One person died and two were injured on Tuesday at Northeast Third Avenue and 44 Street.

Neighbors said bad drivers are usually speeding and don’t obey the four-point stop.

A red car was crushed. A Land Rover flipped upside down. An engine was on the side of the road.

The crash damaged a fence near a pool where four girls were playing. The girls weren’t injured.

Surveillance video shows fire rescue personnel at work for hours after the crash.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation on Wednesday afternoon, and authorities had yet to identify the person who died.

But this wasn't a small-town mayor assuring a few dozen community members at a town hall that municipal improvement efforts would be completed in time for Little League season.

This was President Donald Trump — channeling his decades as a high-profile real estate developer — regaling his assembled Cabinet and a nationally televised audience on Wednesday with the ins and outs of beautification projects around Washington.

“I love construction. It's very exciting,” Trump said, maintaining that the face-lift he's helped oversee to the nation's capital means “D.C. is looking beautiful.”

His aside lasted 10 minutes and was far more comprehensive than anything said about the other major issues discussed during the meeting, including the war in Iran. There were also only passing references to gas prices nationwide that have spiked and fears about a weakening economy that could hurt Trump's Republican Party in its push to retain control of Congress after November's midterm elections.

He offered new details of his construction plans, suggesting for the first time that they'd extend to the fountain at the World War II Memorial.

The president also said that, under his watch, construction crews were working to improve 28 fountains, then bragged about a push to renovate the “reflecting lake” or “reflecting pond” — actually the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — which he said had been steam-cleaned, fumigated and coated with “American flag blue” paint.

“Over the years, I built hundreds of pools,” Trump said, recalling his days as a construction mogul in 1970s and '80s New York. “I always like to build Olympic-sized swimming pools.”

The president noted that, as part of the revamp, cleaning crews had removed “more than 10 dumpsters of garbage.”

“Every corner had massive amounts,” he said, before offering, “I guess that’s the way the tide goes” — even though no tide flows into the pool.

Trump said the idea was to complete the project by Independence Day and it was mostly on track, except that recent rains in Washington had presented delays.

But the most detail came when the president turned to power-washing.

Workers “sandblasted it, and then we pebble-blasted,” Trump said, explaining it as “a bigger version of sand.”

He said that, to guard against leaks, crews were using “a very sophisticated form of rubber.”

The president also said he'd been responsible for a rebuild of the park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

“I made a contribution to redoing Lafayette Park. That’s the entrance to the White House. And it was an embarrassment that floors were broken,” Trump said, meaning the park's brick walkways.

Through it all, most Cabinet members listened intently with little emotion, except Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — already known for conspicuously laughing loudest at such meetings — who nodded frequently and enthusiastically along this time. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also offered comments about some of the renovation projects when prompted.

Before turning his attention to city improvements, the president opened the meeting by saying only a few select Cabinet members would be allowed to speak in hopes of moving things along more quickly.

“Everybody around here has got a lot to say. But we did that once, and it lasted for like four or five hours. It was a little much,” Trump said.

That was an exaggeration, though his past Cabinet meetings have indeed featured lengthy comments — often highly laudatory of Trump — from top officials. One such meeting last summer pushed the public portion past the three-hour mark.

In the end, Trump's construction update took up about one-eighth of an 80-minute meeting. It was up to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to help get things back on track and steered toward Iran. “I think, actually, your efforts on the reflecting pool are actually a great segue,” Hegseth offered.

“If you look at Washington and Lincoln, these are two men that faced monumental tasks and stood up in historic fashion and delivered for the American people,” the defense secretary said. “And, when you step back and look at 47 years of what Iran waged — war against us and our people — there’s only one man, over the course of both presidencies, who has stood up and said they will never get a nuclear weapon.”

Roselaine Jean-Pierre, 67, was among two dozen people who gathered at an intersection in Cite Soleil holding tree branches and demanding that police intervene in the area, even as gunshots were ringing nearby.

“I did not do anything to deserve this,” said Jean-Pierre, who fled her home on Sunday, and is now sleeping in the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Some of the protesters said they saw people getting killed over the weekend in Cite Soleil, where burned cars and dead cows could also be observed. Haitian authorities have not released any information on casualties.

“I know of seven people that have been killed and also people that have been shot,” said Michel-Ange Toussaint, who had returned briefly to her home in Cite Soleil to gather some clothes.

She said the attacks on civilians began Sunday around 6 p.m., prompting many people to flee the area in search of safety. “It is our good feet that saved us,” Toussaint said.

Gangs have overtaken Port-au-Prince since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his home. Police say they control about 70% of the capital — down from 90% — and have expanded their activities — including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape — into the countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.

In a statement released Monday, the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders announced the evacuation of its hospital in Cite Soleil following the intense clashes Sunday.

The Centre Hospitalier de Fontaine, another hospital that operates in Cite Soleil, said on Tuesday that it had also suspended operations due to the outbreak of violence that began Sunday, and had to evacuate all of its hospitalized patients, including 11 newborns.

In April, the first foreign troops linked to a U.N. force arrived in Haiti to help quell ongoing violence.

The U.N. Security Council in late September approved a plan to authorize a 5,550-member force, which has not fully arrived in the island nation. An unknown number of troops from Chad have so far been deployed.

A report published earlier this year by the International Organization for Migration found that gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people in Haiti, with approximately 200,000 of them now living in crowded and underfunded sites in the nation’s capital.

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This story was first published on May. 12, 2026. It was updated on May. 27, 2026 to correct the spelling of Jovenel Moïse

___

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

El streamer, cuyo nombre real es Nurideen Shabazz, fue detenido alrededor de las 4 a.m. después de que agentes respondieran a una llamada relacionada con una mujer que dijo haber sido pateada fuera de un yate cerca de la cuadra 200 de North Shore Drive.

Según la policía, los agentes llegaron poco antes de las 2 a.m. y se reunieron con la mujer, quien les dijo que Shabazz, de 25 años, la había pateado fuera del yate después de que otros hombres intentaran hablar con ella.

La policía indicó que la mujer les dijo que Shabazz le advirtió que no “entretuviera a nadie más que a él”.

El informe señala que, después de que la mujer salió del yate, Shabazz intentó quitarle el teléfono para evitar que grabara la interacción.

Los agentes dijeron que él la agarró por el antebrazo, pero no logró quitarle el dispositivo. La policía indicó que el encuentro dejó un pequeño rasguño en el antebrazo izquierdo de la víctima.

Luego, la mujer llamó a la policía.

Según el informe, los investigadores revisaron posteriormente imágenes de vigilancia proporcionadas por el propietario de la propiedad, quien dijo a los agentes que había permitido que Shabazz usara el yate prestado.

La policía indicó que el video mostraba a Shabazz gritando para que alguien tomara el teléfono de la víctima y se asegurara de que no lo estuviera grabando. Los agentes escribieron que las imágenes parecían mostrar a Shabazz intentando repetidamente quitarle el teléfono, lo que provocó un forcejeo mientras la víctima trataba de alejarse.

Según el informe, las imágenes mostraban a la víctima “encogiendo su cuerpo en el piso” para evitar que Shabazz le quitara el teléfono.

La policía indicó que finalmente logró alejarse de Shabazz alrededor de la 1:55 a.m. y luego llamó al 911.

Posteriormente, los agentes supieron que el yate regresaba al muelle. Cuando llegó, la policía detuvo a Shabazz para interrogarlo.

Según el informe, después de que le leyeran sus derechos Miranda, Shabazz, residente de Temple Terrace, Florida, dijo a los agentes que creía que la víctima tenía su teléfono. La policía indicó que su declaración contradijo lo que los agentes observaron en las imágenes de video.

Shabazz finalmente fue arrestado por un cargo de intento de robo por la fuerza y fue trasladado al Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Hasta la tarde del miércoles, permanecía detenido en TGK con una fianza de $2,500 USD.

U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Manhattan Democrat, said after touring Delaney Hall in Newark that detainees were refusing to eat over what he described as “inhumane” conditions.

“We will shut this center down. We will shut it down,” he vowed after the roughly hourlong visit.

U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman, also Manhattan Democrats, later spoke with protesters and family members of detainees demonstrating outside the facility’s security gate.

“We want to make sure the conditions here are going to be dealt with,” said Goldman, shortly before the two lawmakers entered the facility.

More than 50 people held signs saying “Stop Family Separation” and chanted “Free Them All” and other slogans.

Some shouted directly at the armed and helmet-wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers standing outside, calling them “cowards” and “idiots.”

The protests began Friday and have been tense at times.

On Monday, U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, said he was pepper-sprayed as he and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill led a delegation of Democratic officials who tried to visit detainees but were denied entry.

“Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire,” Kim posted on social media after Monday’s clashes. “Civilians were tackled and restrained, and agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd.”

Gabriela Soto said Wednesday that her husband was among the detainees who participated in the hunger strike before he was transferred to another facility.

“At first it was just 300. Then it became a little bit more. Now, every single detainee inside there is participating. Every single one,” she said, wearing a black shirt that said “Abolish ICE.”

Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said his organization has heard “horror stories” of detainees, including pregnant women, not getting the proper medical treatment for their health conditions.

“Cruelty is the point,” he said.

ICE representatives have not responded to an email seeking comment Wednesday, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, has denied any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside the center and dismissed the criticisms as political posturing.

“The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Wednesday of detainees at Delaney Hall. “This isn’t Holiday Inn.”

President Donald Trump also defended the detention center.

“We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world — of their type — but we have some horrible killers,” he said Wednesday.

Located along an industrial stretch of Newark Bay and run by a private prison company, Delaney Hall has been a frequent flashpoint of protests and clashes between immigrant rights advocates and immigration enforcement officials.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, were among those arrested during protests when the 1,000-bed facility opened last May.

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Marcelo reported from New York. Associated Press photographer Seth Wenig in Newark contributed to this story.

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The streamer, whose real name is Nurideen Shabazz, was taken into custody around 4 a.m. after officers responded to a call involving a woman who said she had been kicked off a yacht near the 200 block of North Shore Drive.

According to police, officers arrived shortly before 2 a.m. and met with the woman, who told officers she had been kicked off the yacht by Shabazz, 25, after other men attempted to speak with her.

Police said the woman told them Shabazz warned her against “entertaining anyone else but him.”

The report states that after the woman exited the yacht, Shabazz attempted to take her phone to prevent her from recording their interaction.

Officers said he grabbed her by the forearm but was unsuccessful in taking the device. Police noted that the encounter left a minor scratch on the victim’s left forearm.

The woman then called police.

According to the report, investigators later reviewed surveillance footage provided by the property owner, who told officers he had allowed Shabazz to borrow the yacht.

Police said the video showed Shabazz yelling for someone to grab the victim’s phone and make sure she wasn’t recording him. Officers wrote that the footage appeared to show Shabazz repeatedly attempting to take the phone, leading to a struggle as the victim tried to pull away.

According to the report, the footage showed the victim “cradling her body to the floor” to prevent Shabazz from taking her phone.

Police said she eventually got away from Shabazz at about 1:55 a.m. and then called 911.

Officers later learned the yacht was returning to the dock. When it arrived, police detained Shabazz for questioning.

According to the report, after being read his Miranda rights, Shabazz, of Temple Terrace, Florida, told officers he believed the victim had his phone. Police said his statement contradicted what officers observed in the video footage.

Shabazz was ultimately arrested on a charge of attempted strongarm robbery and was transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

As of Wednesday afternoon, he was being held at TGK on a $2,500 bond.

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Rubio said the Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., or GAESA, a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, controls 70% of the island’s economy.

Rubio said none of GAESA’s profits help the Cuban people, and this is a problem for the U.S., because having a failed state 90 miles away from U.S. shores is a threat to national security.

“Cuba is in a lot of trouble because, unfortunately for them, it’s run by a bunch of incompetent communists,” Rubio said. “Being a communist is bad, being an incompetent communist is like the worst.”

Rubio said the U.S. is continuing talks with Cuban officials. He did not mention the recent U.S. indictment of Raúl Castro over the fatal 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes.

In Venezuela, Rubio said, the process of “stabilization, recovery, and transition” was ongoing. He estimated that over 10 million barrels of oil had been delivered to the U.S. since Jan. 3.

Rubio added that Venezuela was selling oil at market rates, and “the money” was deposited into an account based in the U.S. that was audited by KPMG, and was controlled by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

“The money is not being stolen,” Rubio said. “It’s going to the benefit of the Venezuelan people.”

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Rubio dijo que el Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., o GAESA, un conglomerado empresarial operado por las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Cuba, controla el 70% de la economía de la isla.

Rubio afirmó que ninguna de las ganancias de GAESA beneficia al pueblo cubano, y que esto representa un problema para Estados Unidos, porque tener un estado fallido a 90 millas de las costas estadounidenses es una amenaza para la seguridad nacional.

“Cuba está en muchos problemas porque, desafortunadamente para ellos, está dirigida por un grupo de comunistas incompetentes”, dijo Rubio. “Ser comunista es malo, ser un comunista incompetente es como lo peor”.

Rubio dijo que Estados Unidos continúa las conversaciones con funcionarios cubanos. No mencionó la reciente acusación de Estados Unidos contra Raúl Castro por el derribo mortal en 1996 de dos aviones de Hermanos al Rescate.

En Venezuela, Rubio dijo que el proceso de “estabilización, recuperación y transición” seguía en marcha. Estimó que más de 10 millones de barriles de petróleo habían sido enviados a Estados Unidos desde el 3 de enero.

Rubio agregó que Venezuela estaba vendiendo petróleo a precios de mercado y que “el dinero” era depositado en una cuenta con sede en Estados Unidos auditada por KPMG y controlada por el Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos.

“El dinero no está siendo robado”, dijo Rubio. “Está beneficiando al pueblo venezolano”.

Historias relacionadas

• Análisis: Mientras la guerra con Irán posiblemente llega a su fin, ¿Cuba es la próxima?
• El senador Rick Scott y el representante Carlos Gimenez hablan sobre política hacia Cuba
• La estrategia de Trump hacia Cuba refleja su estrategia con Venezuela. Pero existen diferencias clave

Woodensky Pierre is a defensive midfielder who plays for Violette AC in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. An estimated 70% of that city is under siege by violent gangs.

The other 25 players on the World Cup squad play outside the country, coming from leagues in places like England, France, Portugal, Canada and the United States.

This year’s World Cup will be only the second for Haiti in its history — the country’s only other appearance on soccer’s biggest stage was in 1974.

Haitian soccer federation spokesman Thecieux Jeanty said all but one player on the 1974 World Cup team was living and playing in Haiti at that time.

The U.S. visas for Pierre and nearly a dozen other officials with the Haitian soccer federation have yet to come through as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump continues to expand travel restrictions from countries including Haiti.

Pierre continues to train at a field with synthetic grass in Pétion-Ville, an upscale area of Port-au-Prince, as he awaits his visa, “in hopes of being with his team as soon as possible,” Jeanty told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday.

“I hope he doesn’t have to live in (Haiti) after the World Cup,” Jeanty said. “It’s an opportunity to present himself to the world and await a contract.”

The team’s home stadium in Port-au-Prince — not far from the neighborhood where Pierre is from — was deemed too dangerous, forcing Haiti to play its “home” World Cup qualifiers in Curaçao.

Pierre is from Cite Soleil, a seaside slum that has endured violence and hunger for years and serves as a base for powerful gang leaders. Cite Soleil has seen multiple massacres and gang rapes, with violence recently displacing more than 5,300 people, according to the latest report from the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.

“It’s a source of pride for him,” Jeanty said of Pierre being able to play in the World Cup. “It’s satisfying for (soccer) officials and for the public, too. As you know, Haiti is in crisis.”

Pierre did not return messages seeking comment, and neither did the team’s coach.

Officials for Haiti’s squad arrived in Florida on Sunday, and players began training in Port St. Lucie on Tuesday. Three other players are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, Jeanty said.

There is still time to resolve Pierre’s situation. Haiti will play two World Cup warmup matches, first against New Zealand on Tuesday and then against Peru on June 5, in South Florida.

Haiti opens World Cup play on June 13 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, against Scotland, then plays five-time champion Brazil on June 19 in Philadelphia and Morocco on June 24 in Atlanta.

Jeanty said he first made contact with Pierre in 2022, when they traveled together to Honduras for a under-20 match.

“I saw him as a top-level player,” Jeanty said, adding that “everybody’s very happy” to have Pierre on the team.

“There is soccer in Haiti,” Jeanty said. “It’s a country that wants to live.”

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Instead of trying to copy symmetrical shapes from nature by building robots that look like people, dogs or insects, engineering professor Boyuan Chen and his team focused on uniformity in action, or what he calls “dynamic symmetry.”

The result was Argus. The roly-poly robot named after a mythological many-eyed giant has depth-sensing cameras attached to 20 telescoping legs that radiate from a central core. With no front, back, top or bottom, it can see and move in any direction instantly.

“Instead of measuring how your legs are arranged around a different part of your body, we’re measuring how fast you can move in any direction,” Chen said. “Who said, you know, if you have a robot to help us in a most effective way, it has to look like us?”

In experiments, Argus has navigated sandy beaches and forest undergrowth, rolling over obstacles and stabilizing itself after being pushed. It can climb between parallel brick walls by alternating bracing and thrusting motions with its legs. If one or more motor dies or a leg breaks, it continues to function.

“Watching Argus move is unlike watching any other robot we’ve worked with,” said Jiaxun Liu, a graduate student and co-author of a study about Argus published online Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics. “The first time we saw it navigate among trees and rough terrain, even under heavy collisions, we knew this was something different.”

As part of their work, researchers developed a new design principle called dynamic isotropy that rates robots on a scale of 0 to 1 based on how uniformly they can accelerate in every direction. Most robots in use today, including humanoids and drones, score below 0.6. Argus scores 0.91.

“When a robot can accelerate equally well in every direction, it stops needing to face the world in any particular way,” said Chen, who hopes the same principle could guide the development of search and rescue robots, underwater or aerial vehicles or robots with the ability to grip objects.

“Instead of building a robot hand that looks like a human hand … one idea is to think about having Argus be the hand itself, and it can manipulate objects in any direction,” he said. “The knowledge we can transfer to the rest of the world is much more deeper than building an existing robot or copying an existing species.”

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

A más de un mes del incidente que generó fricciones entre México y Washington y tensiones internas, Sheinbaum confirmó en su habitual conferencia diaria un número de agentes estadounidenses que es el doble del que habían reconocido las autoridades mexicanas inicialmente en Chihuahua.

Sin ofrecer detalles de la identidad de los agentes, las actividades que estaban cumpliendo en México o si pertenecían la Agencia Central de Inteligencia de Estados Unidos (CIA, por sus siglas en inglés) la mandataria dijo que a los dos agentes que sobrevivieron se les pidió abandonar el país porque “no tenían acreditación”.

Sheinbaum detalló que los cuatro agentes entraron a México “con pasaportes legales, diplomáticos, (y) como turistas”, pero que no cumplieron el protocolo de registro ante el gobierno mexicano, y agregó que a los dos agentes que “se les pidió que se registraran o abandonaran el país” optaron por salir.

La presencia de los funcionarios estadounidenses en México se conoció poco después de la muerte de dos de ellos en un accidente de tránsito que ocurrió el 19 de abril en las montañas del estado norteño de Chihuahua donde se había desmantelado un laboratorio clandestino de drogas sintéticas.

El incidente fue protestado por el gobierno de Sheinbaum, que se quejó a Estados Unidos de que no le informara de las actividades de sus agentes en territorio mexicano.

La CIA no hizo comentarios públicos sobre el caso.

Un funcionario de Estados Unidos y dos personas con conocimiento del accidente confirmaron en abril a The Associated Press la participación de la CIA. Todos ellos hablaron bajo condición de anonimato debido a que se trata de asuntos sensibles de inteligencia. La identidad de los dos estadounidenses como agentes de la CIA fue reportada primero por The Washington Post.

El hecho también ocasionó fricciones entre el Ejecutivo federal y la gobernadora opositora de Chihuahua, María Eugenia Campos, a quien la Fiscalía General de la República citó este miércoles para declarar sobre las actividades que realizaron los agentes estadounidenses en ese estado fronterizo.

De prosperar la investigación Campos y otros funcionarios de Chihuahua podrían ser enjuiciados por vulnerar las regulaciones sobre seguridad nacional.

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Detective Angel Rodriguez released a statement on Wednesday asking the public for help with finding Daphne S. Ellington.

Ellington was last seen at about 6 p.m. on May 10 walking in the area of Northwest 18 Avenue and 68 Street, according to a flyer that Rodriguez released.

Ellington has brown eyes, orange hair, weighs 110 pounds, and is 5-feet, 5-inches tall, and she was last seen wearing a short gray dress, according to the flyer.

Rodriguez asked anyone with information about Ellington’s whereabouts to call M-DSO Special Victims Bureau deputy K. Fernandez-Roblin at 305-715-3300 or 305-715-3249.

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases who wants to remain anonymous to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

El detective Angel Rodriguez emitió un comunicado el miércoles solicitando ayuda del público para encontrar a Daphne S. Ellington.

Ellington fue vista por última vez alrededor de las 6 p.m. del 10 de mayo caminando en el área de Northwest 18 Avenue y 68 Street, según un volante publicado por Rodriguez.

Ellington tiene ojos marrones, cabello anaranjado, pesa 110 libras, mide 5 pies y 5 pulgadas de altura, y fue vista por última vez usando un vestido corto gris, según el volante.

Rodriguez pidió a cualquier persona con información sobre el paradero de Ellington que llame a la agente K. Fernandez-Roblin, de la Oficina de Víctimas Especiales de la MDSO, al 305-715-3300 o al 305-715-3249.

Los detectives solicitaron a cualquier persona con información sobre este u otros casos y que desee permanecer en el anonimato que llame a Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

The trio of Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson, nicknamed Triple Espresso at the 2024 Olympics, were named on Tuesday to the U.S. training camp roster for a pair of June matches against the Brazilian national team in Brazil. The three have not played together since the gold medal match at the Paris Games.

Swanson was included on the U.S. roster for the first time since October 2024. She recently returned to her club team, the Chicago Stars, after taking time off for the birth of her daughter in November.

The 28-year-old Swanson has 38 goals in 103 appearances with the national team and scored the lone goal in the 1-0 victory over Brazil for the gold medal in Paris.

Wilson had returned to the national team in April after taking maternity leave last year for the birth of her daughter. She has 24 goals in 61 appearances for the United States.

“That front three haven’t been together since the Olympic gold medal match, that’s a long time, and we cannot waste a single minute," U.S. coach Emma Hayes said. “We absolutely have to put the very best players together with every opportunity that we have. But the circumstances are slightly different. We have Mal, who is coming back last, and yes, she is competing and contributing to Chicago, but like Soph last camp, it is so important to get them into the environment to reconnect with their teammates.”

The United States will play Brazil on June 6 in Sao Paulo and June 9 in Fortaleza.

Because the national team does not play many friendly matches away from the United States, the games in Brazil give the younger players an opportunity to experience travel routines.

Additionally, Brazil is hosting next year's Women's World Cup. The United States will attempt to qualify for the tournament starting in late November at the CONCACAF W Championship.

“This is another moment where we get to see how we cope with all of the environmental conditions that come with going to Brazil, whether that’s adapting to different cultures, different training facilities, different hotels, different experiences, fan experience, feeling like the away team, but with the pressure cooker of a top opponent. All of these things really, really matter," Hayes said.

Hayes named 26 players to the camp roster for the international window, with 23 players to be designated as available for each match.

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Goalkeepers: Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United)

Defenders: Tierna Davidson (Gotham), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash), Lilly Reale (Gotham), Tara Rudd (Washington Spirit), Emily Sonnett (Gotham), Gisele Thompson (Angel City), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave)

Midfielders: Croix Bethune (Kansas City Current), Lindsey Heaps (OL Lyonnes), Claire Hutton (Bay FC), Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage), Rose Lavelle (Gotham), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns), Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham), Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes)

Forwards: Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Ally Sentnor (Kansas City Current), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Stars), Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea), Sophia Wilson (Portland Thorns)

___

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

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Defense attorney Howard Srebnick argued Wednesday that the case should be dismissed or, alternatively, transferred, as a judge began considering multiple motions in the high-profile case.

Judge Marissa Tinkler Mendez is considering Pino’s request to move the case out of the county, dismiss the charges altogether and other motions as well.

Tinkler Mendez said the proceedings could take a couple of days and she may not issue all rulings from the bench, noting she could reserve some decisions for a later date.

Courtroom 41 was packed for Wednesday’s hearing, which drew family members of the victims as well as supporters of Pino.

The case stems from a Labor Day weekend boating crash in 2022, when Pino was operating a vessel carrying his wife, teenage daughter and several of her friends. Investigators said the boat struck a channel marker in waters near Boca Chita Key, throwing passengers into the water.

Seventeen-year-old Lucy Fernandez was killed, and her friend Kathy Puig suffered serious, permanent injuries. Investigators also reported finding dozens of empty alcohol containers on board, and said Pino was seen on video stating he had two beers that day.

The defense has maintained there is no evidence Pino was intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Attorneys also argue he was not speeding and was otherwise following boating rules, contending the incident was the result of a brief lapse in attention.

“There is nothing to indicate anything other than, at best for the state, George Pino had a momentary lapse. He was distracted by something. It was inattention for a moment in time, but it wasn’t some conscious, willful, intentional decision to put people at risk,” Srebnick said. “And that’s what the court, I believe, has to wrestle with.”

Pino faces charges of vessel homicide and manslaughter.

Tinkler Mendez is also considering motions to exclude statements Pino made after the crash, with the defense arguing he suffered a head injury and that his account should not be used at trial.

Attorneys are also seeking to move the case out of Miami-Dade County, citing concerns over pretrial publicity and jury bias.

The state, meanwhile, is seeking to question potential jurors about their exposure to the case and is considering allowing jurors to visit the vessel as part of the proceedings.

Jury selection could begin as early as next week.

El abogado defensor Howard Srebnick argumentó el miércoles que el caso debería ser desestimado o, alternativamente, transferido, mientras una jueza comenzó a considerar múltiples mociones en el caso de alto perfil.

La jueza Marissa Tinkler Mendez está considerando la solicitud de Pino para trasladar el caso fuera del condado, desestimar los cargos por completo y otras mociones adicionales.

Tinkler Mendez indicó que los procedimientos podrían tomar un par de días y que podría no emitir todas las decisiones desde el estrado, señalando que algunas resoluciones podrían reservarse para una fecha posterior.

La sala 41 estaba llena durante la audiencia del miércoles, que atrajo tanto a familiares de las víctimas como a simpatizantes de Pino.

El caso se deriva de un accidente marítimo ocurrido durante el fin de semana del Día del Trabajo en 2022, cuando Pino operaba una embarcación que transportaba a su esposa, su hija adolescente y varias amigas de ella. Los investigadores dijeron que la embarcación impactó una marca de canal en aguas cercanas a Boca Chita Key, lanzando a los pasajeros al agua.

Lucy Fernandez, de 17 años, murió y su amiga Kathy Puig sufrió lesiones graves y permanentes. Los investigadores también reportaron haber encontrado decenas de envases vacíos de alcohol a bordo y dijeron que Pino fue visto en video afirmando que había tomado dos cervezas ese día.

La defensa ha sostenido que no existe evidencia de que Pino estuviera intoxicado al momento del accidente.

Los abogados también argumentan que no iba a exceso de velocidad y que cumplía con las reglas de navegación, sosteniendo que el incidente fue resultado de un breve momento de distracción.

“No hay nada que indique otra cosa más que, en el mejor de los casos para el estado, George Pino tuvo un momento de distracción. Algo desvió su atención. Fue una falta de atención por un instante, pero no fue una decisión consciente, deliberada e intencional de poner a personas en riesgo”, dijo Srebnick. “Y eso es con lo que creo que la corte tiene que lidiar”.

Pino enfrenta cargos de homicidio marítimo y homicidio involuntario.

Tinkler Mendez también está considerando mociones para excluir declaraciones que Pino hizo después del accidente, con la defensa argumentando que sufrió una lesión en la cabeza y que su versión no debería ser utilizada en el juicio.

Los abogados también buscan trasladar el caso fuera del condado Miami-Dade, citando preocupaciones sobre la publicidad previa al juicio y posible parcialidad del jurado.

Mientras tanto, el estado busca interrogar a posibles jurados sobre su exposición al caso y está considerando permitir que los jurados visiten la embarcación como parte del proceso.

La selección del jurado podría comenzar tan pronto como la próxima semana.

Jacobs was arrested Tuesday in Brown County on allegations of strangulation and suffocation and other offenses over the weekend. His lawyers said he denies wrongdoing.

District Attorney David Lasee said it's too soon to make a formal charging decision.

“Our office has requested additional investigation, as there is reason to believe that additional evidence may exist that would impact whether criminal charges are appropriate, and what charges would be issued. ... The investigation remains open and is ongoing," Lasee said.

Jacobs' lawyers — David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and Clarence Duchac — said they're pleased that he's out of jail.

“We encourage everyone to keep an open mind while the matter is fully reviewed. We remain confident that, once all of the evidence is gathered and evaluated, it will confirm that no charges should be brought against Josh in the future,” they said.

Hobart/Lawrence Police Chief Michael Renkas said police responded to a complaint about Jacobs around 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Jacobs is the Packers’ top returning rusher after running for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2025. That followed a 2024 season in which he ran for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns while earning his third Pro Bowl selection.

The Packers, who started organized team activities this week, had issued a statement Tuesday saying that they were aware of the matter and that “as it is an ongoing legal situation, we will withhold further comment.”

“I know there’s going to be a lot of questions about Josh,” LaFleur said before the Packers' practice on Wednesday. “I’m going to stick with the statement that we put out as an organization and just let the process play out.”

LaFleur declined comment on his reaction to the arrest, how he addressed the matter with the team and whether the Packers had communicated at all with Jacobs over the past few days. He also was asked about whether he has to prepare for the possibility the Packers might have to play part of the season without Jacobs.

“I think a lot’s going to happen between now and then,” LaFleur said.

The Packers canceled a scheduled post-practice availability for reporters with players Wednesday.

Jacobs, 28, has rushed for 7,803 yards and 74 touchdowns in his seven-year career, which included five seasons with the Raiders. He earned All-Pro honors and had an NFL-leading 1,653 yards rushing with Las Vegas in 2022.

The only active players with more career touchdown runs are Baltimore’s Derrick Henry (122) and Buffalo’s Josh Allen (79).

Green Bay lacks proven running backs aside from Jacobs.

The Packers' second-leading rusher last season was Emanuel Wilson, who has since signed with the Seattle Seahawks. The Packers didn’t draft any running backs this year.

Green Bay's second-leading returning rusher is quarterback Jordan Love, who ran for 199 yards last season. The Packers did re-sign running back Chris Brooks, who rushed for 106 yards on 27 carries last season and ran for 183 yards and a touchdown on 36 attempts in 2024.

MarShawn Lloyd, a 2024 third-round pick from Southern California, didn’t play at all last year and appeared in only one game as a rookie because of injuries.

“I think he’s done everything he can in his power to put him in the best possible position," LaFleur said of Lloyd. "He’s just going to have to go out there and prove it.”

Other running backs on Green Bay’s roster include Damien Martinez, Pierre Strong and rookie undrafted free agent Jaden Nixon.

___

White reported from Detroit.

___

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

La gobernadora Jenniffer González indicó que la orden ejecutiva permitiría que su administración acelere proyectos para proteger los recursos naturales y a las comunidades costeras vulnerables. El gobierno señaló en un comunicado que el aumento del nivel del mar, las marejadas ciclónicas y otros factores han intensificado la erosión costera en Puerto Rico.

González se comprometió a ayudar a municipios del norte, entre ellos, Loiza, donde se ha evacuado a personas y han caído al océano trozos de asfalto de carreteras costeras tras fuertes oleajes.

La orden se firmó apenas unos días antes del inicio de la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico, que va del 1 de junio al 30 de noviembre.

Aún no se ha determinado el costo de los proyectos.

___

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

Jeffrey Donaldson, 63, former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, pleaded not guilty to one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assault charges involving two alleged victims between 1985 and 2008.

Prosecutor Rosemary Walsh told jurors in Newry Crown Court that the alleged victims complained to police more than two years ago about “difficult and traumatic incidents they say happened when they were children.”

Donaldson resigned as leader of the DUP and quit as a lawmaker in the U.K. Parliament, after he was arrested in March 2024.

Donaldson’s resignation shocked the DUP shortly after the party ended its boycott of Northern Ireland’s semiautonomous government and returned to a power-sharing agreement, after he won concessions on Britain’s post-Brexit trading arrangements with the European Union.

As leader of the DUP between 2021 and 2023, he was the most powerful figure in Northern Ireland’s unionist movement, which seeks to maintain the region’s historic ties to the United Kingdom.

The two alleged victims told police that Donaldson groped them when they were around primary school age, and the older of the two, referred to in court as Complainant B, said that the abuse continued for several years, Walsh said.

Years later, Complainant B said that a meeting was arranged through a church and Donaldson apologized “for what had happened in the past.”

When Donaldson was interviewed by police, he said that it was “unbelievable” that he would have touched her sexually.

His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, has denied charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offenses, but she's not in court because Judge Paul Ramsey ruled her unfit to stand trial for mental health reasons.

Jurors will decide her case on facts, but she can't be convicted of a crime or punished. The trial is expected to last up to a month.

Authorities justified the outage as a military imperative after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Their decision to lift some restrictions this week came as negotiators appeared to be closing in on a more permanent truce. But many Iranians feared access could be cut off again at a moment's notice.

Internet tracking company Netblocks said Iran’s connectivity, which measures the ability of devices to connect to the internet, is at around 86% of capacity from before the cutoff. Internet analysis firm Kentik said internet traffic, which measures the amount of data transferred and is a good illustration of usage, was at around 40%.

Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity analyst, said there were still widespread disruptions. “It's too early to say the shutdown is over,” he wrote on X.

An unprecedented shutdown

Iran’s roughly 90 million people have been cut off from the internet for most of 2026, one of the world’s longest and strictest national shutdowns. Young people with online careers saw their incomes evaporate. Job losses and the closure of online businesses added to the war's steep economic costs.

The cutoff made it difficult for Iranian families to communicate through months of unrest and war. At some points, phone lines were also cut off, though they were later restored.

A woman living in Tehran said that for months she was barely able to speak to her sons living abroad. She couldn't believe authorities had restored access, saying she had assumed they would find some justification to prolong the outage.

A taxi driver, said service was restored but weak. He expressed hope it would improve so he could use messaging apps with family and friends. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Prices spiked during the shutdown, with residents in Tehran at times paying around $7.50 per gigabyte. Prices are back down to around $2.25 for 30 gigabytes, roughly where they were before the protests.

Even then, Iran tightly controlled access to popular social media sites, leading many to rely on virtual private networks, or VPNs. The cost of those workarounds soared during the shutdown, making them unaffordable for many as the economy was battered.

A slow return to service

Businesses have started reappearing online, announcing their return with posts on sites like Instagram and Telegram.

A gamer and tech influencer in the central city of Isfahan said the shutdown had caused him to lose a lot of his audience on YouTube and Instagram, where he had spent years building up a large following.

“All my views and interactions are way down. I’ve been erased from the algorithm,” he said in a voice note sent by WhatsApp, adding that his internet connection was still slower than before the shutdown.

“The situation is such that many content producers have had their income reduced to zero, have moved on to other jobs, or have been forced to sell their equipment to survive,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Iran claimed the shutdown was a wartime necessity

Iranian authorities first shut down the internet in January during mass anti-government protests that were eventually stamped out in a violent crackdown. Thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands detained.

That cutoff was just starting to ease when the government imposed a complete internet blackout after the start of the war, when U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader and other top officials.

The government faced criticism for the prolonged shutdown, which caused even more harm to an economy devastated by inflation, strikes on key industries and a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports.

The internet cutoff cost an estimated $30-40 million daily, with indirect losses likely twice that much, a member of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Afshin Kolahi, told a local newspaper last month. About 10 million people have jobs that depend on internet connectivity, according to Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi.

Iranians still had access to a national net, but that has a far narrower reach, and users complained of poor service and heavy censorship. Senior government officials are given SIM cards granting them access to the global internet. Under pressure, the government expanded access to the SIM cards to some professions during the shutdown.

The warning — which fell on the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha — came a day after Israeli troops clashed with the Iran-backed Hezbollah along a strategic river in southern Lebanon, with Israeli forces pushing farther north, days ahead of talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli delegations.

Wednesday's warning is the first that orders the Lebanese to relocate from the south since a ceasefire went into effect on April 17 and follows an escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israeli troops have crossed the Litani River, edging closer to the southern city of Nabatiyeh. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has also intensified in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqieh, along the strategic river. Israel has not struck Beirut or areas near the capital since the truce started.

The war started on March 2 after Hezbollah fired rockets towards northern Israel in solidarity with Iran. Over one million people in Lebanon have since been displaced, and over 3,200 people killed in Israeli strikes according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Many displaced people are sleeping in public schools that have turned into makeshift shelters or in tents pitched in encampments across the Lebanese capital.

Earlier, the Israeli military had called on the residents of Nabatiyeh and the city of Tyre along the Mediterranean coast to leave and stay away, saying there were Hezbollah members and military posts there.

Roads have been jam-packed with cars fleeing Tyre and surrounding neighborhoods heading north, seeking shelter. Strikes in the southwestern region have intensified in recent days.

Those who have nowhere to go are staying in the city, said Moussa Nasrallah of Lebanon's Civil Defense. He and other first-responders have been helping move the elderly and others living further out in the province to the city.

At least four Israeli strikes hit near Tyre since the warning was announced, Nasrallah said. The Israeli military said it has been targeting what it called “command centers” belonging to Hezbollah without giving further details.

“We can’t use our vehicles to evacuate people out of the area and not be available for the wounded,” Nasrallah told The Associated Press, fearing his colleagues would be stuck in the traffic, and unable to return to the front lines to help civilians.

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for several attacks on both Israeli troops in Lebanon and northern Israeli border villages.

Also, amid a surge in Hezbollah attacks with exploding drones, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Israeli military will expand the scope of its attacks against Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it has struck 550 targets since the beginning of the week, a significant increase in the number of attacks.

Hezbollah has vowed to fight until the war ends in Lebanon and Israel withdraws its troops that operate across large swaths of the country's south. The Iran-backed group has dismissed Lebanon's direct talks with Israel and has backed Iran's talks with Washington to their war. Among Tehran's conditions is ending the war in Lebanon as well.

Israel's widened attacks in recent days have struck areas in eastern Lebanon along the Bekaa Valley, near the border with Syria. On Tuesday, Israel struck near the Qaraoun Dam, Lebanon's largest, on the Litani River.

“It's all so funny,” she says. “When I tell them I run the trade association for independent stores, they'll say, 'It's just so sad that they're disappearing.' I don't think they're really keeping track, or they just know about a store that closed or heard about one closing.”

The decline of physical bookstores remains so embedded in popular culture that the man dating Anne Hathaway's character in “ The Devil Wears Prada 2 ” laments that bookstores are “getting downsized and consolidated.” But the decline actually ended years ago, and the latest numbers from the American Booksellers Association show independent stores expanding at a pace not seen this century.

Membership in the ABA grew by more than 500 over the past year, to a total of 3,417 (at 3,783 locations), nearly triple what it was a decade ago and the highest level since the late 1990s. The surge included stores of various kinds — general interest shops like Hey Books! in San Diego; mobile stores like the Wandering Quills Bookshop in Westerville, Ohio; pop-up stores like Banyan Books in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Many of the new members reflect the current boom in romance, fantasy and their hybrid, romantasy, whether the Spicy Librarian in Denver or the Flutter Romance Bookstore in Austin, Texas: “Where butterflies begin. And every story ends in happily-ever-after,” according to its web site.

Both a business and a calling

Independent bookselling, rarely a way to get rich, is a meeting ground for idealists — for young people with a sense of mission, retirees embarking on a new life or middle-aged people no longer satisfied with their careers. “I think people want to realign their lives with their values,” Hill says.

In Wentzville, Missouri, 55-year-old Kelley Hartnett is a marketing consultant and copywriter who had always wanted to run a bookstore. Her husband's concerns included competing against Amazon, but Hartnett went ahead and opened Double Dog Bookshop in 2025 as a mobile store. She rode about the area in a converted cargo trailer, joined by two Australian Cattle Dog mutts, and has since opened a storefront downtown.

“For me, Double Dog is about maybe 50% books and 50% community,” says Hartnett, who hopes to find a larger space that would make it easier for customers to gather and “just be.”

“People are craving connection, especially in-person connection,” she said. “People are over the internet and virtual meetings and algorithms. They're not the same as having a human to human connection. It feels really healing.”

Hill can joke about the mistaken elegies for bookselling, while expressing concern that the state of independent stores is healthy but “precarious.” Costs are high, and schools and libraries face budget cuts that limit their purchases from local stores.

Is there room for indies and giants?

Independent owners also find themselves worrying about a onetime competitor which itself had seemed endangered, Barnes & Noble.

The superstore chain was the dominant seller in the 1980s and 1990s, and was widely seen as the leading cause for hundreds — maybe thousands — of independent stores shutting down. But by the 2010s, Barnes & Noble had been surpassed by Amazon. It began shutting down stores instead of opening new ones and struggled for years to find a new owner before the hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. bought it in 2019.

Under the leadership of CEO James Daunt, Barnes & Noble is expanding again, adding more than 100 stores over the past two years. In Chicago, the owner of the decade-old Volume Books has blamed a new Barnes & Noble for putting her out of business, while Hill added that “even a small decrease in sales can make or break a bookstore’s year in an industry with paper-thin margins.”

Daunt denies any intent to take business from independent sellers, saying it's not in his “DNA.”

“I'm an independent seller myself,” he says, noting that he founded Daunt Books in London. Daunt says he has customers who shop at his store and the British chain Waterstones (where he's also managing director). “I never thought of the market as finite.”

The owners of The Book Loft Oak Park, another Chicago-area store that opened last summer, acknowledge some nerves about a nearby Barnes & Noble coming soon. But Heather Nelson and Sophie Schauer Eldred hope the stores ultimately compliment each other.

“We’re hoping people whose curiosity is piqued by the new Barnes and Noble will walk down the street,” Schauer Eldred said, “and pop into our bookstore.”

Judge Pamela K. Chen accepted the explanation provided by U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. about why the government wanted to dismiss the indictment against Hernan Lopez.

A smiling Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, later left the Brooklyn federal courthouse, telling reporters he was relieved that “a case that never should have started is finally over.”

Nocella told Chen that the administration preferred to focus on domestic and foreign terrorist organizations, national security, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking and violent gangs.

The judge said Nocella's stated reason, along with an explanation in a written document submitted to the court, “does provide sufficient justification” to accept the request to dismiss the indictment.

Lopez and Full Play Group SA, a South American sports media company, were convicted in 2023 of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to nab broadcasting rights to the World Cup and other top soccer matches. But they were subsequently granted an acquittal by Chen.

An appeals court reinstated the convictions in July, but additional appeals followed and the fate of the prosecution had been uncertain.

Chen said during Wednesday’s hearing that she was not basing her decision to dismiss the indictment “in any way” on her prior decision granting the acquittal.

Prosecutors told the Supreme Court in December that the government has now determined that “dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” though they did not expand on their rationale.

Before ruling Wednesday, Chen asked the various parties to say how a broader decade-old corruption case related to TV rights for international soccer tournaments, including numerous convictions, would be affected by the indictment dismissal.

FIFA, soccer's governing body, said in a court filing two weeks ago that it agreed with the U.S. government that dismissing charges against Lopez and Full Play “would have no direct effect on the convictions of other defendants.”

FIFA said it has worked closely with the Department of Justice “in its efforts to root out corruption in football” and had taken disciplinary action, including lifetime bans to address misconduct the United States had unearthed.

The Justice Department told the judge in a March 12 letter that every other prosecution in the case had its own particular facts and circumstances.

In its filing, FIFA said the U.S. government had already turned over $201 million to FIFA and other organizations to disburse funds to support soccer-related projects with community impact worldwide.

Among projects FIFA cited were those establishing after-school soccer leagues in poor neighborhoods in Miami, the refurbished of community soccer fields in Ohio, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., the establishment of training programs for teachers and coaches in the Caribbean, and the hosting of children's soccer tournaments in South America.

Dos transeúntes inocentes murieron después de una balacera durante el tráfico congestionado de la hora pico el 5 de diciembre de 2019 en Miramar. Los tiradores eran dos delincuentes prófugos que también murieron, junto con 20 agentes del orden involucrados.

Los investigadores determinaron que una bala disparada por Mirabal impactó a Rick Cutshaw, quien se encontraba en su automóvil sobre Miramar Parkway cuando murió mientras regresaba a casa después del trabajo, muestran los registros. Tenía 70 años.

Según los investigadores, cinco balas disparadas por Mirabal y los agentes de la MDSO Jose Mateo, Richard Santiesteban y Leslie Lee impactaron a Frank Ordonez, un padre de 27 años que trabajaba como conductor de UPS cuando los delincuentes lo tomaron como rehén.

En 2024, un gran jurado del condado Broward emitió acusaciones contra Mirabal por dos cargos de homicidio involuntario con arma de fuego, y contra Mateo, Santiesteban y Lee por un cargo cada uno de homicidio involuntario con arma de fuego.

En 2025, el juez de circuito del condado Broward, Ernest Kollra, determinó que Mateo estaba “justificado” en el uso de fuerza letal y respaldó la aplicación de inmunidad bajo la ley “Stand Your Ground” de Florida.

La Fiscalía Estatal de Broward emitió un comunicado indicando que “la inmunidad de ‘Stand Your Ground’ no aplica en casos que involucran a transeúntes inocentes”.

En marzo, Kollra emitió el mismo fallo en los casos de Santiesteban, Lee y Mirabal.

En abril, los fiscales decidieron que las apelaciones en los casos de Mateo, Santiesteban y Lee “serían desestimadas voluntariamente” por la Oficina del Fiscal General del Estado, según la Fiscalía Estatal de Broward. La corte aprobó las desestimaciones.

La editora senior de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Frine Gomez, contribuyó a este informe.

Historias relacionadas

• Videos muestran cronología de balacera policial mortal que salió mal en Broward tras robo en Miami-Dade
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There were two innocent bystanders dead after a shootout during backed-up rush hour traffic on Dec. 5, 2019, in Miramar. The shooters were two felons on the run who also died, and 20 in law enforcement.

Investigators found that a bullet that Mirabal fired struck Rick Cutshaw, who was in his car on Miramar Parkway when he died on his way home after work, records show. He was 70.

Five bullets that Mirabal and M-DSO deputies Jose Mateo, Richard Santiesteban, and Leslie Lee fired struck Frank Ordonez, a 27-year-old father who was working as a UPS driver when the felons took him hostage, according to investigators.

In 2024, a Broward County grand jury issued indictments charging Mirabal on two counts of manslaughter with a firearm, and charging Mateo, Santiesteban, and Lee on one count each of manslaughter with a firearm.

In 2025, Broward County Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra ruled that Mateo was “justified” in using deadly force and supported the application of immunity under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office released a statement saying, “Stand Your Ground immunity does not apply in matters involving innocent bystanders.”

In March, Kollra issued the same ruling in the cases of Santiesteban, Lee, and Mirabal.

In April, prosecutors decided that the appeals in the cases of Mateo, Santiesteban, and Lee “would be voluntarily dismissed” by the State Attorney General’s Office, according to the Broward State Attorney’s Office. The court approved the dismissals.

Local 10 News Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.

Related stories

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• FLORIDA FILES PODCAST: Listen to episode 3 of police shootout gone wrong

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It took place at Chase Stadium located at 1350 NW 55th St. in Fort Lauderdale, beginning around 9 a.m. and lasting until the early afternoon.

According to officials, the drill simulated an emergency in which multiple victims were exposed to hazardous materials, specifically a dangerous chemical substance, following a drone attack.

Authorities said around two dozen volunteers were brought in to participate as simulated victims of the attack.

Agencies participating in the drill included Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, Hollywood Fire Rescue, Sunrise Fire Rescue, Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, Oakland Park Fire Rescue, Coconut Creek Fire Rescue and Tamarac Fire Rescue, per FLFR.

Officials made sure to stress that while there may be increased visibility of emergency vehicles in the area, there was no threat to the public at any time.

El ejercicio se llevó a cabo en el Chase Stadium, ubicado en el 1350 NW 55th St. en Fort Lauderdale, comenzando alrededor de las 9 a.m. y extendiéndose hasta primeras horas de la tarde.

Según las autoridades, el simulacro recreó una emergencia en la que múltiples víctimas fueron expuestas a materiales peligrosos, específicamente una sustancia química peligrosa, tras un ataque con drones.

Las autoridades informaron que alrededor de dos docenas de voluntarios participaron como víctimas simuladas del ataque.

Las agencias que participaron en el ejercicio incluyeron Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, el Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, Hollywood Fire Rescue, Sunrise Fire Rescue, Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, Oakland Park Fire Rescue, Coconut Creek Fire Rescue y Tamarac Fire Rescue, según FLFR.

Las autoridades se aseguraron de enfatizar que, aunque pudo haber una mayor presencia de vehículos de emergencia en el área, nunca existió una amenaza para el público.

La acusación presentada la semana pasada por el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos contra el líder de facto de Cuba, Raúl Castro, por su participación en el derribo de dos aviones de Hermanos al Rescate sobre aguas internacionales en 1996, ha elevado las expectativas en la comunidad cubanoamericana de que el fin del régimen cubano está cerca.

Castro cumple 95 años el próximo mes y no estoy seguro de quién lo reemplazará. La visita hace dos semanas del director de la CIA, John Ratcliffe, tenía la intención de enviar un mensaje claro al gobierno cubano de que Estados Unidos espera cambios pronto o enfrentarán consecuencias adicionales.

Una pregunta que todos se hacen es si Estados Unidos invadirá Cuba y forzará un cambio de régimen. Mis fuentes en Washington D.C. me dicen que todas las opciones están sobre la mesa.

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

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Hafley said Achane missed the final game of the 2025 season after having what he described as “something in his shoulder that he had to get cleaned up.”

He said Achane is “doing well” in his recovery and expects to take part in individual drills and running but not full team work.

Earlier this month, the Dolphins signed the Pro Bowl running back to a four-year extension worth $17 million per year with $32 million guaranteed.

The shoulder injury is not expected to keep him out long term.

Achane, 24, rushed for 1,350 yards and eight touchdowns on a league-leading 5.7 yards per carry last season while also catching 67 passes for 488 yards and eight touchdowns in 16 games.

Hafley also said offensive tackle Austin Jackson is continuing to work back from a foot injury, adding he is “on his way” to returning as a full-time practice participant.

Hafley said third-round wide rookie receiver Chris Bell, who is recovering from an ACL injury suffered last year with Louisville, is also working off to the side and will participate in limited fashion. He said he is not yet sure of a timetable for a full return.

Hafley dijo que Achane se perdió el último partido de la temporada 2025 después de someterse a lo que describió como “algo en el hombro que tuvieron que limpiar”.

Indicó que Achane “está bien” en su recuperación y espera que participe en ejercicios individuales y carreras, pero no en trabajo completo con el equipo.

A principios de este mes, los Dolphins firmaron al corredor Pro Bowl con una extensión de cuatro años valorada en $17 millones USD por año con $32 millones USD garantizados.

No se espera que la lesión de hombro lo mantenga fuera a largo plazo.

Achane, de 24 años, corrió para 1,350 yardas y ocho touchdowns con un promedio líder en la liga de 5.7 yardas por acarreo la temporada pasada, además de atrapar 67 pases para 488 yardas y ocho touchdowns en 16 partidos.

Hafley también indicó que el tackle ofensivo Austin Jackson continúa trabajando en su recuperación de una lesión en el pie, agregando que “va en camino” de regresar como participante de tiempo completo en las prácticas.

Hafley dijo que el receptor novato de tercera ronda Chris Bell, quien se recupera de una lesión de ligamento cruzado anterior sufrida el año pasado con Louisville, también está trabajando por separado y participará de manera limitada. Agregó que aún no está seguro del tiempo estimado para su regreso completo.

Because climate change from the burning of fossil fuels should make more high-energy unstable air, which is conducive to hail forming, global storms pelting roofs, cars and the ground with hail bigger than a large marble will increase between 38% and 47% by the end of the century, depending on how much heat-trapping gas the world spews, a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature said. And storms that produce smaller hail will shrink by 4% to 8%, researchers found.

Hail generally doesn’t kill people, but it is expensive. It already costs the U.S. about $10 billion a year and around $80 billion globally, said study co-author John Allen, a meteorology professor at Central Michigan University.

Hail does more damage than tornadoes and generally costs “more than a couple hurricanes a year now,” Allen said in the morning from Guymon, Oklahoma, before he ventured out with scientists who drive into the heart of hail storms to figure out what makes them tick. “We’ve seen record hailstones in recent years. I find this extremely concerning because we’re not really building our environment to be resilient to hail. We don’t include this in our design standards, for example, for built homes in the U.S. or indeed internationally.”

Allen’s computer simulations show the mix of larger stones will grow with climate change. Those are the ones that cause more damage, he and outside scientists said.

Bigger stones mean bigger problems

Bigger stones weigh more and fall through the air faster to hit with more power.

While small hail can damage crops, large hail of around 2 inches (5 centimeters) “can cause major damage to vehicles, roofs, solar panels, and other infrastructure,” said Andreas Prein, a climate scientist at ETH Zurich, who wasn’t part of the study.

One hole on a roof from a single hailstone can be patched, but many large stones hitting that roof usually means an expensive roof replacement, Allen said.

What happens is there’s more water vapor in a warmer atmosphere — nearly 4% more per degree Fahrenheit (7% per degree Celsius) — and “that increases the available energy to the atmosphere and so we tend to get end up with stronger updrafts,” Allen said. “And that leads to more thunderstorms with updrafts capable of producing hail.”

But with warmer air, there’s less cold as high up for smaller hailstones and they tend to melt more, where bigger ones don’t, Allen said.

Previous studies have mostly focused on hail in the United States — which has the most hail — and didn’t do the three-dimensional modeling of hail formation that the new study has done with lead authors out of China, Allen said. Other studies have looked at potential increase in frequency instead of size.

Hail is a global problem

Argentina, Europe, Canada and the U.S. Northern Plains will likely see the biggest increase in larger hail, while parts of the tropics should see a reduction because of smaller stones melting, Allen said.

“Hail is not just a U.S. problem,” Allen said. “Yes, we do see large losses here, but the global hail losses seem to be something that is really spiraling in recent years.”

Study authors looked at hail bigger and smaller than 1.2 inches (30 millimeters) in diameter, which is somewhere between a marble and golf ball, and about the size of a U.S. 50-cent coin. The team looked at three scenarios based on carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas. In a slightly optimistic scenario of not so much carbon pollution, larger hail increases by 38%. In a more pessimistic scenario, where temperatures rise nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) even warmer than the other scenario, larger hail jumps by 47%.

“This is a meaningful climate signal,” said Walker Ashley, a Northern Illinois meteorology professor who wasn’t part of the study. “But disaster losses are not driven by the peril alone.”

As more people, more houses, more solar farms and more infrastructure move into areas prone to hail, the risk and damage increases, Ashley said. He added: “Climate change may be increasing the potential for larger, more damaging hail in some regions, but the future loss signal will also depend heavily on where people build, what they build, how resilient those structures are, and how land use changes.”

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Según la policía de Miami Beach, el incidente ocurrió alrededor de la 1:10 a.m.

La policía indicó que el sospechoso recibió un disparo y fue trasladado al Ryder Trauma Center del Hospital Jackson Memorial en condición crítica.

El policía no resultó herido.

La policía no confirmó de inmediato quién le disparó al sospechoso.

El Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida (FDLE) está investigando.

Vea Local 10 News o actualice esta página para más información.

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Last week’s indictment of Cuba’s de facto leader Raúl Castro by the U.S. Department of Justice for his participation in the downing of two Brothers to the Rescue planes over international waters in 1996 have raised expectations in the Cuban-American community that the end to Cuba’s regime is close.

Castro turns 95 years old next month and I am not certain who will replace him. The visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe two weeks ago was intended to give a clear message to the Cuban government that the U.S. expects changes soon or they will face additional consequences.

One question that everyone is asking is whether the U.S. will invade Cuba and force regime change. My sources in Washington, D.C. tell me that all options are on the table.

Dr. Andy S. Gomez is Local 10’s Cuba Analyst. Gomez is considered one of the leading scholars on Cuba. He worked in higher education for 32 years before retiring from the University of Miami in 2012.

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According to Miami Beach police, the incident occurred at about 1:10 a.m.

Cellphone video captured the crime scene at South Pointe Park after the incident.

Miami Beach police and crime scene detectives were seen focusing on a bench along the main walkway after the shooting.

Hours later, after investigators cleared the area, Local 10’s cameras captured blood stains left behind on the bench -- a visible reminder of the violence that unfolded here.

“I am pretty stunned because it is a very nice park and nice people walking around here with their kids and dogs -- a really friendly neighborhood,” park visitor Ann Wessung said.

Police said the off-duty cop was the victim of some sort of incident involving another person.

That’s when the deputy fired his gun, hitting the other person, authorities said.

“Well, I mean, self-defense is self-defense. I guess he knows how to handle a weapon,” park visitor Ole Wessung said.

Police confirmed that the suspect was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition.

The deputy was not injured.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed it is investigating the “deputy’s use of force” at the request of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

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Speaking in Tampa, DeSantis said he will issue a proclamation for a special session beginning Monday. The goal, he said, is to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

The governor’s proposal would initially raise the homestead exemption to $250,000. DeSantis said that would eliminate property taxes for about 60% of Florida homeowners with homesteaded property.

The proposal would also require the Legislature to create a schedule to eventually eliminate homestead property taxes altogether. DeSantis said increasing the exemption to $500,000 would make about 92% of homesteaded Florida homeowners property tax-free.

“The primary purpose of that is to make your homestead property tax free,” DeSantis said.

The plan would need approval from 60% of the House and Senate to reach the ballot. If lawmakers approve it, 60% of voters would then need to support the measure in November for it to become part of the state constitution.

The proposal also includes several guardrails. DeSantis said remaining local property tax revenue from commercial and non-homestead residential property would be limited to core services such as schools, police and fire services. The plan would also cut the annual assessment growth cap for small businesses from 10% to 5%.

Another provision would allow the state to require new Florida residents to wait up to five years before qualifying for the full property tax benefit. DeSantis said that is intended to prevent the measure from creating a new incentive for people to move to Florida just to avoid property taxes.

The governor also said he would also seek a state trust fund to provide grants to local governments for core services, including in rural areas that may have a smaller tax base.

It’s unclear if enough members in the House and Senate will support the measure. The upper chamber has been leery of cutting too broadly, potentially harming revenue in rural parts of the state. The House approved its own homestead exemption earlier this year. While it preserved funding for schools, it eliminated the taxes immediately rather than through a gradual phase out.

Democrats have already raised concerns about the idea. House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell said Tuesday she had not seen consensus around a specific proposal, but warned that even modest property tax cuts could have serious effects on local governments.

“In conversations with the local governments that I serve, I’m hearing that any cut, even though it might seem small in the grand scheme of things, could be devastating,” Driskell said.

She also argued that the state should be focused on property insurance instead, saying that is what residents raise most often at town halls.

“What they want to talk about is property insurance rates and how high they are,” Driskell said.

Driskell said property taxes help pay for law enforcement, first responders, libraries and other local services. She warned that reducing those revenues could shift costs elsewhere or leave some counties dependent on state support.

DeSantis rejected the idea that the state should raise other taxes to offset the proposal, saying Florida already has a strong budget position and should use available state resources to help make property tax relief work.

The special session is expected to begin Monday. Lawmakers would have to move quickly to finalize ballot language in time for voters to consider the measure in November.

Durante una intervención en Tampa, DeSantis dijo que emitirá una proclamación para una sesión especial que comenzará el lunes. El objetivo, indicó, es colocar una propuesta de enmienda constitucional en la boleta de noviembre.

La propuesta del gobernador inicialmente elevaría la exención de vivienda principal a $250,000 USD. DeSantis dijo que eso eliminaría los impuestos a la propiedad para aproximadamente el 60% de los propietarios de viviendas en Florida con propiedad bajo exención de residencia principal.

La propuesta también requeriría que la Legislatura cree un cronograma para eventualmente eliminar por completo los impuestos a la propiedad sobre viviendas principales. DeSantis dijo que aumentar la exención a $500,000 USD haría que aproximadamente el 92% de los propietarios de viviendas principales en Florida queden libres de impuestos a la propiedad.

“El propósito principal de eso es hacer que su vivienda principal quede libre de impuestos a la propiedad”, dijo DeSantis.

El plan necesitaría la aprobación del 60% de la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado para llegar a la boleta. Si los legisladores lo aprueban, entonces el 60% de los votantes tendría que respaldar la medida en noviembre para que pase a formar parte de la constitución estatal.

La propuesta también incluye varias salvaguardas. DeSantis dijo que los ingresos restantes de impuestos locales a la propiedad provenientes de propiedades comerciales y residenciales que no sean viviendas principales estarían limitados a servicios esenciales como escuelas, policía y bomberos. El plan también reduciría el límite anual de crecimiento de tasaciones para pequeños negocios del 10% al 5%.

Otra disposición permitiría al estado exigir que nuevos residentes de Florida esperen hasta cinco años antes de calificar para el beneficio completo del impuesto a la propiedad. DeSantis dijo que eso busca evitar que la medida cree un nuevo incentivo para que personas se muden a Florida solo para evitar impuestos a la propiedad.

El gobernador también indicó que buscará un fondo fiduciario estatal para otorgar subvenciones a gobiernos locales para servicios esenciales, incluso en áreas rurales que puedan tener una base tributaria más pequeña.

No está claro si suficientes miembros de la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado respaldarán la medida. La cámara alta ha mostrado reservas sobre realizar recortes demasiado amplios que potencialmente afecten los ingresos en partes rurales del estado. La Cámara aprobó su propia exención de vivienda principal a principios de este año. Aunque preservó el financiamiento para escuelas, eliminó los impuestos de inmediato en lugar de hacerlo mediante una eliminación gradual.

Los demócratas ya han expresado preocupaciones sobre la idea. La líder demócrata de la Cámara, Fentrice Driskell, dijo el martes que no había visto consenso alrededor de una propuesta específica, pero advirtió que incluso recortes modestos en impuestos a la propiedad podrían tener efectos serios sobre los gobiernos locales.

“En conversaciones con los gobiernos locales a los que represento, escucho que cualquier recorte, aunque pueda parecer pequeño en el panorama general, podría ser devastador”, dijo Driskell.

También argumentó que el estado debería enfocarse en el seguro de propiedad, señalando que eso es lo que los residentes mencionan con más frecuencia en reuniones comunitarias.

“De lo que quieren hablar es de las tarifas del seguro de propiedad y de lo altas que son”, dijo Driskell.

Driskell dijo que los impuestos a la propiedad ayudan a pagar fuerzas del orden, socorristas, bibliotecas y otros servicios locales. Advirtió que reducir esos ingresos podría trasladar costos a otros lugares o dejar a algunos condados dependiendo del apoyo estatal.

DeSantis rechazó la idea de que el estado deba aumentar otros impuestos para compensar la propuesta, afirmando que Florida ya tiene una posición presupuestaria sólida y debería utilizar recursos estatales disponibles para ayudar a que el alivio de impuestos a la propiedad funcione.

Se espera que la sesión especial comience el lunes. Los legisladores tendrían que actuar rápidamente para finalizar el lenguaje de la boleta a tiempo para que los votantes consideren la medida en noviembre.

On Wednesday he added minority investor in the Cleveland Guardians to his resumé.

The Guardians announced before their game against the Washington Nationals that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end has purchased a minority share in the franchise.

The Cleveland Heights native bought a small share of David Blitzer's 35% stake. Blitzer can become the controlling owner after the 2027 season or he can wait to exercise that option later.

“The opportunity came across my desk and I just couldn’t say no,” Kelce said on the “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Jason Kelce. “These guys (Blitzer and majority owner Paul Dolan) gave me the opportunity to show my Cleveland love and plant my roots in Cleveland forever, no matter what. It’s an awesome feeling knowing that a childhood kid that grew up on the east side is now part owner of his favorite baseball team.”

Kelce lettered in football, basketball and baseball at Cleveland Heights High School. He was a Cleveland Plain Dealer baseball player of the week after going 14 for 22 with two home runs and 12 RBIs during one stretch in May 2008, his senior year. He also played on a collegiate summer team in 2010 while attending the University of Cincinnati.

“Travis Kelce knows what it takes to win at the highest levels and he’s exemplified that throughout his playing career and in the way he shows up as a community leader and businessman,” Dolan and Blitzer said in a joint statement. “He cares deeply for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio and is committed to supporting our mission of building out a world-class organization that helps uplift the communities we serve. It’s great to welcome Travis home and we know he’ll make a lasting impact here."

Kelce was wearing a Guardians' City Connect jersey during the podcast and recounted going to games growing up. The brothers said their favorite players during childhood were Albert Belle and Jim Thome.

“There’s so many countless memories of the 1990s and then early 2000s where it’s in me to always root for the Guards and always wanted to be a part of them from,” he said. “It’s a dream come true for a Cleveland kid. Any Cleveland kid would be through the roof right now, and I’m happy to be the honorable one to get to do it for us.”

Kelce and Swift were in Cleveland last weekend and attended Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Cavaliers and New York Knicks.

Kelce's first act as part of the Guardians will be to throw a first pitch on June 14 against the Detroit Tigers. He tried to throw the first pitch during Cleveland's 2023 home opener against Seattle but ended up throwing a ball that spiked near the plate and skipped to the backstop.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt was mostly thrilled to hear about Kelce joining the organization. Vogt is a die-hard San Francisco 49ers fan and hasn’t forgiven Kelce for the Super Bowl wins over his favorite football team.

“I’m still a little bit bitter because the Chiefs beat the Niners twice in the Super Bowl,” Vogt said before the series finale against the Nationals. “But outside of that, it’s pretty cool to have Kelce on board.”

Kelce becomes the second member of the Chiefs to have a stake in a baseball team. Patrick Mahomes has a share in the Kansas City Royals and tweeted a video of Kelce's first pitch in congratulating him.

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AP freelance writer Tom Withers contributed to this report.

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

The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones to the moon.

All this hardware is ideally supposed to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, planned for as early as 2028.

During April’s Artemis II mission, four astronauts flew around the moon, traveling deeper into space than the Apollo moon crews did during the late 1960s and early 1970s. For next year’s Artemis III, another team of astronauts will practice docking NASA’s Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with the lunar landers being developed for crews by Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

NASA is targeting Artemis III for mid-2027, with a landing by two astronauts following as soon as 2028. The moon base’s second phase, from 2029 into the early 2030s, will start building up the permanent infrastructure, including a power grid. As for when the base will be ready to support astronauts for extended periods in specialized permanent habitats, that’s expected sometime in the 2030s, during the third phase.

“Then we’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re permanently here and we’re not giving it up,’” said NASA’s moon base program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan.

Garcia-Galan envisions a moon base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with a perimeter marked by drones, dubbed MoonFall, stationed at the corners.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said these territory markers are meant to be respectful of other countries’ spacecraft and equipment that might be nearby. He expects reciprocity in the matter.

The goal of the moon base is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the foundation for a Mars expedition, Isaacman stressed.

“For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down,” Isaacman said. “We are really just getting started.”

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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.

Green, known for his protests during President Donald Trump's speeches, has served in Congress since 2005. He became a standard-bearer of progressive legislation on racial justice, often drawing the ire of Republicans.

“I am so honored to have served for these many years, more than twenty. And I’m honored to have done some things that I’m very proud of,” Green told his supporters during an election night event.

“You probably see me smiling and it’s because it’s because this is not the end,” he added as the audience cheered. “This is the beginning of a new chapter.”

In his primary contest, Green, 78, became a target of the cryptocurrency industry for his opposition to the emerging technology.

“Rep. Green’s defeat proves that anti-crypto hostility carries real electoral consequences, making him the first Democratic incumbent this cycle to lose his seat,” said Geoff Vetter, a spokesperson for Fairshake, a pro-cryptocurrency super PAC that spent millions in the runoff to unseat Green. “Fairshake was the difference-maker in this race, and we will continue to aggressively back leaders like Rep. Menefee across the country.”

The former top attorney for Texas’ largest county, Menefee, 38, was sworn into Congress in February after winning a January special election to succeed the late Rep. Sylvester Turner. Turner had died in February of last year and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did not set a special election for the seat for months. Democrats denounced the delay as an effort to protect Republicans' razor-thin majority in Congress.

Menefee lauded Green’s career in a statement following his win over the congressman, calling Green an “icon” and vowed to carry on his work in Congress.

“For decades, Congressman Green has done what so few in public life are willing to do: he has spoken truth to power, directly to their faces, without flinching,” said Menefee. “He protested with his body, his voice, and his career on the line. He stood in the well of the United States House of Representatives and called President Trump out to his face, even when he stood alone. That is a legacy that will outlast any election.”

Menefee also condemned the state’s electoral process.

Under previous maps, Green and Menefee had served in neighboring districts before the state’s Republican lawmakers redrew the state’s congressional maps in an effort to create more Republican-leaning seats.

“Republicans have made this hard on purpose,” Menefee told his supporters. “They delayed this election. They drew maps designed to dilute our power. They made you come back to the polls over and over again because they were hoping you would get tired and give up. You didn’t. Now it’s time to finish the job.”

Green in 2017 became the second Democrat to file an article of impeachment against Trump during the president’s first term and has continued to call for the president’s removal. Last year, Green filed three separate articles of impeachment against Trump, including for abuses of power and allegedly inciting death threats against lawmakers and judges.

Following Tuesday's runoff, Trump called Green “one of the most mentally deficient Congressmen in the history of our Country” in a social media post cheering the results.

“But I will miss that lunatic not screaming and violently waving his cane at me during my next State of the Union Speech,” Trump wrote.

The state's Republican leadership filed an emergency appeal with the justices a day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts.

The judges instead required Alabama to continue using a court-ordered map that was put in place for the 2024 elections that includes two districts where Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.

Attorney General Steve Marshall told the court that the state did not intentionally discriminate against Black residents and should be allowed to hold elections this year under a map chosen by lawmakers, not judges.

The appeal is the latest development in the fallout from last month's Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

The redistricting frenzy is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections.

The Alabama cases stretches back several years. The three-judge panel in 2023 ruled that a map drawn by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black citizens. The court said the state, which is about 27% Black, should have two districts where Black voters are the majority or close to it. The court-selected map was used in 2024.

After the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Louisiana case, Alabama officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map’s use and sent the case back to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana ruling.

In the meantime, voters cast ballots in Alabama’s May 19 primaries, and Republican Gov. Kay Ivey set new special primaries for Aug. 11 in four congressional districts affected by the map switch.

Upon further review, the judicial panel said it was standing behind its initial finding that there was “undisputed evidence” of intentional racial discrimination, a holding that was independent of and unaffected by the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act.

It said the special congressional primaries should instead proceed under the previous court-approved districts.

The use of the court-ordered map led to the 2024 election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. State Republicans are seeking to use a map that would give the GOP an opportunity to reclaim the south Alabama seat.

The state is asking for Supreme Court action by Monday as it makes preparations for the special vote in August.

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This story has been corrected to show the Alabama primaries were May 19, not May 11.

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Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed to this report from Montgomery, Ala.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Gov. Jenniffer González said the executive order would allow her administration to accelerate projects to protect natural resources and vulnerable coastal communities. The government said in a statement that rising sea levels, storm surges and other factors have intensified coastal erosion in Puerto Rico.

González pledged to help northern towns including Loiza, where people have been evacuated and chunks of asphalt from coastal roads have tumbled into the ocean following heavy swells.

The order was signed just days before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

The cost of the projects has not yet been determined.

Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the chair and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees college sports, briefed The Associated Press on details of the bill they crafted in hopes it can get the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.

“This is a stability bill, not just an NIL bill,” Cruz said, referencing the name, image and likeness payments that have led to football rosters with $30 million payrolls and reshaped the industry.

Cantwell said she and Cruz teamed on the legislation "because he and I really do believe the college sports system is in a bit of chaos.”

The bill looks very much like a “best of” pair of legislative proposals — one called SCORE, another called SAFE — that have gone nowhere over the past several months. It contains two elements the NCAA has supported: a limited antitrust exemption and a clause that would preempt much of the patchwork of state laws currently regulating NIL.

College sports has been looking to Washington for help as it grapples with rising costs of paying players and an out-of-control transfer portal that have threatened smaller sports, many involving women, that make up the backbone of the U.S. Olympic pipeline.

This bill, called the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), would offer what Cruz and Cantwell said was very “targeted” antitrust protection — which was part of the largely Republican-backed SCORE Act that many Democrats opposed. That would be in exchange for what Cruz said would be “public-facing protections" for athletes in 10 areas, including guarantees for health insurance and scholarships and more stringent regulations for NIL deals from third parties.

“I think it's better predictability,” Cantwell said. “Why did we do it? Because when you've got thousands of athletes being cut, hundreds of programs being cut, the risk to the whole infrastructure was too high to not try to get better predictability.”

The bill would limit players to one unrestricted transfer over the course of their college careers — a widely supported idea across the country — and would adopt something close to the five-year eligibility period that the NCAA appears ready to enact next month.

The bill also tries to regulate coaching movement. Kiffin's sudden move to LSU from rival Mississippi while the Rebels were preparing for the College Football Playoff last season put a fine point on an issue that has only gotten worse in an era where teams spend millions to fill out rapidly shifting football rosters: Schools have less patience (and more money) to devote to hiring coaches for a quick fix.

Under terms of the bill, midseason coaching changes would be prohibited.

“It's not fair or right to poach a coach in the middle of the season while the team is still competing," Cruz said. "There’s a reason the NFL has a rule that you can’t do that. Obviously, NFL teams hire coaches away from each other but they don’t do so in the middle of the season.”

The bill would rework the Sports Broadcasting Act to allow conferences to pool their TV rights — a move proponents have said could add billions of dollars to the ecosystem in a conclusion the Southeastern and Big Ten Conferences believe is inaccurate.

The senators said leagues wouldn't be required to join the media pooling but those that do would have to use a percentage of any increase from that to support women's and Olympic sports. That alone could be a dealbreaker for the SEC.

“If you do nothing, then obviously, all these other women's and Olympic sports and less revenue-driven activities are going to suffer,” Cantwell said. “I've heard directly from my institutions, they say they're counting on this. Not creating this stability now would be a missed opportunity.”

The SCORE Act, which garnered little support from Democrats, was on the House schedule last week but was abruptly pulled off when the Congressional Black Caucus and NAACP came out against it.

But even if it had squeaked by in the razor-tight House, it had virtually no chance of passing as written in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to break a possible filibuster.

“The Congressional Black Caucus and I have the same objective: stop the ‘SEC SCORE Act,’” said Cantwell, referencing the SEC as one of dozens of conferences who have supported that bill.

Some Democrats were reluctant to support a bill, like SCORE, that prohibited college athletes from being classified as employees of their schools. The new bill takes what Cantwell said was a “neutral” stance on the issue of employment.

“Senator Cruz and I have been very concerned about producing a bill that's not just about the 1% of athletes who go on and have a professional career," she said. "We took care of the entire ecosystem and have opportunities for athletes to continue to have that collegiate experience.”

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

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Anastasia Radzinskaya, known online as Like Nastya, has become one of the biggest children’s content creators on YouTube, with more than 132 million subscribers on her main channel and billions of monthly views across her platforms.

The 12-year-old was born in Russia and raised in South Florida.

Radzinskaya and her family began creating videos together, eventually building a worldwide brand localized into multiple languages.

Radzinskaya said performing has always been a dream.

“Well, at a young age, I always wanted to sing,” she said. “I would sing in the shower or I would sing to my parents, and I would do a little show for them.”

Like Nastya’s online success has quickly expanded into music and live performances. But she said growing up online also came with challenges.

“Probably bullying when I was little, because sometimes when people saw my videos, they were like, ‘Oh you look so weird in them,’” Radzinskaya said. “But that didn’t take away my confidence and I just kept going.”

Now, she hopes her platform encourages other children to embrace confidence and individuality.

“Be confident, be yourself, be happy,” she said.

Radzinskaya recently celebrated her first sold-out concert and said live performances have become one of her favorite parts of her career.

“A first it’s weird, but I love to perform and I love big stages and big audiences,” she said. “So when I’m on stage, I can be myself and it’s very fun.”

That same message carries into her music, including her song “I’m Gonna Shine.”

“It was about giving people self-confidence and not caring about the haters,” Radzinskaya said.

And while her career continues to expand, she hinted at another major project ahead.

“I can’t reveal anything but you guys are probably gonna see me in a movie soon,” she said.

The directive, issued on Tuesday to international news outlets based in the capital, Tehran, specified that mandatory language be included on “all submitted content, including photos, videos, reports, and other media productions.”

The instructions were sent to a number of news organizations, including The Associated Press, from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees media activity. “Responsibility for failing to comply with this directive rests with the submitting media outlet,” said the instructions, translated from Farsi.

The new restrictions come three months after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran that grew into a continuing, occasionally flaring war in the region. President Donald Trump insisted a peace deal is close on the 88th day of the war, even as Iran on Tuesday denounced the most recent U.S. strikes as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability."

Under the new measures, international news outlets are required to say that the content in question cannot be used by Israeli media, and also Farsi-language TV stations based outside Iran. For years, Iran has banned international media from sharing some material with BBC Persian, VOA Persian, Manoto TV and Iran International at the risk of having their operations shut down in the country.

Despite the restrictions, many Farsi-language media outlets abroad still access images and videos released by Iranian state media through a variety of websites and messaging apps.

The Washington-based group Freedom House ranks Iran as not having a free and independent media, noting that all television channels are controlled by hard-liners within its theocracy and those working in other outlets face harassment and arrest.

Satellite dishes are banned, though many have them to watch Farsi-language channels broadcasting from abroad. Iranians began to regain internet access on Wednesday, after authorities ended a monthslong shutdown. But users said service was slow and spotty in some areas, with apps like YouTube and Instagram heavily restricted.

In a statement, Associated Press spokesman Patrick Maks said that the "AP, like all international news media operating inside Iran, are subject to their new restriction.

“Our team there," Maks added, “continues to produce strong, independent journalism under challenging conditions, ensuring the world has access to factual, eyewitness reporting about what’s happening on the ground.”

Authorities said there was no hope of finding more survivors of Tuesday's tank implosion at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, which also injured eight other people, including a responding firefighter. But before any bodies can be recovered, crews on Wednesday must first stabilize the tank, which was at risk of collapsing further and leaking more of the caustic liquid.

The implosion caused the huge circular tank to buckle and collapse on one side, and officials said they would only work during daylight because of the dangers. While the cause remains unknown, authorities said there was no threat to the community, a Columbia River city of about 40,000 people with long ties to the Washington and Oregon paper and lumber industries.

It was the second notable issue with a chemical in days on the West Coast, following the evacuation of thousands of Southern California residents due to an overheated tank an aerospace plant before those orders were lifted Tuesday night.

The paper mill tank was holding about 900,000 gallons (3.4 million liters) of a liquid made of mostly sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. Known as white liquor, it is used with heat to break down wood to make kraft paper, a durable material used in packaging, shopping bags and other products.

The sprawling plant, which employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, and cartons. It sits along the river next to other timber, paper and chemical businesses.

Paper mill worker was always there to help, friend says

Authorities haven't released the names of the two people whose deaths were confirmed or of those missing, but some names have begun to trickle out.

Todd Cornwell said his friend, Gilbert Bernal, was an electrician at the plant and was the first confirmed death. They knew each other through church and were in the same Bible study group, he said.

“We actually had our group last night and instead of doing Bible study, we talked about him,” Cornwell said. “He was always there willing to help in whatever needed to be done. When the local church school started flooding, he was one of the people there.”

Brian Williquette, a chemical supplier for the region’s mills, was at the plant Tuesday morning when he heard an alarm over the intercom and first wondered if it was drill. He was able to get out safely and didn’t see any of the damage.

“It’s just unfathomable,” he said at a community vigil Tuesday. “There’s not anybody that lives here that doesn’t know somebody at a paper mill.”

Crystal Moldenhauer, a Longview resident, said she has friends at the plant who remained unaccounted for. She said people called and texted each other all day trying to figure out what happened.

“We’re all still waiting for answers,” she said. “There’s families that have been torn apart, and we don’t know why.”

The cause of the implosion remained unclear.

Authorities press for answers about the rupture

Nippon Paper Group in a statement said Wednesday that it was offering its “deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.”

Scott Goldstein, a fire chief with Cowlitz County, said Tuesday night that the tank still held about 90,000 gallons (more than 340,000 liters) of the volatile liquid.

“We don’t know until we know, hopefully tomorrow, how we can stabilize the tank. Do we remove the product first? Do we stabilize the tank first or the vice versa?” Goldstein said.

Hours after the disaster, officials repeatedly referred to the situation as a recovery effort.

Some of those who were injured suffered burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said.

Following the tank's rupture, the liquid spilled into a drainage ditch, said Brittny Goodsell, a state Ecology Department spokesperson.

“I know there’s a lot of questions about how all of this happened and I want to assure you that we will all continue to pressure to get answers to those questions,” Murray said.

The mill faced complaints and fines

Safety complaints were filed against Nippon Dynawave in March and May. The state’s labor and industries department said on X that both were unrelated to the current situation. One was an anonymous complaint about a valve on a tank, according to the department, which noted that it was not the tank that imploded.

Nippon Dynawave, a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Group, has been fined $3,400 for three separate health and safety violations found by Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors since the start of 2021, according to the department’s online database.

Just over 40 people died between January 2021 and mid-October 2023 as a result of hazardous chemical incidents in the U.S., according to a paper released by a network of environmental justice organizations in late 2023.

___

Associated Press reporters Gene Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle, Kathy McCormack in Concord New Hampshire, Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.

El hombre, Teddy McCall Jr., fue condenado por crimen organizado, conspiración para cometer crimen organizado, conspiración para traficar cocaína, tráfico de cocaína, posesión de cocaína con intención de vender o distribuir y dos cargos de propiedad, arrendamiento o alquiler de un espacio para tráfico de drogas.

La condena se produjo tras un juicio con jurado de tres semanas.

Las autoridades indicaron que los cargos contra McCall estaban relacionados con la operación de una organización de tráfico de cocaína que utilizaba a familiares para distribuir drogas en todo el sur de Florida.

“Este criminal condenado convirtió el tráfico de drogas en un negocio familiar”, dijo Uthmeier en un comunicado emitido por su oficina. “Gracias al trabajo incansable de nuestros fiscales y socios de las fuerzas del orden, enfrentará una sentencia mínima obligatoria de prisión que bien merece”.

McCall regresará a la corte el 29 de junio para una audiencia de sentencia.

Enfrenta un mínimo de 13 años tras las rejas dentro del Departamento Correccional de Florida.

The quarantine and treatment center being set up by the Departments of Defense, State and Health and Human Services will be designed for Ebola patients who need to get out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and receive care quickly, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to share the Republican administration’s plans. The person said the plan would help patients avoid an hourslong medical evacuation to the U.S.

It was unclear where in Kenya the new facility will be built or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan.

The official said the facility will be able to care for the full spectrum of Ebola, a rare but severe disease that is often fatal in people. But the official said people may be transported elsewhere for more advanced care as appropriate.

Kenya’s health minister confirmed officials there were talking with the U.S. about “preparedness and response mechanisms for Ebola” but didn’t address whether the country would establish a treatment facility for Americans.

“Any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards, and the government’s responsibility to safeguard the health and welfare of Kenyans,” Health Minister Aden Duale said in a statement.

For decades, medical experts have suggested moving patients suffering from Ebola and similar illnesses as little as possible in case their condition worsens, said Dr. Ali Khan, the public health college dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. But, he added, the quality of care must be equivalent to what someone would receive in American facilities.

“You’ve got to make sure the patient gets the best quality care, and you need to ensure excellent infection control,” said Khan, who earlier in his career led international responses to Ebola and other outbreaks for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Craig Spencer, a public health professor and emergency medicine doctor at Brown University who survived Ebola in 2014, said he doesn’t expect the facility in Kenya to provide the same quality of care that dedicated facilities in the United States do. He said refusing to consider bringing American Ebola patients home for treatment is “a moral abdication of what this country owes its own.”

An earlier outbreak

During a massive Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 2014 and 2015, more than a half dozen infected Americans were brought back to the United States. That experience prompted the establishment of a U.S. network of quarantine and isolation facilities across the country.

But during that earlier outbreak, Trump, then a businessman and reality TV star, repeatedly criticized then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, for bringing infected Americans home for care.

“The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great — but must suffer the consequences!” he wrote in a 2014 tweet.

He also suggested a plan similar to the one described to the AP by the administration official: “Treat them, at the highest level, over there,” Trump wrote in July 2014.

During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department and other agencies were working “very, very hard to contain this crisis to the countries where it’s currently located, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States,” he said.

Americans who've been exposed to Ebola

Earlier this month, an American doctor working in Congo tested positive for Ebola and was sent to Germany for medical care. Serge, a Christian missionary organization, identified him as Dr. Peter Stafford. Stafford’s wife and four children did not have symptoms but also were flown to Germany and placed in isolation at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital.

On Wednesday, the hospital said the patient was in stable condition.

“The viral load measured in the patient has dropped very, very rapidly over the course of the week," likely thanks to antiviral therapy, Dr. Leif Erik Sander, director of the hospital’s infectious diseases department, told reporters.

Another American medical missionary, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, was transported to the Czech Republic for isolation after he was exposed to Ebola, though he did not have any symptoms, according to the missionary organization.

Health authorities in Congo have been struggling to contain the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has said is outpacing them.

The number of suspected Ebola cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed and it's looking into more than 3,000 possible contacts.

Challenges include the threat of armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report the Trump administration's plan for the Kenya facility.

___

AP journalists Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Julie Walker in New York and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin contributed to this report.

___

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

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That man, Teddy McCall, Jr., was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy to racketeer, conspiracy to traffic cocaine, trafficking cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to sell or deliver and two counts of ownership, lease, or rental of a space for trafficking.

The conviction came after a three-week jury trial.

Officials said the charges against McCall were related to the operation of a cocaine trafficking organization that used family members to distribute drugs throughout South Florida.

“This convicted criminal made drug trafficking into a family business,” Uthmeier said in a statement released by his office. “Thanks to the relentless work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, he will face a well-deserved mandatory minimum prison sentence.”

McCall will be back in court on June 29 for a sentencing hearing.

He faces a minimum of 13 years behind bars within the Florida Department of Corrections.

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According to an arrest report from the Miami Beach Police Department, the victim discovered unauthorized outbound Bitcoin transactions from a Trezor hardware wallet that occurred in 2020.

At the time the theft was discovered, Bitcoin was valued at about $115,363 per coin, bringing the estimated loss to roughly $1.9 million, investigators said.

Investigators said an independent review led the victim to suspect former employee Nahum Reynaldo Castro, a trusted employee of the victim since 2013.

They said Castro worked as an information technology specialist and was known for his “technical capabilities.”

Castro was one of only two people known to possess the wallet’s seed phrase — the recovery key that allows access to cryptocurrency assets, according to the report.

The report states that possession of the seed phrase would have allowed someone to remotely recreate and access the wallet without having physical possession of the Trezor device itself, giving that person the ability to transfer cryptocurrency assets from anywhere.

The victim contacted trusted associates after discovering the transactions, according to the report.

During an interview in March, the victim and a witness provided detectives with transaction data connected to the wallet and the allegedly unauthorized transfers, the report states.

Detectives said they met in person with the victim and two witnesses earlier this month, who provided statements that were consistent with earlier interviews.

According to the report, records obtained from cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp included copies of Castro’s driver license and a “selfie-style verification video.”

Investigators said linked JPMorgan Chase bank records showed deposits originating from Bitstamp accounts tied to the cryptocurrency transactions.

Detectives said the investigation revealed Castro participated in “a series of unauthorized and fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions” intended to transfer and conceal stolen funds through intermediary wallets, cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions.

Authorities allege the transactions were designed to conceal “the nature, source, ownership, and control” of the cryptocurrency proceeds and hinder detection and recovery efforts.

Police said Castro was taken into custody on Monday.

Jail records show he is facing charges including money laundering involving more than $100,000, unlawful use of a communications device, offenses against computer users and first-degree grand theft exceeding $100,000.

As of Wednesday morning, Castro was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bond was listed as “to be set.”

Según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami Beach, la víctima descubrió transacciones no autorizadas de salida de Bitcoin desde una billetera física Trezor que ocurrieron en 2020.

En el momento en que se descubrió el robo, el Bitcoin tenía un valor aproximado de $115,363 USD por moneda, lo que elevó la pérdida estimada a alrededor de $1.9 millones USD, dijeron los investigadores.

Los investigadores indicaron que una revisión independiente llevó a la víctima a sospechar del ex empleado Nahum Reynaldo Castro, un empleado de confianza de la víctima desde 2013.

Indicaron que Castro trabajaba como especialista en tecnología de la información y era conocido por sus “capacidades técnicas”.

Castro era una de solo dos personas conocidas que poseían la frase semilla de la billetera, la clave de recuperación que permite acceder a activos de criptomonedas, según el informe.

El informe señala que poseer la frase semilla habría permitido a alguien recrear y acceder remotamente a la billetera sin tener posesión física del dispositivo Trezor, dándole a esa persona la capacidad de transferir activos de criptomonedas desde cualquier lugar.

La víctima contactó a asociados de confianza después de descubrir las transacciones, según el informe.

Durante una entrevista en marzo, la víctima y un testigo proporcionaron a los detectives datos de transacciones conectadas a la billetera y las transferencias presuntamente no autorizadas, señala el informe.

Los detectives dijeron que se reunieron en persona con la víctima y dos testigos a principios de este mes, quienes proporcionaron declaraciones consistentes con entrevistas anteriores.

Según el informe, los registros obtenidos de la plataforma de intercambio de criptomonedas Bitstamp incluían copias de la licencia de conducir de Castro y un “video de verificación estilo selfi”.

Los investigadores dijeron que registros bancarios vinculados de JPMorgan Chase mostraban depósitos originados de cuentas de Bitstamp relacionadas con las transacciones de criptomonedas.

Los detectives dijeron que la investigación reveló que Castro participó en “una serie de transacciones fraudulentas y no autorizadas de criptomonedas” destinadas a transferir y ocultar fondos robados mediante billeteras intermediarias, plataformas de intercambio de criptomonedas e instituciones financieras.

Las autoridades alegan que las transacciones fueron diseñadas para ocultar “la naturaleza, origen, propiedad y control” de las ganancias obtenidas de las criptomonedas y obstaculizar los esfuerzos de detección y recuperación.

La policía informó que Castro fue detenido el lunes.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que enfrenta cargos que incluyen lavado de dinero por más de $100,000 USD, uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación, delitos contra usuarios de computadoras y hurto mayor en primer grado por más de $100,000 USD.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, Castro permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, donde su fianza figuraba como “pendiente por establecer”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

El ataque en el departamento de La Guajira se produjo cuando las fuerzas militares activaron un plan de despliegue especial en el país para brindar seguridad de cara a los comicios en los que 11 aspirantes buscan suceder a Gustavo Petro, el primer izquierdista en gobernar Colombia.

“En épocas de elecciones, algunos grupos en áreas muy focalizadas intentan generar terror físico o mediático para influir en los votantes. No permitiremos que la barbarie altere la democracia”, afirmó el ministro de Defensa, Pedro Sánchez, en la red social X.

Sánchez aseguró que el ataque obedece a una reacción del Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) a los “fuertes golpes” que la fuerza pública le ha propinado en la zona.

Los episodios de violencia se han sucedido en los últimos días. La víspera al menos tres policías resultaron heridos en un ataque con disparos y explosivos perpetrado en el noreste de Colombia presuntamente por el ELN.

El Ejército indicó en un comunicado que tras el ataque de este miércoles está trabajando junto a la policía para ubicar a los responsables del “atentado terrorista”.

El ministro ofreció una recompensa de hasta 200 millones de pesos (aproximadamente 54.500 dólares) por información que permita capturar a los responsables y evitar cualquier otro atentado.

El ELN, alzado en armas desde 1964, prometió realizar un cese al fuego unilateral que regirá desde el 30 de mayo hasta el 2 de junio con motivo de las elecciones presidenciales.

El gobierno suspendió las conversaciones de paz con el ELN en enero de 2025, luego de una escalada de violencia en el noreste del país con un bando enemigo que terminó por afectar a la población civil.

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The free event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature nearly 40 employers offering opportunities in the hospitality, maritime, government, security and logistics industries.

Event organizers said support and resources will be available for former Spirit Airlines workers after the airline ceased operations in early May, leaving roughly 17,000 employees without jobs nationwide.

Major airlines and companies expected to participate include American Airlines, JetBlue and United Airlines, along with other employers connected to Port Everglades and the South Florida tourism and transportation sectors.

“Port Everglades is a major economic engine for Broward County that generates jobs in the community and among the maritime companies that conduct business here and call our port home,” Broward County Commissioner Alexandra Davis said in a statement.

“I am committed to inspiring job growth and helping people advance their career goals,” she added.

Organizers said attendees can also receive a $100 credit toward a Florida Atlantic University hospitality industry certificate.

The event is free to attend and includes free parking. Registration is encouraged for planning purposes through Eventbrite. More information is available by clicking here or calling 311.

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CareerFair-Flyer-8.5x11-PO202698304-v5 (002)

El evento gratuito está programado de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m. y contará con casi 40 empleadores que ofrecerán oportunidades en las industrias de hospitalidad, marítima, gubernamental, seguridad y logística.

Los organizadores del evento informaron que habrá apoyo y recursos disponibles para los ex trabajadores de Spirit Airlines luego de que la aerolínea cesara operaciones a principios de mayo, dejando aproximadamente a 17,000 empleados sin trabajo en todo el país.

Entre las principales aerolíneas y compañías que se espera participen se encuentran American Airlines, JetBlue y United Airlines, junto con otros empleadores vinculados a Port Everglades y los sectores de turismo y transporte del sur de Florida.

“Port Everglades es un importante motor económico para el condado Broward que genera empleos en la comunidad y entre las compañías marítimas que hacen negocios aquí y consideran nuestro puerto su hogar”, dijo en un comunicado la comisionada del condado Broward, Alexandra Davis.

“Estoy comprometida con inspirar el crecimiento laboral y ayudar a las personas a avanzar en sus metas profesionales”, agregó.

Los organizadores indicaron que los asistentes también pueden recibir un crédito de $100 USD para un certificado de la industria de hospitalidad de la Universidad Atlántica de Florida.

La entrada al evento es gratuita e incluye estacionamiento sin costo. Se recomienda registrarse para fines de planificación a través de Eventbrite. Más información está disponible haciendo clic aquí o llamando al 311.

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Typical widely-scattered showers and thunderstorms are likely Wednesday, but the coverage will become more widespread and heavier Thursday as the disturbance crosses from west to east, so we should expect impactful rainfall for both the morning and evening commute Thursday.

Some rainfall totals could exceed 2 to 4 inches, which could lead to some street flooding, especially in those areas with poor drainage.

The rain coverage backs off a bit later Friday and over the weekend, but with more sun and daytime heating there’ll be some scattered afternoon and evening storms around, some of which could become severe.

By the way, the rainiest month of the year is typically June with over 10 inches on average for the month, so as we head through these final few days of May, this forecast certainly looks to be right on schedule.

Se esperan lluvias y tormentas eléctricas dispersas típicas el miércoles, pero la cobertura será más extensa y fuerte el jueves a medida que la perturbación cruce de oeste a este, por lo que debemos esperar lluvias de impacto tanto durante el trayecto matutino como vespertino del jueves.

Algunos acumulados de lluvia podrían superar entre 2 y 4 pulgadas, lo que podría provocar inundaciones en calles, especialmente en áreas con mal drenaje.

La cobertura de lluvia disminuirá un poco más tarde el viernes y durante el fin de semana, pero con más sol y el calentamiento diurno habrá algunas tormentas dispersas en la tarde y noche, algunas de las cuales podrían volverse severas.

Por cierto, junio suele ser el mes más lluvioso del año con más de 10 pulgadas en promedio durante el mes, así que mientras avanzamos por estos últimos días de mayo, este pronóstico ciertamente parece estar justo a tiempo.

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The Miami-based app called Dibs Parking was started by two friends who met in middle school and went into business last year after studying computer science.

“The process is pretty simple,” said Dibs Parking co-founder Willy Merlet. “In like two minutes, you can reserve your spot. They see the options and choose the event.”

With the app, users can sign up and list their home, like the many near Hard Rock Stadium, for people to find and use for parking.

“It’s a lot more convenient for people,” said Miami Gardens resident Mike Jean, who uses his property for parking during events.

The creators say the platform was designed to help people find affordable parking near events like the World Cup and let people – like homeowners or business owners – make a little cash.

Local 10’s Jeff Derderian also found a unique website where ticket prices and trends are updated periodically called TicketData.com, which pulls information from places like StubHub, Vivid Seats and TickPick.

La aplicación con sede en Miami llamada Dibs Parking fue creada por dos amigos que se conocieron en la escuela intermedia y comenzaron un negocio el año pasado luego de estudiar ciencias de la computación.

“El proceso es bastante sencillo”, dijo el cofundador de Dibs Parking, Willy Merlet. “En unos dos minutos, puedes reservar tu espacio. Ven las opciones y eligen el evento”.

Con la aplicación, los usuarios pueden registrarse y publicar su casa, como muchas de las ubicadas cerca del Hard Rock Stadium, para que las personas las encuentren y las utilicen para estacionarse.

“Es mucho más conveniente para las personas”, dijo Mike Jean, residente de Miami Gardens, quien utiliza su propiedad para estacionamiento durante eventos.

Los creadores aseguran que la plataforma fue diseñada para ayudar a las personas a encontrar estacionamiento económico cerca de eventos como el Mundial y permitir que personas, como propietarios de viviendas o negocios, ganen algo de dinero.

Jeff Derderian, de Local 10, también encontró un sitio web único donde los precios y tendencias de boletos se actualizan periódicamente llamado TicketData.com, que recopila información de lugares como StubHub, Vivid Seats y TickPick.

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The incident happened Sunday on the sand in Miami Beach as many were enjoying the Memorial Day holiday.

According to police, a group of friends were hanging out on the beach when one of them, identified as Misael Algel Aguilar Santurio, began throwing sand at the others.

After the victim threw sand back at him, she told police Aguilar Santurio got upset and told her “that he was going to gut her” before retrieving a pocket knife from his backpack and chasing her around the beach, according to an arrest form.

“I was scared,” the victim, Yarielys Riobo, told Local 10 News. “All I was doing was backing up, all I was doing was watching him, because if I turned my back, he would have launched at me.”

Two men from the group tackled Aguilar Santurio and a third person took his knife away until officers arrived, police said.

“I don’t understand. I knew he had anger issues from the beginning,” said Riobo.

Aguilar Santurio is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting an officer without violence.

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It sparked around 5 p.m. at a junkyard located in the area of Northwest 135th Street and Cairo Lane in Opa-locka.

Authorities began upgrading the fire soon after they started to combat the flames, with the blaze eventually being considered a six-alarm fire by late in the evening.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said wind pushed fire and embers into a second junkyard and additional businesses in the area.

Additionally, officials said they evacuated nearby apartment buildings out of an abundance of caution.

“To be honest, I have a sense of fear,” said Opa-locka resident Mimi Pierre. “I don’t live too far and I’m scared. If I lived here, I would start packing my bags.”

Sky 10 flew over the scene on Tuesday morning, where firefighters continued to douse several hotspots that were still burning.

“It looks like a bomb,” said Opa-locka resident Jairo Perez. “As soon as I saw it, the first thing I thought, it’s an airplane crash, because I saw it straight from (Interstate) 95.”

No injuries have been reported in the fire, authorities said.

There has been no word on what caused the flames to ignite.

“Right now our investigators are discussing the circumstance with one of the junkyards,” said MDFR Chief Ray Jadallah. “We have not come up with a final decision. We are having conversations with them and it’s still in the preliminary phases as a result of the sheer amount of fire.”

El incidente ocurrió el domingo sobre la arena en Miami Beach mientras muchas personas disfrutaban del feriado del Día de los Caídos.

Según la policía, un grupo de amigos estaba compartiendo en la playa cuando uno de ellos, identificado como Misael Algel Aguilar Santurio, comenzó a lanzar arena a los demás.

Luego de que la víctima le devolviera arena, ella dijo a la policía que Aguilar Santurio se molestó y le dijo “que la iba a destripar” antes de sacar una navaja de bolsillo de su mochila y perseguirla por la playa, según un informe de arresto.

“Tenía miedo”, dijo la víctima, Yarielys Riobo, a Local 10 News. “Lo único que hacía era retroceder, lo único que hacía era mirarlo, porque si le daba la espalda, se habría lanzado contra mí”.

Dos hombres del grupo derribaron a Aguilar Santurio y una tercera persona le quitó el cuchillo hasta que llegaron los agentes, informó la policía.

“No entiendo. Sabía desde el principio que tenía problemas de ira”, dijo Riobo.

Aguilar Santurio enfrenta cargos de agresión agravada con un arma mortal y resistirse a un agente sin violencia.

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Two major updates on the project will be completed in less than two weeks.

The first is a massive flyover bridge connecting eastbound lanes on the Palmetto Expressway to the northbound lanes of Interstate 95.

“This is probably the most important ramp of the project,” said Florida Department of Transportation Senior Community Outreach Specialist Sergies Duarte.

What may appear to be a small change is having a big impact, because the brand new connection never existed before.

“So no more navigating local roads, such as Northwest Seventh Avenue or Northwest 167th Street, to get onto the interstate from the Palmetto,” said Duarte.

The second change is a major lane shift on I-95 north before you get to the Golden Glades.

The three right lanes split off onto a new stretch of road, and next month, a fourth lane will also shift over.

“There’s always going to be traffic, but we just want to make sure that it’s flowing in an efficient manner,” said Duarte.

The road to that efficiency is a long and costly one.

This project has been slated to take over seven years to complete and cost more than $1 billion.

“We’re making a lot of progress in a short amount of time, building this interchange as safely and quickly as possible,” Duarte said.

The years-long project is trending ahead of its planned 2031 completion for now, but as with any construction project, timelines can change.

The measure, which goes against World Health Organization guidance, underscored growing fears of contagion in this East African country that, like Congo, has experience responding to Ebola outbreaks but faces a type this time, Bundibugyo, with no approved medicines or vaccines.

A local Ebola task force made the decision after Ugandan health workers were exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who crossed the border before the outbreak was declared on May 15.

Travel across the Congo border will be authorized only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, cargo or security reasons, Dr. Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, told journalists. Any people entering from Congo under emergency circumstances will be taken into mandatory self-isolation for 21 days.

Congo says over 100 cases have been confirmed

Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever. The virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. Experts say healthcare workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.

The number of suspected cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed, and they are looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.

The WHO, while declaring this outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, discouraged border closures while acknowledging that neighboring countries are at high risk of contagion.

Closures "push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease," the U.N. agency said.

The border between Uganda and Congo is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts. Many people come and go in the course of a day to visit families or to trade.

Health authorities in Congo are struggling to contain the outbreak that the WHO has said is outpacing them, after the rare type of Ebola was confirmed weeks late as tests were carried out for a more common type.

Challenges include the threat from armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday called for a ceasefire in the region to allow safe access for responders and others, saying on social media that “attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.”

Responders in Congo have said they are underprepared and underprotected for this outbreak, while conflict-traumatized residents long wary of outsiders have attacked a number of clinics and hurled stones and abuse at volunteers trying to make people aware of the virus and its risks.

The WHO has said infected people or those have been in contact should not undertake international travel unless it’s a medical evacuation. On Wednesday, the Trump administration said it is planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the United States.

Uganda is concerned about exposed health workers

Uganda has reported seven cases of Ebola, including the first case of a 59-year-old man who died in Kampala, the capital, on May 14. While the Ebola case load is not spiking, the number of locals exposed to infection via health workers has been rising.

“They have families, and so the number has been increasing,” Atwine, the health official, said of health workers.

She also said she was dismayed to see some Ugandans forming crowds to celebrate Arsenal as British Premier League champions. The team has a large following in Uganda.

“I don't understand,” Atwine said, urging people to be vigilant, avoid shaking hands and use sanitizer.

Congo has had 17 Ebola outbreaks. Health experts say aid cuts last year by the United States and other rich nations are devastating for eastern Congo because of the region’s unique problems.

Aid groups fighting this outbreak say they don’t have the equipment they need such as face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits and body bags needed to safely bury victims.

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FHP officials said the crash happened around 2:23 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the Sawgrass Expressway, just north of the Sample Road exit.

Troopers said a flatbed tractor-trailer carrying drywall was traveling south in the outside lane behind a dump truck when the driver of the tractor-trailer apparently did not see the slower-moving truck ahead.

According to troopers, the tractor-trailer driver swerved east at the last second, but the front right side of the truck struck the rear left side of the dump truck.

After the collision, the tractor-trailer left the roadway and slammed into a concrete barrier wall, FHP officials confirmed.

The impact caused the truck to lose its drywall load and pushed part of a “temporary Jersey barrier” into the northbound lanes, troopers said.

They also confirmed that debris blocked several lanes in both directions.

Authorities said all southbound lanes were closed and traffic was being diverted off the highway at Exit 11 near Sample Road. Northbound inside and center lanes were also blocked while crews worked to clear the roadway and repair the damaged barrier wall.

No injuries were reported.

El accidente ocurrió el martes por la tarde alrededor de la 1:45 p.m. en el área de la cuadra 4400 de Northeast Third Avenue en Deerfield Beach.

Según Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, una mujer murió en el choque y otras dos personas fueron trasladadas de emergencia a un hospital cercano como pacientes de trauma. La Oficina del Sheriff de Broward informó que una tercera persona también resultó herida en el accidente.

Las autoridades cerraron Third Avenue entre Northeast 43rd y 48th streets debido a la investigación de tránsito.

Esta es una noticia en desarrollo que será actualizada a medida que haya nueva información disponible.

Starting Thursday, numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected each day. Some storms may be slow moving with pockets of flooding. There could also be a stronger storm or two with gusty winds and frequent lightning. This pattern will last each day through the weekend and well into next week. Widespread rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches is likely over the next week with locally higher totals possible.

The argument served as the administration's rationale for raising the U.S. refugee cap, but only for white Afrikaners. The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will admit an additional 10,000 white South Africans into the U.S. as refugees this year, increasing its annual quota, but blocking people from other countries from entering through the program.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was increasing the refugee cap for white South Africans because of “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation.” He blamed the South African government for “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence,” but gave no specific information.

South African Foreign Ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said accusations of systemic persecution of Afrikaners were unfounded and that some beneficiaries of the refugee program have chosen to return to South Africa.

Around 6,000 South Africans have moved to the U.S. since the Afrikaner program started last year, according to the U.S. government.

Afrikaner trade union Solidariteit said refugee status isn't a viable solution for Afrikaners, who should thrive in South Africa instead. Spokesman Jaco Kleynhans said the organization didn't know about any "unforeseen emergency refugee situation" for Afrikaners but respected the autonomy of U.S. refugee policy.

The union “is in no way aware of anything that the Trump administration could be referring to,” Kleynhans said.

AfriForum, a lobbying organization for the country’s white Afrikaner minority with more than 300,000 members, said it “does not have information” regarding the specific assertion that there's an emergency refugee situation.

The organization’s CEO, Kallie Kriel, said the group’s focus is “fighting to create the circumstances in South Africa where there is no need for Afrikaners to leave.”

Trump suspended the U.S. refugee program on his first day in office and has turned it into a vehicle to allow Afrikaners — white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers — into the United States. Advocates say the decision to focus a decades-old program on one group has left people around the world fleeing war and strife stranded and with few options.

Refugee groups have questioned why white South Africans are being prioritized ahead of people from countries facing war and natural disasters. Vetting for refugee status in the U.S. often takes years.

The Trump administration’s preference for white Afrikaner refugee admissions raises questions about selective humanitarianism, inconsistent refugee protection and favoring privileged groups while ignoring others experiencing severe hardships, according to Bryony Fox, a social justice researcher at South Africa's Stellenbosch University.

“This risks politicizing refugee protection in a way that may ultimately weaken the legitimacy and universality of the refugee regime itself,” she said.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Funcionarios de la FHP indicaron que el accidente ocurrió alrededor de las 2:23 a.m. en los carriles en dirección sur de la Sawgrass Expressway, justo al norte de la salida hacia Sample Road.

Los agentes dijeron que un camión de plataforma que transportaba paneles de yeso circulaba hacia el sur por el carril exterior detrás de un camión volquete cuando el conductor del camión de carga aparentemente no vio el vehículo más lento que tenía delante.

Según los agentes, el conductor del camión de carga giró hacia el este en el último segundo, pero la parte frontal derecha del camión impactó la parte trasera izquierda del camión volquete.

Tras la colisión, el camión de carga se salió de la vía y se estrelló contra un muro de barrera de concreto, confirmaron funcionarios de la FHP.

El impacto provocó que el camión perdiera su carga de paneles de yeso y empujó parte de una “barrera temporal tipo Jersey” hacia los carriles en dirección norte, indicaron los agentes.

También confirmaron que los escombros bloquearon varios carriles en ambas direcciones.

Las autoridades informaron que todos los carriles en dirección sur fueron cerrados y el tráfico estaba siendo desviado fuera de la autopista en la salida 11 cerca de Sample Road. Los carriles interior y central en dirección norte también fueron bloqueados mientras las cuadrillas trabajaban para despejar la carretera y reparar el muro de barrera dañado.

No se reportaron personas heridas.

“This album in particular is what I think fans would say is the most recognized time in our career,” says Maines.

And so, they expect the shows — which will feature them performing “Taking the Long Way” in full as well as additional songs — will also have them reminiscing about the album and the very unusual time that led up to it, on stage.

The moment that changed everything was back in 2003, when then-President George W. Bush was preparing to invade Iraq. The Chicks were playing a show in London when Maines announced that they were ashamed that the president was from Texas. The backlash was swift, and the stuff of industry lore. They were booed on awards shows, radio stations pulled their music and fans destroyed their CDs. There was an apology, and then in 2006, a rescinding of the apology — with the best revenge served in the form of a multiplatinum selling single, “Not Ready to Make Nice.”

“It was definitely inspiring for songwriting,” said Maines of that period. “It felt like life was happening to us, like we weren't steering the ship.”

“Those were hard times for us,” adds Maguire. “It's all the stages of grief … I think we were kind of in that misunderstood, angry, but also really upset and needing an outlet (stage.)”

And so, they wrote the triumphant “Taking the Long Way,” produced by Rick Rubin, after “licking our wounds,” as Strayer puts it.

“Not Ready to Make Nice” came out of that. “It was like, ‘This is solely selfish. This is our lives,'” Maines says of the song. And they were shocked when it connected — but now, they recognize that “people have their own ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ story to tell.”

The album went on to earn them five Grammy Awards, including album, song and record of the year, and marked a transformative moment for the band. And its themes still resonate.

“Re-listening and rehearing those songs, I was surprised how relevant they still seemed and how universal they still seemed even though they were such personal stories,” says Strayer.

Later this year, fans will have the opportunity to relive the “Taking the Long Way” era for a 16-night run that starts at the Fox Theatre in Detroit on Sept. 30 and ends in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre on Nov. 1 and 2. They'll also do two nights in Chicago, New York, San Antonio, Seattle and San Francisco. They'll hit Washington, Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, for one night only.

Tickets will go on sale June 4 at 10 a.m. local time on LiveNation.com.

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The Chicks' ‘Taking the Long Way’ 20th Anniversary Tour Dates

Sept. 30: Detroit — Fox Theatre

Oct. 3: Chicago — The Auditorium

Oct. 4: Chicago — The Auditorium

Oct. 6: Washington — The Anthem

Oct. 12: New York — Beacon Theatre

Oct. 13: New York — Beacon Theatre

Oct. 15: Nashville, Tennessee — The Truth

Oct. 17: San Antonio — Majestic Theatre

Oct. 18: San Antonio — Majestic Theatre

Oct. 20: Austin, Texas — Bass Concert Hall

Oct. 25: Seattle — Benaroya Hall

Oct. 26: Seattle — Benaroya Hall

Oct. 29: San Francisco — The Masonic

Oct. 30: San Francisco — The Masonic

Nov. 1: Los Angeles — Dolby Theatre

Nov. 2: Los Angeles — Dolby Theatre

The weapons systems are Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are used to strike targets deep inside enemy territory, and Patriot and THAAD interceptors that defend against incoming missiles and drones.

“The United States has enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war, but the depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in its new report, provided to The Associated Press. “The time needed to rebuild those inventories has thus become a major concern.”

China has a stated goal of ensuring its military is capable of taking Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, which experts see as more aspirational than a hard deadline. But Chinese President Xi Jinping warned this month that if Washington mishandles its relations with the self-governing island, the U.S. and China could end up clashing or even in open conflict.

Trump administration is boosting funding, but production takes time

The analysis by the Washington think tank factors in the Republican Trump administration's historic $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal for 2027, which significantly accelerates spending on high-end munitions that began under the Democratic Biden administration. While there's bipartisan agreement in Congress to boost inventories, “the problem today isn’t money; it’s time,” the report said.

“It takes time to expand production capacity and to build these complex systems,” the report said, adding that the window of vulnerability will last “for several years until inventories return to their previous levels and another several years before they get to the levels that war planners desire.”

Although munitions inventories are classified, CSIS said sufficient public information exists in Pentagon budget materials to estimate production timelines.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have insisted the U.S. is capable of fighting any war. They have pushed defense contractors to speed up munitions production, with Hegseth telling lawmakers last month that military spending under Trump will help manufacturers double or even triple their capacities.

During Trump’s Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Hegseth lauded the president’s efforts to expand the nation’s defense manufacturing sector, with private contractors investing in new plants and production lines “so that we’re getting weapons faster than ever.”

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the military “has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”

“We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests,” Parnell said.

Some military experts have pushed back. Pentagon officials “knew the reality of our military stockpiles and hopefully told someone, ‘Hey, if we go to this fight, even in the most conservative estimates, we are drawing down our stockpiles to a critical level,’” said Virginia Burger, a senior defense policy analyst at the Project On Government Oversight watchdog group and a former Marine officer.

Concerns about diminished stockpiles were a theme at recent congressional hearings. For Democrats, the munitions supply is a damning metric against the Iran war, which Trump launched without lawmakers' approval. Some Republicans argue that the problem stems from the U.S. sending Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine after Russia invaded in 2022, although several American allies use those systems.

The roots of the predicament can be traced to the end of the Cold War, said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at CSIS who co-authored the study with research associate Chris H. Park.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in late 1991, the U.S. assumed future wars would be short and regional with little need for large numbers of such high-end weapons, Cancian said in an interview. The Pentagon ordered relatively low numbers, assuming the military would not need many of them. Military contractors responded in kind, relying on a relatively small manufacturing footprint to build them.

Russia’s war with Ukraine showed that wars could be protracted and require deep inventories of advanced weapons, Cancian said. At the same time, U.S. military strategists were war-gaming possible conflicts in the western Pacific.

“The thinking started to change, but it just takes time to build inventories,” Cancian said, adding that part of the challenge is bringing up to speed a complicated web of supply chains and subcontractors that produce very novel components.

President Joe Biden's administration should get some credit for starting conversations with the defense industry, putting money into the industrial base and ramping up production, said Cancian, who oversaw acquisitions of military hardware at the Office of Management and Budget under Presidents George W. Bush, a Republican, and Barack Obama, a Democrat.

“A lot of people in the Trump administration are inclined to say that everything was terrible until they arrived, and that’s not true,” Cancian said. “Now, it is true that the Trump administration really increased funding.”

How long it will take to rebuild key stockpiles

The U.S. fired 1,000-plus Tomahawk missiles at Iran, and it could take until late 2030 to fully replenish the prewar inventory, CSIS estimates show.

Fewer than 200 Tomahawks are made a year because of small orders in the past, the report says. However, manufacturer Raytheon has a goal of ramping up capacity to more than 1,000 per year.

RTX, Raytheon's parent company, declined to comment on the CSIS findings because it had not yet seen the report. But RTX pointed to investments of several billion dollars to boost production, including expanding facilities in Alabama and Arizona.

For in-demand air defense systems, replacing as many as 290 THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, interceptors that shot down incoming Iranian drones and missiles could take until the end of 2029, CSIS estimates. Replenishing more than 1,000 Patriot interceptors should wrap up in mid-2029.

Lockheed Martin is significantly boosting production of rounds for both systems, while deliveries of THAADs “were apparently re-sequenced to prioritize U.S. needs over those of allies and partners,” CSIS noted.

"Patriot deliveries pose a dilemma for the United States because of the need to replenish its own inventories, help Ukraine defend against Russian missile attacks, and meet the needs of 17 other countries that use the interceptor," the report said.

Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it's investing $9 billion through 2030 and “is already delivering tangible results to meet heightened munitions demand, including a new facility in Alabama announced last week along with more than 20 others across the United States.”

In the meantime, CSIS said a potential conflict with China is “not all bleak,” with the U.S. military recently displaying its capabilities against Iran, Venezuela and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“China is deeply aware that it has no recent combat experience and that it performed poorly in its last war — against Vietnam in 1979," the report said. "That difference in experience may preserve deterrence until munitions inventories are restored.”

El crimen del senador Manuel Cepeda Vargas, por el que fueron condenados dos militares, marcó su vida y su carrera política que ha dedicado a la defensa de los derechos humanos al fundar el Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado hace dos décadas.

Cepeda, de 63 años, ha dicho que fueron las víctimas quienes más influyeron en su decisión de competir el año pasado en una consulta del oficialista Pacto Histórico que lo impulsó como el candidato principal del progresismo.

Filósofo de profesión y congresista por 16 años, ha encabezado la mayoría de las encuestas publicadas en los últimos meses ganando cierta ventaja sobre los candidatos opositores Paloma Valencia y Abelardo de la Espriella, quienes también puntean entre el grupo de 11 aspirantes.

Heredero de Petro

Cepeda ha dicho que de llegar al poder convocaría a un acuerdo nacional a distintos sectores, incluyendo empresarios y movimientos sociales, para hablar de los principales temas del país y que no descarta que ese diálogo concluya en un proceso para cambiar la Constitución que rige desde 1991.

El saliente mandatario Gustavo Petro, su padrino político, puso en debate el cambio de la carta magna, pero no logró que el Congreso apruebe ponerlo en marcha.

El analista político Sergio Guzmán dijo a The Associated Press que Cepeda representa la continuidad del proyecto político de Petro, quien en su mandato mantuvo disputas con las altas cortes, la banca central y los órganos de control.

“De ser elegido Iván Cepeda no sería más radical que el Petro de 2026, pero sí sería mucho más radical que el Petro de 2022” que al inicio de su gobierno logró una coalición de fuerzas políticas disímiles, sostuvo Guzmán.

Cepeda ha dicho que sostendría y profundizaría las reformas sociales de Petro —como la del sistema laboral y de pensiones— e impulsaría las que faltaron, especialmente la reforma del sistema de salud rechazada por el Congreso.

Lucha contra las élites y defensa de procesos de paz

Cepeda evita las corbatas porque considera que son un símbolo de la oligarquía y la corrupción.

Nació en Bogotá en 1962 en una familia donde la política era parte de la vida cotidiana. Su madre, Yira Castro, integraba la dirigencia del Partido Comunista mientras su padre fue parte de Unión Patriótica, un partido constituido en 1985 tras un infructuoso diálogo de paz entre el gobierno y la guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

Cepeda Vargas fue uno de los más de 6.000 integrantes de la Unión Patriótica asesinados, amenazados, desaparecidos y torturados a partir de 1984 en lo que la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos calificó como un “exterminio” al condenar al Estado colombiano.

Durante la campaña Cepeda ha rechazado señalamientos de sus opositores que intentan ligarlos a él y a su padre con la extinta guerrilla FARC.

“Es un hombre que ha luchado por las víctimas de Colombia, también por la paz, y por eso lo han señalado en esta campaña”, aseguró Aida Quilcué, líder indígena y fórmula vicepresidencial de Cepeda.

Cepeda ha apoyado varios diálogos de paz con grupos armados ilegales, incluido el histórico acuerdo de paz firmado entre las FARC y el Estado en 2016. También fue el negociador nombrado por el gobierno de Petro en la mesa con la guerrilla Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), suspendida desde enero de 2025 tras actos de violencia.

Es el único de los candidatos que ha anticipado que daría continuidad a los diálogos de paz que ha impulsado Petro con múltiples grupos ilegales y bandas urbanas, cuestionados por otros candidatos por su falta de resultados. Pero ha dicho que los evaluará y condicionará a que los armados cesen los ataques contra la población civil y defensores de derechos humanos.

Antagonista del expresidente Uribe

Cepeda ganó reputación dentro del progresismo por ser quien derrotó en la primera instancia de un juicio al influyente expresidente Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) por los delitos de soborno a testigos y fraude procesal por los que el exmandatario fue absuelto en segunda instancia.

Ambos se enfrascaron en una disputa jurídica que terminó el año pasado durante el llamado “juicio del siglo”, por ser la primera vez que en Colombia se juzgaba a un expresidente.

Cepeda ha señalado que aspira a ganar la presidencia para derrotar a la “extrema derecha” y en especial al uribismo, recalcando que durante el gobierno de Uribe se produjeron los “falsos positivos”, como se conoce a las ejecuciones extrajudiciales de civiles presentados como guerrilleros abatidos en combate.

The median employee at companies in the S&P 500 earned $89,744, reflecting a 4.7% increase year over year. While that gain outpaced the rate of inflation in 2025, many workers were still feeling pinched by the accumulation of higher prices over the past few years and had to cut corners to make ends meet and run up credit card debt to pay for everyday necessities.

The Associated Press’ CEO compensation survey, which uses data analyzed for The AP by Equilar, included pay data for 337 executives at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two full consecutive fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between Jan. 1 and April 30.

Here's a look at some highlights from the survey.

The pay gap

At half the companies in AP’s survey it would take the worker at the middle of the company’s pay scale 200 years to make what the CEO did in one, up from 192 years in last year's survey. Companies have been required to disclose this so-called pay ratio since 2018.

While the biggest gaps occur at companies where the CEO received compensation loaded with one-time awards of stock, the pay ratio also tends to be highest at companies in industries where wages are typically low. For instance, at Coca-Cola, its CEO earned nearly 1,739 times the median pay of $17,947 for its workers. The CEO at the retailer TJX Cos. makes about 1,774 times what a worker making the company’s median pay does.

Sarah Anderson, who directs the Global Economy Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, noted in an email that there are ballot initiative campaigns in San Francisco and Los Angeles to raise taxes on companies with sizable gaps between CEO and worker pay.

“At a time when working families are struggling with rising costs, it’s obscene to see CEO pay continuing to skyrocket,” Anderson wrote.

Overall, wages and benefits netted by private-sector workers in the U.S. rose 3.4% through 2025, according to the Labor Department. The average worker in the U.S. makes $67,000 a year. That figure rises to $96,000 when benefits such as health care and other insurance are included.

The nature of CEO pay

While many people may think of a pay package as consisting of salary, bonus and some perks, those components make up only a small percentage of pay for the modern CEO.

Many companies have heeded calls from shareholders to tie CEO compensation more closely to performance. As a result, a large proportion of pay packages consist of stock awards, which the CEO often can’t cash in for years, if at all, unless the company meets certain targets, typically a higher stock price or market value or improved operating profits. And if the CEO delivers on those metrics, companies often give them one-time rewards as incentives to stay on and not look for a bigger payday elsewhere.

Shareholders can weigh in on a CEO's pay package through “say on pay” votes at a company's annual meeting. But the votes are non-binding and most pay plans pass with overwhelming support. The average “yes” vote at companies in this year's survey was around 90%.

Big rewards, lofty goals

As CEO pay has grown significantly over the past few decades, criticism of the lofty payouts has largely come from worker advocates and certain members of Congress.

Elon Musk's pay package is so extraordinary that even the pope weighed in.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla, received compensation valued at $132.3 billion, all in the form of stock awards. To actually get the shares, Musk must meet ambitious targets over the next 10 years for the company's market value and Tesla's electric vehicles, as well as his futuristic goals of developing a fleet of robotaxis and an army of humanoid robots.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shankh Mitra of Welltower received the second-largest compensation package in the survey at $821.1 million, the bulk of it in stock awards. Since October 2020, when he became CEO of the healthcare real estate investment trust, and October 2025, Welltower's stock price tripled. Mitra can only receive the full compensation, beyond a $110,000 annual salary, after a 10-year period.

CEO Hock Tan's pay package at Broadcom, valued at $205.3 million, covers the years 2028-2030 — companies assign a value at the time the package is awarded — and is tied to Tan's ability to greatly increase the revenue Broadcom generates from artificial intelligence, making it one of the few companies at this time to use AI as a benchmark in its compensation plans.

“Use of AI considerations or metrics in incentive plans has not yet taken hold as a majority practice,” said Kelly Malafis, founding partner at Compensation Advisory Partners, in an email, although she expects that could change going forward.

David Zaslav was at the center of a takeover battle that ended with him selling Warner Bros. to Paramount Skydance for $31 a share, up from $12.54 before reports of Paramount’s interest in a deal came out. For negotiating the deal at a premium and also exceeding certain financial and strategic goals, Warner gave Zaslav a pay package valued at $165 million, fourth largest in the survey. Since becoming CEO in 2007, Zaslav's compensation has totaled $1.1 billion, according to Equilar.

Big payouts for bankers

CEOs of three the nation's biggest banks got rewarded for yearslong efforts to retool their companies and revive a stagnant stock price.

Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon's pay package totaled almost $119 million — including stock valued at $80 million he can receive after five years. Goldman's board pointed to the 57% gain in the company's shares, as well as a hefty increase in its earnings per share. Solomon also sold off the company's Apple Card portfolio after an unsuccessful effort to expand Goldman's consumer-focused business.

Jane Fraser of Citigroup received a pay package valued at $95.8 million — tops among the 27 women CEOs in this year's survey and the highest-ever for a woman CEO in the survey's history. Fraser received a one-time award valued at $25 million in restricted stock and options after being elected Citi's chairman. She also got a one-time award for overseeing a wholesale reorganization of Citi into a leaner company, including laying off thousands of workers.

Overall, the median compensation for women CEOs in the survey fell 2.6% to $18.1 million, compared to a 6.4% increase for their male counterparts to $17.7 billion.

Wells Fargo gave CEO Charles Scharf a pay package worth $94.5 million after his yearslong effort to lead the bank back from a scandal involving fake bank accounts that landed Wells under federal supervision. And new scandals emerged along the way. The Federal Reserve finally let Wells leave the penalty box last year.

Other notables

In his last year as CEO of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett received compensation worth $389,488 — down 4% from the year prior.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg's compensation was valued at $25.1 million and almost all of it involved costs for the company to provide security for him and his family, as well as the use of corporate aircraft.

Jensen Huang of Nvidia, the most valuable publicly traded company, got a pay package valued at $36.3 million. He didn't make the AP survey because Nvidia filed its proxy after April 30.

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Editors Dorothea Degen and Paul Harloff, and reporters Bernard Condon, Matt Ott, Alex Veiga, Ken Sweet and Chris Rugaber contributed.

“It’s going to be an extravagant moment, so come with your A-game,” Ross said in an interview with Local 10’s Alexis Frazier.

Ross says this tour is about celebrating how far the culture — and the city of Miami — have come.

If you’re going, don’t just show up. Come dressed to impress and ready to show out.

Hip-hop artists have performed with live instruments before, but Ross says this experience takes things to another level.

“Shout out to all the other artists who’ve done their thing. When I first saw Jay-Z do it — Jeezy has done it too — but I haven’t seen it like this, with a full orchestra and full choir," he said.

And there’s something poetic about the fact that it all starts in Miami — the city that helped build the boss.

Twenty years later, “Hustlin’” is still one of his most streamed songs.

“When I recorded ‘Everyday I’m Hustlin’,’ there was no way I could imagine 20 summers later, people still playing it,” Ross said.

And after two decades in the game, the Boss says he’s still hungry.

“The legacy ain’t going nowhere,” a humbled Ross said.

In addition to touring, Ross just released a new book.

The “Port of Miami 20” tour kicks off Friday at the James L. Knight Center.

Click here for ticket information and more.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth celebrated the U.S. military’s strength, even as a new analysis shows it could take three years for defense contractors to replenish the key weapons systems used in the Iran war. Trump also praised his administration’s work to stamp out fraud, saying his administration is “bringing our country back to honesty.”

Here's the Latest:

South African government and Afrikaners reject US claim of a humanitarian emergency for white people

The South African government and advocacy groups for the country’s Afrikaner white minority on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s position that there’s a humanitarian emergency affecting white people in South Africa.

The argument served as the administration’s rationale for raising the U.S. refugee cap by 10,000, but only for white South Africans. The Trump administration announced the increase on Tuesday and cited “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation.”

The South African government calls these allegations unfounded, saying some beneficiaries of the refugee program have chosen to return to South Africa. Around 6,000 South Africans have moved to the U.S. since the Afrikaner program started last year, according to the U.S. government.

Afrikaner groups such as Solidariteit and AfriForum say that refugee status isn’t a solution, and they aim to improve conditions in South Africa. Critics argue the U.S. decision prioritizes white South Africans over refugees from war-torn regions.

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Iran insists on peace in Lebanon as part of a US deal as Israeli-Hezbollah fighting expands

The Israeli military on Wednesday told residents across southern Lebanon to leave as it expands its operations and applies “extreme force” against Hezbollah militants. Already, Israeli troops clashing with Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters have pushed north of the strategic Litani river as Lebanon and Israeli delegations head to talks in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the expansion amid a surge in Hezbollah’s exploding drone attacks.

More than one million people in Lebanon have been displaced, and over 3,200 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, since open warfare began on March 2 with Hezbollah rockets fired toward Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 23 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed, along with two civilians.

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Alabama attorney general says state did not intentionally discriminate against Black voters

Steve Marshall also said Alabama should be allowed to hold new elections this year under a map chosen by lawmakers, not judges.

More than 879,000 voters cast ballots statewide in Alabama’s May 19 primaries, using a court-ordered map that led to the 2024 election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. State Republicans want voters to return to the polls and use their map instead. It would reduce the Black voting age population in his district from 48% to 39% to reclaim the seat for the GOP.

Alabama’s GOP-controlled legislature already voided the May 19 results in the four districts affected by the map switch. Marshall is asking for Supreme Court action by Monday as the state prepares for new special primaries for Aug. 11 in those districts.

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Trump ends public portion of latest Cabinet meeting

Trump wrapped up the public portion of his latest Cabinet meeting after roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The U.S. president started the meeting shortly before noon. He talked about his renovation and architectural plans for Washington, as well as the Iran war, efforts to lower prescription drug prices and the vice president’s task force on fraud, among other subjects.

“We’re doing great,” Trump said before dismissing the reporters in attendance. “Our country is doing fantastically well, and this group of people is outstanding.”

Trump says he opposes Russia or China retrieving Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile

“That would not make me comfortable,” the president said.

The two countries have the closest relations with Tehran. Nuclear analysts have said either country could serve as a potentially acceptable third party to the Iranian Republic to take possession of the enriched uranium, which could be used to make a nuclear weapon, as part of a potential deal with the U.S. to end the war.

But Trump seemed to shut down that possibility Wednesday.

Under a 2015 deal negotiated by President Barack Obama, Russia took a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that Iran had at the time.

Trump spends 5 minutes talking about Reflecting Pool project

The president elaborated on the project with painstaking detail. He introduced his lengthy tangent as “a slightly smaller subject,” then walked through work on the 2,400-foot pool between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, saying it’ll be done by July 4.

“We cleaned it. We fumigated it. We had 10 major truck – dumpsters of garbage taken out. Can you believe it?” Trump said, blaming his Democratic predecessors for the “disgusting” conditions and disrepair.

“We made the surface as good as it can be,” Trump said. “And we’re now covering it with the most beautiful blue, very thick – you can think of it as a very sophisticated form of rubber. No leaks. No problems. And it’s beautiful. It’s called American flag blue.”

Trump at one point justified his intense oversight: “I’ve built hundreds of pools,” he said, later adding, “It’s not as simple as people think.”

Trump says deal on Iran has ‘got to be perfect’

Saying “I’m not sure we should make the deal” on Iran if additional countries don’t join the Abraham Accords — the U.S.-brokered agreements from Trump’s first term aimed at normalizing relations with Israel — Trump said he’s “requesting strongly” that others, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar sign on.

But asked by reporters at the Cabinet meeting if an Iran deal were contingent on that act, Trump added, “I don’t want to say that.”

Trump also said that, while he felt a “good deal” with Iran could be achieved now, he preferred “a great deal,” and then said the agreement must be even better than that.

“It’s got to be perfect,” Trump said. “I didn’t do this to get a crummy agreement.”

Trump defends New Jersey detention center where protesters and federal officers have clashed

“We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world — of their type — but we have some horrible killers,” Trump said Wednesday when asked about an immigration detention center where some detainees have been on a hunger strike to protest conditions.

Recent protests at the center have drawn elected Democrats including Sen. Andy Kim, who said officers shot pepper spray at him and others this week.

Asked by Trump to weigh in, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Kim “probably shouldn’t have been there.”

“The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want,” Mullin said of the detainees. “This isn’t Holiday Inn.”

Trump says ‘Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up’

The president made the comment Wednesday after being asked whether he would accept a deal allowing Iran and Oman to share control the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking at his Cabinet meeting, he said the strait must be open to everyone and that no one can control it, though he said the U.S. will “watch over it.”

After issuing the threat to Oman, Trump added: “They understand that. They’ll be fine.”

Bessent channels Biden era and calls higher inflation ‘transitory’

Bessent just dropped a “T” word to describe inflation — echoing past remarks by two of Trump’s favorite targets, former President Joe Biden and former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, that higher prices would soon fade.

“In terms of prices, I believe the prices are transitory,” Bessent said. “Oil will be lower than preconflict levels when this ends.”

He was repeating an administration talking point that energy prices will plummet once the Iran war comes to a close. But his remarks contained a degree of irony.

Powell’s past use of “transitory” and Biden’s use of “temporary” came to haunt them. That’s because inflation remained persistently high as the economy emerged from the pandemic and was slower to ease than the public expected. The words formed the basis of attacks by Republicans and helped return Trump to the White House.

Bessent says Trump Accounts app coming Thursday

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during the Cabinet meeting that the app would launch “on all major platforms.”

A provision of Trump’s tax legislation, Trump Accounts are meant to give $1,000 to every newborn, so long as their parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the child can access the money when they turn 18.

Calling it a “great symbol of the 250th anniversary,” Bessent said that “nearly 6 million kids” had been signed up for the accounts, which officially launch July 4.

Trump says World War II Memorial fountain is next in line for renovation

The president said his administration will turn to the war memorial after finishing an overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

“Now we’re looking at the World War II fountain, because that’s also in pretty bad shape on the bottom,” Trump said Wednesday at his Cabinet meeting. “We’re going to duplicate it, I think with the — maybe with a slightly different color. Actually, we’ll go with a lighter color.”

Trump ordered the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be resurfaced in what he calls “American flag blue” after he said a friend complained about the condition of the pool.

The World War II Memorial sits at the east end of the reflecting pool, featuring stone pillars and arches surrounding an oval fountain.

Trump said he and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum “have a lot of fun” with the renovations.

Trump says anti-fraud work is ‘bringing our country back to honesty’

The president devoted a long stretch of his Cabinet meeting to a recap of the vice president’s anti-fraud task force, which officials see as a winning issue ahead of midterm elections.

Vance highlighted efforts to stop fraud and misuse in social programs from Medicare and Medicaid to federal student aid. Vance said officials have found tens of billions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare fraud, adding that “we’re going to find a lot more.”

Trump congratulated officials on the effort, saying it’s a “tremendous amount of money.”

Rubio: No Ebola patients allowed in the US

The Trump administration “cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States” amid the ongoing outbreak overseas, Rubio said in the Cabinet meeting.

Rubio said the State Department and other agencies are working “very, very hard to contain this crisis to the countries where it’s currently located, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

The comments come as the Trump administration has said it is setting up a facility in Kenya where Americans exposed to Ebola can be sent for quarantine and treatment.

Rubio says having ‘failed state’ Cuba so close to the US is a ‘national security threat’

The secretary of state said “Cuba’s in a lot of trouble” and being run by “incompetent communists.”

He didn’t offer any details on U.S. actions related to the island, including a possible intervention, which Trump has hinted might be coming.

But Rubio said of Cuba: “Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States.”

Rubio says ‘diplomacy is always the first option’ on Iran

Asked to give an update on negotiations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he felt “there’s been some progress” on discussions with Iran and said the “next few hours and days” would yield more information.

Seated at Trump’s right hand, the country’s chief diplomat stressed that, while the president has “other options” if talks don’t yield the U.S.’ desired outcome, Rubio added, “We prefer the negotiated, diplomatic route, and we’re going to give it every chance to succeed.”

Trump said Rubio had been “all over the place” in recent days. The secretary of state returned to the U.S. last night after a five-day trip that included stops in Sweden and India.

Zelenskyy asks Trump for more US air defense help against Russian missile attacks, Kyiv says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written to Trump and Congress asking for more American-made air defense ammunition to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks, Kyiv said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have backed a bill to draft bank employees to fight against Ukraine’s long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia — with trained bank staff shooting down the unmanned aircraft.

As aerial attacks by both sides escalate in the more than four-year war, Anne Keast-Butler, head of U.K.’s intelligence agency GCHQ, asserted that Russian President Vladimir “Putin is going backwards on the battlefield,” and new data shows “almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began.”

Zelenskyy’s letter, obtained by The Associated Press, says deliveries of Patriot PAC-3 missiles and other air defense systems are falling dangerously short as the Iran war diverts U.S. stocks.

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Trump, looking to move his Cabinet meeting along, suggests not all officials will speak

The president said he’d limit speaking roles in the Cabinet meeting to Vance, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Kelly Loeffler, small business administrator.

“And maybe, if you have some questions, we’ll go to others,” he told reporters.

“But everybody around here has got a lot to say,” Trump said. “But we did that once, and it lasted for like four or five hours. It was a little much.”

Trump’s Cabinet meetings often feature top officials spending long periods of time praising him. That’s led to marathon sessions, though not quite as long as he suggested.

Last summer, one such meeting exceeded three hours.

Trump says his fraud task force will save Social Security. The numbers say otherwise

The U.S. president said at his Cabinet meeting that Social Security payments will be rescued by the crackdown on fraud by a task force led by Vice President JD Vance — a claim undermined by the numbers for the social insurance program.

“I think we have a chance to save Social Security without doing anything to it,” Trump said. “We’re going to make our Social Security so strong.”

The government said last year that Social Security’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034. That’s because the cost of the benefits for an aging population are exceeding payroll tax revenues.

There is no sign that stopping improper payments would be sufficient to close the gap, as the government estimated they were 3.8% of Social Security expenditures in fiscal 2025.

Despite Social Security’s deteriorating finances under his watch, Trump said it “would be bankrupt” if Democrats were in power.

Trump doubles down that midterms don’t affect his Iran strategy

The president suggested that Iranian leaders think upcoming U.S. elections give them leverage over Trump because of his lagging approval ratings. If so, they’re flat wrong, Trump said.

“They thought they were gonna out-wait me. You know, ’We’ll out-wait him. He’s got the midterms,” Trump said. “I don’t care about the midterms.”

The president alluded to his preferred Texas GOP Senate nominee, Ken Paxton, trouncing Sen. John Cornyn.

“That was the prelude to the midterms,” the president insisted.

To be clear, Trump’s hold over the GOP is unquestioned at this point. But that doesn’t seamlessly translate to November victories – and even many Republicans are nervous that Trump’s standing and GOP nominees like Paxton will drag the party down in the fall as Democrats try to flip control of Capitol Hill.

Trump mixes up U.S. military operations, saying Venezuela when he meant Iran

Early in his Cabinet meeting, the president was trying to downplay the war in Iran, saying, “I don’t call it a war. I call it a conflict.”

“Despite the conflict with Venezuela, who no longer has a navy, no longer has an air force, no longer has a lot of people that were leading the country into very bad places,” Trump said, mixing up that South American country with Iran.

U.S. forces ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to face drug charges. before the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran.

He later added of Iran and talks about the ongoing ceasefire, “They’re negotiating on fumes,” but also renewed threats to renew major U.S. attacks, “Maybe we have to go back and finish it, maybe we don’t.”

Trump Cabinet meeting begins

It’s the first meeting of the president’s Cabinet since Tulsi Gabbard announced that she would step down as director of national intelligence, effective June 30, due to her husband’s health.

Gabbard is the fourth Cabinet member to depart during Trump’s second term, all of them women.

The meeting also comes at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after Trump insisted that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.

Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow use of congressional map ruled racially biased

Alabama on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year’s elections, despite a court ruling that the redistricting plan intentionally discriminates against Black people.

The state’s Republican leadership filed an emergency appeal with the justices a day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts.

The judges instead required Alabama to continue using a court-ordered map put in place for the 2024 elections that includes two districts where Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.

The appeal is the latest development in the fallout from last month’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

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South Africa rejects Trump’s claim that Afrikaners need US refuge

The South African government and advocacy groups for its Afrikaner white minority on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s position that there’s a humanitarian emergency affecting white people in the country.

The argument served as the administration’s rationale for raising the U.S. refugee cap, but only for white Afrikaners. The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will admit an additional 10,000 white South Africans into the U.S. as refugees this year, while blocking refugees from other countries.

Trump blamed the government for “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence,” without providing details that could be fact-checked. AfriForum, a lobbying organization for Afrikaners with more than 300,000 members, said it “does not have information” regarding the assertion of an emergency refugee situation.

Advocates say Trump’s decision has stranded people fleeing war and strife around the world.

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Kenya says protecting its own citizens from Ebola is ‘paramount’

Kenya’s health minister has confirmed discussions with the United States and other international partners amid growing public concern about Ebola.

Aden Duale’s statement Wednesday did not confirm, however, that the talks involve the U.S. establishing Ebola treatment facility in Nairobi.

“The Government of Kenya notes ongoing discussions with the US government and other global partners regarding international collaboration on strengthening preparedness and response mechanisms for Ebola Virus Disease and other emerging public health threats,” Duale said.

“Any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards, and the government’s responsibility to safeguard the health and welfare of Kenyans,” said Duale. “Protection of Kenyan citizens, frontline health workers and communities remains paramount.”

▶ See AP Photos of Ebola’s impact in Congo and Uganda

The 39-year-old Djokovic was pushed by 74th-ranked French player Valentin Royer — who is 15 years younger than him — for more than 3½ hours before he reached the third round with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (7), 6-3 victory.

For the fourth straight day of this year’s tournament, the temperature rose above 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit).

“It was a very, very difficult match in difficult conditions” Djokovic said. “A big challenge for me. ... Experience helped me a lot.”

When Djokovic won a key point early in the fourth set with a forehand that he whipped around the net post from far off the court, the 24-time Grand Slam champion waved his arms toward the crowd inside Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Djokovic wasted a chance to close the match out earlier when he missed a backhand long in the third-set tiebreaker then required four more match points in his final service game before a forehand from Royer landed in the net to conclude a long rally.

When it was finally over after 3 hours and 44 minutes, Djokovic first nearly stumbled to the clay. Then he performed his violin celebration, acting as if he were playing the strings on his racket like the musical instrument.

Before arriving in Paris, Royer had earned only one tour-level win across 11 tournaments he played this season.

Djokovic came to Roland Garros with questions over his form after getting beat in his only clay-court match before the tournament. He lost to Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic at the Italian Open after two months out due to a right shoulder injury.

But Djokovic is playing himself back into form after coming back from a set down to beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, another Frenchman, in a first-round match that lasted nearly three hours.

Djokovic improved to 14-0 in his career against Frenchmen at Roland Garros and reached the third round in Paris for a 21st straight year. He raised the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy in 2016, 2021 and 2023.

“Hopefully I won’t face another Frenchman until the end of the tournament,” Djokovic said with a laugh during his on-court interview. “Oh my God, I’ve had enough.”

One duo of Djokovic fans inside the main stadium held up a sign with a goat on it — for “Greatest of All Time” — that read “39 is the new 29.”

Up next for Djokovic is potentially a bigger test against either 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca or the 20-year-old Prizmic, who were playing later. Fonseca has been touted as a future Grand Slam contender, while Djokovic himself pointed to big things ahead for Prizmic after their meeting in Rome.

Jakub Mensik collapsed to the clay because of cramps and had a tough time getting up after edging Mariano Navone in a fifth-set tiebreaker. The match lasted 4 hours, 41 minutes.

Then in the next match on Court 6, Hailey Baptiste was forced to retire while facing a set point against Wang Xiyu after landing awkwardly on her left leg.

Later, second-seeded Alexander Zverev was playing Tomas Machac in the night session.

Ukraine gets 3 wins

Elena Rybakina, this year’s Australian Open winner, was beaten by Ukrainian opponent Yuliia Starodubtseva 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Also advancing were in-form Ukrainians Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk, who are coming off trophies at the Madrid Open and Italian Open, respectively.

The seventh-seeded Svitolina beat Kaitlin Quevedo 6-0, 6-4 to extend her winning streak to eight matches. The 15th-seeded Kostyuk beat Katie Volynets 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 to extend her winning streak to 13 matches.

“I’m most pleased that I didn’t cramp to death or didn’t pass out during this match,” Kostyuk said after her match, which lasted nearly three hours. “It was not easy for everyone.”

Swiatek improves Paris record to 42-3

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek improved her career record at Roland Garros to 42-3 by eliminating 35th-ranked Sara Bejlek 6-2, 6-3.

Swiatek won Roland Garros in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Swiatek next faces Magda Linette in the first all-Polish meeting at Roland Garros in the professional era (since 1968). Linette eliminated 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

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AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.

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

Pilgrims in Mina, Saudi Arabia, chanted “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) while throwing pebbles in a ritual seen as a symbolic stoning of the devil. The act is also seen as a symbol of rejecting evil and a commemoration of the Prophet Ibrahim’s rejection of temptation when the devil tried to dissuade him from submitting to God’s will.

Large crowds of pilgrims moved through the sprawling Jamarat complex after arriving from Muzdalifah, where they collected pebbles overnight following a day of worship and prayer at Arafat on Tuesday.

Aamar Shakur, a pilgrim from Pakistan, said he saw the pebble throwing as a symbol of confronting personal struggles in which he was “throwing the stone to my own devil.”

The last days of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia coincide with Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” which marks the willingness of Ibrahim, known as Abraham to Christians and Jews, to sacrifice his son. During the holiday, Muslims typically slaughter sheep or cattle and distribute some of the meat to poor people.

The Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is required once in a lifetime of every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able. Performed over several days, the Hajj can be a deeply moving spiritual experience and a chance to seek God’s forgiveness.

A joyous occasion subdued for some

The physically demanding Hajj has been held this year in intense heat, which appeared to take a toll on some as they moved between holy sites. Medical teams stationed across Mina were seen treating several pilgrims.

Many poured water over their heads and faces to cool themselves under the scorching sun, while others carried umbrellas. Some pushed elderly relatives and loved ones in wheelchairs through the crowds toward the pillars so they could complete the ritual.

The Hajj brings together large numbers of Muslims of diverse races, ethnicities, languages and socioeconomic classes, creating a sense of unity for many.

More than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived from abroad, a Saudi official said Friday.

This year's Hajj takes place against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war and related uncertainty throughout the region.

Eid al-Adha is a typically a joyous occasion, marked with communal prayers, food and festive gatherings with loved ones. In some places, though, conflicts and economic pressures, are dampening festivities for many.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, Muslim worshippers have joined communal prayers in the mosques and streets.

Lebanon is observing Eid al-Adha amid an ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Many of the displaced people in the country are sheltering in tented settlements or public schools repurposed as shelters, a far cry from the normalcy of spending the occasion among friends and family in their hometowns.

“There is no Eid for us. We are displaced, forced to leave our land, our homes, our livelihoods, while our memories are being destroyed,” said Rabee Khreis, who fled the village of Khiyam where intense fighting has taken place.

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict appeared more nominal by the day, complicating efforts at a broader peace in the Iran war.

‘Only for the people who lost no one’

In the Gaza Strip, where the Israel-Hamas war that began in October, 2023, has devastated the territory and its people, Palestinians are observing a subdued Eid al-Adha under a fragile ceasefire and rampant suffering and displacement.

“This is not Eid... we’re dead,” said Mahmoud Saqer, a displaced man from Khan Younis.

In Khan Younis and Gaza City, amid destroyed buildings, worshippers gathered for Eid prayers with few signs of celebration as the typical joy of Eid eluded many.

“There’s no Eid. My children were killed,” said Ayda Al-Banna, a displaced woman from Gaza City, who prayed Eid prayers with her granddaughter. “Eid is only for the people who lost no one.”

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 72,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, caused widespread destruction and displaced most of the territory’s residents. 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.

Israel launched the offensive after Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage in an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. While the heaviest fighting has mostly subsided since a fragile ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce. Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

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Fam reported from Winter Park, Florida. Associated Press journalists Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Ali Sharafeddine in Beirut, and Andi Jatmiko in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed.

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

Inside wooden boxes tucked away in Broward County parks, thousands of bees buzz nonstop — building, feeding, protecting, producing. It’s nature’s busiest workforce.

“They’re our friends. It’s very important that we have bees around — for our food, for our flowers, for our ecosystem,” said Julie Mongerson with the Broward Beekeepers Association.

Behind the buzz is a group of volunteers on a mission — focused on helping the hives thrive while turning fear into fascination.

The Broward Beekeepers Association manages three micro-apiaries, where members gather to share knowledge, care for the hives and help protect the bee population.

The club also opens its apiaries to the public once a month — giving visitors a chance to see the work up close, learn about beekeeping and get a taste of life inside the hive.

“The cohesion of a colony. Everyone has to put in the work and do their job and do their role for the colony to be strong and to work,” Mongerson said. “What’s good for the bee is good for the colony. What’s good for the colony is good for the bee and I think we can all learn a little bit about that.”

During a recent open house, club member Dale Kern walked visitors through what sometimes looks like chaos — from identifying drones to breaking down the different ways that bees communicate, select a queen or even ventilate the hive.

Beekeepers also demonstrated how smokers are used to safely calm the hive during inspections, giving visitors an up-close look at the organized chaos happening inside the box.

“If I’m going through their hive, imagine it’s their house. I’m taking off the roof, I’m rummaging through their rooms, their pantry, everything,” Mongerson said. “They might be a little like, ‘Hey, what’s happening here?’ What we use the smoke for is just to kind of mask the scent of any kind of danger pheromone that they might be feeling.”

The monthly events continue drawing visitors of all ages — many looking to reconnect with nature and better understand the tiny pollinators playing a major role in the environment.

Club members can keep their own hives at the park, help maintain the apiaries and connect with others who share an interest in bees, honey production and conservation.

Click here to join the club or attend an open house.

To submit an idea for What Connects Us, email whatconnectsus@wplg.com.

The “Everest Summiteers Summit” in Nepal's capital was held during what is believed to be the most crowded season ever on the world's highest peak, with hundreds of climbers and their Sherpa guides scaling the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak in just a few days this month.

A growing number of climbers

Nepal issued a record 494 permits for foreign climbers this season, with the number of people who reached the summit believed to be more than 900. That would be the highest number to ever reach the summit during the spring climbing season. The final official number will be available only later.

A sherpa guide who recently achieved the a record of the most ascents — 32 — warned that the numbers are creating problems.

“Nepal should only allow no more than 250 climbers that are issued permit to climb from the Nepal side,” Kami Rita Sherpa said. “It will be good if the government was to limit the number.”

In recent times photos shared from the mountain have shown lines of hundreds of climbers stuck in traffic jams, clipped to fixed ropes and waiting for the chance to reach the summit.

Keeping Mount Everest clean

With hundreds of climbers, their guides and workers, there are some 3,000 people living on Mount Everest during the climbing season, which ends this month. It has remained a challenge to remove all their waste when tents are pulled down.

There are strict government rules requiring climbers to remove their garbage but much gets left behind anyway. Climbers say keeping the mountain pristine should remain a priority.

“We should take the rubbish from the mountain and we should protect our Himalayas,” said He Jing, a renowned Chinese climber.

Climbing is tougher than what appears on social media

Currently anyone can apply for permit as long as they pay $15,000 to the government as a permit fee.

But now the Nepalese government is working on new regulations requiring them to have experience.

Nathaniel Douglas, a climber from Seattle, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference that he sees people who have never climbed a mountain who hope to scale Everest after seeing images on social media.

“So they really don’t understand what mountaineering is, like what it actually takes to summit Mount Everest and get back down safely,” he said.

Warmer weather means added risks

British mountaineer Adriana Brownlee, the youngest woman to climb all 14 highest peaks, said the weather on the mountains was getting warmer, increasing the risks for climbers.

“Every year the (Khumbu) Icefall seems more unstable because of global warming,” she said. adding that water underneath is melting faster, causing the seracs — blocks of ice — to fall much easier because of the movement underneath.

A huge serac hanging dangerously over the route just above the base camp forced climbers to delay their climb last month.

Lloyd wasn't sure what to tell them, but she knew the confusing new policy would slow down applications.

“It has a chilling effect because we have some cases that we were going to proceed and I can tell already, we should wait and see what’s going on," she said.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that foreigners in the U.S. who want a green card will need to leave and apply in their home country, barring some unspecified exceptions.

The announcement, which potentially affects hundreds of thousands of green card applicants a year, was the latest immigration policy unveiled by Trump's Republican administration to stun and confound lawyers, advocates and immigrants. It's also part of a pivot by the administration to target legal pathways to immigration, after focusing since last year mostly on migrants in the U.S. illegally.

“This is simply an attempt to try to limit and scare people away from the legal immigration process,” immigration attorney Charles Kuck said, adding that he expected legal action against the change. “This is a scare tactic.”

As worried immigrants and their employers flood immigration law offices with questions, it's unclear what the effect will be, what exceptions might be allowed and how the policy will play out on the ground.

Some green card seekers were already facing questions about why they should be allowed to apply from the U.S.

A confusing rollout for the new policy

For more than half a century, foreign nationals with legal status have been able to apply for and complete the process for permanent residence in the United States — including people married to U.S. citizens, holders of work and student visas, and refugees and political asylum-seekers, among others.

That appeared to change suddenly on Friday, when USCIS announced the shift on its website.

“From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances," the agency said.

USCIS also issued a more detailed policy memo designed as guidance for its staffers who decide these cases. Immigration experts who were trying to decipher the news said the memo was more nuanced, leading to confusion over what the change actually entailed.

In response to questions from The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday the shift wouldn't prevent anyone “who legitimately and properly” qualifies from obtaining a green card although it will result in some people having to apply overseas with the State Department. The department said the policy would have “no noticeable impact on highly qualified applicants and skilled professionals who have followed the law.”

One immigration law firm, Boundless Immigration, in a blog post on its website stating its interpretation of the policy, said officers were being instructed to “apply existing discretionary standards more rigorously” but surmised that the policy doesn't completely stop the adjustment of status process for “eligible applicants” depending on the category of visa they have.

The company cited previous policy memos about citizenship acquisition that had not prompted harsher steps in practice.

Immigration firms and advocates left guessing who'll be impacted

Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the guidance may be targeting people who overstayed their visas, such as the parent of a U.S. citizen who remained after a visa expired, an employee of a company who transferred to the U.S. or people in the country on visas specific to clergy and other religious workers.

“It seems like maybe who they’re targeting is potentially those whose period of stay lapsed while they were here,” she said.

Kevin Miner, a partner with the immigration law firm Fragomen, said he expected that people on employment-based visas, like H-1Bs, would be exempt. Known as dual-intent, these visas allow people on nonimmigrant visas in the U.S. to seek a green card. Those dual-intent visas were specifically mentioned in the memo as areas of possible exception.

“Those probably are cases that will continue to precede business as usual and that we won’t see a significant impact,” said Miner, who said the announcement Friday took people by surprise.

Matthew Soerens, the U.S. director of church mobilization for World Relief, an organization that helps resettle refugees in the U.S., said language in the memo referring to cases in which immigrants have to adjust their status in the U.S. gives the organization “hope” and “expectation” that the guidance doesn't apply to refugees.

Refugees are people who are fleeing their homeland who meet a specific set of criteria to be admitted to the U.S. after lengthy vetting. They are required to do that green card processing a year after arriving in the U.S. and can't go home because of the risks they'd face there, Soerens said.

Trump's administration has slashed the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. this year and limited them to white South Africans.

People who entered the country under humanitarian parole, which allows presidents to admit people for humanitarian reasons and which President Joe Biden's Democratic administration expanded dramatically, could also be impacted, Soerens said.

Many of those people might have already had family in the U.S. or they married a U.S. citizen — both of which potentially give them pathways to apply for a green card that could now be complicated.

All of these nuances make it difficult to provide general legal advice to people, said Dalal-Dheini.

“It’s going to be a very case by case specific thing," she said.

Immigrants facing questions about their applications, group says

The American Immigration Lawyers Association said several people in green card interviews under the new guidance faced questions Tuesday that haven’t previously been asked of applicants.

One person who was applying to get a green card based off their marriage to a U.S. citizen was asked why they applied to adjust their status in the U.S. instead of going back to their home country and applying at the embassy there. They were asked if there were any factors that would prevent them from applying back at their home country and if they still had family there.

Another person was asked to file a form demonstrating why they should be allowed to apply from the U.S. and were told evidence should prove they wouldn't be a financial burden or a “public charge” on the U.S. and could include their 2025 tax return, a letter from an employer stating their salary and bank statements.

Lloyd, the immigration attorney, said she has sent emails to her corporate and noncorporate clients telling them that she is monitoring the situation and she will reach out to them as soon as she has more guidance and practical applications.

She said she thinks the policy will deter some companies from pursuing green cards for their clients.

“I don’t want everybody to panic,” she said. “My advice to them is wait and see.”

The shortage and high prices are largely due to a blockade of Bamako announced earlier this month by fighters from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an al-Qaida-linked group. The militants regularly attack convoys of trucks and vehicles transporting goods to the capital, often setting them ablaze.

Landlocked Mali depends heavily on fuel and goods trucked in from coastal neighbors like Senegal and Ivory Coast. The militants' blockade is designed to strangle the country's economy and undermine the military government’s legitimacy, analysts say.

The blockade is not total, as the armed groups avoid holding roadblocks for long, fearing retaliation from the Malian army, and goods continue to trickle into Bamako, staving off an outright food shortage for now.

Nonetheless, it has driven up prices for some goods like meat and led to fuel shortages, forcing residents to line up at the few gas stations still selling fuel.

Since September 2025, the group had already enforced a stifling road blockade on oil imports.

Mountaga Touré, 38, a teacher, said he visited several livestock markets before ultimately giving up on buying a sheep for the feast, saying the price of sheep has almost doubled since the blockade was announced.

“The small sheep that used to cost $177 are now $266 or more,” Touré said.

In some neighborhoods of Bamako, residents have swapped the traditional sheep for cows, pooling money to purchase one so they can have meat during the important Muslim holiday in West Africa.

The blockade follows sweeping, coordinated attacks by separatist and jihadi forces across Mali last month, the largest in the country in over a decade.

Mali has been plagued by insurgencies fought by militants affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist rebellion in the country’s north for over a decade.

Following a 2020 military coup, the ruling junta turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened in recent times, analysts say, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces and Russian mercenaries have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.

The Malian army and its Russian Africa Corps mercenaries are circumventing the blockade by escorting convoys of trucks carrying goods and fuel to supply markets in Bamako. The military also regularly says it struck positions held by armed groups.

But the escorts and strikes have not been enough to adequately supply the capital, residents say.

“Usually, I bring up to 200 sheep to Bamako to sell during Tabaski," said Amadou Cissé, 45, a livestock trader specializing in Eid sheep, using the West African word for the holiday. "But this year I barely brought 50 because there is not enough space in army-escorted trucks.”

Cissé said the sheep he ordered are still in Diema, a town some 345 km (215 miles) west of Bamako, where many animals bound for the capital originate.

“I was told more escorted convoys would be organized, but so far none have left Diema, so I doubt the sheep will arrive before the holiday,” he said.

Drissa Traoré, who has been selling sheep in Bamako for over a decade, said supply has dropped significantly recently. “This year, we have barely half the number of sheep we usually have during Tabaski,” he said.

The insecurity has also affected the travel plans of many.

Sidi Diarra, an employee at a major financial institution in Bamako, said he usually celebrates the holiday with his parents in Segou, around 240 km (150 miles) from the capital.

“This year, I am afraid to go because of attacks by extremist groups. It is safer to stay in Bamako,” he said.

While there are certain qualities that you’re just not going to find in a budget-priced vehicle — powerful acceleration, for example, or leather seating — the five vehicles here all come with a respectable amount of features for the price. In Edmunds’ evaluation testing, they also earned average or better overall scoring. Another bonus is that each one gets good fuel economy, helping you save money when it comes time to refuel. All listed prices below include the destination fee.

Hyundai Venue

The Venue is Hyundai’s subcompact SUV that also happens to be the least expensive vehicle for the 2026 model year. The base Venue SE trim isn’t as well equipped as some of the other entry-level vehicles listed here, but it does have an 8-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In testing, Edmunds found the Venue has a useful interior fitted with easy-to-use controls. You also get a long warranty and an EPA-estimated 31 mpg combined city/highway average. One thing that isn’t available is the option to add all-wheel drive, however. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 6/10

2026 Venue starting price: $22,650

Chevrolet Trax

Like the Venue, the Trax is a five-seat subcompact SUV that serves as Chevrolet’s smallest and least expensive model. It’s also strictly front-wheel-drive; all-wheel drive isn’t available on any trim. Edmunds praised the surprising amount of interior space given the Trax’s tidy proportions. Another cabin highlight is the easy-to-use 8-inch touchscreen with wireless smartphone connectivity that comes on the base LS trim. Higher trims are outfitted with an 11-inch screen. The EPA estimates you’ll get up to 30 mpg combined with the Trax. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 7/10

2026 Trax starting price: $23,495

Kia K4

The Kia K4 is Kia’s least expensive small car. It comes as a sedan or, as a new entry for 2026, a sleek-looking hatchback. Edmunds praised the K4’s generous rear legroom and long lineup of standard features. Even a base LX trim includes a big 12.3-inch touchscreen and adaptive cruise control. Another plus point is the K4’s attractive cabin. It looks and feels like it belongs in a car with a much higher price tag. The K4 can get up to an EPA-estimated 33 mpg combined. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 7.5/10

2026 K4 sedan starting price: $23,535

Nissan Sentra

The Nissan Sentra enters the 2026 model year completely redesigned inside and out. This small sedan has a bold new look and an impressive roster of standard driver aids. The base S trim has adaptive cruise control, blind-spot warning and lane keeping assistance. During testing, Edmunds gave the Sentra high marks for its comfortable seating, big trunk and modernized 12.3-inch touchscreen. The Sentra also gets up to an EPA-estimated 33 mpg combined. Acceleration is leisurely, however, even for this group of cars. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 6.2/10

2026 Sentra starting price: $23,845

Hyundai Elantra

Coming in at No. 5 of the 2026 class of least expensive new cars is the Hyundai Elantra small sedan. It boasts one of the largest interiors in its class, a roomy trunk and a long warranty. The Elantra’s entry-level SE trim is equipped with the basics plus a few nice extras such as wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Its standard 8-inch touchscreen isn’t as big as the Sentra’s or K4’s, however. The EPA estimates the Elantra can get up to 35 mpg in combined driving. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 6.8/10

2026 Elantra starting price: $23,870

Edmunds says

The five cheapest cars will surprise you in terms of how much you get for your money. Far from being the no-frills economy vehicles of yesteryear — when wind-up windows were the norm and air conditioning was often optional — they overdeliver in terms of style, tech touches and safety features.

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This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds.

Nick Kurczewski is a contributor at Edmunds.

“When my contract with Celtic expires in June, my career as an active footballer stops,” Schmeichel said in an interview with TV2 in Denmark broadcast Wednesday. "I think this is the right time now to announce that I have played my last professional football match.”

The 39-year-old Schmeichel has been sidelined since February.

Schmeichel – the son of former Manchester United great Peter Schmeichel – revealed in March he required two surgeries but that he wanted to try to salvage his career.

The former Manchester City, Leeds, Nice and Anderlecht keeper, who played at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, said “it’s not how I would have wanted my career to end.”

Schmeichel’s last appearance for Denmark was in its World Cup qualification defeat against Scotland in November.

DBU, Danish soccer’s governing body, posted on X: “From debut in Skopje to World Cup debut against Peru, big saves against some of the world’s best nations, a Euro semifinal at Wembley and much more. 13 years. 120 matches for the National Team. Thanks for unforgettable moments, Kasper.”

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

The seven villagers entered the cave in Xaisomboun province on May 19, but heavy rain triggered flash flooding that blocked the exit, according to Lao and Thai rescue teams involved in the operation.

Thai rescuer Chakkit Taengtang posted video of himself in the cave saying divers were delivering food and water to the five and planning to extract them as soon as possible.

All of the villagers are men, according to a Facebook post by the Lao group Rescue Volunteer for People.

“I’m still shaking. Our team made it happen,” Bounkham Luanglath, a member of the Lao rescue team, said in a voice message to The Associated Press. He said the search for the missing would continue.

A video posted by the rescue group appeared to show the moment divers emerged from the water and discovered the trapped men. In the footage, the men are wearing headlamps and sitting on a rock surrounded by floodwater.

Other videos showed rescuers inside and outside the cave cheering, jumping and hugging each other in joy after the discovery.

Another villager who went into the cave with the seven was able to escape when the flooding began, and he raised the alarm about the trapped men.

Rescue workers from neighboring Thailand arrived at the site over the weekend. Those helping out included several divers who took part in the complicated 2018 rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach who were trapped for more than two weeks in a cave.

Miiko Paasi, a Thai-based Finnish diving instructor who participated in the rescue of the schoolboys and joined the search effort in Laos, said in a social media post that the men were “healthy and in good spirits,” but he warned that the extraction would not be easy.

The cave is in a rugged, remote area in Xaisomboun province’s Longcheng district, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane. Rescuers have detailed on social media the challenging mountainous terrain and heavy rain that has hampered their work.

Videos shared online by Thai rescuers showed that reaching the cave’s entrance requires a steep hike of roughly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). The entrance is also steep and rocky and barely wide enough for a single person.

It's not clear why the villagers went into the cave. Bounkham has said that the cave was frequented by local residents looking for gold, despite repeated warnings about safety.

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Associated Press journalists Tian Macleod Ji and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Coventry’s reassurance to the annual meeting of Summer Games sports bodies came after she warned in February of “uncomfortable” talks ahead to make future Olympic hosting more efficient.

The International Olympic Committee aims to finalize within months the list of sports on the Brisbane program that Coventry previously told their leaders will be fewer than the 36 being played at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“There is a path (back), it’s not just an end,” the IOC president told The Associated Press on Wednesday on the sidelines of the assembly of the summer sports group known as ASOIF.

Brisbane also could have fewer than the 353 medal events being competed for at Los Angeles.

“I know that not everyone will be happy,” Coventry acknowledged to ASOIF members Wednesday, adding "the goal is not to destroy any sport.”

Coventry also met Tuesday with ASOIF members and assured them “we don’t have specific numbers” as targets for the sports and events program for Brisbane.

The most important metric shapes to be the number of venues needed as the IOC looks to manage costs for hosts.

“The cost and complexity comes when you start adding additional venues for single purpose events,” Coventry told the AP. “That’s where we need to look and say: ‘How could we change that?’”

A major step toward streamlining the program for Brisbane and beyond is a June 24 meeting of the full IOC membership in Lausanne that should agree a process for evaluating sports and events.

A list of sports at Brisbane could be confirmed in December, with a longer timeline into 2029 to confirm the detailed program of medal events.

The 36 sports in Los Angeles is up from just 26 at the 2012 London Olympics, and ASOIF president Ingmar de Vos later acknowledged “It has grown too much and needs to be brought back into proportion.”

Sports at risk?

Modern pentathlon has long been seen as vulnerable to losing its historic Olympic status, while canoe slalom has a very specific venue demand. Sports added to the LA program — including flag football, lacrosse and squash — will be competing for their place in Brisbane before having their showcase in 2028.

The 2036 Olympics hosting contest was paused by Coventry last year in the first big decision of her new presidency. Qatar is widely seen as a strong contender for a project likely to be spread in the Middle East region, which has been targeted during the conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran.

Los Angeles update

Organizing committee officials overseeing sports and venues came to Lausanne to update federation leaders ahead of a big week in Los Angeles.

Incumbent LA mayor Karen Bass is trying to secure another term until beyond the Olympics, and there is the annual in-person visit by the IOC panel — known as “cocom” for coordination commission — overseeing games preparations.

“Certainly we are paying attention to it,” Shana Ferguson, LA 2028’s head of sport and games delivery, told the AP about Tuesday's primary election.

One big reveal will be announcing where cycling road races will finish — always a key Olympic event to showcase the city. Paris set a high bar with finish lines framed beneath the Eiffel Tower.

“We are ready — buckle up,” Ferguson said.

Shares of LA revenues

ASOIF members are anxious to learn what the IOC will give them as a collective share of Los Angeles Olympics revenues worth several billions of dollars.

With IOC president Coventry sitting in the front row, ASOIF president Ingmar de Vos called for “fair and sustainable models” to recognize his members’ work and value at the Summer Games.

The IOC paid $590 million from Paris Olympics revenues which was a 9% collective rise on $540 million from the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.

ASOIF members agree their formula to distribute it, with track and field’s World Athletics typically paid the most. That was $39.6 million for Paris, a slight raise from Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

“We are increasingly being asked to do more with the same resources,” De Vos cautioned, later noting ASOIF has “three more mouths to feed,” with the governing bodies of skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing now eligible for a revenue share.

De Vos, the International Equestrian Federation president, suggested each Olympic sport could make cost efficiencies and it was "for the IOC also to look into its own operations.”

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have backed a draft bill to have bank employees join the fight against Ukraine’s long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia — with trained bank staff shooting down the unmanned aircraft.

The steps came after a recent escalation in aerial attacks by both sides in the more than four-year war that followed Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. Neither side has been able to make much progress on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line.

Also on Wednesday, Anne Keast-Butler, head of U.K.’s intelligence agency GCHQ, asserted that Russian President Vladimir “Putin is going backwards on the battlefield." New data shows that "almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began,” she added.

Ukraine has pounded Russian targets, especially oil facilities and manufacturing plants, with its domestically produced drones. At the same time, the Russian military has intensified its aerial attacks, firing almost 90 missiles as well as hundreds of drones at Kyiv last weekend in an effort to overwhelm air defenses.

Zelenskyy seeks more Patriot defense systems

The Ukrainian leader urged Trump and Congress in a letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, to supply more Patriot PAC-3 missiles and other air defense systems, warning that deliveries to Ukraine are falling dangerously short as the Iran war diverts U.S. stocks.

Ukraine has raised its drone interception rate to more than 90%, the letter says, and Ukrainian specialists have helped countries in the Middle East — specifically the Gulf Arab region — strengthen air defenses. They have also helped at American military bases in the Mideast, the letter says.

But Ukraine cannot yet produce its own anti-missile defense systems, Zelenskyy said, and for that relies “almost exclusively on the United States.”

“For us — for a nation fighting for its survival — there is hardly anything more painful to see than Patriot batteries with no missiles loaded,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Deliveries, he says, are “no longer keeping up with the reality of the threat we face.”

Washington did not immediately comment on the letter.

The U.S. weapons that European nations and Canada buy to donate to Ukraine are a vital component of the country’s air defenses, but only a few NATO allies are investing significant sums in the arrangement, alliance officials say.

Russia wants bank employees to join the fight against Ukrainian drones

The ambitious plan approved by the country’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday envisages banks installing electronic jamming systems on their premises while selected employees would be trained to shoot down incoming drones.

And with banks in almost every town, their incorporation into Russia's air defenses could help expand its cover.

The bill, which state news agency Interfax said was first presented last August and later expanded in scope, must still be approved by the upper house Federation Council and signed by Putin before coming into force.

Russia is finding it hard to protect its large land mass from a growing number of attacks by increasingly sophisticated Ukrainian long-range drones. Smaller drones are also holding back Russian troops along the front line, Western analysts and officials say.

As the intensity and depth of Ukrainian drone attacks have increased, Russian authorities have encouraged businesses to contribute to protective measures against aerial strikes.

Russian banks are not known to have been a prime target for Ukrainian drones in the war that followed Moscow’s 2022 invasion. The plan encompasses Russia’s central bank and other top institutions, including majority state-owned Sberbank.

With little details included in the bill, it has raised questions about how such a project would work. The widespread installation of equipment and training of staff in how to use it would require a huge organizational effort.

With Putin keen to shield Russians from the war, the plan could work against his efforts by involving regular citizens in it and making the consequences of the invasion more visible.

Russia's need for drone help suggests its defense are failing, analyst says

The proposed measure reflects growing problems for Russia against Ukraine’s increasingly sophisticated drones, according to Thomas Withington, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The draft bill “seems to indicate that … military-level drone defense capabilities in Russia are failing, because if they were working you wouldn’t need to do that,” Withington told The Associated Press.

“This situation is not improving for Russia,” he said, noting that Moscow is battling to keep up with Ukrainian drone innovations.

The measure seeks to “try and offload some of the burden of drone protection to the non-military, non-law enforcement sectors,” which are under strain, he said.

The bill says bank employees may jam or intercept drone control signals, and damage or destroy uncrewed aerial, underwater and ground vehicles threatening their facilities, without waiting for a response from security services.

“Jamming will be used to make it more difficult for (the drones) to target and attack the relevant targets,” Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, told Russian media outlet RBK. “Plus, we’ll also use means to shoot down these drones, thereby protecting the relevant targets.”

Each organization would determine which employees would be trained to deploy the measures.

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

Testifying before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which is investigating the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the Dec. 14 attack at Bondi Beach, New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson described a firepower imbalance.

The police force has responded with a plan to establish an Armed Response Command, equipped with semiautomatic rifles, and by reviving a priority-resourced operation that focused on antisemitic crimes and retaliations against Muslim targets, Hudson said.

Rifles within the force have been largely restricted to two specialized paramilitary squads, he said.

Father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram allegedly opened fire with two shotguns and a hunting rifle on hundreds of people celebrating Hanukkah in a beachside park. Only four police officers were present. They were armed with Glock pistols, which are only accurate for a short distance.

“On Dec. 14, our police officers were placed at significant risk being in a gunfight armed with 9 mm Glocks against long arms,” Hudson told the inquiry.

Within five minutes of the Akrams allegedly opening fire, 11 police officers had reached the scene. Three of those officers were among the dozens wounded in the massacre. Police shot the father dead and apprehended the wounded son less than eight minutes after the first shot was fired, the inquiry heard Monday.

In response to the shooting, police also revived Operation Shelter, which had been established in response to escalating community tensions days after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel Hudson said.

Hudson had established Operation Shelter as a “high visibility” proactive police operation to ensure there was no escalation of street violence in Sydney. At its peak, 200 officers had been assigned daily to the operation, which had authority to bring in outside staff from other duties as required.

Operation Shelter existed “in name only” when the Bondi massacre occurred, Hudson said Wednesday, explaining that the program was quickly revived after the shooting and elevated to an “active policing resource” that will remain until the armed response squad is fully operational in the next 18 months to two years.

The president bragged at his Cabinet meeting Wednesday that Paxton's romp “was a prelude” for success in the November midterms. But Trump's tightening grip on his party could make it harder to hold back Democratic advances as Republicans face a broader electorate that has soured on his second term and the economy.

The risk is compounded, Republican operatives say, by how cavalier the billionaire president has been in addressing Americans’ financial worries, which have been exacerbated by Trump's trade roller coaster and his ongoing war against Iran. And the president gave them new material to worry about when he said concerns about November are playing no part in his negotiations with Tehran.

“They thought they were going to out-wait me. You know, ’We’ll out-wait him. He’s got the midterms,” Trump said while surrounded by top administration officials. “I don’t care about the midterms.”

The only priority, he said, was keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, acknowledged the president’s approach is making things harder for his party.

“It’s going to be a tough fall unless things dramatically change,” Urban said.

He warned that Trump cannot afford a haphazard exit from Iran to resolve a conflict that has created a chokehold on global oil supplies and driven gas prices higher for Americans.

“You do not want to give the Iranians a win just because of the midterms,” he said.

Trump, meanwhile, offered no second thoughts about backing Paxton over Cornyn. Senate Republican leaders have feared that Paxton would be the more vulnerable nominee because of years of scandals, but the president insisted on social media that the Texas attorney general will “become a fantastic, common sense Senator, one who is respected by all.”

Still, Trump hinted he may be aware that Paxton will need an extra boost in a state that hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 1988.

“I will do some nice, big, beautiful rallies for Ken. Texas, this will be FUN!” Trump wrote.

Trump brushes off economic troubles

Not only are prices higher after Trump’s tariffs and his Iran war, but the president has repeatedly described affordability concerns as a “hoax.”

Trump has mused that increases in gas prices — up more than 50% in the U.S. since Trump and Israel launched attacks on Iran — amount to “peanuts.” He previously said he does not consider Americans’ personal finances “even a little bit” when mulling his options on the war.

All of that comes as Trump badgers Congress to spend $1 billion on his White House ballroom project and allocate $1.8 billion to pay restitution to people who believe they were prosecuted for political purposes — potentially including those who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

It’s a cascade that Republicans in every battleground House district, Senate election or statewide contest will have to navigate in the fall.

“You keep the House and Senate by having a message, by dealing with the issues voters are clearly complaining about,” said Republican strategist Rick Tyler, a Trump critic. “The administration has utterly failed to do this.”

It has been more than two weeks since the Republican National Committee distributed talking points to surrogates that mention the economy, according to messaging documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

The only talking points sent out last week focused on defending Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.”

“Democrats and the fake-news media are deliberately ignoring the fact that this fund is not limited to Republicans or Trump supporters,” said the message on May 23.

Democrats see opportunity in Trump’s struggles

Republicans began Trump’s second presidency with a 220-215 advantage in the House. They’ve boosted their chances to hold the majority by redrawing congressional maps in several Republican-run states. But Democrats are still confident they can flip enough seats to reclaim a majority.

Republicans have a more significant 53-47 advantage in the Senate. However, leaders of both parties agree that control of the chamber is in play. Some Republicans blame Trump for backing candidates such as Paxton, who has faced years of scandals and could prove more vulnerable against Democratic nominee James Talarico.

Trump hails Paxton as a “true MAGA warrior.” But the state attorney general also carries the weight of a yearslong criminal securities fraud case and disclosure of marital infidelity. He was indicted and impeached, but survived efforts to remove him from office and was reelected twice during the investigation. However, he ultimately agreed to pay $300,000 in restitution to avoid a felony trial.

Paxton's baggage was enough that Senate Republicans' campaign arm, which backed Cornyn, accused him of “repulsive and disgusting” behavior and quoted his ex-wife saying she filed for divorce “on biblical grounds.”

Viet Shelton, a spokesman for House Democrats’ campaign committee, pointed to Trump’s redistricting push as proof he understands his party’s tenuous hold on the House majority.

“They’ve given up on trying to win over voters fair and square, so they’re resorting to rigging the midterms through illegal gerrymanders and voter suppression,” Shelton said.

Democrats plan to feature Trump's comments on the economy in advertising this fall, as well as more specific local concerns — even in places the president carried by double digits in 2024.

In U.S. House districts in Iowa, for example, that means emphasizing how tariffs have affected the farm economy and how the war in Iran has increased the prices of diesel fuel and fertilizer. In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, that means talking about how Trump’s immigration crackdown has roiled the local economy in Latino communities.

Republicans are frustrated behind closed doors

Republican strategists are worried by Trump’s lack of focus on the economy — and the lack of transparency from Trump’s team about how it plans to deploy its massive campaign accounts.

The pro-Trump super PAC known as MAGA Inc. held more than $356 million at the end of April. Yet many Republican strategists say they’ve received no clear indication of how, where and when Trump’s team plans to spend the money, according to several operatives who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

They see one bright spot in James Blair, Trump's political general, leaving the White House to focus on the midterms.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the president’s strategy and confidence about the midterms.

Mike Marinella, spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Trump “puts House Republicans in the strongest possible position to defy history and win in November.”

Of course, a candidate must win the Republican nomination to even be around for the fall campaign.

“The president has chosen to be aggressive in endorsing candidates he believes are the best advocates for his agenda and have been loyal to him,” Republican campaign veteran Chip Lake said.

Lake is leading an independent expenditure effort on behalf of Georgia Republican Burt Jones, the Trump-endorsed candidate in a June 16 primary runoff for governor.

“It’s difficult, if not impossible,” Lake said, “to win a primary in today’s environment if the president is working against you.”

___ Barrow reported from Atlanta. Peoples reported from New York.

Hamas said in a statement that Mohammed Odeh died Tuesday along with his wife and two of his children in an airstrike. It came after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the Israeli military had targeted and killed Odeh.

At least five people — including Odeh and his family members — were killed and 12 injured in Tuesday’s strike on a market in Gaza City, local hospitals said. The attack came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.

Thousands of people gathered Wednesday for the joint funeral of Odeh's family in Gaza City. Mourners covered the four bodies with green Hamas flags and marched from a mosque through the city, chanting and firing shots in the air. Some carried posters with Odeh's poster emblazoned with the words “one of the chiefs of staffs of the Qassam Brigades,” referring to Hamas' military wing.

Hamas condemned the strike, and said Odeh had been active with the group for more than three decades and was part of the first generation that helped establish the movement’s military and armed wing.

Katz called him “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered over two years of war in Gaza and said it was the fourth time Israel has killed the head of Hamas’ military wing since that massacre. Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the previous head, was killed on May 16.

Katz said that Israel would continue to target Hamas leaders involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. “We pledged that Hamas will not hold civilian or military rule,” he wrote on X.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is preparing for elections in the fall, also threatened that Israel will target everyone involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

A grim Eid in Gaza

The attack came as Muslims prepared for Eid al-Adha, normally a joyous time of family gatherings and large meals.

The holiday once again is subdued this year in Gaza, where the vast majority of people remain displaced and live in tents or temporary shelters after a devastating war. Around 90% of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have lost their homes, according to U.N. estimates, with most of them now sheltering in huge tent camps with rat infestations and pools of sewage. They are dependent on aid to survive.

Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” is an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims across the globe. The four-day holiday, which begins during the Hajj pilgrimage, also is known for being a joyous occasion during which families gather, and children are given new clothes and gifts.

“This is not Eid ... we’re dead,” said Mahmoud Saqer, a displaced man from Khan Younis, who described people as being distressed by the ongoing human suffering and killings in the territory.

In Khan Younis and Gaza City, amid destroyed buildings, including a ruined mosque, people gathered for Eid prayers with few signs of celebration beyond a few clusters of balloons lining one street. Tahrir al-Khatib said the joy that accompanies Eid has been silenced in Gaza.

“There’s no Eid. My children were killed. Eid is only for the people who lost no one,” said Ayda Al-Banna, a displaced women from Gaza City, who prayed Eid prayers with her granddaughter.

Fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza

A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in October remains fragile. Israeli attacks have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect. Israel says its attacks are in response to violations by Hamas or threats to its soldiers, but Palestinian health officials say scores of civilians have been among the dead. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period in Gaza.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks in October 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says over 72,803 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths. ___

Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Fatma Khaled contributed from Cairo.

The search of the office in central Madrid is another blow to the party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose Socialists have been hammered by a series of corruption scandals to his some of its leader's closest confidants, his wife and brother and the previous Socialist to hold his office.

“We respect the justice system, we will collaborate with the courts and there is the commitment in the Socialist Party that if there are new episodes of improper behavior, we will act with the same firmness we always have,” Sánchez told a news conference in Rome.

Sánchez, who has been Spain's leader since 2018 and is a major critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, has not been directly named in any investigation.

A court statement issued on Wednesday said that judge Santiago Pedraz ordered the Civil Guard to “confiscate diverse documentation and electronic archives in an investigation of a ring designed to destabilize judicial processes that were affecting the ruling party.”

The searches were strictly limited to that case, and not a wholesale raid of the offices, the police said.

The case against started in 2025 when audio recordings appeared in Spanish media of then party member Leire Díez apparently involved in attempts to discredit a member of the Civil Guard’s anti-corruption unit. Further reports linked Díez to alleged attempts to influence the work of state prosecutors. The judge's probe is targeted on seeing if she received payments to allegedly carry out these efforts.

The Socialist party said she was acting on her own. Diez, who has left the party, has denied wrongdoing.

The judge said that in addition to Díez, he is now also probing the alleged involvement of former Socialist heavyweight Santos Cerdán — who is already under investigation in a separate corruption case — as well as a former member of the regional government of Andalusia, a police officer, a business owner and two lawyers. The judge is investigating them on suspicions of bribery, making false testimony, forging commercial documents, influence peddling, and corruption.

Legal woes mount

The searches add to a growing list of legal cases that are hounding Spain's Socialists.

A separate court said last week it was investigating former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in connection with a government airline bailout. Zapatero, who was in power from 2004-2011 and is a major backer of Sánchez, has denied any wrongdoing.

Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos, who held two ministerial posts under Sánchez, were placed under investigation in 2025 on allegations they played a part in a kickback ring that started during the COVID-19 pandemic, which they have denied.

Ábalos has been tried for one case of alleged corruption along with two other cohorts. A verdict is expected to come soon.

Ábalos and Cerdán were early Sánchez supporters inside the party and both rose to be the party’s No. 3 ranked official before they were forced out of the party when their scandals broke.

Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, has been charged by an investigative judge for inappropriately using her position to be named to an academic post at a university, while his brother, David Sánchez, and other local officials in Badajoz have been charged with having created a civil service post for him to occupy unrightfully. Gómez and David Sánchez, whose trial starts on Thursday, deny any wrongdoing.

Cases ‘do nothing to stain the work of government ’

Sánchez has called the cases against his family a “smear campaign.” But the corruption case against his former cohorts led him to ask the nation for “forgiveness.”

His minority government depends on the support of a junior coalition partner, which for now has stuck with it despite the judicial actions.

The search of his party's offices came while Sánchez was in the Vatican for an audience with Pope Leo XIV, who is set to visit Spain from June 6-12. The prime minister said he delayed his news conference so that he could be informed of the searches before speaking to reporters.

The leader of Spain’s leading opposition party, conservative Alberto Núñez Feijóo called for snap elections. “There is no other solution other than immediately letting the Spanish people voice their opinion,” the Popular Party leader said.

Sánchez brushed off calling early elections, which will have to take place next year at the latest.

While acknowledging the “seriousness” of the events in Madrid, Sánchez insisted that the cases of corruption “do nothing to stain the work of this government that, with progressive parties, is working for a social and economic transformation.”

Tsering, 58, has led the exile government based in Dharamshala, India, since 2021. He secured another five-year term in elections held in February among Tibetans living in India and overseas. Tsering was first elected to the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in 1996 and served as speaker from 2008 until he rose to the top executive post.

Formed in 1959, Tibet’s government-in-exile, now called the Central Tibetan Administration, has executive, judicial and legislative branches.

Tsering said Wednesday that the Central Tibetan Administration “remains firmly committed to the ‘Middle Way Policy’ envisioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” adding that the policy seeks resolution through nonviolence, dialogue and lasting mutual benefit.

“Until a resolution is achieved, we will continue the back-channel communications with caution and steadiness with the Chinese government,” he said.

Tsering's swearing-in ceremony took place in the presence of the Dalai Lama, who was escorted to the venue by red-robed monks among the sounds of beating drums and chanted prayers. The audience included hundreds of monks and Tibetans who looked on as the Chief Justice Commissioner Yeshi Wangmo of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission administered the oath of office.

The February vote marked the fourth direct election of the Tibetan exile leadership since the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, formally ended his role in the administration’s governance in 2011.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory since the mid-13th century and its Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since 1951. But many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of their history and the Chinese government wants to exploit the resource-rich region while crushing its cultural identity.

China does not recognize the Central Tibetan Administration and hasn’t held dialogue with the Dalai Lama's representatives since 2010. India considers Tibet as part of China, but hosts the Tibetan exile government.

Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to separate Tibet from China, which he denies. Some Tibetan groups advocate independence for Tibet, since little progress has been made in talks with China.

Yu Jing, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India, on Sunday dismissed the legitimacy of the exile administration, saying it was “not recognized by any sovereign country” and had no authority to represent Tibetans or oversee the reincarnation process of the Dalai Lama.

On his 90th birthday last year, the Dalai Lama insisted Chinese authorities would have no role in identifying his successor and the institution of the Dalai Lama would continue after his death.

The midfielder was substituted Saturday against Arsenal in the Premier League after a knock to the ankle but is in Palace's starting lineup to face Rayo. U.S. defender Chris Richards is on the bench after ankle ligament damage.

Rayo attacking midfielder Isi Palazón starts in what will be his first game since the semifinal win over Strasbourg on May 7 due to a suspension in the Spanish league for confronting a referee. He scored two vital goals in the 4-3 aggregate win over Greece’s AEK Athens in the quarterfinals.

Fan unrest in Leipzig

Fans of Palace and Rayo earlier clashed in Leipzig late Tuesday, German police said.

Police said bottles, beer mugs and furniture were thrown Tuesday evening when a group of around 300 Rayo fans encountered Palace fans who were sitting outside restaurants, and that officers also intervened in another incident when around 60 Palace fans “provoked” Spanish supporters.

Leipzig police said two people were detained and two police officers sustained minor injuries but remained fit for duty. More than 300 people had their identities checked, police said.

Glasner's last game

Both teams are in their first European final, and it's the last game at Palace for coach Oliver Glasner before he leaves at the end of the season.

A win for Palace on Wednesday would keep English clubs on track for a potential sweep of all three main European men's club continental competitions. Aston Villa won the Europa League last week and Arsenal is due to play Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final on Saturday.

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But the more apt comparison might be to three years ago when Vegas — in not nearly as much of a surprise — won the Stanley Cup.

Carolina or Montreal, who are playing in the Eastern Conference Final, will have a lot to say whether the Golden Knights complete the task and win another Cup.

But Vegas is back for the third time in its nine seasons to cement itself as potentially the greatest expansion franchise in North American sports history. The Golden Knights got there by beating Colorado 2-1 on Tuesday night for a stunning sweep of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avalanche.

This team, like the one in 2023, has won with depth scoring, bruising defense and a hot goalie.

“I think we've always built our teams with good depth at the forward position, defensive position and goaltending position,” captain Mark Stone said. “I guess the similarities are that's just the way we build our teams.”

On the 2023 team, 18 players scored goals in the playoffs and 12 had at least 10 points over 22 games. So far through 16 games this postseason, 15 players have scored goals and six have produced 10 or more points.

The depth showed itself in the clincher against the Avalanche when both goals came from the third and fourth lines, with Cole Smith scoring the decisive goal with 5:45 left.

“The third and fourth lines, the five- and six-D, that's how you continue to move in the playoffs,” coach John Tortorella said. "Those are very important pieces as you go through these series. I'm happy for Smitty. I was going to kill him; he's taking so many penalties.

“But I'm happy for him and (Dylan Coghlan and Kaedan Korczak). I mean, how well did they play. Playing against that team with the amount of speed that they bring, they weren't intimidated by a thing.”

Coghlan and Korczak form the third pairing on the Golden Knights' defense, which shut down an Avalanche offense that averaged a league-high 3.63 goals per game during the regular season and in the first two rounds upped that to 4.11. It was 1.75 against Vegas.

Colorado went the final 14:23 of the second period in Game 4 without a shot on goal and more than 25 minutes with just one shot.

The Golden Knights spent the series blocking one Avalanche shot after another, and for the postseason, four of the top nine players in blocked shots play for Vegas, topped by Shea Theodore's 46. Four of the top five in 2023 were Golden Knights, including leader Alec Martinez with 57.

And then there's the goalie play.

Adin Hill shined in 2023, coming off the bench in the second round and then going 11-4 with a .932 save percentage and 2.17 goals-against average. Hill remains on the team, but has been watching from the bench as Carter Hart has taken hold of the position. Hart is 12-4 with a .924 percentage and 2.22 GAA during the postseason.

“Hartsy’s been amazing this whole series, whole playoffs really,” Mitch Marner said. "Made some massive saves throughout all these games and again tonight. Made some massive ones for us to keep the game where it was. Hell of a game by Hartsy again.”

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While Mexico has accepted these types of deportations for years, the deportees under the Trump administration are older and have lived in the U.S. for longer than in the past, making it more difficult for them to find work and increasing the urgency of the need for medical care.

The report, which is based on more than 50 interviews in the southern Mexican cities Tapachula and Villahermosa, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has expanded immigration enforcement to carry out his mass deportation plan.

This has meant that immigrants who were not previously targeted, such as Cubans with years or decades living in the U.S., have been caught up in the immigration dragnet. Some countries, such as Cuba and Venezuela, limit deportation flights or don’t accept deportees at all, so they are instead sent to Mexico or other countries with which the U.S. has struck deals.

“Imagine being 60 or 70 years old, uprooted from your life overnight and sent to a country you don’t know, where authorities leave you out to dry without access to even the most basic services — shelter, healthcare. Imagine being dropped in dangerous cities with nothing but the clothes on your back,” said Alcira Hava, Leonard H. Sandler Fellow at Human Rights Watch, who worked on the report.

“That’s the reality for many Cubans deported to Mexico,” Hava said.

Cubans represent the largest group sent to Mexico, according to the report, with more than 4,300 deported. More than half the 41 Cubans interviewed had lived in the U.S. since the 1980s or 1990s, arriving during the Mariel boatlift or lottery program in the 1990s. Most had a green card but had lost it.

More than half the Cubans deported had a criminal record, but only 16% were for violent crimes, according to the researchers. One-fourth had no criminal history.

Most were detained at routine check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but some were detained at their workplace or in public spaces. None were taken before a judge to contest their deportation to Mexico, even when they expressed fear for their safety.

The Cuban diaspora, with access to a fast-tracked pathway to residency and citizenship through the Cuban Adjustment Act, has been shocked by the extent of Trump's immigration crackdown.

Once in Mexico, these deportees are sent to southern cities with few job opportunities, limited access to medical care and where cartels prey on them. They face a complicated logistical process to receive refugee status in Mexico, if they even qualify.

A shelter in Villahermosa has received Cuban deportees as old as 83 in the past year, a departure from the young men and families it usually receives, according to shelter worker Josué Leal.

“The U.S. discards them. Cuba discards them,” Leal said, calling it a form of “double punishment.”

How the third country deportations are being carried out is unclear, since neither the U.S. or Mexico has made the agreement public. HRW called for both countries to publish the agreement and to ensure that due process and international law is respected in these cases.

It called on Mexico to ensure access to medical treatment and a pathway to legalize immigration status for those who can’t return to their home countries. It called on the U.S. to suspend these deportations, barring these guarantees.

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Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence to 60-year-old Kenneth Iwamasa in federal court in Los Angeles. He was also sentenced to two years of probation and a $10,000 fine.

It was the fifth and final sentencing in the 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution that followed Perry’s death at age 54 on Oct. 28, 2023.

“You were privy to his struggle with addiction,” Judge Garnett said before handing down the sentence. “Your conduct was reckless, not just on the day of his death but in the days leading up to his death.”

The sentence was exactly what prosecutors had sought, though Garnett disagreed on some of the details. She found that Iwamasa did not abuse a position of trust, which could’ve brought more prison time.

and she said “there is no hard evidence that you acted with malicious intent, though some would disagree.”

Iwamasa was at Perry’s side through the final days of his life, acting as the actor’s enabler, drug messenger and de facto doctor. He was the last person to see Perry alive, and he was the one who found him dead in his Jacuzzi.

He was the first person to reach a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty in August of 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death, and became their most important witness.

Iwamasa’s lawyer Alan Eisner argued for a six month prison term with six months of home confinement, emphasizing he was always acting at the direction of a boss with much more power than he had.

“His loyalty to Mr. Perry was paramount,” Eisner told the judge. “He worshipped Mr. Perry, he looked up to Mr. Perry. All he did was please and accommodate Mr. Perry.”

When Eisner said Iwamasa was unable to act differently than he did, the judge cut him off and said: “Unwilling. Not unable. He could have said no.”

Perry’s family members, some of whom may speak in court, made it clear in letters to the judge that there is no one they blame for his death more than Iwamasa — a longtime friend they thought would help the actor maintain sobriety but instead indulged the worst impulses of a lifelong addict.

“Mathew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny. Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction,” wrote Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison. “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”

Perry’s family members, some of whom may speak in court, made it clear in letters to the judge that there is no one they blame for his death more than Iwamasa — a longtime friend they thought would help the actor maintain sobriety but instead indulged the worst impulses of a lifelong addict.

“Matthew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny. Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction,” wrote Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison. “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”

Perry had hired Iwamasa in 2022, and he was paying him $150,000 a year to live at his Los Angeles home and act as his assistant.

The actor had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally for depression, an increasingly common off-label use. But he wanted more than his doctor would give him.

According to Iwamasa's plea agreement, he bought off-the-books ketamine from another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, who taught him how to inject it. Plasencia was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in July.

Iwamasa also began buying ketamine from Perry acquaintance Erik Fleming, who was getting it from a street dealer. Fleming was sentenced to two years in prison two weeks ago.

The dealer, Jasveen Sangha, dubbed “The Ketamine Queen,” was sentenced to 15 years on April 8.

In the final days of Perry's life, Iwamasa was injecting him six to eight times per day. On Oct. 23, 2023, he shot the 54-year-old actor full of a large dose and left to run errands. He returned to find Perry dead in the Jacuzzi. The LA County Medical Examiner found that ketamine was the primary cause of death. Drowning was a secondary cause.

At first, Iwamasa lied to police, omitting ketamine from the list of medications Perry was using, and saying nothing about his injections. But when investigators served a search warrant in January of 2024, he began coming clean.

Perry became one of the biggest stars of his generation along with Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow on “Friends,” NBC’s megahit sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004.

The arrests took place at the Retiro bus station in Buenos Aires, the Argentine Federal Police confirmed in a statement Monday.

The two detainees, who were not identified, remained in custody awaiting extradition proceedings requested by the United States.

According to local police, the two Chilean citizens were part of a crime ring that targeted the homes of prominent athletes in the U.S. and Argentina, including NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and former tennis player Juan Martín Del Potro.

Targets also included the homes of NBA players Luka Doncic and Mike Conley Jr.

In 2024, the NFL issued a security alert to teams and the players’ union following the burglaries involving the homes of Mahomes and Kelce.

According to the FBI, organized crime groups from South America used publicly available information and social media to track athletes’ habits and travel. The groups used technology allowing them to bypass alarm systems, block wireless internet connections and disable devices, cover security cameras and hide their identities.

Jewelry, millions of dollars in cash, trophies and medals were among items stolen from residences while the athletes were out of town.

In February, seven Chilean citizens were charged in a federal court in Florida with conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

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The two-way superstar was struck by Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the fourth. Ohtani left after grounding out in the fifth. He was 0 for 2 with a run scored in the team's 16-5 win.

Manager Dave Roberts said the ball mostly hit the pad on Ohtani's hand before clipping his pinkie finger.

“We're in a good spot,” he said, adding that given the Dodgers' big lead he wanted Ohtani to rest ahead of his scheduled mound start in the series finale on Wednesday.

“I haven't decided yet if he's going to hit,” Roberts said. “I just want to kind of make sure how he comes in and physically how he feels because I want to make sure he feels really good on the pitching side of things.”

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O'Hara, who led local police during the recent federal immigration crackdown in the city, was under investigation on accusations that he was engaging in intimate relationships with city employees.

While those allegations were never substantiated, Frey said investigators found that O'Hara had interfered with the probe. He is accused of deleting a contact card from his city-issued cell phone in an attempt to shield evidence and telling another city employee about the investigation after he was instructed to keep it quiet, according to a written reprimand obtained by The Associated Press.

The mayor told O'Hara he would be disciplined, which could include his termination. He chose to resign instead, Frey said.

“It was an extremely painful decision, obviously, but I concluded that that was necessary to maintain public trust, and this was the right way to move forward as a city,” Frey said.

“Trust is not secondary to the job. It is the job,” he added.

The city still has 17 open complaints against O'Hara — separate from the investigation that resulted in disciplinary action — and will continue investigating, mayor's office spokesperson Jennifer Lor said. Lor could not comment on the nature of those complaints.

O'Hara did not immediately respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment.

O'Hara became the chief in 2022 as the department was at the center of a nationwide reckoning over racism and brutality in policing. Two years prior, Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white officer in Minneapolis, igniting global Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund the police.

Last year, Minneapolis entered an agreement with the federal government to overhaul its police training and use-of-force policies in the wake Floyd's murder. The U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump canceled the agreement months later.

O'Hara oversaw the law enforcement response to the deadly Annunciation Catholic School shooting last August.

He criticized immigration enforcement tactics in December after a federal agent kneeled on a woman's back during an arrest and then tried to drag her to a car. Minneapolis police faced scrutiny from all sides during Trump's immigration crackdown by people who thought the officers were helping or hindering federal agents and protests.

Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell has stepped in to lead the department during the search for a new chief, Frey said.

Anne Keast-Butler, director of the communications intelligence agency GCHQ, said that Britain and its allies are in “a space between peace and war” as Russia increases its “daily hybrid activity” against the West — even as Russian combat deaths in Ukraine approach 500,000.

She said that the West risks losing the conflict in cyberspace against Russia and other adversaries, unless citizens, companies and governments treat cybersecurity with much greater urgency.

“I’ve spent three decades working in national security, and the risk of miscalculation is as high as I’ve ever seen it,” Keast-Butler said in a speech at a World War II code-breaking center near London.

She said that “tech companies are releasing AI-driven innovations at a remarkable pace, with untold consequences, as algorithms are weaponized often just below the threshold of traditional warfare.

“AI is an unstoppable force with great opportunity,” she added. “But it is also a force with risks.”

Keast-Butler singled out Russia as a threat, accusing Moscow of “relentlessly targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust,” as well as stealing technology and plotting sabotage and assassination attempts.

“Russia is scaling up its daily hybrid activity against the U.K. and Europe, stretching from the seabed to cyberspace,” she told an audience of computing experts, diplomats, journalists and senior officials.

She said that one focus for British spies is “exposing Russia’s intent, motive and underwater capabilities” to target undersea telecoms cables and energy pipelines.

At the same time, she said that Russian troops are “going backwards on the battlefield,” with new intelligence suggesting “almost half a million Russian soldiers” have been killed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

The speech is the latest in a string of warnings from Western spies and intelligence experts that Russia is stepping up hostile activity in a “gray zone” that falls just below the threshold of war.

In recent months, authorities in countries including Sweden, Poland, Denmark and Norway have alleged that hackers linked to Russia targeted their critical infrastructure, including power plants and dams.

The head of the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre, Richard Horne, warned last month that hostile states including Russia, China and Iran are behind the most serious cyberattacks the country faces. He said such attacks could increase dramatically if Britain becomes involved in an international conflict.

Keast-Butler said that rapid advances in artificial intelligence mean that “the ground beneath our feet is shifting” and there is a “narrowing window for the U.K. and allies to stay ahead” of countries such as China, a science and technology “superpower.”

She said that the threat extends to space, where thousands of satellites have been launched in the last few years, and “both China and Russia are investing heavily ... to support both peace and war ambitions.”

The spy chief said that GCHQ is developing a plan to use cutting-edge agentic AI for a national cybershield that could protect U.K. infrastructure and businesses from cyberattacks — though it's thought to be several years from completion.

Harnessed responsibly, she said, AI can help spies “enhance algorithms, translate foreign languages, and find needles in haystacks quicker than ever before.”

Keast-Butler also said that the U.K.-U.S. intelligence partnership is “fundamental for the security of both our nations.” She spoke as U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy platform and disregard for longtime allies strain the relationship between London and Washington.

GCHQ, short for Government Communications Headquarters, is the U.K.’s electronic and cyberintelligence agency. It works alongside the domestic security service MI5 and the foreign intelligence agency MI6.

Keast-Butler, the first woman to head the agency, delivered the GCHQ director’s annual lecture speech at the agency’s World War II headquarters of Bletchley Park, a manor house 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of London where hundreds of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzlers, chess masters and other experts worked to crack Nazi Germany’s supposedly unbreakable secret codes.

Their work both shortened the war and hastened the birth of modern computing.