Treasury yield has been mostly easing the last couple of weeks, and that caused the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to hold steady after reaching 7.4%, its highest level in nearly three years.

The yield was at 5% at midday on the bond market Thursday. It surged to more than 5.30% earlier this month and remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran.

A woman in Sunrise used Papa Pal, and it connected her to Anthony Weaver and James Calvert, who defrauded her out of nearly $6,900, according to a Sunrise detective’s report.

Weaver and Calvert, 36, “assisted her with tasks around her home” at first and “a short time later” had her transfer her life’s savings to new checking accounts, according to the Sunrise detective’s report.

The woman had been diagnosed with brain ischemia, a medical condition where blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain are dangerously reduced, according to the detective.

The condition “impairs her cognitive function,” and she “lacked the capacity to consent to loaning or giving these funds,” the detective wrote, according to the arrest report.

The offense was on Jan. 25, 2022, and Calvert was arrested on Feb. 27, 2023, records show. A Broward judge issued an arrest warrant for Calvert on June 16, according to Broward County court records.

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Calvert on Wednesday at the Broward County Clerk of Courts in Fort Lauderdale. Calvert faced a charge of third-degree grand theft of $5,000 or more, but less than $10,000. Weaver remained at large.

Broward County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Coleman was set to preside over Calvert’s case.

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases who wants to remain anonymous to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in Oakland found the government's effort is relying on data that is full of errors and that it's leading to intimidation of groups performing voter assistance efforts. She said it should be halted until polls close on Election Day, Nov. 3.

She put her ruling, which was made Wednesday, on hold until Friday to give the administration a chance to appeal.

The ruling applies to investigations in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

It comes as the Trump administration has been hunting for noncitizen voters throughout the country in the months leading into the midterm elections. The administration has signaled that it's a major problem, when in fact it's quite rare, as even its own investigations have shown.

The lawsuit was filed by the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United, along with the Voto Latino Foundation, San Francisco and Santa Clara County. A request for comment to the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.

Firefighters were called to the blaze in Clinton, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) northwest of Jackson, at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, and multiple wings of the center were on fire, Clinton Mayor Will Purdie said at a news conference.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I share with you that two residents lost their lives in that fire,” Purdie said.

Clinton's fire chief, Levius Buckley, said staff at the Brookdale Clinton center got about 85 residents out of the facility safely and firefighters helped get another 10 to 15 out. He said at least four people were taken to hospitals. All surviving residents were either with relatives or at other facilities on Thursday, Purdie said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Buckley said the center's sprinkler system was working at the time.

The mayor credited firefighters and Brookdale Clinton staff with saving lives. Authorities searched the site through the night to account for everyone.

“Last night, I was once again reminded of the strength of this community through its overwhelming response,” Purdie said. “As they always do in times of adversity, our citizens came together at a moment’s notice to help their friends and neighbors.”

Portions of the center were destroyed by the blaze. Although several wings remain standing, they won't be inhabitable for some time, Buckley said. It took about three hours to get the fire under control, and firefighters remained there into the early morning hours.

Residents who were led to safety were bused to a church, where a crowd of people who appeared to be residents’ family members or loved ones waited outside Wednesday.

WLBT-TV showed images of a handful of older people sitting across the street and watching as bright orange flames and black smoke stretched into the sky. One of them was in a wheelchair and the others had walkers or other mobility aids. One also had a small dog. The roof of the building was partially collapsed, as firefighters sprayed the building.

A spokesperson for Brookdale Senior Living said Thursday that company staff are heartbroken over the deaths of the two residents.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all our residents, their families and our associates, and our priority continues to be supporting those affected by this tragedy and providing continued care to our residents,” spokesperson Kristin Puckett said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to the first responders and local community members who have come together to support our residents and associates.”

The organization’s website says Brookdale Clinton includes independent living spaces, as well as assisted living and memory care services. Brookdale Senior Living says it has more than 500 senior living communities in 41 states.

Their findings indicate that rather than being a product of van Gogh’s imagination, “The Starry Night” may have been inspired by what he saw as he gazed heavenward from his French asylum 137 years ago.

A South Korean team reported Thursday that after years of forensic astronomy and research into the Dutch artist, they have matched his masterpiece to a predawn sky over France’s Saint-Remy de Provence right around July 22, 1889.

That’s a month later than the long-accepted time frame for the postimpressionist painting depicting a crescent moon and Venus surrounded by a sky of swirling stars with a village nestled below and cypress trees looming on one side.

Art historians have long dated the painting to June 1889, soon after Van Gogh checked into the asylum. He’d cut off his left ear several months earlier during an argument with painter Paul Gauguin.

A team led by Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, the CEO of a Seoul telescope maker, is now disputing that date in a study appearing in the journal Scientific Reports.

The sky that is most similar to the painting occurred around July 22, 1889, said Kim, who is also a doctoral candidate at Kyung Hee University. He noted that the few days before and after could have inspired van Gogh as well.

“No two skies are the same. Something always changes. I believe Vincent noticed those changes and put them into the painting,” Kim said in an email.

He added: “I am confident that July 22 is the better date. I will bet on this date.”

The latest study addresses “a real puzzle” that in mid-June 1889, the moon was not the thin crescent painted by van Gogh, said Jose Luis Aragon at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He has studied “The Starry Night” as a physicist, but did not take part in the new research.

“Still, I would see the July date as an intriguing hypothesis rather than a settled answer,” Aragon said in an email.

Long fascinated by van Gogh’s art, Kim traveled to France in 2019, the first time in mid-June and the second around July 22. He found brilliant stars rising in July’s predawn sky, unlike June.

Kim and his team discovered through further celestial sleuthing that around July 22, 1889, the shape of the moon before dawn appeared like the one in the painting, with the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus rising in the east alongside Venus. The sky should have been clear enough for van Gogh to see all this, based on their weather analyses.

Van Gogh is thought to have suffered a seizure around that time in July. But Kim and his team contend that the seizure occurred later in July, based on their analyses of letters between the painter and one of his brothers. Some of those letters refer to cicadas, another clue that points toward the hotter July, according to Kim.

The researchers tested and verified their methods on night skies in other paintings, making for what Aragon considers “a careful and genuinely interdisciplinary study.”

Since van Gogh painted in a studio at the asylum from sketches and memory, “the sky is likely a composite of many nights as the authors themselves acknowledge," Aragon said.

“What I find most convincing is the broader message: The painting is not pure fantasy. Van Gogh watched the real sky very closely," Aragon said.

Despite all his research, Kim has never seen “The Starry Night” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

“Now that the paper is out, I really have to go and see ‘The Starry Night’ in person, don’t I?” he said.

___

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Wachter said Knuckles is 6 months old, weighs about 20 pounds, and has been partially potty trained. He is learning to walk on a leash.

“He is super cute. He is unique looking,” Wachter said.

For more information about how to adopt Knuckles or another pet, visit the Humane Society’s website or call 954-989-3977.

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It happened on Wednesday afternoon along the 1500 block of Southwest 122nd Avenue in west Miami-Dade’s unincorporated Tamiami area.

Arriving deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said they spoke with the suspect first, who has since been identified as Alvaro Fonseca.

According to investigators, Fonseca told them he was involved in a verbal dispute with the victim over a gated fence that was being built next to his home.

Deputies then spoke with the victim, who they said is a contractor hired by Fonseca’s next-door neighbor. He told investigators that the homeowner had permission from officials to build the fence and, as he was trying to do so, he and Fonseca began arguing.

That’s when deputies said Fonseca went into his home and “armed himself with a sword” to stop the victim from building the fence before he threatened to ”shoot him in the head twice and cut off his head with the sword."

Deputies said the victim then took out his phone and took a photo of Fonseca armed with the sword.

Deputies said Fonseca “denied making those threats and was inconsistent with the account of the events.”

Ultimately, deputies took him into custody without further incident.

He is facing a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and as of Thursday morning was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $5,000 bond.

El incidente ocurrió el miércoles por la tarde en la cuadra 1500 de Southwest 122nd Avenue, en el área no incorporada de Tamiami, al oeste de Miami-Dade.

Los agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade que llegaron al lugar indicaron que primero hablaron con el sospechoso, quien fue identificado como Alvaro Fonseca.

Según los investigadores, Fonseca les dijo que había tenido una discusión verbal con la víctima por una cerca con portón que estaba siendo construida junto a su vivienda.

Los agentes hablaron entonces con la víctima, quien, según indicaron, es un contratista contratado por el vecino de Fonseca. El hombre dijo a los investigadores que el propietario tenía permiso de las autoridades para construir la cerca y que, mientras intentaba realizar el trabajo, él y Fonseca comenzaron a discutir.

Fue entonces cuando, según los agentes, Fonseca entró a su vivienda y “se armó con una espada” para impedir que la víctima construyera la cerca, antes de amenazar con “dispararle dos veces en la cabeza y cortarle la cabeza con la espada”.

Los agentes indicaron que la víctima sacó su teléfono y tomó una fotografía de Fonseca armado con la espada.

Según los agentes, Fonseca “negó haber hecho esas amenazas y presentó inconsistencias en su versión de los hechos”.

Finalmente, los agentes lo detuvieron sin que se registraran más incidentes.

Enfrenta un cargo grave de agresión agravada con un arma mortal sin intención de matar y, hasta la mañana del jueves, permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight bajo una fianza de $5,000 USD.

Si los legisladores de derecha y de centro se unen, controlarán una mayoría simple en la Cámara baja, de 513 escaños, e incluso podrían reunir una supermayoría en una amplia alianza para cambiar la Constitución de Brasil. Se espera una dinámica similar en el Senado. Analistas y políticos coinciden en que se podrían producir impactos duraderos en Brasil y en América Latina.

El Partido Liberal de Bolsonaro ganó 23 escaños adicionales en la Cámara baja y casi duplicó sus escaños en el Senado, en su mayoría a costa de partidos centristas. El Partido de los Trabajadores de Lula conservó aproximadamente el mismo número de escaños.

Esas cifras aún podrían cambiar, ya que algunos legisladores cambian de partido después de su elección.

Este es un vistazo a la forma en que este Congreso, inclinado a la derecha, podría remodelar la agenda de Brasil.

Se espera que los cambios en el Supremo Tribunal Federal sean una prioridad

Los aliados de Bolsonaro en el Congreso quieren, ante todo, destituir al juez del Supremo Tribunal Federal Alexandre de Moraes, quien presidió la investigación que llevó al encarcelamiento del expresidente Jair Bolsonaro por su intento de golpe de Estado.

Necesitan 54 votos en el Senado, y muchos de los futuros miembros se postularon precisamente con la plataforma de destituir a De Moraes. El próximo presidente de Brasil podrá nombrar al menos a tres nuevos jueces.

Los legisladores de derecha también han manifestado su deseo de limitar las decisiones individuales de los jueces del Supremo Tribunal Federal, quienes con frecuencia han suspendido leyes, emitido medidas cautelares de amplio alcance y dictado órdenes de gran impacto sin la autorización del pleno. Algunos legisladores también quieren debatir límites de mandato para los jueces.

Incluso legisladores de izquierda respaldan algunas de esas ideas tras un escándalo de corrupción que involucró al tribunal.

Cambios al código penal

Muchos legisladores electos apoyan las propuestas de línea dura de Bolsonaro en materia de seguridad pública. Quieren reducir la edad de responsabilidad penal de 18 a 16 años. Algunos de ellos también respaldan la castración química como pena para violadores y pedófilos condenados.

Algunos de esos legisladores también quieren cambios estructurales en el sistema penitenciario del país, inspirándose en el modelo de encarcelamiento masivo del presidente salvadoreño Nayib Bukele, si Bolsonaro gana y quiere destinar fondos a ese fin.

“Las propuestas de extrema derecha sobre seguridad pública se enfocan más en atender el miedo de la gente que en resolver el problema. Estas propuestas se centran en el castigo”, señaló Melina Risso, directora de investigación del centro de estudios Instituto Igarape.

“Tales medidas son típicas de quienes ni entienden el problema ni desean resolverlo. ¿De qué sirve aumentar las penas cuando solo se resuelve el 36% de los homicidios en el país?”

Las políticas económicas favorecen los recortes del gasto

Muchos legisladores de derecha quieren que Brasil frene el gasto público, pero no dicen qué se recortará, y por ello, legisladores de izquierda intentaron advertir a los votantes que las iniciativas de asistencia social serán su principal objetivo, como lo fueron durante la presidencia de Jair Bolsonaro.

Algunos alineados con Bolsonaro proponen reducir los impuestos corporativos y revertir los cambios al código tributario que entrarán en vigor en enero. El gobierno de Lula considera clave un nuevo impuesto al valor agregado (IVA) en el momento de cada transacción financiera para prevenir el fraude. Los aliados de Bolsonaro sostienen que eso asfixiará a las empresas, y buscan derogar cientos de normas administrativas, decretos y trabas burocráticas para reducir costos a las compañías.

El bloque de Bolsonaro también está compuesto por firmes defensores de la privatización de empresas estatales, quienes insistirán en ayudar al poderoso agronegocio brasileño proporcionando mayor acceso al crédito rural, protegiendo los derechos de propiedad privada de la tierra y permitiendo contratos laborales más flexibles.

Unos pocos legisladores también quieren una mayor distancia de China, el principal socio comercial de Brasil, para alinearse, en cambio, con el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump.

Revertir protecciones de la selva amazónica

Muchos legisladores electos del Partido Liberal de Bolsonaro han hecho campaña a favor de flexibilizar los requisitos de licenciamiento ambiental, debilitar las agencias reguladoras y otorgar amnistías por el acaparamiento ilegal de tierras. Afirman que necesitan fomentar la actividad económica en Amazonía y más allá, para que las poblaciones locales no pasen hambre. Algunas de esas iniciativas dependen de la firma del presidente, y otras pueden ser autorizadas por el Congreso.

“Sumado a un gobierno negacionista bajo Flávio Bolsonaro, esto podría traer un caos ambiental”, señaló Suely Araújo, coordinadora de políticas públicas de la organización sin fines de lucro Observatorio del Clima.

Aproximadamente el 70% de los miembros de la Cámara baja de Brasil y el 80% del Senado son considerados hostiles a las agendas ambiental y climática, según el observatorio.

“Este escenario apunta a cuatro años de un esfuerzo inmenso para quienes trabajan en temas climáticos y ambientales, así como a una profunda preocupación por los graves retrocesos y las terribles consecuencias que todo esto implica para la crisis climática”, agregó Araújo.

Cumplir las promesas de contrarrestar la política progresista

Muchos legisladores de derecha están en posición de ir más allá de la retórica agresiva en redes sociales y emprender acciones legislativas concretas para contrarrestar la política progresista, como prometieron.

Sus esfuerzos se centran en desmantelar medidas de apoyo a las poblaciones transgénero, en particular restringiendo el acceso a baños neutrales en cuanto al género y recortando programas de asistencia social específicos y servicios de salud especializados. Estos legisladores también pretenden asegurarse el liderazgo de comisiones del Congreso para oponerse a iniciativas de lenguaje inclusivo y promover una definición biológica de la condición de mujer.

Se prevé el congelamiento de nuevas demarcaciones de tierras indígenas, bajo el argumento de que reservar territorio obstaculiza la minería, la expansión agrícola y el crecimiento.

Se impugnarán las cuotas obligatorias por mandato estatal y los marcos de acción afirmativa basados en la identidad para el ingreso a universidades y empleos del servicio público. Los legisladores planean impulsar agendas legislativas basadas en la fe para restringir el acceso al aborto y remodelar las protecciones de las libertades civiles.

___

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

In a Thursday regulatory filing, Quest Diagnostics reported “unauthorized access” to its Quanum Lab Services Manager, a platform where certain clients can place test orders and receive or look up their results. The company said it discovered the hack on Wednesday and notified federal law enforcement.

How many patients and which particular records have been affected is still unknown. Quest Diagnostics said it believes “certain patient records” were accessed in the breach, but that the full scope remains under investigation.

The New Jersey-based company said it's also working with external cybersecurity experts to assist in its response.

Quest Diagnostics has seen hacks impacting patient records before. In 2016, for example, the company said data including lab results and contact information of about 34,000 people was exposed in another online breach. And in 2019, other personal information belonging to about 11.9 million Quest patients was affected after a separate hack at American Medical Collection Agency, a billing collections service provider.

Cyberattacks are on the rise across industries. Beyond healthcare, other breaches have recently disrupted anything from supermarket chains to core education applications.

Governments and companies worldwide are working more broadly on online security updates. Urgency erupted this week, after an AI-assisted discovery of vulnerabilities in a programming language called PHP, which is vital to 70% of websites globally.

Outages and limited service have continued for many as firms rush to patch those risks. But based on the company's investigation, Quest Diagnostics confirmed to The Associated Press Thursday that its cyber breach was not related to the PHP issue.

Not only did Nantz turn out to be fine, although a bit sore, but the Chairman of CBS' and Skydance's Sports Division had better news to deliver. He was making Watt the permanent lead analyst for CBS Sports' NFL coverage.

The announcement was made Thursday morning along with Watt signing a multi-year agreement.

“It’s an incredible honor and it’s humbling,” Watt said in a video he posted on social media. “There’s only five seats that get to do this. I appreciate their trust in me and I have an absolute blast doing it every single week and I cannot wait to continue to do it.”

Watt joined play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson after Tony Romo went on leave following his July 23 arrest in Wisconsin. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback pleaded no contest to charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

CBS announced on Oct. 2 that Romo would not return after the two sides “agreed to part ways.” Romo had been the lead game analyst for CBS’ NFL coverage since 2017.

Watt and Nantz have already had some memorable moments in the booth. Last week, Watt was showing how players try to protect the football from defensive players attempting the “Peanut Punch,” which is named after former defensive back Charles “Peanut” Tillman. Nantz tried to knock the ball from Watt, but hit his wrist hard on the football and immediately grabbed his hand.

Nantz had an ice pack on after halftime and joked that he broke his wrist, but said during interviews this week nothing was broken. Nantz is probable to be in the booth with Watt for Sunday’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens.

“I’ve had a front-row seat to JJ’s growth as a top-tier broadcaster, watching him tackle this role just like he did his hall-of-fame playing career,” Berson said in a statement. “He’s insightful, entertaining, passionate, meticulous in his preparation, and the ultimate teammate. He has a unique ability to see things and communicate to fans of all levels. We are thrilled to have him leading our NFL coverage.”

Watt joined CBS Sports in 2023 as a studio analyst on “The NFL Today” following a 12-year career with the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals. He was a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a five-time All-Pro selection and the 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.

Watt moved to the booth in 2025 and called games on the No. 2 team with Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn before being moved up to the top team this season.

He is only the fourth CBS analyst since 1981. Hall of Famer John Madden held the post from 1981 through 1993, when the network lost the rights to the NFL. Phil Simms moved into the spot when CBS got the rights back in 1998 until 2016 and was followed by Romo.

Watt will also be in the booth when CBS carries Super Bowl 62 in Atlanta in February 2028.

“I’ll see you on Sunday and I’ll see you at the Super Bowl next year,” Watt said to close the video.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Anderson's family announced his death Wednesday on his social media accounts. It didn't provide details, including the cause of death.

“To the world, he was a gifted country music singer whose voice and songs touched countless lives,” the family wrote. “To us, he was so much more. He was the heart of our family, the one who made us laugh, loved us fiercely, and made every ordinary moment feel special.”

Anderson's death came just days after he attended the latest Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony, in Nashville, Tennessee, with new members including Tim McGraw, Paul Overstreet and the Stanley Brothers. On Thursday, McGraw wrote on Instagram that he was “completely shook” about Anderson's death, adding that the singer “was in such good spirits” at the event.

“We talked, we laughed, we sang his songs that I loved so much together, just goofing off,” recalled McGraw, who posted a picture of himself with Anderson.

A native of Apopka, Florida, Anderson moved to Nashville after graduating high school. Before breaking through commercially in 1977 with “I’ve Got a Feelin’ (Somebody’s Been Stealin’)," he worked odd jobs, including helping put the roof on the new Grand Ole Opry House.

Anderson went on to release more than 20 albums and dozens of singles. Along with such peers as George Strait and Ricky Skaggs, he was often identified as a “New Traditionalist,” with a gift for bending notes. His other notable songs included “Straight Tequila Night,” “Seminole Wind” and “I Wish I Could Have Been There.”

Anderson was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014 and into the Country Music Hall a decade later. His other honors included two awards from the Country Music Association: single of the year in 1983 for “Swingin,” and album of the year in 1994 as one of the performers on the Eagles tribute “Common Thread.” (Anderson covered “Heartache Tonight.”)

El incidente ocurrió alrededor de las 6 p.m. del martes dentro y fuera del Miami International Mall, ubicado en el 1455 NW 107th Ave., en Doral.

Según la policía, los agentes acudieron al centro comercial tras recibir reportes de un robo en curso.

Al llegar, encontraron a dos sujetos dentro de una Lincoln Navigator 2024 negra. Pero cuando intentaron detenerlos, el conductor, identificado luego como Stephon Corbett, de 44 años, se negó a detenerse y “manejó el vehículo a alta velocidad por la vía perimetral dentro de la propiedad del Miami International Mall”, de acuerdo con un reporte de arresto.

Los agentes señalaron además que en ese momento “había mucho tráfico de vehículos y peatones en la zona” y que, por la forma en que manejaba, Corbett “condujo el vehículo con total desprecio por la seguridad de las personas y la propiedad, poniendo a los conductores y peatones cercanos en grave riesgo de resultar heridos”.

En un momento dado, según los agentes, Corbett “giró deliberadamente y lanzó su vehículo contra la patrulla identificada”, lo que causó “daños en la barra protectora delantera de la patrulla”.

Mientras huían de la policía, los agentes vieron al pasajero, identificado luego como Gregory Edwards, de 38 años, “lanzando correspondencia desde el vehículo en movimiento”. Más tarde, los agentes determinaron que contenía “un total de treinta y seis (36) tarjetas de crédito y tres (3) cheques”, ninguno a nombre de Corbett ni de Edwards.

Debido al intenso tráfico en la zona, el vehículo de los sospechosos terminó deteniéndose por completo frente al restaurante La Carreta, en la esquina suroeste de la propiedad del centro comercial. Fue entonces cuando, según la policía, los agentes tuvieron que romper la ventana del lado del pasajero para sacar a ambos hombres “debido a que seguían negándose a entregarse”, de acuerdo con un formulario de arresto.

Al comenzar la investigación, la policía habló con agentes de prevención de pérdidas de la tienda Macy’s del centro comercial, quienes dijeron haber visto a Edwards moverse entre el departamento de Finish Line y el de trajes para hombre, “escogiendo trajes rápidamente sin mirar los precios”.

Según la policía, después de que Edwards hiciera varias compras en ambos departamentos y saliera rápidamente de la tienda, los agentes de prevención de pérdidas descubrieron que las transacciones eran fraudulentas y alertaron a las autoridades.

Los agentes indicaron además que, tras detener a ambos hombres, descubrieron que la licencia de conducir de Corbett tenía seis suspensiones activas, y que tenía una orden de arresto judicial vigente emitida por la Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office en noviembre del año pasado, también por un asunto de tránsito.

Una vez en el Doral Police Department, Corbett se acogió a su derecho a guardar silencio, pero Edwards aceptó hablar con los detectives. En un principio, le dijo a la policía que estaba en el centro comercial “con el propósito de reclutar mujeres para que visitaran su restaurante en Miami” y que, al salir, se encontró con Corbett, quien le ofreció llevarlo. Sin embargo, cuando lo interrogaron sobre los objetos que lanzó desde el carro, su declaración fue tachada en un formulario oficial.

Según la policía, Edwards negó al principio haber hecho compras en Macy’s, pero cuando le mostraron un video de seguridad en el que aparece dentro de la tienda, hizo una confesión que también fue tachada en su formulario de arresto.

Con base en el conjunto de la investigación, los agentes arrestaron finalmente a Corbett y a Edwards.

Ambos sospechosos enfrentan varios cargos graves relacionados con las transacciones fraudulentas con tarjetas de crédito de otras personas y con la huida de la policía.

Corbett enfrenta además cargos de agresión agravada contra un agente del orden y de huir o evadir a la policía a alta velocidad, así como de manejar a sabiendas con la licencia suspendida y de manejar sin una licencia de conducir válida.

Edwards también fue acusado de un cargo de manipulación de evidencia física.

Ambos permanecen en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, con la fianza “por fijarse” en el cargo de tráfico de tarjetas de crédito falsificadas.

El hombre fue identificado como Michael Polanco, de 32 años.

Según la policía, intentó raptar a la niña en una gasolinera Shell ubicada en el 2840 S. State Road 7.

Local 10 News obtuvo las imágenes de las cámaras de seguridad que muestran el intento de secuestro.

De acuerdo con un reporte de arresto, un testigo les dijo a los agentes que vio a Polanco agarrar a la niña por el cuello e intentar llevársela caminando.

Las autoridades indicaron que, en un principio, Polanco huyó de la gasolinera, pero los agentes lograron localizarlo y detenerlo. Luego, tanto la víctima como el testigo lo identificaron positivamente como el hombre que intentó raptar a la adolescente.

Polanco fue arrestado y trasladado a la Broward County Main Jail por los cargos de agresión con lesiones corporales y secuestro con lesiones corporales o para aterrorizar a la víctima. Tras comparecer ante un juez el martes, se ordenó que permanezca detenido sin derecho a fianza.

Según la policía, Polanco tiene un extenso historial delictivo que incluye robo, robo en propiedad ajena, agresión y exhibicionismo, entre otros delitos.

Brian Louis Sguros, de 35 años, se presentó en la corte con un abogado privado, un día después de su arresto por varios cargos derivados de las acusaciones de que usó su cargo de policía para acceder a la información personal de un hombre fallecido y tomar el control de su propiedad.

Durante la audiencia, el abogado de Sguros le dijo al juez que se había llegado a un acuerdo con la fiscalía sobre la fianza.

El juez también le ordenó a Sguros mantenerse alejado de la propiedad y no tener contacto con la familia involucrada en el caso.

Según la información presentada en la corte, la familia de Sguros planeaba pagar la fianza de $25,000.

Acusan al agente de mudarse a la casa tras un chequeo de bienestar

Las acusaciones se remontan al 11 de julio de 2022, cuando Sguros y otro policía de Lauderhill respondieron a un chequeo de bienestar en una casa en el 4551 NW 12th St.

Una vecina había llamado a las autoridades preocupada por el dueño de la casa, Dennis Ionis West, a quien nadie había visto en unas dos semanas.

Los agentes entraron a la vivienda y encontraron el cuerpo de West en avanzado estado de descomposición.

La autopsia determinó luego que West murió de una enfermedad cardiovascular, y su muerte se declaró natural.

Según una declaración jurada de arresto de 21 páginas de la Broward Sheriff’s Office, Sguros tomó después posesión de la propiedad, se mudó a la casa con su pareja y comenzó a hacerle renovaciones.

Los investigadores afirman que Sguros usó la información de identificación personal de West para hacer mejoras a la propiedad, incluida una solicitud de permiso de construcción presentada más de dos años después de la muerte de West.

El tasador de propiedades del condado Broward, Marty Kiar, le dijo a Local 10 News que las acusaciones son especialmente preocupantes porque Sguros tuvo acceso a la propiedad gracias a sus funciones como policía.

“Uno de esos agentes llamó al médico forense y básicamente le dijo: ‘No creo que tenga herederos’. Se hizo cargo del cuerpo y, al parecer, también se apoderó de la propiedad”, dijo Kiar.

De acuerdo con la declaración jurada, Sguros se identificó como amigo de West al comunicarse con la oficina del médico forense y se ofreció a ayudar con el funeral si no se localizaba a sus familiares.

Sin embargo, los investigadores determinaron después que West tenía familiares vivos y herederos legales.

Según los investigadores, usaron la identidad del difunto para las renovaciones

Según la declaración jurada, Sguros reconoció en documentos judiciales presentados bajo juramento que tomó posesión de la propiedad de West alrededor del 1 de agosto de 2022.

Aseguró haber gastado al menos $214,000 en limpiar, asegurar y renovar la casa, que según sus cálculos llegó a valer unos $500,000 tras las mejoras.

Los investigadores indicaron que también pagó los impuestos a la propiedad y los servicios públicos mientras la casa seguía registrada a nombre del patrimonio de West.

En agosto de 2024 se presentó una solicitud de permiso de construcción para un proyecto de $8,000 destinado a reemplazar ventanas y puertas exteriores de la propiedad.

Según los investigadores, la solicitud señalaba a West como dueño de la casa e incluía los datos de su licencia de conducir y una firma supuestamente suya.

Los documentos también indicaban que West se había presentado ante una notaria, a pesar de que había muerto más de dos años antes.

“Su licencia de conducir, su nombre... aparentemente él firmó el permiso de construcción”, le dijo Kiar a Local 10 News.

Los investigadores señalaron que el número de teléfono que aparecía a nombre de West en la solicitud era en realidad de Sguros.

Según la declaración jurada, una notaria cuyo nombre figuraba en los documentos les dijo a los detectives que no los reconocía y que la firma no era suya.

Las autoridades también acusan a Sguros de haber accedido indebidamente siete veces a bases de datos policiales entre julio de 2022 y enero de 2023 para obtener información sobre West.

Una disputa por la propiedad desató la investigación penal

El caso salió a la luz después de que Equinox Realty Holdings adquiriera los derechos de propiedad de la casa a los herederos de West.

Según los investigadores, representantes de la empresa descubrieron que Sguros estaba ocupando la vivienda, lo que desató una disputa por la titularidad.

Posteriormente, un tribunal del condado Broward reconoció los derechos de los herederos y las transferencias a Equinox.

Sguros terminó entregando las llaves, pero pidió que le reembolsaran las mejoras que asegura haberle hecho a la casa.

En febrero de 2026, presentó una demanda civil para obtener un gravamen equitativo sobre la propiedad.

La disputa derivó finalmente en una investigación en la que participaron el Deed Fraud Task Force de la Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office y detectives de la Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Suspenden al agente sin goce de sueldo

Según la declaración jurada de arresto, los investigadores identificaron cinco presuntos delitos: conducta oficial indebida, uso delictivo de la información de identificación de una persona fallecida, uso delictivo de información de identificación personal, delito contra un usuario de computadoras y uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación bidireccional.

Sguros fue arrestado el martes y desde entonces el Lauderhill Police Department lo suspendió sin goce de sueldo.

Durante la audiencia del miércoles, el juez le ordenó no contactar a la familia vinculada al caso ni regresar a la propiedad.

The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett came as lawyers for the British broadcaster complained that Trump had delayed his appearance. Charles Tobin, the attorney for the BBC, said that with two months left in the discovery period, “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”

He noted there was an agreed-upon date of Oct. 16, but that Trump had canceled it for a “matter of national importance.” Tobin said the Republican president was in fact campaigning in Georgia that day.

“He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.

Lett said Trump must sit for a deposition by Dec. 11, or face sanctions up to dismissal of his lawsuit -– unless the discovery period was extended past Dec. 18.

Discovery, where lawyers for both sides exchange documents and other evidence, is scheduled to end Dec. 18, and the BBC's attorneys want to make sure they have Trump’s deposition before that deadline. Lett said only the presiding judge assigned to the case can alter the trial schedule, and the defense said it would be open to scheduling the deposition at a later time if the trial schedule was also moved back.

Trump, who has often avoided depositions, filed his lawsuit against the BBC last December. He accused the publicly funded broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices related to a documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance.”

The BBC acknowledged that filmmakers spliced together quotes from different sections of the speech Trump delivered to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, to make it seem he was directly urging violence. The broadcaster apologized over the editing, and the head of the BBC and its top news executive both resigned. But the BBC has denied Trump’s claims that it defamed him.

Trump's lawyers say Jack Smith ‘lacks personal knowledge’ of issues in the case

To bolster its defense, the broadcaster subpoenaed former special counsel Jack Smith earlier this month. Trump’s lawyers argued, in a joint filing asking for a hearing on the matter, that there was no good reason for Smith, who is not a party to the case, to appear.

The parties were expected to address the issue later in Thursday's hearing.

“Smith lacks any personal knowledge regarding the issues in this matter,” they argued in the filing. “He was not present when President Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech … was made, nor did he participate in its preparation. Smith does not have any personal knowledge regarding President Trump’s state of mind at the time the Speech was given.”

Trump's side also argued that “Smith’s testimony would be duplicative,” because he published a lengthy report on the events of Jan. 6 and also testified for many hours. “The entirety of his testimony is publicly available,” it argued.

The BBC countered, in the same filing, that there were few more knowledgeable sources about the events of Jan. 6 than Smith, who studied and investigated them for years.

“It is difficult to imagine a more authoritative source on these issues than Mr. Smith, who spent years gathering evidence on those topics with the force of the Justice Department and the power of the grand jury behind him,” the BBC’s lawyers argued.

“No one forced Plaintiff to file this lawsuit and to dispute that his speech on January 6 incited the violence that followed at the Capitol. But as long as he chooses to maintain the case, he cannot commit the fundamental injustice of preventing the BBC from obtaining the evidence it needs to robustly defend itself on every element of his claim."

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The agency announced Thursday that it is waiving adoption fees in an effort to find homes for animals currently at the shelter while opening space for additional pets in need of care.

Although adoption fees have been waived, the standard pet registration fee will still apply.

Officials said overcrowding can negatively affect the quality of life of animals staying at the shelter, making it especially important to find permanent homes as quickly as possible.

“Our shelter needs the community’s help now,” said Doug Brightwell, director of Broward County Animal Care. “If you are ready to welcome a pet into your family, please consider adopting. You will give that animal a home and help us make room for another pet who needs care.”

Broward County Animal Care is encouraging residents who have been considering adding a pet to their family to visit the shelter and meet the available animals.

Those who are unable to adopt can still help by sharing information about adoptable pets and spreading the word about the shelter’s urgent need through friends, family and neighbors.

How to adopt a pet

Residents interested in adopting can visit Broward County Animal Care at 2400 SW 42nd St. in Fort Lauderdale.

The shelter is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Photos and information about available cats and dogs can also be found online at Broward.org/Animal.

County officials hope the waived adoption fees will encourage more residents to open their homes to animals and help relieve overcrowding at the shelter.

La agencia anunció el jueves que eliminará las tarifas de adopción en un esfuerzo por encontrar hogares para los animales que actualmente se encuentran en el refugio, mientras libera espacio para recibir a más mascotas que necesitan atención.

Aunque se han eliminado las tarifas de adopción, seguirá aplicándose la tarifa estándar de registro de mascotas.

Las autoridades indicaron que la sobrepoblación puede afectar negativamente la calidad de vida de los animales que permanecen en el refugio, por lo que es especialmente importante encontrarles hogares permanentes lo antes posible.

“Nuestro refugio necesita la ayuda de la comunidad ahora”, dijo Doug Brightwell, director del Centro de Cuidado Animal del condado Broward. “Si está listo para recibir a una mascota en su familia, considere adoptarla. Le dará un hogar a ese animal y nos ayudará a liberar espacio para otra mascota que necesita atención”.

El Centro de Cuidado Animal del condado Broward está alentando a los residentes que han considerado incorporar una mascota a su familia a visitar el refugio y conocer a los animales disponibles.

Quienes no puedan adoptar también pueden ayudar compartiendo información sobre las mascotas disponibles para adopción y difundiendo entre amigos, familiares y vecinos la urgente necesidad del refugio.

Cómo adoptar una mascota

Los residentes interesados en adoptar pueden visitar el Centro de Cuidado Animal del condado Broward, ubicado en 2400 SW 42nd St., en Fort Lauderdale.

El refugio está abierto todos los días de 11 a.m. a 6 p.m.

También se pueden encontrar fotografías e información sobre los perros y gatos disponibles en Broward.org/Animal.

Las autoridades del condado esperan que la eliminación de las tarifas de adopción anime a más residentes a abrir las puertas de sus hogares a los animales y ayude a aliviar la sobrepoblación en el refugio.

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Josephine – a hybrid system resembling both a wintertime storm powered by strong jet stream winds from temperature differences in the atmosphere and a tropical system fueled by warm water – will be another short-timer as it accelerates away from the U.S. and quickly transitions into a powerful extratropical storm by Friday.

The subtropical storm is already packing winds of 65 mph but is expected to turn extratropical over cooler waters later today or tonight before its winds reach hurricane strength (74 mph or stronger). So while Josephine is expected to morph into a hurricane-strength extratropical storm, it won’t be classified a hurricane since it’ll lose its tropical characteristics in the process, and strengthening will come from non-tropical processes.

Nevertheless, Josephine will add to the named storm count for the season, but it’ll do little to pick the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season off the mat.

This season remains the only season in the modern, reliable hurricane record (since 1950) with fewer than two hurricanes and, as of this writing, is the 3^rd least active hurricane season – behind only 1994 and 1983 – in at least 75 years.

Nothing of note elsewhere

NHC is tagging a disturbance midway over the open subtropical central Atlantic for low development odds.

Though the European suite of models offers minimal support for development the next day or two, DeepMind doesn’t carry it at all.

Other than this, long-range models have fallen silent and it’s looking likely we’ll close out October quietly across the basin.

Josephine, un sistema híbrido que presenta características tanto de una tormenta invernal impulsada por los fuertes vientos de la corriente en chorro debido a las diferencias de temperatura en la atmósfera como de un sistema tropical alimentado por aguas cálidas, también será de corta duración, ya que se aleja rápidamente de Estados Unidos y se transformará en una poderosa tormenta extratropical para el viernes.

La tormenta subtropical ya registra vientos de 65 mph, pero se espera que se convierta en extratropical sobre aguas más frías más tarde hoy o esta noche, antes de que sus vientos alcancen la fuerza de un huracán (74 mph o más). Por lo tanto, aunque se espera que Josephine se transforme en una tormenta extratropical con fuerza de huracán, no será clasificada como huracán, ya que perderá sus características tropicales durante el proceso y su intensificación se deberá a procesos no tropicales.

No obstante, Josephine se sumará al número de tormentas con nombre de la temporada, pero hará poco para impulsar la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico de 2026, que ha tenido poca actividad.

Esta temporada sigue siendo la única en los registros modernos y confiables de huracanes (desde 1950) con menos de dos huracanes y, al momento de redactar este informe, es la tercera temporada de huracanes menos activa, solo por detrás de 1994 y 1983, en al menos 75 años.

Sin actividad significativa en otras áreas

El Centro Nacional de Huracanes (NHC) está monitoreando una perturbación ubicada en medio del Atlántico subtropical central, en mar abierto, con bajas probabilidades de desarrollo.

Aunque el conjunto de modelos europeos ofrece un apoyo mínimo para el desarrollo durante los próximos uno o dos días, DeepMind no contempla ningún desarrollo.

Aparte de esto, los modelos de pronóstico a largo plazo no muestran actividad y parece probable que octubre termine tranquilamente en toda la cuenca del Atlántico.

At a gathering with reporters at the Ohio Statehouse, DeWine called the ad “deeply, deeply troubling.”

“It's wrong to run this ad,” he said. “I would urge Ramaswamy's campaign to take this down.”

The Ramaswamy campaign did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The term-limited DeWine’s remarks place him at odds with Ramaswamy, who he's endorsed to succeed him. The biotech entrepreneur and 2024 presidential candidate has taken responsibility for the 60-second video and is spending $4 million to broadcast it online and on TV.

With his remarks, DeWine has entered the fray of a growing rift among Ohio Republicans over the advertisement — as both the governor's race and a race for U.S. Senate appear far tighter than expected in a state Donald Trump won handily three times. The video features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating she has mental health issues.

Acton, Ohio’s COVID-era health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton. Acton's campaign on Tuesday posted a video of her brother who supported her backstory about living in a tent and being abused.

Republican Vice President JD Vance, an Ohio native son, expressed disgust during an Ohio campaign swing Wednesday with Republicans “whining” about the ad as low and in poor taste. But Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted — in a tight retention race against Democrat Sherrod Brown — has said he would not have run the ad, as has Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is running for state auditor.

Another influential Ohio Republican, former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, posted a lengthy essay on X overnight, suggesting that “the floor may have just fallen out from under the Republican campaign for Ohio Governor” and urging every Republican to distance themselves from it.

Nikki Haley, who sparred with Ramaswamy during the 2024 Republican presidential primary over the personal nature of his attacks, called him “a bad guy” in a social media post Tuesday. “It’s a shame he continues to get away with it,” she wrote.

Amid the turmoil, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou posted what sounded like a warning, or a threat.

“The final days of a tough campaign are always the best time to find out who is really with you and who just posts and pretends,” he wrote. “Yes—we are keeping score.” The quote was followed by a winking-eye emoji.

Media Matters for America, a left-leaning media watchdog group, has reported that many within the national conservative media are promoting and praising the ad. Ramaswamy's campaign manager, Jonathan Ewing, has characterized it as “a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton.”

Wayne Allyn Root, of Gateway Pundit, called it “absolutely hilarious” and Daily Wire host Michael Knowles described it as “brilliant.”

Police and court records show Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, in July 1978, after Acton’s biological father reported him to authorities. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978. Cledith Arthur, who has since died, failed to show for a court appearance and became a fugitive.

En un mensaje en X, la Fiscalía señaló que durante la madrugada, en conjunto con la policía, ejecutó las órdenes de aprehensión contra tres personas a las que formulará cargos en las próximas horas “por el presunto delito de lavado de activos”. Agregó que se indagan supuestas “inconsistencias en los aportes y el origen ilícito de los recursos” usados para la campaña.

La Fiscalía identificó a los detenidos con sus iniciales, entre ellos L.M.G.A., correspondiente a los nombres de de Luisa Magdalena González Alcívar. La oficina de prensa de la policía de Manabí —donde reside la excandidata— así como la de su partido Revolución Ciudadana confirmaron a The Associated Press su detención. Ambas declinaron dar más detalles.

El expresidente Rafael Correa (2007-2017) fue el primero en referirse al arresto a través de X. “Apresaron a Luisa González ¡Ya Basta!”, señaló el exmandatario.

La exdirigente del correísmo enfrenta desde enero una investigación que involucra a otras siete personas, incluido quien en 2023 fue su compañero de fórmula, Andrés Arauz.

González ha negado las acusaciones a las que consideró una “persecución política”.

La ley penal ecuatoriana sanciona el lavado de activos con penas que van de uno a 13 años de prisión.

Trayectoria política e inhabilitación

González, una abogada de 48 años y abanderada política de Correa, ha intentado sin éxito llegar a la presidencia de Ecuador en dos ocasiones.

Tanto en 2023 como en 2025 superó la primera vuelta electoral y se midió en el balotaje frente al actual presidente Daniel Noboa. En los últimos comicios denunció sin pruebas un “fraude electoral”.

También fue asambleísta por el movimiento correísta Revolución Ciudadana que presidió desde fines de 2023.

Su última aspiración política por la prefectura de Manabí en las elecciones seccionales previstas para el 29 de noviembre fue frustrada por la suspensión de Revolución Ciudadana por parte del Tribunal Contencioso Electoral (TCE).

Tras ello González buscó el auspicio del movimiento indígena Pachakutik, pero el TCE la excluyó por no cumplir el tiempo de militancia requerido. Luego de varios recursos interpuestos el organismo ratificó su inhabilitación.

Movimiento opositor reacciona y anuncia movilizaciones

La presidenta del movimiento Revolución Ciudadana, Gabriela Rivadeneira, rechazó en rueda de prensa la detención de González que, dijo, afronta “un proceso de persecución y tortura implementado por este gobierno” y llamó a sus militantes a movilizarse para exigir su liberación.

Rivadeneira acusó a la administración de Noboa de buscar cubrir la crisis energética, de salud e inseguridad “arriesgando la vida de dirigentes políticos”.

En la Asamblea Nacional, la bancada de la Revolución Ciudadana abandonó el jueves el salón plenario en señal de protesta.

El gobierno no se ha pronunciado sobre la detención de la dirigente opositora.

A spokesperson for the New York Rangers said Thursday that Duguay's family informed the team of his death.

Duguay played his first six seasons with the Rangers after they selected him with the 13th pick in the draft in 1977. The Sudbury, Ontario, native was an All-Star as a point-a-game producer in 1981-82.

A series of trades led him to spend time with the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings with another Rangers stint, as well. Duguay finished his career in the league with 673 points in the regular season and playoffs, then played in Germany and the minors.

“The New York Rangers organization mourns the loss of Ron Duguay, one of the most popular players in franchise history,” the club said in a statement. “Ron’s signature skating style — with his hair flowing as he moved down the ice — captivated the (Madison Square) Garden faithful, and his skill, tenacity and charisma earned him the admiration of all New Yorkers. We join the hockey community in sending our condolences to Ron’s friends, family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Duguay was known late in life away from hockey for dating former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. His family started a GoFundMe earlier this year to offset the costs of travel and treatments.

“It’s with a shattered heart but also deep peace knowing Ron is with Jesus now,” Palin posted on social media. “He fought so hard. Love never ends.”

The NHL Alumni Association in a post memorializing Duguay called his dedication and passion for hockey unwavering.

“It was a part of who he was, a lifelong love that he carried with pride and shared so generously with others,” the NHLAA said. “He will be remembered not only for the player he was, but for the extraordinary person he was.”

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

The bigger issue for South Florida will be increasing winds. Gusts are expected to range from 30-40 mph this weekend with the highest winds on Sunday. This will create dangerous surf with large breaking waves of 5-8 feet. During high tide, the majority of our beaches will be covered with water with the potential for significant saltwater flooding. Residents and business owners who are vulnerable to king tide flooding should be preparing now for high water. The highest tides are expected this weekend into the middle of next week.

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Kahlo, a hairstylist, said it was at about 10 p.m. as he walked along Northeast 19th Street, just off Wilton Drive.

“I can’t stop replaying what happened ... I heard something behind me, and then I just see a hand in front of me ... When I saw the hand getting closer to me, I just let my dogs go, and I used my other hand,” Kahlo said.

The attacker who was near the Richardson Historic Park & Nature Preserve was armed with something sharp, according to Kahlo.

“He got my hand. I didn’t realize he got my neck too, until I made it home,” Kahlo said.

After he called 911, police officers and fire rescue personnel responded and took him to the Broward Health Medical Center, where he got stitches. He said he was still in pain on Wednesday and was also afraid to leave his home.

“I hope they get him so I feel safe again,” Kahlo said.

McKenzie Henderson, who knows Kahlo as a barber who works at Ron’s Barbershop in Fort Lauderdale, set up a GoFundMe fundraiser.

“Gianni needs his hands to work and fears he will lose his business and his clients. He is unable to work,” Henderson wrote.

Wilton Manors detectives asked anyone with information about the attacker to call 954-390-2150 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 to remain anonymous.

Location

Kahlo, un estilista, dijo que ocurrió alrededor de las 10 p.m. mientras caminaba por Northeast 19th Street, cerca de Wilton Drive.

“No puedo dejar de revivir lo que pasó, escuché algo detrás de mí y luego vi una mano frente a mí, cuando vi que la mano se acercaba, solté a mis perros y usé mi otra mano”, dijo Kahlo.

El atacante, que se encontraba cerca del Richardson Historic Park & Nature Preserve, estaba armado con un objeto afilado, según Kahlo.

“Me hirió la mano. No me di cuenta de que también me había herido el cuello hasta que llegué a casa”, dijo Kahlo.

Después de llamar al 911, agentes de la policía y personal de rescate de los bomberos acudieron al lugar y lo trasladaron al Broward Health Medical Center, donde recibió puntos de sutura. Dijo que el miércoles todavía sentía dolor y también tenía miedo de salir de su casa.

“Espero que lo atrapen para poder sentirme seguro otra vez”, dijo Kahlo.

McKenzie Henderson, quien conoce a Kahlo como barbero que trabaja en Ron’s Barbershop, en Fort Lauderdale, organizó una campaña de recaudación de fondos en GoFundMe.

“Gianni necesita sus manos para trabajar y teme perder su negocio y sus clientes. No puede trabajar”, escribió Henderson.

Los detectives de Wilton Manors pidieron a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre el atacante que llame al 954-390-2150 o a Crime Stoppers del condado Broward al 954-493-8477 para permanecer en el anonimato.

Ubicación

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According to the Miami Police Department, investigators determined there was no criminal intent involved in the crash that seriously injured Dr. Gilbert Beauperthuy-Rojas, 63.

Police said the decision came after an extensive investigation and consultation with assistant state attorneys.

The driver was issued a traffic summons for improper lane change on Wednesday, police confirmed.

Surgeon seriously injured while cycling

Beauperthuy-Rojas, an orthopedic surgeon affiliated with HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, was struck by an SUV while riding his bicycle along the Rickenbacker Causeway in Virginia Key on the morning of Aug. 29.

Miami Fire Rescue crews transported him to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center following the collision.

His brother-in-law, Carlos G. Mendia, previously told Local 10 News that Beauperthuy-Rojas suffered extensive injuries, including damage to his liver and kidneys, cuts throughout his body and a spinal cord injury.

“He has some liver and kidney lacerations. He had cuts all over his body. He has a spinal cord injury. So far, the indications are that he has no movement or ability to move from the waist down,” Mendia said at the time.

Mendia said Beauperthuy-Rojas, an avid cyclist, had been riding alone in the designated bicycle lane when the SUV struck him.

The surgeon remains in the ICU in critical condition, relatives confirmed to Local 10 News Thursday.

Family previously raised concerns about cyclist safety

Following the crash, Mendia spoke about the dangers cyclists face along the Rickenbacker Causeway and urged local officials to address safety concerns.

“It’s extremely dangerous. I plead with the officials, public officials, to find a solution to this,” Mendia said. “This is senseless.”

Mendia, who said Beauperthuy-Rojas introduced him to cycling in 2010, expressed concern about the risks of riding along the busy roadway.

Beauperthuy-Rojas has spent decades treating patients with sports-related injuries and degenerative conditions. He is also a former president of the Miami Orthopaedic Society.

Following the collision, colleagues at HCA Florida Mercy Hospital described him as both a respected physician and a valued member of the medical community.

“They not only describe him as a great physician, but a great person,” hospital spokesman Henry Garcia previously told Local 10 News.

Miami police initially said the driver involved in the collision was cooperating with investigators.

The department’s latest update confirms that “no criminal intent was established.”

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According to an arrest report from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Raymanda Herring, 31, whose permanent address is listed in Miramar, went to the home in the 2900 block of Northwest Eighth Place in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, where the dog was being housed, and saw that it had urinated and defecated inside the home.

Deputies said Herring then removed the dog from the house and tied it to a 6-foot-high fence using a 6-foot-long leash that was affixed to the dog’s collar.

According to the report, Herring left the dog without food, water or shelter, and it was not able to move more than a foot from where it was tethered to the fence nor could it lay down without neck restraint.

Deputies said Herring admitted to leaving the dog alone without food or water and said she returned at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday to check the mail and claimed the dog was still alive at that time.

She then left the dog again without food or water and then called the Broward Sheriff’s Office, which advised her to contact Animal Control, the report stated.

According to the report, Herring never contacted Animal Control and the dog was found dead later that evening, still tied to the fence.

Herring was taken into custody Wednesday night on charges of impounding or confining an animal without sufficient food and causing cruel death, pain and suffering to an animal.

As of Thursday morning, she was being held at the Broward County Main Jail and is expected to appear in bond court later in the morning or afternoon.

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, Raymanda Herring, de 31 años, cuya dirección permanente figura en Miramar, acudió el domingo a una vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 2900 de Northwest Eighth Place, en Fort Lauderdale, donde se encontraba alojado el perro, y descubrió que había orinado y defecado dentro de la casa.

Los agentes indicaron que Herring sacó al perro de la vivienda y lo ató a una cerca de 6 pies de altura utilizando una correa de 6 pies de largo que estaba sujeta al collar del animal.

Según el informe, Herring dejó al perro sin comida, agua ni refugio, y el animal no podía moverse más de un pie del lugar donde estaba atado a la cerca, ni podía acostarse sin que la correa le restringiera el cuello.

Los agentes señalaron que Herring admitió haber dejado al perro solo, sin comida ni agua, y dijo que regresó el martes a las 5:30 a.m. para revisar el correo y aseguró que el animal todavía estaba vivo en ese momento.

Luego volvió a dejar al perro sin comida ni agua y llamó a la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward, donde le recomendaron comunicarse con Control de Animales, según el informe.

De acuerdo con el reporte, Herring nunca se comunicó con Control de Animales y el perro fue encontrado muerto más tarde esa noche, todavía atado a la cerca.

Herring fue detenida el miércoles por la noche bajo cargos de mantener a un animal encerrado o confinado sin suficiente alimento y causar la muerte cruel, dolor y sufrimiento a un animal.

Hasta la mañana del jueves, permanecía detenida en la cárcel principal del condado Broward y se esperaba que compareciera ante un tribunal para una audiencia de fianza más tarde esa mañana o por la tarde.

Advocates for greater voter identification requirements are pursuing a new approach in some states: a mandate to place driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers on mail-in ballots. Variations of the voter ID proposals are being decided in the midterm elections in California, Colorado and Nevada — three states where conservative activists collected petition signatures to bypass Democratic-led legislatures and place the issue directly before voters.

Trump must sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11, a federal judge said, after the broadcaster’s lawyers accused him of delaying his testimony. The judge warned that, unless the discovery period is extended, Trump could face sanctions including dismissal of his lawsuit if he fails to answer questions from the BBC’s lawyers under oath.

Here's the latest:

Judge orders Trump to sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11

The order came as the BBC’s lawyers complained that Trump had delayed his appearance. Attorney Charles Tobin said that, with two months left in the discovery period, “We still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”

He noted there was an agreed-upon date of Oct. 16, but Trump canceled it for a “matter of national importance.” Tobin said Trump was in fact campaigning in Georgia.

“He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett said Trump must sit for a deposition by Dec. 11, or face sanctions up to dismissal of his lawsuit — unless the discovery period was extended past Dec. 18.

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Vance hints at US coordination with Musk on Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine

The Trump administration has faced numerous questions about interruptions to the Elon Musk-made satellite internet system that Ukraine has relied on to counter Russian attacks.

In Cincinnati on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance was asked about Musk’s involvement in the slowdown of Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine and whether it warranted an investigation.

“I think that fundamentally, Elon Musk runs a private corporation,” Vance told reporters. “And I think it’s completely understandable that he doesn’t want to get in the middle of what is a war between two state actors without the United States government effectively directing him on what to do.”

Vance continued: “So I don’t think this is about Elon. I think it’s fundamentally what is America’s policy in Ukraine and Russia going to be.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, meanwhile, have said this week that the U.S. didn’t order or direct any throttling of network access in Ukraine.

Ocasio-Cortez to campaign with Maine Senate candidate Jackson

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in Maine on Thursday to campaign for Democrat Troy Jackson, whose Senate bid is critical for the party to take control of the chamber.

Jackson is running against five-term incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. She campaigned with retired former Democratic-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin in the state on Wednesday.

Ocasio-Cortez’s event with Jackson is at a theater in Portland on Thursday and is billed as a “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall.

Ocasio-Cortez has also campaigned for Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan, another state that's key to Democrats’ efforts to flip the Senate.

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine denounces Ramaswamy ad featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother

Ohio’s governor has denounced a controversial ad featuring the estranged mother of Dr. Amy Acton, taking sides with the Democratic candidate for governor and former member of his Cabinet over her Republican rival, Vivek Ramaswamy.

At a gaggle with reporters at the Statehouse in Columbus, DeWine called the ad “deeply, deeply troubling.”

“It’s wrong to run this ad,” he said. “I would urge Ramaswamy’s campaign to take this down.”

DeWine’s remarks place him at odds with Ramaswamy, whom he has endorsed. The biotech entrepreneur and 2024 presidential candidate has taken responsibility for the 60-second video, which has drawn bipartisan rebukes, and is spending $4 million to broadcast it online and on TV.

Vance tells Republicans to not ride the pollercoaster

The vice president laid out concerns about horserace polling and urged Republicans to tune them out because it could dampen enthusiasm among Trump voters.

“Obviously, you never know what the final outcome is going to be,” Vance told reporters on Thursday in Cincinnati, adding: “it’s important for everybody to remember that sometimes these polls actually have this, this demotivating effect on our voters.”

He cited some polls in the 2020 and 2024 presidential races that turned out to be highly inaccurate.

“But I talk to people, and I do think they have the effect of demotivating our voters, which is why I encourage people: ignore the polls, run like we’re down, and try to make the best case that we can,” Vance said. “Eventually, of course, the American people make the decision.”

A top Democratic state senator from Virginia is charged with drug trafficking and money laundering, Justice Department says

Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, was charged on Thursday in connection with what federal authorities alleged was a role leading a criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds.

An indictment unsealed on Thursday charged Lucas and six other defendants, including several of her relatives, the Department of Justice said in a statement ahead of a news conference scheduled for 10 a.m.

Lucas surrendered on Thursday, a Justice Department spokesperson said.

The charges came after the FBI searched Lucas’ hometown office and a cannabis shop in which she has a stake in May. At the time of the search, the 82-year-old Lucas — who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration — characterized it as an attempt to intimidate her.

“This is the circus we always expected it to be, and we will wait for further details to have a more specific response,” said Brian Woolfolk, chief counsel for the L. Louise Lucas Legal Defense Fund.

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Ashley Hinson shows Republicans’ midterm balancing act as Trump heads to Iowa to boost turnout

Iowa’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate is navigating a tricky political landscape. Ashley Hinson promises to support Trump when it benefits Iowa but also vows to push back when necessary.

Although many Republicans are walking a political tightrope in this year’s midterm elections, Hinson’s balancing act is more challenging than most. Iowans have been hamstrung by manufacturing job losses, healthcare clinic closures and shrunken farm profits since Trump returned to the White House, but Hinson is also relying on the president’s loyalists to show up for her.

On Thursday, Hinson will join Trump for a rally in Sioux City, which is in Iowa’s conservative northwest corner. The visit to safe territory is geared toward boosting turnout even as it ties her more tightly to an unpopular president.

Trump is expected to visit the state again Nov. 1. He is “anxious for Iowans to hear his message before they vote,” Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in announcing the president’s schedule.

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Transgender healthcare case to continue after Supreme Court loss

The Trump administration plans to keep pressing to enforce restrictions on healthcare for transgender people in federal prison after a loss on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.

A Justice Department spokesperson expressed disappointment with the high court’s Wednesday decision but pointed out that the justices have not made a final ruling.

Lower courts have blocked enforcement of the policy, which would halt surgeries, taper off hormones and end social accommodations like makeup and wigs.

The Trump administration had filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to intervene, but the justices declined. The government can continue to appeal through lower courts.

Wisconsin Republican Tiffany says Zuckerberg money was the reason he tried to overturn 2020 election

The Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor who supported Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 loss in the battleground state said Wednesday he did it because of concerns about election funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

“One of the reasons that I did that is ’ Zuckerbucks,’” U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said in a debate, using a term coined by opponents of the money.

Tiffany also said he opposed certifying Wisconsin’s election results because clerks in Milwaukee and Dane counties advised voters they could claim to be “indefinitely confined” due to the COVID-19 pandemic and receive absentee ballots without showing a photo ID.

More than 200 communities across Wisconsin received about $10 million in grants from the Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life to help run elections during the pandemic.

The debate exchange was an example of how Trump’s false claims about election fraud and his attempt to prevent Joe Biden from taking office continue to ripple through American politics.

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AP-NORC Poll: Most MAGA Republicans want Congress to support Trump

Republicans are broadly aligned on what they want the next Congress to do — except when it comes to Trump, the new AP-NORC poll shows.

At least half of Republicans who identify as supporters of MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans want leaders to lower costs, end the Iran war and reduce the federal budget deficit.

But while about 6 in 10 MAGA Republicans want Congress to prioritize supporting the Trump administration’s agenda, only about 2 in 10 Republicans who are not supporters of MAGA say the same.

Lisa Ostlund, a 46-year-old from Massachusetts who identifies as a MAGA supporter, wants the next Congress to prioritize Trump’s agenda. She doesn’t support everything Trump does, but she credits his policies with her recent ability to find housing after struggling with homelessness.

“You got to care about your American people,” Ostlund said. “He definitely doesn’t say it right, but you do have to put them first.”

AP-NORC Poll: Democratic socialists want Congress to investigate Trump

There may be schisms awaiting the Democratic Party if they win a governing majority in November, the new AP-NORC poll finds.

About three-quarters of registered voters who identify as democratic socialists say investigating the Trump administration should be one of Congress’ top priorities, compared with slightly fewer than half of Democrats who do not align with democratic socialism.

Democratic socialists are also more likely to want to end military aid to Israel and less likely to say it’s a top priority to find common ground between the two parties.

Justin Campbell, a 31-year-old Democrat in Mississippi who identifies as a democratic socialist, wants Congress to hold the Trump administration accountable.

“It feels a little cliché to just say roll back the past two years, but honestly, mostly just roll back the stuff he’s done the past two years,” Campbell said.

AP-NORC Poll: Voters want the next Congress to focus on costs and ending the Iran war

Voters from both parties want the next Congress to focus on making life more affordable and ending the war in Iran, while fewer are looking for an emphasis on Trump — whether it’s investigating him or supporting his agenda.

The results from a new AP-NORC poll suggest that voters are ready for Congress to tackle core issues, despite Trump’s central role in the midterm campaign.

About 8 in 10 registered voters, including most Republicans and Democrats, say lowering the cost of living should be “one of the highest priorities.”

Most voters also want Congress to prioritize ending the war with Iran, with roughly 7 in 10 saying this should be a top focus. Substantially fewer voters — about 4 in 10 — want Congress to make investigating the Trump administration a high priority, and only about 2 in 10 want Congress to prioritize supporting Trump’s agenda.

Vance says Republicans shouldn’t complain about Ramaswamy ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother

Vice President JD Vance defended an ad Wednesday by Vivek Ramaswamy that features the estranged mother of Dr. Amy Acton, his Democratic opponent for Ohio governor, and spotlights the abuse she experienced as a child, even as the Republican in a tight race to retain Vance’s former seat in the Senate distanced himself from the ad.

During a campaign visit to Ohio, Vance told reporters he was “disgusted” by fellow Republicans who were pushing back against the ad, then later drew cheers at a political rally when he defended Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and 2024 presidential candidate.

Vance said he has watched Democrats “throw every dirty trick in the political book at Vivek,” who he considers a close personal friend — including calling him a ‘murderer’ — while “the whole time Vivek has stood tall and talked about what he wants to accomplish.”

“I would not have run that ad,” U.S. Sen. Jon Husted said in a statement to The Associated Press. A day earlier, his Democratic opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, called the spot “disgusting” and said everybody — including Husted — should denounce it.

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In final Michigan Senate debate, El-Sayed and Rogers question each other’s loyalties

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers clashed in their final Senate debate Wednesday, with El-Sayed trying to tie his opponent to Trump and Rogers saying his rival’s progressive policies would be too extreme for Michigan.

The debate kicked off a breakneck final stretch in one of the nation’s most closely watched and competitive Senate races. Former President Barack Obama will rally in Detroit on Saturday, followed by Trump on Sunday.

Wednesday’s hourlong debate followed one on Oct. 8 that devolved into personal insults and attacks, with the candidates continuing to argue even during a commercial break. This time, the exchanges were slightly less contentious and focused on policy, though both candidates repeatedly returned to their central attacks.

The most contentious exchange came when Rogers again tried to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, repeating an allegation he and Trump have raised in recent weeks. El-Sayed has denied any affiliation with the group.

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Jeffries says Democrats ‘on the verge’ of winning the House. It puts the Speaker’s gavel in reach

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries listened from the front row at the old Ohio church as the Sunday congregation heard of scripture’s guidance for calming a gathering storm.

“Wind, hush!” the speaker advised, describing the power to bring about change.

Jeffries nodded along, the words resonating beyond the church’s soaring brick walls, days out from the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump’s term in the White House.

“We’re on the verge of taking back control of the House,” Jeffries told The Associated Press in an interview afterward.

Jeffries is on track to become House speaker, if Democrats sweep to power and elect him to the job, one of the most powerful positions in the U.S., second in line to the presidency. He has been campaigning across the country in more than 50 cities for House Democrats as they try to oust Republicans and win back majority control.

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Trump administration drops legal fight to overhaul student loan forgiveness program

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to end its legal fight to overhaul a popular student loan forgiveness program.

The Department of Justice appealed after federal judges ruled in June in favor of advocates who said the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program risked becoming a tool for political retribution. But it dropped two appeals Wednesday in single-sentence joint agreements, which stipulated that each side would pay its own fees.

Federal officials provided no explanation, but advocates praised the ruling.

“The Trump administration’s attempt to weaponize public service loan forgiveness against organizations it disagrees with was anti-democratic and unlawful from the start,” Dan Zibel, an attorney for the group Student Defense, said in a written statement. “This is a significant victory for millions of Americans who have dedicated their careers to public service.”

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Voting-related measures on November ballots include a voter ID push targeting mail-in ballots

Advocates for greater voter identification requirements are pursuing a new approach in some states: a mandate to place driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers on mail-in ballots.

Variations of the voter ID proposals are being decided in the midterm elections in California, Colorado and Nevada — three states where conservative activists collected petition signatures to bypass Democratic-led legislatures and place the issue directly before voters.

The voter ID measures are among about 30 questions on November ballots affecting state policies on voting and elections. They account for roughly 1 in 5 of all state ballot measures nationwide. Some mirror policies that President Donald Trump has pushed unsuccessfully at the national level and build off a Republican narrative that noncitizen voting is a problem, though data indicates it is rare.

Several measures address changes to congressional voting districts, as part of a national redistricting battle spurred by Trump. Others could change the way primaries are conducted, make it more difficult for voters to amend their state constitutions or — in Missouri — make it harder for lawmakers to change measures that voters approve.

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Many states deciding control of the Senate are seeing a big boost in early voting, AP analysis shows

Voter turnout is soaring compared with the last midterm election in many of the states that are expected to decide control of the U.S. Senate, according to an Associated Press analysis of early voting two weeks before Election Day.

In Texas, early voting is up 74% compared with 2022. In Kansas it’s more than doubled. Maine, North Carolina and Ohio also have seen increases of more than 30% in early in-person and mail voting compared with the same point in 2022.

Democrats are trying to flip Republican-held Senate seats in each of those states. In most of them, Republicans are accounting for a smaller share of advance voters than they did four years ago.

The AP’s data, which runs through Tuesday, gives a snapshot of potential voter enthusiasm — and where it might be lacking — after early voting has opened in most states during a midterm cycle that has shifted in often unpredictable ways.

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Según el Departamento de Policía de Miami, los investigadores determinaron que no hubo intención criminal en el accidente que dejó gravemente herido al Dr. Gilbert Beauperthuy-Rojas, de 63 años.

La policía indicó que la decisión se tomó después de una extensa investigación y consultas con fiscales estatales adjuntos.

El conductor recibió una multa de tránsito por cambio indebido de carril el miércoles, confirmó la policía.

Cirujano resulta gravemente herido mientras montaba bicicleta

Beauperthuy-Rojas, cirujano ortopédico afiliado al HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, fue atropellado por una SUV mientras montaba bicicleta por Rickenbacker Causeway, en Virginia Key, la mañana del 29 de agosto.

Los equipos de rescate de los Bomberos de Miami lo trasladaron al Centro de Traumatología Ryder del Hospital Jackson Memorial después de la colisión.

Su cuñado, Carlos G. Mendia, dijo anteriormente a Local 10 News que Beauperthuy-Rojas sufrió lesiones graves, incluidos daños en el hígado y los riñones, cortes en todo el cuerpo y una lesión en la médula espinal.

“Tiene algunas laceraciones en el hígado y los riñones. Tenía cortes por todo el cuerpo. Tiene una lesión en la médula espinal. Hasta ahora, los indicios son que no tiene movimiento ni capacidad para moverse de la cintura hacia abajo”, dijo Mendia en ese momento.

Mendia dijo que Beauperthuy-Rojas, un apasionado del ciclismo, estaba montando bicicleta solo en el carril designado para ciclistas cuando la SUV lo atropelló.

El estado de salud actual del cirujano no fue incluido en la última actualización de la policía.

Familia había expresado preocupación por la seguridad de los ciclistas

Después del accidente, Mendia habló sobre los peligros que enfrentan los ciclistas en Rickenbacker Causeway e instó a los funcionarios locales a abordar las preocupaciones de seguridad.

“Es extremadamente peligroso. Les suplico a las autoridades, a los funcionarios públicos, que encuentren una solución a esto”, dijo Mendia. “Esto no tiene sentido”.

Mendia, quien dijo que Beauperthuy-Rojas lo introdujo al ciclismo en 2010, expresó su preocupación por los riesgos de montar bicicleta en esta transitada vía.

Beauperthuy-Rojas ha dedicado décadas a tratar pacientes con lesiones relacionadas con el deporte y enfermedades degenerativas. También es ex presidente de la Sociedad de Ortopedia de Miami.

Después de la colisión, sus colegas del HCA Florida Mercy Hospital lo describieron como un médico respetado y un miembro valioso de la comunidad médica.

“No solo lo describen como un gran médico, sino también como una gran persona”, dijo anteriormente a Local 10 News el portavoz del hospital, Henry Garcia.

La policía de Miami indicó inicialmente que el conductor involucrado en la colisión estaba cooperando con los investigadores.

La última actualización del departamento confirma que “no se estableció ninguna intención criminal”.

El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional informó que tormentas capaces de provocar granizo y daños avanzaban por el centro de Arizona, con algunas alertas de inundación y la posibilidad de tornados.

Las zonas del norte y del centro del estado registraron el miércoles por la noche granizo del tamaño de pelotas de golf que azotó techos de viviendas, hizo añicos ventanas y abolló autos, además de generar peligrosas ráfagas de viento. El servicio meteorológico había emitido múltiples advertencias durante las fuertes tormentas eléctricas.

Una advertencia de tornado estuvo vigente el miércoles por la noche mientras una tormenta pasaba sobre Heber-Overgaard en el condado e Navajo, a unos 225 kilómetros (140 millas) al noreste de Phoenix. Personas de la zona publicaron en internet fotos y videos de árboles arrancados de raíz y estructuras retorcidas. La policía indicó en un comunicado que se reportaron daños considerables y lesiones leves. En la comunidad viven unas 3.000 personas.

El representante estatal Walt Blackman, cuyo distrito abarca partes del condado, solicitó que se declare el estado de emergencia.

“Tenemos familias sin electricidad, daños significativos a la propiedad y al menos una lesión reportada”, declaró Blackman en un comunicado.

La tormenta golpeó la Iglesia Bautista de Overgaard cuando feligreses estaban terminando una reunión de oración.

“Sufrimos algunos daños, perdimos muchos árboles, letreros, cercas y algunas ventanas”, publicó la iglesia.

Los nervios quedaron alterados, pero los miembros estaban bien.

“Tuvimos una gran reunión de oración en el baño de mujeres”, añadió.

El aire cálido y húmedo que se desplaza hacia el norte alimenta las tormentas que llegan desde la costa de California. Ryan Bernhart, meteorólogo del servicio meteorológico en Flagstaff, explicó que los vientos cambiantes pueden hacer que giren, creando las condiciones para tornados.

“Esto es muy inusual para esta zona en esta época del año”, explicó Bernhart.

Fuertes vientos derribaron árboles en Flagstaff y Mesa, y algunos cayeron sobre muros y cocheras. En el Bosque Nacional Coconino, al noroeste de Flagstaff, cayeron pinos ponderosa de más de 9 metros (30 pies) de altura.

“No son árboles pequeños los que están en el suelo. Son árboles bastante fuertes que fueron derribados”, comentó Bernhart.

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Hill reportó desde Las Vegas. La corresponsal Kathy McCormack en Concord, Nueva Hampshire contribuyó con esta nota.

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

On his new album, “Muse,” Legend dials back his powerhouse vocals on certain songs, adopting a more conversational delivery at Williams’ urging. It’s a departure for the EGOT winner, whose piano-driven ballads like “All of Me” and “Ordinary People” have helped define his career for more than two decades.

The 16-track project, out Friday, marks Legend’s first full album with Williams after more than 20 years of friendship. Recorded mostly at Williams’ studio inside Louis Vuitton’s Paris headquarters, it grew out of Legend’s appearance on Clipse’s “The Birds Don’t Sing,” which inspired Williams to build an album around his voice.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Legend discussed Williams’ creative influence, Jay-Z’s memorable compliment and composing his first original stage score for “Imitation of Life,” a new musical opening at The Shed in New York in December.

Remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity.

AP: You’ve achieved EGOT status and more than two decades of success. What do you still feel you have to prove?

LEGEND: I really want every project to be my best project. Every album to be my best album. That means continuing to push myself, continuing to challenge myself and not resting on all the work I’ve done before.

That also means trying new things. Working with Pharrell on an entire album was something new for me. I’m writing for Broadway now. Just finding new creative avenues to continue to throw some more challenges into the mix and seeing what it inspires in my creativity.

AP: Has the success of your piano ballads and songs like “All of Me” ever made you feel creatively boxed in?

LEGEND: No, not at all. Honestly, I feel like my success has made me feel empowered. It’s made me feel confident and trusting my voice, trusting my instincts. It’s allowed me to have relationships with record labels and other business partners where they trust my judgment and don’t over-micromanage me. … I think it allows me to operate from not being in a place of fear, but a place of confidence and willingness to try new things.

AP: What did Pharrell challenge you to do differently on “Muse”?

LEGEND: One of the things that he encouraged me to do on specific songs was to talk-sing in a way where it was like I was more speaking and having a conversation.

Like in “Fireflies,” some of the delivery of the verses of the song is more like I’m orating, like I’m speaking, rather than like I’m singing a melody. That was his idea, and I think it really works. … That’s why you work with new people, because they may bring new ideas to the table that you hadn’t tried before.

AP: Why did it take more than 20 years for you and Pharrell to make an entire album together?

LEGEND: Early in my career, I was signed to GOOD Music. Kanye (West) was very involved in executive producing all my albums, and so it wouldn’t have made sense for me to do a whole album with a whole other producer at the time. I’m more of a free agent now and able to just do whatever I want musically. My label, Republic Records, kind of lets me have free rein with whatever I want to do musically and wherever my muse takes me — no pun intended.

AP: You’ve worked with everyone from Lauryn Hill and Jay-Z to Nipsey Hussle, Rick Ross and Clipse. Do people overlook how much hip-hop has impacted your career?

LEGEND: I think a lot of people know it and they acknowledge it to me. Jay-Z one time came up to me and said, “You’re our voice.” I think a lot of hip-hop fans know that these MCs bring me onto a song when they think that I’ll add something special to it. … I love that hip-hop is such a big part of my legacy and my body of work over the years.

AP: What makes revisiting “Imitation of Life,” with its themes of race and identity, important now?

LEGEND: What we found interesting was the challenge of writing it as Black creatives and centering the Black woman Delilah at the heart of our storytelling in a way where she was never centered before. Making it a musical when it never was a musical before was also an interesting challenge. It allowed us to write an era that’s really interesting in our musical history and our cultural history, the time of the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age.

AP: What scares you more at this stage: taking a creative risk that doesn’t work or making music that no longer surprises you?

LEGEND: I don’t know if anything scares me. I would say I don’t want to get complacent. I want to continue to hold myself to a high standard, hold anything I release to a high standard, and I refuse to just rest on my laurels.

I guess you could call it fear, but I don’t think it’s really fear. It’s motivation and challenge that I put in front of myself.

The Labor Department reported that claims were down from 200,000 the week before.

Applications for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them closely because they can provide signs of where the job market is headed. So far this year, claims have remained at historically low levels, never topping 230,000 in a single week.

The four-week average of claims, which strips out week-to-week ups and downs, dipped to 197,750.

The American job market has remained sturdy despite higher energy prices that have squeezed businesses and consumers since the fighting with Iran began Feb. 28. Most companies are confident enough in the economy and their sales to hold onto workers. At the same time, hiring has been sluggish, resulting in a “low-hire, low-fire” job market. Last month, the unemployment rate ticked up to a still-low 4.2%.

So far this year, employers — companies, government agencies and nonprofits — have been adding an average of 68,000 jobs a month. That is an improvement on a lackluster 2025 when monthly job creation averaged 9,700 as high interest rates and President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies discouraged hiring.

Hiring remains well below the 166,000 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, and the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Every morning, I walk to the Malecon of Havana hoping to see U.S. ships in the horizon coming to free us from this inferno we live in.” Those are the words of a young lady I spoke to from Havana this week.

I spent the last week talking to young people on the island and most of them told me the same thing -- we have lost all hope that Cuba will be free soon.

Doctors on the island also told me that they have seen more cases of young adults overdosing with homemade drugs, the use of homemade alcohol or the little they can find in the streets help them forget what the reality of living each day in Cuba is like.

According to psychiatrists, Cuba already has one of the largest suicide rates of all Latin America even though the Cuban government does not report it.

Another young man told me that President Donald Trump gave him hope that the U.S. would force the regime to change but nothing happened. He said, “I’m now making plans with my friends to leave Cuba and head to Brazil. I can’t stay here anymore.”

These are the many stories that are coming out of Cuba. The result of promises and expectations for change made by Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the South Florida members of Congress. But they still created a political circus, first with the federal indictment of Raul Castro last May and this week with the State of Florida indictment and warrant for the arrest of Raul Castro. I don’t think you will find Raul anytime soon in Disney World.

Where will it all end?

Oct. 20: US and Cuba clash at the United Nations

A screaming match in the hallways of the United Nations in New York City broke out Monday evening between the Cuban delegation, led by their Ambassador Ernesto Soberon, against U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz.

The U.S. had organized an event entitled “Cuba Libre: The Oppression Havana Hides.” This happened before the United Nations takes their annual vote on the U.S. Economic Embargo on Cuba.

In the last months Cuba has increased their propaganda against the U.S. in fear of a U.S. military action or after yesterday’s indictment and warrant for the arrest of Raul Castro, a military exercise to get Raul Castro and bring him back to the U.S. to stand trial.

Oct. 16: Electrical plant in Cuba catches fire and blows up

As experts have been saying for a long time, the current electrical plants in Cuba cannot be repaired -- they are too old.

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Yesterday afternoon, the electrical plant in Santa Cruz caught fire and part of it exploded, causing more blackouts in that region of Cuba.

The people that live around the eastern town of Guantanamo have not had electricity for 36 days.

It has been estimated by the electrical experts in the U.S. that a new electrical system in Cuba will cost $9 billion to $11 billion.

Oct. 14: Human rights violations continue in Cuba

According to the organization Cuba Decide, in the month of September, there were 911 human rights violations in Cuba that range from arrests for simply protesting in the streets to posting comments on social media criticizing the Cuban government. 75% arrested were men and 25% women.

For example, in the capital city of Havana, 413 people were arrested. In Camagüey, 121 people were detained and in Villa Clara, 62. There were 284 cases of threats reported that were allegedly made against Cubans by the government as well.

During the month of September, there were also 138 cases reported of human rights violations against individuals for practicing their religious freedoms.

Anything that can threaten the political control and power of the Cuban government will continue to be castigated in an attempt to maintain control of the population.

Cuban laws have two interpretations. One for those in power and one for the Cuban people.

Oct. 13: With or without a U.S. intervention, can Cuba survive?

The socio-economic conditions continue to worsen in Cuba and the Cuban government has no answers for improving them. Even with the 176 economic reforms they introduced months ago, they have been very slow to implement them.

The only answers the Cuban government has is to increase their propaganda of blaming the U.S. for all their problems, which the Cuban people on the island no longer believe.

Without foreign investment, it will be very difficult for them to survive. In addition, their infrastructure continues to collapse from their electrical plants, water system, food supply, and lack of safe buildings for people to live in.

As the midterm elections get closer in the U.S., I don’t see us taking any action against Cuba. Their only hope is that Raul Castro dies in the months to come and that someone within their inner circle of power becomes a true political reformer that can begin to transform their totalitarian system.

Oct. 8: Social Challenges Facing Cuba

In 2014, I wrote a book with that title.

Today, the social challenges facing Cuba are even greater.

When we speak of creating a democratic government in Cuba’s future, there are three variables that must be taken into consideration.

1) The history of the country

2) The culture of the country

3) The personal experiences of the population

That is why it’s very difficult to apply a transition of another country to Cuba or any other country that has lived under a totalitarian regime for so long.

Today, Cuba’s population is about 8.3 million. Many have left seeking a better future. Some factors that are often forgotten is the fact that about 60% of the island is Black or Mulato, while in exile, that percentage is about 5%. Today, Cuba has the lowest birth rate in all of Latin America and, at the same time, one of the oldest population in Latin America.

As we have seen from recent statistics, about 1 million Cubans left last year, seeking a better life. I suspect if and when there is a change in Cuba’s regime, the young generation will not stay on the island to help rebuild their country. They will go elsewhere, seeking better opportunities.

The last challenge is how to change people’s minds to support a democracy when it has been years, even before the Revolution of 1959, that there was a democracy in Cuba.

The ideology of the Cuban Revolution is gone. However, there is a lack of any clear ideology that Cubans believe in, which makes it more difficult when trying to develop a civil society in the future that can support a democratic government.

Oct. 6: Cuba prepares for possible U.S. intervention as talks stall

Cuba’s Chargé d’Affaires in Washington, D.C., Lianys Torres Rivera, gave an interview to Reuters and said that, given the lack of progress in conversations with the U.S., the Cuban military has begun preparations for a possible U.S. intervention.

Cuba fully understands that, if such an intervention were to come, it would not be an invasion as many expect, but rather an aerial drone and missile attack. According to military experts and sources at the Pentagon, such an attack could take less than forty-eight hours to neutralize Cuba’s military.

The U.S. military has also incorporated preparations and contingency plans to deal with Cuban drones if any were launched against the U.S. mainland. My own personal belief is that Cuba would first target the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay, which is located very close to one of Cuba’s main military installations near Santiago de Cuba.

Oct. 5: Cuba will not negotiate regime change with U.S.

Over the weekend, Cuba’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, made it very clear that Cuba will not negotiate regime change with the U.S. In an interview with Fox News, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Cuban government that if they don’t change their regime, the consequences would be worse.

This leaves the U.S. with limited options moving forward. 1) Wait until Raul Castro dies and see what happens. 2) Strengthen the opposition inside the island. 3)Take military action against the island nation.

None of these options lead to a clear and quick path to a quick change in their system of government. A military invasion of Cuba by the U.S. could lead to a prolonged stay on the island until some form of government can be established from within the island and with the support from the Cuban exile community. However, there are some in the exile opposition that consider themselves possible leaders in a free Cuba, which could further complicate things.

Lastly, the extended war with Iran and the mid-term election results in the U.S. could also complicate what the U.S. does with Cuba.

Oct. 2: Who is driving U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba?

In the last several months, we have witnessed Secretary of State Marco Rubio continuing to sanction top officials of the Cuban government and their organizations, trying to force them to change or come to the table and negotiate with the U.S.

On the other hand, we just learned that the White House authorized a sale of 3.2 million barrels of oil to Cuba supposedly going to Cuba’s private sector. Are you kidding?

When dealing with Venezuela and Cuba, Trump has clearly shown that making money is more important than regime change in these two countries.

Oct. 1: Robberies and delinquencies increase in Cuba

According to Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez (14yMedio), this past Monday a bank was robbed in Lawton, Cuba in the middle of a major power failure.

The robbers got away with the money that was to be paid the next day to people who had retired. At the same time, many solar panels that have been installed around Cuba to help with the growing electrical shortages are being stolen at night by robbers.

The Cuban government is concerned that as socio-economic conditions continue to get worse on the island nation, these practices will increase. So far, no one has been caught.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s assessment, announced on the sidelines of a U.N. biodiversity conference in Albania, found that 96% of shallow-water reef systems are already critically endangered and could disappear by 2075.

Most of the world’s famous reef systems — including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Coral Triangle in the Western Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and the Red Sea coral reefs — are all critically endangered, the highest level of threat.

“The risk of coral reef collapse is escalating, but this must be a wake-up call rather than a cause for despair," said Mishal Gudka, the scientific lead of the global IUCN Red List of Coral Reef Ecosystems assessment, the first of its kind.

“Coral reefs have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from devastating bleaching events,” he said. “Pockets of surviving, resilient coral reefs can still remain in the future, so we must do everything within our reach to set them up for success.”

The assessment is the latest dose of bad news for coral reefs, which are critical sources for seafood and tourism and often serve as buffers from coastal erosion and storms. Sometimes dubbed “rainforests of the sea," they have some of the world's richest biodiversity. They support a quarter of marine species as well as coastal communities and businesses.

When a reef collapses, hard corals disappear and are replaced by algae, rubble and sponges. As a result, the reef no longer supports a diverse ecosystem that can include everything from tiny invertebrates to reef fish like grouper.

“Coral reefs are one of the clearest vital signs of the ocean’s health," Grethel Aguilar, the IUCN Director General, said in a statement.

The assessment, spanning 127 tropical and subtropical ecoregions, and encompassing 72,726 square miles (188,362 square kilometers) of coral reefs globally, called climate change the “single most consistent threat driving coral reef decline worldwide.”

A week ago, another study in the journal Nature by the IUCN found that nearly 44% of reef-building coral species face an elevated risk of extinction due to climate change. A year ago, a survey found that harmful bleaching of the world’s coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean’s reefs — the most intense of its kind in recorded history.

2024 was Earth’s hottest year on record, and much of that is going into oceans. The average annual sea surface temperature of oceans away from the poles was a record 20.87 degrees Celsius (69.57 degrees Fahrenheit).

Beyond combatting rising global emissions, experts said efforts to reduce pollution, overfishing and coastal development can help reefs survive.

"We know what is needed: ambitious emissions reductions, stronger protection and restoration efforts, and sustained investment in resilient coastal ecosystems and the communities that depend on them,” Aguilar said.

Durante mucho tiempo, políticos e inversionistas han promocionado esa cifra como una medida importante del potencial energético sin explotar, más recientemente en comentarios del gobierno del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, al detallar un acuerdo amplio para que Estados Unidos tome el control de parte de las reservas venezolanas.

Pero una estimación más realista de las reservas probadas del país — una métrica de referencia, que representa la cantidad de petróleo que razonablemente puede extraerse bajo las condiciones actuales — es aproximadamente un tercio de lo que ha reportado, dijeron a The Associated Press media docena de expertos. Situaron la cifra probable entre 60.000 y 120.000 millones de barriles, una cantidad enorme pero insuficiente para que Venezuela siga siendo el mayor poseedor de reservas del mundo.

La distinción es importante mientras Venezuela y Estados Unidos intentan atraer nueva inversión a la deteriorada industria petrolera del país, y sugiere que el acuerdo que Trump anunció en agosto, al afirmar que Estados Unidos terminaría controlando más de 65.000 millones de barriles de las reservas probadas de petróleo de Venezuela, es mucho menos rentable de lo que él sostuvo.

Evanan Romero, exfuncionario de energía de Venezuela que ahora vive en Houston, dijo sobre el acuerdo que “esa es una propuesta muy, muy graciosa”, y añadió que cree que el gobierno de Trump no investigó a fondo las afirmaciones del país sudamericano antes de involucrarse. “Si el gobierno de Estados Unidos los llamara y les pidiera que testificaran sobre cómo hicieron el procedimiento... bueno, el mundo entero sabrá que ese es un número gracioso, una mentira absoluta”.

El gobierno de Venezuela no respondió a una solicitud de comentarios de AP.

Expertos dicen que las cifras de Trump no cuadran

Trump ha dicho que, según el acuerdo, Estados Unidos controlará 65.000 millones de barriles de reservas probadas, una cifra que supera la totalidad de las reservas de crudo de Estados Unidos. Ha citado repetidamente el número de 65.000 millones de barriles y ha calificado el acuerdo petrolero como el más grande de la historia, una forma de reponer las reservas estratégicas de Estados Unidos y bajar los precios de la gasolina, que se dispararon durante la guerra con Irán.

Pero expertos señalan que Estados Unidos está obteniendo acceso a una mezcla de yacimientos casi agotados o totalmente sin desarrollar, con una producción esperada que sería una fracción de lo que Trump afirmó. Algunos de los campos petroleros están en el interior de la Faja del Orinoco, una especie de territorio salvaje en el centro-oriente de Venezuela que plantea grandes desafíos técnicos.

“No podemos creer los 65.000 millones. Es imposible”, afirmó Romero, y agregó que algunas empresas han abandonado esos campos por las dificultades.

La Casa Blanca no ha divulgado públicamente cómo llegó a la cifra de 65.000 millones y no respondió preguntas de AP. Un comunicado de la portavoz de la Casa Blanca, Taylor Rogers, defendió el acuerdo y las afirmaciones de Trump.

“Este acuerdo histórico marca un paso importante hacia la estabilización de la economía de Venezuela después de años de hiperinflación y casi nada de nueva inversión, al tiempo que más que duplica las reservas de petróleo de Estados Unidos”, expresó Rogers.

Luisa Palacios, expresidenta de Citgo, dijo que sospecha que la cifra anunciada por el gobierno alude a petróleo almacenado bajo tierra, no a reservas probadas. En ese escenario, explicó, las reservas probadas probablemente serían alrededor de entre 10% y 12% de 65.000 millones, o cerca de 6.500 millones.

“¿Esos 65.000 millones de barriles asumen una tasa de recuperación del 20%?”, preguntó Palacios, ahora investigadora de energía en la Universidad de Columbia. “Eso es lo que no puedo decir. Y por eso hay dudas al respecto”.

Francisco Monaldi, experto petrolero venezolano en la Universidad Rice, estimó que entre 10.000 y 15.000 millones de barriles se clasificarían como reservas probadas en el corto plazo — muy por debajo de la estimación de Trump.

El petróleo que Estados Unidos controlaría, según funcionarios de ambos países, está en 17 campos bajo el control de una empresa conjunta entre la firma con sede en Estados Unidos y Venezuela North American Blue Energy Partners, o NABEP.

Las compañías petroleras que cotizan en bolsa están obligadas a reportar estimaciones de reservas probadas en informes anuales usando definiciones estrictas proporcionadas por la Comisión de Bolsa y Valores de Estados Unidos. NABEP no cotiza en bolsa.

Las estimaciones problemáticas comenzaron con Chávez

Los cálculos detrás de la afirmación de Venezuela sobre más de 303.000 millones de barriles de reservas comenzaron hace más de una década.

A mediados de la década de 2000, el entonces presidente Hugo Chávez se propuso contabilizar las reservas en la Faja del Orinoco, en medio del aumento de los precios mundiales del petróleo y un gasto público prácticamente sin restricciones. Se convirtió en un esfuerzo de varios años, con empresas estatales de Brasil, Irán, China, España y otros países invitadas a ayudar a calcular las reservas, y una firma con sede en Estados Unidos contratada para estudiarlas.

Pero el gobierno nunca ofreció explicaciones detalladas de sus conclusiones. Algunos expertos y observadores las han cuestionado desde entonces.

“Esos eran números graciosos que fueron cocinados por Hugo Chávez y su ministro de energía de ese momento”, sostuvo Romero.

Monaldi coincidió: “Están inflados por un factor de casi tres”.

La firma con sede en Estados Unidos contratada por Chávez estimó que Venezuela tenía más de 1 billón de barriles de petróleo bajo la superficie de la Faja del Orinoco, pero nunca calculó sus reservas probadas, o la cantidad con un 90% de probabilidad de ser extraída. El gobierno de Chávez hizo ese cálculo por su cuenta. La firma, Ryder Scott, se negó a avalar la cifra, finalmente abandonó su trabajo y no hizo comentarios a AP.

En su informe anual de 2011, la petrolera estatal de Venezuela dijo que sus reservas probadas aumentaron en unos asombrosos 82.000 millones de barriles, hasta casi 300.000 millones. La empresa — Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., o PDVSA — lo atribuyó a “ajustes debido a la revisión” de las tasas de recuperación. PDVSA no ofreció más detalles; sus operaciones, estadísticas y finanzas han estado envueltas en secreto durante años.

Con ese salto extraordinario, Venezuela superó a Arabia Saudí como el mayor poseedor mundial de reservas probadas en el reporte anual de la OPEP.

Los expertos creen que una tasa de recuperación precisa para las reservas petroleras de Venezuela hoy es de alrededor del 10% en general y aún menor — entre 5% y 8% — en la Faja del Orinoco, que se ha convertido en una prioridad de inversión para la presidenta encargada, Delcy Rodríguez, y la Casa Blanca.

El petróleo allí es más espeso que la mayoría del crudo convencional y no fluye con facilidad hacia los pozos. Los productores podrían usar tecnología avanzada para aumentar la tasa de recuperación, pero eso requiere grandes inversiones, que las empresas dudan en hacer en un país dirigido por un gobierno con historial de incumplir contratos y con inestabilidad actual. El mandato de Rodríguez expiró en julio y no hay elecciones programadas.

Venezuela sigue en la cima de la lista de la OPEP

La OPEP ha aceptado los cálculos del país sobre reservas probadas y lo ha colocado en la cima de la lista de reservas probadas cada año desde 2011.

La OPEP — integrada por una docena de países, con Venezuela como miembro fundador — no respondió a una solicitud de comentarios.

El informe de 2026 de la OPEP fija las reservas probadas de Venezuela en 303.700 millones de barriles, lo que incluye reservas en la Faja del Orinoco y otras regiones productoras de petróleo. Arabia Saudí ocupó el segundo lugar, con 267.000 millones de barriles, seguida por Irán, con 208.000 millones.

Pese al escepticismo generalizado, la cifra de 300.000 millones se ha mantenido. Ambos sucesores de Chávez — el ahora depuesto Nicolás Maduro y Rodríguez — la han citado repetidamente. También lo ha hecho la oposición política, incluida la laureada con el Nobel de la Paz María Corina Machado. El partido gobernante durante 27 años también usó la cifra para obtener préstamos de miles de millones de dólares de China y Rusia.

Expertos dijeron que los inversionistas privados que evalúan opciones en Venezuela querrán ver datos precisos del gobierno de Rodríguez. La falta de transparencia, añadieron, solo incrementa la reticencia de los inversionistas.

“Cualquier país que reporte una cifra de reservas que nunca cambia con el tiempo — eso huele extremadamente mal”, afirmó Monaldi.

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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 Austrian woman, an aid worker identified as Eva G, was received by the Austrian crisis team on Thursday, Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in a statement.

She was kidnapped in Niger’s Agadez city in January last year, months before the Swiss citizen was abducted in the same city in April 2025.

Meinl-Reisinger said Austria worked with Switzerland to find “a safe solution” for the women.

“We are all very relieved that Eva G. is free again after more than 21 months. This time was an unimaginable burden for her and her family,” Meinl-Reisinger said.

Swiss media quoted the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs as confirming the release of the Swiss woman.

Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten reported she was on her way home, quoting Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.

Officials did not say who was responsible for the abductions or how both women were freed.

The Austrian woman had been working as an aid worker in Agadez, hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from the capital city of Niamey, where she lived for more than 20 years, Nigerien media reported.

The Swiss citizen had also lived in Niger for several years.

Niger has for many years battled a jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Analysts say the country's security crisis has worsened since the military toppled the country’s government in July 2023.

Despite their promise to restore peace in hot spots, the junta’s capacity to improve Niger’s security has increasingly been questioned amid more frequent attacks.

Storms capable of causing hail and wind damage were traveling through central Arizona early Thursday, with some flood watches and the possibility of tornadoes, the National Weather Service said.

On Wednesday night, northern and central parts of the state saw hail the size of golf balls that pummeled people’s roofs, shattered windows and dented cars, along with damaging wind gusts. The weather service had issued multiple warnings during the severe thunderstorms.

A tornado warning was in effect Wednesday night as a storm moved over Heber-Overgaard in Navajo County, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northeast of Phoenix. People in the area posted photos and video online of uprooted trees and crumpled structures. Significant damage and minor injuries were reported, the county sheriff's office said in a statement. There are about 3,000 people in the community.

State Rep. Walt Blackman, whose district covers parts of the county, requested a state of emergency declaration.

“We have families without power, significant property damage, and at least one reported injury,” he said in a statement.

The storm hit as members of the Overgaard Baptist Church were wrapping up a prayer meeting.

“We took some damage, lost a lot of trees, signs, fences and a few windows,” the church posted about the storm Wednesday night. Nerves were rattled, but members were OK.

“We had a great prayer meeting in the women’s restroom,” the post said.

Warm, moist air moving north fuels storms coming off the California coast. Changing winds can make them spin, creating the conditions for tornadoes, said Ryan Bernhart, a weather service meteorologist in Flagstaff.

“This is very unusual for this area at this time of the year,” Bernhart said.

Strong winds toppled trees in Flagstaff and Mesa, with some landing on walls and carports. A few dozen ponderosa pines over 30 feet (9 meters) tall fell down in the Coconino National Forest, northwest of Flagstaff.

“These are not small trees that are down,” Bernhart said. “These are pretty strong trees that had been knocked down.”

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Hill reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.

The report by the Migration Policy Institute shows deportations increased from 620,000 during the first year of Trump's second administration. The numbers fall short of previous highs in the early 2000s and fail to meet the Trump administration's promise, made when it received the billions from Congress, that the money would allow for 1 million deportations annually.

The report, based on publicly available data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, comes after the Trump administration in January 2025 stopped publicly releasing similar figures compiled by the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump, a Republican, returned to power last year promising to stanch crossings at the southern border and crack down on immigration. His administration has pushed through restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration and launched high-profile arrest operations in its bid to force migrants out.

More people being deported, but not at all-time highs

The analysis found that the Department of Homeland Security carried out 980,000 deportations during the first 18 months of the second Trump administration.

During the last fiscal year — when the Trump administration's immigration enforcement mechanisms were shifting into high gear — an estimated 660,000 people were deported.

According to MPI's analysis, that's a 26% increase from the yearly average from 2021 to 2024 during the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but well below the 1.86 million deportations recorded in 2000, under President Bill Clinton, another Democrat.

Despite the surging arrests, the report details some of the challenges to the Trump administration reaching its deportation targets.

Historically, many immigrants living in the U.S. without authorization were from Mexico and didn't often seek asylum. But in recent years, migrants have come to the U.S. from a wide range of countries, which can make it more complicated to deport them. And immigration courts, which ultimately decide whether someone can be removed from the country, face more significant case backlogs.

Voluntary departures are increasing as are interior arrests

The report said voluntary departures — when people give up their cases in immigration court and agree to leave the country — were at an “all-time high,” with 170,000 choosing to do so since Trump returned to office in January 2025. People who choose voluntary departure could one day return to the U.S. But some immigrant advocates and lawyers say that people give up their court fight and agree to leave simply to get out of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detention.

The Trump administration was also increasingly deporting people it arrested in the country's interior, the report said, reflecting how it was stepping up enforcement against migrants who have been in the country for a long time. In 2025, about 28% of the people deported were arrested inside the country, but by July of this year that had risen to 39%.

Migrants arrested at the southern border still make up a large number of deportations, the report said — 69% of all deportations between Jan. 20, 2025, and July 31, 2026, were of people initially intercepted at the border.

People in the country longer may have more opportunities to contest their removal while the government typically has greater authority to fast-track deportations for people arrested at the border.

The analysis said most people deported have never been convicted of a crime, despite the Trump administration claiming to be targeting the “worst of the worst.” Previous data has showed the same.

Trump administration no longer regularly releases immigration data

Homeland Security stopped releasing similar data when Trump took office, making it difficult to track one of his key campaign promises. Figures the Trump administration has released are inconsistent and unverifiable.

The administration says it is transparent. On Tuesday, it released some of its own figures as part of a document boasting of its achievements on immigration, including that 1.2 million migrants have been deported or removed during Trump’s second term. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled.

In the absence of regular data, analysts and activists interested in immigration trends have relied on information obtained through lawsuits or limited and sporadic information released by federal agencies to track deportation data.

There is one sign she and the other 4 million-plus tourists who visit Acadia annually can no longer see at the summit: a marker explaining the mountain’s sacred significance to the Wabanaki people in the region. “Today, visitors from everywhere find meaning on the mountain,” it said.

It was among 30 markers removed from Acadia under a Trump administration campaign to strip national parks of materials deemed disparaging to American history, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

But when park staff took down the summit sign at the orders of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, they also unraveled some of the trust that took decades to build between Acadia National Park and the Wabanaki people. The Wabanaki Confederacy, also known as “the people of the dawnland,” has inhabited the northern seaboard for over 10,000 years and was the first known stewards of land that includes much of the national park. It was a gathering place to trade, hunt, fish and pick sweetgrass.

Some of the signs removed from Acadia were developed over years of partnerships with organizations including Friends of Acadia, the Schoodic Institute and the Native Plant Trust — with consultation from citizens of the Wabanaki Nations. They know the mountain in Maine as Wapuwoc — “white mountain of the first light.” From October to March, it’s the first place to see the sunrise in the continental United States.

“Getting to a place where our language is in these parks and it is educational … erasing that or setting that back has big implications for how far we’ve come,” said Maulian Bryant, the Wabanaki Alliance's executive director.

Bryant says the removed signs reflected “the good stuff.”

“These signs don’t say 96% of Wabanaki people died from smallpox, or there were 26 nations and now there’s four,” she said. “If we really want to get into the real history, that’s a whole other slice of cake.”

Other signs removed from Cadillac’s summit addressed issues of climate change, informing visitors that “Acadia’s future will be warmer and wetter” and that “In the last century, average annual precipitation has increased by six inches.”

During their tenure under the Biden administration, former National Park Service director Chuck Sams and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — the first Native Americans to hold these positions — aimed to reflect the experiences of all Americans throughout the national parks. Before leaving his post in February 2025, Sams saw parts of his work unraveled by the current administration.

This “attempt to rewrite history into a single narrative … is also counter to our democracy. And counter to the idea that we are a plural nation,” said Sams.

Lawsuit against national park removals advances

Now, a coalition of conservation, history and science organizations are fighting in court to get the Acadia signs and hundreds of other items put back. Under Burgum's 2025 campaign, signs, books, films and exhibits covering topics such as slavery, climate change and the massacre of Native Americans were flagged and removed from national parks and monuments nationwide.

“Some of it’s been put back, and then some of it has been removed again,” said the Center for American Progress' Angelo Villagomez. He was part of the progressive policy group's team that examined a database leaked earlier this year and found that a third of national parks had flagged exhibits featuring history or science. Of those, Black and Indigenous history were most targeted.

Portions of all flagged material have since been reviewed and cataloged by a committee led by Joy Beasley, a National Park Service associate director. However, in a June affidavit, she writes that the spreadsheet is “unlikely to capture every removal, revision, or replacement.”

The Interior Department did not respond to The Associated Press’ questions about the current status of sign and exhibit removal or the ongoing lawsuit filed by the nonprofit coalition in February against the federal government.

The parks “are America’s storytellers,” said Todd Martin of the National Parks Conservation Association, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “It’s their duty to preserve and interpret American history, the good, the bad, and the ugly.”

Jenny McBurney, a government publications librarian at the University of Minnesota who co-founded the project Save Our Signs, feels it’s more important than ever for park visitors to document revised signs.

“People are going to go to the parks and think that they will get to learn history there when in fact they will be learning an incomplete history,” said McBurney.

Wabanaki culture — past and present — shared in Acadia

Despite the job cuts, threats of land reduction, talks of privatization and even demolition within some parks, Indigenous groups and park partners have persevered.

In Maine, members of the Wabanaki Confederacy — comprised of the Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki principal nations — carry on the cultural traditions and spiritual practices that helped them maintain sovereignty and connection to their ancestral land after settlers arrived. That includes sharing their culture with tourists.

Penobscot Nation citizen Jennifer Neptune had mixed emotions about the attempted erasure of her people from Acadia and their ancestral homeland.

“It’s hard to get good signage in national monuments, in national parks,” said Neptune. “It’s a real gut punch when it (removal) happens, not just for Indigenous people, but for Black people, for the people whose stories don’t get shared.”

Over the past decade, she’s seen real change from the National Park Service, playing an integral part in bringing Wabanaki voices to the table to create Indigenous-designed spaces.

In partnership with Acadia, the privately owned Abbe Museum, which is largely overseen by Wabanaki people, hosts a program that brings Native voices into the park through music, arts and culture.

Nick Bear and members of a Wabanaki drum circle perform on Cadillac Mountain annually as part of this collaboration. “That’s just like bringing those ceremonies right back to the original sites,” he said.

In July, Passamaquoddy basket maker Lydia Soctomah demonstrated traditional Wabanaki basketry using pounded ash bark and sweetgrass outside the Sieur de Monts Nature Center. Both the ash tree and sweetgrass are part of the Wabanaki creation story, she said.

“Making a basket is worth 1,000 memories for me,” said Soctomah, whose grandmother was a well-known basket maker. “I was always told it holds a part of your spirit.”

Sweetgrass access an example of shared stewardship

Access to sweetgrass has long been difficult for Wabanaki people as they were pushed from coastal lands onto reservations. In Acadia, it’s been nearly nonexistent since the park’s creation in 1916. But over the past decade, park staff and Wabanaki members have collaborated to change that.

In 2017, scientist Suzanne Greenlaw, a citizen of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, partnered with the U.S. Forest Service, Acadia’s Schoodic Institute and 14 traditional gatherers to conduct a Wabanaki-led sweetgrass study in hopes of allowing tribal access.

“It was really impactful because we had never had those kinds of co-stewardship relationships,” said Greenlaw, adding that those relationships, built over time, have not changed.

By the end of the Biden administration, there were over 400 co-stewardship or co-management agreements with tribes, 159 within the National Park Service alone, says Sams. Programs in Acadia were among them.

These programs, he says, allow tribes to fulfill their obligation to protect, preserve and enhance natural resources, and the federal government to fulfill its obligation to allow tribal access for hunting, fishing, and gathering foods and medicines.

Sams cautiously hopes there will be a rebuilding period for the park service under the next administration.

“There are always ebbs and flows with every administration,” he said. “Nobody has seen that more than American Indian tribes.”

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

The 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey, released Thursday, found that covered workers were paying hundreds of dollars more toward their premiums this year compared with last year. The costs were particularly pronounced for employees at small businesses made up of 10 to 99 workers who typically shoulder a larger share of their insurance costs than those at bigger companies.

Rising healthcare costs have emerged as an important issue for voters in the midterm elections and are part of broader affordability concerns. An AP-NORC poll conducted in October found that about 7 in 10 registered voters call healthcare “one of the most important issues” in this election.

Almost 157 million Americans under retirement age rely on employer-sponsored healthcare coverage. According to the KFF study, employers report that workers are paying on average $7,471 annually toward the premiums for employer-sponsored family health benefits this year, which is up roughly 9%, or $621, from last year.

“Workers are paying a bigger chunk this year,” said Matthew Rae, associate director of KFF’s Program on the Health Care Marketplace, “which also brings up the issue of affordability.”

President Donald Trump has tried to make healthcare affordability part of his midterms pitch, saying that his most-favored nation prescription drug pricing would reduce costs and promising rebates for some Americans. But other steps taken by Trump's Republican administration have raised costs for some, and the survey indicates that many are seeing their health insurance expenses climb without clear improvements in benefits.

The impact could be felt more acutely among small businesses, which employ roughly 62.3 million people, or 45.9% of private-sector workers, according to the Small Business Administration.

Covered workers at smaller firms contributed an average of $9,687 in 2026 toward family coverage, compared with $6,840 at firms with 200 or more workers, the survey says. In 2025, they paid roughly $8,900, compared with about $6,200 for larger firms, the report said. The survey found that covered workers at smaller firms contribute an average of 37% of the premium for family coverage, compared with 25% at larger firms.

And 32% of covered workers at small firms are enrolled in plans in which they must pay more than half the family premium, compared with just 6% at larger companies.

The rising costs have meant small businesses must strike a balance between maintaining attractive benefits for their employees and meeting other increasingly costly expenses.

Jenna Caligaris, who manages an upstate New York contractor with roughly 25 workers, said the pressures of providing health insurance to her workers keep her up at night.

Caligaris said that because her firm operates in a field that is extremely competitive for workers, the company looks for any way to keep employees from taking on more insurance cost-sharing. Her firm provides 80% of coverage to its nonunion workers, with employees covering the rest.

From stretching the lifespan of company vehicles and tools to cutting down the size of workers’ year-end bonuses and putting an end to the annual company picnic, “we’re trying to maintain coverage and stay competitive — so we'll have to eat these price increases," Caligaris said.

In the past three years, the company has switched insurers to save on costs yet is getting hit this year by a 25% increase in premiums, Caligaris said.

Rae, at KFF, said small firms face higher deductibles than larger companies and more volatility in the market.

KFF’s annual health benefits survey of large and small employers includes roughly 1,900 employers with 10 or more workers.

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Associated Press reporter Josh Boak contributed to this report.

The results suggest that voters are ready for Congress to tackle core issues, despite Trump’s centrality in the midterm campaign.

About 8 in 10 registered voters, including a large majority of Republicans and Democrats, say lowering the cost of living should be one of the highest priorities for the session coming up, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds.

Justin Campbell, a 31-year-old Democrat from Brookhaven, Mississippi, said he wants the government to focus on helping people like him rather than wealthy people.

“I’m not a millionaire and probably won’t ever be," he said. "I prefer policy that helps me instead of someone I’ll never be.”

Most voters also want Congress to prioritize ending the war with Iran, with roughly 7 in 10 saying this should be a top focus. Substantially fewer voters, about 4 in 10, want Congress to make investigating the Trump administration a high priority, and only about 2 in 10 want Congress to prioritize supporting the Republican president's agenda.

But the poll also indicates that there are deep divisions within the parties on what to focus on, with moderate Democrats and Republicans differing sharply from voters on the left and right wings of their parties.

Most Democratic voters who identify as supporters of democratic socialism are hoping for a Congress that will investigate the administration, and many want to end military aid to Israel, while MAGA Republicans are interested in Congress supporting Trump’s agenda.

Moderates in both parties, are much likelier to want Democrats and Republicans to find common ground.

Most voters want Congress to focus on reducing costs and ending the war

Lowering the cost of living and ending the Iran war overshadow a wide range of other issues as voters consider priorities for the next Congress.

While most registered voters say reducing costs and ending the war should be among the highest priorities for Congress, only about half say reducing the budget deficit and finding common ground between the two parties should be high priorities. About 4 in 10 want investigating the administration and passing new laws regulating artificial intelligence to be high priorities.

Fewer, about 3 in 10, prioritize ending military aid to Israel, and only about 2 in 10 want a focus on supporting Trump's agenda.

Though most registered Democrats want Congress to investigate the administration, that falls behind the larger priorities of lowering costs and ending the conflict with Iran. About 6 in 10 registered voters who identify as Democrats call investigations into the administration “one of the highest priorities.”

Arthur Brown, a 71-year-old Democrat in Magee, Mississippi, wants to see the next Congress work on making the economy stronger and prices lower. He feels less urgently about holding Trump accountable, mostly because there’ll be only two years left in Trump’s term. He thinks it’s more important to try to turn the economy around.

“They should just focus on, you know, trying to tackle these problems,” he said. “Eventually down the road, justice will come.”

For Republican voters, bolstering Trump's goals also falls behind lowering the cost of living, ending the war in Iran and reducing the budget deficit.

In a strikingly tepid show of support for the president, only about 4 in 10 Republican voters say the next Congress should make supporting the administration's agenda one of its highest priorities.

Most democratic socialists want Congress to investigate Trump

House Democrats have begun planning an ambitious 100-day agenda for what they would do if they win control of Congress in November. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has said the party's top priorities include making life more affordable and conducting vast oversight of the administration.

But there are potential schisms in the party awaiting Democrats if they win a governing majority. The Democratic Party has reckoned in primary campaigns with a growing wing of democratic socialists. Their progressive stances on some issues have divided the party — including on whether to continue military aid to Israel, whether to compromise with Republicans and how strongly to investigate the administration.

About three-quarters of Democratic voters who identify as supporters of democratic socialism say one of the top priorities should be investigating the administration, compared with slightly less than half of Democrats who say they're not democratic socialists.

Democratic socialists are also more likely to want Congress to end military aid to Israel and less likely to say it’s a top priority to find common ground between the two parties.

Campbell, the Democrat in Mississippi, identifies as a democratic socialist and wants Congress to hold the administration accountable.

“It feels a little cliche to just say roll back the past two years, but honestly, mostly just roll back the stuff he’s done the past two years," Campbell said.

Most MAGA Republicans want Congress to support Trump

Republicans are broadly aligned on what they want the next Congress to do, regardless of whether they identify with the “Make America Great Again” movement — except when it comes to Trump.

At least half of MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans want leaders to lower costs, end the Iran war and reduce the federal budget deficit.

Richard Longo, a 74-year-old Republican in Lake Forest, California, wants to see the president’s agenda pursued in the next Congress but is especially worried about balancing the budget.

“You’re not going to balance the budget in one year, but you have to have a plan," Longo said.

But while about 6 in 10 MAGA Republicans want Congress to prioritize supporting the administration's agenda, only about 2 in 10 Republicans who are not supporters of MAGA say the same.

Lisa Ostlund, a 46-year-old from Wayland, Massachusetts, who identifies as a MAGA supporter, wants to see the next Congress prioritize Trump's agenda. She doesn't support everything Trump does, but she credits his policies with her recent ability to find housing after struggling with homelessness for several years.

“You got to care about your American people," Ostlund said. "He definitely doesn’t say it right, but you do have to put them first.”

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,119 adults was conducted Oct. 8-12 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

The album was a word-of-mouth hit and, coupled with 1980’s “Baby Beluga,” transformed the Egypt-born singer of Armenian descent into one of North America's most famous children's musicians. Raffi's fun and heartwarming songs, including “Down By the Bay” and “Shake My Sillies Out,” remain a mainstay for parents and teachers of young children, even as the way kids consume music has changed significantly.

“Well, the technology changes; children don’t,” Raffi told The Associated Press in a recent interview via Zoom from his home in western Canada.

And the 78-year-old isn't done yet. His latest album, “Love is Everywhere,” comes out Friday and features songs that celebrate individuality (“No One Like You”), as well as “ABC Democracy” — a pro-voting anthem that reflects his longstanding willingness to wade into politics and activism. He's also marking the 50th anniversary of “Singable Songs” with a special reissue Nov. 13.

Raffi spoke to the AP about the enduring appeal of his music, why he once turned down a deal from the producers of “Shrek,” and his kinship with Ms. Rachel, the children's entertainer who has been an outspoken advocate for kids in Gaza and those detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: What's the process of writing a Raffi song in 2026? And how is it different from when you were working in the '70s?

RAFFI: What’s the same is that I’m considering my audience and what songs would appeal directly to them, and what songs would stretch the imagination of a child. And what’s different is that I’ve got 50 years of songwriting behind me right now, so I certainly feel confident, more so than ever, in what I’m doing.

It’s a good feeling to know that when I write and record a song now, it’ll have a long shelf life. My fans still tell me that “Baby Beluga” is the one song that will calm their child when needed, and I think, “Wow, that song came out, what, 46 years ago?”

AP: The new album is called “Love is Everywhere.” At a time when so much of what’s happening in the world is so frightening, is it harder to write such hopeful songs?

RAFFI: The theme of the album is the power of love. This album is a response to these times that, for so many of us, feel anxious and worrisome. And the fact is that love is everywhere. You can say, “How is that so?” And I would say to you, “Are there children everywhere? Yes. Is there love everywhere? Yes.”

It’s so wonderful that there are others echoing this call of love, and Ms. Rachel is doing this brilliantly. I’m such a champion of this kind of effusive expression of love and caring for every child.

AP: What’s your relationship with Ms. Rachel? I know you’ve defended her against some blowback she’s gotten, particularly regarding her comments about the crisis in Gaza.

RAFFI: Well, Ms. Rachel is a “Beluga grad” (Raffi's term for children who grew up listening to his music). We had a wonderful video meeting about a year ago. I told her how happy I am with what she’s done on her YouTube offerings.

And then I saw her very brave stance on the rights of Palestinian children, like the right of any child, to live and thrive. When we say every child, we mean it. How would anyone deny the children of any region or any people the right to self-determination, to love and respect? I’m right there with Ms. Rachel. Her heart and my heart resonate well.

AP: When “Singable Songs” was released 50 years ago, kids were listening on record players or cassettes. Nowadays, they're listening via Spotify or YouTube. Has that changed how kids listen to music?

RAFFI: Well, the technology changes; children don’t. It’s up to us adults, though, to make sure that the technology that children are surrounded by doesn’t interfere with the healthy development of their brains, hearts and imagination.

AP: One track that stood out to me from the new album was “ABC Democracy.” What was the inspiration for that song?

RAFFI: I wrote “ABC Democracy” a year ago and released it as a single. And then I found out that children loved that song. It must be because I wrote the best first line of a song ever: “A, B, C, Dee-mocracy!” They hear that, and they’re hooked because they love the ABCs. And then there can be this conversation with mom or dad as to, “Hey, what is this about?” Learning about our civic duties from a young age — who could ask for more than that?

AP: What do adults tend to sometimes forget or get wrong about kids?

RAFFI: You don’t need to talk down to a child. Children are very intelligent. They ask great questions.

You should respect the intelligence of the young learner — keep in mind that young children are learning the most sophisticated tasks of language acquisition, syntax, grammar and conversational skills all without being in university.

AP: You’ve been clear about never wanting to exploit kids for cash through advertising, toys, etc. What offers have you left on the table?

RAFFI: You wouldn’t exploit those who you respect, right? Why would you exploit the innocence of a young child who isn’t able to appraise the sales pitch if you’re directly advertising or even indirectly to children through fast food joints?

It’s not fair to young children to have someone they look up to selling them things that they’re not old enough to understand.

So I’ve consistently left on the table all these offers, including one from the producers of “Shrek” who wanted to make a “Baby Beluga” film. We asked the question, “Will this movie be directly advertised through fast food joints?” “Oh yes,” they said. So we said, “No thank you. We don’t do that.”

AP: Finally, we had a lightning round of questions from kids that we wanted to pose to you. Nine-year-old Coco asks, “Do you like apples or bananas better?”

Raffi: Both!

AP: Four-year-old Miles asks, “What do you look like? Are you a giant?”

RAFFI: Ha! (In deep voice) Yes I am! To a small child, I probably look quite big, but no bigger than other adults. I’m about 5-foot-8 1⁄2.

AP: Six-year-old Walt asks, “What part do you play in ‘Bananaphone’?”

RAFFI: I’m the guy who sings about the banana and eats it too. That’s me. A troubadour with a peel!

AP: Four-year-old Henry asks, “What’s your favorite song?”

RAFFI: It might just be “Bananaphone,” or it might be “Baby Beluga.” I really like “Baby Beluga” because, you know, it’s a love song, and when you love a beautiful creature like a Beluga whale, you want to protect it.

AP: Seven-year-old Elsa asks, “How do you choose what to sing about?”

RAFFI: Well, I just think of what would be fun for me, and then I think of what would be fun for the audience that I’m singing with, because they sing with me. That’s how I decide.

The award came just days after the Trump administration announced sweeping new sanctions on the court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.

“The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognizes the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said.

Her announcement at the parliament in Strasbourg, France, was greeted with a standing ovation.

The annual EU award, named after Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and basic freedoms.

A court under fire welcomes the award

ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan welcomed the award, saying that it “comes at a time when the court and its officials face unprecedented challenges.”

“Against this backdrop, the Sakharov Prize carries particular significance, reaffirming the importance of independent judicial institutions and of those who work to uphold international law,” she said in a statement.

The ICC opened in 2002 as a court of last resort to prosecute senior leaders it deems responsible for crimes that, according to its founding treaty, “deeply shock the conscience of humanity.” It has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.

The Trump administration's sanctions cut off the court from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies and even using U.S. dollars. They set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that have business with the court to wind that business down.

The EU considers options to respond

In a statement after their summit last week, EU leaders said that the 27-nation bloc “deeply regrets” the Trump administration’s sanctions move and “urges the United States to reverse these latest measures.”

They noted that the U.S. has delayed the full impact of the sanctions by six months, and that “this creates space for diplomacy,” and expressed hope that the measures can ultimately be reversed.

Should diplomacy fail, however, the leaders insisted on “the EU’s readiness to take all necessary measures.”

They tasked the European Commission “to take all appropriate initiatives” to help protect the ICC and mitigate the impact of the sanctions, “specifically towards EU companies so that they can continue providing services to the Court.”

One possible retaliatory measure is the EU “blocking statute,” which could be used to protect European court staff, and possibly the Dutch-based court itself, by preventing European companies from complying with the U.S. measures.

An award for when rights and justice come under attack

The ICC and its officials were nominated for the prize by the Socialist and Democrats group in the European Parliament. The group, which unites center-left parties across Europe, said that it was “proud to have put forward their candidacy at a time when international justice is under attack.”

The Sakharov winner is chosen by the European Parliament's president and top EU lawmakers from among candidates nominated by the parliament’s various political groups. The assembly says the award is “the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work.”

Imprisoned Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu and Taraneh and Romina Rahimi — twins being held in prison for taking part in demonstrations against the Iranian government — were the others to make the EU shortlist.

Last year’s prize went to journalists Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaghlobeli, who were imprisoned in Belarus and Georgia, respectively. Metsola said at the time that “their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy.”

Several Sakharov laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, picked up the Sakharov Prize in 2024.

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Mike Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

Variations of the voter ID proposals are being decided in the midterm elections in California, Colorado and Nevada — three states where conservative activists collected petition signatures to bypass Democratic-led legislatures and place the issue directly before voters.

The voter ID measures are among about 30 questions on November ballots affecting state policies on voting and elections. They account for roughly 1 in 5 of all state ballot measures nationwide. Some mirror policies that President Donald Trump has pushed unsuccessfully at the national level and build off a Republican narrative that noncitizen voting is a problem, though data indicates it is rare.

Several measures address changes to congressional voting districts, as part of a national redistricting battle spurred by Trump. Others could change the way primaries are conducted, make it more difficult for voters to amend their state constitutions or — in Missouri — make it harder for lawmakers to change measures that voters approve.

Taken together, the measures highlight a long-running debate about who can participate in elections and how to ensure voting is both accessible and secure.

“Ballot measures have become a battle zone for the future of American democracy, including direct democracy itself,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a group that backs progressive ballot issues.

California proposition is one of several voter ID measures

When voting by mail, most states already require a voter’s signature for a ballot to count. Only Georgia, Minnesota, New Mexico and Ohio require some sort of government-issued identification number to be included with mail-in ballots.

California's Proposition 39 would require a government-issued ID to vote in person or the last four digits of that identification number to vote by mail.

In the August primary, nearly 90% of California's ballots were cast by mail, and more than 52,000 ballots — less than 1% of the total — were rejected for nonmatching or missing signatures, according to the secretary of state's office.

The proposed constitutional amendment doesn't directly repeal California's current signature requirement. But the intent is for the four-digit verification to replace it, said Carl DeMaio, a Republican state Assembly member whose organization Reform California backed the voter ID initiative.

“If California gets this done through citizens, maybe it will shame the politicians into getting this going in a moderate and reasonable and bipartisan way nationwide,” DeMaio said.

Though Trump hasn't endorsed the California proposition, opponents contend it is similar to a bill he backed in Congress to require a photo ID to vote, or a photocopy for ballots returned by mail.

“Prop 39 is just another Trump power grab that is intended to make voting harder, less secure and more expensive for Californians,” said Brittany Stonesifer, a voting rights attorney at Common Cause California.

About 7 in 10 registered voters nationally favor requiring all voters to provide valid photo identification at their voting place in order to vote, according to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Though support is stronger among Republicans, a majority of Democratic voters also favor a voter ID requirement.

In addition to citizen initiatives in Colorado and Nevada, voter ID amendments also were referred to the November ballot by Republican-led legislatures in Arizona, North Carolina and Ohio.

Citizen voting measures spread to six states

Ballot measures in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia would reinforce current election practices limiting voting to U.S. citizens. Since 2018, at least 15 states have adopted similar measures, including all eight states where they appeared on the ballot in 2024 and in Texas last year.

Many critics argue the measures are largely symbolic and unnecessary, because voting by noncitizens is rare and already forbidden in most states.

No state constitutions explicitly allow noncitizens to vote. But some municipalities in California, Maryland and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia, do allow voting by noncitizens in some local elections such as for school board and city council.

States need to act because the nation's founders “gave the states the rights to determine who can vote,” said Becky Arps, research director for Americans for Citizen Voting.

Changes to primaries are proposed in Massachusetts and Alaska

A pair of Massachusetts ballot measures could reshape state elections. One amendment would scrap separate party primaries in favor of an open primary in which the top two vote recipients — no matter the party — advance to the general election.

Another would allow people to register to vote on the same day as the election, instead of the current 10-day-in-advance deadline.

In Alaska, voters are again being asked whether to repeal a system of open primaries and ranked choice voting. A similar measure narrowly failed two years ago.

Redistricting efforts face voter referendums

Republican lawmakers in Missouri passed new congressional districts for the midterm elections, after Trump urged GOP-led states to redistrict to try to win additional House seats. But the Missouri Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court both blocked the new map from being used in the November election because of a referendum petition.

Voters now will decide whether to uphold or reject the new districts. If approved, the map could be used in the 2028 election.

Maryland voters, meanwhile, will decide whether to approve a redistricting amendment backed by Democratic state lawmakers that could pave the way for a new U.S. House map ahead of the 2028 election. Proponents' campaign signs urge a “yes” vote as a means to “stop Trump.”

In Colorado, where some Democrats also want to redistrict, a ballot initiative backed by a conservative group would instead prohibit any mid-decade redistricting from favoring one political party and require approval from both an existing independent commission and the state Supreme Court.

Ballot initiatives could get new hurdles or protections

Proposed amendments in North Dakota and South Dakota would make it harder to amend their state constitutions by requiring 60% approval from voters instead of a simple majority. A similar 60% threshold is proposed in Utah for future citizen initiatives that raise taxes. All were referred to the ballot by Republican-led legislatures.

Several states already have supermajority requirements for certain ballot measures, including 60% thresholds to pass constitutional amendments in Florida and tax initiatives in Arizona. Two years ago, amendments to legalize recreational marijuana and create abortion rights both received majority support but still failed because of Florida's supermajority threshold.

Measures in several other states seek to strengthen citizen ballot initiatives. A Missouri amendment proposed by a citizens group would make it harder for lawmakers to change voter-approved citizen initiatives by requiring revisions to get an 80% vote in the state House and Senate. That comes after the Republican-led Legislature last year repealed a paid sick leave law approved by voters and referred a new constitutional amendment to the November ballot to reverse voter-approved abortion rights.

A Montana ballot measure would make the citizen initiative process a fundamental right, and a Colorado measure would require ballot questions to be written “in plain language at no more than an eighth-grade reading level.”

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Associated Press writer John Hanna contributed to this report.

“Wind, hush!” the speaker advised, describing the power to bring about change.

Jeffries nodded along, the words resonating beyond the church’s soaring brick walls, days out from the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term in the White House.

“We’re on the verge of taking back control of the House,” Jeffries told The Associated Press in an interview afterward.

“When this storm has passed, and it will, those of us who have served in the Congress during this time will be part of bringing about a better chapter in the United States of America,” he said. “That’s the mission. And failure is not an option."

Jeffries is on track to become House speaker, if Democrats sweep to power and elect him to the job, one of the most powerful positions in the U.S., second in line to the presidency. He has been campaigning across the country in more than 50 cities for House Democrats as they try to oust Republicans and win back majority control.

He would make history as the first Black American to hold the gavel.

A new generation of leadership, a 100-day agenda

The New York City-born Jeffries is a new generation of leadership at the Capitol, known for his deliberative, calm-is-a-choice style of governing. He would be the first Democratic speaker since Nancy Pelosi of California.

Democrats are preparing a 100-day agenda focused on lowering the cost of living and conducting oversight of Trump’s Republican administration, as Jeffries puts it, to “hold the crooks accountable.”

“What we’ve seen is he is quietly effective,” said Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, outgoing chairman of their party’s centrist New Democrat Coalition. “Rather than chasing rabbits, what Leader Jeffries has kept the caucus doing is focused on accomplishment, success and a plan for our future.”

First elected in 2012, Jeffries is sandwiched between the Pelosi-era elders who have held great sway in Congress and liberal millennial New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's generation, bridging the two.

A corporate lawyer, he grew up the son of a counselor and a social worker, steeped in Brooklyn's Cornerstone Baptist Church. He earned a political science degree at the State University of New York at Binghamton and a master's in public policy at Georgetown and graduated magna cum laude at New York University School of Law.

At 29, he made his first run for office, an insurgent himself, eager to oust a longtime New York state Assembly member. He failed, twice. Eventually he won a statehouse seat. He ran for Congress, mounting a challenge to a 30-year incumbent who stepped aside.

Since then Jeffries has been on a steady rise, representing parts of the district once held by trailblazing Rep. Shirley Chisholm.

“Faith and the community were always a central part of my journey," he said.

He said that's the case for many of his generation, “who grew up in the midst, you know, of some challenging times — the crack cocaine epidemic, a lot of community violence. A lot of people’s lives were prematurely lost.”

“It leads to a desire to want to improve the quality of life for hardworking people, who could have fled difficult circumstances but remained in the community, worked hard to turn things around,” he said.

At the Toledo church, the area's long-serving Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur told the congregation that when she first ran for office, Chisholm was the only member of Congress to campaign for her. Now another from Brooklyn is ready to lead.

“This man wants to do something for the people of this country,” she said.

‘Sky’s the Limit' as Democrats work to take charge

Jeffries never bought into the theory that voters gave Republicans a mandate in 2024 with control of the White House and Congress, leaving Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana with one of the smallest majorities in modern times.

He set about to win power back for Democrats.

Democrats used the tools available to force votes that GOP leadership tried to avoid — on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files and halting the Iran war.

They voted against the GOP’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill, Jeffries delivering an eight-hour speech spotlighting cuts to Medicaid healthcare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.

At times, it seemed Jeffries, not Johnson, was in charge — including when Democrats shut down the government because Republicans refused to fund tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that millions of people relied on to buy health insurance.

Jeffries often sprinkles old-school hip hop lyrics into his speeches, and he said the music has been a soundtrack to life, as songs are for any generation.

“‘Sky’s the Limit’ is one of my favorite songs from The Notorious B.I.G.," he said, “because it really did track a journey from negativity to positivity and overcoming life’s adversity.”

Challenges ahead for the party leader

Jeffries will be tested almost immediately if Democrats take control. The House speaker is elected when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.

He is facing a new generation of upstarts, including a handful of candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Democrats are often a “party of nervous lawyers” at a time when voters are demanding change.

“To his credit,” he said about Jeffries, “in these key moments and opportunities where we've been able to take action, we’ve surprised people.”

Jeffries is described as a listener, who often jots down what colleagues say in meetings, a bottom-up style of leadership that works to build consensus. He said he has spoken to all the incoming Democrats. "Everybody’s got to chart their own path,” he said.

“On the other side of this election, I think what will unite House Democrats is the fact that we know things are broken in this country,” he said. "We've got to do something transformational about the affordability crisis.”

A sense of purpose for the country's future

After the service, members of the congregation gathered in the church basement for a luncheon honoring the bishop's anniversary years of service, with steaming trays of chicken, greens, sweet potatoes and desserts.

Church member Lorna McKinstry, 74, a retired police dispatcher, said she was hopeful the country could begin to end its divisions.

“I want us to be a United States of America,” she said.

Jeffries visited over lunch before pushing on to the next stops, driven by a sense of purpose that the country can do better.

Those in Congress “have a responsibility to stop the madness from continuing to hurt everyday Americans," he said, "and chart a more hopeful path toward making this country the best version of herself.”

Organizers of the Paris protest said an administrative court in the city overturned a ban issued by police after they challenged it. The Paris police prefecture previously said the ban was necessary, given the risk of street violence after groups of masked youth clashed with police forces, looted shops and torched cars over the weekend.

The Paris court ruling was not immediately made public. Protesters, including many youngsters, gathered peacefully and chanted in the southeastern part of Paris, amid heavy police presence.

“We don’t need tear gas for our future to look bleak,” read a banner unfurled by protesters.

Organizers signed a police document stating that the protest would remain stationary due to the risk of violence.

More bans were expected in the coming days. French President Emmanuel Macron said such measures aim to protect city centers, businesses and public buildings.

The right to demonstrate in France is protected by the French Constitution, and the ban on demonstrations planned for Thursday in Paris, Lyon, Lille and Grenoble was seen by some as an infringement on French people’s right to protest.

High school and university student groups said they will continue to mobilize, even though the autumn school break started this week.

Macron said the strategy adopted for the coming days is to ban protests requested by “individuals or groups with no legitimate authority.” His remarks came after a special security meeting at the Elysée Palace.

“Where trade unions submit requests to hold demonstrations, prefects will examine them in accordance with the law, but alternative routes will be proposed” to protect city centers, businesses and public buildings, Macron said.

“The rules are simple, and I think they’re just common sense. The general recommendation is that there should be no demonstrations in the coming days," he said. “For those who still want to protest, if they are trade unions, prefects will propose alternative routes."

Macron blamed the weekend's violence on “actions led by radical far-left groups who aimed to bring the Republic down," in addition to criminals who came to loot.

The turmoil in Paris and other French cities has prompted a strong security response from the government. Night curfews have been implemented in some areas of the French capital, as well as in other cities where calm has been restored.

Authorities are bracing for another big protest day

Thursday's planned protests were seen as a prelude to Saturday's big demonstration, when activists from the “ yellow vest ” movement, whose demonstrations over fuel prices shook France in 2018 and 2019, and the CGT labor union, are expected to join.

Some of those protests, including marches in Lyon, will also be banned, local authorities said. Cities outside Paris have been hit hard by the unrest, including Limoges where a fire nearly destroyed the 19th century city hall.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who met union representatives on Wednesday, said a “massive” security operation was planned for Saturday to prevent a repeat of the violence by small groups of rioters that had exposed shortcomings in security measures.

Union representatives said their meeting with Lecornu did not result in concrete proposals. They are now focusing on another big day of action scheduled on Nov. 5, and called on private and public sector employees to join.

From student protests to a broader social movement

The demonstrations first erupted last month in a high school in Creteil, southeast of Paris, over a lack of staff. From there, class strikes, blockades and demonstrations spread to other Paris suburbs and then nationwide, even in smaller towns.

High school students have raised concerns about underfunded schools, dilapidated facilities and staff shortages, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods. Some also called for a reform of the university admissions system, seen by many as complex and unfair.

With the government unable to respond to students' demands, the school demonstrations and blockades have morphed into larger protests over soaring living costs, just months before next year's presidential election to choose Macron's successor.

___

Nicolas Garriga and Boubkar Benzabat in Paris contributed to this report.

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With days before a close election in Israel in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could lose power, and before next month’s U.S. midterm election in which war-linked high prices have sparked voter anger, there are concerns that U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran could resume.

“Netanyahu wants to attack Iran, that’s not even a question,” Danny Citrinowicz, a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies and a former Iran specialist in Israel’s military and intelligence services, told The Associated Press.

He accused Israel of rushing into another round with Iran without revamping its strategy. A clear Netanyahu victory in the Oct. 27 election means an attack is almost guaranteed, he said.

Main opposition candidates are likely to focus on domestic issues first, but Citrinowicz said he believed the region is on the way toward "another kinetic escalation.”

Iran repeats threat to attack U.S. bases in the region

Iranian state television reported the claims about the latest attacks on ships, which the AP couldn't independently confirm. The report cited the Revolutionary Guard Corps navy, which again threatened to strike U.S. military bases in the region if the U.S. keeps helping to guide commercial ships through the strait.

The report didn't mention casualties. Iran still asserts control over the waterway, a central point of leverage in any talks with the U.S. over the war.

October has had the most reported attacks on commercial shipping since March in the war's opening weeks, according to a British military monitor, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. UKMTO didn't report the latest attacks, but it has noted new reluctance by some shippers to report incidents.

Oil producers have found ways to keep crude flowing, experts say, but at a mounting cost.

Tankers continue moving through Strait of Hormuz despite attacks

Oil tankers are still moving oil through the strait under U.S. military protection despite the recent upsurge in attacks, according to shipping data and analysis company Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

Tanker operators willing to risk the voyage have been shuttling oil from Gulf producers through the strait at night with their location systems and mobile phones turned off using a U.S.-protected lane near the coast of Oman. Those tankers transfer oil to other tankers waiting in the Gulf of Oman for shipment to customers in Asia.

Those “active Gulf operators show little sign of retreating” despite 28 attacks on ships in October, the highest since the start of the war, Lloyd’s said in an online webinar Thursday.

The so-called “dark shuttle” overseen by U.S. Central Command has helped keep oil shipments from the Gulf at roughly prewar levels, but at high costs in time, money and sailors' lives. Spot charter rates for tankers have soared into the hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, while the ship-to-ship transfers can take several days.

Iran says it's open to diplomacy but also self-defense

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday said that a wary Tehran remains open to diplomacy, but is ready to defend itself.

Iran has warned that it has learned important military lessons from the war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28. In recent days, Tehran has indicated that it could expand targets to include infrastructure such as undersea cables and data centers.

The United States, for its part, is sending more military assets to the region, including a third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops, to join the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades.

Mediators, meanwhile, have been trying to bring Washington and Tehran back to formal talks.

Iran still promotes its latest proposal that would end the war and fully open the strait within a week if the U.S. meets several conditions. Those conditions, which include ending the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, echo ones in the deal that fell apart within days of both sides signing it in June.

In late September, U.S. President Donald Trump rejected that seven-day proposal, but both sides have acknowledged that indirect discussions have continued.

The stakes are even higher if all-out war resumes

A return to full fighting would again endanger civilians throughout the region and complicate global deliveries of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer from the region and likely bring another spike in prices.

The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, this week acknowledged that the Islamic Republic will suffer under a prolonged U.S. blockade. But economic pain and strategic collapse are not the same thing, he added, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

Now the landscape of the conflict has widened with the recent surge in fighting between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi kingdom backs a coalition of forces with Yemen’s internationally recognized government that is fighting the rebels.

The Houthis' repeated deadly attacks on airports and other facilities inside Saudi Arabia have pressured the close U.S. ally, which has sought military aid.

The escalation also has threatened a crucial shipping corridor, the Bab el-Mandeb at the southern end of the Red Sea.

La tormenta registraba vientos máximos sostenidos de 100 kilómetros por hora (65 millas por hora) y se encontraba centrada a unos 425 kilómetros (265 millas) al sur de Nantucket, Massachusetts, y a unos 940 kilómetros (585 millas) al suroeste de Halifax, Nueva Escocia.

Se esperaba que Josephine continuara alejándose de Estados Unidos y se mantuviera al sur de Nueva Escocia y Terranova, según el Centro Nacional de Huracanes en Miami.

El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional emitió una alerta de temporal de viento para partes del noreste y del Atlántico medio, lo que significa que eran posibles vientos por encima de 63 km/h (39 mph) hasta media mañana del viernes. También se advirtió a las embarcaciones pequeñas sobre condiciones peligrosas hacia el sur, hasta los Outer Banks de Carolina del Norte.

También se esperaba que las inundaciones costeras de leves a moderadas continuaran durante la semana en la costa del Atlántico medio.

En el Pacífico, la tormenta tropical Vance se encontraba bien alejada de la costa suroeste de México y podría intensificarse hasta convertirse en un huracán de categoría tres o más.

A última hora del miércoles registraba vientos máximos sostenidos de 75 km/h (45 mph) y se pronosticaba que se convertiría en huracán el jueves, para alcanzar categoría 3 el sábado, informó el centro de Estados Unidos.

Vance se ubicaba unos 815 kilómetros (505 millas) al sur de Acapulco, México.

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

Large swells that could create life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were possible along the coast up to Atlantic Canada, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

Josephine had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph). The subtropical storm was centered about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and about 420 miles (676 kilometers) south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was moving northeast at 12 mph (19 kph).

The Miami-based hurricane center said Josephine was forecast to continue moving away from the United States and remain south of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Josephine was expected to gain strength and become a powerful extratropical cyclone with hurricane-strength winds by Friday.

The National Weather Service posted a gale warning for parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, meaning winds above 39 mph (63 kph) were possible through midmorning Friday. Small watercraft were also advised of hazardous conditions south to North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Minor to moderate coastal flooding was also expected to continue through the week on the mid-Atlantic coast.

In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Vance was well off Mexico's southwestern coast and may intensify to a major hurricane by the weekend.

It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (97 kph) early Thursday and was forecast to become a hurricane by the end of the day, the hurricane center said.

Vance was located about 505 miles (815 kilometers) south of Acapulco, Mexico.

At least four people were killed in Ukraine and dozens of others were wounded, officials said, in the attacks that began only hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

“Russia has not changed the way it wages this war, and it is taking no steps that would signal a genuine desire to end it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the barrage.

Putin's consent came in talks in St. Petersburg with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who spoke of a “new momentum” toward peace after meeting Tuesday with Zelenskyy in Norway. The talks are supposed to start sometime after Nov. 10. No date was set.

Representatives of the three countries held rounds of “technical” talks in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland in January and February, seeking to lay the groundwork for detailed negotiations. But they reported little progress beyond exchanges of prisoners of war. Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their terms for stopping the fighting despite U.S. efforts.

Zelenskyy says only a meeting of leaders can end the deadlock.

Russia launches 170 strikes in just over a week at Ukraine's power grid

Russia’s aerial attacks hit 12 regions of Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people and wounding scores of others, including five children, Zelenskyy said on social media Thursday.

Two women, ages 50 and 60, were killed and dozens of other people were wounded in a Russian strike on a market in Lozova, in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration. Another person was killed in other strikes on Kharkiv, the State Emergency Service said.

The Ukrainian capital endured a noisy night as 21 ballistic missiles came in three waves, Zelenskyy said, smashing apartment buildings, energy facilities, a railway station and the Kyiv subway system, shopping malls and businesses. One person was killed in Kyiv.

The Russian attack on Kyiv included three ballistic missiles carrying cluster munitions — bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets, Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainians are bracing for the bitterly cold months ahead as the recent escalation in Russian attacks targets the power grid to deny civilians heat, light and running water. Ukraine says Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for an annual campaign Ukrainians describe as “ weaponizing winter.”

Since Oct. 11, Russia has launched 170 strikes on Ukraine's critical energy facilities, Zelenskyy said.

Putin mulls attending G20 in Miami, Kremlin says

The Ukrainian leader has pleaded with Washington to supply more Patriot air-defense ammunition to stop the missiles, and to heap more sanctions on Russia to pressure Moscow to pursue peace.

Instead, Trump has agreed with Putin to import diesel from Russia and waived heavy sanctions on Moscow, while U.S. officials say Patriot ammunition is in short supply.

“Russia is clearly taking advantage of the slowdown in air defense supplies from our partners,” Zelenskyy said. “It is equally clear that when some partners ease the pressure on Russia, it only reinforces Putin’s belief that his goals are within reach.”

Western analysts say Putin wants to cut out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Washington. The Trump administration has also disparaged Europe.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Putin had received an invitation to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December but hasn’t yet decided whether to go.

“The American administration is doing a lot to help a peaceful settlement,” Peskov told reporters. “European capitals are doing nothing to promote a peaceful resolution, and they are doing a great deal to provoke the further escalation of fighting."

Ukrainians chide Trump envoy for flattering Putin

Witkoff, the Trump envoy who met Wednesday with Putin in St. Petersburg, was harshly criticized in Ukraine and the U.S. for praising the Russian leader as a “humanitarian” after he released a retired American teacher who was imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.

Assassination attempts against Putin's foes — routinely denied by the Kremlin — have been common during his decades in power. And as the five-year anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor approaches, aerial strikes have killed thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

The latest “brutal” Russian attacks demonstrate “what Russian ‘humanism’ truly sounds like,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media. “Appeasement, servility, and flattery will not stop this war. Only strength will.”

Russia says it intercepted more than 800 Ukrainian drones

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses overnight downed 808 Ukrainian drones, with two people reported wounded.

Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 630 of the drones were fired toward the Russian capital between late Wednesday and early Thursday. Moscow airports temporarily restricted air traffic overnight.

The Russian military hit facilities involved in making and storing drones and cruise missiles, as well as striking transport infrastructure in Kyiv, the Defense Ministry said. Infrastructure in the southern port of Odesa and vessels used for the Ukrainian armed forces were also hit, it said.

In other developments, the bodies of 252 people, said by Russia to be Ukrainian soldiers, were returned to Ukraine in an exchange, Ukraine’s agency for prisoners of war said Thursday.

Russia received 25 bodies of Russian soldiers, Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, a member of a parliamentary group overseeing the exchanges, told the RBC news outlet.

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

The Golden State Warriors rookie began his career Wednesday night by refusing to back down from the reigning NBA scoring champion, who punctuated their prolonged on-court exchange of trash talk by making a spectacular half-court shot in Lendeborg's face at the halftime buzzer.

Doncic also won this fight decisively on the scoreboard when the Los Angeles Lakers blew out Lendeborg and the Warriors 127-105, with Doncic scoring 28 points in just three quarters.

Yet Lendeborg somehow wasn't finished talking: He called out the six-time All-Star as a complainer and a free-throw merchant during his postgame news conference.

“I lost all respect (for Doncic), man," Lendeborg said. “That was awful. ... A lot of flopping, a lot of foul-baiting, a lot of praying to the ref, man. Interesting first game for me, for sure."

The Warriors' 24-year-old rookie first-round pick said he sparred with Doncic on the court because of the Slovenian superstar's constant complaining to the officials — admittedly a common feature of most games in Doncic's nine-year career.

Lendeborg, who won an NCAA title with Michigan last season, said he enjoyed watching highlights of Doncic's electric scoring performances in the past — but he has a more jaded perspective on Doncic's skills now.

“Me getting frustrated, it’s not about the foul being called,” Lendeborg said. “It’s about him complaining the entire game, and then you get the foul call, and congratulations, bro. And then you talk to me like you did something great? Bro, come on. That’s just weak, you know? It kind of threw me off for a little while, because like I said, I had so much respect for him. Gone, man. Gone.”

Lendeborg and Doncic exchanged insults for much of the second quarter, with Lendeborg being whistled for a technical foul after saying something so loud and profane it caught the officials' attention.

“I was telling him he sucks,” Lendeborg said with a smile. “‘You can’t score on me.’ I said it the whole game. I said a couple of cuss words, obviously. That’s why I got the technical and all that, but I was letting him know, because he was laughing and talking, all this because of that one foul call."

Doncic mostly laughed off Lendeborg's provocations, but the Lakers star obviously thrives amid confrontation. He was whistled for 16 technical fouls last season, earning a one-game suspension for exceeding the single-season limit.

“He was talking crazy, but I wasn’t trying to talk back this season,” Doncic said of Lendeborg. “Not trying to get techs. For the first time, that was not a double tech, because I didn’t say nothing, so I’m working on it. As you see, I think it worked great.”

Doncic got the ultimate victory at the final buzzer — but his halftime win was incredibly sweet as well.

“I knew that was going in before I got it in my hands,” Doncic said with a grin. “I work on those.”

He got the ball near the scorer's table and let it fly with nearly 3 seconds left on the clock. When it banked through and set off pandemonium in the Lakers' downtown arena, Doncic gleefully pointed at the fuming Lendeborg, who wasn't impressed.

“His only bucket on me was a banker from half court,” Lendeborg said. “I know it’s a team sport. He had 28 on us as a team. Me, I took my matchup personally. Tried not to get called on the fouls. Tried my best. I was thinking about playing him with my hands behind my back to see if that worked. Probably would have still got a foul call. But interesting.”

A Warriors official then steered Lendeborg away from further denigrating one of the greatest players in modern basketball, but the rookie had already done more than enough to stoke this burgeoning personal feud as a fascinating new addition to these California teams' historic rivalry.

Doncic and Lendeborg should see each other again Oct. 30, when the Lakers visit San Francisco.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Here is the latest news from the Middle East. Read our full coverage here.

7 oil tankers reported damaged in Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s state television reported that seven oil tankers caught fire and were damaged overnight Thursday after being targeted or striking naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

If verified, it would be the largest single-day number of vessels damaged in the waterway since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28 when the United States and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran.

Quoting a statement by the Revolutionary Guard's navy, the Iranian report said that four of the tankers were transferring oil when they were targeted and caught fire. Three more were damaged and immobilized after hitting naval mines. The report didn't provide details about possible casualties or the tankers' flags.

The report also warned that the Revolutionary Guard may target U.S. bases in the region if the U.S. tried to allow oil tankers to transit through other parts of the strait. The Revolutionary Guard had routinely targeted U.S. bases during the war.

Yemen says rallies in support of Houthi rebels could be targeted

Yemen’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that rallies and mobilization programs by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels will be considered legitimate military targets and warned residents in Houthi-held areas against taking part.

The announcement, posted to social media, is considered a major escalation against the Houthis and civilians living in areas under their control. Pro-Houthi rallies are regularly staged on Fridays, the Muslim day of prayer.

Deliberate attacks on civilians could amount to a war crime.

Rallies and what Houthis call “cultural courses” are one of the Iranian-backed group’s main tools to mobilize supporters and fighters. The Defense Ministry statement said Houthis are also mobilizing children for combat.

Saudi airport strike death toll rises to 2

Saudi Arabia's Civil Aviation Authority said Thursday that the number of people killed in an attack the night before on the King Fahd International Airport has risen to two — a Saudi citizen and an Indian national who was living in the kingdom. Another eight people suffered injuries in the attack, which occurred late on Wednesday, the statement said.

The Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the airport attack in a statement posted Thursday on Telegram.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree also claimed the Houthis targeted an Aramco facility in Yanbu that ignited a fire, as well as the Saudi Defense Ministry in Riyadh. Saree didn't provide any evidence for the ministry strike.

King Fahd Airport in the country's east near Bahrain and Qatar has been attacked previously amid a wider wave of Houthi missile and projectile strikes targeting major Saudi airports.

Disabled Syrian killed in Israeli raid

A civilian with special needs was killed during an Israeli forces raid on the village of Jamla in southern Syria’s Daraa province on Thursday, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

The report did not give more details about how the man was killed. The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers had “identified a suspect approaching them and carried out a suspect apprehension procedure.” It said the incident is under review.

After the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in a lightning Syrian rebel offensive in December 2024, Israel seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria and has occupied it since.

Jamla is outside the Israeli-occupied zone, but Israeli forces often make incursions into outside areas.

Strikes kill 4 in Gaza Strip

At least four people were killed and several others wounded Thursday in Israeli strikes and gunfire in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said.

One person was killed when a car was struck in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital. Another was killed and others wounded in a strike on a gathering in a street in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital. The Israeli military said those strikes targeted Hamas militants.

A woman was also killed by Israeli military fire in the northern city of Jabaliya, Shifa Hospital said. And an Israeli strike that hit a refugee camp in Nuseirat, in the central region, killed one person, according to the Awda Hospital.

The Israeli military said it was not immediately aware of the Jabaliya incident and did not immediately comment on the strike that hit the refugee camp.

Egyptian pound hits record low as shipping companies avoid region

Egypt’s pound fell to a record low Thursday, with the dollar trading above 55 pounds, according to the Central Bank of Egypt. The currency has lost nearly 13% of its value since the Iran war began in late February, when it traded at about 48 pounds to the dollar.

The decline adds pressure to Egypt’s strained budget, which heavily subsidises fuel and electricity. Revenue from the Suez Canal, a key source of foreign currency, has also been hit as shipping companies avoid the region.

Iran displays new drones

Iran’s state television on Thursday showed dozens of military drones it claimed are more powerful and more sophisticated than previous iterations.

The report showed the drones in an underground location, adding that a new version of the “Arash” drone now has a 100 kg (220-pound) warhead - twice as powerful as before.

Iran has "reached a significant level of maturity in the field of drones and unmanned systems in general,” Iranian Army Chief Gen. Amir Hatami was cited by state television’s website as saying. He said that more drones will be unveiled in the future.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

They're accusing Prime Minister Donald Tusk's liberal government of failing to fulfill its promise to relax Poland's strict abortion laws, and protesting even though the parliament passed two bills on Tuesday aimed at easing abortion rules. The measures are likely to be vetoed by the conservative president, Karol Nawrocki.

Passing the draft laws now, a year before the next parliamentary election, is a case of “token gestures” rather than a genuine effort to reform abortion law, said Zofia Marcinek of the Abortion Dream Team, a reproductive rights activist group in Warsaw.

She said the liberal government knew the draft laws stand no chance of withstanding Nawrocki's veto, and has merely tried to create the impression of taking action because it needs women's support to win elections next year.

Most abortions are performed secretly

Since 1993, legal abortions have been allowed in Catholic Poland only in cases of severe fetal abnormality, risk to the mother’s life and health, or the pregnancy being a result of rape or incest.

Polish women have been pushing for the legalization of abortion ever since, including in a nationwide wave of demonstrations of women wearing black called “Black Protest,” which began in 2016.

Rather than being liberalized, Poland’s abortion laws were tightened further, banning abortions of fetuses with congenital defects in 2020 under the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government.

Despite the laws, abortions remain common in Poland, an overwhelming majority of which are carried out by women at home using pills obtained from outside the country. Women who undergo abortions, including by taking pills, do not face criminal responsibility under Polish law. But people helping them, including doctors and family, can potentially be prosecuted.

And abortion remains a taboo subject in Poland, which now has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, with only Malta imposing stricter limits.

Activists accuse Polish government of disinformation

Tusk’s pro-European coalition won the 2023 election in part on a promise to liberalize Poland’s abortion laws. But in 2024, Tusk said his government wouldn't be able to overcome the likely veto of a conservative president. Instead, measures were introduced to prevent hospitals from refusing to perform legal abortions on religious grounds.

"The state will increasingly effectively stand on the side of the woman when she is making dramatic decisions in her life,” Tusk said in 2024 when he announced the measures.

Polish hospitals performed 573 abortions in the first half of 2026, compared to 452 in the whole of 2022 before Tusk came to power, according to data from the national health fund. But activists say tens of thousands of abortions happen yearly outside of hospitals.

Activists organizing Thursday’s protests are claiming the Tusk government has betrayed Polish women — and that Tusk's claims that women's access to abortion has improved during his administration have actually complicated getting care for some women.

“The government's promises act as a type of disinformation,” Marcinek told the AP. “Women getting pregnant hear the prime minister say that everything is ok, that there is access to abortion, and then they end up in the hospital and see that is not the case. So they come to us when it's very late and very complicated and expensive to help them.”

Meanwhile, international donors are less interested in supporting Polish women's rights because they mistakenly believe things have improved, Marcinek said.

Activists dispense abortion pills outside parliament

In 2025, the Abortion Dream Team opened an “ abortion clinic ” across from the parliament building in Warsaw where women can get information about their options, or even take their abortion pills in the company of supporting activists.

This September, the activists also launched a parcel locker dispensing abortion pills at the same location, nicknamed “Abortomat."

The dispenser is operated by the international feminist non-profit Women Help Women. It enables women needing abortions to get the pills the next day, rather than wait for up to two weeks for home delivery, Marcinek said.

“There are also people who cannot safely order such pills at their own address, for example because of an unsupportive family or abusive partner," she said. “These women can get a pin number and pick up the pills in the machine the next day.”

“In Poland, assisting with an abortion is a criminal offence. Even passing the pills from hand to hand can be considered a crime,” the Abortion Dream Team wrote in a statement. "That’s why we’re hacking the Criminal Code and bringing abortion into the 21st century.”

Nunchucks are a controlled weapon used in martial arts consisting of two or more batons joined by a cord, rope or chain, according to Western Australia state law. Nunchucks can only be carried in public in the state for use in legitimate sports, training or martial arts instruction.

The incidents are heightening concerns about female politicians’ safety and security in a country where lawmakers are highly accessible to the public.

Man charged with entering lawmaker's office with nunchucks

Prosecutors said in a Perth court on Thursday that John Lawrence Smart, 56, was screaming when he entered Western Australian state government minister Hannah Beazley’s electorate office in suburban Perth on Wednesday, demanding to see her while holding above his head two pieces of wood tied together.

Beazley wasn’t in the office at the time. Two staff members remained safe behind a security barrier in the office and no one was hurt.

“It was confronting,” Beazley posted on social media.

Smart said from the prisoner’s dock that he had been holding claves, not nunchucks. Claves are typically wooden sticks used as a percussion instrument.

Magistrate Heidi Watson refused to release Smart on bail, saying he posed a potential risk to himself and the public. She ordered Smart to be medically assessed while in custody. He had previously been involuntarily admitted to hospital with schizophrenia.

Smart did not enter pleas to charges of being armed, or pretending to be armed, in a way that may cause fear and with making an unlawful threat.

There was no allegation that Smart's alleged behavior was connected to the driver who hit federal lawmaker Helen Haines with his car in the east coast state of Victoria on Monday.

Haines' alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, appeared in a court on Wednesday on charges including intentionally causing serious injury. He did not enter pleas and remains in custody.

Police are still searching for a motive.

Haines, a 65-year-old independent lawmaker, remained in critical condition on Thursday in a Melbourne hospital where surgeons have amputated both her legs, a health department statement said.

Australians worry attacks threaten tradition of accessible politicians

Both the Haines and Beazley incidents have raised concerns about the safety of female politicians, who account for a growing proportion of lawmakers in Australian parliaments. Just under 50% of federal lawmakers and a majority of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Cabinet are women.

Australian lawmakers are some of the most accessible in the world and political violence has traditionally been rare. But there are fears that increasingly toxic public debate driven by social media creates additional risks for elected women.

Albanese said the fact that the threat to Beazley came so soon after the alleged attack on Haines was “just heartbreaking.” Beazley is the daughter of Albanese's former federal colleague, Kim Beazley.

“We can have debate and disagreement, but do it in a way without descending into the sort of violence that we have seen in too many parts of the world,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “It’s certainly not who we are as Australians.”

Albanese attended an online security briefing this week for women lawmakers in his center-left Labor Party. Security agencies addressed misogynistic threats directed at them.

Male and female federal lawmakers agree that women are facing the worst of the online abuse.

“Of course people are concerned. They’re anxious,” Albanese said. “There has been a normalization of behavior that can be very aggressive in a way that wasn’t happening a couple of decades ago.”

Governor-General abused on social media

Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who is only the second woman to ever serve as the British monarch’s representative in Australia, said that she was abused on social media for speaking at a press conference on Wednesday alongside Haines’ husband Phil Haines.

“Like any woman who has stepped up into any position across any part of our society, there is a unique and pernicious form of attack that comes our way,” Mostyn told ABC.

“Women across the country know that there are certain things that are reserved for women in that attack that go to our gender and they are often vicious and just despicable,” she added.

Tras exponer la víspera su informe sobre la situación de México ante la tercera comisión de la Asamblea General, Juan Pablo Albán, presidente del CED, expresó el miércoles dudas sobre las 16.000 personas que según el gobierno mexicano fueron localizadas en el último año.

Albán dijo en su cuenta de X que “es importante saber quienes son las personas localizadas, si ya fueron regresadas a sus familias”, y añadió que “quedan más 120.000 por localizar y hay que continuar los esfuerzos en tal sentido”.

La reacción del jurista ecuatoriano se dio horas después de que Sheinbaum celebró en su habitual conferencia matutina la postura del CED ante la tercera comisión de la Asamblea General asegurando que pasaron “de una crítica a una felicitación”, aunque añadió que los avances de su gobierno en esa materia no se debían al informe que realizó en abril el comité, sino al “cambio en las leyes que se hicieron y del trabajo constante de búsqueda que ha realizado la nueva comisionada”.

Al contrapunteo de declaraciones se sumó la noche del miércoles Jennifer Feller, representante permanente alterna de México ante la ONU, quien afirmó en su cuenta de la red social que la “cooperación, la auténtica, no se impone. Se construye con ética, sin protagonismos, manteniendo en todo momento el rigor y la transparencia en beneficio de las víctimas”.

Feller sostuvo que las intervenciones que realizaron los estados en la sesión de la comisión el martes evidenció que el diálogo internacional sobre desapariciones y desaparición forzada “exige seriedad, cooperación y compromiso genuino en el fortalecimiento del sistema internacional de derechos humanos”.

Desde abril pasado surgieron tensiones entre el gobierno de Sheinbaum y el CED luego que esa instancia solicitó remitir urgentemente la situación de México a la Asamblea General para que sopesara medidas de prevención, investigación, castigo y erradicación de las desapariciones forzadas.

Según el comité, que forma parte del sistema de la ONU, existen “indicios fundados” de que en México se han cometido y se siguen cometiendo desapariciones forzadas como “crímenes de lesa humanidad”, un planteamiento objetado por las autoridades mexicanas.

Al reporte del CED le siguió un informe de la Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos (CIDH) que instó en mayo a México a tomar acciones para hacer frente a lo que catalogó como una “grave” y “generalizada” crisis de desaparecidos que se ha exacerbado por la violencia, la complicidad de algunas autoridades con el crimen organizado y la “impunidad estructural”.

Desde el año pasado, la presidenta impulsó una serie de reformas para agilizar las búsquedas y presentó una revisión del registro nacional de personas desaparecidas. Organizaciones humanitarias locales criticaron dicha revisión, asegurando que las debilidades en los registros revelan la enorme impunidad que existe en el país sobre esos casos, y consideraron que las nuevas clasificaciones no tienen fundamento legal.

En un nuevo paso para atender la crisis, las autoridades mexicanas anunciaron la semana pasada que recibirán el apoyo de nueve expertos locales y extranjeros.

Sheinbaum decidió hacer los cambios tras la controversia que se desató en el país luego de que, en marzo de 2025, un colectivo denunció el hallazgo de numerosos restos óseos y cientos de prendas de vestir en el Rancho Izaguirre, ubicado a las afueras de Guadalajara, capital del estado de Jalisco. El predio era utilizado por el poderoso Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación como un centro de entrenamiento de sus integrantes.

The S&P 500 sank 1% following even sharper losses in Asia, whose markets are full of AI and other technology stocks. The Nasdaq composite was down 2%, as of noon Eastern time, but stocks outside of tech did better, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down a modest 14 points, or less than 0.1%.

AI-related stocks have been shaky on worries that their boom may be under threat because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips. Concerns also remain that stock prices simply shot too high in their yearslong frenzy, even though companies in the industry continue to report growth.

Lam Research, whose equipment and services help make semiconductors, reported gains in profit and revenue for the summer that were slightly stronger than analysts expected, for example. Usually, that helps boost a stock’s price, but Lam Research’s tumbled 10%.

It gave a range for its forecast for profit this quarter whose midpoint was slightly below analysts’ expectations. Its stock also came into the day with a 52.4% surge for the year so far, nearly quadruple the already healthy gain for the overall S&P 500, leaving plenty of room for potential disappointment.

Other big tech stocks were unsettled following their own quarterly reports that included at least some encouraging nuggets.

Meta Platforms, which is pushing its Muse AI agent, lost 5.4% after reporting stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit fell short. The company behind Facebook and Instagram also said it's creating a new class of stock to raise money to pay for AI investments and other expenses.

Tesla slipped 0.8% after flipping between gains and losses in the morning. It reported a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected, though its revenue was weaker than forecast.

The global tide against AI stocks knocked Nvidia down 3.7%. Because it’s the largest stock on Wall Street by total value, the chip giant was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

CoreWeave, which has borrowed money to buy Nvidia’s AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud, has been particularly shaky in recent weeks because of worries about its debt. It dropped 7.8%, though it’s swung between wide gains and losses of roughly 4% within each of the last two days.

The weakness for AI and other tech stocks began in Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 3.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 3% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 2.7%.

Also weighing on global stock markets was a jump in oil prices.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 2.2% to $111.19 after touching its highest level in five months. It’s at the high end of the $97 to $112 range it’s been yo-yoing through in October on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal.

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 stock index fell to one of the continent’s sharpest losses with a drop of 1.4% It has fewer tech stocks than Asian or U.S. indexes, but it was hurt by another jump in yields for French government bonds.

Yields have been generally climbing there because of worries about the government’s big debt load and strained budget. Violent protests across France have raised pressure on the government to increase spending, which could add further to its debt.

Worries about big government debt are weighing on almost every developed economy in the world, including the United States. Such concerns have pushed yields in the U.S. bond market to their highest levels in decades, along with high inflation, signals of a still-strong U.S. economy and other factors.

But U.S. yields nevertheless fell sharply Thursday in a signal that investors were buying U.S. government bonds in search of something safer to own as AI stocks tumbled.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 5.00% from 5.13% late Wednesday and from more than 5.30% earlier this month. That’s a major move for the bond market, though the 10-year yield remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran.

Thursday’s drop in yields came even as another report suggested the U.S. economy may be doing better than economists expected. It said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could signal that layoffs remain low across the country.

That solid economy has helped U.S. companies broadly to make bigger profits, which is what propelled the U.S. stock market to a record high earlier this month despite the many worries tugging at it. The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 rose on Thursday, only to get drowned out by the drops for more influential tech stocks.

Procter & Gamble, Lockheed Martin and CSX were among the latest companies to join the list of those topping profit expectations for the summer, and gains for their stocks helped limit the market’s losses on Thursday.

CEO Shailesh Jejurikar said Procter & Gamble expects “geopolitical and economic challenges” to continue, but it stood by its forecasts for growth in revenue, profit and other measures for the full year. The stock price for the company behind the Crest, Olay and Oral-B brands rose 6.2%.

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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

But now, some of the key data centers at the heart of its technical prowess have been knocked out by Ukrainian drone attacks in the 4 1/2-year-old full-scale invasion, suffering damage that could take a long time to repair.

Ukraine this month hit three main data centers belonging to tech giant Yandex, one for Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, and one for social media platform VKontakte, the country's equivalent to Facebook.

While Yandex, Sberbank and VKontakte are coy about the damage, people and businesses across Russia have reported widespread interruptions to cloud services. Banking, e-commerce, geolocation and ride-hailing services, as well as Alisa, Yandex’s virtual assistant, and multimodal AI chatbots all have suffered lasting disruptions.

The fallout even spread to Russia’s judicial system, reportedly forcing arbitration courts to cancel or postpone sessions and cutting database access.

Most experts predict repairing the damage could take months, if not years. Some warn that Moscow’s aspirations to become a leader in AI development could be significantly set back.

“This effectively sets Russia far behind in the AI race,” said Mikhail Klimarev, head of the Internet Protection Society activist group.

Data centers have been hit by both sides in the war

Data centers are the latest targets of aerial campaigns waged by both sides against each other’s vital infrastructure.

Russian missiles and drones have pummeled Ukraine’s power grid and other key sites, part of Kremlin efforts to weaken morale and resistance. Moscow stepped up those attacks as winter approaches, taking advantage of a shortage of U.S.-supplied Patriot interceptors, whose stockpiles have been drained by Washington's war with Iran.

Ukraine retaliated with waves of drone attacks against Russian oil refineries, triggering a massive fuel crisis and bringing the war home to millions of civilians.

U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed the attacks for higher global oil prices, which have escalated largely due to the U.S. war in Iran. Earlier this month, Trump struck a deal with President Vladimir Putin to import diesel oil, shocking Ukraine and its allies.

Ukraine also hit huge warehouses for Russia's top online retailers, Wildberries and Ozon.

Kyiv's attacks on Russian data centers closely followed Moscow’s recent strikes on data centers in Ukraine, which disrupted the internet and TV broadcasts.

On Oct. 8, Ukrainian drones hit a Yandex data center in Sasovo in the Ryazan region that houses two of the company’s three supercomputers. A data center in Kaluga was hit a day later and the one in Vladimir was struck Oct. 11.

The data center and AI hub for Sberbank was hit Oct. 14 in Balakovo in the Saratov region, and four days later, Kyiv struck a data center in St. Petersburg serving VKontakte.

Data centers are vulnerable

While oil refineries and warehouses are easy prey, data centers are even softer targets — massive buildings packed with servers and supporting power and cooling infrastructure. Lasting damage can result from a drone carrying a relatively light load of explosives.

The vulnerability of data centers was exposed by Iran, whose drones hit two Amazon Web Services data centers in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain. AWS said last month it was unable to restore access to the resources and data hosted at two of them.

Yandex has run drills for an accident that could incapacitate one of its six data centers, but it was caught unprepared when its three key facilities were hit over four days. It wasn’t immediately clear why air defenses near the sites had failed.

“The problem in Russia is that they’ve got to cover a big country with air defense and they don’t have enough,” said Nick Reiners, senior geotechnology analyst at Eurasia Group.

Russia’s efforts to build a ‘sovereign internet’ backfire

Ukraine has stored critical data on servers in allied European countries, helping limit the damage from Russian attacks. But Moscow’s strict digital sovereignty policy requires all data storage at home, making it extremely vulnerable.

“Because all the infrastructure and all the data is located inside Russia, it’s relatively easier to take down,” Reiners said.

Klimarev predicted the data center attacks could encourage many top Russian companies to move data abroad, while the authorities could ease their efforts to tighten internet controls to minimize the damage.

“Paradoxically, the strikes on data centers have saved the Russian internet from isolation, as they will now have to move computing assets, most likely, to Europe,” Klimarev said. “It’s quite likely that many Russian businesses are now roaming the European market to rent computing assets.”

Russians are vexed by service disruptions

Yandex dominates digital life in Russia and many former Soviet nations. It provides a wide variety of functions, including a search engine, cloud storage, payment apps, geolocation and ride-hailing services, and e-commerce platforms.

“Yandex is kind of like Uber and Amazon and Google and everything rolled into one,” with everything "concentrated in just a few data centers,” Reiners said. “From a strategic perspective, they’re an excellent target.”

The attacks on Yandex caused unprecedented disruptions, paralyzing payments, online orders, taxi rides and access to personal data.

Moscow resident Igor Mann said he couldn’t collect an order he placed with Yandex Market, an e-commerce platform. He said he tried using a virtual private network, but “nothing worked.”

Taxi driver Pavel Belyavskiy, who gets orders via Yandex’s ride-hailing app, couldn't connect with passengers.

“On several orders already, I’ve ended up waiting for a long time and had to cancel the ride because I couldn’t even get in touch with the passenger,” he said.

The attacks also caused temporary disruptions at some major companies and banks that rely on Yandex cloud services.

“It’s not just about convenience — it’s also about work ... tied to everyday life,” said another Moscow resident, Eduard Malyavko.

A blow to Russia’s AI ambitions

Yandex said it restored most key cloud services in the following days as it turned to other data centers in Russia. But the damage to the company’s AI development efforts is widely seen as massive and longer-lasting.

Yandex has invested in huge data centers as the global AI boom fuels demand for computing power. The company’s three supercomputers used to develop models are ranked among the top 500 in the world. Its most powerful computer — at the Sasovo data center — was ranked 19th.

Yandex didn't disclose the extent of the strikes' consequences, but satellite images indicated its data centers sustained serious damage. Some observers noted that fires triggered by the attacks probably seriously damaged high-end chips and other key equipment.

“With this kind of hit, it’s hard to expect that at least something was left intact — the data centers' equipment is fragile, demanding and expensive,” Klimarev said. “Soot from the fire is bad for electronics.”

While Russia already lagged years behind the U.S. and China, “Ukraine’s drone strikes will likely still set back Russian AI efforts further,” said Connor Martin, an expert with the Council on Foreign Relations.

He said in a commentary that Russia likely will struggle to quickly replace the U.S.-designed Nvidia A100 chips powering Yandex’s supercomputers.

Klimarev also said the global deficit of high-end chips, combined with the sanctions on their delivery to Russia, will make repairs long and costly.

“I’m not sure it can be done in half a year, a year, or even at all,” he said.

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Kelvin Chan in London and M Reo in Washington contributed.

“'Ashley, it's your favorite president,'” Iowa's Republican nominee for U.S. Senate recently recounted to an audience of her supporters. “That's how he introduced himself.”

She had had a more forceful message about communicating with President Donald Trump on the debate stage with her Democratic opponent, Josh Turek, as she tried to win over undecided voters.

“I’ll be President Trump’s ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him,” promised Hinson, who currently serves in the U.S. House. “He knows this.”

Although many Republicans are walking a political tightrope in this year's midterm elections, Hinson's balancing act is more challenging than most. Iowans have been hamstrung by manufacturing job losses, health care clinic closures and shrunken farm profits since Trump returned to the White House, but Hinson also is relying on the president's loyalists to show up for her.

On Thursday, Hinson will join Trump for a rally in Sioux City, which is in Iowa's conservative northwest corner. The visit to safe territory is geared toward boosting turnout even as it ties her more tightly to an unpopular president.

“I will be there at the rally to welcome him to Iowa because I think this is a contrast election," Hinson said on Fox News last week. “There was never a good time to elect a tax-and-spend liberal to the United States Senate but now would be the worst time.”

Trump is expected to visit the state again Nov. 1. He is “anxious for Iowans to hear his message before they vote,” Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in announcing the president's schedule.

Turek, a state lawmaker, was in Sioux City for a campaign event Tuesday and told reporters he was happy for Trump to visit to see how his tariffs and the Iran war have “hurt Iowa more than any other state.” Although Turek says he's willing to work with Trump on issues like immigration, he called Hinson a rubber stamp for the president's bad policies.

There are more examples of Hinson bucking the president

When Hinson kicked off her campaign last year, she touted Trump’s endorsement and said she was running to be Trump’s “top ally” in the Senate. Almost a year later, Hinson instead says she wants to be “Iowa’s best bipartisan fighter."

The message has crystallized since the summer, with more examples of Hinson vocalizing positions at odds with the president. Recent polling from late September and early October suggests it could work as she carves out about 1 in 10 voters who disapprove of the president even as she continues to secure overwhelming support from those who approve of Trump.

In August, she said Trump’s plan to increase beef imports from foreign countries in an attempt to lower prices was "a bad idea” that would hurt Iowa farmers.

Last month, two of Hinson's Iowa colleagues in the House broke with the White House and voted against Trump's ability to continue the war with Iran without congressional approval.

Hinson didn’t, but she said later the war has gotten too costly for Americans and called for Trump to bring the conflict to a “successful and immediate end.”

More recently, Hinson criticized Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russia in exchange for diesel fuel. She said Tuesday that the U.S. needs to make sure “dictators aren’t allowed to win wars.”

“I think the president and I share the goal of lowering costs for working families and for people who are using diesel,” she told reporters after a campaign event. “I, again, just don’t think we need to be making any deals with Russia.”

Hinson said she hadn’t talked with the president about the issue.

“Maybe I’ll have a chance to come have a conversation with him at the rally," she added.

Turek says he'll work with Trump on immigration

Hinson isn't the only one pitching bipartisanship. So is Turek. In fact, he's the only Iowa candidate seeking federal office who explicitly mentions Trump in general election television advertisements, according to an Associated Press analysis of AdImpact data.

In one, Turek is behind the wheel speaking directly to a camera about Interstate 35, which “connects Iowa to the southern border and the broken immigration system that both parties have failed to fix." He says: “In the U.S. Senate, I’ll work with anyone to fix it, including President Trump, to secure the border, stop the flow of drugs into Iowa.”

Turek has pushed back on the president’s policies, including tariffs and the war in Iran, as the catalysts of high costs that are hurting Iowans, but his message on working with the president on immigration and other select issues stands out from other Democrats. Republicans say he's just pretending to be a moderate to get elected.

Mazie Stilwell, executive director of the progressive organization Progress Iowa, said Turek's message on immigration targets a bloc of voters on an issue that's particularly important to them but doesn't overshadow his otherwise disciplined focus on the high costs facing Iowans.

Trump’s visit to the state Thursday, she added, is “a terrific reminder of the disaster that he has been and his administration has been for our bottom line, for everyday Iowans who are trying to make ends meet.”

Iowa Senate races often draw big spending

Iowa is no stranger to competitive Senate races even though Trump won the state by double digits in the last presidential election.

Ad spending on broadcast and cable television has already surpassed $200 million this cycle, AdImpact shows. But in today’s dollars, the total ad spending in the 2020 Senate race was even higher.

Republicans have spent slightly more for Hinson than Democrats for Turek. That was the opposite in 2020, when Democrats spent nearly $30 million more than the GOP did in their unsuccessful effort to unseat Sen. Joni Ernst.

Iowa Republican activist Kelley Koch has been concerned that complacency will dampen turnout from conservatives, even those who are loyal to the president.

"They say, ‘Why are you all hyped up about the midterms, Kelley, Trump will take care of everything,'” Koch said.

It’s an assumption she’s working to counteract, and she expects “the Trump effect” from his visits will help protect Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

And while Koch supports Hinson, she doesn’t like it when she talks about pushing back on Trump.

“Right now,” Koch said, “we had better unite around our president.”

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Associated Press reporter Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed.

Faith Hedgepeth was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she was beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012. Miguel Salguero Olivares was arrested nine years later after being pulled over for driving while intoxicated and providing a DNA sample that prosecutors say matched evidence from the crime scene.

He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, rape and burglary charges.

Testimony began Oct. 7 following eight days of jury selection. Salguero Olivares did not testify and his attorneys rested their case Wednesday without calling any witnesses. Nearly two dozen witnesses testified for the prosecution, including Hedgepeth’s roommate and other friends, crime scene technicians, state and local law enforcement and a DNA expert.

Early testimony focused on Hedgepeth’s life and her last night alive, when she and her roommate returned home from a club around 2 a.m. Karena Rosario testified that she was drunk and sick when Hedgepeth drove them home but later called a friend to pick her up and she went out again, leaving Hedgepeth in the apartment alone. She returned hours later that Sept. 7 to find Hedgepeth’s body.

An autopsy showed Hedgepeth suffered extensive skull fractures and cuts to her face and head, and she was also badly beaten on her arms and legs.

Prosecutors allege Salguero Olivares, now 33, was a stranger who killed Hedgepeth in a fit of rage. They said his DNA was found on a rum bottle covered in blood that investigators identified as the weapon in the killing, in Hedgepeth's body and on a note written on a fast-food bag found at the scene.

Erin Ermish, a forensic scientist with the state crime lab, testified that she could never say with 100% certainty that a DNA sample came from a particular person. But she said DNA swabbed from Hedgepeth’s body was 170 septillion times more likely to be a mixture of DNA from Hedgepeth and Salguero Olivares than from Hedgepeth and an unknown individual. One septillion is a 1 followed by 24 zeros. In contrast, NASA estimates the entire universe contains only 1 septillion stars.

Ermish also said the mixture of DNA from the top of the rum bottle was 48.6 tredecillion times more likely to be from Hedgepeth and Salguero Olivares than from two unknown, unrelated individuals. One tredecillion is a 1 followed by 42 zeros.

In cross-examining witnesses, defense attorneys questioned Rosario’s account of that night, the processing of the crime scene and the reliability of some DNA evidence. They pointed out that police failed to search some areas of the apartment and later lost some possible blood evidence.

Several jurors cried after viewing autopsy photos of Hedgepeth, according to local media accounts. Salguero Olivares, meanwhile, cried when prosecutors played video of a jailhouse call between him and a friend who has since died.

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The story has been updated to correct the spelling of Faith Hedgepeth’s last name in one reference.

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

On the eve of a major protest planned for Oct. 17, he was photographed at a Celine Dion concert. Early Monday morning, with French cities still smoldering and littered with wreckage from the riots, Macron was flying abroad to secure a favorable fuel supply deal.

Presidential contenders on the far right and far left seized on the unrest to attack him. Macron himself acknowledged “failures” in planning and intelligence gathering.

Constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term, the centre-right president entered the crisis with his popularity at its lowest since he took office in 2017 — below even the levels recorded during the “yellow vest” protests against social injustice and inequality that began in 2018.

He has yet to endorse a candidate, and it is unclear how much influence his backing would carry. Polls show moderates trailing far-right and far-left contenders.

With further protests planned for Thursday and Saturday, here is a look at France’s political landscape and how candidates are positioning themselves to succeed Macron.

The far right seeks to broaden support for Le Pen’s bid

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, seen as the favorite in next year's election, has sought to turn anger over the riots into support for her presidential bid, presenting herself as the alternative to a government she described as powerless.

“We are facing a state that is collapsing,” Le Pen told broadcaster FranceInfo on Wednesday. “We are facing a government in its final days that has, in reality, lost its grip and can no longer maintain control,” she said, blaming the violence on “far-left rioters” and “looters from the suburbs.”

Earlier this year, a Paris appeals court cleared a path for Le Pen to run by shortening a ban on seeking public office that had threatened her presidential ambitions. And now she is “the only candidate to capitalize on this event,” according to Frédéric Dabi, director general of Ifop, a pollster. That makes it hard to imagine her failing to reach the election's runoff, he added.

Jordan Bardella, president of Le Pen's National Rally party, has urged citizens to channel their anger into votes and promised, if she is elected, “to reestablish security.” He and Le Pen have called for more police equipment and personnel and tougher sentences for rioters.

Authorities have repeatedly blamed “far-left radicals” and opportunistic criminals for the violence.

The far left backs protesters' grievances

Far-left presidential contender Jean-Luc Mélenchon has backed the protest movement while condemning looting and vandalism. He has accused the government of inflaming tensions through its policing and failure to address demonstrators’ demands.

Protesters are calling for higher wages and pensions, better healthcare and other public services, and more funding for education.

Mélenchon, who joined Saturday’s peaceful march through Paris, has faced accusations from opponents that his criticism of police excuses violence.

His party, France Unbowed, has also backed student protests and high school blockades that began in mid-September, supporting demands for more teachers, better facilities and changes to university admissions.

Observers said it was too early to tell whether Mélenchon would gain or lose support. Violence attributed to radical far-left activists could deepen reservations among moderate voters, while his prominent support for protesters’ demands could strengthen his appeal on the left.

Wide field of candidates vying to succeed Macron

Political analysts also stress that electoral effects from events like last weekend's violence must be measured over time.

Polls before Saturday's violence and the only one conducted afterward show Le Pen as the clear front-runner, while placing Mélenchon in second position, though he remained in a close contest with more moderate contenders.

“Behind her, nothing is set in stone, nothing is guaranteed,” Dabi said on Sud Radio, stressing that three candidates appear in a position to reach the runoff.

The broad field of candidates features several centrists, including two former prime ministers appointed by Macron. Earlier this month, socialists and their allies chose a center-left European Parliament lawmaker as their presidential candidate.

None has managed to gain traction in opinion polls. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for April 18 and a runoff on May 2.

But first she has to convince New Mexicans that they should keep Democrats in charge. The state persistently ranks near the bottom nationally on poverty, crime and public education, and disenchanted voters are pleading for change.

A loss would be embarrassing for Democrats, who hold all the top state offices and have controlled the Legislature nearly continuously for almost a century. Haaland blames President Donald Trump for compounding the state's problems by cutting social programs that New Mexicans disproportionately rely on and increasing the cost of living by waging war against Iran. She proposes expanding existing tax credits and spending more on safety net programs to help families make ends meet.

Haaland, a citizen of Laguna Pueblo in west-central New Mexico, once relied on government assistance as a single mother. She rose through the ranks, serving in Congress for two years before being tapped as President Joe Biden’s interior secretary.

A victory in the governor’s race could elevate Haaland's standing in the Democratic Party. The party recently named New Mexico as one of the earliest states for its next presidential primary, bolstering its prominence in national politics and ensuring more visits from White House hopefuls.

Gregg Hull, the Republican contender and a former mayor of fast-growing Rio Rancho, said New Mexico can no longer afford more of the same and is “primed for a shift.” If he wins, Hull promises to cut taxes, which he said will fight poverty by allowing people to keep more money in their pockets.

“I think the time has come to have a leader who is going to focus on the true solutions to these problems,” Hull said.

Haaland’s national star power meets Hull’s local pitch

Haaland has leveraged her national profile into a nearly $20 million campaign fund and endorsements from big Democratic names, including former President Barack Obama and former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined Haaland at an Albuquerque daycare center this week to read stories to preschoolers and promote New Mexico’s fledgling universal childcare program, which Haaland has pledged to preserve.

“I have known and worked with Deb Haaland for many years, and she is a fighter on behalf of opportunities for all of our children,” Warren said.

Hull, meanwhile, has emphasized his record leading Rio Rancho, a suburb of Albuquerque, through a period of fast economic growth. He says he would apply lessons from that experience to attract large employers to the state and boost workers’ incomes.

That pitch resonates with A.J. Rodriguez, a school security guard who lives in Edgewood and said local success means more to him than federal experience.

“I do like how he was running Rio Rancho," Rodriguez said. “I liked his stance on crime.”

Soaring oil prices pad state coffers

New Mexico’s next governor will face stubborn challenges but also inherit a financial cushion that could be used to address them.

As the nation's No. 2 oil-producing state, New Mexico has used record revenues over the years to build substantial budget reserves and multibillion-dollar permanent funds that help pay for schools and childcare. Higher energy prices stemming from the war with Iran have provided an additional boost.

In that windfall, Hull sees an opportunity to reduce New Mexicans’ tax burden. He has a plan to gradually phase out state income tax for all residents while reining in recent growth in state spending.

“If you want to raise people out of poverty, the best way to do that is to improve their personal wealth,” he said.

Haaland favors doubling down on free childcare and free college tuition and shoring up government assistance for healthcare and food after federal cuts under Trump. Once a supporter of the Green New Deal, a sweeping plan for transitioning away from fossil fuels to fight climate change, Haaland acknowledges the oil and gas industry’s role in funding New Mexico’s social safety net.

But she said the surging revenue comes at the cost of higher prices.

“I’m not happy about that because it’s caused people a lot of heartache,” Haaland said.

New Mexico voters focus on affordability

Chris Flores, a volunteer for Hull's campaign, believes strongly in the candidate’s proposal to eliminate income tax, starting with the lowest income New Mexicans.

“I’ll be able to pay off the biggest debt that I’ve ever had,” said Flores, who lives in Albuquerque. She meant the student loans that have prevented her from fixing up her house and saving for retirement.

Rodriguez is skeptical of the tax break plan and wonders how the state will make up for lost income. Still, he says Democrats have “mismanaged” New Mexico's persistent problems, and it's time for a Republican to set the state's political agenda.

Journeyman plumber Alfred Lujan blamed Republicans for rising prices, and said it costs him $150 to fill up his work truck with diesel. He said Haaland understands what it means to live on a tight budget.

“She’s had setbacks in her life and she’s come back from that," the 47-year-old Albuquerque resident said. “That’s really what makes me gravitate toward her.”

At a campaign event in Gallup, Haaland’s celebrity status with some Native American voters was on display. She took selfies with students and accepted gifts of handmade jewelry and pottery from supporters.

Generita Francisco and Angela Bahe, both citizens of the Navajo Nation, were attracted to her pledge to help residents enroll in public health benefits. Both said they are priced out of the insurance market and forced to rely on Gallup’s aging and understaffed Indian Health Service hospital.

The two women, who left with autographs, have watched Haaland’s political rise with pride. But if she's elected, they vowed to hold her to a high standard.

“Everything she’s promising, she needs to fulfill it,” Bahe said.

His last three films — “Ida,” “Cold War” and his latest, “Fatherland” — are all 90 minutes or less. Each is shot in black and white, in a boxy academy ratio. And none has a single ounce of fat on it.

“It feels a bit controversial what I’m doing,” Pawlikowski says, chuckling. “I’m quite aware that it’s provocative to be so stripped down.”

In an era where three-hour movies are commonplace, Pawlikowski, the 69-year-old Polish filmmaker, has refined a style of less is more. His movies are brief but unhurried, lean yet profound.

“You try to distill it, distill it, distill it,” he says.

That approach has made Pawlikowski a leading international filmmaker and a hero to lovers of short movies. “Ida” (2013), about a Polish woman who finds out she’s Jewish just as she’s about to become a nun, won the Academy Award for best international film. “Cold War” (2018), about a doomed romance in postwar Poland, won him best director at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for best director. “Fatherland,” too, won him best director in Cannes in May.

A postwar Germany, divided between ‘Stalin or Mickey Mouse’

In the 82-minute film, which Mubi releases in select theaters Friday, Hanns Zischler plays the German Nobel Prize-winning novelist Thomas Mann and Sandra Hüller his daughter, Erika. In the aftermath of World War II, they take a road trip through the ruins of Germany. They’re itinerant in their home country, traveling between U.S.-controlled Frankfurt and Soviet-controlled Weimar.

“Stalin or Mickey Mouse” is how one character frames the choice before the Manns in a Germany beginning to reckon with, or forget, the past. For Pawlikowski, it’s a dichotomy with shades of today’s political divisions. In Poland, “Ida” was criticized by right-wing nationalists who said it showed the country in a bad light.

“There was an election campaign going on, and it was a bad time to show it,” Pawlikowski says. “But it wasn’t just the right that attacked. It was attacked for being antisemitic. All these people can be struck in their narratives and find something in your film that they hate.”

“Art is good for you, but it’s not going to solve any problems,” he adds.

Cutting scenes and maintaining rhythm

The value art has next to political power is at the center of “Fatherland.” Mann, having fled to America to escape the Nazis, is being courted by both the West and the East. Meanwhile, former Nazis are returning to society and advancing their own view of Germany.

Pawlikowski began by taking real events and condensing them. Mann’s trip was with his wife, not his daughter. They visited more places over a longer period of time, but Pawlikowski limited himself to two cities and five days.

That was only the start of Pawlikowski paring things down. What’s most missing in “Fatherland,” you realize afterward, are the transitory moments that lead into or out of a scene.

“You don’t need the scenes that get you from A to B. Just have strong scenes side by side. They will function regardless,” Pawlikowski says. “The main thing is that it has music and a good rhythm.”

Unlike his somber, terse movies, Pawlikowski is chatty, self-deprecating and quick to laugh. He likes to shoot for five days in a week, have a day off and spend the other day editing — a part of the process usually not begun until after production is over.

“People say, ‘Oh your scripts are so well done,’” he says. “The ideas are there and there’s a beginning and a middle and an end. But actually, it’s the luxury of being able to write and rewrite all the time and sometimes shoot something else and scrap another thing.”

For Hüller, doing more with less dialogue

Reshoots for larger productions can be costly. But on “Fatherland,” it was easier.

Pawlikowski kept two locations, hotel rooms, dressed for shooting, just in case. He originally had a big emotional scene when Erika finds out her brother died and meets up with an Associated Press reporter character named Betty (Anna Madeley). After looking at it, he decided to reshoot the scene with Erika, feeling overwhelmed with grief, simply opening her window and screaming at loud Germans on the nighttime street below.

“I looked at it and wondered, ‘Maybe Betty’s not the thing. Maybe she should just be alone with her memory of Klaus and take it out on the poor Nazis,’” says Pawlikowski.

The result is one of the standout moments in Hüller’s otherwise restrained performance. Hüller, whose remarkable 2026 has also included the films “Project Hail Mary,” “Digger” and “Rose,” suspected going into “Fatherland” that Pawlikowski’s precision would heighten her scenes.

“It has a lot to do with presence and awareness,” Hüller says. “And with a rich inner movement that’s not necessarily seen on the outside. But you can feel it, in some way. The more precise this inner movement is, the better it works in that very precise (camera) frame. That’s something I had to find out.”

Still, there was dialogue Hüller loved that she had to accept being cut.

“There was one line where Sandra said, ‘Oh, I love that line,’” says Pawlikowski. “OK, but you’re never going to miss it because what we have has such a beautiful flow to it. Just because it’s a clever line doesn’t mean we have to have it.”

For Pawlikowski, paring away isn't just an aesthetic. It's a way of life.

“I’m all into simplifying life, anyways,” he says, smiling. “Stick to your friends. Like what you like. Try to be honest. If you can do that in film, or any kind of art form, it helps. And you feel you’re within yourself.”

For the carriage drivers, it's unclear what comes next.

“No one can come up with an appropriate answer because there is none,” said Alexus Lawson, a 28-year-old carriage driver from Queens who grew up with horses and has worked as a riding instructor. Now, she worries about what would become of 7-year-old Starlight and her other horses. “Without a job, how can I take care of my horses?”

The New York City Council is expected to pass a bill Thursday that would ban horse-drawn carriage rides by June 2028, pulling back the reins after the death of a teenage tourist last spring spurred the latest call to end the rides after decades of opposition from activists.

But the one question that has come up time and again — what to do with drivers whose jobs would be eliminated — remains largely unanswered.

The legislation requires Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office to develop a plan by next April to help the more than 150 remaining drivers find other work. That would include referrals for job openings in the city's transit, hospitality and taxi industries, as well as career counseling. It also would anticipate the administration considering some form of compensation for industry workers.

City Hall is working on a detailed plan for the transition of the workforce and has started discussions on potential compensation, a spokesperson for the mayor said. And Mamdani himself has said government has a “civic responsibility to ensure that we are not leaving anybody out to dry.”

Medet Fidan, a former cab driver who traded his steering wheel for a set of reins after ride sharing apps upended the taxi industry, said he felt like he was being targeted.

“I think the city is leaving us a big mess,” said Fidan, 56, who has been driving a carriage for 15 years. “We’re going to lose our businesses, we’re going to lose our jobs, we’re going to lose our livelihoods.”

Council Speaker Julie Menin “will remain engaged in the transition process,” a spokesperson said, adding that the legislation seeks to address the longstanding question of what happens to displaced carriage drivers by setting a firm deadline for City Hall to act.

The union representing the drivers has vowed to file a legal challenge “the minute the ink dries” on the legislation.

Mamdani's two immediate predecessors as mayor had both called to end the industry, but neither succeeded.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio campaigned on ending the rides on day one of his administration but the effort wilted amid a backlash from unions and a big media blitz involving actor Liam Neeson. Eric Adams, the mayor just before Mamdani, floated a ban late in his term but the proposal went nowhere.

The latest push began in June after an 18-year-old Indian tourist, Romanch Mahajan, died after jumping from a runaway carriage during a ride. That appeared to be the first fatality involving a horse carriage in Central Park since the rides began.

Mahajan's family has personally appealed to the city to end the rides, offering tearful testimony that they thought the rides were safe. His father, Deepak Mahajan, told lawmakers that his son jumped from the carriage to help his mother after she was thrown out of her seat after the horse suddenly bolted.

Carriage drivers have expressed sympathy for Mahajan and his family but argue that they are being unfairly targeted because of a single accident.

“It does nothing for alternate employment, for the continuation of our businesses,” said Christina Hansen, a longtime carriage driver and industry spokesperson. “Who’s going to pay my rent while I’m looking for a job?”

Federal authorities are investigating potential fraud in her family's immigration paperwork and have issued grand jury subpoenas to some of her relatives, a person briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Omar, who was born in Somalia and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, said Wednesday in her first interview since the search that she is “confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The progressive Minnesota Democrat has been a frequent critic and target of President Donald Trump, who has on multiple occasions pushed for the prosecution of his perceived political enemies.

In the interview with MS NOW, Omar said she was rattled by the search weeks out from the Nov. 3 midterms, which will decide control of the House and Senate. She is running for reelection in a deep blue district centered in Minneapolis and is expected to retain her seat.

Omar recalled waking around 6 a.m. to Homeland Security investigators banging on her door with a warrant. They searched for four or five hours and seized 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a Somali language children’s book and a vintage camera that her husband had received as a gift, she said.

The Justice Department has shared few details about the case other than saying it was a criminal investigation.

Omar came with her family to the U.S. at age 12, after they obtained asylum. She became a U.S. citizen five years later, in 2000.

“It would be a huge undertaking to, I suppose, indict a 12-year-old for so cleverly conspiring to defraud immigration services to come to the United States. I'm sure there are a lot of smart 12-year-olds, but that seams like a leap,” she said in the interview.

The search drew sharp condemnation from congressional Democrats, who also questioned the timing. The Justice Department has historically avoided overt investigative actions involving candidates in the immediate run-up to an election.

Omar said the agents were “intrusive but polite,” logging the items they took and putting back everything else in its place.

___

Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Washington.

Edy Leonel Vásquez Rabanales, jefe de la comisaría, y el agente Fredy Santiago Velásquez Pérez fueron sentenciados a 30 años tras las rejas por cada una de las dos víctimas, después de ser encontrados culpables del delito de ejecución extrajudicial. En tanto, Mauricio Abraham Contreras cumplirá una pena de 30 años en prisión por un cargo de ejecución extrajudicial. La legislación guatemalteca contempla un máximo de 50 años de cárcel.

El asesinato de Eldin Leonel Choc Xi y Milton Nelson Santamaría en abril de 2024 consternó a la comunidad de San Andrés Itzapa, al este de la capital.

Agentes de la Policía Nacional Civil detuvieron a los dos hombres mientras tomaban cerveza en una tienda, argumentando que estaban escandalizando. Una vez detenidos, fueron trasladados a una subestación, donde fueron agredidos con insultos homofóbicos, golpeados y torturados, según testimonios presentados por la fiscalía.

El tribunal condenó a las agentes Yuliza Nabely Ayala Yol y Yorleni Lisbeth Macario Ramos a seis años de prisión conmutables, después de determinar que profirieron insultos homofóbicos mientras sus compañeros torturaban a las víctimas.

Al darse cuenta del mal estado de salud de los dos hombres, los mismos agentes llamaron a los bomberos, quienes trasladaron a Santamaría —un ciudadano canadiense— a un hospital donde murió desangrado. Choc Xi fue ingresado a una patrulla y trasladado a un lugar desconocido. Su cuerpo fue localizado varios días después en una zona boscosa de la localidad.

Dos de los bomberos involucrados fueron condenados después de admitir que habían mentido en sus reportes sobre la muerte de Santamaría, asegurando que había muerto en un accidente de tránsito.

En total, cuatro agentes policiales fueron detenidos, mientras que Vásquez Rabanales, quien fue señalado por sus colegas de encabezar la agresión, huyó del país.

Dos meses después de la muerte de los dos hombres, Vásquez Rabanales fue detenido en Arizona, cerca de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, mientras trataba de huir de las autoridades.

“Todos callaron (el crimen)” dijo una jueza.

Durante la tercera jornada de negociaciones desde mediados de agosto pasado, ambas partes se reunieron con el propósito de diseñar una agenda conjunta para fortalecer la democracia y restituir derechos fundamentales luego de casi tres décadas de gobiernos socialistas.

La exdiputada Dinorah Figuera —quien encabeza a un grupo de exlegisladores de oposición que en su momento intentó destituir al expresidente Nicolás Maduro— y el presidente del Legislativo, Jorge Rodríguez —hermano de la presidenta interina, Delcy Rodríguez— leyeron un comunicado en el que se destaca la decisión de “iniciar un proceso de revisión profunda de diversos instrumentos legales que contribuya al fortalecimiento de la convivencia democrática, la paz, el respeto, la responsabilidad, la reconciliación”.

Entre las leyes que serán revisadas destacan la ley de “partidos políticos, reuniones públicas y manifestaciones para garantizar la participación de todos los actores políticos… el pluralismo político, la autonomía de las organizaciones" partidistas, resaltó el comunicado.

También se revisará la ley de la Contraloría General de la República para abordar lo “inherente al proceso de inhabilitaciones”.

Durante años, estos instrumentos legales permitieron restringir la participación política y facilitaron las inhabilitaciones para ejercer un cargo público sobre numerosos políticos, como la líder opositora y Premio Nobel de la Paz, María Corina Machado, quien fue inhabilitada por 15 años poco después de anunciar su intención de participar en los comicios presidenciales del 2024.

La Contraloría General, bajo control oficialista desde la presidencia del difunto Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), inhabilitó a muchos líderes de la oposición y disidentes mediante procesos administrativo por presuntas irregularidades durante su ejercicio como funcionarios públicos.

En Venezuela la inhabilitación política es una pena que se aplica cuando existe una sentencia judicial firme. Los críticos de Chávez y del exmandatario Nicolás Maduro, afirman que se ha empleado esta herramienta como arma política desde hace años. Machado y otros políticos inhabilitados no cuentan con condenas penales.

También se revisarán leyes y decisiones judiciales que hayan socavado la autonomía de las organizaciones con fines políticos.

Washington es el principal impulsor de los diálogos. Después de la captura de Maduro y su esposa en un audaz operativo militar el pasado 3 de enero, el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump propuso un plan de “tres fases” para Venezuela, el cual incluye la estabilización, la recuperación y la transición democrática.

Maduro fue trasladado a Nueva York, donde enfrenta un juicio por cargos de narcotráfico y otros delitos.

En el primer ciclo de conversaciones se acordó renovar en su totalidad al máximo tribunal, incluida la renovación y ampliación de la comisión de postulaciones para la designación de los 32 magistrados que lo componen, además de conformar un consejo de revisión de credenciales y requisitos de los candidatos, a fin de evitar irregularidades en la designación de los magistrados.

La oposición ha acusado al oficialismo de designar a sus aliados como magistrados con el fin de asegurarse el control del máximo tribunal y del organismo electoral.

Jesus Aguirre, a U.S. citizen recovering from a lung transplant, fears he may have only days left. He spoke to Local 10 from his hospital bed at Jackson Memorial Hospital, asking for help bringing his family back to his side.

“We don’t know how long it’s going to last,” Aguirre said in Spanish, explaining that he could have as little as an hour or a day.

Aguirre’s son had traveled to Miami on a tourist visa but was detained at the airport and deported to Mexico as his father tried to recover. Aguirre’s wife, who was in the U.S. without legal status, also left his side to return to Mexico and try to resolve her situation through the proper channels.

Now, nearly four months later, the family is still waiting.

Aguirre’s son, who shares his father’s name, spoke to Local 10 from Torreón, Mexico. He said he and his mother traveled hours to the nearest U.S. consulate in Juárez for an appointment, where they were told they would have to wait for a pardon.

But time is running out.

“We don’t have time because my dad is very sick right now,” he responded.

When told that his father’s dying wish was to see him, his son agreed.

“Yes, for the last time,” he said.

The separation has been difficult for the family, which is asking the government for help so they can be together again.

“It’s very hard because we are good people,” Aguirre’s son said.

For Aguirre, the chance to see his wife face to face one last time would mean everything. He said he wants to thank her for always being there for him.

The family is asking for help to say goodbye and make sure Aguirre does not have to face his final moments alone.

Local 10 is in contact with the State Department seeking comment and more information about the family’s situation and whether anything can be done to help.

Edwards, who scored 41 in last season’s opener at Portland, joined only Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan as players with at least 40 points in multiple openers. Chamberlain did it four times — consecutively from 1959 through 1962 — and Jordan did it in 1986, 1989 and 1995.

Jaden McDaniels scored 17, Ayo Dosunmu had 16 and Jonathan Kuminga added 12 for the Timberwolves, who won for the sixth time in their last eight season openers. Rudy Gobert grabbed 15 rebounds and Edwards had 10 for Minnesota, which outscored Miami 63-24 on 3-pointers and outrebounded the Heat 52-34.

Antetokounmpo scored 35 before fouling out of his Heat debut, 21 of those points coming in the first half. Bam Adebayo scored 15 for Miami, which has dropped three consecutive season-openers — the third time in franchise history that’s happened.

Antetokounmpo was 13 for 19 from the floor and had six rebounds. It still wasn’t anywhere near enough to keep the Heat close in the opener.

Minnesota took command with a six-minute burst that started late in the second quarter and continued early into the third. It wound up as a 23-7 run, one that turned a one-point Timberwolves lead into a 78-61 edge. Edwards and Ball combined for 17 points during that spurt, while the Heat missed six of nine shots and turned the ball over on four possessions.

Miami was within eight midway through the third quarter, before Minnesota went on a 45-23 run. Edwards had 18 in that burst, while Miami missed on 11 of 12 3-point tries.

Up next

Timberwolves: Visit Orlando on Friday.

Heat: Host Detroit on Friday.

The answer, delivered during a debate with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, aligned Marshall with President Donald Trump's freshly antagonistic posture toward Ukraine, which has spent more than four years defending itself against an invasion. Trump says Ukraine's strikes on Moscow's refineries are responsible for high fuel costs, and said he wants to alleviate the problem by importing Russian diesel.

Marshall balked at that Wednesday, saying “it doesn't sound like a great idea.” But he said ”if this brings Russia to the bargaining table, and it ends the war, then I am all for it right now.”

Hamilton sharply criticized Marshall's stance, saying “nobody believes” Ukraine is to blame.

“What you said just now is you’re going to sell out our friends in Ukraine,” Hamilton said. “That’s not OK."

It was the second and final debate in the Kansas Senate race before the Nov. 3 election. Marshall is seeking a second term, and the race is considered close even though a Democrat hasn’t won a Senate seat in Kansas since 1932. Hamilton is the founder and senior pastor of the nation’s largest United Methodist church.

The cost of diesel is a particularly potent issue in Kansas because the fuel powers its agricultural economy. Hamilton has repeatedly talked on the campaign trail about high diesel prices as a consequence of an “unnecessary” war with Iran waged by Trump. Diesel averaged $6.32 a gallon this week, up from $3.62 a gallon a year ago, according to AAA.

Hamilton has called for suspending federal fuel taxes as a temporary solution while the war in Iran continues. He said he would work to force Trump to end the Iran war. Marshall said he wants the war to end as soon as possible, without committing to trying to force it.

Marshall also tried to tie Hamilton to liberal Democrats' Green New Deal proposals for shifting the U.S. economy fully to renewable energy to combat climate change, suggesting those ideas have prevented the U.S. from building new diesel refineries.

Hamilton said he supports parts of the Green New Deal but not the entire package.

Neighbors heard a girl screaming and called 911. A woman speaking through a Spanish translator said the dog wouldn’t let the girl go, biting one arm before going after the other.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputies responded to Northwest 66th Street around 4:40 p.m. for an animal bite. Deputies said they learned the dog was a family pet.

The dog’s owner, who asked to remain anonymous, told Local 10 the incident was a shock.

“It is a big shock because this is not him. This is completely out of character,” she said.

The American pit bull, named Diablo, was being sought by his owner after the victim’s mother called her.

“I heard that the police did tase him,” the owner said.

She said she rents the property so Diablo can live there comfortably. A mother and her two children help care for the 5-year-old dog, she said.

“I do have someone that’s here with him to just give him food, water, bathe him and everything like that,” she said. “Because I don’t have the groomer coming as often as I used to.”

She said the caretakers receive free rent in exchange for helping care for the dog.

MDSO told Local 10 that a deputy tried to Tase the dog but missed.

The dog ran away and remains on the loose.

“It was just an unfortunate game of whack-a-mole,” Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said Wednesday. “The knee got to a better spot, and then just kind of the biceps area was bothering him. Some of that would calm down for some period, some of that would get re-irritated. It was just a lot of different things he was trying to contend with at once.”

Ohtani and the Dodgers are equally enthused about him returning to two-way duties next season. What both sides need to figure out is how to keep him healthy while hitting and pitching into October.

“I'm not only expecting him to pitch,” Friedman said, “we're excited about him pitching.”

Ohtani didn't pitch after July 3 this year due to injuries that also affected his hitting. He had his worst offensive numbers since joining the Dodgers in December 2023, and his 30 home runs were his fewest since 2019 with the Los Angeles Angels. His three-run drive in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against Milwaukee snapped a 25-game homerless streak.

Ohtani turns 33 next July and has undergone two Tommy John surgeries on his right elbow during his MLB career. Friedman said how to better manage Ohtani's two-way workload for a potential full season next year had yet to be discussed since the season ended last week with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Brewers in the NLCS.

“I expect us to throw our heads together and figure out both in the batter's box, on the mound, just how we marry all that together to have him impact us as much as he can during the regular season and then also be in a really good spot going into October,” Friedman said.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

“One of the reasons that I did that is ‘ Zuckerbucks,'” U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said in a debate, using a term coined by opponents of the money.

Tiffany also said he opposed certifying Wisconsin's election results because clerks in Milwaukee and Dane counties advised voters they could claim to be “indefinitely confined” due to the COVID-19 pandemic and receive absentee ballots without showing a photo ID.

More than 200 communities across Wisconsin received about $10 million in grants from the Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life to help run elections during the pandemic.

“That’s why I objected, because the people of the state of Wisconsin, they did not want that,” Tiffany said.

The debate exchange was an example of how Trump's false claims about election fraud and his attempt to prevent Joe Biden from taking office continue to ripple through American politics.

Tiffany’s opponent, Democrat David Crowley, said Tiffany’s explanation of his actions in 2020 was inadequate.

“He didn’t say anything nefarious was going on with our elections,” Crowley said. “He didn’t say anything happened throughout the process. He just didn’t like the fact of how money was being spent.”

Crowley said Tiffany can't be trusted to certify the results of the 2028 presidential election.

But Tiffany said, “I will certify the election in 2028 regardless of who the winner is.”

In 2024, Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment backed by Republicans that bans the use of private grant money to run elections.

Trump unsuccessfully tried to disqualify 220,000 absentee ballots from Milwaukee and Dane counties, a move Tiffany supported. Tiffany, who is endorsed by Trump, also voted against counting electoral votes in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Five of the past seven presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a percentage point. Trump won in 2024 and 2016, but lost in 2020.

Luego de un vuelo de más de 35 horas, tres hembras y un macho de entre 4 y 15 años llegaron a la ciudad en el occidente mexicano como parte del programa Ex Situ de la Asociación Europea de Zoológicos y Acuarios (EAZA, por sus siglas en inglés), el cual busca preservar al rinoceronte blanco del sur.

El segundo mamífero terrestre más grande del mundo se ha visto golpeado en las últimas décadas por la caza furtiva y la pérdida de su hábitat, lo que ha reducido su población a unos 15.700 ejemplares. Los programas de conservación en distintas partes del mundo han contribuido a preservar la población del rinoceronte blanco del sur.

Los cuatro jóvenes rinocerontes fueron trasladados en cuatro contenedores montados en camiones que atravesaron la ciudad hasta su nuevo hogar en el zoológico de Guadalajara, que según explicó su director, Luis Soto, fue seleccionado por la EAZA debido a que la mayor parte del año suele tener un clima templado con temperaturas que rondan los 21 grados centígrados.

Soto afirmó que los cuatro rinocerontes llegaron en “buenas condiciones” y que incluso Wami, el macho de 15 años de edad, ya comenzó a comer “pasto jalisciense”.

El rinoceronte blanco del sur suele alcanzar una altura de 1,86 metros y pesar entre 1.600 y 2.300 kilogramos. Tiene una coloración gris, aunque se le identifique como blanco. La especie se caracteriza por su boca ancha y cuadrada adaptada para pastar en las sabanas africanas.

También existe la subespecie del rinoceronte blanco del norte, la cual habita en otra parte del continente africano y de la que sólo sobreviven dos hembras en estado natural en Kenia.

Soto declaró a la prensa que el objetivo del programa de EAZA es proteger al rinoceronte blanco del sur, garantizar su reproducción bajo cuidado profesional, y evitar que corra con la misma suerte que los del norte.

El zoológico de Guadalajara cuenta actualmente con más de 6.000 animales, incluida Maité, una de tres rinocerontes en el recinto.

La veterinaria Montserrat Carrazco, quien tendrá a su cargo el cuidado de los cuatro rinocerontes recién llegados, se mostró visiblemente emocionada y afirmó que espera que el centro pueda aportar su “granito de arena” para el estudio de la especie.

“Creo que debe ser un motivo de orgullo de la ciudad el decir que el zoológico de la ciudad hace un esfuerzo muy grande por la conservación”, destacó.

BioWare announced the closure on social media Wednesday following a report by Bloomberg that also said the company is laying off 400 people, including about 50 at BioWare.

The Redwood Shores, California-based maker of popular titles like “Battlefield” and “The Sims” closed the $55 billion sale of its business to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, investment firm Silver Lake Partners and Affinity Partners, which is run by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, in August.

Representatives for EA did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the layoffs.

“What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember,” the studio said via social media. “These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with characters, and made these worlds your own.”

BioWare built its reputation on immersive role-playing adventures, from sword-and-sorcery fantasies like “Baldur’s Gate” and “Dragon Age” to science fiction epics like “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” and “Mass Effect.”

But its effort to branch out into multiplayer shooters, 2019’s “Anthem,” steered away from the studio’s strength as a creator of compelling single-player narratives. It failed to find the sort of loyal audience that keeps online hits like “Fortnite” and “Overwatch” humming.

Meanwhile the latest installments of its two most popular original franchises — 2017’s “Mass Effect: Andromeda” and 2024’s “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” — met with mixed reviews and disappointed many fans. A new chapter of “Mass Effect” was in development before BioWare announced its shutdown.

BioWare, based in Canada, was founded in 1995 and acquired by EA in 2007.

__

Associated Press Writer Lou Kesten in Washington contributed.

The National Weather Service issued multiple warnings as severe thunderstorms moved through the state overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday, encouraging people to seek shelter and stay away from windows as damaging 2- to 3-inch (5- 7.6-centimeter) hail struck the area. Hail pummeled people's roofs, shattered windows and dented cars.

Tornado watches were issued for multiple areas — the first the state has seen since October 2010.

Warm, moist air moving north fuels storms coming off the California coast. Changing winds can make them spin, creating the conditions for tornadoes, said Ryan Bernhart, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff.

“This is very unusual for this area at this time of the year,” Bernhart said.

Strong winds toppled trees in Flagstaff and Mesa, with some landing on walls and carports. A few dozen ponderosa pines over 30 feet (9 meters) tall fell down in the Coconino National Forest, northwest of Flagstaff.

“These are not small trees that are down," Bernhart said. “These are pretty strong trees that had been knocked down.”

The greatest threat to the Phoenix metro area is heavy rainfall and flash flooding tonight and Thursday morning, said Mark O’Malley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Phoenix.

___

Jessica Hill reported from Las Vegas.

The debate kicked off a breakneck final stretch in one of the nation’s most closely watched and competitive Senate races. Former President Barack Obama will rally in Detroit on Saturday, followed by Trump on Sunday.

Wednesday’s hourlong debate followed one on Oct. 8 that devolved into personal insults and attacks, with the candidates continuing to argue even during a commercial break. This time, the exchanges were slightly less contentious and focused on policy, though both candidates repeatedly returned to their central attacks.

“Those playing MAGA bingo at home, you just heard like three of the buzzwords,” El-Sayed said after Rogers criticized his policies. Rogers later shot back: “The bingo game ought to be how many times can he put the word Trump in any answer.”

The most contentious exchange came when Rogers again tried to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, repeating an allegation he and Trump have raised in recent weeks. El-Sayed has denied any affiliation with the group.

“If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know: Are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?” Rogers said.

El-Sayed, who would be the country's first Muslim senator, called Rogers’ questioning of his commitment to the Constitution “shameful.”

“I’m proud to be an American," El-Sayed said. “I’m proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray.”

Rogers offered qualified criticism of Trump’s tariffs, calling them a “mixed bag” and questioning those imposed on Canada because of the close ties between the two countries’ auto industries. But he also praised Trump’s immigration enforcement and defended the threat posed by Iran, while El-Sayed blamed the president’s war there for higher gas and grocery prices.

Freedom demanded he be allowed to sit in his purchased seat, and for the second time this season didn’t make it through a WNBA game. He posted a video at halftime saying he had been thrown out of the arena.

“I just got kicked out of a WNBA game for the second time in a row for supporting WOMEN!” Freedom said on his post. "Let that sink in AMERICA!"

The video posted by Freedom showed him being informed at the entry gate: “If you come in you have to agree to go to the suite.”

Freedom responded: “I purchased tickets, right? Just because I purchased tickets, I would like to sit in my seat. That's all I want.”

An Atlanta police officer told Freedom: “You're free to go to the city of Atlanta streets. That's another private establishment over there. He's free to go there. He just can't be here.”

A State Farm Arena public relations official said Freedom “was offered the suite for his safety and he rejected it.”

Before the game, a State Farm Arena statement said Freedom had been offered the suite.

“Enes Kanter Freedom has contacted federal, state and local authorities, the WNBA, the Atlanta Dream and State Farm Arena officials to express concerns about his personal safety during his planned attendance at Game 3 of the WNBA Finals tonight,” the statement said. "The safety and security of our guests and team members is our highest priority.

“Following consultations with the WNBA, Dream ownership, State Farm Arena leadership and security officials, we have directed Mr. Freedom to watch tonight’s game from a private luxury suite. This arrangement is intended to address his security concerns and help provide a safe and positive experience for him and other guests. The suite will have additional security and will be his designated viewing location for the game. State police have also assigned an officer to Mr. Freedom at his request.”

Freedom announced on social media on Monday he planned to attend the game. It was his first WNBA game since late August, when he went to see Chicago host Indiana. He was ejected from the game and banned from the arena for getting into a heated interaction with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.

Freedom said he was motivated to attend the game after learning that Golden State star Gabby Williams said she would support a trans athlete playing in the league.

“As you all know, this all started with an interview featuring Gabby Williams of the Golden State Valkyries, when she said, ‘I have no problem with trans athletes playing on my team or against my team,’" Freedom said in his post. "Her words gave me so much hope and motivation to come out as a woman and officially declare for the WNBA draft. I can’t wait to watch my favorite player, the woman who inspired me to become who I am today!”

Freedom and Royce White, another former NBA player, have declared for the WNBA draft, saying they identify as women. But a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press in August they are not eligible. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has since made that position public.

On Wednesday, Freedom posted a photo of himself in Atlanta and also posted a copy of a letter from Engelbert in which she said replied to a question from Indiana Rep. Marlin A. Stutzman about the eligibility of transgender athletes to play in the league.

“With respect to your questions regarding eligibility, only women are eligible to play in the WNBA and the individuals you cite in your letter are both men,” Engelbert said, referring to Freedom and White.

Freedom replied: “Apparently the WNBA still can't define what a WOMAN is, but they're absolutely certain they know what a MAN is! How convenient!”

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This story corrects Freedom's quote to “Apparently the WNBA still can’t define" what a WOMAN is. A previous version had it as “the WNBA still can define.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

A social media personality known for promoting extreme devotion to male beauty, Peters, 20, is accused of giving the girl alcohol until she was drunk and then sexually assaulting her when she visited him in Chatham, on Cape Cod, in May 2025.

Peters has denied the allegations through his lawyers, saying the sexual encounter was consensual.

Peters arrived at the courthouse in Orleans, Massachusetts, wearing a dark suit, walking a barking dog on a leash. He spoke only to the dog as he entered the courthouse and ignored reporters' questions. Peters maintained a neutral facial expression during the brief arraignment.

He has agreed to a $10,000 bail, surrendered his passport and will not contact or post about the woman who has accused him of assault.

He and his lawyers also didn't comment as he left the courthouse.

The case is the latest legal challenge for Peters, who has a million followers on Instagram, and whose hourslong livestreams feature him rating people's looks and talking about methods of becoming better looking that include surgery and drug use.

Earlier this year, he was charged with misdemeanor battery in Florida after police said he provoked a fight between two women and then posted a video of it online. That charge was later dropped. In a separate Florida case this year, he was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to a charge that he fired a gun in public.

The woman who accused Peters of rape told police he had been paying her to appear in his “looksmaxxing” videos. She said that during her visit to a Peters family home, he gave her two or three shots of vodka, then livestreamed himself kissing her while she was drunk. She told police that when she woke up the next morning, Peters was raping her.

The woman also described the alleged assault in a lawsuit she filed in Florida in April. In that lawsuit, she also accused Peters of injecting her with a fat-dissolving substance during a livestream without her consent.

Peters’ attorneys called the lawsuit a “publicity grab.”

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they consent to being identified publicly.

“Obviously, man, I’m remorseful and sorry for putting this team in this situation,” Jacobs said. “Sometimes when you go through life, situations occur and a four-second, three-second decision can alter your life, honestly.”

Jacobs was removed this week from the commissioner’s exempt list, which had prevented him from playing or practicing. The NFL had placed Jacobs on that list Aug. 30, shortly after charges were filed against him. He pleaded no contest last month to misdemeanor counts of battery and criminal damage to property.

The NFL is still investigating Jacobs over the incident, so the league still could hand out more discipline to the three-time Pro Bowl running back. But for now, Jacobs is eligible to play again for the Packers after missing the first six games of the season.

“I thought I’d be playing sooner,” Jacobs said. “But, you know, the optics of everything, I understand the other side. For me, like I said, I’m just grateful to be able to play. It was one of them things where I didn’t want to sit the whole year and then figure it out. I’m just grateful to be back on the team and to be back playing.”

Jacobs doesn't discuss details of his arrest

Jacobs was arrested May 26, three days after police officers came to his Wisconsin home to investigate a disturbance. According to police, the woman told them that Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she was trying to exit a garage door, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took her phone from her while she was on the ground.

Police said they noticed redness on her face and neck and could feel a bump on the back of her head.

The criminal complaint against him noted that a surveillance video from the camera system in their garage corroborated the woman’s statement. Both Jacobs and the victim have gone to court attempting to have that video and other evidence sealed permanently.

Jacobs declined to discuss the specifics of his case but said he hopes to use the situation as an opportunity to grow into a better person.

“Obviously you never want to be in this situation, but just me being honest, for my life, it was probably one of the best things to ever happen to me,” Jacobs said. “I say that because it gave me a chance to sit down and reevaluate what’s important and what I want my life to look like, and what do I want people to know me for. When they think of me, what are they going to say?”

Jacobs didn't fear possibility he might not play again

Jacobs was asked Wednesday if he’d feared the possibility he might never play again after his arrest.

“I wasn’t overly concerned about that because in my heart, I know what happened and what didn’t happen,” Jacobs said. “And I’ll just trust the legal process. So for me, I wasn’t ever overly concerned of not playing again. It was just a matter of when.”

Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love said Jacobs had spoken to the team about the situation back when the incident occurred and added that the Packers are “happy to have Josh back, for sure.” Green Bay’s offense ranks last in the NFL in yards rushing per game (59.8) and yards per carry (2.9).

Coach Matt LaFleur hasn’t indicated what kind of workload Jacobs might get Sunday at Detroit, or even whether he would play at all. Jacobs was unable to practice or play while on the commissioner’s exempt list, but he was able to attend meetings and lift weights and condition with the Packers’ strength coaches.

“I think people learn from their mistakes and I think he’s extremely remorseful and I do believe that he’s a good person,” LaFleur said. “I’ve been around him quite a bit and I just, I believe in second chances.”

LaFleur’s comment Wednesday was more measured than what he said Sept. 1, after the charges were filed but before Jacobs pleaded no contest to the two misdemeanors. LaFleur said then that “I believe him and I trust him” and added that “I’m going to do that until proven otherwise.”

Jacobs was asked if he feels he needs to earn back the respect of teammates and what he would say to fans.

“I don’t think I had to earn respect back from the guys because I’m the same person every day,” Jacobs said. “Like I said, at the end of the day, we’re human. We all make mistakes. It’s just different for me because I’m in the public eye. But you know, like I said, I’ll let other people speak to my character and who I am and who I consistently have been.

“When it comes to earning the respect of the fans, I mean, for me, it’s more of a thing of not trying to put this organization in a position where it looks negative in any type of way. But at the end of the day, people are always going to have their opinion. People are going to believe what they believe, and it’s not really my job to try to explain or discount certain things. All I can try to do is control what I can control and move on from there.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The Department of Justice appealed after federal judges ruled in June in favor of advocates who said the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program risked becoming a tool for political retribution. But it dropped two appeals Wednesday in single-sentence joint agreements, which stipulated that each side would pay its own fees.

Federal officials provided no explanation, but advocates praised the ruling.

“The Trump administration’s attempt to weaponize public service loan forgiveness against organizations it disagrees with was anti-democratic and unlawful from the start," Dan Zibel, an attorney for the group Student Defense, said in a written statement. "This is a significant victory for millions of Americans who have dedicated their careers to public service.”

The PSLF program was designed to make jobs in government, public schools, fire and police departments, public hospitals and nonprofits more attractive by forgiving loans for qualified employees after a decade’s worth of payments.

But last fall, President Donald Trump’s administration wrote a new rule to empower Education Secretary Linda McMahon to kick employers out of the program if she decides their work has a “substantial illegal purpose.”

The vaguely phrased rule was targeted at employers who support undocumented immigrants or transgender youth, potentially affecting borrowers who worked at schools, public hospitals and legal aid groups.

The overhaul amounted to a major reworking of a program that has canceled loans for more than 1 million Americans.

But just before it was set to take effect in July, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Massachusetts vacated the U.S. Education Department’s changes, saying they overstepped the agency’s power and threatened to violate First Amendment protections for free speech. The ruling came in response to a pair of lawsuits filed by more than 20 states along with a coalition of nonprofit groups and cities.

On the same day, District Judge Amir Ali in Washington issued a similar ruling in a case brought by nonprofit organizations.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The district, which covers eastern Miami-Dade County from Cutler Bay to Miami and Key Biscayne, is predominantly Hispanic.

Salazar co-sponsored the Dignity Act, a sweeping bipartisan immigration reform bill that pairs mandatory nationwide E-Verify with a seven-year program that grants legal status.

“I am just showing my record doing the best I could for six years and now it’s up to the voters and to the constituents to decide if they like what I did and if I represented them well, which I think I did,” Salazar said.

Salazar’s campaign also highlights actions on flood mitigation, coastal resilience, and the Take It Down Act, which criminalizes the non-consensual online publication of intimate visual depictions—including AI-generated deepfakes.

“We are very democratic within the Republican Party, and it’s like sitting at a table with dad saying, ‘You are wrong on that issue.” But that doesn’t mean that you are breaking with the family," Salazar said about her disagreements with President Donald Trump on mass deportations.

Rodriguez, a retired television news anchor, said the record shows she has voted “100%” with the Trump agenda, which is anti-immigrant.

“She voted to fund ICE, she was silent when Alligator Alcatraz was here,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said he is concerned about the cost of living, access to healthcare, and the need for a lawmaker who prioritizes the needs of the middle class over partisan rhetoric.

“We need somebody in Congress who will be focused on bringing funds to this district for affordable housing, for infrastructure, for mass transit, to return the healthcare benefits that thousands of people in this district lost,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez fundraising efforts ramped up during the last quarter, and he raised close to $725,000. Salazar raised close to $420,000 and outspent Rodriguez by nearly $200,000, as she enters the final stretch of the campaign.

Thursday will offer a mix of sun and clouds, with north-northeast winds sustained at 5 to 15 mph and gusts near 20 mph. A few showers could enter the picture. Temperatures are expected to be seasonable, with highs in the mid-80s.

Becky Drury said she ran to see what was going on but immediately saw the shooter and rushed back to the classroom.

“I turned to shut the door behind me, but the shooter was already there,” Drury said. “Before I could do anything more, he shot me at close range and I fell to the ground.”

Her left hand was nearly severed by a gunshot, and her right arm was struck as well. Unable to get up or defend herself or others, she said, “I did the only thing I could do, which was to pretend to be dead in the hope he would not shoot me again.”

Three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and a teacher were killed at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, last Thursday when a former student there, 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, blasted his way through locked doors with a shotgun and attacked the classroom. Another student was critically injured.

The pump-action shotgun used in the attack was purchased legally, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said in an update to the city council Wednesday. But he didn't say who bought it and added that investigators are still piecing together how it ended up in the shooter's hands.

The Associated Press previously reported it had been purchased by the shooter's mother, according to a law enforcement source who was not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Authorities said another teacher threw her phone at the attacker and then tackled him and wrestled with him for control of the weapon, likely saving lives before the shooter was shot by a father who followed him into the building.

Some news reports had suggested that Drury threw herself on top of one student to protect her. Drury, who remains hospitalized, said she wanted to correct the record.

“Accurate, respectful reporting is a truly important service that will help heal the wounds inflicted by that awful day,” she said.

The district closed schools after the shooting but reopened them Wednesday everywhere but Silver Rail. Dozens of officers were at each school to welcome children, the Bend Police Department said.

“We do have some families that are still not ready yet, and we most certainly have some Silver Rail families that are still going through a lot of processes,” said Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Steven Cook.

In a social media post, the police department said its investigation includes serving search warrants at the attacker's home, as well as on his electronic devices and social media accounts.

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Associated Press journalist Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

“We’d like to know exactly who is responsible for what happened,” U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, said.

“A lot of people saying, ‘Well, not me.’ OK, if not you, then who?” U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania, said.

Ukrainians rely on connections from Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellites to run key tools on the battlefield, including those that can intercept incoming Russian attacks.

New reporting from The Wall Street Journal claims Musk himself ordered the service throttled back, but the trillionaire claims only the Pentagon and President Donald Trump would have the authority to slow down Ukraine’s service.

“If it is, in fact, Mr. Musk that ordered this, that is likely a violation of the law,” Fitzpatrick said.

Senior White House officials said the U.S. had not made any moves to throttle back Starlink’s capabilities. The president has been vocal about his growing frustration with Ukraine but said he did not know who was behind the reduced speeds.

“No, I wasn’t involved,” Trump said. “I don’t know who did it, but I was not involved.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the issue, telling Fox News he hoped the system would soon be back up and running.

“Conversation was very positive,” Zelenskyy said. “The secretary told me that he will work with his team on this to unblock this question. God bless, it will be done.”

Members of Congress said the matter could not go unanswered and that they needed a clear answer about who was responsible for the slowdown.

“We got to call the witnesses. Got to bring them in, put them under oath, and get to the bottom of it because this is, this is a very, very serious matter. It cannot be glossed over,” Fitzpatrick said.

Musk has joined Trump in saying he believes Zelenskyy should no longer be the leader of Ukraine, but he has not responded to the latest reporting accusing him of being directly responsible for the Starlink slowdown.

Mayor Jackie Espinosa, who was elected in 2024, faced charges of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.

“Public officials do not get to write the rules and then write themselves a check. The mayor used her position to push a COVID relief grant program, then took $50,000 from it for her family’s businesses after being warned it was prohibited,” Uthmeier said.

Blaise Ingoglia, Florida’s chief financial officer, also announced that the Florida Department of Financial Services Criminal Investigations Division found evidence that Espinosa had “abused her office for personal gain.”

The case follows an ethics complaint and an investigation into Espinosa’s alleged misuse of pandemic relief funds.

“We appreciate CFO Ingoglia and the Department of Financial Services for identifying this case through rigorous audits, and our agents for their thorough and uncompromising investigation,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Keefe said.

In July, a court-appointed special prosecutor found probable cause to file articles of impeachment and recommended that the city refer the case to law enforcement and state agencies.

“Public office is a trust, not a trough. The BOOST 2.0 program was created to help Kissimmee’s small businesses survive a pandemic, not to enrich the official who controlled it,” Mayanne Downs, the court-appointed special prosecutor, wrote in her conclusion. “No warning should have been necessary; the oath of office is warning enough. The people of Kissimmee are entitled to a full and public accounting of where their money went and the return of those monies.”

In August, Kissimmee commissioners voted 2-2 on efforts to impeach Espinosa, whose term runs through 2028.

In September, the Florida Commission on Ethics censured Espinosa after finding probable cause that Espinosa had a “relationship with an entity doing business with her agency when her business accepted grant money that was administered by her agency.”

Related document: Arrest warrant

Related social media posts

This morning, we arrested Kissimmee mayor Jackie Espinosa and are charging her with Grand Theft and Organized Scheme to Defraud.

We will be holding a press conference at 2pm at our Orlando office with CFO Ingoglia and FDLE Commissioner Keefe to provide more information.

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) October 21, 2026

Incredible work by everyone involved! Commissioner Keefe will provide an update on the case during the press conference today. https://t.co/HPbUjRlwgc

— Florida Department of Law Enforcement (@fdlepio) October 21, 2026

This morning my team, along with @fdlepio, arrested the Mayor of Kissimmee for abusing her office for personal gain.

I am proud of the outstanding work that my auditing team and Criminal Investigations Division did to uncover the alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars and to ensure… pic.twitter.com/lCVQm1NOcC

— Blaise Ingoglia (@GovGoneWild) October 21, 2026

Trump-endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, joined by running mate state Sen. Bryan Avila, and former Republican U.S. Rep.-turned-Democrat David Jolly have been making campaign stops across the region. Jolly’s running mate, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, has also been on the trail.

The candidates, as they engage in photo opportunities, glad-handing and stump speeches, are reiterating the talking points and policy ideas they think will land with voters.

The campaigning comes as a new University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab poll of likely midterm voters finds the pair in a statistical dead heat.

When “leaners” are factored in — voters who initially said they did not know, but then chose one candidate or the other upon further probing — Donalds stands at 49%, just two points above Jolly at 47%.

On the issues, more respondents said they trusted Democratic candidate David Jolly when it came to data centers. Respondents trusted Byron Donalds more on property insurance and were roughly split on affordability and the cost of living.

That could explain why the candidates are out and about, working to meet as many people and get as much earned media as they can in a race that is now seemingly quite competitive.

Local 10’s Christina Vazquez spoke with one of the researchers behind the poll, University of North Florida Political Science Professor and Public Opinion Research Lab Faculty Director Sean Freeder.

Read their exchange below:

The game will also mark the official debuts of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis and Tim Hardaway Jr. with Miami.

Antetokounmpo averaged 15.7 points in 18.7 minutes per game during the preseason.

Minnesota will also see offseason trade acquisition LaMelo Ball make his official debut with the team.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

And don’t forget, you can also watch the majority of the Miami Heat’s regular season games, at least 68, on Local 10 as WPLG Local 10 and the Heat announced a newly expanded media rights agreement, making Local 10 the home of HEAT basketball across South Florida! CLICK HERE for more information on how to watch!