Funcionarios de Bomberos y Rescate dijeron que la policía de Boca Raton y paramédicos de BRFR respondieron al accidente alrededor de las 10:25 a.m. Indicaron que el piloto no resultó herido.

Las autoridades dijeron que el personal de emergencia permanecía en el lugar mientras respondía al incidente. Los funcionarios instaron al público a evitar el área mientras se llevaba a cabo la respuesta de emergencia.

Las autoridades no habían divulgado de inmediato más información sobre qué causó el accidente o el estado de la avioneta.

No se reportaron heridos adicionales y no se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre el accidente.

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Fire rescue officials said Boca Raton police and BRFR medics responded to the crash at about 10:25 a.m. They said the pilot was not injured.

Cellphone video sent from Local 10 viewer Craig Sutton shows the small plane crashing into the ocean off Boca Raton.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the flight was headed from Page Field in Fort Myers to South Bimini Airport in the Bahamas.

Authorities said emergency personnel remained at the scene as they responded to the incident. Officials urged the public to avoid the area while the emergency response was underway.

Boca Raton police said the plane was scheduled to be removed from the water on Sunday.

Moke, que se formó el viernes en el océano Pacífico, se ubicaba a unos 755 kilómetros (470 millas) al sureste de Hilo y se desplazaba hacia el oeste-noroeste a 19 km/h (12 mph), a las 5:00 de la mañana del sábado en Hawai. Los vientos máximos sostenidos rondaban los 85 km/h (50 mph), informó el Centro Nacional de Huracanes.

Al igual que con el huracán Lala, se espera que la Isla Grande soporte la peor parte de la lluvia y los fuertes vientos de Moke a medida que pase al sur de un impacto directo desde la noche del sábado hasta la madrugada del domingo.

Luego, Moke continuará su trayectoria hacia el oeste cerca de las islas hasta comienzos del martes, indicó Casey Oswant, meteoróloga del Servicio Nacional de Meteorología en Honolulu.

“Todavía habrá impactos, especialmente en los lados de barlovento y sureste de la Isla Grande, pero probablemente serán un poco más limitados que lo que vimos con Lala”, señaló Oswant.

Lala derribó árboles, arrancó edificios de sus cimientos, dañó carreteras y puentes y dejó vías cubiertas de lodo y rocas. Se reportó una muerte relacionada con la tormenta.

Oswant dijo que los pronósticos de lluvia para este fin de semana en los lados sureste y de barlovento de la Isla Grande eran de 13 a 25 centímetros (5 a 10 pulgadas), con hasta 38 centímetros (15 pulgadas) en zonas aisladas. En el resto de la cadena de islas, se esperaban de 2 a 5 centímetros (1 a 2 pulgadas) de lluvia, aunque partes del este de Maui podrían registrar hasta 10 centímetros (4 pulgadas), agregó.

No había vigilancias ni alertas costeras vigentes a primera hora de la mañana del sábado, pero se instó a la población a monitorear de cerca el avance de la tormenta. El centro advirtió que las lluvias tienen el potencial de provocar peligrosas corrientes de resaca, inundaciones que ponen en riesgo la vida y deslizamientos de lodo, especialmente en zonas empinadas y en lugares donde el suelo sigue saturado.

La costa noreste de la Isla Grande registró el mayor acumulado total de lluvia por Lala, con 1,1 metros (43,54 pulgadas), según el servicio meteorológico. Unos 9.000 clientes en la Isla Grande seguían sin electricidad el sábado, de acuerdo con poweroutage.us.

El gobernador de Hawai, Josh Green, y otros funcionarios estatales ofrecieron una conferencia de prensa antes de la llegada de Moke, en la que instaron a la gente a prepararse reabasteciendo alimentos, medicamentos y otros artículos básicos.

“Definitivamente hay tensión en el ambiente” ante la idea de más lluvia en comunidades que las aguas de la inundación convirtieron en ríos, expresó Tiffany Edwards Hunt, una maestra que vive en Keaau, en el lado este de la Isla Grande.

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La periodista de The Associated Press Alexa St. John contribuyó a este despacho desde Detroit.

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

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A 2023 law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis would have required middle schools to start at 8 a.m. and high schools at 8:30 a.m. The law was later repealed, leaving individual school districts to set their own schedules.

Some argue earlier start times make it easier for students to participate in sports and activities while balancing family schedules. But opponents say early starts can leave students waiting for buses before sunrise.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have supported later school start times, citing potential academic and health benefits for teenagers.

Let us know what you think in the poll above or comment section below.

Una ley de 2023 firmada por el gobernador Ron DeSantis habría requerido que las escuelas intermedias comenzaran a las 8 a.m. y las escuelas secundarias a las 8:30 a.m. La ley fue posteriormente derogada, dejando que cada distrito escolar estableciera sus propios horarios.

Algunos argumentan que los horarios de inicio más tempranos facilitan que los estudiantes participen en deportes y actividades mientras equilibran los horarios familiares. Pero los opositores dicen que comenzar temprano puede dejar a los estudiantes esperando los autobuses antes del amanecer.

La Academia Estadounidense de Pediatría y la Asociación Estadounidense de Psicología han apoyado horarios de inicio de clases más tarde, citando posibles beneficios académicos y de salud para los adolescentes.

Déjenos saber qué piensa en la encuesta de arriba o en la sección de comentarios de abajo.

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Fort Lauderdale police said officers responded to the 2300 block of Northwest Ninth Court at about 8:05 a.m. after receiving a report of a shooting.

Officers said they found a man who had been shot and began life-saving measures.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue medics took the man, who has not been identified, to Broward Health Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, police said.

Investigators said the shooter remained at the scene and was detained by police.

They said the investigation remains ongoing.

Police did not immediately release additional information about the victim, the man who was detained or circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Each side blamed the other for the collapse of negotiations in Washington late Friday, leading the U.S. to impose 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods and Canada setting Sept. 8 as the start of its retaliatory penalties.

President Donald Trump’s import taxes will hit about 5% of what Canada ships to the United States every year, ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors. Prime Minister Carney said Ottawa would respond with targeted tariff protection for industries exposed to the new U.S. duties, including some steel products. He also mentioned the dairy, appliance, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics sectors.

No further talks were planned. Whatever the eventual outcome, a loss of trust seems one of the earliest casualties.

Carney accused Washington of using “economic integration as a weapon” and said “its signature was written in pencil.” Resorting to the language of battle, he said his country had been “attacked” by the new American tariffs. “You’re at war when you get attacked,” he said, adding that Canada had the reserves, resilience and plan to respond.

But to Trump’s chief trade negotiator, Jamieson Greer, the U.S. was compelled to act after a year of retaliation by its longtime partner.

“We’ve said enough, and so we’ve taken countermeasures. Our interest is in protecting American workers and protecting American supply chains,” the U.S. trade representative told ”Fox & Friends Weekend."

Canada cites ‘unacceptable demands’ as US says it offered favorable terms

Carney said Canada had been willing to drop remaining retaliatory tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos if the U.S. substantially lowered its own, and to encourage provinces to restore U.S. alcohol sales. But he said Washington’s final demands went too far. “They asked too much and offered too little,” Carney said.

Greer said the Republican administration was offering to cut tariffs on steel, autos and lumber, “things that are sensitive for them. And they’ve always had the best deal, and they still would have an even better deal, but they didn’t want that.”

As a result, he said, “We’re moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation.”

Carney said the U.S. added last-minute terms that would have reduced tariff relief for Canadian-made vehicles, restricted Canada’s ability to strike trade deals with other countries and weakened protections for language, culture and sovereignty.

He said such demands were “unacceptable.”

The breakdown in negotiations marked a sharp reversal from two days earlier, when officials from the two countries sounded as if they were headed toward a compromise.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who leads Canada’s most populous province, praised Carney for rejecting the deal, saying it would have hurt Ontario’s auto, steel and manufacturing sectors. Ford urged Canada to use “every tool in our toolbox” to fight the U.S. tariffs.

The moves also call into question the future of a North American trade agreement covering the United States, Canada and Mexico that is crucial to industry in all three countries.

A typically cooperative alliance goes sour

The political impact will likely be even bigger than the economic fallout. The countries sold each other $880 billion worth of goods and services last year.

The tariffs were initially supposed to kick in at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Trump extended the deadline for three days to allow talks to continue, but the countries could not reach an agreement in time.

The U.S. and Canada have wrangled for decades over trade, poking each other over sore spots such as Canadian softwood lumber imports and U.S. access to Canada’s protected dairy market.

Somehow, they still managed to remain friends, allies and trading partners. Canadian soldiers fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan after 9/11. The 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border is undefended, and nearly 330,000 people and $2 billion worth of goods cross it every day; 800,000 Canadians live in the United States.

Trump’s approach to dealing with Canada marks an extraordinary departure from the traditionally cooperative relationship between the two countries. Trump has imposed tariffs on Canadian goods in a push to bring manufacturing back to the United States and made inflammatory comments about turning Canada into America’s 51st state.

Carney said Canada had recognized that “America has changed” and that the two countries would “not return to our old relationship.”

Canadians and Americans are frustrated

The Canadian public is fed up. A petition to expel U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, a Trump ally, has collected nearly 248,000 signatures since July 21. It accuses the former Republican congressman from Michigan of having “normalized’’ Trump’s talk of annexing Canada, among other things.

The two countries had good reasons to find a compromise.

Nearly 72% of Canada’s goods exports last year went to the United States. The Trump administration might be wary of imposing new tariffs — paid by U.S. importers who try to pass along the cost to consumers via higher prices — before the November midterm elections. American voters are already frustrated with the high cost of living.

“Canada likely wanted further sector-specific relief than the U.S. was willing to offer, or Canada’s concessions did not go far enough,’’ said Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official. ”Either way, I think both sides will be under immense pressure in the coming days to still find an off-ramp. But if Canada has agreed to also impose tariffs, the off-ramp may be even harder to find.”

Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, called the tariffs “a body blow to North American competitiveness” and warned they would raise costs for Americans while threatening Canadian customers, investment and small businesses.

Trump has turned to Depression-era trade penalties

Trump has made tariffs the centerpiece of his second-term economic agenda. Last year, he imposed double-digit import taxes on almost every country, justifying them by declaring the long-standing U.S. trade deficit a national emergency. The Supreme Court in February ruled that he had overstepped his authority. The justices struck down the trade penalties and set the stage for the federal government to pay refunds to importers.

So Trump has looked for other legal authority to justify tariffs.

To punish Canada, he reached back to the Great Depression, invoking Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to threaten 50% tariffs on products that account for about 5% of Canadian exports to the United States.

Nearly a century ago, with the U.S. and world economies in collapse, Congress passed the 1930 tariff law, imposing taxes on imports from around the world. Known as the Smoot-Hawley tariffs after their congressional sponsors, they are notorious among economists and historians for limiting world commerce and making the Great Depression worse.

Section 338, which has never been used before to impose tariffs, authorizes the president to slap import taxes of up to 50% on imports from countries that have discriminated against U.S. businesses. No investigation is required to justify the levies. Nor is there any limit on how long they can stay in place.

The rift comes as the United States, Mexico and Canada are trying to renew a trade agreement that Trump negotiated in his first term and once praised as a triumph. The United States has begun formal talks with Mexico over revamping the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, known as USMCA. But talks with Canada have not begun and escalating trade conflict casts doubt on whether they will.

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Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

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According to Battalion Chief Michael Kane, a spokesman for Broward Fire Rescue, crews responded to a fire at a home near the 600 block of Northwest 24th Avenue.

Kane said firefighters arrived to find smoke and flames coming from a second-floor room at the rear of the home.

He said crews launched an “aggressive interior attack and contained the fire to a single room.”

The fire was extinguished about 15 minutes after firefighters arrived, according to Kane.

He said no injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Según el jefe de batallón Michael Kane, portavoz de Broward Fire Rescue, los equipos respondieron a un incendio en una casa cerca de la cuadra 600 de Northwest 24th Avenue.

Kane dijo que los bomberos llegaron y encontraron humo y llamas saliendo de una habitación del segundo piso en la parte trasera de la casa.

Dijo que los equipos iniciaron un “ataque agresivo desde el interior y contuvieron el incendio en una sola habitación”.

El incendio fue extinguido unos 15 minutos después de la llegada de los bomberos, según Kane.

Dijo que no se reportaron heridos y que la causa del incendio continúa bajo investigación de la Oficina del Jefe de Bomberos del Estado de Florida.

The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women — people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to participate in the league. There has never been such a player in the WNBA. Although the league’s collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth.

There have been small rallies and protests outside Indiana Fever games after the issue came to a head when Sophie Cunningham of the Fever said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls’ and women’s sports. There are rallies planned before the Liberty face the Fever on Saturday night in Brooklyn.

“Knowing that rallies are happening on both sides shows the platform that the W has and the stunts for attention are just continuing to try and ride the wave that we have,” Stewart told a small group of reporters Saturday morning. “I want Liberty fans and even Indy fans that are going to come here tonight to be able to have this arena be a safe space.”

At least three fans were asked by WNBA security personnel to cover shirts that had messages about transgender women participating in women’s sports during last Sunday’s game at Atlanta between the Dream and the Fever. The league later said the fans should have been free to wear those shirts.

Stewart said Liberty fans specifically, but WNBA fans in general, come to games because “they can feel like they can be themselves in whatever capacity that is and we don’t want to lose sight of that."

The Liberty forward said everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if that stops being allowed there are much bigger issues. However, she said, trying to divide teams and players shouldn't be tolerated.

“If we don’t allow (free speech), we need to like really kind of go back and look at more things. I think the bigger thing is people are trying to divide us as teams, but also as teammates or as opponents," she said. "This league is incredibly inclusive and what we continue to fight for and stand up against. So, we don’t want to take that platform away.”

Stewart has been an ally for the transgender community during her career. She faced some online backlash last year when one of her signature shoes had a Harry Potter theme to it. Stewart is a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and subsequent movies by author J.K. Rowlings, who has drawn criticism for her anti-trans stance.

Stewart has donated royalties from that shoe to The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ+ youth.

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Moke, which formed Friday in the Pacific Ocean, was located about 470 miles (755 kilometers) southeast of Hilo, moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph), as of 5 a.m. on Saturday in Hawaii. Maximum sustained winds were around 50 mph (85 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.

As with Hurricane Lala, the Big Island is expected to bear the brunt of Moke's rain and heavy winds as it passes south of a direct hit late Saturday into early Sunday.

Moke will then continue its westward path near the islands through early Tuesday, said Casey Oswant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

“There will still be impacts, especially to the windward and southeast sides of the Big Island, but it will probably be a little bit more limited than what we saw with Lala,” Oswant said.

Lala downed trees, swept buildings off their foundations, damaged roads and bridges and left roads covered in mud and rocks. One storm-related death was reported.

Rainfall predictions for this weekend for the southeast and windward sides of the Big Island were 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters), with as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) in isolated areas, Oswant said. Across the rest of the island chain, 1 to 2 inches (2 to 5 centimeters) of rain was expected, though parts of east Maui could see up to 4 inches (10 centimeters), she said.

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect early Saturday morning, but people were urged to closely monitor the storm's progress. The rainfall has the potential to cause dangerous rip currents, life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in steep areas and places where the ground remains saturated, the center said.

The northeast coast of the Big Island saw the heaviest total rainfall from Lala, at 43.54 inches (1.1 meters), according to the weather service. About 9,000 customers on the Big Island remained without power Saturday, according to poweroutage.us.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and other state officials held a news conference ahead of Moke, urging people to prepare by restocking food, medicine and other essentials.

“There’s definitely tension in the air” at the thought of more rain in communities that floodwaters turned into rivers, said Tiffany Edwards Hunt, a teacher living in Keaau, on the east side of the Big Island.

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Associated Press writer Alexa St. John contributed from Detroit.

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Roxy and Rusty are part of a litter of several puppies and are already showing plenty of personality. Shelter officials say the puppies will need families ready to spend time training them, exercising them and giving them plenty of attention.

The shelter also has Mia, an adult dog whose owner died and whose family could not keep her. Staff say Mia loves people, appears to get along with other dogs and enjoys playing with squeaky toys.

HSBC’s Cherie Wachter says there are about 20 puppies available for adoption.

The shelter is at 2070 Griffin Road, a block west of Interstate 95. Adoption kennels open at 11 a.m.

Prospective adopters can also complete a pre-adoption application online at humanebroward.com.

Roxy y Rusty forman parte de una camada de varios cachorros y ya muestran mucha personalidad. Funcionarios del refugio dicen que los cachorros necesitarán familias dispuestas a dedicar tiempo a entrenarlos, ejercitarlos y brindarles mucha atención.

El refugio también tiene a Mia, una perra adulta cuyo dueño murió y cuya familia no pudo conservarla. El personal dice que Mia ama a las personas, parece llevarse bien con otros perros y disfruta jugar con juguetes que chillan.

Cherie Wachter, de HSBC, dice que hay unos 20 cachorros disponibles para adopción.

El refugio está ubicado en 2070 Griffin Road, una cuadra al oeste de la Interestatal 95. Las áreas de adopción abren a las 11 a.m.

Los posibles adoptantes también pueden completar una solicitud de preadopción en línea en humanebroward.com.

Bradford Hobbs was born in Charleston, Missouri, and later moved to Detroit.

She was introduced in the late 1950s to Motown founder Berry Gordy by neighbor and singer Jackie Wilson. She joined Motown as a receptionist in 1958 and like many of the company's employees took part in the creative process that helped make Motown a music industry powerhouse.

She and Gordy co-wrote “Money (That's What I Want)." The song was recorded in 1959 by Barrett Strong and became an early hit. It was covered by The Beatles and also became one of that group's hits.

“Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” first was recorded by The Temptations and later became a hit for Marvin Gaye. Bradford Hobbs also wrote songs for Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas and others.

“Janie was there with me from the very beginning, before there was even a Motown, and she will always hold a very special place in my heart and in the Motown family,” Gordy said in a statement.

“Janie was one of a special group I have always thought of as the original Motown family — the unsung heroes who believed in the dream before anyone knew what Motown would become,” Gordy continued. “She was one of the people who helped make Motown what it became.”

Bradford Hobbs later became head of Writer Relations for Jobete, Motown's publishing company. After leaving Motown, she founded the annual Heroes and Legends Awards. The event spanned about 30 years, honoring music icons and awarding scholarships, according to her family.

She is survived by her husband, Wardean Hobbs; daughter, Nicole Hobbs; son, Lance Finney; and two grandsons. Funeral services have not been completed.

More than 2,000 humanoid robots were participating in the event, the organizer said.

The five-day games, now in its second year, are a spectacle demonstrating China’s rapid progress in advanced robotics as the technology race with the U.S. heats up, with 51 events and more than 1,000 competitions taking place including running, table tennis and soccer.

The games, which are taking place in the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, opened the same week as Beijing held the 2026 World Robot Conference, where companies showcased around 3,000 products, including humanoid robots.

China makes the majority of the world's humanoid robots. The U.S. has stepped up scrutiny of robots from the country.

Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots. The FCC cited national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon recently also added Unitree, one of China’s leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies that it deemed have ties with the Chinese military. Beijing has hit back at the accusations.

At Saturday’s opening of the robot games, the organizer and robot makers said that Chinese humanoid robots defeated human world records, as hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation onto the field in a massive display of synchronized coordination.

At a 100-meter sprint, a humanoid robot achieved a result of 9.39 seconds, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Jamaican athlete Bolt in 2009.

In a standing high jump, a humanoid robot was able to reach 2.88 meters, well above the 0.95 meters best result by a humanoid in last year’s first edition of the games. It surpassed the human high jump record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor in 1993.

Both robots were from Beijing-based X-Humanoid.

Before the opening, a humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor completed a 100-meter sprint in a record of 9.32 seconds during a trial of the games, the company said, at a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.

Still, experts say humanoid robots are still mostly used for demonstrations, performances and research — at least for now — and it will still take time to achieve mass real-world deployment.

Some spectators at the robot games said they were excited about the humanoid robots’ quickly improving abilities.

Humanoid robots are “evolving rapidly,” said Li Yanfeng, an education worker and a Beijing resident.

“At first, I wasn’t very accepting of artificial intelligence. I was even a bit resistant to it, because of the possibility that it might replace or displace humans,” she said. “But now that I see this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and take a look.”

“These sports are perfectly normal for humans, but now robots can do them. I find it amazing,” said Yang Shangzheng, another spectator.

Liu Tao, who was watching the games with his son, said that he was hoping to see “the best robots China currently has to offer.”

This year’s robot games — which the organizer said has 16 countries participating, among them Germany, Japan and the U.S. — also include other events such as weightlifting and tug of war.

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Chan Ho-him reported from Hong Kong. Olivia Zhang and Liu Zheng contributed to this report from Beijing.

Kassebaum Baker died Friday of natural causes, according to her son, Bill Kassebaum.

“She loved Kansas. She loved people from Kansas and representing Kansas for 18 years in the U.S. Senate,” he told The Associated Press. “She was an independent-minded Republican who was willing to stand up for what she thought was right, even if that meant going against the party.”

She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978 and served three terms. Her modest demeanor endeared her to voters of all political stripes, though she shared the moderate, progressive Republican politics of her father, Gov. Alf Landon, the unsuccessful 1936 GOP nominee for president. Even after leaving the Senate early in 1997, she continued taking on public service roles.

She married former Sen. Howard Baker, a Tennessee Republican, in 1996. He died in 2014.

Kassebaum Baker remained an icon for Kansans generally. She could work with Senate colleagues of all political philosophies, and a 1996 health insurance law bore her name, along with that of liberal Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.

A centrist politician from America's heartland

Her election to the Senate brought her immediate national attention. When she announced her retirement, she was among eight women senators and the only one to chair a Senate committee, the Labor and Human Resources panel.

She was also in a dwindling bloc of moderate-to-liberal Republicans, having supported for example a ban on assault weapons championed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

Yet she never polarized Kansas conservatives as other GOP moderates did. She connected with voters because she never seemed caught up in the trappings of power, and when she retired, she acknowledged, “I’d rather cuddle up and do needlepoint all day.”

She was born on July 29, 1932, as her father, an oilman from Independence, was running for the first of his two terms as governor. She earned a political science degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in diplomatic history from the University of Michigan in the mid-1950s.

She was a radio-station executive, spent a year in the 1970s on the staff of Kansas Sen. James Pearson and served on the school board in the Wichita suburb of Maize. She had four children with her first husband, Phil Kassebaum, including Bill, who served a term in the Kansas House. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979.

A moderate who sought sensible solutions

When Kassebaum Baker decided to run for the U.S. Senate, she figured that “a woman with a background different from a man might be appealing” to people growing weary of politics. Pundits at the time estimated a Senate race would require the then-huge-for-Kansas sum of $1 million. In the first quarter of 1978, she spent less than $12,000 on her campaign, and saw herself “at the bottom of the totem pole.”

However, nine candidates crowded the primary field, including three state senators and a prominent Wichita businessman. Kassebaum Baker won the GOP nomination with less than 31 percent of the vote.

Running as Nancy Landon Kassebaum, she won almost 54 percent of the vote that November against former two-term Democratic congressman Bill Roy.

Her moderate politics quickly came to the fore, when only months later, she refused to endorse an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced budget.

“We should be wary of the seemingly simple solution,” she said.

Her father, who would die at age 100 in 1987, still cast a long political shadow during her first years in office. Though he’d overwhelmingly lost the 1936 presidential race to Democratic incumbent Franklin Roosevelt, he later became an elder statesman for the party. A lecture series named for him at Kansas State University attracted presidents and foreign leaders.

Kassebaum Baker became even more popular in her time. She won re-election in 1984 with 76 percent of the vote and in 1990 with 74 percent of the vote.

But she frustrated conservative activists, despite her popularity. She said her vote in favor of the assault weapons ban inspired the angriest mail of her career.

A public servant to the end

She’d contemplated not seeking a third term, but Republican leaders had prevailed upon her to run one more time. In 1996, when she decided not to seek re-election, she said she would return to a ranch and 90-year-old farmhouse in Kansas’ scenic Flint Hills and babysit her grandchildren — she had seven, as well as two great-grandchildren.

When there briefly was talk of naming a new highway in Topeka after her, she said, “Oh, goodness. Absolutely not — no.”

She and Baker kept their romance low-key, and speculation about a possible marriage didn’t emerge until mid-1996, in a Washington Post story. They married that December.

It was the first time a man and a woman who had both served in the Senate had wed. Baker was elected to three terms and served from 1967 to 1985 before becoming President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff. His first wife, Joy, had died in 1993 after a long battle with cancer.

After the marriage, public service still beckoned, including as a member of a bipartisan commission on campaign finance reform under Clinton and on a British commission in Africa in 2004-05.

President George W. Bush named her husband ambassador to Japan in 2001, and she went with him for the four-year posting. Baker said she became an important figure in the Asian nation.

Before she left for Tokyo, she told a reporter she saw her stint in Japan as an adventure but added, “All I can say is, I will miss the Kansas prairie.”

Not a fan of Trump

Later in life, Kassebaum Baker broke with the Republican Party as it became more conservative, endorsing Democratic candidates for Kansas governor and U.S. senator, including Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly both times — even though Kelly’s 2022 GOP opponent, then state-Attorney General Derek Schmidt, had worked on her Senate staff.

She also declared in 2021 that President Donald Trump should be impeached after Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol hoping to stop congressional certification of Trump’s defeat in 2020 by Democrat Joe Biden.

“This just has gone too far,” she told Kansas City’s KMBC.

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From books and binders to laptops and lunchboxes, students can quickly fill their backpacks with heavy items. Dr. Skyler Kalady, section chief of primary care pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said parents should pay attention to how much weight their children are carrying.

“We want to be thoughtful about not overloading them because, similar to adults, if they’re carrying too heavy a weight on their back, they could be at risk for neck strain or back strain or those sorts of uncomfortable things,” Kalady said.

Experts recommend that children wear both backpack straps rather than carrying the bag over one shoulder. The backpack also should sit properly, reaching the small of the back rather than hanging too low.

Kalady recommends limiting a backpack’s weight to no more than 10% of a child’s body weight. For a child who weighs 100 pounds, that means the backpack should weigh no more than about 10 pounds.

“If they’re 100 pounds, you don’t want it to be more than 10 pounds total if they’re carrying a backpack, and that should reduce the risk of mild injury or strain,” she said.

Parents also can encourage children to clean out their backpacks regularly, preferably at the end of each day, to avoid carrying unnecessary supplies.

For children who develop persistent pain or strain, Kalady recommends checking with a pediatrician. In the meantime, children should avoid putting additional weight on their backs.

“I would encourage them to not lift anything on their back, to discontinue using their backpack, and they could generally use some, you know, ice is always safe to try on a strain and talk to their pediatrician as to whether they could use any anti-inflammatory medications as well,” she said.

With a few simple precautions, experts say parents can help students avoid unnecessary discomfort while carrying the supplies they need for school.

Desde libros y carpetas hasta computadoras portátiles y loncheras, los estudiantes pueden llenar rápidamente sus mochilas con artículos pesados. La Dra. Skyler Kalady, jefa de la sección de atención pediátrica primaria del Nationwide Children”s Hospital, dijo que los padres deben prestar atención a cuánto peso cargan sus hijos.

“Debemos tener cuidado de no sobrecargarlos porque, al igual que los adultos, si llevan demasiado peso en la espalda, podrían correr el riesgo de sufrir tensión en el cuello o la espalda, o ese tipo de molestias”, dijo Kalady.

Los expertos recomiendan que los niños usen ambas correas de la mochila en lugar de llevarla sobre un solo hombro. La mochila también debe quedar colocada correctamente, llegando hasta la parte baja de la espalda en lugar de colgar demasiado.

Kalady recomienda limitar el peso de la mochila a no más del 10% del peso corporal del niño. Para un niño que pesa 100 libras, eso significa que la mochila no debe pesar más de unas 10 libras.

“Si pesan 100 libras, no debe pesar más de 10 libras en total si llevan una mochila, y eso debería reducir el riesgo de una lesión leve o tensión”, dijo.

Los padres también pueden animar a los niños a limpiar sus mochilas regularmente, preferiblemente al final de cada día, para evitar cargar útiles innecesarios.

Para los niños que desarrollen dolor o tensión persistentes, Kalady recomienda consultar con un pediatra. Mientras tanto, los niños deben evitar cargar peso adicional en la espalda.

“Les recomendaría no levantar nada sobre la espalda, dejar de usar la mochila y, por lo general, pueden usar, bueno, hielo, que siempre es seguro probar para una tensión, y hablar con su pediatra sobre si también pueden usar algún medicamento antiinflamatorio”, dijo.

Con algunas precauciones sencillas, los expertos dicen que los padres pueden ayudar a los estudiantes a evitar molestias innecesarias mientras cargan los útiles que necesitan para la escuela.

Los agentes acudieron a la cuadra 1700 de Southwest 87th Avenue después de recibir un reporte de una balacera que involucraba a un hombre y un perro.

La policía informó que el hombre abrió fuego contra el perro para protegerse de un ataque. No se esperan cargos criminales en este momento.

Una mujer también fue trasladada a un hospital por razones no relacionadas con la balacera, confirmó la policía.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre el incidente.

Durante la investigación, agentes detuvieron a Zalim Bacchus en la gasolinera Marathon, ubicada en 220 South Dixie Highway, después de encontrar a un hombre herido, según BSO.

Agentes reportaron que Bacchus y la víctima tuvieron “un altercado” antes de la balacera. Personal de Bomberos y Rescate de Pompano Beach también respondió. La víctima requirió hospitalización, según BSO.

El Departamento de Correcciones de Broward ingresó a Bacchus la mañana del viernes en la cárcel principal del condado Broward en Fort Lauderdale, según registros de reclusos.

Bacchus, de Pompano Beach, enfrentaba un cargo de agresión agravada, un delito grave de primer grado, y el juez de circuito del condado Broward Michael Lynch estaba asignado para presidir el caso, según registros judiciales del condado.

Detectives pidieron a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre este u otros casos y que desee permanecer en el anonimato que llame a Crime Stoppers del condado Broward al 954-493-8477.

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Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue officials said they received calls around 2:50 a.m. about a fire inside the kitchen of the waterfront restaurant at 3033 NE 32nd Ave.

They said first responders arrived to find heavy smoke conditions inside the restaurant. Crews quickly attacked the fire, which was contained to the kitchen and knocked down within minutes, according to officials.

No injuries were reported.

Fire investigators were also called to the scene to work to determine what caused the fire.

Funcionarios de Bomberos y Rescate de Fort Lauderdale dijeron que recibieron llamadas alrededor de las 2:50 a.m. sobre un incendio dentro de la cocina del restaurante frente al mar, ubicado en 3033 NE 32nd Ave.

Indicaron que los socorristas llegaron y encontraron una gran cantidad de humo dentro del restaurante. Los equipos atacaron rápidamente el incendio, que quedó contenido en la cocina y fue controlado en cuestión de minutos, según los funcionarios.

No se reportaron heridos.

Investigadores de incendios también acudieron al lugar para determinar qué causó el incendio.

The BBC is trying to gain "politically-driven leverage" over Trump by serving subpoenas on daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Donald Trump Jr., personal lawyers for the Republican president argued in a court filing Friday.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz in Miami did not immediately rule on the dispute.

Kuntz, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, inherited the president's lawsuit from another judge less than a week ago. Court filings did not immediately specify a reason for the case's reassignment. The previous judge has set a February trial date.

In May, a process server working for the BBC tried to serve subpoenas on Ivanka Trump and Kushner at their residence but encountered Secret Service agents who said they were not authorized to accept it, according to the president's lawyers. They said the process server also visited Trump Tower in New York several days later in a failed attempt to serve Donald Trump Jr.

In a court filing last week, the broadcaster asked for the court’s permission to serve subpoenas on Trump’s family members by certified mail instead of in person.

Trump's lawsuit, filed in December, accuses the BBC of deceptively editing portions of the speech that he delivered near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's victory over Trump. The suit claims the BBC spliced together separate parts of Trump’s speech to intentionally misrepresent what he said.

The lawsuit alleges the BBC aired its documentary a week before the 2024 presidential election in “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the outcome to Trump's detriment.

“The relief that the BBC’s Motion seeks cannot be segregated from the politically charged discovery campaign that it is based on, and which has already been ruled as improperly overbroad by this Court,” Trump's lawyers wrote.

The BBC has apologized to Trump for the misleading edit, but it denies defaming him.

La policía de Fort Lauderdale dijo que los agentes respondieron a la cuadra 2300 de Northwest Ninth Court alrededor de las 8:05 a.m. después de recibir un reporte de una balacera.

Los agentes dijeron que encontraron a un hombre que había recibido disparos y comenzaron a realizar maniobras para salvarle la vida.

Paramédicos de Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue trasladaron al hombre, que no ha sido identificado, al Broward Health Medical Center con heridas que ponen en peligro su vida, dijo la policía.

Los investigadores dijeron que el tirador permaneció en la escena y fue detenido por la policía.

Dijeron que la investigación continúa.

La policía no divulgó de inmediato información adicional sobre la víctima, el sospechoso o las circunstancias de la balacera.

Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged the break after last-ditch negotiations failed Friday, saying Canada had recognized that “America has changed” and that the countries would “not return to our old relationship.”

The United States imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods early Saturday. Canada promised to match the import taxes dollar for dollar. Carney suspended negotiations and ordered Canada’s trade team home after accusing Washington of last-minute changes that were “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”

Carney foreshadowed the shift at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, declaring that the world was experiencing “a rupture, not a transition” and urging countries such as Canada to reduce their vulnerability to economic coercion by strengthening their economies at home and diversifying abroad.

“The collapse of the tariff talks points to the fact that the old Canada-U.S. relationship is over and, for many Canadians, it also confirms the perception that Canada can’t trust the Trump administration,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

The pressure from Republican President Donald Trump has gone well beyond tariffs.

He has questioned Canada’s economic viability, repeatedly talked about making it the 51st U.S. state and used trade measures to press for more production in the United States. The threats and economic pressure have angered many Canadians and fueled a sense of betrayal in a country that had long regarded the U.S. as its closest ally.

Travel to the U.S. remains sharply below levels before the dispute, with Canadian-resident return trips in July down nearly 29% by car and 27% by air from July 2024, Statistics Canada said.

The failed trade negotiations underscored how far the relationship had shifted. Canada had been prepared to accept some U.S. tariffs in exchange for broader market access and greater certainty — a sharp break from decades of continental trade policy built around eliminating barriers and increasing integration.

Washington has portrayed its proposed terms as especially favorable to Canada. But for Canadians accustomed to preferential access under the 1989 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement and its successor, even reduced tariffs would mark a fundamental retreat from the old relationship.

The collapse also puts Carney’s approach to Trump to the test.

The prime minister's “elbows up” posture — hockey shorthand for playing aggressively and refusing to be pushed around — has helped keep him popular at home. His decision to resist U.S. pressure could also resonate abroad with those impressed by his Davos call for countries to resist economic coercion and reduce dependence on great powers.

Provincial leaders had already been preparing Canadians for a permanent change. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said “the old status quo is not possible.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who leads Canada’s most populous province, said Carney had his “full support” for retaliation “tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar.”

Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, a prominent conservative and former federal Cabinet minister, said Canada was “not cravenly surrendering in the face of constant economic and political aggression” from Trump. Kenney noted that Canada, along with China, was among the few countries to retaliate against U.S. tariffs. “Damn right we are,” Kenney wrote.

The economic risks of fighting back and a shift seen as perhaps lasting beyond Trump

Nearly three-quarters of Canada’s goods exports go to the United States. The U.S. economy is roughly 10 times larger than Canada’s, limiting Ottawa’s ability to retaliate dollar for dollar without inflicting disproportionate damage at home.

Royal Bank of Canada economists estimate the tariffs directly affect about 0.4% of Canada’s gross domestic product and jobs because the trade penalties cover only about 5% of Canadian exports to America. The damage could grow significantly, however, if retaliation broadens, more sectors are pulled into the dispute or the standoff persists long enough to curb investment and disrupt integrated supply chains.

Béland said the countries were witnessing “the beginning of a full-scale trade war,” though he cautioned that the situation could change rapidly.

The dependence is not one-sided.

Canada supplies roughly two-thirds of U.S. crude oil imports, making Canadian energy critical to large parts of the U.S. economy. Trump has focused much of his pressure instead on autos, steel and aluminum, sectors where he wants more production moved to the U.S. That push has fueled resentment in Canada, where many see it as an effort to hollow out key industries.

Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, said businesses still view the U.S. as Canada’s most important trading partner but increasingly see the shift as lasting beyond Trump.

“There is a new trade and investment model, one that could well be kept in place by future U.S. administrations whether Democrat or Republican,” Hyder said.

Canada looks beyond the United States because ‘things will never be the same’

The breakdown adds urgency to Carney’s push to diversify beyond the United States. He has traveled abroad seeking investment and new trade ties, aiming to attract $1 trillion Canadian (US$730 billion) by 2030 and to double non-U.S. investment over the next decade.

In July, Ottawa and Alberta advanced plans for a new Pacific Coast oil pipeline to give Canadian crude greater access to Asian markets and reduce reliance on U.S. buyers.

In recent days, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew had urged Canada to keep fighting rather than accept a weaker deal. He argued that Trump was vulnerable because the cost of living was the top election-year issue for U.S. voters and that America had grown weaker internationally, pointing in part to the confrontation with Iran.

“I think we should fight. I think we’ve got the upper hand,” Kinew said.

Kinew also questioned whether Canada should make lasting concessions to tariffs that may not outlive Trump’s presidency.

“I just wonder if accepting the idea of the Trump tariffs are here forever is the move,” he said.

The immediate question is how long the latest tariff confrontation will last.

Béland said the deeper change probably will, partly because U.S. protectionism is likely to remain influential under future administrations.

“The idea that things will return to ‘normal’ once Donald Trump leaves the White House is probably just wishful thinking,” Béland said. “It doesn’t mean the relationship might not improve in the future but that things will never be the same.”

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, set aside the policy Friday as “contrary to law and in excess of statutory authority.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his authority by issuing the policy, which “runs afoul” of the Immigration and Nationality Act by mandating "the refusal of visas to eligible applicants without any basis in law,” the judge ruled.

Judge says power lies with consular officers

Vargas said the policy also undermines the congressional requirement that puts consular officers at the forefront of any visa decision.

“Congress imbued these officers with exclusive authority and discretion to determine if an immigrant is eligible for a visa based upon review of specific and detailed criteria set forth in the statute,” she wrote. “The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme."

The policy was challenged by two nonprofit organizations along with 11 individuals, including six whose family members had been refused visas. The remaining five are outside the country and had filed “employment-based petitions” to come to the United States.

Advocates say keeping families apart is cruel

“We welcome this ruling because, at its heart, this case is about keeping families together,” said Anna Gallagher, the executive director of CLINIC, a national nonprofit that provides training, resources, and support to a network of immigration legal service providers and was one of the plaintiffs.

“Catholic social teaching calls us to uphold the dignity of every person and recognize the family as the foundation of society,” she said in a statement. “This decision affirms both those values and the rule of law, allowing families to once again move forward toward reunification.”

Another plaintiff is African Communities Together, a Harlem-based nonprofit. One of its leaders called the ruling “a tremendous victory for the rule of law."

“This unlawful and racist ban caused immeasurable harm, cruelly keeping families and loved ones apart,” Diana Konate, deputy executive director for policy and advocacy, said in a statement. “Today, we are elated to tell our community members: this ban is no more.”

Trump expands his anti-immigration agenda

President Donald Trump has imposed a growing list of immigration and travel bans mostly for people from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The State Department said Saturday that the Trump administration is “protecting the American people by upholding the highest standards of screening and vetting of visa applicants,” and that it would not comment on pending litigation.

At the time the policy was issued, the State Department said it had instructed consular officers to halt immigrant visa applications from the 75 countries in accordance with a broader order in November that tightened rules around potential immigrants who might become “public charges.” Relying on Council of Economic Advisers data, the State Department said that more than 30 percent of households with immigrants from these countries received some form of public assistance.

A separate notice sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates said that non-immigrant visa applicants also should be “fully vetted and screened” for the possibility that they might seek public benefits in the United States.

The cable, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, noted several times that the applicant must prove they won't apply for public benefits while in the U.S., and that consular officers who suspect the applicant might apply should require them to fill out a form proving their financial bona fides.

The ruling is the latest example of the courts upending Trump’s immigration agenda. In June, a federal judge struck down a Trump administration policy that made it harder for immigrants from dozens of countries to enter and stay in America — affecting elements like asylum, work permits, green cards, and citizenship applications. That judge said the policy threw countless immigrants’ lives “into indeterminate legal limbo,” and accused the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of ignoring the law.

In December, Takaichi moved into the official residence, a brick-and-stone mansion that opened in 1929 used to be the original prime minister’s office until its replacement was built right next to it.

Takaichi said on X that living in the official residence, or “kotei,” is good because its proximity requires no commute and lets her immediately get down to work in time of an emergency.

Takaichi said she has reinforced office functions at the residence so she can work and have meetings there remotely or in person with her staff whenever needed, even after office hours. She also takes home documents to read.

“To me, the official residence is also a workplace,” she said.

But Takaichi, whose work mantra and her recent revelation on X of zero to three hours of sleep at night because of her homemaking burden on top of her heavy workload as prime minister, triggered criticisms that Japan's first female leader was setting a wrong example for a work-life balance and gender-equality.

Takaichi has seen her support ratings rapidly drop as she pushed unpopular policies such as a revision to the Imperial House Law to reinforce a male-only succession system, while delaying economic measures to address rising prices.

Media reports have said that Takaichi was avoiding parliamentary sessions and largely holed up at the residence at night and on weekends, saying that she's having significantly less interactions and communication with other lawmakers and officials than her predecessors. Takaichi frequently posts comments and policies on X instead of talking to the media.

The official residence was the site of two bloody coup attempts in the 1930s, and legend has it that the building is haunted by ghosts.

Takaichi apparently doesn’t mind spending long hours at the residence despite that.

“I’ve never seen a ghost, but I have often screamed because of my encounters with cockroaches,” she said. “I was shocked when a cockroach ran past my feet.”

The U.S. Tennis Association announced Saturday that Williams and Alcaraz had been given a wild card into the tournament. The mixed doubles main draw begins Tuesday, with the winning team sharing $1 million.

It will be Williams' first time playing at the U.S. Open since 2022. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion returned to tennis this summer.

“Let’s gooooo!” Alcaraz posted on X, with a fire emoji and tagging Williams.

Williams is not planning to play singles in New York. The USTA had been holding one women's wild card, presumably in case Williams wanted it. However, the tournament announced Saturday that it had been given to American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion.

Williams played singles at Wimbledon but sustained a knee injury in her first-round loss. She played doubles with older sister Venus at the Cincinnati Open, and they could still opt to play together at the U.S. Open.

Alcaraz announced this week he would return to defend his U.S. Open singles title after being sidelined since April with a right wrist injury.

Serena Williams won a mixed doubles title at the U.S. Open even before winning any of her six singles titles there. She teamed for the 1998 championship with Max Mirnyi, who now works with top-ranked woman Aryna Sabalenka.

The mixed doubles tournament is far different now, as the USTA revamped it last year to make it a two-day, 16-team event it hoped would draw top singles players.

Few are bigger than Williams and Alcaraz, the two-time U.S. Open men's champion who is ranked No. 2.

The USTA also announced a number of updates to the field after some players withdrew from the competition.

Americans Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz will team up, after their previous partners, Jack Draper and Elena Rybakina, pulled out with injuries. The teams of Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul, along with Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik, were given the remaining two wild cards into the main draw.

Also, Diana Shnaider remains in the field and will be given a chance to find a new partner after Daniil Medvedev withdrew.

The current field:

Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic, Pegula and Fritz, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli, Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien, two-time defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev, Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, Williams and Alcaraz, Muchova and Mensik, and Navarro and Paul.

The remaining two spots will be determined through an eight-team qualifying tournament Monday. The USTA gave wild cards to the teams of Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev, and Peyton Stearns and Christian Harrison, to be part of that field. It is otherwise largely made up of the traditional doubles specialists who lost out on the chance to play in the U.S. Open last year, with direct entry based on the players' combined singles ranking.

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

On Saturday, Infantino posted photos on his Instagram account showing the FIFA president meeting political and soccer officials from the Dominican Republic on the sidelines of a Caribbean Football Union (CFU) youth tournament in the Punta Cana resort.

On Friday, Infantino had been asked not to go by Victor Montagliani, the Canadian president of Miami-based continental soccer body CONCACAF, to avoid being a distraction from the soccer games.

“I believe that considering the governance crisis surrounding FIFA as a result of your controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, the media will focus on this situation,” Montagliani wrote in an emailed letter seen by The Associated Press, “which will unfortunately significantly take away from the technical nature of the CFU youth competition.”

“As such, I respectfully ask you in the name of football to reconsider your attendance as it will unfortunately undermine the technical nature of this important youth development activity,” Montagliani wrote.

FIFA declined to comment on the Montagliani request, though noted it directly funds regional bodies like the CFU with up to $5 million from each four-year World Cup cycle.

Montagliani has aligned with fellow FIFA vice presidents Aleksander Ceferin from European body UEFA and Asian Football Confederation president Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in seeking to end Infantino’s increasingly executive presidency now in its 11th year.

They accused Infantino two weeks ago of “deception” in secretly planning over the past year to spin off FIFA’s multi-billion dollar commercial activities to a subsidiary 20% owned by investors led by Joshua Kushner.

Infantino withdrew the project on Aug. 1 amid a global backlash by soccer leaders and fans, and hours after his own chief operating officer published stinging criticism of the proposal and his leadership style in a statement to the AP. The Zurich-based COO, Kevin Lamour, was fired this week.

Caribbean member federations are seen as potential supporters for Infantino to peel away from their CONCACAF leadership. South American body CONMEBOL has backed Infantino as its best path to hosting more games at the 2030 World Cup it wants expanded from 48 teams to 64.

Avoiding questions from a bald reporter

The FIFA leader has not taken questions publicly since the $20 billion FFE project was revealed July 28 by British daily The Times, and on Friday in Punta Cana he evaded a reporter from British broadcaster Sky News.

Asked by Sky reporter James Matthews if he had betrayed the sport and should resign, Infantino said “Thank you so much” and made quips about both men being bald.

Infantino is aiming to be re-elected for a fourth and final term in office through 2031 at the FIFA election congress next March in Rabat, Morocco. FIFA has set Nov. 18 as a deadline for would-be candidates to enter the race.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Bitcoin had dropped from a January high around $95,000 to below $60,000 at the end of June. Investors shied away from speculative assets earlier in the year and crypto supporters were concerned about the lack of movement on proposed regulation of the industry. On Friday, bitcoin rose above $77,000.

Gold hit a high above $5,300 in January but dropped to around $4,000 in June as rising rates made interest-bearing investments more attractive. Gold rose to $4,661 on Friday.

The first jolt arrived Wednesday when the Treasury Department announced plans to significantly increase its buybacks of long-term Treasurys, or government debt. On the same day, President Donald Trump, who made about $1.2 billion last year from various crypto holdings, urged Congress to move quickly on crypto legislation.

There was an almost immediate reaction, which included a dollar sell-off, and a jump in the value of gold and bitcoin as investors moved toward alternative assets.

How these two investments caught fire can be understood in the context of several developments this week.

The Treasury stepped into the bond market - forcefully

In a surprise announcement Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said that it would at least double the size of its planned purchases of longer-term government debt. The maneuver was intended to calm bond markets after a sustained sell-off, meaning investors were asking for higher yields to lend money to the U.S., which suddenly seemed more risky.

That's because while the Treasury intervention worked, at least for a short period, it also raised questions about whether the government is trying to push borrowing costs lower despite inflationary pressures. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is attempting to lower long-term borrowing costs, a move that can put upward pressure on inflation at a time when inflation is already elevated. Bessent's maneuver could handcuff the Federal Reserve, which fights inflation by raising interest rates.

Debt, inflation, and the “debasement trade” heat up

Then there's the national debt, which surpassed a record $40 trillion on the same day that the Treasury's actions unfolded. The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

There is already a lot of anxiety over inflation, particularly because of the conflict in Iran and soaring energy prices. If yields on U.S. bonds are not truly reflecting risk, you can often see that play out in the value of the U.S. currency, which took a significant downward swoop Wednesday.

So where does the money that was invested in the dollar or Treasurys go? This week, it appears to have been funneled into what is known as the “debasement trade,” when investors flood into alternative assets such as gold, which rose more than 2% Wednesday. The debasement trade now includes bitcoin. Bitcoin jumped more than 20% this week.

Crypto had a very good week in Washington

On Wednesday President Donald Trump, who banked nearly $1.2 billion from his crypto businesses last year, held a crypt conference at the White House where he called on Congress to pass the crypto-friendly Clarity Act, saying that it would "keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else.”

Trump then yielded the floor to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig, who vowed to “use every tool available” to advance Trump’s agenda.

Selig’s comments came ahead of a CFTC meeting Thursday examining ways the agency can use its existing authority to ease crypto rules. A day earlier, other regulators proposed rules making it easier for crypto companies and projects to raise money from the public.

Since taking office, Trump has pushed policies friendly to the crypto industry and reversed a Biden administration regulatory crackdown.

Bitcoin's big squeeze sent prices even higher

Bitcoin can sometimes get a bump when the U.S. dollar is on the ropes as investors try to unload the U.S. currency. But you don't typically see the kind of related movement that was observed with bitcoin this week.

The price of bitcoin had been stuck between $62,000 and $67,000 for weeks. Investors seized on that weakness, many placing bets that the cryptocurrency would be stuck in that range for some time to come.

However, on the day that the Treasury announced its buybacks, Treasury yields fell, as did the dollar, and bitcoin blasted through that upper level of $67,000.

The Treasury's actions negatively affected the money investors could make on U.S. bonds and the dollar, and boosted the value of bitcoin. That meant that many investors who had shorted bitcoin, or bet that its price would remain subdued, were forced to close their positions as bitcoin surged. Closing those bearish positions required buying back the digital asset, adding even more upward pressure to bitcoin’s price.

By Friday, more than $4 billion in bearish crypto positions had been liquidated during the rally, according to CoinGlass, which tracks cryptocurrency derivatives markets.

And because bitcoin was already rising, those forced purchases added fuel to the rally, potentially triggering still more liquidations as prices climbed.

Cleveland Police said that a Volkswagen Passat carrying five people was traveling the wrong way down the A66 highway near Middlesbrough and collided with a police vehicle on the same road going in the right direction.

The seven people were pronounced dead at the scene after the crash at 3:39 a.m.

The two officers were identified as Matthew Blades and Tom Clough, Cleveland Police Chief Constable Victoria Fuller said.

Police were still working to formally identify other victims. The families of those already identified have been informed and were offered specialist support, police said.

Cleveland Police were investigating the crash, alongside the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is always involved when such incidents take place.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that he was “devastated” to hear about the loss of life and urged “people to avoid speculation at this time.”

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And signs of this new reality can already be seen here in South Florida.

At lunch hour, a popular Haitian restaurant is quiet. The staff won’t come out of the kitchen. Outside, the strip mall parking lot and a nearby bus stop are also quiet.

All signs of a community slowly vanishing.

Johana Jacob says her salon has been like this for weeks.

“I have a lot of clients that don’t come anymore because, you know, they’re scared.”

The first deportation flight following the end of temporary protected status for Haitians landed in Haiti Thursday with more than 160 people.

The plane landed in Cap-Haitien instead of Port-au-Prince International Airport. The U.S. government currently has a ban on U.S. commercial flights to Haiti’s capital because of ongoing gang violence.

“It’s a very stressful situation,” said Pastor Adenet Medacier, whom we met at the Sant La Haitian community center.

He was picking up flyers with information for dozens of church members. He wants them prepared for what may be inevitable.

The flyers include information about what people should do if they receive a visit from ICE.

Medacier says some are being advised to put someone else’s name in their bank account.

Asked whether that makes it harder for law enforcement or ICE to do its job, he said they are not trying to interfere with ICE operations.

“We are not interfering with ICE or their operation. We are not. But what we are doing is what the Bible recommends. We have to help those who are in need.”

Back at Jacob’s salon, she’s concerned for her community and for her bottom line.

“I’m a little bit scared. The only thing I know is that God will take care of us.”

DHS has maintained it will continue to be out in communities like Little Haiti enforcing immigration law.

Y las señales de esta nueva realidad ya pueden verse aquí en el sur de Florida.

A la hora del almuerzo, un popular restaurante haitiano está tranquilo. El personal no sale de la cocina. Afuera, el estacionamiento del centro comercial y una parada de autobús cercana también están tranquilos.

Todas son señales de una comunidad que está desapareciendo lentamente.

Johana Jacob dice que su salón ha estado así durante semanas.

“Tengo muchos clientes que ya no vienen porque, ya sabes, tienen miedo”.

El primer vuelo de deportación tras el fin del Estatus de Protección Temporal para los haitianos aterrizó en Haití el jueves con más de 160 personas.

El avión aterrizó en Cap-Haitien en lugar del Aeropuerto Internacional de Port-au-Prince. El gobierno de Estados Unidos mantiene actualmente una prohibición de vuelos comerciales estadounidenses hacia la capital de Haití debido a la continua violencia de las pandillas.

“Es una situación muy estresante”, dijo el pastor Adenet Medacier, a quien encontramos en el centro comunitario haitiano Sant La.

Estaba recogiendo volantes con información para decenas de miembros de la iglesia. Quiere que estén preparados para lo que podría ser inevitable.

Los volantes incluyen información sobre lo que las personas deben hacer si reciben una visita de ICE.

Medacier dice que a algunos se les está aconsejando poner el nombre de otra persona en su cuenta bancaria.

Cuando se le preguntó si eso dificulta que las autoridades o ICE hagan su trabajo, dijo que no están tratando de interferir con las operaciones de ICE.

“No estamos interfiriendo con ICE ni con sus operaciones. No lo estamos haciendo. Pero lo que estamos haciendo es lo que recomienda la Biblia. Tenemos que ayudar a quienes lo necesitan”.

De regreso en el salón de Jacob, ella está preocupada por su comunidad y por sus ingresos.

“Tengo un poco de miedo. Lo único que sé es que Dios cuidará de nosotros”.

El DHS ha sostenido que continuará presente en comunidades como Little Haiti haciendo cumplir las leyes de inmigración.

Saturday in England's top division began with United, the 20-time champion with a new permanent manager and a freshly renovated midfield, getting rolled over by promoted Hull in an embarrassing 2-0 loss.

It ended with Tottenham, one of the biggest spenders in Europe this summer with $300 million — and counting — of new players in its squad, getting overwhelmed in a 3-0 defeat at Brentford.

In the middle was a win for Everton in front of Britain's recently installed prime minister and a victory for another promoted club, Ipswich.

Man United stumbles at Hull

Hull made a dream return to the top flight after a nine-year absence but much of the post-match chatter was about Man United's shortcomings.

First-half goals from Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy at set-pieces consigned United to a tepid loss away to a team that was promoted via the second-tier Championship playoffs and is widely expected to be among the relegation candidates.

"It was never going to be perfect,” said Michael Carrick, who was rewarded for leading United to a third-place finish last season and a return to the Champions League with a permanent contract over the summer.

Carrick also was given a new central-midfield duo in Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos — Brighton's Carlos Baleba might be next — while Marcus Rashford returned from a loan spell at Barcelona and entered as a halftime substitute against Hull.

They struggled to impress along with many other players in a lackluster team display that showed United — last a Premier League champion in 2013 under Alex Ferguson — still has far to go to recapture its former glories and is unlikely to challenge for the title, at least on this evidence anyway.

“One game doesn’t change the direction of everything,” Carrick said. "It doesn’t change the direction of the football club.”

Tonali and Tottenham outplayed by slick Brentford

Across Europe, only Chelsea has spent more on new players than Tottenham this summer but it didn't show at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium.

Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, who joined for a club-record $133 million from Newcastle, was among the new signings in a Spurs team that was completely outplayed by a settled Brentford lineup, which was two goals ahead by the 33rd thanks to close-range strikes by Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt.

Michael Kayode slid in to add a third just after the break and Igor Thiago, Brentford's top scorer last season, missed a chance to pad the scoreline by hitting the post with a penalty.

British PM sees Everton win

Everton had a famous fan in its stadium watching a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Andy Burnham took in his first Everton match since becoming Britain's prime minister last month and saw Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry score goals for the hosts.

Everton manager David Moyes said he spoke to Burnham, a season ticket-holder at the club, on the phone after the match.

Ismaila Sarr, linked with a move away from Palace, wasn't in the matchday squad for Pierre Sage's first game in charge of the team, though the manager said the Senegal forward's absence was injury-related. Palace lost Morocco defender Chadi Riad to what appeared to be a serious knee injury that forced him to be carried off on a stretcher in the second half.

Another victory for a promoted club

Ipswich was another promoted team to win in the opening round of games, scoring in the 90th minute through Jack Clarke to beat his former club Sunderland 2-1.

Leeds also scored a late winner, with Anton Stach's 88th-minute free kick enough to dispatch Nottingham Forest 1-0.

Arsenal has already won

Arsenal began its title defense by beating Coventry, the second-tier champion last season, 3-0 on Friday.

On Sunday, Manchester City — demolished 3-0 by Arsenal in the Community Shield last weekend — looks to bounce back against Bournemouth and Liverpool travels to Newcastle.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

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The supermarket chain says the change is intended to improve the shopping experience and reduce wait times for customers.

The policy change was first tested at Publix stores in Miami and is now being rolled out companywide.

Self-checkout lanes will remain an option for shoppers making smaller purchases who want a quicker checkout experience.

The change means customers with more than 10 items will no longer be restricted from using the store’s express lanes, giving shoppers another option when checking out.

La cadena de supermercados dice que el cambio tiene como objetivo mejorar la experiencia de compra y reducir los tiempos de espera para los clientes.

El cambio de política se probó primero en las tiendas Publix de Miami y ahora se está implementando en toda la compañía.

Las cajas de autopago seguirán siendo una opción para los compradores que hagan compras más pequeñas y quieran una experiencia de pago más rápida.

El cambio significa que los clientes con más de 10 artículos ya no tendrán restricciones para usar las cajas rápidas de la tienda, dando a los compradores otra opción al momento de pagar.

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Authorities said the traffic stop started just before 6 p.m. near Northwest 88th Street and 12th Avenue, when a Miami Police Department officer attempted to pull over a car with four people inside.

They said the driver sped away. Three people eventually got out of the vehicle and tried to run, but police caught them.

Police confirmed that the fourth person remains at large.

A helicopter spent a couple of hours circling over nearby homes as officers searched the area.

Officers later left the intersection, but it was not immediately clear whether the search was still underway.

Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office are assisting Miami police with the search.

Police told Local 10 News that the traffic stop was related to a previously reported MPD case involving the vehicle. Authorities later said the people inside the vehicle may also be connected to a homicide investigation.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Las autoridades dijeron que la parada de tráfico comenzó poco antes de las 6 p.m. cerca de Northwest 88th Street y 12th Avenue, cuando un agente del Departamento de Policía de Miami intentó detener un vehículo con cuatro personas en su interior.

Dijeron que el conductor huyó a toda velocidad. Tres personas finalmente salieron del vehículo e intentaron huir corriendo, pero la policía las capturó.

La policía confirmó que la cuarta persona continúa prófuga.

Un helicóptero pasó un par de horas sobrevolando las viviendas cercanas mientras los agentes registraban el área.

Los agentes posteriormente abandonaron la intersección, pero no quedó claro de inmediato si la búsqueda continuaba.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade están ayudando a la policía de Miami con la búsqueda.

La policía dijo a Local 10 News que la parada de tráfico estaba relacionada con un caso previamente reportado por el Departamento de Policía de Miami que involucraba al vehículo. Las autoridades dijeron posteriormente que las personas dentro del vehículo también podrían estar relacionadas con una investigación de homicidio.

Se exhorta a cualquier persona con información sobre el caso a llamar a Crime Stoppers de Miami-Dade al 305-471-8477.

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MFR medics said they responded to the scene and transported the man to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in serious condition. They said he suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Authorities said the shooting was reported around 3:30 a.m. in the 5800 block of Northwest 12th Avenue. Miami police have since cleared the area as their investigation continues.

A Local 10 News crew was at the scene as crime scene investigators were processing a red SUV that appeared to have multiple bullet holes.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooting occurred at that location or whether the SUV arrived there after the man was shot elsewhere.

Police had not released additional details about the victim or the circumstances of the shooting, and no possible suspects had been identified.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Paramédicos de MFR dijeron que respondieron a la escena y transportaron al hombre al Ryder Trauma Center del Jackson Memorial Hospital en condición grave. Dijeron que sufrió múltiples heridas de bala.

Las autoridades dijeron que la balacera fue reportada alrededor de las 3:30 a.m. en la cuadra 5800 de Northwest 12th Avenue. Desde entonces, la policía de Miami despejó el área mientras continúa su investigación.

Un equipo de Local 10 News estuvo en la escena mientras investigadores de la escena del crimen procesaban una SUV roja que parecía tener múltiples impactos de bala.

No quedó claro de inmediato si la balacera ocurrió en ese lugar o si la SUV llegó allí después de que el hombre recibiera los disparos en otro lugar.

La policía no había divulgado detalles adicionales sobre la víctima ni las circunstancias de la balacera, y no se había identificado a ningún posible sospechoso.

Se exhorta a cualquier persona con información sobre la balacera a llamar a Crime Stoppers de Miami-Dade al 305-471-8477.

They can provide valuable indications of your stamina and strength. They can estimate the risk of falls, which increase older adults ' risk of death. And they're useful to doctors who work to address aging or people with injuries.

But they're no crystal ball.

“A poor or declining result is a reason for a health professional to investigate why function is changing, rather than gauging how long someone will live,” said Auriel Willette, an expert on brain aging at Rutgers University.

Here's a look at what mobility tests entail and how to apply the results to your health.

A sit-to-stand test goes viral, but what does it really show?

“Sit-to-stand” tests come in several forms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 30-second chair-stand test is designed for patients older than 60, to see how many times they can stand up in that time period.

Another test, popularized on social media, asks someone to move from standing, to sitting cross-legged on the ground, and then back up to standing. Making your way down to the floor is worth 5 points, as is standing up, for a total score of 10. You lose a point for each support you use (such as a hand or knee) and half a point if you're unsteady. The score is zero if you're unable to sit or stand without external help.

Doctors said they haven’t seen the test used with older U.S. adults, but researchers in Brazil published studies in 2020 and 2025 that concluded middle-aged people who scored higher were less likely to die within about a decade.

Many American doctors use a test called “Timed Up and Go,” or TUG. It requires the patient to get up from a chair, walk 10 feet (3 meters) and come back to their seat. That allows doctors to evaluate a person's balance, mobility and lower extremity strength all at once.

Dr. George Hennawi, who treats older adults at MedStar Health in Baltimore, said all the tests are meant to pinpoint specific weaknesses and narrow down their underlying cause, whether that's knee pain, slow reflexes, poor balance or feeling winded or dizzy because of cardiovascular issues.

“The key to react to it is to understand where did we not do well,” he said.

A full picture of a person's health is important

Tests like the viral sit-to-stand one are what doctors call screening tools. They're helpful in narrowing down issues, but they don't provide enough information for a full diagnosis.

Other popular tests for a person's “physiological age,” or how your body is aging, include tests of grip strength, walking speed, gait steadiness and balance. Such tests look at how hard your hand can squeeze something, whether you favor one side while walking, how long and well can you stand on one leg and how far forward can you reach without becoming unsteady.

Many doctors also use these challenges to understand a person’s risk for “frailty,” a medical condition that means the body is less able to handle strain from illness or injury.

Doctors sometimes use a 10-minute assessment called the Short Physical Performance Battery, which includes several tests including gait, balance and strength. It was developed by the National Institute on Aging and large clinical trials have shown it predicts mortality, disability and more.

At the University of California, Los Angeles' Multidisciplinary Falls Clinic, Dr. David Lee said it's important to look across multiple tests in combination. Grip strength, for example, is predictive of many different things, but it can be affected by arthritis, stroke or even simply not conditioning those muscles.

“It’s one measure of many,” Lee said.

Good health is about more than a good score

Experts note that strength and mobility are just one part of healthy aging. Tests of cognition, memory, hearing, eyesight and many other measures are key to evaluating how someone is aging.

They also cautioned against training to pass a test. Instead, keep the big picture in mind. Exercise your whole body. Eat nutritious meals. Address stress in a healthy way. Prioritize your sleep. Take care of your heart.

Finally, experts said it’s important to know the context in which a test has been studied and verified. If it’s shown to predict an outcome for one age group, the performance standards won’t necessarily apply to others.

If you score poorly in a mobility test and are concerned about your fall risk, or have recently fallen, talk to your doctor. The test results are the first step in determining if you need an assistive device, physical therapy, a change in medications or something else, said Emily Nabors, a falls prevention expert with The National Council on Aging.

She cited one estimate that more than a quarter of older adults fall each year, but most of them don't tell their doctor about it.

“If you've fallen, you might feel fine,” she said, “but you might not be fine at all.”

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

Given that the state easily backed Republican Donald Trump three times and hasn't supported a Democrat for the White House since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, the answer may seem obvious.

But in Nebraska’s largest city, it's an open question and could decide one of the country’s most-watched congressional races. Retiring Rep. Don Bacon ’s open seat pits fellow Republican and Omaha City Councilmember Brinker Harding against Democratic activist Denise Powell.

The district encompasses an increasingly Democratic-leaning Omaha metro area of 1 million-plus and its more conservative suburbs — famous for steaks and the Reuben sandwich's birthplace, though New York disputes that.

It's one of just eight districts nationwide that elected Republicans in House races while supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris over Trump two years ago.

Harding and Powell have been making the rounds at parades and festivals where meat raffles offer oversized sausages as prizes. However, those on-the-ground appeals could be drowned out by Trump who, like most things in politics, has moved to shape November's midterm elections in his own image.

The president is organizing a Republican midterm convention in Dallas next month that will serve as much a two-day rally for him as a boon to party candidates nationwide. Trump is also frequently visiting tightly contested districts, despite his low approval ratings and the unpopular war in Iran.

While Trump centers himself, Democrats are happy to oblige.

When Powell knocks on doors to talk to voters, she asks, “What’s keeping you up at night?” On a sweaty Saturday afternoon, John Rosseter responded without hesitation. “Well, Trump.”

“I want to see the history books written years from now,” said Rosseter, 67, who owns a carpentry business. “They won’t be pretty.”

The ‘Blue Dot’ hasn't helped Democratic House candidates

Nebraska splits its presidential electoral votes, and the 2nd Congressional District's delegate has gone to Democrats three out of five times since 2008, making it a “ blue dot ” in an otherwise Republican red state. But a Democrat has won the House seat just once since 1994.

Harding plays up Trump's primary endorsement, and House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise campaigned for him. Harding said he has “the full confidence of, not only the White House, but leadership in the Congress.”

He has also tried to appeal to swing voters and says he knows the district better than does Powell, co-founder of Women Who Run Nebraska, which supports female candidates.

Two possible Democratic 2028 presidential candidates — ex-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rahm Emanuel, an ex-Chicago mayor who was President Barack Obama's first White House chief of staff — have campaigned with Powell.

She talks about how Medicare cuts have increased anxiety about affordability. Powell also points to Trump and his family's business dealings as an example of “the choices that they have made while people on the ground are struggling” and she says that resonates with Republicans.

“Even the ones who aren’t necessarily anti-Trump," Powell said, "understand the need for checks and balances.”

Some Democrats want a 'Blue Dot Wave'

Jason Brown and his wife, Ruth Huebner-Brown, caused a sensation in 2024 by spray painting about 50 reused lawn signs with blue dots and distributing them around Omaha's Dundee neighborhood. The couple has since expanded to professionally produce signs promoting a “Blue Dot Wave.”

Brown said the Republican-controlled Congress has capitulated on “every Trump nominee, every Trump policy, all the way down to putting gilding gold on statues.”

Supporters of Harding have countered with red “Brinker Dot" signs.

“We need to make sure that we keep this country on the track to being even better,” Harding said.

Jack Hosking, the 90-year-old retired former head of a title insurance company, organizes a weekly coffee to discuss political and community issues. He estimated that about 70% of attendees are Trump voters and “maybe even more so lately, because of the crap that the New York mayor started,” referring to Zohran Mamdani's efforts at pushing the Democratic Party to the left.

Both Powell and Harding have addressed Hosking's group, though, and he predicted that as much as half will support the Democrat.

“She spoke well enough that, my sense is, a lot of them will cross over," Hosking said, noting that when it came to campaigning, “Brinker’s not doing much.”

The president seen as a base motivator

The Republican National Committee views Trump as a national asset, betting he can prevent complacency in a year without a presidential race, when enthusiasm for the party in power typically wanes.

The committee rebranded its “Young Guns” program for key candidates to “MAGA Majority” in deference to Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement, and many congressional candidates will be at the Dallas convention with Trump.

Others aren't waiting that long.

Republican Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Tom Barrett of Michigan, whom Democrats are aiming to unseat, both appeared with Trump during his rallies in their districts. When the president visited Macungie, Pennsylvania, in June, he joined Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, saying, “I’m here for him.”

Trump also traveled to the Wisconsin district of Republican Rep. Derreck Van Orden, as have Cabinet members.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, facing a reelection fight, appeared with Trump during an April event in Arizona. Two Iowa Republicans in what could be toss-up reelection contests, Reps Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, both were by Trump's side when he kicked off his midterm campaign outside Des Moines.

Bacon sometimes defied the White House in his final term. He criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and tried to curb Trump’s ability to impose tariffs and was the only House Republican who opposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Mary Jane Truemper, who heads the Nebraska Republican Party, said Powell and the state's Democrats have moved too far to the left. She called Harding “a steady force” and said the nominee is not as fond of picking high-profile fights the way Bacon sometimes was.

“I think he speaks to the moderate Democrats as well as the Republicans,” said Truemper, who managed Bacon’s reelection campaign in 2018 and also worked for an unsuccessful primary challenger to him.

Even Powell said, “Don Bacon was a good representative of this district, and I think that there are a lot of people drawn to a pragmatic style of leadership in a state like ours.” But that may not be enough this year.

“People are worse off than they were before,” Powell said.

A local race may expose a wider party divide among neighbors

In the Elmwood Park neighborhood, Andy Maxwell, a 58-year-old pediatrician, said he likes to find the middle ground in politics and his community. But he recalled that, after putting up a Biden sign in his yard in 2020, his neighbors erected a Trump one.

“We don’t like all the turmoil part of it,” Maxwell said of politics nationally.

Nearby, 80-year-old Jerard Pearson called Democrats “feckless,” but said of Trump's base supporters, “I’ve always been curious about this one-third level of crazy out there, a third of the population.” He is also no fan of a neighbor's large “Harding for Congress” sign.

Truemper said Harding appreciates Trump's endorsement but Nebraskans like to be wooed "person-to-person, rather than a national entity coming in."

“Is that going to be the deciding factor?" she asked of Trump. "I don't know.”

Trump put statues of some of America’s founders in the garden just off the Oval Office after he replaced its plush lawn with a white stone patio, turning the historic outdoor space into a look-alike of the one at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in Palm Beach, Florida.

At least one statue was a gift. Others are on loan from people who wish to remain anonymous.

The latest addition, a bronze depiction of a seated Thomas Jefferson signing the Declaration of Independence, was a gift from George Lundeen, a sculptor from Loveland, Colorado. It joins statues already displayed there of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Ben Franklin. A fifth sculpture named “Freedom’s Charge” is also on the patio.

The statues are part of Trump’s sweeping series of White House renovations, from his gilded makeover of the Oval Office to the ballroom and helipad that the Republican president is having built on the south grounds. These projects fit into Trump’s broader plan to leave his mark on downtown Washington through other construction projects, including a statue garden on federal land near the National Mall.

Thomas Jefferson returns to the White House

Lundeen said he made the sculpture of Jefferson, the third U.S. president, decades ago and kept it at his ranch until he decided to spruce it up and send it to Trump for display at the White House in time for July Fourth celebrations of America's 250th birthday. Steven Barber, his friend and collaborator, had reached out to contacts at the White House on Lundeen's behalf.

“I thought it would just be a real nice thing on the 250th for people to look at Thomas Jefferson as he was writing the Declaration of Independence,” Lundeen said in a telephone interview.

But the statue did not get to the White House in time. Barber said it was stuck on a truck partly because of heavy security around the celebratory events. Trump was shown photos and liked the sculpture so much that he decided to put it in the Rose Garden.

When the president called Lundeen to thank him, he got voicemail. After the holiday, Lundeen's office manager insisted he listen to one message in particular.

“Hi, George. It's your favorite president, Donald Trump, and I just wanted to thank you,” the president said on the recording, which Lundeen shared with The Associated Press. “The sculpture, it looks really beautiful ... just by the picture I can see it's really incredible, and we have a wonderful place right in the Rose Garden, and I appreciate it.”

Barber said in a separate telephone interview that he had been calling the White House for months to discuss the statue but got little in the way of a response until about three weeks before Independence Day, when in came a “flurry of emails saying they wanted it.”

White House signals that more statues are possible

Details on the other statues added to the Rose Garden are relatively sparse.

The statue of Washington, America’s first president, was lent by Harlan Crow, the White House said. Representatives for the Texas-based real estate tycoon and GOP megadonor, who made headlines in recent years for his friendship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, did not respond to email messages from the AP seeking comment.

A third statue, "Freedom's Charge,” a 14-foot-tall (4.3-meter-tall) bronze sculpture of two Revolutionary War soldiers separated by a flag, was relocated from Dallas. Chas Fagan, the sculptor, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

The Franklin and Hamilton statues are from anonymous donors, according to the White House.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle explained Trump's fondness for statues by saying that no other president has done more to beautify the White House and its surroundings.

"From restoring our treasured landmarks, which had suffered years of abuse and vandalism, to cleaning our parks and the Reflecting Pool, President Trump’s bold vision ensured that America rang in its 250th birthday celebration with glory and pride,” Ingle said in an emailed statement that referenced Trump's troubled effort to spruce up the pool near the Lincoln Memorial.

He said Trump continues to make “long-overdue and necessary” renovations to the White House.

"Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come,” Ingle said.

Trump’s love of statues extends beyond the White House

Next door to the White House, Trump had a statue of Christopher Columbus installed on the grounds of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in March.

More recently, the National Park Service installed a series of sculptures of Revolutionary-era subjects and themes at a plaza near the White House.

Trump's marquee statue plan involves building a National Garden of American Heroes near the National Mall that would feature sculptures of 250 Americans who have made significant cultural, political and other historical contributions to the United States. Several preservation and cultural heritage organization have sued to block the project, arguing that Congress must first authorize it.

Barber said he and Lundeen are “in the mix” to make statues for that garden, too.

At his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump has on display a 7-foot (2.1-meter) bronze sculpture depicting him with his fist raised after the 2024 assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It was also made by Lundeen and was given to Trump by Anthony Constantino, a businessman and Republican congressional candidate from New York.

The White House doubles as an art gallery

The White House has long been a showcase for art, perhaps no work more famous than the Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington that hangs in the East Room and was saved by first lady Dolly Madison after the British set the White House on fire during the War of 1812.

Presidents have access to the White House's vast art collection. Trump has said he went to the “vaults” and found the presidential portraits and other art he hung in the Oval Office and in other rooms in the White House. Portraits of former presidents and former first ladies also adorn hallways and public rooms in the mansion.

In Trump's first term, first lady Melania Trump installed a piece by Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi near the Rose Garden, making him the first Asian American artist to be featured in the White House collection.

Before that, then-first lady Michelle Obama's renovation of the Old Family Dining Room in 2015 included the addition of a painting by Alma Thomas, who was the first African American female artist to have her work added to the collection.

Jeffrey Huber still remembers the day some 34 years ago when Hurricane Andrew blew off the roof of his childhood home, one of tens of thousands damaged and destroyed across southern Florida. For days, first responders couldn't get to them. For a month and a half, they relied on food donations. For more than a year, he lived with his family in a trailer.

“It wasn’t just about the storm itself, but it was about the aftermath of that storm and how we begin to design for those aspects,” said Huber, a landscape architect and professor who was 12 in 1992 when the Category 5 hurricane hit. "We are seeing extreme storms, extreme scenarios like this that are becoming much more common."

Some 129 million people — nearly 40% of the U.S. population — live in coastal counties. Recent research shows that a rise in sea level driven by humans has increased the frequency of extreme coastal flooding around the world.

As climate change threatens communities, Florida is showing how to build to adapt. Throughout the state, architects and designers are merging infrastructure with urban design to create residential buildings, parks and more. The goal is to better withstand rising waters, worsening storms, saltwater intrusion, heat heaves and other climate impacts.

“In places like Miami, we’re dealing with a combination of tidal flooding, storm surge and long-term sea level rise," said Huber, professor in the School of Architecture at Florida Atlantic University. "So the question isn’t about how we stop water, but it’s how we live on, with and over it.”

Seawalls that double as reefs

As global average temperatures climb because of fossil fuel emissions, so do sea levels, making low-lying coastal cities vulnerable to flooding.

Frequent flooding and intensifying storm surges got so bad in Miami Beach that when it rained, Anya Freeman rushed home to move her car because her street filled with knee-deep water and she couldn't get car insurance for flooding.

"But nobody was doing anything practical about it," she said. So in 2024, she left behind her career as a lawyer to launch Kind Designs, a startup creating 3D-printed living seawalls to protect shorelines from flooding.

These seawalls are meant to be affordable so they can be scaled, and also serve as marine habitat. They're made faster and with a nontoxic concrete mixture and can be custom shaped for the ecosystems where they're installed. On a recent August day, workers in neon-green shirts and yellow construction hats installed one mimicking mangroves at a waterfront church in Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami.

Traditional seawalls are flat, but theirs can be designed to mimic natural coastal features like the mangrove roots you'd find in Miami or barnacle clusters in New York.

“We have a whole library of designs for different marine habitats, and the point is to attract the native species... create caves where they can hide from predators and also to dissipate waves," she said.

Their technology dissipates at least 45% of wave energy, making it more resilient to overtopping and erosion. On one wall, researchers from Florida International University identified 51 species living in it one year after installation, including filter feeders like oysters and tubeworms that clean water.

They've since installed 16 living seawalls across Florida for residential, commercial and government clients, she said. Soon they'll put their first ones in California and New York and will be fortifying coastal bases for the U.S. Navy.

Affordable housing project and park

The Vista Breeze affordable senior housing project in Miami Beach by the architectural firm Brooks Scarpa Huber is a real-world application of how to live with the threats of water.

The 119-unit, two-building complex is elevated 10 feet (3.05 meters) from sea level and is designed to withstand storm surges of up to 20 feet (6.10 meters). Concrete is mixed with a crystalline, water-proof powder that blocks water from penetrating into it, protecting structures and extending their life. Rebar coated in zinc shields it from rust and corrosion.

They're “some of the most simple, easy steps and they don’t cost that much,” said Huber, the project's principal architect. “But they’re going to make our buildings more resilient starting up front.”

From a heat-mitigation standpoint, the buildings are oriented southeast to the prevailing breezes, passively cooling themselves.

There are also community rooms, courtyards and terraces to promote socializing. The elevators are hidden, and the stairs made prominent to encourage their use.

About 30 miles north, a former parking lot was transformed into a public space that doubles as flood infrastructure. DC Alexander Park in Fort Lauderdale has a 25-foot artistic overlook that provides shade on hot days.

Along the park's perimeter, a native maritime forest absorbs rainfall and saltwater flooding while providing recreational opportunities and species habitat.

These designs build on Huber's research on adapting coastal cities to rising seas, which he wrote about in his 2024 design manual “Salty Urbanism.”

Miami, he said, is a testing ground for it.

“The ideas that we’re working on here... designing for, you know, these extreme scenarios like 5, 9 feet of sea level rise are going to become increasingly relevant to any coastal cities around the world," he said.

Visions for the future

Financing, policy and community support are just some of the challenges architects and urban planners face with implementation.

About a decade ago, architectural designer, urban planner and Future Vision Studios founder Aaron DeMayo began developing The Coastline, a regional resilience master plan proposal to protect Southern Florida from storm surge and sea level rise.

Funding it will have a large price tag, but “the need and the urgency I think merits this type of infrastructure solution,” he said.

“We have a massive amount of low-lying property and property that could be impacted from storm surge," he said. "And what we’re presenting here is going to have a very large return on investment because we’re protecting hundreds of miles of direct waterfront property, as well as property behind that waterfront property.”

At the University of Miami’s Center for Urban and Community Design — founded after the 1992 hurricane that damaged Huber’s home — designer, architect and the center's director Thomas Klein is working to address a problem: a lack of assistance to help lower-income communities afford climate resilient projects.

They're putting together a community design fund that would do a call out for project proposals, work with communities to identify which would have the most impact, then bring in university experts to help develop them with residents.

For Klein, funding scarcity for climate resilient infrastructure is an opportunity to build in a way that provides multiple services.

“In 2026, is it acceptable to just build a road to move cars? Or does the road need to also move bicyclists and have a bus rapid transit lane, but also manage stormwater and ameliorate for heat island issues?" he said. This fall, they're also launching an initiative to conceptualize and design “sponge parks” in South Florida that use green and other infrastructure to absorb rain and manage stormwater.

Florida is a challenging regulatory environment, he added, but the solutions evolving there are “uniquely replicable” to other states. “Because we have to rely on a narrower band of potential approaches to actualizing solutions for resilience in our cities, that those solutions might be a little bit more, I guess, resilient.”

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

After being shut out of this month’s total solar eclipse, the Americas will have the best seats in the celestial house when Earth’s shadow briefly envelops the moon. Almost the entire lunar surface will be masked Thursday night into Friday — a whopping 96% — making this an especially deep partial eclipse.

The moon is already in the spotlight. NASA sent the Artemis II astronauts on a record-breaking lunar flyby in April, the prelude to eventually landing on the surface and building a base swarming with people and robots over the next several years.

“This is a great time to be part of the space program, right? We’re not slowing down,” NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway told The Associated Press from the International Space Station last week.

It’s the second act of the greatest show in the solar system, coming two weeks after a total solar eclipse paraded through Greenland, Iceland and Spain.

Eclipses always travel in pairs as the sun, moon and Earth align so precisely that one obscures the other. That’s because the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, which is 400 times farther away, making them appear the same size — a cosmic coincidence and gift from the universe.

Unfolding at a more leisurely pace, the upcoming lunar eclipse will have a much bigger audience than Europe's solar show. The eclipsed moon will be visible to billions across North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, provided the skies are clear.

The lunar eclipse may also be visible to Hathaway and the nine other people living off the planet — seven astronauts at the International Space Station and three aboard China’s orbiting outpost.

Space provides a “unique perspective” for viewing cosmic wonders like eclipses and auroras, said the space station's commander, Jessica Meir.

In this case, Earth will pass between the moon and the sun, casting a reddish-orange shadow onto our closest neighbor. Because this is a partial eclipse, the lineup won’t be perfect and it won’t be a true blood moon. The partial phase of the eclipse will last more than three hours. But the entire eclipse, from the time the full moon enters the faintest, outermost edge of Earth’s shadow until it leaves, will stretch 5 ½ hours.

The eclipse will peak just after midnight EDT.

Nearly 1 billion people in the U.S., Canada, and Central and South America will have front-row views for the entire eclipse. More than 3 billion people — 44% of the world’s population — will be in position to catch at least part of it.

The eclipsed moon will be setting in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, cutting the show short. It will be rising in Hawaii, getting the eastern Pacific off to a late start along with northwestern sections of the U.S. and Canada.

This is the year’s second lunar eclipse and the fourth eclipse overall. A total lunar eclipse graced the skies over the Americas, Australia and eastern Asia in March.

The next complete lunar blackout won’t be until New Year’s Eve 2028, with Asia and Australia at center stage. And it will be 2029 before stargazers across North and South America are treated to another full eclipse of the moon.

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

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 shallots, sliced thin

2 garlic cloves, chopped

6 ears corn, kernels removed, reserve the cobs

1 yellow pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped

1 cup milk

extra virgin olive oil for garnish

For garnish:

reserved corn kernels

fresh tarragon leaves, chopped, for garnish

olive oil, for drizzling

Boil the cobs in 6 cups of water for 10 minutes, strain and discard the cobs.

In a medium size saucepan, add the oil to the pan and cook the shallots and garlic until soft, add the peppers and cook until soft. Add 3/4 of the corn kernels and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the milk and 3-4 cups of the reserved corn broth. Allow to simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Puree until very smooth. You can add a little more of the reserved corn broth if desired for a thinner soap. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool in a refrigerator.

Garnish with raw corn kernels, tarragon and olive oil.

½ pound peeled and deveined shrimp (16/20 or 21/25 size per pound), precooked

½ pound fresh white fish (like snapper or fluke)(we always us a fish that has been properly blast frozen), defrost and slice thin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, microplaned

juice of 2 limes, freshly squeezed

½ cup passion fruit juice

1 each celery rib, small diced

1 scotch bonnet/habanero, minced (you can use the seeds, some of the seeds or deseed the chili depending on how spicy you want your ceviche to be)

1 garlic clove, minced

½ very small red onion, julienne (cut into thin strips) very fine

½ cup small diced un-ripened mango, small diced

¼ bunch cilantro, chopped

popcorn for serving, if desired

Cut the shrimp in ½-inch pieces as well as the fish.

Place in a nonreactive bowl sat on top of a larger bowl of ice water.

Mix the fish with the ginger, celery, as much chili as you like, garlic, red onion, a teaspoon of salt and mango.

Allow the fish to “cry” a little before adding the lime and passion fruit juices.

Taste for salt. Add cilantro and serve good and cold.

I love to top the ceviche with popcorn for serving.

Officers responded to the 1700 block of Southwest 87th Avenue after receiving a report of a shooting involving a man and a dog.

Leer en español

Miramar Police Department Chief Delrish Moss told Local 10 News that the dog was attacking the man, who initially tried to kick the animal off him. When the dog continued attacking, the man pulled out a gun and shot the dog, killing it, he said.

Moss clarified that the dog was not a loose animal. He said it belonged to a friend of the man who was attacked.

A woman who wasn’t connected to the dog attack also went to the hospital because she “wasn’t feeling well,” according to authorities.

Police said no criminal charges are expected at this time.

3-4 ounces sushi grade A tuna

1 orange, peeled and cut into segments

1 tangerine, peeled and cut into segments

good quality extra virgin olive oil

Thai chili, sliced very, very thin

Maldon salt

For garish:

something fun and crunchy on the side like your favorite potato chips, popcorn or crunchy cancha

slice the tuna as thin or thick as you prefer, making sure it stays nice and cold; keep in the refrigerator while you prepare the other ingredients.

top with the citrus, a little really-good oil, salt or soy if you prefer and the chilies.

serve alongside something salty and crunchy for texture.

An 18-year-old man armed with a sword carried out the attack at the Brinell School in Fagersta, northwest of Stockholm, while classes were in session on Friday. One person was killed and three others were wounded, two of them severely.

Police said the suspect had been arrested and that the case was being investigated as murder and attempted murder. The police said they have no reason to believe there were more perpetrators.

Vastmanland County, where the town is located, said that the two seriously injured boys were ages 12 and 17. A third person, also under 18, was slightly injured and has been discharged from a hospital, Swedish news agency TT reported.

The school principal told local media P4 Västmanland on Saturday that the attacker was a student at the school.

The police said they fired shots during its action on Friday but the attacker was not hit.

On Saturday morning, around 70 people gathered at the memorial site that the municipality prepared, carrying flowers and lighting candles, TT reported.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who visited the site on Saturday, expressed solidarity with the families affected by the attack and with those impacted by previous school attacks in Sweden.

“What must never happen has happened again,” Kristersson said.

Kristersson was joined in Fagersta by Magdalena Andersson, leader of the main opposition Social Democrats. With Sweden’s parliamentary election due in September, political parties suspended campaign events on Saturday. Kristersson also invited all party leaders to a meeting to discuss the progress of the investigation.

There was no official information on the attacker’s possible motive.

Sweden’s national police said that investigators have already carried out two house searches in connection with the suspect. Many witnesses were expected to be interviewed as part of the investigation.

The region went into a state of emergency on Friday, but it had ended by Saturday.

Sweden has seen a series of violent school attacks over the years.

Last year, 11 people, including the gunman, died after an attack at an education center in Örebro in central Sweden, leading the government to propose tougher gun laws. It's considered to be the worst mass shooting in the country's history.

In 2022, an 18-year-old man attacked two female teachers with a knife and an ax in a school in Malmo, killing them.

In 2015, a 21-year-old local man rampaged through a school in the southern industrial city of Trollhattan, stabbing three people to death before being fatally shot by police. Authorities called it a racist hate crime, saying he methodically selected dark-skinned victims at Trollhattan’s Kronan school, where most students are foreign-born.

As rain started to fall on the Zandvoort track, McLaren’s Norris made the most of his final run to reclaim pole by 0.102 of a second from Russell, whose Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli — the standings leader — was third.

“A little surprised, honestly, but a decent lap," said Norris, who'd been critical of his car in the earlier sprint race and credited McLaren with making the right changes.

“We had to try something because what we had before wasn’t going to be enough," he said, adding the changes were small but "enough to give me some confidence.”

Norris won the last race in Hungary on July 26 but was deflated after the sprint, saying McLaren wasn't competitive at all in slower corners.

Russell is rebuilding his title challenge after losing ground to Antonelli last month and said it was “a real joy” to drive in qualifying. The plan now is to “get in my groove again and try to fight with them tomorrow," he added.

Lewis Hamilton lost ground to Antonelli in the standings in the sprint race. His difficult day continued with fifth in qualifying.

Russell takes sprint victory

The sprint race was a display of domination from Russell, who started from pole position, quickly built a gap to Norris in second and managed the pace from there, taking his first win since the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

“Obviously a great start to the weekend,” he said.

Charles Leclerc snatched second off Norris with a daring pass into the inside of the first corner with six laps to go, but couldn’t get close enough to try passing Russell.

Norris held off a late charge from Antonelli to stay third as the Italian pulled out of a potential overtaking move on the final lap.

“We just don’t have the pace in general, especially in the slow-speed corners,” Norris said.

Fourth-place Antonelli, starting fifth after car damage in qualifying, still managed to extend his standings lead by three more points to 53 because Hamilton could only manage seventh for Ferrari.

Long-awaited rain arrives seconds too late to shake up sprint

F1 still hasn’t had a wet race this year but came tantalizingly close as rain fell as the drivers were heading back to the pits, seconds after the sprint finished.

“If there was one more lap it would have been a very, potentially, different end to the race so I’m glad the rain came when it did,” Russell said.

While it stayed dry, overtaking was difficult, even in a year where the cars’ electrical power has made back-and-forth passes common. The overtakes by Leclerc and Antonelli were the only changes of position anywhere in the top 11 finishers.

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

Rain chances will hover around 40% each day through next week, which means there will be plenty of dry time as well. Highs will continue into the lower to middle 90s through next week, with “feels like” temperatures in the lower 100s each day. Stay hydrated and get into the shade — or even the air conditioning —as often as you can to avoid the effects of heat-related illnesses.

Although there are several weak systems we’re watching in the tropics right now, none of them pose an immediate threat to land at this time. A disturbance approaching Portugal and Spain might briefly become tropical, bringing wind and rain to the region by early next week.

Pese a que Washington impuso el veto a su tercer mayor proveedor de ganado para evitar que la plaga del gusano barrenador llegara a las reses estadounidenses, no pudo evitarlo y desde hace dos meses batalla con varios casos registrados en Texas y Nuevo México.

El gusano es una larva de la mosca Cochliomyia hominivorax que invade las heridas abiertas o las mucosas de los orificios corporales de cualquier ser de sangre caliente, incluidos los humanos, y devora los tejidos haciendo que las lesiones sean cada vez más hondas y dolorosas.

La plaga llegó a México en noviembre de 2024 y está presente en 30 de los 32 estados. Esta semana el estado norteño de Sonora reportó el primer caso en la comunidad de Munihuasa, próxima a la frontera con Chihuahua y Sinaloa donde también han proliferado los contagios.

México acumula a la fecha 1.969 casos activos que representan menos de la mitad de los contagios reportados hace un año y muestra una progresiva contención de la plaga, aunque se prevé que pasará mucho tiempo para erradicarla.

Bajo ese escenario Ibarra y otros miles de productores de Sonora se preparan para reanudar a partir del 24 de agosto las exportaciones de ganado en pie por el paso fronterizo que comunica el poblado mexicano de Agua Prieta con la localidad de Douglas, en Arizona.

“Todavía no se acaba la película”, dijo el ganadero de 58 años al reconocer que aunque está esperanzado en superar las dificultades económicas que padeció en el último año por la paralización de las ventas hacia Estados Unidos —que implicó una caída de 40% en sus ingresos—, aún no canta victoria porque sigue latente el riesgo de que Washington vuelva a suspender las compras como lo hizo en tres oportunidades entre noviembre de 2024 y julio de 2025.

Reapertura con limitaciones

Estados Unidos impuso una serie de nuevos controles que ralentizarán el ingreso del ganado mexicano y demorarán la recuperación del hato estadounidense que ronda las 86 millones de cabezas —el nivel más bajo en 75 años— y que enfrenta un déficit de alrededor de 1,2 millones de cabezas que ha incidido en el alza del precio de la carne en ese país.

De acuerdo con el protocolo definido por las autoridades estadounidenses, en la primera semana de reapertura sólo se permitirá el paso de 700 reses al día, se subirá a 900 en la segunda semana y se irá incrementando progresivamente hasta alcanzar 1.300 diarias, indicó a The Associated Press el médico veterinario Arturo Ruiz, responsable de sanidad animal del estado de Sonora.

Ruiz explicó que el nuevo protocolo también contempla la colocación en las orejas de las reses de identificadores con radiofrecuencia, la instalación de arcos para detectar los identificadores y el uso de perros entrenados para la inspección que realizarán los funcionarios del Departamento de Agricultura de Estados Unidos (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés) antes de autorizar el paso del ganado mexicano hacia Arizona.

México aceptó los protocolos estadounidenses, pero entre los productores locales las restricciones no cayeron bien.

“Es un momento complicado donde necesitamos que la autoridad deje de pensar más políticamente y piense más técnica y razonablemente”, afirmó Juan Carlos Ochoa, presidente de la Unión Ganadera Regional de Sonora, al expresar preocupación por las limitaciones que impuso Estados Unidos e insistió en que es necesario un mayor flujo de ganado para destrabar el rezago que hay en los dos países.

Un coletazo a ambos lados de la frontera

A pesar de que los dos vecinos resintieron el impacto de la decisión de Washington, las secuelas tuvieron mayor intensidad en Estados Unidos, en particular entre los consumidores que debieron hacer frente a alzas históricas de precios que llevaron a algunos a prescindir del consumo de la proteína.

Juan Carlos Anaya, director general de la firma Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agrícolas, que se dedica al estudio del sector, afirmó que los ganaderos estadounidenses no lograron cubrir el déficit, lo que llevó al cierre de algunas plantas procesadoras de alimentos y afectó a granjas engordadoras.

Antes del cierre de la frontera México exportaba anualmente a Estados Unidos cerca de 1,2 millones de cabezas de ganado que provenían principalmente de los estados norteños de Chihuahua, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Baja California y Durango, que se han especializado por décadas en la producción de las razas más demandadas por el mercado estadounidense, especialmente la Angus.

Pero al suspenderse la exportación los productores mexicanos tuvieron que voltearse al mercado interno para comerciar a sus animales a precios casi 40% por debajo de lo que recibían en Estados Unidos.

Ese descenso en los ingresos obligó a los ganaderos mexicanos a vender parte de su hato y a reducir sus gastos e inversiones, explicó Ibarra.

Aunque en México hay una sobreoferta de ganado eso no se tradujo en una caída del precio de la carne, que se ha incrementado 4,58% en los últimos 12 meses según cifras oficiales.

Anaya atribuyó ese comportamiento a que México está muy relacionado con el mercado estadounidense, donde los precios de la carne se mantienen al alza.

En medio del sofocante calor que suele azotar en agosto a la ciudad de Hermosillo, la capital de Sonora, Ibarra sonríe al sentir una ráfaga de viento que le refresca el rostro cubierto de gotas de sudor. Con ese mismo optimismo el ganadero aguarda poder exportar sus 16 terneros aunque admite que no se hará muchas ilusiones hasta octubre, cuando podrá concretar la venta, porque “tampoco hay que echar las campanas al vuelo”.

Algunas de esas armas han estallado por el intenso calor. Se han reportado explosiones en Francia, Bélgica, Alemania y Países Bajos, donde se movilizó a un equipo de desactivación de explosivos para revisar un bosque amenazado por las llamas cerca de un lugar donde se libraron encarnizados combates en la provincia de Limburgo en 1944.

Avivados por el cambio climático, los incendios y las explosiones muestran que la “suerte climática” del continente se está agotando, afirmó Sarah Njeri, experta en paz y conflictos en la Escuela de Estudios Orientales y Africanos de Londres. Antes, las temperaturas estables y las lluvias previsibles garantizaban que la mayoría de las municiones enterradas permanecieran inactivas.

“El cambio climático está desenterrando y reactivando lo que antes se mantenía estable”, señaló Njeri. Los incendios pueden activar municiones antiguas, pero también pueden quemar la maleza y los matorrales que las ocultan.

Esta temporada de incendios forestales se vio agravada por las fuertes lluvias de enero, que propiciaron el crecimiento de una vegetación que se convertiría en combustible para las llamas con la llegada del calor estival. Esas temperaturas altas, combinadas con condiciones de sequía, baja humedad y vientos fuertes, ofrecieron un entorno ideal para el fuego, según un estudio publicado el mes pasado por el grupo World Weather Attribution.

Las llamas devoran antiguos campos de batalla y detonan explosivos

En su avance, las llamas se extendieron por un territorio que se sabe que alberga municiones sin detonar, un legado letal que persistía mucho tiempo después de que callaran las armas.

En un bosque de una Francia seca como la yesca, un enorme incendio forestal a las afueras de la ciudad suroccidental de Burdeos dejó al descubierto un alijo de lo que se cree que es munición de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

En Lieja, una provincia del este de Bélgica, el gobernador, Hervé Jamar, indicó que recientemente se escucharon “algunas detonaciones esporádicas” y que los servicios de emergencias se estaban adaptando para tener en cuenta las municiones enterradas en una zona afectada por el fuego. Ningún equipo de bomberos estaba en peligro, aseveró, pero la prensa local publicó fotos de un bombero manipulando una bomba oxidada.

Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, se esparcieron trampas explosivas, bombas y minas por el denso bosque de turberas de la provincia, conocido como los Altos de Fagnes. En los primeros cuatro años tras la rendición de Alemania en 1945, las municiones mataron a seis civiles, explicó Bernard Collard, un historiador local que dirige el Museo Truschbaum, cerca de la frontera entre Bélgica y Alemania, que alberga una colección de objetos de la guerra.

“Cuando entras en un bosque como este, no sabes con certeza dónde están los explosivos”, afirmó agregando que recuerda a su padre detonando una bomba encontrada en una cantera.

El incendio en los Altos de Fagnes, que cruzó la frontera a territorio alemán, sigue humeando sobre un campo de batalla que fue escenario de sangrientos combates entre los nazis y las tropas aliadas. La Batalla de las Ardenas se libró en los Altos de Fagnes y sus alrededores.

El fuego está aún más cerca del escenario de dos escaramuzas menos conocidas a lo largo de la cresta de Elsenborn y en el bosque de Hürtgen, que duraron 88 días y causaron la muerte de unos 33.000 soldados estadounidenses y 28.000 alemanes.

Miles de avisos anuales por explosivos en Bélgica

Collard está autorizado a rastrear con un detector de metales los antiguos campos de batalla, hoy convertidos en bosques, pastos y tierras de cultivo. Ha encontrado proyectiles de mortero, ametralladoras, cascos, pitilleras y, una vez, un esqueleto humano.

“Nunca sabes con qué podrías encontrarte, y no se puede tomar a la ligera”, advirtió de pie en un lugar que en su día fue un escenario empapado en sangre. Cerca, arbustos de arándanos cubren antiguas trincheras, zanjas y profundos cráteres causados por el fuego de artillería.

Con frecuencia trabaja con el equipo belga de desminado. “Es parte de nuestra historia. Vivimos con ello”, agregó.

Las municiones sin explotar son aún más peligrosas en las inmediaciones de los incendios forestales porque el calor puede activar los explosivos, explicó Jonas Tepe, portavoz del estado alemán de Renania del Norte-Westfalia, justo al otro lado de la frontera.

El Ministerio de Defensa de Bélgica dijo que casi todas las semanas recibe solicitudes de la región para ayudar a desactivar explosivos, aunque no considera que la zona sea un “punto caliente” en comparación con otros lugares en el país. Este tipo de pedidos son aún más habituales en el oeste, donde agricultores de localidades como Ypres —infame por la espantosa guerra de trincheras en la Primera Guerra Mundial— llaman al arado anual de la tierra “la cosecha de hierro” porque saca a la superficie muchos restos bélicos.

Cada año, el Servicio belga de Desactivación y Destrucción de Artefactos Explosivos responde a más de 3.000 avisos en todo el país y elimina entre 200 y 250 toneladas de municiones de ambas guerras mundiales.

Las llamas no son la única amenaza

La sequía también ha ayudado a revelar el pasado: el descenso del caudal de los ríos y del nivel de los lagos expuso la presencia de armas antiguas.

En Eslovaquia, el nivel del río Danubio bajó y expuso dos minas navales que la policía sacó del agua y enterró en una zanja para una detonación controlada. Las autoridades en Hungría cerraron el Puente Margarita de Budapest después de que apareciera una bomba de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en su base por el retroceso del agua.

Al secarse el Rin, las autoridades alemanas encontraron una bomba de la II GM.

Christina Greene, investigadora de la Universidad de Arizona que, junto con Njeri, escribió un artículo sobre los incendios forestales en Europa y el riesgo que suponen las municiones sin explotar, dijo que “el legado de la guerra sigue resurgiendo” debido al cambio climático.

“Es revivir el legado de la guerra y del conflicto de una manera con la que no habíamos tenido que lidiar desde hace tiempo en ciertos lugares”, manifestó.

___ Los periodistas de The Associated Press Mike Corder en La Haya, Países Bajos; Sylvain Plazy en Bruselas, Angela Charlton en París, Kirsten Grieshaber en Berlín y Stanislav Hodina en Praga contribuyeron a este despacho.

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

The ban, imposed over concerns about a flesh-eating parasite known as the New World screwworm fly, dealt a blow to cattle and beef industries on both sides of the border, exacerbating a livestock shortage in the U.S. and hurting a Mexican ranching sector already weakened by drought and a cattle export business that generated $1.2 billion for Mexico last year.

Now, the U.S. is set to resume livestock imports from Mexico beginning Aug. 24 at the Douglas, Arizona, border crossing, which borders Agua Prieta in Mexico’s Sonora state. If the reopening goes smoothly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture could allow imports through additional ports, though shipments will initially be subject to restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the parasite — which has already crossed the border, with authorities battling cases in Texas and New Mexico.

The screwworm gets its name from the maggots’ habit of burrowing — or screwing — into a wound, according to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Any warm-blooded animal, including wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans, can be infested.

In Mexico, the screwworm outbreak was detected in November 2024 and has spread to 30 of the 32 states — most recently in Sonora, where the first case was reported Wednesday in the community of Munihuasa, near the borders with Chihuahua and Sinaloa, states where infections have also proliferated.

To date, Mexico has 1,969 active screwworm cases, which represent less than half of the infections reported a year ago, a decline that authorities say shows progress in containing the outbreak. Still, they acknowledge eradication will take time.

New US controls are expected to slow shipments

Against that backdrop, Ibarra and thousands of other ranchers in the northern state of Sonora are preparing to resume live cattle exports. But optimism is tempered by new U.S. controls expected to slow shipments across the border.

“This is not over yet,” said the 58-year-old rancher, adding that the export halt cut his income by 40% last year.

According to the protocol defined by U.S. authorities, in the first week of reopening, only 700 cattle per day will be allowed through; this will rise to 900 in the second week and will gradually increase until reaching 1,300 cattle per day, veterinarian Arturo Ruiz, responsible for animal health for the state of Sonora, told The Associated Press.

The new rules also require cattle to be fitted with radio-frequency identification tags in their ears and screened by electronic readers and trained dogs. Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will conduct the inspections before allowing the Mexican cattle to cross into Arizona, Ruiz explained.

Mexico accepted the U.S. protocols, but the restrictions have frustrated some local ranchers.

“We are at a complicated moment when we need authorities to think less politically and more technically and reasonably,” said Juan Carlos Ochoa, president of the Regional Livestock Union of Sonora, referring to tensions between the Mexican and U.S. governments when the ban was first imposed in May 2025.

Ochoa said the new U.S. restrictions would limit shipments and argued that a greater flow of cattle across the border is needed to address supply shortages in both countries.

A cautious optimism as imports resume

Although both countries felt the effects of Washington’s decision, the impact was greater in the U.S., particularly for consumers facing record-high beef prices that led some to cut back on meat.

Juan Carlos Anaya, general director of agricultural consulting firm Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agrícolas, said U.S. ranchers were unable to make up the supply shortfall, contributing to closures at some meat-processing plants and hurting feedlot operations.

Before the border closure, Mexico exported about 1.2 million head of cattle to the United States each year, mainly from its northern states. When exports were suspended, Mexican ranchers turned to the domestic market, where they sold their cattle for nearly 40% less than they had received in the U.S. — a loss of income that forced many to sell some of their cattle or cut spending and investment.

Back in Sonora, in the stifling August heat of the capital, Hermosillo, Ibarra was cautiously optimistic about finally sending his 16 calves to the U.S. But he said he would temper his expectations until October, when the cattle have gained enough weight and the sale could be finalized.

“There’s no need to get too excited,” he said.

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

Speaking to tens of thousands in Rimini, Leo warned against a culture that “rearms minds, words and nations” and argued that Christians must respond with mercy, encounter and a commitment to peace.

He also delivered a message of encouragement to young Catholics, telling them they are “a sign that the future is promising, and not a threat!”

Earlier, in San Marino, Leo addressed local authorities of the world’s oldest surviving republic and reflected on the legacy of Saints Marino and Leone, whom he credited with helping create a society rooted in freedom, mutual respect and community.

The pope said the two saints translated the Christian message into “a new community and political model, strongly characterized by the Christian principles of freedom, mutual respect and communion” — a legacy that he said continues to shape the republic today.

San Marino, a nation of about 35,000 people completely surrounded by Italy, traces its origins to the fourth century. It is governed by a 60-member parliament that elects two captains regent every six months to serve jointly as heads of state, a power-sharing arrangement designed to prevent the concentration of authority.

Using the micro state as an example, Leo argued that small political communities can offer lessons in public service and social cohesion at a time of growing division and distrust.

Leo is the third pope to visit San Marino, after St. John Paul II visited in 1982 and Pope Benedict XVI came in 2011.

The American pontiff praised a society “built on respect for one’s own freedom and that of others and above all on respect for the sacred Will of God.”

He warned that modern societies face increasing threats from violence, social fragmentation and ideologies that put self-interest ahead of the common good.

“We live in a world wounded by many conflicts,” the pope said, citing growing violence, closures and fear of others. He urged Christians to respond through forgiveness, solidarity and concern for the vulnerable.

Leo also described San Marino as a “laboratory of good politics” and called for public life to uphold the dignity of every human person “from conception to natural death” — language commonly used by Vatican officials and Catholic leaders when referring to church opposition to abortion and euthanasia.

In 2021, San Marino voters approved a referendum legalizing abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, overturning a decades-old ban. The referendum represented a significant change in law and public policy in a country with deep Catholic roots.

While Leo did not directly address the referendum, he repeatedly stressed the need for political, social and economic systems to place human dignity at their center. He warned against models that present themselves as liberating but ultimately fail to serve the human person and the common good.

A call for mercy in a divided world

Later Saturday, Leo addressed the annual Rimini Meeting — a major Catholic cultural festival organized by the Communion and Liberation movement — urging Catholics to respond to a world marked by war, division and inequality with dialogue, friendship and encounter.

He said peace is built by people “who love to encounter one another and are not afraid to engage with one another,” arguing that human dignity must come before political, social and ideological divisions.

In some of his strongest comments to date on global tensions, he warned against what he described as a growing culture of confrontation and militarization.

Christians should recognize that “there can be no enemies,” and that even opponents are “a brother or sister to be looked in the eye and encountered in truth,” Leo added.

He urged Catholics to challenge systems that fuel poverty, inequality and conflict.

“Let us expose unjust structures of power that lie at the root of poverty, inequality, war and environmental disasters,” he said, while urging believers to free “work from the idolatry of profit” and to “disarm technological development whenever it becomes invasive and destructive.”

A significant portion of the pope's speech focused on young people, whom Leo portrayed as a source of hope at a time when many fear the future.

Encouraging young Catholics to engage with society rather than retreat into closed communities, he urged them: “Do not be afraid to give yourselves fully!” and “Go forth to meet everyone!”

Echoing themes championed by his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo also encouraged Catholics to embrace listening and dialogue, arguing that the church grows through the attraction of authentic witness rather than proselytism.

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Zampano reported from Rome.

Meanwhile, remarks by the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria appear to contradict the official U.S. position on the Golan Heights. And Israel has carried out strikes in Syria and in Gaza.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage can be found here.

Egypt tries to revive US-Iran negotiations

The top diplomats for Egypt and Iran discussed efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table to settle the war, Egypt's foreign ministry said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty also discussed the Iranian-Omani talks on the management of the Strait of Hormuz, the ministry said.

Araghchi briefed Egypt's foreign minister about “Iran’s view of ongoing developments, the course of negotiations and their challenges,” the ministry said, without elaborating.

There was no immediate statement from Araghchi.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the war with the U.S. should end since the world has accepted that Iran has won, state media reported Friday. Iran sees its new control over the strait and resistance to U.S. demands as a win.

U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would impose an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on Iran, aiming to force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil, natural gas and other supplies.

Iran and Iraq say some Iraqi oil is facilitated through the strait

The governments of Iraq and Iran said Tehran has helped some ships carrying Iraqi oil to transit the Strait of Hormuz, but there were few details.

“There is facilitation for some ships carrying Iraqi oil in the Strait of Hormuz,” Iraqi President Nizar Amidi said in comments published Saturday by the state-run news agency, adding that Iraq doesn’t have a national carrier for transporting oil.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said a number of Iraqi oil tankers have been permitted to transit and called the request one of Iraq’s most important ones during the recent visit there by Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

It was not clear how many ships carrying Iraqi oil have been allowed to pass or when, or what Iran might have received in return.

Syria says an Israeli drone strikes inside a village

An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle wounded one person on Saturday in the southwestern Syrian village of Beit Jin, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Syria’s foreign ministry said several civilians were injured and called the strike a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty.

The Israeli military said it targeted a “terrorist who advanced terror attacks in final stages of preparation,” without elaborating. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was the same strike.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in late 2024, mainly destroying army assets to keep them out of the hands of his successors.

Messages differ on the Golan Heights

In an interview on Friday with Mario Nawfal, a Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur, U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack said Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday in a statement called Barrack's remarks “full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict Trump’s own position.”

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981. The U.N. considers the territory occupied Syrian land. But in March 2019, Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing decades of U.S. policy.

This month, Colombia became the second country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory.

French president and Saudi crown prince will meet

French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to discuss plans to develop alternatives routes to the Strait of Hormuz during the Saudi leader’s two-day visit to Paris that starts on Sunday, according to officials in the presidency who weren't authorized to be publicly named.

Proposals include increasing trade through Omani ports outside of the Persian Gulf, expanding or doubling pipelines in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and developing new rail links, the officials said.

France and Saudi Arabia have formed a task force on energy and logistics connections between the Middle East and Europe that is scheduled to meet at the ministerial level Monday.

The officials said the work was well advanced and would focus on identifying the most strategic projects, securing financing and establishing roles for French companies.

— AP correspondent Angela Charlton in Paris

An Israeli strike in Gaza kills 1 Palestinian

An Israeli strike on the backyard of a house in central Gaza killed one Palestinian and wounded another Saturday, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

Israel’s military said it targeted Sharif al-Hasanat, a Hamas commander who "advanced terror attacks and took part in efforts to restore Hamas’ underground infrastructure." Days earlier, U.S. negotiators reportedly asked Israel to draw down attacks.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided under the ceasefire that began 10 months ago, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes, killing at least 1,285 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Six armed pirates hijacked the Eritrean-flagged M.T. Sibu 1 on Thursday about 136 nautical miles (252 kilometers) east of al-Mukalla, Yemen, and took it toward Somalia’s Puntland coast, the official, who has knowledge of the incident, told The Associated Press on Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to discuss the matter publicly.

The Sibu 1, managed by the UAE-based Qatrat Alnada Almasi Ship Management, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department last year for allegedly belonging to an Iranian “shadow fleet” used to transport petroleum products seeking to evade U.S. sanctions.

The tanker had 20 crew members aboard: 16 Indians, one Syrian, one Sudanese, and one Iraqi. The nationality of one crew member was not immediately known. The vessel’s previous port of departure and intended destination remained unclear.

The hijacking came three days after pirates seized the Lutuf, a Cameroon-flagged general cargo vessel, off Somalia’s coast. The vessel had 10 crew aboard, including six Indians, a Turkish national, a Georgian national and two Serbian security guards, according to maritime tracking reports.

The Sibu 1 is the sixth commercial vessel hijacked by Somali pirates since April 21, when the Palau-flagged tanker Honor 25 was seized off Somalia. Pirates later seized the Sward on April 26, the Eureka on May 2, the Asana on July 17 and the Lutuf on Aug. 17.

The attacks have occurred increasingly far from Somalia’s coastline, including the hijacking of the Eureka while anchored off Yemen and the Asana about 65 nautical miles (120 kilometers) southwest of al-Mukalla. The International Maritime Bureau recorded 38 piracy and armed robbery incidents worldwide during the first half of 2026, including five hijackings. Somali pirates accounted for 94% of crew members taken hostage during that period, the bureau said.

Puntland’s Security Ministry said Friday that its investigations indicated that forces beyond Puntland’s control were behind the renewed piracy, but did not identify any group or country. The claim could not be independently verified.

Puntland said it had deployed security forces along its coast and condemned airstrikes that it said struck fishing vessels and property near coastal communities where hijacked ships were being held. It called on the countries involved to explain strikes near Garacad on Aug. 18 and Aug. 20.

The ministry did not identify who carried out the strikes, and the allegations could not be independently confirmed.

The 16,250 doses arrived at the N’djili International Airport in the capital, Kinshasa, late Friday, as part of 70,000 doses expected from the World Health Organization and partners that were announced on Thursday. More doses are expected early next week.

The current Ebola outbreak in Congo is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which currently has no approved treatment or vaccine. It can spread easily and go undetected because some of its symptoms are similar to other illnesses, such as malaria. The Ervebo vaccine is licensed to treat Ebola and has been effective in past outbreaks. The WHO said it may provide some protection against the Bundibugyo virus.

The latest outbreak, which has recorded 2,557 deaths out of the 5,375 confirmed cases across six affected provinces, is spreading at an unprecedented rate and is on track to surpass the deadliest outbreak on record, which killed over 11,000 people across West Africa between 2014 and 2016. Data from the Africa Centre for Disease Control shows that transmission has not yet peaked and could reach three times its known rate.

Efforts to contain the outbreak have been hampered by armed conflict between the government and rebel groups, which control key cities in the hot spot; attacks on medical personnel and facilities; an itinerant labor population and people displaced by the armed conflict; and a lack of critical infrastructure.

The attacks came a day after a Russian strike on a Ukrainian shopping center killed at least 16 people and wounded some 130.

Moscow’s forces have recently intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine’s chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down the missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that one person was killed and another wounded in the latest attacks when ballistic missiles hit railway infrastructure in the capital, Kyiv, overnight.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces had hit a locomotive depot.

In a separate attack, local authorities said two people were killed Saturday afternoon in a Russian ballistic missile strike on the Kyiv region, which surrounds the capital.

Russian drone strikes also killed one person overnight in the Zaporizhzhia region, local officials said Saturday, and a daytime attack killed three others and wounded 15. Zelenskyy said that three people were also wounded in an attack on a minibus in the regional capital, also called Zaporizhzhia.

In Russia's southern Krasnodar region, authorities said that three people, including two children, were killed and two adults were wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike.

A day on from a deadly attack on a shopping center

The latest attacks came a day after Russian drones struck a shopping center in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine.

Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said in the early hours of Saturday that the death toll had risen to 16. Later on Saturday he said four people remain missing after the attack, which wounded a further 130.

Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Zelenskyy, who described the attack as a double-tap strike, in which an initial wave of drones hit the area followed by a second wave as rescue workers responded. The Ukrainian leader said the fire, which spread across 9,000 square meters (around 97,000 square feet), had been extinguished and rescue efforts were underway.

Kryvyi Rih has been hit multiple times during the 4½-year all-out war between Russia and Ukraine, with one of the deadliest occurring in April 2025, when 20 people were killed, including nine children.

Large-scale Russian strikes have become a regular occurrence this summer, with Friday’s attacks landing just 24 hours after Russia pounded Kyiv with scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime assault that killed 16 people. The United Nations said last week that Kyiv was one of the hardest-hit cities in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 wounded.

Ukraine pounds Russia with long-range strikes

At the same time, Ukraine has shifted the war onto Russian soil through long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused fuel shortages across Russia. It also has unsettled the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, the country’s biggest online retailer.

The Russian online news outlet Astra reported Saturday that a Ukrainian drone set ablaze an oil refinery in the Samara region. Local officials said that damage was recorded at an unidentified “industrial facility” and a logistics center for Ozon, a competitor to Wildberries.

Zelenskyy said Saturday Ukrainian forces struck the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Samara, noting it is some 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front line.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in remarks to state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, who posted them Saturday on his Telegram channel, that strikes on civilian targets “cause economic damage to our country” and “lead to losses,” but that “no turning point” in the conflict had been reached and that Kyiv “will never gain any advantage.”

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

Edman hit a line drive to left field off Gregory Soto (5-4), scoring automatic runner Kiké Hernández from third, keeping the Dodgers as the only undefeated team in extra innings in the majors with a 5-0 record.

With Hernández starting at second, pinch-hitter Alex Call struck out and Mookie Betts was intentionally walked. Kyle Tucker grounded into a fielder's choice to second, where Betts was out.

Evan Phillips (1-2) got the win with one inning of relief.

The NL West-leading Dodgers have won eight of their last 11.

Pittsburgh's Oneil Cruz hit a two-run homer off reliever Kyle Hurt in the eighth to make it 4-4.

Betts hit a two-run single with two outs in the third to make it 4-2.

Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts.

The Japanese right-hander was lifted after putting the tying runs aboard in the seventh. Jake Mangum had a leadoff double and Yamamoto hit Jared Triolo. Reliever Brock Stewart came on to retire the next two batters and end the inning.

Pirates reliever Luke Bachar set up the struggling Tucker for a potential Hollywood ending in the bottom of the seventh. Shohei Ohtani drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Two outs later, Bachar issued back-to-back walks to Max Muncy and Betts to load the bases and bring up Tucker. However, he flied out to center to end the threat.

Muncy's two-run, two-out homer in the first gave the Dodgers to a 2-1 lead.

The Pirates led 1-0 on Nick Gonzales' RBI single to center in the top of the inning. He tied the game 2-2 with an RBI single to center in the third.

Up next

Pirates RHP Jared Jones (2-5, 4.78 ERA) starts Saturday against Dodgers LHP Tarik Skubal (7-7, 2.85). Skubal is 0-2 with a 3.18 ERA since being traded to Los Angeles earlier this month.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

“It felt great,” Nix said after working with new play-caller Davis Webb for the first time in a game. “Just like any typical year, going out for the first drive, there's going to be some different things that you can grow from. But I felt like for the first drive of the season it was solid.

“I think the strongest emotion was when I got out there it was just like riding a bike; nothing really changed.”

Nix's second and final series ended with a 53-yard field goal from Wil Lutz, but Pierre Strong Jr. returned the ensuing kickoff 68 yards, setting up Trey Smack's first of four field goals, a 51-yarder that tied it at 10.

The Nix-Waddle connection is a work in progress as Nix missed most of the offseason and Waddle missed a week of training camp.

“It’s coming along," Waddle said. "We’ve got a lot of work to do. But it was a good time. It’s good to get back out there with all the guys.”

Nix completed 6 of 9 passes for 76 yards and the touchdown in his first live action for the Broncos (1-1) since breaking his right ankle against Buffalo in the playoffs seven months ago. He underwent surgery in January and had a follow-up procedure to remove bone spurs in the spring.

The Packers (1-1) dominated every phase in snapping Denver's eight-game winning streak in the preseason.

“I can't think of one area we outplayed them,” lamented Broncos coach Sean Payton.

Jordan Love drove Green Bay on a 12-play, 63-yard touchdown drive in his only series, which he capped with an 11-yard touchdown throw to Lloyd for a 7-0 lead.

That series looked short-lived when cornerback Riley Moss recovered Christian Watson's fumble on the second play of the game, but a review determined Watson's knee was down just as the Pat Surtain II was ripping the ball out of Watson's arms.

“He's definitely one of the best corners in the game,” Love said about Surtain. “And he does a great job just everything he does. So, definitely got a lot of respect for him. He made a great play trying to get the ball out, but that's just what he does. He's a sticky corner. He does a lot of good things. I'm excited for him, the year he's going to have.”

Moss, who's had a terrific training camp and had an interception in Denver's 27-7 win over Atlanta in the Broncos' preseason opener, left the game with a rib injury later in that drive and didn't return.

Former University of Colorado receiver Will Sheppard's toe-dragging 2-yard touchdown catch from Tyrod Taylor gave Green Bay a 17-10 lead and Smack kicked field goals of 59 and 44 yards sandwiched around Mark Perry's interception of Broncos backup Jarrett Stidham's pass to send Green Bay into halftime with a 23-10 lead.

Jaden Nixon's 3-yard TD run made it 30-13 and Smack added a 38-yard field goal with 1:05 remaining.

The Broncos were upset about their performance but happy to see Nix back.

“I thought he did a great job,” said Broncos QB Sam Ehlinger, who is vying for the backup job with Stidham. “It was right back to post-season form, really. Didn't miss a beat. Really happy for him. He's in a great spot. He's been looking good and clearly he's feeling good.”

Up next

Packers: Host Arizona on Friday night.

Broncos: Host Minnesota on Friday night.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Ranging from the sound of emergency sirens and birds screeching to low grunts and guttural hoots, their vocalizations reverberate from a sanctuary in the hot, dry hills of the Santa Clarita Valley, north of Los Angeles.

Over the past 50 years, the Gibbon Conservation Center has transformed from housing a small assortment of animals to becoming a globally recognized institution dedicated solely to the care and well-being of gibbons. Known for their signature singing, they are among the rarest and most critically endangered primates on Earth.

Today the center cares for some 40 gibbons across five species. Their singing can sometimes be heard a mile away by the few neighbors in the sparsely inhabited outskirts of Santa Clarita.

The center was founded by the late Alan Mootnick, a self-taught primatologist who would go on to become a leading expert on gibbons, all while running a home painting and remodeling business. He published papers in scientific journals, hosted researchers from around the world, and fielded questions from other scientists about gibbon care and identification.

“Sometimes they would just send him a picture of a rescued gibbon asking what species, or they will play him a vocalization,” Director Gabi Skollar said.

Skollar moved from Hungary to the U.S. in 2005 to learn from Mootnick and work at the center. She has carried on his mission since his sudden death from heart surgery complications in 2011.

Skollar, who had initially planned to leave the job to continue her education, said there was no way she could abandon the gibbons.

“We have to keep going and take care of this place,” she said.

Now, she lives on-site with another caretaker, waking up every morning to the cacophony of gibbons at sunrise. They’re her children, she said.

The center contributes to global research on gibbons

The gibbons are full of personality and individual quirks, and Skollar knows them well after decades at the center. A young, northern white-cheeked gibbon named Pepper always leads the group in beginning their singing, and a pileated gibbon named Violet finishes the chorus with her partner Truman. Pierre, a rescued gibbon, does not like men.

The small apes sing three to four times a day for 20 to 30 minutes at a time.

“There’s a lot of things that we can learn in a captive setting that can be shared with conservationists in the field and also with people working in sanctuaries rescuing gibbons,” said Skollar, who is studying gibbon vocalizations in a doctorate program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gibbons face increasing threats from habitat destruction where they’re normally found, in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. Wildlife trade is also a threat, with gibbons being captured from their parents as babies and sold as pets.

Mootnick acquired his first gibbon, named Spanky, in 1976, when he responded to a newspaper ad of someone selling a pet. Some gibbons at the conservation center were born there; others were traded with different institutions to ensure diversity in breeding programs.

Some of the species at the center have a population of less than 2,000 in the wild.

The center was the first to successfully breed Javan gibbons, an endangered species only found on the Indonesian island of Java, and they are soon sending a pair of northern white-cheeked gibbons to the Pittsburgh Zoo.

How human caretakers connect with the apes

On a recent morning, on-site caretaker Jodi Kleier was making the rounds with buckets of washed lettuce, steamed sweet potatoes and bananas. She handed a young gibbon, Rocky, a piece of chopped banana as he reached out through the fence.

Rocky was hand-reared by Kleier after being abandoned by his mother after birth at the center, which can happen with first-time mothers if they went through a difficult birth.

Kleier has worked at the center for a decade, and started out as a volunteer. She has a tattoo of Rocky on her thigh.

She fell in love with gibbons after coming to the center for a primatology course in school.

“I love watching any primates play, because I think they’re so natural to us, we kind of see ourselves in them,” she said.

Kleier and volunteers who come by during the week are constantly washing and cooking produce because they feed the gibbons five to six times a day to imitate the pace of their foraging behavior in the wild.

“The Javans, they’re my favorite species and the male Javan is singing … one of my favorite songs,” Kleier said of a ghostly vocalization. “In Javanese folklore, they’re known as these spirits that live in the forest because you can always hear them.”

Students, volunteers and families can visit the animals

While the center is only open to visitors for guided tours on the weekends, they receive steady interest from schools, tourists and senior centers. They also work with local organizations such as The Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College to help students receive hands-on experience in animal care. The college takes first-year students on a field trip to the Gibbon Conservation Center every year, and many have gone on to work there after they graduate.

“When I went out there for the first time in the 1990s, I didn’t know what a gibbon was,” said Mara Rodriguez, a development coordinator who's been with the zoo for decades. “Now I’ve raised four gibbons in my career.”

Anyone who visits “will leave with a lasting impression and begin to care about the species,” she said.

Skollar’s long-term goal is to raise more money to build larger enclosures for the gibbons and construct an education center for visitors. She hopes to continue honoring Mootnick’s legacy and dedicating her life to the gibbons — one of which is named after him.

“When he passed away, I just felt that he’s around and helping us keep this center going,” she said.

The center fielder was struck on the back of his hand by a pitch from Bubba Chandler in the third inning and took first base. He advanced to third before the inning ended. Pages was replaced by Kiké Hernández to start the fifth.

Manager Dave Roberts said X-rays revealed the break.

“It's not season-ending because obviously things like that it's four or five weeks," Roberts said. “I would expect him back, knowing him, on the earlier side. There's still time in the season for him to be back. I feel for him because he's having such a good year.”

Roberts said it's possible Pages could need surgery, but he doesn't believe that would change the timetable for him to return.

Roberts said utility player Tommy Edman, who had the winning single in the 10th inning, could play some center in Pages' absence.

Pages is hitting .272 with 25 home runs and 80 RBIs. He earned his first All-Star selection this season.

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No. 7 West Boca Raton made the trip south to Bill Laurie Stadium to take on No. 4 American Heritage, with both teams ranked among the top 40 nationally.

The game was physical from the start, with American Heritage giving West Boca little room to work.

But midway through the first quarter, the Bulls found their rhythm.

Trey Moran aired it out 40 yards to Laonte Davis for a touchdown, putting West Boca up 7-0.

The Moran-to-Davis connection kept working all night. The Bulls took a 14-0 lead into halftime and stayed in control from there.

American Heritage finally picked up its first first down of the game in the third quarter and eventually found the end zone to cut into the deficit.

But the Bulls were too much for a short-handed Patriots team, pulling away for a 24-7 win.

American Heritage coach Mike Smith said the message to his team after the loss was simple.

“Let’s go back to work,” Smith said.

“That’s always been the message,” he said. “Even last year when we struggled, and the year before that, you just go back to work. That’s all you can do.”

Smith gave West Boca Raton credit while pointing to the small mistakes that hurt his team.

“That’s a good team. Gotta give them a lot of credit, but we killed ourselves with a lot of the little things,” he said.

For the Patriots, it’s back to work in Plantation.

The incident happened in the third quarter of the Sky's 73-70 victory over the Valkyries. Players stayed on the court while arena personnel removed the items from the court.

According to the New York Times, there was a delay for the same reason in Atlanta's 124-88 victory at the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday. Police in Los Angeles said a male suspect was detained by arena security, received a citation and was released.

There were similar incidents last season in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. Some of the incidents resulted in arrests.

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"The Dodgers are not being sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell it, period,” he told reporters on the field before the team's game against Pittsburgh. “We are planning only to win.”

The conjecture began earlier this month with Walter agreeing to a stunning sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to businessmen Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the terms who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Walter bought a controlling stake in the franchise from the Buss family last year.

“I can’t tell you how important the Dodgers are to Mark,” Kasten said. "The Lakers thing? The Lakers were important to him too, but it’s kind of an extraordinary opportunity, which he took.”

Multiple media outlets last month reported that Walter’s business empire is under scrutiny from both federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission in tax fraud investigations. Walter is cooperating with the investigation.

“I know nothing involving the Dodgers is part of the investigation," Kasten said, declining to go into specifics.

The 66-year-old Walter is based in Chicago, where he is CEO of Guggenheim Partners. He has overseen a run of success for the Dodgers that includes three World Series championships in six seasons and a penchant for lavishing big-money contracts on players like four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani.

"I think Mark has done an extraordinary job as an owner,” Kasten said, “and all he’s ever cared about is providing the best experience in order to make us more money, to make this project successful. I think so far it has been, I expect that to continue far into the future.”

Kasten also said Walter is not exploring any sales of his other sports properties, which include the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, the Professional Women's Hockey League and TWG Motorsports.

Walter typically shuns the spotlight, preferring to stay behind the scenes and have Kasten or other team executives make public statements.

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Árpád Selmeci dijo que navegar incluso en una embarcación de pesca pequeña en el tercer lago más grande de Hungría resulta cada vez más difícil, ya que el nivel del agua ha descendido a unos 20 centímetros (8 pulgadas), muy por debajo de los 150 centímetros (5 pies) que se consideran óptimos para el mes de agosto. Las playas del lago, las cuales solían ser muy populares entre los turistas, han sido cerradas.

El deterioro del lago Velence forma parte de una crisis hídrica más amplia que afecta a Hungría, a medida que Europa se ve azotada por sequías cada vez más prolongadas y olas de calor provocadas por el cambio climático.

“He vivido junto al lago Velence desde que era niño y nunca había visto el agua tan baja”, expresó Selmeci, de 58 años. “Es terrible. Me duele en el alma todo el tiempo”.

Este verano, incendios forestales arrasaron el continente desde el Reino Unido hasta Grecia, mientras que, en Hungría, la sequía ha perjudicado el rendimiento de los cultivos, causado escasez de agua potable y amenaza con paralizar la única central nuclear del país.

No obstante, la falta de precipitaciones vinculada al cambio climático causado por las actividades humanas es sólo una parte del problema hídrico de Hungría. Los expertos dicen que la práctica histórica del país de desviar el agua de su paisaje y drenar sus humedales naturales lo ha dejado especialmente vulnerable a medida que las sequías se hacen cada vez más frecuentes y severas.

Un legado de drenaje de aguas

Aproximadamente el 99% del territorio de Hungría se encuentra actualmente en condiciones de sequía severa o extrema, según el servicio meteorológico nacional. Y la desertificación —un proceso en el que la vegetación retrocede debido a las altas temperaturas y las pocas lluvias— amenaza buena parte de la gran llanura húngara.

Pero más de una cuarta parte de Hungría está constituida por tierras bajas, que retienen naturalmente las precipitaciones y, en siglos pasados, sus numerosos ríos y arroyos la dotaron de abundantes recursos de agua dulce. No obstante, un estudio de 2023 publicado en la revista científica Nature estimó que la pérdida histórica de humedales en el país supera el 80%.

Zsuzsanna Ujj, especialista en políticas de biodiversidad y coordinadora de proyectos del grupo ecologista Friends of the Earth Hungary, expuso que el país “no ha gestionado bien sus aguas en los últimos 200 años”.

Un factor clave es la red húngara de más de 40.000 kilómetros (25.000 millas) de canales de drenaje —una longitud que supera la circunferencia de la Tierra—, los cuales evacúan la precipitación acumulada en campos, humedales y el suelo para dar paso a la agricultura y otras actividades.

La prioridad de drenar el terreno, en lugar de permitir que ocurran los ciclos naturales de inundación, ha contribuido a un descenso constante del nivel freático y a la desecación de los humedales y de la capa superficial del suelo. Al haber menos agua disponible para evaporarse, el aire se reseca, lo que reduce aún más las probabilidades de que haya precipitaciones locales.

Ujj agregó que Hungría —uno de los países europeos más expuestos a las sequías, ubicado en el puesto 16 a nivel mundial, según un informe de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos— “necesita reorientar sus prácticas de gestión del agua, y pasar de un enfoque basado en el drenaje a uno centrado en la retención de agua”.

Lagos que desaparecen

La desecación de Hungría no se limita a sus arroyos y humedales. El lago Garancsi, un pequeño lago recreativo situado a unos 20 kilómetros (12 millas) al noroeste de Budapest, solía ser un destino popular para practicar la pesca, la natación y el patinaje sobre hielo. También fue escenario de “Üvegtigris” (Tigre de cristal), una comedia húngara de culto de 2001.

Pero el lago, que existe desde la Edad Media, se ha reducido drásticamente en los últimos años, al grado de que ya no se permite ninguna de las actividades recreativas mencionadas, y la mayor parte de su antiguo lecho está ahora expuesto, agrietado y seco.

Lo que queda de agua es tan poco profunda y cálida que todos los peces y la mayor parte de la fauna silvestre han desaparecido, y las autoridades prevén que estará totalmente seco para finales del verano.

Zoltán Mettner, quien regenta el bar “Tigre de Cristal” a orillas del lago, dijo que las condiciones han empeorado año tras año. Luego de pasar años junto al lago, añadió que verlo ahora resulta “terrible, no hay otra forma de describirlo”.

“Es bastante lamentable haber dejado que la situación llegara a este punto, y que no hubiéramos tomado medidas graduales para evitar que este lago quedara completamente destruido”, expresó.

El gobierno de Hungría planea un cambio de rumbo

El nuevo gobierno húngaro ha prometido comenzar a adoptar dichas medidas.

A finales de junio, el mismo día que el país registró una temperatura récord de 42 grados Celsius (107,6 grados Fahrenheit), el primer ministro Péter Magyar les dijo a los legisladores que su gobierno “reorientaría” las políticas de gestión del agua y pondría en marcha un programa integral de conservación hídrica para mitigar los efectos de la sequía.

“Muchos han dicho año tras año que la escasez del agua sería uno de los problemas de Hungría, y una de las cuestiones estratégicas más importantes a resolver. Tenían razón”, manifestó Magyar.

Además de las deficientes prácticas de retención de agua, Magyar reveló que el envejecimiento de la infraestructura de abastecimiento provoca que entre el 20% y el 25% del agua potable del país se pierda en fugas de tuberías dañadas, lo que supone un costo anual de unos 17.000 millones de forintos húngaros (54,4 millones de dólares).

“Durante años, incluso se negó y minimizó la existencia del problema”, apuntó Magyar. Ahora, agregó, “la retención de agua será el principio fundamental de la gestión hídrica en Hungría”.

El río Danubio, en mínimos históricos

No obstante, implementar cambios de tal envergadura requerirá tiempo y recursos, a la vez que la actual crisis hídrica de Hungría amenaza su capacidad para generar energía suficiente.

El Danubio, el río más largo de la Unión Europea —que atraviesa 10 países, desde el suroeste de Alemania hasta el mar Negro—, ha registrado este verano mínimos históricos sucesivos en su caudal, lo que amenaza con paralizar —por primera vez en sus 44 años de historia— la única central nuclear de Hungría, la cual utiliza agua del río para enfriar sus reactores.

El gobierno húngaro ha adoptado medidas de emergencia para elevar el nivel del agua en la central de Paks, entre ellas el hundimiento de dos barcazas de 80 metros (262 pies) de eslora río arriba y la instalación de un umbral en el lecho del río, diseñado para desviar más agua hacia las bombas de la planta.

En condiciones de sequía así, los humedales cercanos a ríos como el Danubio hacen las veces de “represas naturales” que retienen el agua cuando el clima se vuelve seco, observó Ujj, la especialista en biodiversidad.

El nivel extremadamente bajo del Danubio, así como la mayor probabilidad de inundaciones más frecuentes e intensas, son consecuencias del cambio climático provocado por las actividades humanas, pero pueden ser mitigados en parte mediante un uso adecuado del suelo y la restauración de humedales y otros hábitats naturales, añadió.

“Definitivamente anticipamos que los niveles de agua fluctúen más, y también anticipamos que los patrones de precipitación se vuelvan más extremos, con veranos más secos”, pronosticó. “No obstante, restaurar los humedales y aumentar la evaporación en ciertas zonas podría ayudar a incrementar las precipitaciones durante los meses de verano”.

Según el plan de la Oficina de Recuperación, California, Nevada y Arizona reducirán colectivamente el uso de agua en 1,25 millones de acres-pie (unos 1,54 mil millones de metros cúbicos) al año durante ese periodo, y existe la posibilidad de aplicar recortes mayores según las condiciones.

Arizona tendrá los recortes más grandes, mientras que los estados río arriba —Colorado, Utah, Wyoming y Nuevo México— no enfrentan ninguno por ahora.

Mientras tanto, el vecino México reducirá su captación en 250.000 acres-pie (unos 310 millones de metros cúbicos) en virtud de un tratado entre los dos países.

“Hemos estado en este periodo prolongado de sequía de 26 años", explicó Andrea Travnicek, secretaria adjunta del Departamento del Interior para agua y ciencia. "Seguimos viendo una sequía prolongada en nuestro futuro. Así que seguir trabajando juntos como un todo dentro de la cuenca va a ser extremadamente importante”.

Las normas actuales que rigen el uso del agua del río expirarán en octubre, y los siete estados no han podido alcanzar un consenso sobre cómo compartirla a largo plazo.

El invierno pasado registró el peor manto de nieve del que se tenga constancia para la cuenca del río Colorado, lo que añadió más presión sobre agricultores, la industria, la vida silvestre y los productores de energía hidroeléctrica, así como sobre decenas de millones de personas que dependen de la vía fluvial, incluidas decenas de tribus indígenas estadounidenses y dos estados mexicanos.

Años de uso excesivo, combinados con la sequía y el aumento de las temperaturas debido al cambio climático, han mermado los dos embalses más grandes del país, ambos alimentados por el Colorado. El lago Mead cayó recientemente a su nivel más bajo desde que comenzó a llenarse hace nueve décadas, y en el lago Powell ocurrió lo mismo aproximadamente una semana después. Su almacenamiento combinado es el más bajo en casi siete décadas.

Los negociadores en Arizona agradecieron a California y Nevada por su colaboración para repartir los recortes.

“Para 2027 y 2028, las reducciones que ahora quedan consignadas aquí le proporcionarán una estabilidad sustancial a la gente", señaló Tom Buschatzke, director del Departamento de Recursos Hídricos de Arizona. "Seguiremos negociando y determinando cómo vamos a operar durante un periodo más largo, que es lo que todos queremos”.

JB Hamby, principal negociador de California para el río Colorado, indicó que el plan aporta “algo de certidumbre muy necesaria a corto plazo en un momento de riesgo extraordinario”, aunque lo calificó como “un puente, no una solución permanente”.

En el sur de Nevada, Kyle Roerink, asesor sénior del grupo de conservación Great Basin Water Network, comentó que los empeños por construir un nuevo aeropuerto y centros comerciales, al igual que algunas ventas de tierras públicas, no han avanzado, lo que refleja la grave situación hidrológica plasmada en los documentos federales. Nuevos recortes podrían ralentizar el desarrollo inmobiliario en el área metropolitana de Las Vegas, agregó.

“Cuando la presa Hoover, un símbolo de la fortaleza y el poder estadounidenses, baja y pierde su brillo, puede dar miedo", expresó Roerink. "Pero también puede ser una gran oportunidad de prepararnos para los próximos cien años de una manera significativa”.

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The Associated Press recibe apoyo de la Walton Family Foundation para la cobertura de políticas de agua y medio ambiente. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido.

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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.

“It seems like he’s kind of in a league of his own this year,” 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale said after his Braves lost 2-1 to the Brewers on Friday. “It's probably the most impressive fastball I've ever seen."

That compliment meant plenty to Misiorowski, who has said on multiple occasions that Sale was one of the pitchers he enjoyed watching the most while growing up. Misiorowski pitched six shutout innings Friday in his first head-to-head matchup with Sale, who allowed two runs over six innings.

“It’s awesome to hear it from a guy like Sale, such a great guy, definitely a guy I looked up to — and still do,” Misiorowski said. “It’s really cool.”

Sale’s praise for Misiorowski’s fastball came on a day when the Brewers phenom didn’t rely on it nearly as much as usual. He solidified his status as the NL Cy Young Award favorite by showing he can thrive even when his fastball isn’t at its best.

Misiorowski’s 96-pitch outing included 56 four-seam fastballs but also 23 sliders, 14 cutters and three curves. Heading into Friday, Misiorowski was throwing four-seam fastballs 64% of the time and using his slider on only 11% of his pitches.

His fastball also didn’t have quite as much velocity as usual, at least by Misiorowski’s extraordinary standards. Misiorowski reached a top velocity of 103.1 mph, but that was the only pitch in which he exceeded 101.8. He reached at least 100 mph in 32 of his pitches.

“Just one of those days where it was just a down day,” Misiorowski said. “I had to grind through it and make it work.”

He made it work just fine.

“Today I wasn’t seeing the same kind of typical aggression that you usually see out of the fastball with Miz, but the slider was great,” Brewers catcher William Contreras said through an interpreter. “He’s being able to throw the sliders a little bit more to lefties now as well. Tremendous job by him just being able to give us different pitches to use whenever the fastball is maybe a little bit off.”

That assortment kept Atlanta’s hitters off balance.

Misiorowski (13-5) struck out six batters while allowing four hits and two walks in his six-inning stint. He has a 1.68 ERA and 216 strikeouts to lead the majors in both categories. Sale (12-9) has a 2.20 ERA to rank second.

“It’s tough,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “You’re gearing up for 100 and then you’re having to deal with cutters and sliders.”

Misiorowski needed to be that good to beat Sale, who has allowed three runs or fewer in an MLB-leading 20 consecutive starts.

The matchup of Cy Young Award contenders on first-place teams featured a sellout crowd and playoff-type atmosphere. Both pitchers benefited from outstanding fielding.

“Pitching and defense in that game are as good as you’re going to see — really high-level stuff,” Weiss said.

Braves shortstop Mauricio Dubón made a diving stop to start an inning-ending double play. Milwaukee’s Luis Lara attempted to stretch his single into a double but got thrown out on a 92.3-mph laser from right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., according to Statcast.

Lara, who calls Acuña his favorite player, had a couple of gems of his own. He made a leaping catch at the center-field wall to rob Matt Olson of an extra-base hit in the sixth inning, then moved over to right and snared a 99.3-mph liner from Dubón for the final out of the eighth after Atlanta loaded the bases.

“I think we’ve got to change his name tag to ‘Air Lara,’ “ said Misiorowski, who jokingly asked Lara about that nickname while posing as a reporter during the rookie outfielder’s postgame media session.

With a little help from his friends, Misiorowski won his first head-to-head matchup with Sale, a player the Brewers right-hander has grown to appreciate even more now that they’ve met at the All-Star Game the last two years.

“That’s been really cool,” Misiorowski said. “That’s honestly been probably my favorite part, just getting to talk to guys like that, that I watched … and to get to play (against) now. It’s fun. It’s really fun.”

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The Ravens have informed the NFL, and league spokesman Brian McCarthy says the case is under review.

“We notified the league office and have been cooperating throughout the process,” the team said in a statement. “As this is a pending legal matter, we will not have further comment.”

According to TMZ, Bateman was arrested after smashing a window of the vehicle being driven by the mother of his child, with the 3-month-old inside. TMZ cited court documents that said the victim told authorities the incident happened around 6 a.m. on June 6.

According to the arrest warrant, Bateman used an object to smash the driver's side window, and the shattered glass caused multiple small lacerations to the victim’s face.

Bateman's representatives said the receiver turned himself in to the Walton County sheriff's office the same day. A court later granted Bateman's request to lift a no-contact order after he said the victim indicated she did want to have contact with him.

“It is unfortunate that a personal family situation has been taken completely out of context for sensational reasons,” Bateman attorney Jordan Siev said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We will let the court process play out and the facts will come out at that time.”

Walton County authorities didn’t immediately respond to a message from the AP.

Last year, Bateman signed a $37 million, three-year contract extension coming off career bests of 756 yards and nine touchdowns receiving in 2024. The 26-year-old Georgia native who played in college at Minnesota dropped off to a career-low 224 yards with two TDs last season.

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The DOJ said Friday that TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million after an order vacates an earlier consent decree against its predecessor company, Musical.ly.

“This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents,” said U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. in a statement. “The Department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations. This resolution secures a substantial recovery while reinforcing the protections that families expect and deserve.”

Since the DOJ's lawsuit in 2024, TikTok has undergone major changes, most notably in the ownership structure of its U.S. arm. In January, the social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture.

Representatives for TikTok did not immediately respond to a message for comment Friday.

The latest lawsuit focused on allegations that TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13. It also says the companies failed to honor requests from parents who wanted their children’s accounts deleted, and chose not to delete accounts even when the firms knew they belonged to kids under 13.

The settlement comes as social media companies face an avalanche of lawsuits over children's safety and privacy and a growing number of countries are banning young kids and teens from social media apps. Instagram's parent company, Meta Platforms, is currently on trial in federal court in Oakland, California, over allegations it violated the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, along with various state statutes.

Under the Bureau of Reclamation's plan, California, Nevada and Arizona will collectively reduce water use by 1.25 million acre-feet (about 1.54 billion cubic meters) annually during that period, with the possibility of larger cuts depending on conditions.

Arizona will see the biggest cuts, while states upstream — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico — do not face any for now.

Meanwhile neighboring Mexico will reduce its intake by 250,000 acre-feet (about 310 million cubic meters) under a U.S.-Mexico treaty.

“We’ve been in this 26-year prolonged drought period,” said Andrea Travnicek, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science. “We continue to see a prolonged drought in our future. So continuing to work together as a whole within the basin is going to be extremely important.”

The current rules governing the use of the river’s water are set to expire in October, and the seven states have been unable to reach a consensus on sharing it over the long term.

Last winter saw the worst snowpack on record for the Colorado River Basin, adding more stress on farmers, industry, wildlife and hydropower producers, as well as tens of millions of people who rely on the waterway, including in dozens of Native American tribes and in two Mexican states.

Years of overuse combined with drought and rising temperatures due to climate change have depleted the country’s two largest reservoirs, which are both fed by the Colorado. Lake Mead recently plummeted to its lowest level since it began filling nine decades ago, and Lake Powell did the same about a week later. Their combined storage is the lowest it has been in nearly seven decades.

Negotiators in Arizona thanked California and Nevada for their collaboration on sharing the cuts.

“For 2027 and 2028, the reductions that are now memorialized here will provide substantial stability for folks,” said Tom Buschatzke, Arizona Department of Water Resources director. “We’ll continue to negotiate and figure out how we’re going to operate over a longer-term period, which is what we all want.”

JB Hamby, California’s chief Colorado River negotiator, said the plan brings “some badly needed near-term certainty at a moment of extraordinary risk,” though he called it “a bridge, not a permanent solution.”

Officials in Nevada applauded their collaboration with Arizona and California and said a seven-state consensus remains their preferred path for the river.

In Southern Nevada, Kyle Roerink, senior adviser at the conservation group Great Basin Water Network, said efforts to build a new airport and shopping malls and some public land sales have not progressed, reflecting the dire hydrology inked in the federal documents. Further cuts could slow real estate development in metro Las Vegas, he said.

“When the Hoover Dam, a symbol of American fortitude and American power, drops and loses its shine, it can be scary,” Roerink said. “But it can also pose itself as a great opportunity for us to prepare for the next hundred years in a meaningful way.”

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Ketel Marte has made that basically impossible.

Four days after the three-time All-Star's mysterious disappearance during a road trip in Boston, the D-backs were still trying to figure out how to move forward after one of their best players essentially ghosted teammates and management during a crucial moment in the season.

“Once I saw what was unfolding, I became extremely frustrated,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I felt betrayed. And that’s a whole different type of pain and frustration. But I’m through that.”

Marte, D-backs brass meet on Thursday

Lovullo said he met with Marte on Thursday, along with general manager Mike Hazen and Marte’s agent. The 32-year-old second baseman was put on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation shortly after the meeting.

Lovullo didn't get into many of the details of the discussion, but did say Marte had some frustration about his ailing knee. The switch-hitter was scheduled to be the team's designated hitter on Monday night before his no-show.

Marte — who is hitting .249 with 21 homers and 67 RBIs this season — was not in the clubhouse during media availability on Friday.

“There’s right ways to handle things and wrong ways to handle things,” Lovullo said. “I think the conclusion that was drawn up yesterday was that we could have been better. Ketel could have been better, specifically. Admittedly so.

“I want to manage baseball games. I want to do what I love doing between the white lines and not have to answer these types of questions. ... I don’t love the drama that follows this ballclub. I want to be a good baseball team and we’ve got to figure this out.”

The D-backs might be more willing to deal with Marte's baffling behavior because he's currently the longest-tenured player on the team and one of the most productive hitters in franchise history. The Dominican has 1,215 hits and 189 homers since joining the club in 2017 and is generally well-liked in the clubhouse. He also is under contract through 2030 with a player option for 2031.

“I love Ketel Marte — my relationship with him is not going to change,” Lovullo said.

But there's little doubt the mercurial Marte has put the franchise in a tough situation.

And it isn't the first time he's had a strange disappearance.

Last season, he went on the restricted list when his home in Arizona was broken into during the All-Star break. He missed three games after flying back to his native Dominican Republic and later apologized for his absence.

D-backs teammates in the dark

Regarding Marte's latest absence, many of his teammates said that didn't know much about the situation and were essentially reading media reports to figure out details.

Reliever Kevin Ginkel said the situation was disappointing, but he also cared about Marte and wanted him to be healthy, both mentally and physically.

“There's really no explanation for it," Ginkel said. "But we've got 30-something games left and hopefully we can get him back and it'll give us a nice little push into the playoffs.”

Ginkel said teammates were eager for Marte's side of the story. It's unclear when, or if, that might come.

“I think it'd be nice to hear it — for sure,” Ginkel said. “I think a lot of players are kind of frustrated about how it happened. But first and foremost, it's him getting his knee right and mentally being in a good place to where he can come back and help contribute.”

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He might need to brace for another gallery supporting the other guy. Woodland grew up just under four hours away — one of the few times Missouri likes someone from Kansas — and is on the cusp of making it to the Tour Championship all while coping with side effects from his 2023 brain surgery.

Woodland birdied his last two holes, belting a 2-iron into the 608-yard 17th hole and stuffing a wedge to 8 feet on the 18th for a 65.

Clark, who endured a New York gallery pulling for Scottie Scheffler at the U.S. Open, has looked comfortable over 36 holes. His only real stress over a par came on the 10th hole Thursday when he had to make an 18-foot putt. He has no complaints about his game, and the two-time U.S. Open champion is tough when he starts heating up.

Clark was at 12-under 128. J.J. Spaun had a 66 on his 36th birthday and was two shots behind. All three of them are already assured of finishing in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup who advance to the FedEx Cup finale next week at East Lake in Atlanta.

Woodland hasn't been there in six years, and while he has looked great for two days, there are reminders that keeping his heart rate and energy under control is a constant battle. After ripping his tee shot on the 18th, Woodland sat down.

“I'm tired,” he said after his round with a grin.

His post-round routine includes sitting in a cool, dark room and trying to reset his brain. Adding to the pressure is trying to move from No. 31 into East Lake.

“My focus right now is one day at a time. I don’t have that luxury to look ahead,” Woodland said. "I've got to focus on making sure I take care of myself right now. Tomorrow’s a new day, and hopefully I get some rest tonight and I’ll show up tomorrow and see how it comes.

“But I don’t have the luxury to look ahead anymore.”

Those who still have plenty of work ahead of them include Sungjae Im, who had a 64 and was three shots back. Im is at No. 40 as he tries to extend his streak of reaching the Tour Championship every season since he joined the PGA Tour in 2019.

Another shot behind at 8-under 132 were Patrick Cantlay (No. 43) with a 65 and Rocket Classic winner Michael Thorbjornsen (No. 41) with a 66.

Clark has no such concerns at No. 5 in the FedEx Cup, a product of winning the U.S. Open and blowing away the field in The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. Plus, he is helped by getting a harsh reminder to stick to golf.

Clark agreed to throw out the first pitch at a Detroit Tigers game when he was at the Rocket Classic. He warmed up about 20 minutes before his big moment, started feeling good, and decided to throw a little harder. His pitch was right down the middle.

It was the day after that got him.

“I woke up the next day and, oh my gosh, my arm was hurting,” he said. Clark went on to miss the cut at the Rocket Classic.

But he tied for fifth in the PGA Tour playoffs opener last week at the TPC Southwind, and he's in prime position at the BMW Championship.

He can't catch Scottie Scheffler at No. 1 — Scheffler already is assured the $23 million bonus for leading the points race going to East Lake — and anyone at the Tour Championship only has to win to capture the FedEx Cup.

Scheffler is still battling an illness. He spoke quietly and quickly, though at least he had something to talk about. He recovered from his 72 with a 65, though he actually lost ground on the lead because of Clark. Scheffler was nine shots behind.

Rory McIlroy managed only two birdies in his round of 69 and was five shots behind.

This is a big opportunity for Woodland, the 36-hole leader at Bellerive in the 2018 PGA Championship until he couldn't keep up on the weekend. But he's in control of golf ball, his speed and power is still evident and he's been through enough to handle what's in front of him.

“I feel very comfortable. It’s nice being close to home. It’s nice having so much support out here,” Woodland said. “The fans have been amazing. I’m definitely feeding off that energy for sure.”

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In the video, Ramasamy, 45, an award-winning urologist, described his accusers as “disgruntled members of the university community.” Records show the University of Miami employed him from 2015 to 2024.

Ramasamy was the director of the Reproductive Urology Fellowship program at the Miller School of Medicine and an assistant professor of urology from 2015 to 2020, and he was a professor from 2020 to 2024, according to the warrant.

“The three victims were not the only former students/employees of [Ramasamy] to make such a claim against him,” a detective wrote, according to a statement of facts in support of an Oct. 20 warrant for Ramasamy’s arrest.

A Miami detective, who reported interviewing six victims and moving forward with three cases, described the victims as men aged 28, 37, and 40, according to the arrest warrant.

The detective described the 28-year-old man as a student who viewed Ramasamy as a mentor. The 37-year-old man had a brother who was Ramasamy’s student, according to the warrant. The 40-year-old man was a surgical resident while Ramasamy was his supervising attending physician.

In 2024, Ramasamy moved to the United Arab Emirates to work as a consultant urologist at the Jumeirah American Clinic in Dubai, according to the warrant.

In the video, Ramasamy said he learned about the extradition charges a few months ago. The detective accused him of performing unnecessary examinations to abuse the men, records show.

“I never sexually assaulted anyone,” Ramasamy said in the video after he surrendered to deputies at Miami International Airport on Thursday.

Ramasamy appeared before Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer, who ordered him to stay away from the three victims, set his bond at $120,000 bond, and ordered house arrest with a GPS monitor, according to court records.

Court records show Ramasamy’s arraignment is at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Tany Brinkley is presiding over the case.

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Ricardo Contreras lost a leg and injured both hands while trying to dig his way out of the rubble. Karina Bechara spent 23 hours with her legs crushed beneath household furniture.

Now, both are beginning a recovery process that could take up to a year, while holding on to the hope that they will walk again.

“It was hard, very hard. It was a shocking blow,” Contreras said in Spanish.

Bechara said a piece of furniture weighing about 200 kilograms, or 440 pounds, fell on her feet.

At Ortoprotécnica, an orthopedic clinic and workshop, the demand for prosthetics has surged. Bianca Dámaso, an orthopedic specialist there, estimates as many as 200 people lost limbs in the disaster.

“They lost their house, they lost their jobs in many cases, they lost their family, and also part of their body,” Dámaso said.

For many patients, getting a prosthetic is just the start. The process can take up to a year, and some are not expected to begin trying on their new limbs until the coming weeks.

Knowing they will eventually have prosthetics is already giving some patients hope, Dámaso said.

“It’s something that gives them a peace in the mind,” she said.

Contreras says he is determined to keep moving forward.

“Every day, I tell myself, I can do this. I’m going to keep working. I’m going to keep studying,” he said in Spanish.

Dámaso is also trying to focus on what comes next.

“If crying could give me my legs back, I would cry 24 hours a day,” she said.

“Life gives us opportunities, and this is a new opportunity for me,” she said.

Contreras faces another loss. He also lost both of his parents, who were in the same apartment with him.

For survivors like him, another hurdle is the cost of prosthetic limbs. Several charities and foundations have come together to help cover those expenses.

On Friday, Meliza Campos-Sanchez made heart gestures to tearful relatives who were in the courtroom to support her after Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detectives viewed her Instagram posts as evidence of crimes.

One of the girls told a detective that “she and her sister were present and witnessed their mother burn a shirt. As a result, it started a fire while the victims were inside the residence,” a detective wrote, according to an arrest report.

Campos-Sanchez’s husband told deputies that he had been staying with his parents, and he took custody of their daughters while his wife, who had threatened self-harm, was at the hospital on Sunday, according to a deputy’s arrest report.

Deputies arrested Campos-Sanchez at 1:40 a.m. on Monday at the HCA Florida Kendall Hospital’s emergency room, and corrections booked her shortly after 4:45 a.m. on Monday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where she remained on Friday evening, records show.

Campos-Sanchez, who was born in Cuba, faced four charges in two pending felony cases in Miami-Dade, and she had a hold by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court and inmate records.

In the case of the pouring wax, Campos-Sanchez faced two counts of child neglect with no great bodily harm, and one count of child abuse with no great bodily harm.

In the case of the fire that prompted fire rescue personnel to respond to her home, Campos-Sanchez faced a charge of first-degree arson.

A judge ordered Campos-Sanchez to stay away from her daughters and to undergo two mental health evaluations. Court records show Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Carlos Humberto Gamez was set to preside over the cases. Her next hearing is at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Without going into detail, the PWHL issued a statement saying the trophy “did not arrive as expected at its latest stop,” and added "we are working closely with the shipping company to locate it.”

The trophy was supposed to be shipped to Lethbridge, Alberta, to spend the day with Victoire forward Dara Greig, a person with knowledge of the plans told the AP on the condition of anonymity because those details were not revealed by the league.

A container did arrive, but not the one the PWHL shipped with the trophy inside, a second person with knowledge of the details told the AP. The second person spoke on the condition of anonymity because those details have not been revealed by the league.

As a result, Greig wound up postponing her day with the trophy on Thursday, which included a public event at the city’s VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

It’s unclear where the Walter Cup was last seen. And unlike the NHL and the Stanley Cup, the PWHL does not have a person dedicated to travel with its trophy when it goes on the road to be with players.

The missing Walter Cup in question is not the one presented to teams on the ice upon winning the championship. That one is permanently housed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

The missing version is instead a version issued to championship-winning teams to keep.

The team's version, like the original trophy, is made of sterling silver and designed by Tiffany & Co. It weighs about 35 pounds (16 kilograms) and measures about 24 inches (61 centimeters) in height and 13 inches (33 centimeters) wide.

The cup rests on two rods, resembling hockey sticks. On the cup are engraved six W’s representing the league’s six original franchises. The base of the cup represents a puck on which the championship teams are etched.

Montreal clinched the cup by defeating Ottawa in Game 4 of a best-of-five series in May to become the PWHL’s first Canadian team to win title. Minnesota won the PWHL’s first two championships.

The trophy is named after PWHL founder and primary financier Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and his wife Kimbra.

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See AP’s full women’s hockey coverage here

Moody, who was appointed to the Senate last year after Marco Rubio left the seat to become secretary of state, appeared at a Miami-Dade Republican event in Doral on Friday but did not take questions afterward.

Speaking briefly before the event, Moody focused on Nixon’s affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America and described her campaign message in two words: “Stop socialism.”

“She is a supporter and member of the DSA which is a party that has a very radical agenda,” Moody said. “I don’t think anyone thought that somebody who supported socialism would ever be on the ballot in Florida.”

Moody also was asked whether she would debate Nixon on WPLG Local 10.

“Oh my gosh, I think our teams will probably meet and discuss all of that,” Moody said.

Nixon, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is pitching a different message as Democrats seek to compete in a state where Republicans have dominated statewide elections.

“I am looking forward to expanding this big tent of the Democratic Party,” Nixon said.

In an interview with Local 10 News on Wednesday, Nixon was asked how she plans to persuade moderate Democrats to support her in November.

“Folks can just look at my track record,” Nixon said.

Nixon also addressed her recent affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party.

“The reason I recently joined DSA and the working families party is because they are organizations that want to put power back in the hands of the people,” Nixon said.

The contest will give Florida voters a choice between Moody, a former state attorney general who was appointed to the Senate, and Nixon, who is seeking to put Democrats back in contention for a statewide Senate seat.

The election will also determine who serves the remainder of Rubio’s vacated Senate term.

In France, a second-half double from Amine Gouiri set Marseille on its way to a 4-0 victory over Strasbourg on the first night of this season’s Ligue 1 action.

Elsewhere in Europe, Real Betis beat Real Sociedad 1-0 in the Spanish league while fan trouble overshadowed the first round of the German Cup.

Arsenal sweeps Coventry aside in Premier League opener

Newcomer Christos Tzolis helped set up two goals as defending champion Arsenal opened the Premier League season by dismantling promoted Coventry 3-0 to spoil the visitor’s long-awaited return to the top flight.

After ending a 22-year wait for the Premier League title, Arsenal showed why it’s favored to repeat as champion by completely dominating Frank Lampard’s side in a game that was one-sided from start to finish.

Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard scored for the Gunners, who spurned chances to pad the scoreline even further.

For Coventry, it was a rude welcome back to the Premier League after a 25-year absence. Having won the second-tier Championship last season by a wide margin, Lampard’s side simply looked outmatched as it was repeatedly taken apart by the marauding Gunners.

Gouiri leads Marseille to dominant win over Strasbourg

Gouiri, who scored eight goals in 22 league matches last season, has been linked with a move to Everton in recent days, but the speculation clearly did not hinder his concentration in the Ligue 1 opener.

He slotted home from close range a minute after the break and then doubled his tally from the penalty spot midway through the second half, just minutes after Strasbourg was reduced to 10 men following Samir El Mourabet's dismissal for a bad tackle.

Keyliane Abdallah added a third in the 89th minute before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg completed the scoring in stoppage time to give new Marseille coach Bruno Génésio the perfect start to the season.

Rodrigo Riquelme gives Real Betis a winning start in Spain

Betis kicked off its La Liga campaign with a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad in Seville.

Riquelme’s volleyed goal after 63 minutes separated two evenly matched teams and extended Betis’ unbeaten home run in Friday night games to 18.

The win takes the Seville club into joint second place in La Liga, one of four teams on three points, behind Alaves, which has four.

It’s a stuttering start to the league season in Spain, with some teams having played twice before others have even kicked off their campaign.

Rowdy fans and startling scoreline in the German Cup

Police had to intervene in the German Cup match between Waldhof Mannheim and Kaiserslautern as fans threw flares and other objects and some Mannheim supporters invaded the pitch. The trouble started as the game was heading into extra time with the score tied at 0-0.

The match was halted for nearly 30 minutes as officers in riot gear and mounted police pushed fans back into the stands before the players could return.

Ibrahim Kanate scored in the last minute of extra time, giving second-division Kaiserslautern a 1-0 win to advance to the second round.

Eintracht Frankfurt cruised into the second round of the competition with a staggering 11-0 win away at fifth-tier St. Tönis. Ten of the goals came before half time, three of them from Jonathan Burkardt.

Karlsruhe beat Munster 2-1 and Dženan Pejčinović scored a hattrick as VfB Stuttgart beat Hansa Rostock 4-0 away from home.

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Shortly after 7:40 p.m. on Thursday, deputies found a man who was wounded in the abdomen behind a counter at the Marathon gas station at 220 South Dixie Highway, according to the report.

Zalim Bacchus, who had a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol, “had his hands raised and sponaenously uttered, ‘I shot him,’” a deputy wrote, according to the arrest report.

The victim told deputies that after Bacchus used the restroom, he was “concealing a bottle of Sprite,” so he locked him inside the store and confronted him, according to the arrest report.

“Bacchus pulled a gun on him and fired at him,” a deputy wrote, according to the report.

Pompano Beach Fire Rescue personnel took the victim to Broward Health North in Pompano Beach, and his condition was critical but stable, according to the report.

Broward corrections booked Bacchus on Friday morning at the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, according to county inmate records.

Bacchus, of Pompano Beach, faced a charge of aggravated battery, a first-degree felony, and Broward County Circuit Judge Michael Lynch was set to preside over the capital case, according to county court records.

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.

Related report: Man shot at Pompano Beach gas station, 1 detained, BSO says

Guo Degang, the country’s most prominent performer of traditional xiangsheng, a form of Chinese comedic dialogue, is under investigation by local authorities in the city of Wuhan in central China, local media reported. Guo's show on Friday in the northwestern city of Xi’an was canceled due to “venue issues," a statement on ticketing platform Damai released by his promotion company showed.

The company offered refunds for tickets as well as travel and hotel expenses. The exhibition center hosting the performance in Xi’an, which also cited “venue issues” on Wednesday, said the show had been “postponed,” without giving a new date.

Local media reports said several of Guo’s shows scheduled in August across cities were canceled.

The investigation highlights China’s stricter controls and censorship of the entertainment and arts industries, where performers and artists have to navigate an environment where “red lines” are often unclear and shifting.

Guo was reported to Wuhan's culture and tourism authorities after he changed a lyric from “it is quiet along Weishan Lake” to “it is quiet in the Forbidden City” while performing at a show in the city last month, according to local media reports and videos shown on social media platforms.

The Forbidden City, once home to China’s emperors for hundreds of years, is now a museum that attracts over 10 million visitors each year.

Neither Guo nor his show promotor immediately responded to the AP’s emails seeking for comment on Saturday.

Guo’s performance had been approved in advance by local authorities in Wuhan, but the lyric change had not, which may have violated regulations governing commercial performances according to The Paper, a Shanghai-based news outlet.

The lyrics are from “Playing My Beloved Pipa,” a song from Railway Guerrilla, a well-known 1950s film about Communist-led guerrillas fighting Japanese forces during World War II. Pipa is a traditional Chinese stringed instrument, similar to a lute.

It is a popular song among the public. It was once played at CCTV Spring Festival gala in 1998, and was also selected in 2019 by the Chinese Communist Party’s Publicity Department as one of 100 songs recommended to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Guo is widely considered as the one who brought xiangsheng closer to the younger generation in China. The traditional art form was more regional and more popular among the older audience.

This is not the first time that performers facing consequences over their work on stage. In 2023, comedian Li Haoshi, known by his stage name House, sparked controversy after describing dogs chasing squirrels with a military slogan. Xiaoguo Culture Media, the company he worked for, was later fined 14.7 million yuan ($2.13 million), and Li has not appeared in public performances in mainland China since.

Messi slapped the Union's Quinn Sullivan on the back of the neck as the two exchanged words Wednesday night. Messi scored his first goal since the death of his father, Jorge Messi, and added an assist.

Sullivan also was involved in the fracas that led to Fray's fine. After Sullivan lost his footing dribbling into the penalty area, he got tangled with Fray, who then grabbed his neck. Sullivan jumped up and tackled Fray.

Minnesota United FC defender Anthony Markanich was fined for embellishment in the second half of a 2-1 loss to Atlanta United on Wednesday.

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See AP’s full MLS coverage here

The letter gave the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress until the end of business Friday to issue the retraction or face a $5 billion lawsuit. The center declined.

The nonprofit's president and chief executive, Neera Tanden, said in a statement that the lawsuit “is a transparent attempt to silence us. We will neither cower nor bend in the face of it.”

The report, published July 13, criticized the administration for taking credit for a historic drop in violent crime at a time when that decline was already underway. The analysis concluded that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard “had no measurable effect on violent crime trends.”

Tanden said the work was based on the nonprofit's analysis of crime data and its findings were simply "inconvenient to the Trump administration.”

In the letter, sent Monday and first reported by The New York Times, Trump attorney Alejandro Brito said the center should “immediately retract the false, malicious, and defamatory statements made about President Trump.”

Brito highlighted several examples of statements in the report that drew objections from Trump. One read, “In an effort to falsely claim his policies have reduced crime, the president is exploiting the fact that violent crime and murder were already declining in the cities his administration targeted with these extreme interventions.”

Brito wrote that failure to retract the report will leave Trump no choice but to seek remedies for the “overwhelming financial and reputational harm that Defendants have caused him to suffer.” Attempts to reach Brito on Friday were unsuccessful.

The nonprofit's general counsel, Kevin Metz, said in a letter responding to the threat that the defamation allegation "is utterly absurd: truth is not and cannot be defamation. The legal standards here are clear, well-established, and speech-protective.”

Threatening lawsuits against perceived enemies or over media coverage he doesn't like is part of a well-worn playbook for Trump. At the beginning of his second term, he threatened numerous legal firms with cutting off access to the federal government unless they capitulated to his various demands, which some did.

Kevin Goldberg, a First Amendment expert at the Freedom Forum, said such threats from Trump are done “for the purpose of trying to push someone into submission rather than actually on the merits of compensating Donald Trump for any harm that might have been caused.”

En el video, Ramasamy, de 45 años, un urólogo galardonado, describió a sus acusadores como “miembros descontentos de la comunidad universitaria”.

La Universidad de Miami lo empleó de 2015 a 2024. Fue director del programa de becas de Urología Reproductiva de la Escuela de Medicina Miller y profesor asistente de urología de 2015 a 2020, y fue profesor de urología de 2020 a 2024, según la orden judicial.

“Las tres víctimas no fueron los únicos ex estudiantes/empleados de [Ramasamy] que hicieron una acusación de este tipo en su contra”, escribió un detective, según una declaración de hechos en respaldo de una orden del 20 de octubre para el arresto de Ramasamy.

Un detective de Miami, quien reportó haber entrevistado a seis víctimas y seguir adelante con tres casos, describió a las víctimas como hombres de 28, 37 y 40 años, según la orden de arresto.

“Nunca agredí sexualmente a nadie”, dijo Ramasamy en el video después de entregarse a los agentes en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami el jueves.

El detective describió al hombre de 28 años como un estudiante que veía a Ramasamy como un mentor. El hombre de 37 años tenía un hermano que era estudiante de Ramasamy, según la orden. El hombre de 40 años era residente de cirugía mientras Ramasamy era el médico supervisor a cargo.

En 2024, Ramasamy se mudó a los Emiratos Árabes Unidos para trabajar como urólogo consultor en Jumeirah American Clinic en Dubái, según la orden.

Ramasamy compareció ante la jueza del Tribunal de Circuito del condado Miami-Dade Mindy S. Glazer, quien le ordenó mantenerse alejado de las tres víctimas, fijó su fianza en $120,000 USD y ordenó arresto domiciliario con un monitor GPS, según los registros judiciales.

Los registros judiciales muestran que la lectura de cargos de Ramasamy está programada para las 9 a.m. del martes. La jueza del Tribunal de Circuito del condado Miami-Dade Tany Brinkley preside el caso.

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Lamb was convicted of second-degree murder, false imprisonment and altering, destroying, concealing or removing physical evidence, according to prosecutors. The jury deliberated for less than two hours.

The woman who was killed was Nadyne Marie Tillman.

Lamb, of Key Largo, faces up to life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9.

The case began April 7, 2025, when the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said they launched a missing-person investigation after Tillman’s family became concerned that they had not heard from her. Her vehicle was found at a Key Largo resort.

Investigators said they eventually searched a room where Lamb had been staying. A detective opened a closet containing an air conditioning handler and found Tillman’s body concealed underneath it.

According to prosecutors, Lamb told investigators he had contacted Tillman through an escort website and agreed to pay her $200 for sexual services. He said she tried to leave, but he blocked the door with his body.

Lamb admitted striking her during the confrontation. He later discovered she was not breathing and put her body in the closet, prosecutors said.

A medical examiner determined that Tillman died from blunt-force injuries to her head and neck, including fractures to her cervical vertebrae, according to investigators.

Authorities said instead of calling 911, Lamb told investigators he cleaned blood and other bodily fluids from the room using towels and linens. He then moved and concealed the body and packed soiled linens, Tillman’s cellphone and other belongings into three trash bags.

They said Lamb moved to another room at the resort the next morning, leaving the body behind.

Hotel staff later found the three bags and threw them away before realizing they could be evidence. By the time investigators learned about the bags, the resort’s dumpster had been emptied and the items could not be recovered.

Authorities said Lamb was arrested the day after the body was discovered. Investigators confirmed that they found Tillman’s credit card hidden inside his wallet.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield said the verdict brought accountability in “a brutal and tragic case.”

Lamb is scheduled to return to court for sentencing at 10 a.m. Oct. 9.

Lamb fue declarado culpable de asesinato en segundo grado, privación ilegal de la libertad y alteración, destrucción, ocultamiento o eliminación de evidencia física, según los fiscales. El jurado deliberó durante menos de dos horas.

La mujer que murió fue Nadyne Marie Tillman.

Lamb, de Key Largo, enfrenta hasta cadena perpetua. Está previsto que sea sentenciado el 9 de octubre.

El caso comenzó el 7 de abril de 2025, cuando la Oficina del Sheriff del condado Monroe dijo que inició una investigación por persona desaparecida después de que la familia de Tillman se preocupara porque no había tenido noticias de ella. Su vehículo fue encontrado en un resort de Key Largo.

Los investigadores dijeron que finalmente registraron una habitación donde Lamb se había estado hospedando. Un detective abrió un clóset que contenía una unidad de aire acondicionado y encontró el cuerpo de Tillman oculto debajo de ella.

Según los fiscales, Lamb dijo a los investigadores que había contactado a Tillman a través de un sitio web de acompañantes y acordó pagarle $200 USD por servicios sexuales. Dijo que ella intentó irse, pero él bloqueó la puerta con su cuerpo.

Lamb admitió haberla golpeado durante el enfrentamiento. Más tarde descubrió que no respiraba y colocó su cuerpo en el clóset, dijeron los fiscales.

Un médico forense determinó que Tillman murió por lesiones causadas por golpes contundentes en la cabeza y el cuello, incluidas fracturas en las vértebras cervicales, según los investigadores.

Las autoridades dijeron que, en lugar de llamar al 911, Lamb contó a los investigadores que limpió sangre y otros fluidos corporales de la habitación usando toallas y ropa de cama. Luego movió y ocultó el cuerpo y colocó ropa de cama sucia, el teléfono celular de Tillman y otras pertenencias en tres bolsas de basura.

Dijeron que Lamb se trasladó a otra habitación del resort a la mañana siguiente, dejando el cuerpo atrás.

El personal del hotel encontró posteriormente las tres bolsas y las tiró sin darse cuenta de que podían ser evidencia. Para cuando los investigadores se enteraron de las bolsas, el contenedor de basura del resort ya había sido vaciado y los artículos no pudieron ser recuperados.

Las autoridades dijeron que Lamb fue arrestado al día siguiente de que se descubriera el cuerpo. Los investigadores confirmaron que encontraron la tarjeta de crédito de Tillman escondida dentro de su billetera.

El fiscal estatal adjunto jefe Joseph Mansfield dijo que el veredicto estableció responsabilidades en “un caso brutal y trágico”.

Está previsto que Lamb regrese a la corte para recibir sentencia a las 10 a.m. del 9 de octubre.

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The video shows officers arriving at Town Center Park shortly before 9 p.m. on Saturday and speaking with the boy after a witness alerted them that he was alone.

According to an arrest report, the child told a witness that his mother had left him at the park, he was scared and he had not eaten since breakfast.

The witness told police the boy had been alone for nearly an hour, the report states.

Officers said they spoke with the boy, who told them his mother had left him to get food with a friend, police said. The boy also told officers he was scared and did not want to leave with a stranger, they said.

As officers searched the area for the boy’s mother, 41-year-old Elena Sexton, police said she eventually walked back to the park.

According to the arrest report, Sexton told officers she had parked at a nearby shopping plaza at 17000 Collins Ave. and walked back to get some toys.

Police said Sexton told them she then saw a friend who asked her to sit and have food, and she did so while leaving her son at the park.

The video shows the boy with officers as darkness falls and later shows police taking Sexton into custody.

Jail records show Sexton, who is from Corpus Christi, Texas, was arrested Saturday on a charge of child neglect without great bodily harm.

The Florida Department of Children and Families was contacted, and the boy is now living with Sexton’s mother, authorities confirmed.

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The National Hurricane Center added two more lemons over the subtropical Atlantic to their tropical outlook map since Thursday.

One system is a decidedly non-tropical low-pressure system along a cold front way out over the far northeastern Atlantic and closer to Europe than to the Americas. It could take on some subtropical or even tropical characteristics over the record- to near-record warm waters west of Portugal, but the upshot regardless will be high surf, blustery weather, and periods of heavy rain to parts of Portugal and northern Spain Sunday into early Monday local time.

Meanwhile a weak and disorganized area of low pressure hundreds of miles southeast of Bermuda over the middle subtropical Atlantic has been given a 20% chance of developing, mainly early next week as it moves generally northward into the north Atlantic. It’s unlikely we see significant development as the system moves near or east of Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada by next Tuesday into Wednesday.

Models waffle on development in the eastern Atlantic next week

Forecast models continue to waffle from run-to-run on development odds for a tropical wave that’ll be rolling off Africa into the eastern Atlantic early next week.

Although the development signal has persisted for late next week in the eastern Atlantic, it’s less pronounced than in earlier runs. Google’s DeepMind 1,000-member ensemble has been especially jumpy from run-to-run, but other modeling camps like the European model ensembles have been more consistent with its development signal for later next week.

NHC hasn’t yet introduced the disturbance in its outlook, but we’ll probably see another lemon added over the weekend if trends persist.

Either way, this will have plenty of hurdles ahead given the nagging wind shear draped across the central Atlantic and isn’t anything for us stateside to be concerned with for next week.

Future Moke to slide south of Hawaii, but bring big rains to the Big Island

Yesterday morning we discussed the disturbance dubbed Invest 90E well southeast of Hawaii that was later upgraded to Tropical Depression Two-C Thursday.

The system remained disorganized Friday morning but is forecast to organize into Tropical Storm Moke by later on Friday. Over the past 24 hours, models have shifted noticeably southward, a positive trend that ensures the center of future Moke will pass 100-200 miles comfortably to the south of Hawaii.

Models have also trended way down in their intensity forecasts and show future Moke struggling as a low to mid-tier tropical storm through the weekend.

Regardless, the system’s outer circulation will enhance heavy rains on Maui and east-facing slopes of the Big Island, where up to 15 inches of rain will be possible, with the heaviest rains occurring from Sunday through next Tuesday local time. Although totals will be much lower than what Lala brought last weekend, the rains will compound rapid runoff issues with already-swollen rivers and streams.

A Flood Watch is in effect from Saturday through Monday afternoon for the windward and southeast side of the Big Island.

El video muestra a los agentes llegando a Town Center Park poco antes de las 9 p.m. del sábado y hablando con el niño después de que un testigo les alertara que estaba solo.

Según un reporte de arresto, el niño le dijo a un testigo que su madre lo había dejado en el parque, que tenía miedo y que no había comido desde el desayuno.

El testigo dijo a la policía que el niño había estado solo durante casi una hora, señala el reporte.

Los agentes dijeron que hablaron con el niño, quien les contó que su madre lo había dejado para ir a buscar comida con un amigo, informó la policía. El niño también dijo a los agentes que tenía miedo y que no quería irse con un extraño, indicaron.

Mientras los agentes buscaban en el área a la madre del niño, Elena Sexton, de 41 años, la policía dijo que finalmente regresó caminando al parque.

Según el reporte de arresto, Sexton dijo a los agentes que había estacionado en una plaza comercial cercana en 17000 Collins Ave. y que había regresado caminando para buscar algunos juguetes.

La policía dijo que Sexton les contó que luego vio a un amigo que le pidió que se sentara a comer, y ella lo hizo mientras dejaba a su hijo en el parque.

El video muestra al niño con los agentes mientras cae la noche y posteriormente muestra a la policía deteniendo a Sexton.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Sexton, quien es de Corpus Christi, Texas, fue arrestada el sábado por un cargo de negligencia infantil sin causar lesiones corporales graves.

El Departamento de Niños y Familias de Florida fue contactado, y el niño ahora vive con la madre de Sexton, confirmaron las autoridades.

It will be DeRozan's fifth team in his 18th season for a six-time All-Star looking for his first championship. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement hasn't been announced.

The addition of DeRozan gives the Nuggets a veteran backcourt presence after sending young, versatile wing Peyton Watson to Cleveland as part of a four-team trade. The 23-year-old Watson started a career-high 40 games last season and averaged career bests in points (14.6), rebounds (4.9) and assists (2.1). He missed the first-round series with a hamstring injury as the Nuggets were eliminated by Minnesota. Aaron Gordon also was hampered by calf tightness in the series.

Bringing in a veteran like DeRozan may go a long way in showing All-NBA center Nikola Jokic the team is committed to staying competitive. Last month, Jokic reiterated his desire to remain with Denver. He held off signing his contract extension until next summer when he can sign a five-year supermax contract that would be worth around $350 million.

The Nuggets won their first NBA title in 2023, but have been eliminated early in the last three postseasons. They signed forward/center Marvin Bagley III this summer and brought back forward Spencer Jones by matching the Oklahoma City Thunder’s offer sheet.

It's a deal that pushed Denver into the second apron. Crossing into that territory makes roster construction increasingly difficult.

DeRozan, the ninth overall pick by Toronto in 2009, spent his first nine seasons with the Raptors, only to get traded to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard as his former team won the title in Leonard's only season in 2018-19.

The 37-year-old DeRozan spent three seasons with the Spurs and three with Chicago before joining Sacramento the past two seasons. He was part of sign-and-trade deals in the moves to the Bulls and Kings.

DeRozan averaged 18.4 points last season, ending a 12-year run of averaging at least 20 points per game. He has had just two winning seasons since going to the playoffs his last five years with the Raptors. DeRozan made the postseason once with Chicago.

___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Sacco, a longtime Massachusetts charter fishing boat captain, saw the giant fin break the surface, and at first he thought he was dealing with an enormous shark.

“Then I got a better look at it and thought, dang, that thing's pointed,” he said. “But that's too big for a marlin.”

He was wrong. Sacco and his client Walter Chapman landed what they and others believe is the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught off the U.S. East Coast on Wednesday. The massive billfish, more than 11 feet (335 cm) in length, weighed 1,260 pounds (571.5 kilograms) when they got it back to land in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

That was just 142 pounds (64.4 kilograms) shy of the world record for an Atlantic blue marlin, caught off Brazil in 1992, according to records kept by the International Game Fish Association.

To catch such a huge fish off New England might be even more remarkable, said Walt Golet, director of the University of Maine Pelagic Fisheries Lab and an associate professor at the university's marine sciences school. The water is too cold for them in the Northeast most of the year, making the window to catch a big one very narrow.

The fish’s head was on its way to the UMaine lab to determine its age, said Golet, who speculated that it could be in the range of 25 to 30 years.

“I don’t suspect there will be a whole lot of blue marlin caught in the Atlantic in general that are going to top 1,200 pounds for the next several years,” he said.

On the day of the catch, Sacco's charter boat, Castafari, was fishing Atlantis Canyon, an underwater canyon on the edge of the continental shelf about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off Cape Cod. The highly migratory blue marlin is a seasonal visitor to the area, Golet said.

The battle with the marlin took about three hours and was fought on rod and reel by Chapman. Sacco said his role for most of the adventure was to “drive the bus around and yell at people.” He added that the fish left a couple of holes in the boat's transom with its bill that he considers “war marks.”

Chapman, a retiree and lifelong fisherman from Plymouth, said the meat of the fish was divided among about a dozen people, and he's currently looking up recipes for what to do with it. He said the marlin is unquestionably the biggest fish he's ever fought on a line, and some of it's probably destined for fish chowder.

“I wasn't going to eat a 1,200 pound fish all by myself,” Chapman said.

When the boat returned to the docks, a crowd was waiting, and weighing the fish became a brief spectacle. Onlooker Katie Curran of Falmouth said it was spectacular.

“People fish their entire lives and never come close to a catch like this,” Curran said. “Hats off to Captain Damon Sacco and the crew on the catch of a lifetime.”

El viernes, destituyó a su ministro de Economía después de que recibiera la desaprobación de la Asamblea Legislativa, mientras que un juez en la región oriental de Santa Cruz envió a prisión preventiva por 180 días a un asesor del mandatario por el presunto intento de feminicidio a su expareja.

Su principal aliado en el Congreso se alejó, fracturando el apoyo a su agenda mientras lucha por sacar a Bolivia de casi dos décadas de gobierno socialista de partido único. Un repentino aumento en el precio del combustible amenazó con reavivar el descontento popular.

“No son tiempos fáciles para el país”, admitió Paz el jueves. Pero tras un vertiginoso ascenso al poder el año pasado, Paz ha pasado sus nueve meses en el cargo acostumbrándose a las dificultades. Sin embargo, los analistas afirman que los últimos reveses podrían representar su mayor desafío hasta la fecha.

Aquí un breve resumen de los contratiempos sufridos por el gobierno esta semana:

Destitución de ministro de Economía

El viernes, mediante un decreto, Paz destituyó a su ministro de Economía, José Gabriel Espinoza —artífice de la reforma de libre mercado de su gobierno— días después de que el Congreso votara a favor de su salida y en medio de una denuncia por supuestamente declarar por un valor menor la compra de un auto de lujo.

Los legisladores aprovecharon el escándalo en torno a la compra del auto de lujo por parte de Espinoza y su ausencia en una audiencia parlamentaria sobre economía para canalizar su creciente frustración por la persistente inflación en Bolivia y la escasez persistente de combustible y divisas.

La fiscalía abrió una investigación penal por las acusaciones de que Espinoza falsificó documentos y ocultó sus ingresos en relación con la compra de un Audi Q4 por 5.000 dólares, un precio muy inferior al del mercado. Espinoza atribuyó la discrepancia a un error administrativo y negó haber cometido irregularidad alguna.

El gobierno de Paz criticó en un principio la votación del Congreso por considerarla inconstitucional e insistió en que Espinoza permanecería en el cargo. Sin embargo, pronto rectificó, evidenciando su debilidad en el Congreso después de que Samuel Doria Medina, el líder del partido de centroderecha Unidad Nacional, un aliado legislativo clave, se alejó de él la semana pasada debido a su dependencia de los decretos presidenciales.

La destitución de Espinoza deja al plan de rescate económico de Paz sin su principal estratega, justo cuando necesita que el Congreso apruebe un acuerdo de 1.900 millones de dólares con el Fondo Monetario Internacional, desbloqueé un préstamo de 200 millones de dólares del Banco Mundial y apruebe la legislación para introducir dólares en Bolivia, en medio del creciente descontento por las consecuencias de su ajuste fiscal.

Paz nombró en su lugar de forma interina a Óscar Mario Justiniano, quien ocupa la cartera de Producción Sostenible, Medio Ambiente y Agua.

Tras recortar drásticamente los generosos subsidios a los combustibles que mantenía desde hacía tiempo el año pasado, elevando los precios para los bolivianos de a pie, esta semana aumentó el precio del diése l para compras al por mayor en un 84%, lo que enfureció a los agricultores y provocó llamados a una huelga general.

“Ha logrado algunas victorias con el acuerdo con el FMI, al menos en principio, y con otros préstamos multilaterales”, dijo Casey Cagley, asesor sénior de Red Telescope Global, una firma de asesoría estratégica con sede en Seattle, que estudia Bolivia. “Pero eso no se ha traducido en ayuda para la asequibilidad ni en ninguna reforma significativa”.

“A medida que estos problemas se acumulan, se aisla cada vez más”,agregó el experto. “La deserción de aliados del gobierno y la salida de miembros del gabinete le dificultarán cada vez más afrontar este tipo de crisis en el futuro”.

Asesor argentino detenido

El martes, en un suceso que generó alto revuelo, la policía detuvo al consultor político argentino Fernando Cerimedo, con estrecho vínculo con el presidente Paz. La fiscalía lo acusó de estar presuntamente implicado en un ataque a tiros contra su expareja, la abogada boliviana Nadia Beller, registrado en la ciudad oriental de Santa Cruz la noche anterior.

Desde su cama de hospital, Beller, de 33 años, lo acusó de orquestar el ataque para silenciarla porque ella conocía la supuesta corrupción dentro del gobierno de Paz.

Cerimedo, quien ha dirigido la estrategia digital de líderes conservadores en toda Latinoamérica, incluyendo al presidente argentino Javier Milei y al expresidente brasileño Jair Bolsonaro, negó su participación en el ataque.

Un informe médico que Beller compartió con The Associated Press documentaba heridas en el pecho, el brazo, el cuello y los hombros, incluyendo una fractura que requirió cirugía, y señalaba que tenía entre cuatro y seis semanas de embarazo.

Posteriormente, Beller publicó fotos de cajones repletos de dinero en efectivo que, según ella, pertenecían a Cerimedo, y el caso se convirtió en un escándalo aún mayor sobre el influyente, aunque extraoficial, papel de Cerimedo y las acusaciones de enriquecimiento ilícito.

“El caso Cerimedo y Beller se ha convertido en un punto de inflexión para este gobierno”, dijo la analista política Verónica Rocha. “Su alcance y el nivel de indignación que ha generado lo diferencian de las crisis anteriores”.

Ante esta situación, Rocha consideró que el mandatario debe dar un cambio de rumbo y rendir un informe transparente a la sociedad para recuperar la confianza ciudadana.

———

DeBre reportó desde Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The State Department laid out its plans to transfer $725 million as part of its dues to the regular U.N. budget and $125 million toward U.N. peacekeeping operations in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to notifications sent to lawmakers this month and obtained by The Associated Press.

The U.S. is behind on about $5 billion in dues related to its U.N. membership, with more than $2 billion owed toward the regular budget and $3 billion for peacekeeping operations, the United Nations says.

In February, the Trump administration made a single payment of $160 million shortly after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the institution was facing “imminent financial collapse” unless its financial rules were overhauled or all 193 member nations paid their dues, a message clearly directed at the United States.

President Donald Trump and his allies have spent the past year and a half demanding drastic changes across the U.N., alarming many humanitarian workers and leading to severe reductions in programs and services.

Trump has publicly called out the world body for not living up to its potential. His administration did not pay anything to the United Nations in 2025, and it has withdrawn from U.N. organizations, including the World Health Organization and the cultural agency UNESCO, while pulling funding from dozens of others.

The notices sent Aug. 4 — first reported by Reuters — received some initial pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill who argued that the appropriations do not fully address the administration’s concerns about what it claims is bloated U.N. staffing and ideological positions that run counter to Trump’s anti-woke agenda.

In particular, a GOP congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because lawmakers have not yet decided how or if to respond to the notifications, said the notifications did not appear to be strong enough on the withholding of U.S. assistance to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

___

Amiri reported from New York.

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It takes preparation, consistency, teamwork, and a commitment to doing things right every single day.

On Friday, we’re giving a well-deserved “Clean Plate” shout-out to these establishments.

Thank you for taking food safety seriously and for giving your customers something to feel good about.

It’s hard to do and when you do it, you deserve some serious kudos!

**JW MARRIOTT POOL BAR 1109 BRICKELL AVE MIAMI 8/17

**PHO NGUYEN VIETNAMESE NOODLE HOUSE 10820 PINES BLVD. PEMBROKE PINES 8/14

**NRG COFFEE SHOP 4053 SW 152ND ST. WESTCHESTER 8/14

**PANDA EXPRESS 18050 NW 57TH AVE. HIALEAH 8/14

**TACO BELL 4870 NW 183RD ST. (MIAMI GARDENS DR.) MIAMI GARDENS 8/14

**WENDY’S 697 NW 37TH AVE. MIAMI 8/14

**KENDALL ICE ARENA 10355 HAMMOCKS BLVD. WEST KENDALL 8/13

**MAMACITA’S MEXICAN BAR & GRILL 508 N. BROADWALK HOLLYWOOD 8/13

**EVERGLADES SAFARI RESTAURANT 26700 SW 8TH ST. SOUTH-MIAMI DADE/REDLAND 8/12

**SUBWAY 12800 PINES BLVD. PEMBROKE PINES 8/12

**EMACK & BOLIO’S 10350 PINES BLVD. PEMBROKE PINES 8/12

**GALLERYONE DOUBLE TREE SUITES BANQUET KITCHEN 2670 EAST SUNRISE BLVD. FORT LAUDERDALE 8/12

**BURGERS & BEERS 2031 WILTON DRIVE WILTON MANORS 8/12

**DOMINOS 2454 SHERIDAN ST. HOLLYWOOD 8/12

**PIU ARGENTINIAN ICE CREAM 6310 GRIFFIN ROAD DAVIE 8/12

**RECOVECO 6000 SW 74TH ST. SOUTH MIAMI 8/11

**PALM BISTRO JOHN KNOX VILLAGE 700 SW 4TH ST. POMPANO BEACH 8/11

**WENDY’S 2370 SW 8TH ST. MIAMI 8/10

**MCDONALDS 7995 WEST FLAGLER ST. WESTCHESTER 8/7

**WENDY’S 16601 NW 57TH AVE. HIALEAH 8/6

**WHIT’S FROZEN CUSTARD 4850 N. FEDERAL HIGHWAY LIGHTHOUSE POINT 8/5

**CHIPOTLE 2110 SOUTH UNIVERSITY DR. DAVIE 8/5

**PANERA BREAD 1729 EAST HALLANDALE BEACH BLVD. HALLANDALE BEACH 8/5

**ARIELA’S DELICIOUS PIZZA 3330 GRIFFIN ROAD DANIA BEACH 8/3

**BAMBOO KITCHEN 3322 GRIFFIN ROAD DANIA BEACH 8/3

**TRUE MADE METHOD(CATERING) SUNRISE 8/3

Se necesita preparación, constancia, trabajo en equipo y el compromiso de hacer las cosas bien todos los días.

Este viernes, damos un merecido reconocimiento de “Clean Plate” a estos establecimientos.

Gracias por tomarse en serio la seguridad alimentaria y por darles a sus clientes un motivo para sentirse tranquilos.

¡Es difícil lograrlo y, cuando lo hacen, merecen un gran reconocimiento!

**JW MARRIOTT POOL BAR 1109 BRICKELL AVE MIAMI 8/17

**PHO NGUYEN VIETNAMESE NOODLE HOUSE 10820 PINES BLVD. PEMBROKE PINES 8/14

**NRG COFFEE SHOP 4053 SW 152ND ST. WESTCHESTER 8/14

**PANDA EXPRESS 18050 NW 57TH AVE. HIALEAH 8/14

**TACO BELL 4870 NW 183RD ST. (MIAMI GARDENS DR.) MIAMI GARDENS 8/14

**WENDY’S 697 NW 37TH AVE. MIAMI 8/14

**KENDALL ICE ARENA 10355 HAMMOCKS BLVD. WEST KENDALL 8/13

**MAMACITA’S MEXICAN BAR & GRILL 508 N. BROADWALK HOLLYWOOD 8/13

**EVERGLADES SAFARI RESTAURANT 26700 SW 8TH ST. SOUTH-MIAMI DADE/REDLAND 8/12

**SUBWAY 12800 PINES BLVD. PEMBROKE PINES 8/12

**EMACK & BOLIO’S 10350 PINES BLVD. PEMBROKE PINES 8/12

**GALLERYONE DOUBLE TREE SUITES BANQUET KITCHEN 2670 EAST SUNRISE BLVD. FORT LAUDERDALE 8/12

**BURGERS & BEERS 2031 WILTON DRIVE WILTON MANORS 8/12

**DOMINOS 2454 SHERIDAN ST. HOLLYWOOD 8/12

**PIU ARGENTINIAN ICE CREAM 6310 GRIFFIN ROAD DAVIE 8/12

**RECOVECO 6000 SW 74TH ST. SOUTH MIAMI 8/11

**PALM BISTRO JOHN KNOX VILLAGE 700 SW 4TH ST. POMPANO BEACH 8/11

**WENDY’S 2370 SW 8TH ST. MIAMI 8/10

**MCDONALDS 7995 WEST FLAGLER ST. WESTCHESTER 8/7

**WENDY’S 16601 NW 57TH AVE. HIALEAH 8/6

**WHIT’S FROZEN CUSTARD 4850 N. FEDERAL HIGHWAY LIGHTHOUSE POINT 8/5

**CHIPOTLE 2110 SOUTH UNIVERSITY DR. DAVIE 8/5

**PANERA BREAD 1729 EAST HALLANDALE BEACH BLVD. HALLANDALE BEACH 8/5

**ARIELA’S DELICIOUS PIZZA 3330 GRIFFIN ROAD DANIA BEACH 8/3

**BAMBOO KITCHEN 3322 GRIFFIN ROAD DANIA BEACH 8/3

**TRUE MADE METHOD(CATERING) SUNRISE 8/3

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Thompson will need to clear waivers before he can officially sign with Miami.

Thompson, 36, was owed $17.5 million for the 2026-27 season. The Mavericks had been looking for a trade involving the veteran guard, but the two sides ultimately agreed to end his contract through a buyout, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The move would bring the sharpshooter to Miami after two seasons in Dallas.

During his time with the Mavericks, he appeared in 141 games, including 80 starts, and averaged 12.9 points per game while shooting 38.7% from three-point range.

Thompson entered the NBA in 2011 after the Golden State Warriors selected him 11th overall. He spent 13 seasons with Golden State, winning four NBA championships and earning five All-Star selections.

It’s been an eventful offseason for the Miami Heat who previously added Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks, along with Tim Hardaway Jr., to team with center Bam Adebayo.

The majority of Miami’s games this season, at least 68, will be airing on Local 10 News.

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!

Heat fans can also call 786-777-4375 for more information on how to purchase tickets for the 2026-2027 season.

Thompson tendrá que superar el proceso de waivers antes de poder firmar oficialmente con Miami.

A Thompson, de 36 años, se le debían $17.5 millones USD para la temporada 2026-27. Los Mavericks habían estado buscando un intercambio que involucrara al veterano escolta, pero ambas partes finalmente acordaron poner fin a su contrato mediante una rescisión, según Shams Charania de ESPN.

La movida llevaría al especialista en tiros de larga distancia a Miami después de dos temporadas en Dallas.

Durante su tiempo con los Mavericks, participó en 141 partidos, incluidos 80 como titular, y promedió 12.9 puntos por partido mientras lanzaba para un 38.7% desde la línea de tres puntos.

Thompson llegó a la NBA en 2011 después de que los Golden State Warriors lo seleccionaran con la 11.ª selección general. Pasó 13 temporadas con Golden State, ganó cuatro campeonatos de la NBA y fue seleccionado cinco veces al Juego de Estrellas.

Ha sido una temporada baja llena de movimientos para el Miami Heat, que previamente incorporó a Giannis Antetokounmpo y Bobby Portis en un intercambio con los Milwaukee Bucks, además de Tim Hardaway Jr., para formar equipo con el centro Bam Adebayo.

La mayoría de los partidos de Miami esta temporada, al menos 68, serán transmitidos por Local 10 News.

WPLG Local 10 y el Heat anunciaron un nuevo acuerdo ampliado de derechos de transmisión, convirtiendo a Local 10 en el hogar del baloncesto del HEAT en todo el sur de Florida. ¡HAGA CLIC AQUÍ para obtener más información sobre cómo ver los partidos!

Los fanáticos del Heat también pueden llamar al 786-777-4375 para obtener más información sobre cómo comprar boletos para la temporada 2026-2027.

El FDLE anunció el jueves el arresto de Pearlandria Boujolly. Está acusada de un cargo de homicidio involuntario agravado de un menor de 18 años.

Según el FDLE, la investigación comenzó el 3 de enero, cuando la policía de Miami y paramédicos de Miami Fire Rescue respondieron aproximadamente a las 3:50 a.m. a un reporte de un niño pequeño que no respondía.

El niño fue trasladado al Jackson Memorial Hospital, donde fue declarado muerto poco después.

Una autopsia realizada por el Departamento del Médico Forense del Condado Miami-Dade encontró fentanilo y una cantidad mínima de cocaína en la sangre del niño, según el FDLE.

Investigadores dicen que dejaron drogas en una habitación sin llave

Investigadores del FDLE dijeron que habían dejado narcóticos dentro de una habitación sin llave en la vivienda donde fue encontrada la víctima.

Los investigadores determinaron que el niño ingirió accidentalmente una pequeña cantidad de las drogas que estaban en esa habitación.

Según el FDLE, Boujolly no estaba dentro de la vivienda cuando el niño consumió las drogas.

La investigación involucró al Grupo de Trabajo South Florida State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication, o S.A.F.E., del FDLE y al Departamento de Policía de Miami.

“Cuando los efectos mortales del fentanilo golpean a nuestras comunidades, especialmente a nuestros niños, el FDLE y nuestros socios estamos más motivados que nunca a utilizar todos los recursos de investigación disponibles para responsabilizar a todos los involucrados”, dijo Michael Stein, agente especial a cargo del FDLE en Miami.

El jefe de la Policía de Miami, Edwin Lopez, calificó la muerte de la víctima como “una tragedia desgarradora y completamente prevenible”.

“Este arresto envía un mensaje claro: hay cero tolerancia para la negligencia que pone en riesgo la vida de un niño inocente”, dijo Lopez.

La fiscal estatal de Miami-Dade, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, también se refirió al arresto y lo calificó como “un día desgarrador cuando un niño pierde la vida dentro de su propio hogar debido a la imprudencia de uno de sus padres y a drogas peligrosas dejadas al alcance”.

Arrestan a mujer meses después de la muerte del niño

El FDLE dijo que agentes del Grupo de Trabajo S.A.F.E. del sur de Florida y la policía de Miami arrestaron a Boujolly en su vivienda de Miami-Dade el jueves.

Luego fue trasladada al Centro de Detención Turner Guilford Knight.

El FDLE indicó que podrían presentarse cargos adicionales.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Boujolly permanecía detenida en TGK con una fianza de $55,000 USD. Los registros de la cárcel en línea muestran que enfrenta un cargo de uso fraudulento de una tarjeta de crédito en un caso separado.